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理想国|The Republic

第六卷|BOOK VI

属类： 双语小说 【分类】双语小说 -[作者: 柏拉图] 阅读：[4143]
《 字+字- 行+行- 页+页- 字+字- 行+行- 页+页- 》
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苏：那么，格劳孔，经过这么漫长而累人的讨论，我们终于搞清楚了，什么样的人才是真哲学家，什么样的人不是真哲学家了。

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格：要知道，欲速则不达呀。

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苏：我觉得不是这样。我还是认为，如果我们仅仅讨论这一个问题，如果不是还有许多其他的问题需要我们同时加以讨论的话（这些问题是一个希望弄清楚正义者的生活和不正义者的生活有何区别的人所必须研究的），我们或许把这个问题已经弄得更清楚了呢。

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格：且说，下面我们该讨论什么问题呢？

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苏：是的，我们应当考虑接下来要讨论的问题。既然哲学家是能把握永恒不变事物的人，而那些做不到这一点，被千差万别事物的多样性搞得迷失了方向的人就不是哲学家，那么，两种人我们应该让哪一种当城邦的领袖呢？

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格：你说我们怎么回答才对呢？

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苏：我认为谁看来最能守卫城邦的法律和习惯，就确定让谁做城邦的护卫者。

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格：对。

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苏：再说，一个不管是看守什么事物的人，应当用一个盲者呢还是用一个视力敏锐的人去担当呢？这个问题的答案该是一明二白的吧？

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格：当然是明明白白的。

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苏：你认为下述这种人与盲者有什么不同吗：他们不知道每一事物的实在，他们的心灵里没有任何清晰的原型，因而不能象画家看着自己要画的东西那样地注视着绝对真实，不断地从事复原工作，并且，在必要时尽可能真切地注视着原样，也在我们这里制订出关于美、正义和善的法律，并守护着它们？

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格：真的，这种人与盲者没有多大区别。

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苏：另外还有一种人，他们知道每一事物的实在，而且在经验方面也不少似上述那种人，在任何一种美德方面也不差似上述那种人，那么，我们还不任命这种人当护卫者反而去任命上述那种类似盲者的人当护卫者吗？

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格：的确，不挑选这种人当护卫者是荒唐的，如果他们在经验和别的美德方面都不差的话，因为他们这种懂得事物实在的知识或许是一切美德中最大的美德呢。

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苏：现在我们不是应该来讨论这样一个问题了吗：同一的人怎能真的具有这两个方面优点的？

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格：当然应该。

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苏：那么，正如这一讨论之初我们曾经说过的，我们首先必须弄清楚哲学家的天性；我还认为，如果我们在这个问题上取得了足够一致的意见，我们就也会在下列问题上取得一致的认识：同一的人们同时具有两种品质是可能的；以及，应当正是让这种人而不是让别种人当城邦的统治者。

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格：是吗？

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苏：让我们一致认为这一点是哲学家天性方面的东西吧：

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即永远酷爱那种能让他们看到永恒的不受产生与灭亡过程影响的实体的知识。

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格：就把这一点作为我们一致的看法吧。

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苏：再让我们一致认为：他们爱关于实体的知识是爱其全部，不会情愿拒绝它的一个无论大点的还是小点的，荣誉大点的还是荣誉小点的部分的。这全象我们前面在谈到爱者和爱荣誉者时所说过的那样。①

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①474C以下。

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格：你说得对。

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苏：那么请接下来研究一个问题：如果他们一定是我们所说过的那种人，那么在他们的天性里此外就一定不再有别种品质也是必具的了？

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格：哪种品质？

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苏：一个“真”字。他们永远不愿苟同一个“假”字，他们憎恶假，他们爱真。

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格：可能是的。

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苏：我的朋友呀，不是仅仅“可能”如此，是“完全必定”如此：一个人天性爱什么，他就会珍惜一切与之相近的东西。

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苏：你还能找到什么比真实与智慧关系更相近的吗？

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格：不能了。

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苏：那么，同一天性能够既爱智慧又爱假吗？

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格：是无论如何也不可能的。

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苏：因此，真正的爱知者应该从小时起就一直是追求全部真理的。

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格：无疑是的。

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苏：再说，凭经验我们知道，一个人的欲望在一个方面强时，在其他方面就会弱，这完全象水被引导流向了一个地方一样。

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格：是的。

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苏：当一个人的欲望被引导流向知识及一切这类事情上去时，我认为，他就会参与自身心灵的快乐，不去注意肉体的快乐，如果他不是一个冒牌的而是一个真正的哲学家的话。

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格：这是完全必然的。

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苏：这种人肯定是有节制的，是无论如何也不会贪财的；

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因为，别的人热心追求财富和巨大花费所要达到的那种目的①，是不会被他们当作一件重要事情对待的。

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①指物质享受，肉体的快乐。

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格：是这样。

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苏：在判别哲学家的天性和非哲学家的天性上还有一点是需要注意的。

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格：哪一点？

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苏：你可别疏忽了任何一点胸襟偏窄的毛病。因为哲学家在无论神还是人的事情上总是追求完整和完全的，没有什么比器量窄小和哲学家的这种心灵品质更其相反的了。

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格：绝对正确。

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苏：一个人眼界广阔，观察研究所有时代的一切实在，你想，他能把自己的一条性命看得很重大吗？

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格：不可能的。

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苏：因此，这种人也不会把死看作一件可怕的事情吧？

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格：绝对不会的。

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苏：那么，胆怯和狭隘看来不会属于真正哲学家的天性。

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格：我看不会。

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苏：一个性格和谐的人，既不贪财又不偏窄，既不自夸又不胆怯，这种人会待人刻薄处事不正吗？

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格：不会的。

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苏：因此，这也是你在识别哲学家或非哲学家灵魂时所要观察的一点：这人从小就是公正温良的呢还是粗暴凶残的呢？①

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①比读375B—C。

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格：的确。

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苏：我想你也不会疏忽这一点的。

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苏：学习起来聪敏还是迟钝呀。一个人做一件事如果做得不愉快，费了好大的劲然而成效甚微，你想他能真正热爱这项工作吗？

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苏：还有，一个人如果健忘，学了什么也记不得，他还能不是一个头脑空空的人吗？

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格：怎能不是呢？

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苏：因此，一个人如果劳而无功，他最后一定深恨自己和他所从事的那项工作。

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格：怎能不呢？

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苏：因此一个健忘的灵魂不能算作真正哲学家的天性，我们坚持哲学家要有良好的记性。

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格：完全对。

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苏：我们还应该坚持认为，天性不和谐、不适当只能导致没分寸，不能导致别的什么。

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格：一定是的。

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苏：你认为真理与有分寸相近呢还是与没分寸相近呢？

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格：和有分寸相近。

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苏：因此，除了别的品质而外，我们还得寻求天然有分寸而温雅的心灵，它本能地就很容易导向每一事物的理念。

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格：当然还得注意这一品质。

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苏：那么怎么样？我们还没有以某种方式给你证明，上面列述的诸品质是一个要充分完全地理解事物实在的灵魂所必须具备的又是相互关联的吗？

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格：是最必需的。

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苏：综上所述，一个人如果不是天赋具有良好的记性，敏于理解，豁达大度，温文而雅，爱好和亲近真理、正义、勇敢和节制，他是不能很好地从事哲学学习的。那么，如果是一个具备了这些优良品质的人从事这一学习，对此你还有什么可指摘的吗？

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格：对此虽玛摩斯①也无法挑剔了。

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①OωIμB，希腊神话中一个神，爱挑剔诸神的缺点。

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苏：因此，象这样的人——在他们教育完成了，年龄成熟了的时候——不是也只有这样的人你才肯把国家托付给他们吗？

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阿得曼托斯：苏格拉底啊，对于你上面所说的这些话虽然没人能加以反驳，然而这些一直在听着你刚才的讨论的人，他们觉得：他们由于缺乏问答法的经验，在每一问之后被你的论证一点儿一点儿地引入了歧途，这些一点儿一点儿的差误积累起来，到讨论进行到结论时，他们发现错误已经很大，结论已经和他们原先的看法相反了；他们觉得，这正如两人下棋，棋艺差的人最后被高手所困，一个子儿也走不动了一样，他们在这场不是使用棋子而是运用语言的竞技中也被最后逼得哑口无言了；然而真理是不会因口才高低而有任何改变的。我是注意到了刚才的讨论情况说这个话的。因为现在人们可能会说，他们虽然口才不好，不能在每一提问上反驳你，但作为事实，他们看到热爱哲学的那些人，不是仅仅为了完成自己的教育而学一点哲学并且在还年轻时就放下它，而是把学习它的时间拖得太长，以致其中大多数变成了怪人（我们且不说他们变成了坏蛋），而那些被认为是其中最优秀者的人物也还是被你们称赞的这种学习变成了对城邦无用的人。

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苏：〔听了他的这些话之后我说道〕：你认为他们说的这些话是错的吗？

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阿：我不知道，我很高兴听听你的意见。

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苏：你可以听到的意见大概是：“我觉得他们说得对。”

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阿：既然我们①一致认为哲学家对城邦无用，那么“在哲学家统治城邦之前城邦不能摆脱邪恶”——你的这个论断又怎能成立呢？

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①指对话者双方。

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苏：你的这个问题须用譬喻来解答。

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阿：啊，我想，你诚然不是惯于用譬喻说话的呀！

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苏：你已把我置于如此进退维谷的辩论境地，现在又来讥笑我了。不过，还得请你听我的比喻，然后你可以更清楚地看到，我是比喻得多么吃力了。因为，最优秀的人物他们在和城邦关系方面的感受是很不愉快的，并且世界上没有任何一种单一的事物和这种感受相象，因此为了比得象，以达到替他们辩护的目的，需要把许多东西凑到一起来拼成一个东西，象画家们画鹿羊之类怪物时进行拼合那样。好，请设想有一队船或一只船，船上发生这样的事情：船上有一个船长，他身高力大超过船上所有船员，但是耳朵有点聋，眼睛不怎么好使，他的航海知识也不太高明。船上水手们都争吵着要替代他做船长，都说自己有权掌舵，虽然他们从没学过航海术，都说不出自己在何时跟谁学过航海术。而且，他们还断言，航海术是根本无法教的，谁要是说可以教，他们就准备把他碎尸万段。同时，他们围住船长强求他，甚至不择手段地骗他把舵交给自己；有时他们失败了，别人被船长同意代为指挥，他们就杀死别人或把别人逐出船去，然后用麻醉药或酒之类东西把高贵的船长困住；他们夺得了船只的领导权，于是尽出船上库存，吃喝玩乐，他们就照自己希望的这么航行着。不仅如此，凡是曾经参与阴谋，狡猾地帮助过他们从船长手里夺取权力的人，不论是出过主意的还是出过力的，都被授以航海家、领航、船老大等等荣誉称号，对不同伙的人，他们就骂是废物。其实，真正的航海家必须注意年、季节、天空、星辰、风云，以及一切与航海有关的事情，如果他要成为船只的真正当权者的话；并且，不管别人赞成不赞成，这样的人是必定会成为航海家的。如果不是事实如此的话，那些人大概连想都没想到过，在学会航海学的同时精通和实践这一技术是有可能的。你再说说看，在发生过这种变故之后的船上，一个真正的航海家在这些篡了权的水手中会被怎样看待呢？他们不会把他叫做唠叨鬼、看星迷或大废物吗？

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阿：正是的。

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苏：那么我想你是不再需要听我来解释这个比喻了，因为你已经明白了，我是用它来说明一个真正的哲学家在城邦中的处境的。

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阿：的确。

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苏：那么，你碰到谁对哲学家在我们这些城邦里不受尊重的状况感到惊讶，就请你首先把这个比方说给他听一听，再努力使他相信，要是哲学家受到尊重，那才更是咄咄怪事呢！

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阿：行，就这么办。

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苏：你还要告诉他：他说哲学家中的最优秀者对于世人无用，这话是对的；但是同时也要对他说清楚，最优秀哲学家的无用其责任不在哲学本身，而在别人不用哲学家。因为，船长求水手们受他管带或者智者趋赴富人门庭，①都是不自然的。“智者们应趋富人门庭”这句俏皮话是不对的。真正合乎自然的事理应当是这样：一个人病了，不管他是穷人还是富人，应该是他趋赴医生的家门去找医生，任何要求管治的人应该是他们自己登门去请有能力管治他们的人来管他们。

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统治者如果真是有用的统治者，那么他去要求被统治者受他统治是不自然的。你如果把我们当前的政治统治者比作我们刚才所说的那种水手，把被他们称做废物、望星迷的哲学家比做真正的舵手，你是不会错的。

94
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①意思是：有学问的人向没有学问的富人表示敬意。

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阿：绝对正确。

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苏：因此，根据这些情况看来，在这样一些人当中，哲学这门最可贵的学问是不大可能得到反对者尊重的；然而使哲学蒙受最为巨大最为严重毁谤的还是那些自称也是搞哲学的人——他们就是你在指出哲学的反对者说大多数搞哲学的人都是坏蛋，而其中的优秀者也是无用的时，你心里所指的那些人；我当时也曾肯定过你的话是对的。①是这样吗？

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①见487D—E。

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阿：是的。

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苏：其中的优秀者所以无用，其原因我们有没有解释清楚呢？

100
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阿：已经解释清楚了。

101
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苏：那么，让我们接下来指出：大多数哲学家的变坏是不可避免的，以及，如果可以做得到的话，让我们再试着证明这也不能归咎于哲学。我们可以做这个了吗？

102
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阿：可以了。

103
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苏：让我们一问一答地，从回忆我们前面描述一个要成为美而善者的人必须从小具备的天性处说起吧。如果你还记得的话，真理是他时时处处要追随的领袖，否则他就是一个和真正哲学毫无关系的江湖骗子。

104
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阿：记得是这么说过的。

105
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苏：这一点不是跟今人对哲学家的看法刚好相反吗？

106
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苏：我们不是很有理由用如下的话为他辩护吗：追求真实存在是真正爱知者的天性；他不会停留在意见所能达到的多样的个别事物上的，他会继续追求，爱的锋芒不会变钝，爱的热情不会降低，直至他心灵中的那个能把握真实的，即与真实相亲近的部分接触到了每一事物真正的实体，并且通过心灵的这个部分与事物真实的接近，交合，生出了理性和真理，他才有了真知，才真实地活着成长着；到那时，也只有到那时，他才停止自己艰苦的追求过程？

107
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阿：理由不能再充分了。

108
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苏：这种人会爱虚假吗？或者正相反，他会恨它呢？

109
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阿：他会恨它的。

110
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苏：真理带路，我想我们大概可以说，不会有任何邪恶跟在这个队伍里的。

111
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阿：怎么可能呢？

112
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苏：真理的队伍里倒是有一个健康的和正义的心，由节制伴随着。

113
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阿：对。

114
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苏：没有必要从头再来证明一遍哲学家所应具的天性了吧？因为，你一定还记得，勇敢、大度、聪敏、强记是这种天赋所必具的品质。你曾提出反对意见说，虽然大家都不得不同意我们的话，但是，只要抛开言词，把注意力集中到言词所说到的那些人身上，大家就会说，他们所看到的实际是：那些人里有些是无用的，大多数则是干尽了坏事的。于是我们开始研究名声坏的原因，这方面现在我们已经走到了这一步①：

115
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①意思是：有些学哲学的人于世无用的问题已经讨论过了。

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阿：的确难得。

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下面要研究，为什么其中大多数人变坏了的？为此我们重新提出了真正哲学家的天性问题并且确定了它必须是什么。

118
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阿：是这样。

119
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苏：我们必须在下面研究哲学家天性的败坏问题：为什么大多数人身上这种天性败坏了，而少数人没有；这少数人就是虽没被说成坏蛋，但被说成无用的那些人。然后我们再考察那些硬打扮成哲学家样子，自称是在研究哲学的人，看一看他们的灵魂天赋，看一看这种人是在怎样奢望着一种他们所不能也不配高攀的研究工作，并且以自己的缺乏一贯原则，所到之处给哲学带来了你所说的那种坏名声。

120
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阿：你所说的败坏是什么意思呢？

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苏：我将尽我所知试解释给你听。我想，任何人都会同意我们这一点：象我们刚才要求于一个完美哲学家的这种天赋是很难能在人身上生长出来的，即使有，也是只在很少数人身上生长出来的。你不这样认为吗？

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苏：请注意，败坏它的那些因素却是又多又强大的呢！

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阿：有哪些因素？

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苏：就中最使人惊讶的是，我们所称赞的那些自然天赋，其中每一个都能败坏自己所属的那个灵魂，拉着它离开哲学；

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这我是指的勇敢、节制，以及我们列举过的其余这类品质。

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阿：这听起来荒唐。

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苏：此外还有全部所谓的生活福利——美观、富裕、身强体壮、在城邦里有上层家族关系，以及与此关连的一切——

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这些因素也都有这种作用，我想你是明白我的意思的。

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阿：我明白；但是很高兴听到你更详细的论述。

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苏：你要把问题作为一个整体来正确地理解它。这样你就会觉得它很容易明白，对于我前面说的那些话你也就不会认为它荒唐了。

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阿：那么你要我怎么来理解呢？

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苏：我们知道，任何种子或胚芽（无论植物的还是动物的）如果得不到合适的养分、季节、地点，那么，它愈是强壮，离达到应有的发育成长程度就愈远，因为，恶对善比对不善而言是一更大的反对力量。

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苏：因此我认为这也是很合理的：如果得到的是不适合的培养，那么最好的天赋就会比差的天赋所得到的结果更坏。

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苏：因此，阿得曼托斯啊，我们不是同样可以说：天赋最好的灵魂受到坏的教育之后就会变得比谁都坏吗？或者，你认为巨大的罪行和纯粹的邪恶来自天赋差的，而不是来自天赋好的但被教育败坏了的人吗？须知一个天赋贫弱的人是永远不会做出任何大事（无论好事还是坏事）的。

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阿：不，还是你说得对。

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苏：那么，我们所假定的哲学家的天赋，如果得到了合适的教导，必定会成长而达到完全的至善。但是，如果他象一株植物，不是在所需要的环境中被播种培养，就会长成一个完全相反的东西，除非有什么神力保佑。或者你也象许多人那样，相信真有什么青年被所谓诡辩家①所败坏，相信真有什么私人诡辩家够得上说败坏了青年？说这些话的人自己才真是最大的诡辩家呢！不正是他们自己在最成功地教育着男的、女的、老的、少的，并且按照他们自己的意图在塑造着这些人吗？

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①柏拉图这里指象苏格拉底和他自己这类私人教师，与所谓的公众诡辩家对照。后者指那些用雄辩的演说在公共场所影响舆论的政治活动家或野心家。

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阿：什么时候？

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苏：每当许多人或聚集到一起开会，或出席法庭听取审判，或到剧场看戏，或到兵营过军事生活，或参加其他任何公共活动，他们就利用这些场合大呼小叫，或指责或赞许一些正在做的事或正在说的话，无论他们的指责还是赞许，无不言过其实；他们鼓掌哄闹，引起岩壁和会场的回声，闹声回声互助声势，变得加倍响亮。在这种场合你想一个年轻听众的心，如所说的，会怎么活动呢？有什么私人给他的教导能站得住不被众人的指责或赞许的洪流所卷走？他能不因此跟着大家说话，大家说好他也说好，大家说坏他也说坏，甚至跟大家一样地行事，并进而成为他们那样的人吗？

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阿：苏格拉底啊，这是完全必然的。

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苏：有一个最重要的“必然”我们还从未提到过呢？

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阿：哪一个呀？

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苏：这些教育家和诡辩家在用言词说不服的时候就用行动来强加于人。你没听说过他们用剥夺公民权、罚款和死刑来惩治不服的人吗？

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阿：他们的确是这样干的。

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苏：那么，你想有什么别的诡辩家①或私人教师的教导有希望能在这种力量悬殊的对抗中取得胜利呢？

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①诡辩家初时指教人修辞和辩论术的职业教师，并无贬意，也有译为“智者”的。后来才逐渐堕落为一批指黑为白之徒。

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阿：我想是一个也没有的。

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苏：连起这种念头都是一个很大的愚蠢。因为用美德教育顶着这股公众教育的势力造就出一种美德来，这样的事情现在没有，过去不曾有过，今后也是永远不会有的。朋友，这我当然是指的人力而不是指的神功，神功（正如俗语所说的）不是一码子事。你大可以相信，在当前这样的政治状况下，如果竟有什么德性得救，得到一个好的结果，那么，你说这是神力保佑，是不会有错的。

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阿：我没有异议。

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苏：那么此外还有一点也希望你没有异议。

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阿：哪一点？

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苏：这些被政治家叫做诡辩派加以敌视的收取学费的私人教师，其实他们并不教授别的，也只教授众人在集会时所说出的意见，并称之为智慧。这完全象一个饲养野兽的人在饲养过程中了解野兽的习性和要求那样。他了解如何可以同它接近，何时何物能使它变得最为可怕或最为温驯，各种情况下它惯常发出几种什么叫声，什么声音能使它温驯，什么声音能使它发野。这人在不断饲养接触过程中掌握了所有这些知识，把它叫做智慧，组成一套技艺，并用以教人。至于这些意见和要求的真实，其中什么是美的什么是丑的，什么是善的什么是恶的，什么是正义的什么是不正义的，他全都一无所知。他只知道按猛兽的意见使用所有这些名词儿，猛兽所喜欢的，他就称之为善，猛兽所不喜欢的，他就称之为恶。他讲不出任何别的道理来，只知道称必然①的东西为正义的和美的。他从未看到过，也没有能力给别人解释必然者和善者的本质实际上差别是多么的大。说真的，你不觉得这样一个人是一个荒谬的教师吗？

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①PιBμδJιαM’Lαγη（“迪俄墨得斯的必须”或，“迪俄墨得斯的强迫”）是一句俗语，暗指佛拉吉亚的比斯同人的国王迪俄墨得斯的故事。传说这位国王曾强迫自己的俘虏和自己的女儿们同居。M’LM′γη译为“必然”、“必须”、“必定”都可以，是一个意思。

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苏：有人认为无论在绘画、音乐，还是甚至政治上，他的智慧就是懂得辨别五光十色的人群集会时所表现出来的喜怒情绪，那么你觉得他和上述饲养野兽的那种人又有什么区别呢？如果一个人和这种群众搞在一起，把自己的诗或其他的什么艺术作品或为城邦服务所做的事情放到他们的面前来听取他们的批评，没有必要地承认群众对他的权威，那么这种所谓“迪俄墨得斯的必须”①就会使他创作出（做出）他们所喜欢的东西（事情）来。但是，你可曾听说过有哪一条他拿来证明群众所喜欢的这些东西真是善的和美的的理由不是完全荒谬的？

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阿：我过去没听说过，我想以后也不会听到的。

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苏：那么，请你把所有这些话牢记心上，再回想到前面的问题上去。能有许多人承认或相信真实存在的只有美本身①而不是众多美的事物，或者说，有的只是任何事物本身①而不是许多个别特殊的东西？

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①希腊文αH′EK′（本身），作为哲学用语，常常意指从一般的抽象的意义上理解的某事物，即指事物的“本质”、“实体”或“理念”。

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阿：绝对不可能。

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苏：因此，能有许多人成为哲学家吗？

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阿：不可能。

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苏：因此，研究哲学的人受到他们非难是必然的不可避免的。

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阿：是必不可免的。

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苏：那些跟众人混在一起讨取他们赞许的私人教师，他们非难哲学家也是必然的。

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阿：显然是的。

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苏：从这些情况你看到天生的哲学家有什么办法可以坚持自己的研究一直走到底吗？请你考虑这个问题时不要离开我们前面讲过了的话。我们曾一致同意：敏于学习，强于记忆、勇敢、大度是哲学家的天赋。

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苏：这种人从童年起不就常常一直是孩子中的尖子吗，尤其是假如他的身体素质也能和灵魂的天赋相匹配的话？

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阿：干吗不是呢？

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苏：我想，他的亲友和本城邦的同胞都会打算等他长大了用他为自己办事的。

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阿：当然。

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苏：因此他们将跪到他的脚下，向他祈求，向他致敬，估量着他将来的权力，向他献媚。

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阿：这种现象是常见的。

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苏：在这种情况下，你以为这个年轻人会怎么样呢，尤其是，假如他是一个大邦的公民，在这里富有财产，出身高贵，再加上人品俊秀身材魁伟的话？他不会野心勃勃而不能自制，幻想自己不仅有能力支派希腊人的事务而且有能力支配希腊世界以外的事务，于是乎妄自尊大骄奢自满起来吗？

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阿：他肯定会这样的。

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苏：一个处于这种精神状态下的人，如果有别人轻轻地走来对他说真话：他头脑胡涂，需要理性，而理性是只有通过奴隶般的艰苦磨练才能得到的，你以为在这种恶劣环境里他能容易听得进不同的话吗？

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阿：绝对不能。

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苏：即使我们假定这个青年由于素质好容易接受忠言，听懂了一点，动了心，被引向了哲学之路，我们可以设想，这时他原来那个圈子里的人由于预感到自己将不再能得到他的帮忙，他们将如何动作呢？他们就不说任何话做任何事来阻挠他被说服并使任何想说服他的人都无能为力——既用私人阴谋又用公众控告来达到这个目的吗？

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阿：这是完全必然的。

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苏：那么，这个人还能继续研究哲学吗？

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阿：根本不可能了。

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苏：因此你看到我们说得不错吧：构成哲学家天赋的那些品质本身如果受到坏教育或坏环境的影响，就会成为某种背离哲学研究的原因，跟所谓的美观、富裕，以及所有这类的生活福利一样？

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阿：说得对。

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苏：我的好朋友，适合于最善学问的最佳天赋——我们说过，它在任何情况下都是很难得的——其灭亡的道理就是这样，也就说这么多。对城邦和个人作大恶的人出自这一类；

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同样，造大福于城邦和个人的人——如果碰巧有潮流带着他朝这方向走的话——也来自这类；反之，天赋平庸的人无论对城邦还是对个人都是做不出什么大事来的。

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苏：那些最配得上哲学的人就这么离弃了哲学，使她①孤独凄凉，他们自己也因而过着不合适的不真实的生活；与此同时那些配不上的追求者看到哲学没有亲人保护，乘虚而入，玷污了她，并使她蒙受了（如你指出的）她的反对者加给她的那些恶名——说她的配偶有些是一无用处的，多数是应对许多罪恶负责的。

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①把哲学比作一个妇女。

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阿：是的，这些话的确有人说过。

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苏：这些话是很有道理的。因为还有一种小人，他们发现这个地方没有主人，里面却满是美名和荣誉头衔，他们就象一些逃出监狱进了神殿的囚徒一样，跳出了自己的技艺圈子（这些人在自己的小手艺方面或许还是很巧的），进入了哲学的神殿。须知，哲学虽然眼下处境不妙，但依然还保有较之其他技艺为高的声誉。许多不具完善天赋的人就这么被吸引了过来，虽然他们的灵魂已因从事下贱的技艺和职业而变得残废和畸形，正象他们的身体受到他们的技艺和职业损坏一样。

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他们被哲学吸引过来不是必然的吗？

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苏：他们不全象一个刚从监狱中释放出来并且走了好运的癞头小铜匠吗：他洗了个澡，穿了件新外套，打扮得象个新郎，去和他主人的女儿——一个失去了照顾，处于贫穷孤独境地的姑娘——结婚？

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阿：一模一样。

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苏：这样的一对能生出什么样的后代呢？不是劣等的下贱货吗？

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阿：必然是的。

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苏：因此，当那些不配学习哲学的人，不相称地和哲学结合起来的时候，我们该说他们会“生出”什么样的思想和意见来呢？他们不会“生出”确实可以被恰当地叫做诡辩的，其中没有任何真实的，配得上或接近于真知的东西来吗？

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苏：因此，阿得曼托斯，剩下来配得上研究哲学的人就只有其中微乎其微的一部分了：他们或是出身高贵又受过良好教育的人处于流放之中，因而没受到腐蚀，依然在真正地从事哲学；或是一个伟大的灵魂生于一个狭小的城邦，他不屑于关注这个小国的事务；少数人或许由于天赋优秀，脱离了他所正当藐视的其他技艺，改学了哲学；还有一些人，也许是我们的朋友塞亚格斯①的缺陷束缚了他们，须知就塞亚格斯而言，背离哲学的所有其他条件都是具备的，但是他病弱的身体使他脱离了政治，没能背离哲学。至于我自己的情况则完全是例外，那是神迹，是以前很少有别人遇到过的，或者压根儿就从来不曾有任何人碰到过的。已经属于这极少数的道中之人，他们尝到了拥有哲学的甜头和幸福，已经充分地看到了群众的疯狂，知道在当前的城邦事务中没有什么可以说是健康的，也没有一个人可以作正义战士的盟友，援助他们，使他们免于毁灭的。这极少数的真哲学家全象一个人落入了野兽群中一样，既不愿意参与作恶，又不能单枪匹马地对抗所有野兽，因此，大概只好在能够对城邦或朋友有所帮助之前就对己对人都无贡献地早死了。——由于所有这些缘故，所以哲学家都保持沉默，只注意自己的事情。他们就象一个在暴风卷起尘土或雨雪时避于一堵墙下的人一样，看别人干尽不法，但求自己得能终生不沾上不正义和罪恶，最后怀着善良的愿望和美好的期待而逝世，也就心满意足了。

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①塞亚格斯其人另见于柏拉图的《苏格拉底的申辩》33E，及伪托的《塞亚格斯》篇对话。他是苏格拉底的学生。

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阿：噢，他生前的成就不算最小呀！

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苏：〔不是最小，但也不算最大。〕要不是碰巧生活在一个合适的国度里，一个哲学家是不可能有最大成就的，因为只有在一个合适的国家里，哲学家本人才能得到充分的成长，进而能以保卫自己的和公共的利益。

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哲学受到非议的原因以及非议的不公正性，我觉得我已经解释得很充分了。你还有什么话要说的吗？

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阿：关于这个问题我再没有什么要说的了。但是你看当今的政治制度哪一种适合于哲学呢？

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苏：一个也没有。现行的政治制度我所以怨它们，正是因为其中没有一种是适合哲学本性的。哲学的本性也正是由于这个缘故而堕落变质的。正如种子被播种在异乡土地上，结果通常总是被当地水土所克服而失去本性那样，哲学的生长也如此，在不合适的制度下保不住自己的本性，而败坏变质了。

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哲学如果能找到如它本身一样最善的政治制度，那时可以看得很明白，哲学确实是神物，而其他的一切，无论天赋还是学习和工作，都不过是人事。到此我知道下面你要问，这个最善的政治制度是什么了。

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阿：你猜错了；我要问的是另一个问题，即，它是不是我们在描述“建立”的这个城邦？

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苏：从别的方面看，它就是我们的那一个；但是还有一点我们以前曾说过，即，在这样一个国家里必须永远有这样一个人物存在：他对这个国家的制度抱有和你作为一个立法者在为它立法时一样的想法。

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阿：是的，那一点曾经说过的。

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苏：但是，对它的解释还不充分；你的插言反驳曾使我们害怕，而这些反驳也的确表明：这一讨论是漫长的和困难的；单是剩下来要解释的这个部分也绝不是容易的。

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阿：剩下来要解释的是什么呢？

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苏：是这样一个问题：一个受哲学主宰的城邦怎样可以不腐败呢？一切远大目标沿途都是有风险的，俗话说得对：好事多磨嘛。

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阿：还是让我们把这个问题弄清楚了，以结束这一解释工作吧。

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苏：不是我缺少愿望，如果说缺少什么的话，是缺少能力——只有这一点可能妨碍我。但是你会亲眼看到我的热忱的。还要请你注意到，我将多么热忱和勇敢地宣称，这个城邦应该用和当前完全相反的做法来从事哲学研究。

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阿：怎么做法？

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苏：当前，人们研究哲学时还是少年，他们在童年和成家立业之间这个阶段学习哲学。他们在刚刚开始接触到它的最困难部分（我指的是推理论证）时放弃了学习，他们这就被认为是一个完全的哲学家了。以后，如果他们有机会应邀去听一次别人的哲学辩论，就认为这是件大事了。他们认为这种事是应该在业余的时间做的。到了老年，他们很少例外地比赫拉克利特的太阳熄灭得更彻底①，以致再也不能重新亮起来了。

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①见第尔斯辑录i、3，原书78页，残篇6。参见，亚里士多德《气象学》ii、2、9；卢克莱修《物性论》第V卷662行，中译本306页注①。

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And thus, Glaucon, after the argument has gone a weary way, the true and the false philosophers have at length appeared in view.

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I do not think, he said, that the way could have been shortened.

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I suppose not, I said; and yet I believe that we might have had a better view of both of them if the discussion could have been confined to this one subject and if there were not many other questions awaiting us, which he who desires to see in what respect the life of the just differs from that of the unjust must consider.

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And what is the next question? he asked.

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Surely, I said, the one which follows next in order. Inasmuch as philosophers only are able to grasp the eternal and unchangeable, and those who wander in the region of the many and variable are not philosophers, I must ask you which of the two classes should be the rulers of our State?

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And how can we rightly answer that question?

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Whichever of the two are best able to guard the laws and institutions of our State—let them be our guardians.

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Very good.

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Neither, I said, can there be any question that the guardian who is to keep anything should have eyes rather than no eyes?

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There can be no question of that.

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And are not those who are verily and indeed wanting in the knowledge of the true being of each thing, and who have in their souls no clear pattern, and are unable as with a painter's eye to look at the absolute truth and to that original to repair, and having perfect vision of the other world to order the laws about beauty, goodness, justice in this, if not already ordered, and to guard and preserve the order of them—are not such persons, I ask, simply blind?

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Truly, he replied, they are much in that condition.

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And shall they be our guardians when there are others who, besides being their equals in experience and falling short of them in no particular of virtue, also know the very truth of each thing?

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There can be no reason, he said, for rejecting those who have this greatest of all great qualities; they must always have the first place unless they fail in some other respect.

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Suppose then, I said, that we determine how far they can unite this and the other excellences.

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By all means.

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In the first place, as we began by observing, the nature of the philosopher has to be ascertained. We must come to an understanding about him, and, when we have done so, then, if I am not mistaken, we shall also acknowledge that such an union of qualities is possible, and that those in whom they are united, and those only, should be rulers in the State.

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What do you mean?

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Let us suppose that philosophical minds always love knowledge of a sort which shows them the eternal nature not varying from generation and corruption.

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Agreed.

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And further, I said, let us agree that they are lovers of all true being; there is no part whether greater or less, or more or less honourable, which they are willing to renounce; as we said before of the lover and the man of ambition.

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True.

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And if they are to be what we were describing, is there not another quality which they should also possess?

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What quality?

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Truthfulness: they will never intentionally receive into their mind falsehood, which is their detestation, and they will love the truth.

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Yes, that may be safely affirmed of them.

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'May be,' my friend, I replied, is not the word; say rather 'must be affirmed:' for he whose nature is amorous of anything cannot help loving all that belongs or is akin to the object of his affections.

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Right, he said.

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And is there anything more akin to wisdom than truth?

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How can there be?

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Can the same nature be a lover of wisdom and a lover of falsehood?

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Never.

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The true lover of learning then must from his earliest youth, as far as in him lies, desire all truth?

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Assuredly.

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But then again, as we know by experience, he whose desires are strong in one direction will have them weaker in others; they will be like a stream which has been drawn off into another channel.

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True.

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He whose desires are drawn towards knowledge in every form will be absorbed in the pleasures of the soul, and will hardly feel bodily pleasure—I mean, if he be a true philosopher and not a sham one.

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That is most certain.

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Such an one is sure to be temperate and the reverse of covetous; for the motives which make another man desirous of having and spending, have no place in his character.

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Very true.

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Another criterion of the philosophical nature has also to be considered.

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What is that?

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There should be no secret corner of illiberality; nothing can be more antagonistic than meanness to a soul which is ever longing after the whole of things both divine and human.

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Most true, he replied.

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Then how can he who has magnificence of mind and is the spectator of all time and all existence, think much of human life?

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He cannot.

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Or can such an one account death fearful?

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No indeed.

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Then the cowardly and mean nature has no part in true philosophy?

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Certainly not.

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Or again: can he who is harmoniously constituted, who is not covetous or mean, or a boaster, or a coward—can he, I say, ever be unjust or hard in his dealings?

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Impossible.

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Then you will soon observe whether a man is just and gentle, or rude and unsociable; these are the signs which distinguish even in youth the philosophical nature from the unphilosophical.

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True.

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There is another point which should be remarked.

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What point?

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Whether he has or has not a pleasure in learning; for no one will love that which gives him pain, and in which after much toil he makes little progress.

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Certainly not.

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And again, if he is forgetful and retains nothing of what he learns, will he not be an empty vessel?

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That is certain.

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Labouring in vain, he must end in hating himself and his fruitless occupation? Yes.

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Then a soul which forgets cannot be ranked among genuine philosophic natures; we must insist that the philosopher should have a good memory?

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Certainly.

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And once more, the inharmonious and unseemly nature can only tend to disproportion?

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Undoubtedly.

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And do you consider truth to be akin to proportion or to disproportion?

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To proportion.

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Then, besides other qualities, we must try to find a naturally well-proportioned and gracious mind, which will move spontaneously towards the true being of everything.

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Certainly.

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Well, and do not all these qualities, which we have been enumerating, go together, and are they not, in a manner, necessary to a soul, which is to have a full and perfect participation of being?

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They are absolutely necessary, he replied.

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And must not that be a blameless study which he only can pursue who has the gift of a good memory, and is quick to learn,—noble, gracious, the friend of truth, justice, courage, temperance, who are his kindred?

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The god of jealousy himself, he said, could find no fault with such a study.

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And to men like him, I said, when perfected by years and education, and to these only you will entrust the State.

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Here Adeimantus interposed and said: To these statements, Socrates, no one can offer a reply; but when you talk in this way, a strange feeling passes over the minds of your hearers: They fancy that they are led astray a little at each step in the argument, owing to their own want of skill in asking and answering questions; these littles accumulate, and at the end of the discussion they are found to have sustained a mighty overthrow and all their former notions appear to be turned upside down. And as unskilful players of draughts are at last shut up by their more skilful adversaries and have no piece to move, so they too find themselves shut up at last; for they have nothing to say in this new game of which words are the counters; and yet all the time they are in the right. The observation is suggested to me by what is now occurring. For any one of us might say, that although in words he is not able to meet you at each step of the argument, he sees as a fact that the votaries of philosophy, when they carry on the study, not only in youth as a part of education, but as the pursuit of their maturer years, most of them become strange monsters, not to say utter rogues, and that those who may be considered the best of them are made useless to the world by the very study which you extol.

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Well, and do you think that those who say so are wrong?

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I cannot tell, he replied; but I should like to know what is your opinion.

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Hear my answer; I am of opinion that they are quite right.

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Then how can you be justified in saying that cities will not cease from evil until philosophers rule in them, when philosophers are acknowledged by us to be of no use to them?

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You ask a question, I said, to which a reply can only be given in a parable.

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Yes, Socrates; and that is a way of speaking to which you are not at all accustomed, I suppose.

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I perceive, I said, that you are vastly amused at having plunged me into such a hopeless discussion; but now hear the parable, and then you will be still more amused at the meagreness of my imagination: for the manner in which the best men are treated in their own States is so grievous that no single thing on earth is comparable to it; and therefore, if I am to plead their cause, I must have recourse to fiction, and put together a figure made up of many things, like the fabulous unions of goats and stags which are found in pictures. Imagine then a fleet or a ship in which there is a captain who is taller and stronger than any of the crew, but he is a little deaf and has a similar infirmity in sight, and his knowledge of navigation is not much better. The sailors are quarrelling with one another about the steering—every one is of opinion that he has a right to steer, though he has never learned the art of navigation and cannot tell who taught him or when he learned, and will further assert that it cannot be taught, and they are ready to cut in pieces any one who says the contrary. They throng about the captain, begging and praying him to commit the helm to them; and if at any time they do not prevail, but others are preferred to them, they kill the others or throw them overboard, and having first chained up the noble captain's senses with drink or some narcotic drug, they mutiny and take possession of the ship and make free with the stores; thus, eating and drinking, they proceed on their voyage in such manner as might be expected of them. Him who is their partisan and cleverly aids them in their plot for getting the ship out of the captain's hands into their own whether by force or persuasion, they compliment with the name of sailor, pilot, able seaman, and abuse the other sort of man, whom they call a good-for-nothing; but that the true pilot must pay attention to the year and seasons and sky and stars and winds, and whatever else belongs to his art, if he intends to be really qualified for the command of a ship, and that he must and will be the steerer, whether other people like or not—the possibility of this union of authority with the steerer's art has never seriously entered into their thoughts or been made part of their calling. Now in vessels which are in a state of mutiny and by sailors who are mutineers, how will the true pilot be regarded? Will he not be called by them a prater, a star-gazer, a good-for-nothing?

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Of course, said Adeimantus.

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Then you will hardly need, I said, to hear the interpretation of the figure, which describes the true philosopher in his relation to the State; for you understand already.

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Certainly.

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Then suppose you now take this parable to the gentleman who is surprised at finding that philosophers have no honour in their cities; explain it to him and try to convince him that their having honour would be far more extraordinary.

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I will.

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Say to him, that, in deeming the best votaries of philosophy to be useless to the rest of the world, he is right; but also tell him to attribute their uselessness to the fault of those who will not use them, and not to themselves. The pilot should not humbly beg the sailors to be commanded by him—that is not the order of nature; neither are 'the wise to go to the doors of the rich'—the ingenious author of this saying told a lie—but the truth is, that, when a man is ill, whether he be rich or poor, to the physician he must go, and he who wants to be governed, to him who is able to govern. The ruler who is good for anything ought not to beg his subjects to be ruled by him; although the present governors of mankind are of a different stamp; they may be justly compared to the mutinous sailors, and the true helmsmen to those who are called by them good-for-nothings and star-gazers.

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Precisely so, he said.

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For these reasons, and among men like these, philosophy, the noblest pursuit of all, is not likely to be much esteemed by those of the opposite faction; not that the greatest and most lasting injury is done to her by her opponents, but by her own professing followers, the same of whom you suppose the accuser to say, that the greater number of them are arrant rogues, and the best are useless; in which opinion I agreed.

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Yes.

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And the reason why the good are useless has now been explained?

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True.

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Then shall we proceed to show that the corruption of the majority is also unavoidable, and that this is not to be laid to the charge of philosophy any more than the other?

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By all means.

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And let us ask and answer in turn, first going back to the description of the gentle and noble nature. Truth, as you will remember, was his leader, whom he followed always and in all things; failing in this, he was an impostor, and had no part or lot in true philosophy.

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Yes, that was said.

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Well, and is not this one quality, to mention no others, greatly at variance with present notions of him?

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Certainly, he said.

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And have we not a right to say in his defence, that the true lover of knowledge is always striving after being—that is his nature; he will not rest in the multiplicity of individuals which is an appearance only, but will go on—the keen edge will not be blunted, nor the force of his desire abate until he have attained the knowledge of the true nature of every essence by a sympathetic and kindred power in the soul, and by that power drawing near and mingling and becoming incorporate with very being, having begotten mind and truth, he will have knowledge and will live and grow truly, and then, and not till then, will he cease from his travail.

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Nothing, he said, can be more just than such a description of him.

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And will the love of a lie be any part of a philosopher's nature? Will he not utterly hate a lie?

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He will.

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And when truth is the captain, we cannot suspect any evil of the band which he leads?

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Impossible.

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Justice and health of mind will be of the company, and temperance will follow after?

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True, he replied.

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Neither is there any reason why I should again set in array the philosopher's virtues, as you will doubtless remember that courage, magnificence, apprehension, memory, were his natural gifts. And you objected that, although no one could deny what I then said, still, if you leave words and look at facts, the persons who are thus described are some of them manifestly useless, and the greater number utterly depraved; we were then led to enquire into the grounds of these accusations, and have now arrived at the point of asking why are the majority bad, which question of necessity brought us back to the examination and definition of the true philosopher.

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Exactly.

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And we have next to consider the corruptions of the philosophic nature, why so many are spoiled and so few escape spoiling—I am speaking of those who were said to be useless but not wicked—and, when we have done with them, we will speak of the imitators of philosophy, what manner of men are they who aspire after a profession which is above them and of which they are unworthy, and then, by their manifold inconsistencies, bring upon philosophy, and upon all philosophers, that universal reprobation of which we speak.

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What are these corruptions? he said.

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I will see if I can explain them to you. Every one will admit that a nature having in perfection all the qualities which we required in a philosopher, is a rare plant which is seldom seen among men.

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Rare indeed.

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And what numberless and powerful causes tend to destroy these rare natures!

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What causes?

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In the first place there are their own virtues, their courage, temperance, and the rest of them, every one of which praiseworthy qualities (and this is a most singular circumstance) destroys and distracts from philosophy the soul which is the possessor of them.

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That is very singular, he replied.

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Then there are all the ordinary goods of life—beauty, wealth, strength, rank, and great connections in the State—you understand the sort of things—these also have a corrupting and distracting effect.

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I understand; but I should like to know more precisely what you mean about them.

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Grasp the truth as a whole, I said, and in the right way; you will then have no difficulty in apprehending the preceding remarks, and they will no longer appear strange to you.

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And how am I to do so? he asked.

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Why, I said, we know that all germs or seeds, whether vegetable or animal, when they fail to meet with proper nutriment or climate or soil, in proportion to their vigour, are all the more sensitive to the want of a suitable environment, for evil is a greater enemy to what is good than to what is not.

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Very true.

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There is reason in supposing that the finest natures, when under alien conditions, receive more injury than the inferior, because the contrast is greater.

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Certainly.

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And may we not say, Adeimantus, that the most gifted minds, when they are ill-educated, become pre-eminently bad? Do not great crimes and the spirit of pure evil spring out of a fulness of nature ruined by education rather than from any inferiority, whereas weak natures are scarcely capable of any very great good or very great evil?

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There I think that you are right.

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And our philosopher follows the same analogy—he is like a plant which, having proper nurture, must necessarily grow and mature into all virtue, but, if sown and planted in an alien soil, becomes the most noxious of all weeds, unless he be preserved by some divine power. Do you really think, as people so often say, that our youth are corrupted by Sophists, or that private teachers of the art corrupt them in any degree worth speaking of? Are not the public who say these things the greatest of all Sophists? And do they not educate to perfection young and old, men and women alike, and fashion them after their own hearts?

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When is this accomplished? he said.

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When they meet together, and the world sits down at an assembly, or in a court of law, or a theatre, or a camp, or in any other popular resort, and there is a great uproar, and they praise some things which are being said or done, and blame other things, equally exaggerating both, shouting and clapping their hands, and the echo of the rocks and the place in which they are assembled redoubles the sound of the praise or blame—at such a time will not a young man's heart, as they say, leap within him? Will any private training enable him to stand firm against the overwhelming flood of popular opinion? or will he be carried away by the stream? Will he not have the notions of good and evil which the public in general have—he will do as they do, and as they are, such will he be?

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Yes, Socrates; necessity will compel him.

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And yet, I said, there is a still greater necessity, which has not been mentioned.

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What is that?

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The gentle force of attainder or confiscation or death, which, as you are aware, these new Sophists and educators, who are the public, apply when their words are powerless.

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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 be expected to overcome in such an unequal contest?

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None, he replied.

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No, indeed, I said, even to make the attempt is a great piece of folly; there neither is, nor has been, nor is ever likely to be, any different type of character which has had no other training in virtue but that which is supplied by public opinion—I speak, my friend, of human virtue only; what is more than human, as the proverb says, is not included: for I would not have you ignorant that, in the present evil state of governments, whatever is saved and comes to good is saved by the power of God, as we may truly say.

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I quite assent, he replied.

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Then let me crave your assent also to a further observation.

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What are you going to say?

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Why, that all those mercenary individuals, whom the many call Sophists and whom they deem to be their adversaries, do, in fact, teach nothing but the opinion of the many, that is to say, the opinions of their assemblies; and this is their wisdom. I might compare them to a man who should study the tempers and desires of a mighty strong beast who is fed by him—he would learn how to approach and handle him, also at what times and from what causes he is dangerous or the reverse, and what is the meaning of his several cries, and by what sounds, when another utters them, he is soothed or infuriated; and you may suppose further, that when, by continually attending upon him, he has become perfect in all this, he calls his knowledge wisdom, and makes of it a system or art, which he proceeds to teach, although he has no real notion of what he means by the principles or passions of which he is speaking, but calls this honourable and that dishonourable, or good or evil, or just or unjust, all in accordance with the tastes and tempers of the great brute. Good he pronounces to be that in which the beast delights and evil to be that which he dislikes; and he can give no other account of them except that the just and noble are the necessary, having never himself seen, and having no power of explaining to others the nature of either, or the difference between them, which is immense. By heaven, would not such an one be a rare educator?

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Indeed he would.

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And in what way does he who thinks that wisdom is the discernment of the tempers and tastes of the motley multitude, whether in painting or music, or, finally, in politics, differ from him whom I have been describing? For when a man consorts with the many, and exhibits to them his poem or other work of art or the service which he has done the State, making them his judges when he is not obliged, the so-called necessity of Diomede will oblige him to produce whatever they praise. And yet the reasons are utterly ludicrous which they give in confirmation of their own notions about the honourable and good. Did you ever hear any of them which were not?

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No, nor am I likely to hear.

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You recognise the truth of what I have been saying? Then let me ask you to consider further whether the world will ever be induced to believe in the existence of absolute beauty rather than of the many beautiful, or of the absolute in each kind rather than of the many in each kind?

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Certainly not.

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Then the world cannot possibly be a philosopher?

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Impossible.

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And therefore philosophers must inevitably fall under the censure of the world?

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They must.

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And of individuals who consort with the mob and seek to please them?

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That is evident.

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Then, do you see any way in which the philosopher can be preserved in his calling to the end? and remember what we were saying of him, that he was to have quickness and memory and courage and magnificence—these were admitted by us to be the true philosopher's gifts.

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Yes.

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Will not such an one from his early childhood be in all things first among all, especially if his bodily endowments are like his mental ones?

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Certainly, he said.

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And his friends and fellow-citizens will want to use him as he gets older for their own purposes?

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No question.

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Falling at his feet, they will make requests to him and do him honour and flatter him, because they want to get into their hands now, the power which he will one day possess.

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That often happens, he said.

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And what will a man such as he is be likely to do under such circumstances, especially if he be a citizen of a great city, rich and noble, and a tall proper youth? Will he not be full of boundless aspirations, and fancy himself able to manage the affairs of Hellenes and of barbarians, and having got such notions into his head will he not dilate and elevate himself in the fulness of vain pomp and senseless pride?

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To be sure he will.

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Now, when he is in this state of mind, if some one gently comes to him and tells him that he is a fool and must get understanding, which can only be got by slaving for it, do you think that, under such adverse circumstances, he will be easily induced to listen?

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Far otherwise.

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And even if there be some one who through inherent goodness or natural reasonableness has had his eyes opened a little and is humbled and taken captive by philosophy, how will his friends behave when they think that they are likely to lose the advantage which they were hoping to reap from his companionship? Will they not do and say anything to prevent him from yielding to his better nature and to render his teacher powerless, using to this end private intrigues as well as public prosecutions?

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There can be no doubt of it.

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And how can one who is thus circumstanced ever become a philosopher?

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Impossible.

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Then were we not right in saying that even the very qualities which make a man a philosopher may, if he be ill-educated, divert him from philosophy, no less than riches and their accompaniments and the other so-called goods of life?

170

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We were quite right.

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Thus, my excellent friend, is brought about all that ruin and failure which I have been describing of the natures best adapted to the best of all pursuits; they are natures which we maintain to be rare at any time; this being the class out of which come the men who are the authors of the greatest evil to States and individuals; and also of the greatest good when the tide carries them in that direction; but a small man never was the doer of any great thing either to individuals or to States.

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That is most true, he said.

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And so philosophy is left desolate, with her marriage rite incomplete: for her own have fallen away and forsaken her, and while they are leading a false and unbecoming life, other unworthy persons, seeing that she has no kinsmen to be her protectors, enter in and dishonour her; and fasten upon her the reproaches which, as you say, her reprovers utter, who affirm of her votaries that some are good for nothing, and that the greater number deserve the severest punishment.

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That is certainly what people say.

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Yes; and what else would you expect, I said, when you think of the puny creatures who, seeing this land open to them—a land well stocked with fair names and showy titles—like prisoners running out of prison into a sanctuary, take a leap out of their trades into philosophy; those who do so being probably the cleverest hands at their own miserable crafts? For, although philosophy be in this evil case, still there remains a dignity about her which is not to be found in the arts. And many are thus attracted by her whose natures are imperfect and whose souls are maimed and disfigured by their meannesses, as their bodies are by their trades and crafts. Is not this unavoidable?

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Yes.

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Are they not exactly like a bald little tinker who has just got out of durance and come into a fortune; he takes a bath and puts on a new coat, and is decked out as a bridegroom going to marry his master's daughter, who is left poor and desolate?

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A most exact parallel.

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What will be the issue of such marriages? Will they not be vile and bastard?

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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 her who is in a rank above them what sort of ideas and opinions are likely to be generated? Will they not be sophisms captivating to the ear, having nothing in them genuine, or worthy of or akin to true wisdom?

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No doubt, he said.

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Then, Adeimantus, I said, the worthy disciples of philosophy will be but a small remnant: perchance some noble and well-educated person, detained by exile in her service, who in the absence of corrupting influences remains devoted to her; or some lofty soul born in a mean city, the politics of which he contemns and neglects; and there may be a gifted few who leave the arts, which they justly despise, and come to her;—or peradventure there are some who are restrained by our friend Theages' bridle; for everything in the life of Theages conspired to divert him from philosophy; but ill-health kept him away from politics. My own case of the internal sign is hardly worth mentioning, for rarely, if ever, has such a monitor been given to any other man. Those who belong to this small class have tasted how sweet and blessed a possession philosophy is, and have also seen enough of the madness of the multitude; and they know that no politician is honest, nor is there any champion of justice at whose side they may fight and be saved. Such an one may be compared to a man who has fallen among wild beasts—he will not join in the wickedness of his fellows, but neither is he able singly to resist all their fierce natures, and therefore seeing that he would be of no use to the State or to his friends, and reflecting that he would have to throw away his life without doing any good either to himself or others, he holds his peace, and goes his own way. He is like one who, in the storm of dust and sleet which the driving wind hurries along, retires under the shelter of a wall; and seeing the rest of mankind full of wickedness, he is content, if only he can live his own life and be pure from evil or unrighteousness, and depart in peace and good-will, with bright hopes.

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Yes, he said, and he will have done a great work before he departs.

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A great work—yes; but not the greatest, unless he find a State suitable to him; for in a State which is suitable to him, he will have a larger growth and be the saviour of his country, as well as of himself.

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The causes why philosophy is in such an evil name have now been sufficiently explained: the injustice of the charges against her has been shown—is there anything more which you wish to say?

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Nothing more on that subject, he replied; but I should like to know which of the governments now existing is in your opinion the one adapted to her.

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Not any of them, I said; and that is precisely the accusation which I bring against them—not one of them is worthy of the philosophic nature, and hence that nature is warped and estranged;—as the exotic seed which is sown in a foreign land becomes denaturalized, and is wont to be overpowered and to lose itself in the new soil, even so this growth of philosophy, instead of persisting, degenerates and receives another character. But if philosophy ever finds in the State that perfection which she herself is, then will be seen that she is in truth divine, and that all other things, whether natures of men or institutions, are but human;—and now, I know, that you are going to ask, What that State is:

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No, he said; there you are wrong, for I was going to ask another question—whether it is the State of which we are the founders and inventors, or some other?

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Yes, I replied, ours in most respects; but you may remember my saying before, that some living authority would always be required in the State having the same idea of the constitution which guided you when as legislator you were laying down the laws.

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That was said, he replied.

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Yes, but not in a satisfactory manner; you frightened us by interposing objections, which certainly showed that the discussion would be long and difficult; and what still remains is the reverse of easy.

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What is there remaining?

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The question how the study of philosophy may be so ordered as not to be the ruin of the State: All great attempts are attended with risk; 'hard is the good,' as men say.

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Still, he said, let the point be cleared up, and the enquiry will then be complete.

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I shall not be hindered, I said, by any want of will, but, if at all, by a want of power: my zeal you may see for yourselves; and please to remark in what I am about to say how boldly and unhesitatingly I declare that States should pursue philosophy, not as they do now, but in a different spirit.

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In what manner?

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At present, I said, the students of philosophy are quite young; beginning when they are hardly past childhood, they devote only the time saved from moneymaking and housekeeping to such pursuits; and even those of them who are reputed to have most of the philosophic spirit, when they come within sight of the great difficulty of the subject, I mean dialectic, take themselves off. In after life when invited by some one else, they may, perhaps, go and hear a lecture, and about this they make much ado, for philosophy is not considered by them to be their proper business: at last, when they grow old, in most cases they are extinguished more truly than Heracleitus' sun, inasmuch as they never light up again. (Heraclitus said that the sun was extinguished every evening and relighted every morning.)

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But what ought to be their course?

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Just the opposite. In childhood and youth their study, and what philosophy they learn, should be suited to their tender years: during this period while they are growing up towards manhood, the chief and special care should be given to their bodies that they may have them to use in the service of philosophy; as life advances and the intellect begins to mature, let them increase the gymnastics of the soul; but when the strength of our citizens fails and is past civil and military duties, then let them range at will and engage in no serious labour, as we intend them to live happily here, and to crown this life with a similar happiness in another.

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How truly in earnest you are, Socrates! he said; I am sure of that; and yet most of your hearers, if I am not mistaken, are likely to be still more earnest in their opposition to you, and will never be convinced; Thrasymachus least of all.

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Do not make a quarrel, I said, between Thrasymachus and me, who have recently become friends, although, indeed, we were never enemies; for I shall go on striving to the utmost until I either convert him and other men, or do something which may profit them against the day when they live again, and hold the like discourse in another state of existence.

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You are speaking of a time which is not very near.

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Rather, I replied, of a time which is as nothing in comparison with eternity. Nevertheless, I do not wonder that the many refuse to believe; for they have never seen that of which we are now speaking realized; they have seen only a conventional imitation of philosophy, consisting of words artificially brought together, not like these of ours having a natural unity. But a human being who in word and work is perfectly moulded, as far as he can be, into the proportion and likeness of virtue—such a man ruling in a city which bears the same image, they have never yet seen, neither one nor many of them—do you think that they ever did?

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No indeed.

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No, my friend, and they have seldom, if ever, heard free and noble sentiments; such as men utter when they are earnestly and by every means in their power seeking after truth for the sake of knowledge, while they look coldly on the subtleties of controversy, of which the end is opinion and strife, whether they meet with them in the courts of law or in society.

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They are strangers, he said, to the words of which you speak.

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And this was what we foresaw, and this was the reason why truth forced us to admit, not without fear and hesitation, that neither cities nor States nor individuals will ever attain perfection until the small class of philosophers whom we termed useless but not corrupt are providentially compelled, whether they will or not, to take care of the State, and until a like necessity be laid on the State to obey them; or until kings, or if not kings, the sons of kings or princes, are divinely inspired with a true love of true philosophy. That either or both of these alternatives are impossible, I see no reason to affirm: if they were so, we might indeed be justly ridiculed as dreamers and visionaries. Am I not right?

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Quite right.

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If then, in the countless ages of the past, or at the present hour in some foreign clime which is far away and beyond our ken, the perfected philosopher is or has been or hereafter shall be compelled by a superior power to have the charge of the State, we are ready to assert to the death, that this our constitution has been, and is—yea, and will be whenever the Muse of Philosophy is queen. There is no impossibility in all this; that there is a difficulty, we acknowledge ourselves.

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My opinion agrees with yours, he said.

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But do you mean to say that this is not the opinion of the multitude?

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I should imagine not, he replied.

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O my friend, I said, do not attack the multitude: they will change their minds, if, not in an aggressive spirit, but gently and with the view of soothing them and removing their dislike of over-education, you show them your philosophers as they really are and describe as you were just now doing their character and profession, and then mankind will see that he of whom you are speaking is not such as they supposed—if they view him in this new light, they will surely change their notion of him, and answer in another strain. Who can be at enmity with one who loves them, who that is himself gentle and free from envy will be jealous of one in whom there is no jealousy? Nay, let me answer for you, that in a few this harsh temper may be found but not in the majority of mankind.

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I quite agree with you, he said.

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And do you not also think, as I do, that the harsh feeling which the many entertain towards philosophy originates in the pretenders, who rush in uninvited, and are always abusing them, and finding fault with them, who make persons instead of things the theme of their conversation? and nothing can be more unbecoming in philosophers than this.

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It is most unbecoming.

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For he, Adeimantus, whose mind is fixed upon true being, has surely no time to look down upon the affairs of earth, or to be filled with malice and envy, contending against men; his eye is ever directed towards things fixed and immutable, which he sees neither injuring nor injured by one another, but all in order moving according to reason; these he imitates, and to these he will, as far as he can, conform himself. Can a man help imitating that with which he holds reverential converse?

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Impossible.

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And the philosopher holding converse with the divine order, becomes orderly and divine, as far as the nature of man allows; but like every one else, he will suffer from detraction.

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Of course.

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And if a necessity be laid upon him of fashioning, not only himself, but human nature generally, whether in States or individuals, into that which he beholds elsewhere, will he, think you, be an unskilful artificer of justice, temperance, and every civil virtue?

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Anything but unskilful.

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And if the world perceives that what we are saying about him is the truth, will they be angry with philosophy? Will they disbelieve us, when we tell them that no State can be happy which is not designed by artists who imitate the heavenly pattern?

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They will not be angry if they understand, he said. But how will they draw out the plan of which you are speaking?

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They will begin by taking the State and the manners of men, from which, as from a tablet, they will rub out the picture, and leave a clean surface. This is no easy task. But whether easy or not, herein will lie the difference between them and every other legislator,—they will have nothing to do either with individual or State, and will inscribe no laws, until they have either found, or themselves made, a clean surface.

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They will be very right, he said.

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Having effected this, they will proceed to trace an outline of the constitution?

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No doubt.

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And when they are filling in the work, as I conceive, they will often turn their eyes upwards and downwards: I mean that they will first look at absolute justice and beauty and temperance, and again at the human copy; and will mingle and temper the various elements of life into the image of a man; and this they will conceive according to that other image, which, when existing among men, Homer calls the form and likeness of God.

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Very true, he said.

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And one feature they will erase, and another they will put in, until they have made the ways of men, as far as possible, agreeable to the ways of God?

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Indeed, he said, in no way could they make a fairer picture.

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And now, I said, are we beginning to persuade those whom you described as rushing at us with might and main, that the painter of constitutions is such an one as we are praising; at whom they were so very indignant because to his hands we committed the State; and are they growing a little calmer at what they have just heard?

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Much calmer, if there is any sense in them.

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Why, where can they still find any ground for objection? Will they doubt that the philosopher is a lover of truth and being?

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They would not be so unreasonable.

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Or that his nature, being such as we have delineated, is akin to the highest good?

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Neither can they doubt this.

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But again, will they tell us that such a nature, placed under favourable circumstances, will not be perfectly good and wise if any ever was? Or will they prefer those whom we have rejected?

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Surely not.

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Then will they still be angry at our saying, that, until philosophers bear rule, States and individuals will have no rest from evil, nor will this our imaginary State ever be realized?

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I think that they will be less angry.

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Shall we assume that they are not only less angry but quite gentle, and that they have been converted and for very shame, if for no other reason, cannot refuse to come to terms?

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By all means, he said.

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Then let us suppose that the reconciliation has been effected. Will any one deny the other point, that there may be sons of kings or princes who are by nature philosophers?

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Surely no man, he said.

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And when they have come into being will any one say that they must of necessity be destroyed; that they can hardly be saved is not denied even by us; but that in the whole course of ages no single one of them can escape—who will venture to affirm this?

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Who indeed!

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But, said I, one is enough; let there be one man who has a city obedient to his will, and he might bring into existence the ideal polity about which the world is so incredulous.

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Yes, one is enough.

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The ruler may impose the laws and institutions which we have been describing, and the citizens may possibly be willing to obey them?

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Certainly.

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And that others should approve, of what we approve, is no miracle or impossibility?

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I think not.

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But we have sufficiently shown, in what has preceded, that all this, if only possible, is assuredly for the best.

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We have.

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And now we say not only that our laws, if they could be enacted, would be for the best, but also that the enactment of them, though difficult, is not impossible.

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Very good.

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And so with pain and toil we have reached the end of one subject, but more remains to be discussed;—how and by what studies and pursuits will the saviours of the constitution be created, and at what ages are they to apply themselves to their several studies?

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Certainly.

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I omitted the troublesome business of the possession of women, and the procreation of children, and the appointment of the rulers, because I knew that the perfect State would be eyed with jealousy and was difficult of attainment; but that piece of cleverness was not of much service to me, for I had to discuss them all the same. The women and children are now disposed of, but the other question of the rulers must be investigated from the very beginning. We were saying, as you will remember, that they were to be lovers of their country, tried by the test of pleasures and pains, and neither in hardships, nor in dangers, nor at any other critical moment were to lose their patriotism—he was to be rejected who failed, but he who always came forth pure, like gold tried in the refiner's fire, was to be made a ruler, and to receive honours and rewards in life and after death. This was the sort of thing which was being said, and then the argument turned aside and veiled her face; not liking to stir the question which has now arisen.

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I perfectly remember, he said.

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Yes, my friend, I said, and I then shrank from hazarding the bold word; but now let me dare to say—that the perfect guardian must be a philosopher.

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Yes, he said, let that be affirmed.

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And do not suppose that there will be many of them; for the gifts which were deemed by us to be essential rarely grow together; they are mostly found in shreds and patches.

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What do you mean? he said.

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You are aware, I replied, that quick intelligence, memory, sagacity, cleverness, and similar qualities, do not often grow together, and that persons who possess them and are at the same time high-spirited and magnanimous are not so constituted by nature as to live orderly and in a peaceful and settled manner; they are driven any way by their impulses, and all solid principle goes out of them.

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Very true, he said.

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On the other hand, those steadfast natures which can better be depended upon, which in a battle are impregnable to fear and immovable, are equally immovable when there is anything to be learned; they are always in a torpid state, and are apt to yawn and go to sleep over any intellectual toil.

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Quite true.

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And yet we were saying that both qualities were necessary in those to whom the higher education is to be imparted, and who are to share in any office or command.

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Certainly, he said.

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And will they be a class which is rarely found?

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Yes, indeed.

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Then the aspirant must not only be tested in those labours and dangers and pleasures which we mentioned before, but there is another kind of probation which we did not mention—he must be exercised also in many kinds of knowledge, to see whether the soul will be able to endure the highest of all, or will faint under them, as in any other studies and exercises.

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Yes, he said, you are quite right in testing him. But what do you mean by the highest of all knowledge?

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You may remember, I said, that we divided the soul into three parts; and distinguished the several natures of justice, temperance, courage, and wisdom?

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Indeed, he said, if I had forgotten, I should not deserve to hear more.

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And do you remember the word of caution which preceded the discussion of them?

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To what do you refer?

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We were saying, if I am not mistaken, that he who wanted to see them in their perfect beauty must take a longer and more circuitous way, at the end of which they would appear; but that we could add on a popular exposition of them on a level with the discussion which had preceded. And you replied that such an exposition would be enough for you, and so the enquiry was continued in what to me seemed to be a very inaccurate manner; whether you were satisfied or not, it is for you to say.

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Yes, he said, I thought and the others thought that you gave us a fair measure of truth.

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But, my friend, I said, a measure of such things which in any degree falls short of the whole truth is not fair measure; for nothing imperfect is the measure of anything, although persons are too apt to be contented and think that they need search no further.

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Not an uncommon case when people are indolent.

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Yes, I said; and there cannot be any worse fault in a guardian of the State and of the laws.

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True.

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The guardian then, I said, must be required to take the longer circuit, and toil at learning as well as at gymnastics, or he will never reach the highest knowledge of all which, as we were just now saying, is his proper calling.

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What, he said, is there a knowledge still higher than this—higher than justice and the other virtues?

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Yes, I said, there is. And of the virtues too we must behold not the outline merely, as at present—nothing short of the most finished picture should satisfy us. When little things are elaborated with an infinity of pains, in order that they may appear in their full beauty and utmost clearness, how ridiculous that we should not think the highest truths worthy of attaining the highest accuracy!

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A right noble thought; but do you suppose that we shall refrain from asking you what is this highest knowledge?

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Nay, I said, ask if you will; but I am certain that you have heard the answer many times, and now you either do not understand me or, as I rather think, you are disposed to be troublesome; for you have often been told that the idea of good is the highest knowledge, and that all other things become useful and advantageous only by their use of this. You can hardly be ignorant that of this I was about to speak, concerning which, as you have often heard me say, we know so little; and, without which, any other knowledge or possession of any kind will profit us nothing. Do you think that the possession of all other things is of any value if we do not possess the good? or the knowledge of all other things if we have no knowledge of beauty and goodness?

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Assuredly not.

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You are further aware that most people affirm pleasure to be the good, but the finer sort of wits say it is knowledge?

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Yes.

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And you are aware too that the latter cannot explain what they mean by knowledge, but are obliged after all to say knowledge of the good?

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How ridiculous!

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Yes, I said, that they should begin by reproaching us with our ignorance of the good, and then presume our knowledge of it—for the good they define to be knowledge of the good, just as if we understood them when they use the term 'good'—this is of course ridiculous.

299

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Most true, he said.

300

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And those who make pleasure their good are in equal perplexity; for they are compelled to admit that there are bad pleasures as well as good.

301

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Certainly.

302

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And therefore to acknowledge that bad and good are the same?

303

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True.

304

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There can be no doubt about the numerous difficulties in which this question is involved.

305

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There can be none.

306

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Further, do we not see that many are willing to do or to have or to seem to be what is just and honourable without the reality; but no one is satisfied with the appearance of good—the reality is what they seek; in the case of the good, appearance is despised by every one.

307

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Very true, he said.

308

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Of this then, which every soul of man pursues and makes the end of all his actions, having a presentiment that there is such an end, and yet hesitating because neither knowing the nature nor having the same assurance of this as of other things, and therefore losing whatever good there is in other things,—of a principle such and so great as this ought the best men in our State, to whom everything is entrusted, to be in the darkness of ignorance?

309

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Certainly not, he said.

310

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I am sure, I said, that he who does not know how the beautiful and the just are likewise good will be but a sorry guardian of them; and I suspect that no one who is ignorant of the good will have a true knowledge of them.

311

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That, he said, is a shrewd suspicion of yours.

312

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And if we only have a guardian who has this knowledge our State will be perfectly ordered?

313

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Of course, he replied; but I wish that you would tell me whether you conceive this supreme principle of the good to be knowledge or pleasure, or different from either?

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Aye, I said, I knew all along that a fastidious gentleman like you would not be contented with the thoughts of other people about these matters.

315

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True, Socrates; but I must say that one who like you has passed a lifetime in the study of philosophy should not be always repeating the opinions of others, and never telling his own.

316

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Well, but has any one a right to say positively what he does not know?

317

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Not, he said, with the assurance of positive certainty; he has no right to do that: but he may say what he thinks, as a matter of opinion.

318

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And do you not know, I said, that all mere opinions are bad, and the best of them blind? You would not deny that those who have any true notion without intelligence are only like blind men who feel their way along the road?

319

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Very true.

320

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And do you wish to behold what is blind and crooked and base, when others will tell you of brightness and beauty?

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Still, I must implore you, Socrates, said Glaucon, not to turn away just as you are reaching the goal; if you will only give such an explanation of the good as you have already given of justice and temperance and the other virtues, we shall be satisfied.

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Yes, my friend, and I shall be at least equally satisfied, but I cannot help fearing that I shall fail, and that my indiscreet zeal will bring ridicule upon me. No, sweet sirs, let us not at present ask what is the actual nature of the good, for to reach what is now in my thoughts would be an effort too great for me. But of the child of the good who is likest him, I would fain speak, if I could be sure that you wished to hear—otherwise, not.

323

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By all means, he said, tell us about the child, and you shall remain in our debt for the account of the parent.

324

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I do indeed wish, I replied, that I could pay, and you receive, the account of the parent, and not, as now, of the offspring only; take, however, this latter by way of interest, and at the same time have a care that I do not render a false account, although I have no intention of deceiving you.

325

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Yes, we will take all the care that we can: proceed.

326

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Yes, I said, but I must first come to an understanding with you, and remind you of what I have mentioned in the course of this discussion, and at many other times.

327

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What?

328

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The old story, that there is a many beautiful and a many good, and so of other things which we describe and define; to all of them the term 'many' is applied.

329

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True, he said.

330

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And there is an absolute beauty and an absolute good, and of other things to which the term 'many' is applied there is an absolute; for they may be brought under a single idea, which is called the essence of each.

331

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Very true.

332

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The many, as we say, are seen but not known, and the ideas are known but not seen.

333

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Exactly.

334

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And what is the organ with which we see the visible things?

335

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The sight, he said.

336

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And with the hearing, I said, we hear, and with the other senses perceive the other objects of sense?

337

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True.

338

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But have you remarked that sight is by far the most costly and complex piece of workmanship which the artificer of the senses ever contrived?

339

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No, I never have, he said.

340

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Then reflect; has the ear or voice need of any third or additional nature in order that the one may be able to hear and the other to be heard?

341

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Nothing of the sort.

342

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No, indeed, I replied; and the same is true of most, if not all, the other senses—you would not say that any of them requires such an addition?

343

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Certainly not.

344

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But you see that without the addition of some other nature there is no seeing or being seen?

345

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How do you mean?

346

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Sight being, as I conceive, in the eyes, and he who has eyes wanting to see; colour being also present in them, still unless there be a third nature specially adapted to the purpose, the owner of the eyes will see nothing and the colours will be invisible.

347

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Of what nature are you speaking?

348

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Of that which you term light, I replied.

349

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True, he said.

350

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Noble, then, is the bond which links together sight and visibility, and great beyond other bonds by no small difference of nature; for light is their bond, and light is no ignoble thing?

351

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Nay, he said, the reverse of ignoble.

352

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And which, I said, of the gods in heaven would you say was the lord of this element? Whose is that light which makes the eye to see perfectly and the visible to appear?

353

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You mean the sun, as you and all mankind say.

354

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May not the relation of sight to this deity be described as follows?

355

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How?

356

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Neither sight nor the eye in which sight resides is the sun?

357

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No.

358

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Yet of all the organs of sense the eye is the most like the sun?

359

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By far the most like.

360

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And the power which the eye possesses is a sort of effluence which is dispensed from the sun?

361

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Exactly.

362

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Then the sun is not sight, but the author of sight who is recognised by sight?

363

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True, he said.

364

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And this is he whom I call the child of the good, whom the good begat in his own likeness, to be in the visible world, in relation to sight and the things of sight, what the good is in the intellectual world in relation to mind and the things of mind:

365

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Will you be a little more explicit? he said.

366

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Why, you know, I said, that the eyes, when a person directs them towards objects on which the light of day is no longer shining, but the moon and stars only, see dimly, and are nearly blind; they seem to have no clearness of vision in them?

367

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Very true.

368

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But when they are directed towards objects on which the sun shines, they see clearly and there is sight in them?

369

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Certainly.

370

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And the soul is like the eye: when resting upon that on which truth and being shine, the soul perceives and understands, and is radiant with intelligence; but when turned towards the twilight of becoming and perishing, then she has opinion only, and goes blinking about, and is first of one opinion and then of another, and seems to have no intelligence?

371

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Just so.

372

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Now, that which imparts truth to the known and the power of knowing to the knower is what I would have you term the idea of good, and this you will deem to be the cause of science, and of truth in so far as the latter becomes the subject of knowledge; beautiful too, as are both truth and knowledge, you will be right in esteeming this other nature as more beautiful than either; and, as in the previous instance, light and sight may be truly said to be like the sun, and yet not to be the sun, so in this other sphere, science and truth may be deemed to be like the good, but not the good; the good has a place of honour yet higher.

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What a wonder of beauty that must be, he said, which is the author of science and truth, and yet surpasses them in beauty; for you surely cannot mean to say that pleasure is the good?

374

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God forbid, I replied; but may I ask you to consider the image in another point of view?

375

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In what point of view?

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You would say, would you not, that the sun is not only the author of visibility in all visible things, but of generation and nourishment and growth, though he himself is not generation?

377

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Certainly.

378

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In like manner the good may be said to be not only the author of knowledge to all things known, but of their being and essence, and yet the good is not essence, but far exceeds essence in dignity and power.

379

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Glaucon said, with a ludicrous earnestness: By the light of heaven, how amazing!

380

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Yes, I said, and the exaggeration may be set down to you; for you made me utter my fancies.

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And pray continue to utter them; at any rate let us hear if there is anything more to be said about the similitude of the sun.

382

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Yes, I said, there is a great deal more.

383

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Then omit nothing, however slight.

384

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I will do my best, I said; but I should think that a great deal will have to be omitted.

385

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I hope not, he said.

386

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You have to imagine, then, that there are two ruling powers, and that one of them is set over the intellectual world, the other over the visible. I do not say heaven, lest you should fancy that I am playing upon the name ('ourhanoz, orhatoz'). May I suppose that you have this distinction of the visible and intelligible fixed in your mind?

387

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I have.

388

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Now take a line which has been cut into two unequal parts, and divide each of them again in the same proportion, and suppose the two main divisions to answer, one to the visible and the other to the intelligible, and then compare the subdivisions in respect of their clearness and want of clearness, and you will find that the first section in the sphere of the visible consists of images. And by images I mean, in the first place, shadows, and in the second place, reflections in water and in solid, smooth and polished bodies and the like: Do you understand?

389

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Yes, I understand.

390

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Imagine, now, the other section, of which this is only the resemblance, to include the animals which we see, and everything that grows or is made.

391

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Very good.

392

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Would you not admit that both the sections of this division have different degrees of truth, and that the copy is to the original as the sphere of opinion is to the sphere of knowledge?

393

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Most undoubtedly.

394

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Next proceed to consider the manner in which the sphere of the intellectual is to be divided.

395

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In what manner?

396

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Thus:—There are two subdivisions, in the lower of which the soul uses the figures given by the former division as images; the enquiry can only be hypothetical, and instead of going upwards to a principle descends to the other end; in the higher of the two, the soul passes out of hypotheses, and goes up to a principle which is above hypotheses, making no use of images as in the former case, but proceeding only in and through the ideas themselves.

397

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I do not quite understand your meaning, he said.

398

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Then I will try again; you will understand me better when I have made some preliminary remarks. You are aware that students of geometry, arithmetic, and the kindred sciences assume the odd and the even and the figures and three kinds of angles and the like in their several branches of science; these are their hypotheses, which they and every body are supposed to know, and therefore they do not deign to give any account of them either to themselves or others; but they begin with them, and go on until they arrive at last, and in a consistent manner, at their conclusion?

399

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Yes, he said, I know.

400

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And do you not know also that although they make use of the visible forms and reason about them, they are thinking not of these, but of the ideals which they resemble; not of the figures which they draw, but of the absolute square and the absolute diameter, and so on—the forms which they draw or make, and which have shadows and reflections in water of their own, are converted by them into images, but they are really seeking to behold the things themselves, which can only be seen with the eye of the mind?

401

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That is true.

402

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And of this kind I spoke as the intelligible, although in the search after it the soul is compelled to use hypotheses; not ascending to a first principle, because she is unable to rise above the region of hypothesis, but employing the objects of which the shadows below are resemblances in their turn as images, they having in relation to the shadows and reflections of them a greater distinctness, and therefore a higher value.

403

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I understand, he said, that you are speaking of the province of geometry and the sister arts.

404

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And when I speak of the other division of the intelligible, you will understand me to speak of that other sort of knowledge which reason herself attains by the power of dialectic, using the hypotheses not as first principles, but only as hypotheses—that is to say, as steps and points of departure into a world which is above hypotheses, in order that she may soar beyond them to the first principle of the whole; and clinging to this and then to that which depends on this, by successive steps she descends again without the aid of any sensible object, from ideas, through ideas, and in ideas she ends.

405

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I understand you, he replied; not perfectly, for you seem to me to be describing a task which is really tremendous; but, at any rate, I understand you to say that knowledge and being, which the science of dialectic contemplates, are clearer than the notions of the arts, as they are termed, which proceed from hypotheses only: these are also contemplated by the understanding, and not by the senses: yet, because they start from hypotheses and do not ascend to a principle, those who contemplate them appear to you not to exercise the higher reason upon them, although when a first principle is added to them they are cognizable by the higher reason. And the habit which is concerned with geometry and the cognate sciences I suppose that you would term understanding and not reason, as being intermediate between opinion and reason.

406

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You have quite conceived my meaning, I said; and now, corresponding to these four divisions, let there be four faculties in the soul—reason answering to the highest, understanding to the second, faith (or conviction) to the third, and perception of shadows to the last—and let there be a scale of them, and let us suppose that the several faculties have clearness in the same degree that their objects have truth.

407

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I understand, he replied, and give my assent, and accept your arrangement.

408

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