Phaedrus — Plato
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p. 297he ought 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 told a lie), for the truth is, that, when a man is ill, whether he be rich or poor, he must go to the physician's door — the physician will not come to him, and he who is asking to be governed, to the door of him who is able to govern.
No ruler who is good for anything ought to ask his subjects to obey him ; he is not like the present governors of mankind who may be compared to the mutinous sailors, and the true helmsman to those whom they call useless and star-gazers. Precisely, he said.
For these reasons, and among men like these, the noblest pursuit of all is not likely to be much esteemed by those who are of the opposite persuasion ; not that the greatest and most lasting injury is done to philosophy by them, 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. Yes.
And the reason why the good are useless has been now explained ? True. Then shall we now endeavor to show that the corruption of the greater number is also unavoidable, and that this is not to be laid to the charge of philosophy any more than the other ? By all means. 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 captain, whom he followed always and in all things ; failing in this, he was an impos- ^ tor, and had no part or lot in true philosophy. Yes, that was said. Well, and is not this quality alone greatly at variance with our present notions of him ? Certainly, he said. And have we not a right to say, in his defense, that the true lover of knowledge is always striving after being — that is his p. 298nature ; he will not rest in the fanciful multiplicity of individuals, but will go on — the keen edge will not be blunted, neither the force of his desire abate until he have attained the knowledge of the true nature of every essence by a kindred power in the soul, and by that power drawing near and mingling incorporate with very being, having begotten mind and truth, he will know and live and grow truly, and then, and not till then, will he cease from his travail.
Nothing, he said, can be more just than such a description of him. And will the love of a lie be any part of a philosopher's nature ? Will he not utterly hate a lie ? That he will. And when truth is the captain, we cannot suspect any evil of the band which he leads ? Impossible. Justice and health will be of the company, and temperaace will follow after. True, he replied.
Neither is there any reason why I should again set in array the philosopher's virtues, as you will doubtless remember that courage, magnanimity, 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 useless, and the greater number wholly depraved ; and this led us to inquire into the grounds of these accusations, and we had arrived at the point of asking why are the many bad, which question of necessity brought us back to the examination and definition of the true philosopher.
Exactly.
And now we have to consider the corruptions of this nature, why so many are spoiled and so few escape spoiling — those, I mean, whom you call useless but not wicked ; and after that we will consider the imitators who turn into philoso- ^^ phers, what manner of natures 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. But what, he said, is the nature of these corruptions ?
THE REPUBLIC 2gg That I will try to explain to you, I said, if I can. Every one will admit that a nature thus gifted, and having all the supposed conditions of the philosophic nature perfect, is a plant that rarely grows among men — there are not many of them. They are very rare. And what numberless causes may tend utterly to destroy these rare natures ! What causes ?
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.* That is very singular, he replied.
Then there are all the ordinary goods of life — beauty, wealth, strength, rank, and great connections in the State — on which I need not enlarge, having given you a general outline of them ; these also have the effect of corrupting and distracting them. I know the goods which you mean, and I should like to know what you mean about them.
Grasp the truth, then, as a whole, I said, and in the right way, and you will have no difficulty in understanding the preceding remarks, and they will not appear strange to you. And how am I to do that ? he asked.
Why, I said, we know that when any seed or plant, whether vegetable Of animal, fails to meet with proper nutriment or climate or soil, the greater the vigor, the greater the need also of suitable conditions, because, as I imagine, evil is a greater enemy to good than to the not-good. Very true. There is reason in supposing that the finest natures, when under alien conditions, receive more injury than the inferior, because the contrast is greater.
That is true. And may we not say, Adeimantus, that the most gifted minds, when they are ill-educated, become the worst ? Do not great crimes and the spirit of pure evil spring out of a fullness of nature rnjnyi hy f^jucation^ rather than from any * Compere 495.
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