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34 - The Republic - Plato · The Philosophy Insights Collection

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Book nine, Part two. Let me then offer you an illustration which may
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I think throw a light upon this subject. What is your illustration? The
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case of rich individuals in cities who possess many slaves. From them, you
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may form an idea of the tyrant's condition, For they both have slaves.
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The only difference is that he has more slaves. Yes, that is the
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difference. You know that they live securely and have nothing to apprehend from their
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servants. What should they fear? Nothing? But do you observe the reason
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of this? Yes? The reason is that the whole city is leagued together
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for the protection of each individual. Very true, I said, But imagine
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one of these owners, the master, say, of some fifty slaves,
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together with his family and property, and slaves carried off by a into the
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wilderness where there are no free men to help him. Will he not be
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in an agony of fear lest he and his wife and children should be put
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to death by his slaves. Yes, he said, he will be in
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the utmost fear. The time has arrived when he will be compelled to flatter
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divers of his slaves and make many promises to them of freedom and other things,
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much against his will he will have to cajole his own servants. Yes,
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he said, that will be the only way of saving himself. And
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suppose the same God who carried him away to surround him with neighbors who will
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not suffer one man to be the master of another, and who, if
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they could catch the offender, would take his life. His case will be
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still worse if you suppose him to be everywhere surrounded and watched by enemies.
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And is not this the sort of prison in which the tyrant will be bound?
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He who, being by nature such as we have described, is full
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of all sorts of fears and lusts. His soul is dainty and greedy,
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and yet alone of all men in the city, he is never allowed to
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go on a journey or to see the things which other freemen desire to see.
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But he lives in his hole like a woman hidden in the house,
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and is jealous of any other citizen who goes into foreign parts and sees anything
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of interest. Very true, he said, And amid evils such as these,
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will not he who is ill governed in his own person? The tyrannical
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man, I mean, whom you just now decided to be the most miserable
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of all, will not he be yet more miserable when, instead of leaving
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a private life, he is constrained by fortune to be a public tyrant.
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He has to be master of others when he is not master of himself.
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He is like a diseased or paralytic man who is compelled to pass his life
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not a retirement, but fighting and combating with other men. Yes, he
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said, the similitude is most exact, is not his case utterly miserable,
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and does not the actual tie lead a worse life than he whose life you
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determined to be the worst. Certainly, he who is the real tyrant,
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whatever men may think, is the real slave, and is obliged to practice
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the greatest adulation and servility, and to be the flatterer of the vilest of
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mankind. He is desires which he is utterly unable to satisfy, and has
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more wants than anyone, and is truly poor, if you know how to
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inspect the whole soul of him, all his life long, he is beset
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with fear, and is full of convulsions and distractions, even as the state
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which he resembles, And surely the resemblance holds very true, he said,
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Moreover, as we were saying before, he grows worse from having power.
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He becomes and is of necessity more jealous, more faithless, more unjust,
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more friendless, more impious than he was at first. He is the purveyor
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and cherisher of every sort of vice, and the consequence is that he is
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supremely miserable, and that he makes everybody else as miserable as himself. No
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man of any sense will dispute your words. Come, then, I said,
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And as the general umpire in theatrical contests proclaim the result, do you
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also decide who, in your opinion, is the first in the scale of
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happiness, and who second? And in what order the others follow? There
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are five of them. In all they are the royal, timocratical, oligarchical,
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democratical, tyrannical. The decision will be easily given, he replied.
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They shall be choruses coming on the stage, and I must judge them in
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the order in which they enter, by the criterion of virtue and vice,
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happiness and misery. Need we hire a herald? Or shall I announce that
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the son of Ariston the Best has decided that the best and justice is also
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the happiest and that this is he who is the most royal man and king
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over himself, And that the worst and most unjust man is also the most
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miserable, And that this is he who, being the greatest tyrant of himself,
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is also the greatest tyrant of his state. Make the proclamation yourself,
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he said, And shall I add, whether seen or unseen by gods and
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men, let the words be added. Then, this, I said,
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will be our first proof. And there is another which may also have some
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weight. What is that? The second proof is derived from the nature of
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the soul. Seeing that the individual soul, like the state, has been
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divided by us into three principles. The division may, I think, furnish
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a new demonstration of what nature. It seems to me that to these three
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principles three pleasures, correspond also three desires and governing powers. How do you
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mean, he said, There is one principle with which, as we were
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saying, a man learns another with which he is angry. The third,
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having many forms, has no special name, but is denoted by the general
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term appetitive. From the extraordinary strength and vehemence of the desires of eating and
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drinking, and the other sensual appetites which are the main elements of it,
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also money loving, because such desires are generally satisfied by the help of money.
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That is true, he said. If we were to say that the
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loves and pleasures of this third part were concerned with gain, we should then
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be able to fall back on a single notion, and might truly and intelligibly
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describe this part of the soul as loving gain or money. I agree with
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you again, is not the passionate element wholly set on ruling and conquering and
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getting fame? True? Suppose we call it the contentious or ambitious? Would
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the term be suitable? Extremely suitable. On the other hand, everyone sees
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that the principle of knowledge is wholly directed to the truth, and cares less
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than either of the others for gain or fame, far less. Lover of
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wisdom lover of knowledge are titles which we may fitly apply to that part of
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the soul. Certainly, one principle prevails in the souls of one class of
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men, another in others, as may happen. Yes, then we may
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begin by assuming that there are three classes of men lovers of wisdom, lovers
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of honor, lovers of gain exactly, and there are three kinds of pleasure,
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which are their several objects? Very true? Now, if you examine
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the three classes of men and ask of them in turn, which of their
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lives is pleasantest, each will be found praising his own and depreciating that of
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others. The money maker will contrast the vanity of honor or of learning if
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they bring no money, with the solid advantages of gold and silver, true,
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he said, And the lover of honor, what will be his opinion?
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Will he not think that the pleasure of riches is vulgar, while the
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pleasure of learning, if it brings no distinction, is all smoke and nonsense
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to him? Very true? And are we to suppose I said, that
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the philosopher sets any value on other pleasures in comparison with the pleasure of knowing
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the truth, and in that pursuit abiding ever learning, not so far?
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Indeed, from the heaven of pleasure? Does he not call the other pleasures
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necessary under the idea that if there were no necessity for them, he would
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rather not have them. There can be no doubt of that, he replied,
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Since then the pleasures of each class and the life of each are in
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dispute, and the question is not which life is more or less honorable,
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or better or worse, but which is the more pleasant or painless? How
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shall we know who speaks? Truly, I cannot myself tell, he said,
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Well, but what ought to be the criterion? Is any better than
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experience and wisdom and reason? There cannot be better, he said, Then,
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I said, reflect of the three individuals, which has the greatest experience
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of all the pleasures which we enumerated, has the lover of gain in learning
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the nature of essential truth greater experience of the pleasure of knowledge than the philosopher
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has of the pleasure of gain. The philosopher, he replied, has greatly
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the advantage, for he has, of necessity always known the taste of the
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other pleasures from his childhood upwards. But the lover of gain, in all
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his experience, has not, of necessity tasted, or I should rather say,
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even had he desired, could hardly have tasted the sweetness of learning and
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knowing truth. Then the lover of wisdom has a great advantage over the lover
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of gain, for he has a double experience. Yes, very great Again,
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has he greater experience of the pleasures of honor? Or the lover of
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honor of the pleasures of wisdom. Nay, he said, all three are
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honored in proportion as they attain their object. For the rich man and the
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brave man, and the wise men alike have their crowd of admirers, And
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as they all receive honor, they all have experience of the pleasures of honor.
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But the delight which is to be found in the knowledge of true being
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is known to the philosopher. Only his experience, then, will enable him
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to judge better than anyone far better. And he is the only one who
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has wisdom as well as experience. Certainly, Further, the very faculty which
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is the instrument of judgment is not possessed by the covetuous or ambitious man,
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but only by the philosopher faculty reason with whom, as we were saying,
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the decision ought to rest yes and reasoning is peculiarly his instrument. Certainly,
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if wealth and gain were the criterion, then the praise or blame of the
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lover of gain would certainly be the most trustworthy. Assuredly, or if honor
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or victory or courage, in that case, the judgment of the ambitious or
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pugnacious would be the truest clearly. But since experience and wisdom and reason are
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the judges, the only inference possible, he replied, is that pleasures which
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are approved by the lover of wisdom and reason are the truest. And so
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we arrive at the result that the pleasure of the intelligent part of the soul
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is the pleasantest of the three, and that he of us, in whom
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this is the ruling principle, has the pleasantest life. Unquestionably, he said,
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the wise man speaks with authority when he approves of his own life.
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And what does the judge affirm to be the life which is next? And
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the pleasure which is next, clearly that of the soldier and lover of honor,
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who is nearer to himself than the money maker. Last comes the lover
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of gain. Very true, he said, twice in succession. Then has
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the just man overthrown the unjust in this conflict. And now comes the third
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trial, which is dedicated to Olympian Zeus the Savior. A sage whispers in
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my ear that no pleasure except that of the wise is quite true and pure.
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All others are a shadow only. And surely this will prove the greatest
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and most decisive of false. Yes, the greatest. But will you explain
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yourself. I will work out the subject and you shall answer my questions.
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Proceed, Say, then, is not pleasure opposite to pain? True?
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And there is a neutral state which is neither pleasure nor pain. There is
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a state which is intermediate and a sort of repose of the soul about either.
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That is what you mean. Yes, you remember what people say when
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they are sick. What do they say that, after all, nothing is
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pleasanter than health? But then they never knew this to be the greatest of
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pleasures until they were ill. Yes, I know, he said. And
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when persons are suffering from acute pain, you must have heard them say that
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there is nothing pleasanter than to get rid of their pain. I have.
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And there are many other cases of suffering in which the mere rest and cessation
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of pain, and not any positive enjoyment, is extolled by them as the
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greatest pleasure. Yes, he said. At the time they are pleased and
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well content to be at rest. Again, when pleasure ceases, that sort
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of rest or cessation will be painful, doubtless, he said. Then the
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intermediate state of rest will be pleasure and will also be pain, so it
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would seem. But can that which is neither become both? I should say
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not. And both pleasure and pain are motions of the soul, are they
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not? Yes? But that which is neither was just now shown to be
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rest and not motion, and in a mean between them. Yes. How
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then can we be right in supposing that the absence of pain is pleasure,
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or that the absence of pleasure is pain? Impossible? This then is an
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appearance only and not a reality. That is to say, the rest is
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pleasure at the moment, and in can comparison of what is painful and painful
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in comparison of what is pleasant. But all these representations, when tried by
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the test of true pleasure, are not real, but a sort of imposition,
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that is the inference. Look at the other class of pleasures, which
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have no antecedent pains, and you will no longer suppose, as you perhaps
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may at present, that pleasure is only the cessation of pain or pain of
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pleasure. What are they? He said? And where shall I find them?
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There are many of them. Take as an example, the pleasures of
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smell, which are very great and have no antecedent pains. They come in
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a moment, and when they depart, leave no pain behind them. Most
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true, he said, Let us not then be induced to believe that pure
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pleasure is the cessation of pain or pain of pleasure. No. Still,
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the more numerous and violent pleasures which reach the soul through the body are generally
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of this sort. There are reliefs of pain, that is true, and
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the anticipations of future pleasures and pains are of a like nature. Yes,
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shall I give you an illustration of them? Let me hear you would allow?
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I said that there is in nature an upper and lower and middle region.
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I should and if a person were to go from the lower to the
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middle region, would he not imagine that he is going up? And he
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who is standing in the middle and sees whence he has come, would imagine
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that he is already in the upper region if he has never seen the true
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upper world. To be sure, he said, how can he think otherwise?
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But if we were taken back again, he would imagine, and truly
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imagine that he was descending. No doubt all that would arise out of his
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ignorance of the true upper and middle and lower regions. Yes. End of
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Book nine, Part two