Page - 1323 - in The Complete Plato

Athenian. And in the village will there be the same war of family against family, and of individual against individual? Cleinias. The same. Athenian. And should each man conceive himself to be his own enemy:— what shall we say? Cleinias. O Athenian Stranger—inhabitant of Attica I will not call you, for you seem to deserve rather to be named after the goddess herself, because you go back to first principles you have thrown a light upon the argument, and will now be better able to understand what I was just saying—that all men are publicly one another’s enemies, and each man privately his own. (Ath. My good sir, what do you mean?)— Cleinias. … Moreover, there is a victory and defeat—the first and best of victories, the lowest and worst of defeats—which each man gains or sustains at the hands, not of another, but of himself; this shows that there is a war against ourselves going on within every one of us. Athenian. Let us now reverse the order of the argument: Seeing that every individual is either his own superior or his own inferior, may we say that there is the same principle in the house, the village, and the state? Cleinias. You mean that in each of them there is a principle of superiority or inferiority to self? Athenian. Yes. Cleinias. You are quite right in asking the question, for there certainly is such a principle, and above all in states; and the state in which the better citizens win a victory over the mob and over the inferior classes may be truly said to be better than itself, and may be justly praised, where such a victory is gained, or censured in the opposite case. Athenian. Whether the better is ever really conquered by the worse, is a question which requires more discussion, and may be therefore left for the present. But I now quite understand your meaning when you say that citizens who are of the same race and live in the same cities may unjustly conspire, and having the superiority in numbers may overcome and enslave the few just; and when they prevail, the state may be truly called its own inferior and therefore bad; and when they are defeated, its own superior and therefore good. Cleinias. Your remark, Stranger, is a paradox, and yet we cannot possibly deny it. Athenian. Here is another case for consideration;—in a family there may be 1323