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22 - The Republic - Plato · The Philosophy Insights Collection

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Book six, Part two. Then shall we proceed to show that the corruption
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of the majority is also unavoidable, and that this is not to be laid
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to the charge of philosophy any more than the other by all means. And
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let us ask and answer in turn, first going back to the description of
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the gentle and noble nature, Truth, as you will remember, was his
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leader, whom he followed always, and in all things, failing in this
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he was an impostor, and had no part or lot in true philosophy.
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Yes, that was said, well, and is not this one quality to
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mention no others, greatly at variance with present notions of him? Certainly he
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said, And have we not a right to say in his defense that the
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true lover of knowledge is always striving after being, that is his nature.
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He will not rest in the multiplicity of individuals, which is an appearance only,
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but will go on the keen edge, will not be blunted, nor
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the force of his desire abate, until he have attained the knowledge of the
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true nature of every essence, by a sympathetic and kindred power in the soul,
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and by that power drawing near and mingling and becoming incorporate with very being.
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Having begotten mind and truth, he will have knowledge, and will live
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and grow truly. And then, and not till then, will he cease
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from his travail. Nothing he said can be more just than such a description
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of him. And will the love of a lie be any part of a
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philosopher's nature? Will he not utterly hate a lie? He will? And
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when truth is the captain, we cannot suspect any evil of the band which
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he leads impossible. Justice and health of mine will be of the company,
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and temperance will follow after true, he replied, Neither is there any reason
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why I should again set in array the philosopher's virtues, As you will,
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doubtless remember that courage, magnificence, apprehension, memory were his natural gifts.
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And you objected that although no one could deny what I then said, Still,
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if you leave words and look at facts, the persons who are thus
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described, are some of them manifestly useless, and the greater number utterly depraved.
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We were then led to inquire into the grounds of these accusations, and
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have now arrived at the point of asking why are the majority bad? Which
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question of necessity brought us back to the examination, and definition of the true
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philosopher exactly. And we have next to consider the corruptions of the philosophic nature.
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Why so many are spoiled and so few escape spoiling. I am speaking
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of those who were said to be useless but not wicked. And when we
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have done with them, we will speak of the imitators of philosophy. What
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manner of men are they who aspire after a profession which is above them and
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of which they are unworthy, And then, by their manifold inconsistencies, bring
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upon philosophy and upon all philosophers, that universal reprobation of which we speak.
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What are these corruptions? He said, I will see if I can explain
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them to you. Everyone will admit that a nature having imperfection all the qualities
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which we required in a philosopher, is a rare plant, which is seldom
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seen among men. Rare, indeed, And what numberless and powerful causes tend
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to destroy these rare natures? What causes? In the first place, there
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are their own virtues, their courage, temperance, and the rest of them,
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every one of which praise worthy qualities. And this is a most singular
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circumstance destroys and distracts from philosophy the soul, which is the possessor of them,
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that is very singular. He replied. Then there are all the ordinary
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goods of life, beauty, wealth, strength, rank, and great connections
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in the state you understand the sort of things. These also have a corrupting
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and distracting effect. I understand, but I should like to know more precisely
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what you mean about them. Grasp the truth as a whole, I said,
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And in the right way, you will then have no difficulty in apprehending
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the preceding remarks, and they will no longer appear strange to you. And
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how am I to do so? He asked, why? I said.
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We know that all or seeds, whether vegetable or animal, when they fail
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to meet with proper nutriment, or climate or soil in proportion to their vigor,
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are all the more sensitive to the want of a suitable environment. For
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evil is a greater enemy to what is good than to what is not.
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Very true, there is reason in supposing that the finest natures, when under
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alien conditions, receive more injury than the inferior, because the contrast is greater.
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Certainly, and may we not say adeimantus that the most gifted minds,
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when they are ill educated, become pre eminently bad. Do not great crimes
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and the spirit of pure evil spring out of a fullness of nature ruined by
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education, rather than from any inferiority, whereas weak natures are scarcely capable of
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any very great good or very great evil. There I think that you are
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right, And our philosopher follows the same analogy. He is like a plant,
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which, having proper nurture, must necessarily grow and mature into all virtue.
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But if sown and planted in an alien soil, becomes the most noxious
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of all weeds, unless he be preserved by some divine power. Do you
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really think, as people so often say that our youth are corrupted by sophists,
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or that private teachers of the art corrupt them in any degree worth speaking
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of? Are not the public who say these things the greatest of all sophists?
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And do they not educate to perfection young and old men and women alike,
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and fashion them after their own hearts. When is this accomplished, he
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said, when they meet together and the world sits down at an assembly or
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in a court of law or a theater or a camp, or in any
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other popular resort. And there is great uproar, and they praise some things
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which are being said or done, and blame other things, equally exaggerating both
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shouting and clapping their hands, And the echo of the rocks and the place
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in which they are assembled redoubles the sound of the praise or blame At such
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a time. Will not a young man's heart, as they say, leap
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within him? Will any private training enable him to stand firm against the overwhelming
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flood of popular opinion? Or will he be carried away by the stream.
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Will he not have the notions of good and evil which the public in general
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have? He will do as they do, and as they are such?
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Will he be, yes, Socrates, necessity will compel him. And yet
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I said, there is a still greater necessity which has not been mentioned.
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What is that the gentle force of attainder or confiscation or death, which,
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as you are aware, these new sophists and educators who are the public apply
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when their words are powerless. Indeed they do, and in right good earnest
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Now, what opinion of any other sophist, or of any private person can
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be expected to overcome in such an unequal contest. None, he replied.
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No, indeed, I said, even to make the attempt is a great
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piece of folly. There neither is, nor has been, nor is ever
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likely to be any different type of character which has had no other training in
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virtue, but that which is supplied by public opinion. I speak, my
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friend, of human virtue. Only what is more than human, as the
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proverb says, is not included. For I would not have you ignorant that
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in the present evil state of governments, whatever is saved and comes to good
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is saved by the power of God, as we may truly say. I
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quite assent, he replied, Then let me crave your assent also to a
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further observation. What are you going to say? Why that all those mercenary
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individuals whom the many equal sophists, and whom they deem to be their adversaries,
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do, in fact teach nothing but the opinion of the many, that
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is to say, the opinions of their assemblies, And this is their wisdom.
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I might compare them to a man who should study the tempers and desires
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of a mighty, strong beast who is fed by him. He would learn
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how to approach and handle him, so at what times and from what causes
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he is dangerous or the reverse? And what is the meaning of his several
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cries? And by what sounds when another utters them he is soothed or infuriated?
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And you misuppose further that when by continually attending upon him he has become
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perfect. In all this, he calls his knowledge wisdom, and makes of
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it a system or art, which he proceeds to teach, although he has
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no real notion of what he means by the principles or passions of which he
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is speaking, but calls this honorable and that dishonorable, or good, and
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evil or just or unjust, all in accordance with the tastes and tempers of
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the great brute. Good he pronounces to be that in which the beast delights,
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and evil to be that which he dislikes. And he can give no
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other account of them, except that the just and noble are the necessary,
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Having never himself seen, and having no power of explaining to others the nature
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of either, all the difference between them, which is immense by heaven,
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would not such a one be a rare educator? Indeed he would, And
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in what way does he who thinks that wisdom is the discernment of the tempers
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and tastes of the motley multitude, whether in painting or music, or finally
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in politics, differ from him whom I have been describing. For when a
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man consorts with the many and exhibits to them his poem or other work of
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art, or the service which he has done the state, making them his
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judges, when he is not obliged, the so called necessity of Diomede will
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oblige him to produce whatever they praise. And yet the reasons are utterly ludicrous,
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which they give in confirmation of their own notions about the honorable and good.
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Did you ever hear any of them which were not? No, nor
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am I likely to hear You recognize the truth of what I've been saying.
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Then let me ask you to consider further whether the world will ever be induced
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to believe in the existence of absolute beauty rather than of the many beautiful,
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or of the absolute in each kind rather than of the many in each kind.
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Certainly not. Then the world cannot possibly be a philosopher impossible, And
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therefore philosophers must inevitably fall under the censure of the world. They must and
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of individuals who consort with the mob and seek to please them. That is
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evident. Then do you see any way in which the philosopher can be preserved
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in his calling to the end? And remember what we were saying of him,
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that he was to have quickness and memory, and courage and magnificence.
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These were admitted by us to be the true philosopher's gifts. Yes, will
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not such an one from his early childhood be in all things, first among
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all, especially if his bodily endowments are like his mental ones? Certainly,
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he said, And his friends and fellow citizens will want to use him as
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he gets older for their own purposes, no question falling at his feet.
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They will make requests to him, and do him honor and flatter him,
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because they want to get into their hands now the power which he will one
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day possess. That often happens, he said. And what will a man
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such as he is be likely to do under such circumstances, especially if he
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be a citizen of a great city, rich and noble, and at all
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proper youth. Will he not be full of boundless aspirations and fancy himself able
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to manage the affairs of Hellenes and of barbarians, And having got such notions
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into his head, will he not dilate and elevate himself in the fullness of
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vain, pomp and senseless pride. To be sure he will now, when
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he is in this state of mind, if someone gently comes to him and
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tells him that he is a fool and must get understanding which can only be
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got by slaving for it? Do you think that under such adverse circumstances he
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will be easily induced to listen? Far otherwise? And even if there be
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some one who, through inherent goodness or natural reasonableness, has had his eyes
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opened a little and is humbled and taken captive by philosophy, how will his
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friends behead when they think that they are likely to lose the advantage which they
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were hoping to reap from his companionship. Will they not do and say anything
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to prevent him from yielding to his better nature and to render his teacher powerless?
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Using to this end private intrigues as well as public prosecutions. There can
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be no doubt of it. And how can one who is thus circumstanced ever
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become a philosopher? Impossible? Then, were we not right in saying that
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even the very qualities which make a man a philosopher, may, if he
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be ill educated, divert him from philosophy no less than riches and their accompaniments
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and the other so called goods of life. We were quite right. Thus,
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my excellent friend, is brought about all that ruin and failure which I've
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been describing of the nature's best adapted to the best of all pursuits. They
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are natures which we maintain to be rare at any time, this being the
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class out of which come the men who are the authors of the greatest evil
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to states and individuals, and also of the greatest good when the tide carries
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them in that direction. But a small man never was the doer of any
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great thing, either to individuals or to states. That is most true,
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he said. And so philosophy is left desolate, with her marriage right incomplete,
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for her own having fallen away and forsaken her. And while they are
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leading a false and unbecoming life, other unworthy persons, seeing that she has
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no kinsman to be her protectors, enter in and dishonor her, and fasten
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upon her the reproaches which, as you say, her reprovers utter, who
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affirm of her votaries that some are good for nothing, and that the greater
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number deserves the severest punishment. That is certainly what people say, Yes,
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and what else would you expect? I said, when you think of the
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puny creatures, who, seeing this land open to them, a land well
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stocked with fair names and showy titles, like prisoners running out of prison into
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a sanctuary, take a leap out of their trades into philosophy, those who
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do so being probably the cleverest hands at their own miserable crafts. For although
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philosophy be in this evil case, still there remains a dignity about her which
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is not to be found in the arts. And many are thus attracted by
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her, whose natures are imperfect, and whose souls are maimed and disfigured by
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their meannesses, as their bodies are by their trades and crafts. Is not
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this unavoidable? Yes? Are they? Not? Exactly like a ball's little
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tinker who has just got out of durance and come into a fortune. He
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takes a bath and puts on a new coat, and is decked out as
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a bridegroom going to marry his master's daughter, who is left poor and desolate
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a most exact parallel. What will be the issue of such marriages? Will
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they not be vile and bastard? There can be no question of it.
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And when persons who are unworthy of education approach philosophy and make an alliance with
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her, who is a rank above them, what sorts of ideas and opinions
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are likely to be generated? Will they not be sophisms captivating to the ear,
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having nothing in them genuine or worthy of or akin to true wisdom?
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No doubt, he said. Then adamantus I said, the worthy decided of
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philosophy will be but a small remnant. Perchance, some noble and well educated
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person detained by exile in her service, who, in the absence of corrupting
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influences, remains devoted to her, Or some lofty soul born in a mean
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city, the politics of which he contemns and neglects. And there may be
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a gifted few who leave the arts which they justly despise, and come to
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her. Or peradventure, there are some who are restrained by our friend the
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age's bridle, for everything in the life of the Aegees conspired to divert him
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from philosophy, but ill health kept him away from politics. My own case
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of the internal sign is hardly worth mentioning, for rarely, if ever,
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has such a monitor been given to any other man. Those who belong to
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this small class have tasted how sweet and blessed a ession philosophy is, and
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have also seen enough of the madness of the multitude. And they know that
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no politician is honest, nor is there any champion of justice at whose side
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they may fight and be saved. Such a one may be compared to a
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man who has fallen among wild beasts. He will not join in the wickedness
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of his fellows, but neither is he able singly to resist all their fierce
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natures. And therefore, seeing that he would be of no use to the
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state or to his friends, and reflecting that he would have to throw away
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his life without doing any good either to himself or others, he holds his
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peace and goes his own way. He is like one who, in the
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storm of dust and sleet which the driving wind hurries along, retires under the
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shelter of a wall, and, seeing the rest of mankind full of wickedness,
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he is content if only he can live his own life, and be
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pure from evil or unrighteousness, and depart in peace and good will with bright
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hopes, yes, he said, and he will have done a great work
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before he departs, A great work, yes, but not the greatest unless
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he finds a state suitable to him, For in a state which is suitable
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to him, he will have a larger growth and be the savior of his
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country as well as of himself. The causes why philosophy is in such an
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evil name have now been sufficiently explained. The injustice of the charges against her
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has been shown. Is there anything more which you wish to say? Nothing
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more on that subject, he replied, end of Book six, Part two,