Page - 816 - in The Complete Plato

own accord take you by the shorter road to the definition of a king. YOUNG SOCRATES: By all means. STRANGER: I say that we should have begun at first by dividing land animals into biped and quadruped; and since the winged herd, and that alone, comes out in the same class with man, we should divide bipeds into those which have feathers and those which have not, and when they have been divided, and the art of the management of mankind is brought to light, the time will have come to produce our Statesman and ruler, and set him like a charioteer in his place, and hand over to him the reins of state, for that too is a vocation which belongs to him. YOUNG SOCRATES: Very good; you have paid me the debt,—I mean, that you have completed the argument, and I suppose that you added the digression by way of interest. (Compare Republic.) STRANGER: Then now, let us go back to the beginning, and join the links, which together make the definition of the name of the Statesman’s art. YOUNG SOCRATES: By all means. STRANGER: The science of pure knowledge had, as we said originally, a part which was the science of rule or command, and from this was derived another part, which was called command-for-self, on the analogy of selling- for- self; an important section of this was the management of living animals, and this again was further limited to the management of them in herds; and again in herds of pedestrian animals. The chief division of the latter was the art of managing pedestrian animals which are without horns; this again has a part which can only be comprehended under one term by joining together three names—shepherding pure-bred animals. The only further subdivision is the art of man-herding,—this has to do with bipeds, and is what we were seeking after, and have now found, being at once the royal and political. YOUNG SOCRATES: To be sure. STRANGER: And do you think, Socrates, that we really have done as you say? YOUNG SOCRATES: What? STRANGER: Do you think, I mean, that we have really fulfilled our intention?—There has been a sort of discussion, and yet the investigation seems to me not to be perfectly worked out: this is where the enquiry fails. YOUNG SOCRATES: I do not understand. STRANGER: I will try to make the thought, which is at this moment present in my mind, clearer to us both. 816