Page - 1356 - in The Complete Plato

some way or other, by customs and praises and words, that just and unjust are shadows only, and that injustice, which seems opposed to justice, when contemplated by the unjust and evil man appears pleasant and the just most unpleasant; but that from the just man’s point of view, the very opposite is the appearance of both of them. Cleinias. True. Athenian. And which may be supposed to be the truer judgment—that of the inferior or of the better soul? Cleinias. Surely, that of the better soul. Athenian. Then the unjust life must not only be more base and depraved, but also more unpleasant than the just and holy life? Cleinias. That seems to be implied in the present argument. Athenian. And even supposing this were otherwise, and not as the argument has proven, still the lawgiver, who is worth anything, if he ever ventures to tell a lie to the young for their good, could not invent a more useful lie than this, or one which will have a better effect in making them do what is right, not on compulsion but voluntarily. Cleinias. Truth, Stranger, is a noble thing and a lasting, but a thing of which men are hard to be persuaded. Athenian. And yet the story of the Sidonian Cadmus, which is so improbable, has been readily believed, and also innumerable other tales. Cleinias. What is that story? Athenian. The story of armed men springing up after the sowing of teeth, which the legislator may take as a proof that he can persuade the minds of the young of anything; so that he has only to reflect and find out what belief will be of the greatest public advantage, and then use all his efforts to make the whole community utter one and the same word in their songs and tales and discourses all their life long. But if you do not agree with me, there is no reason why you should not argue on the other side. Cleinias. I do not see that any argument can fairly be raised by either of us against what you are now saying. Athenian. The next suggestion which I have to offer is, that all our three choruses shall sing to the young and tender souls of children, reciting in their strains all the noble thoughts of which we have already spoken, or are about to speak; and the sum of them shall be, that the life which is by the Gods deemed to be the happiest is also the best;—we shall affirm this to be a most certain truth; and the minds of our young disciples will be more likely to 1356