Page - 1250 - in The Complete Plato
Image of the Page - 1250 -
Text of the Page - 1250 -
shall enter into voluntary contracts at his own risk, and there will be less of
this scandalous moneymaking, and the evils of which we were speaking will
be greatly lessened in the State.
Yes, they will be greatly lessened.
At present the governors, induced by the motives which I have named, treat
their subjects badly; while they and their adherents, especially the young men
of the governing class, are habituated to lead a life of luxury and idleness both
of body and mind; they do nothing, and are incapable of resisting either
pleasure or pain.
Very true.
They themselves care only for making money, and are as indifferent as the
pauper to the cultivation of virtue.
Yes, quite as indifferent.
Such is the state of affairs which prevails among them. And often rulers
and their subjects may come in one another’s way, whether on a journey or on
some other occasion of meeting, on a pilgrimage or a march, as fellow-
soldiers or fellowsailors; aye, and they may observe the behavior of each
other in the very moment of danger—for where danger is, there is no fear that
the poor will be despised by the rich—and very likely the wiry, sunburnt poor
man may be placed in battle at the side of a wealthy one who has never spoilt
his complexion and has plenty of superfluous flesh—when he sees such a one
puffing and at his wits’-end, how can he avoid drawing the conclusion that
men like him are only rich because no one has the courage to despoil them?
And when they meet in private will not people be saying to one another, “Our
warriors are not good for much”?
Yes, he said, I am quite aware that this is their way of talking.
And, as in a body which is diseased the addition of a touch from without
may bring on illness, and sometimes even when there is no external
provocation, a commotion may arise within—in the same way wherever there
is weakness in the State there is also likely to be illness, of which the occasion
may be very slight, the one party introducing from without their oligarchical,
the other their democratical allies, and then the State falls sick, and is at war
with herself; and may be at times distracted, even when there is no external
cause.
Yes, surely.
And then democracy comes into being after the poor have conquered their
opponents, slaughtering some and banishing some, while to the remainder
1250
back to the
book The Complete Plato"
The Complete Plato
- Title
- The Complete Plato
- Author
- Plato
- Date
- ~347 B.C.
- Language
- English
- License
- PD
- Size
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Pages
- 1612
- Keywords
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Categories
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International