Phaedrus — Plato

p. 344Certainly. Him who answers to aristocracy and whom we rightly call just and good, we have already described ^ ; and now we have to describe the inferior sort of natures, being the con- ^ tentious and ambitious, who answer to the Spartan polity ; also the oHgarchical, democratical, and tyrannical man.

Let us place the most just by the side of the most unjust, and then we shall be able to compare the relative happiness or unhappiness of pure justice and pure injustice : this will complete the inquiry. And then we shall know whether we are to pursue injustice, as Thrasymachus advises, or justice, as the present argument counsels. Certainly, he replied, that will be the way.

Suppose, then, following our old plan, which we adopted as being clearer, of taking the State first and then proceeding to the individual, we begin with the government of honor (for I know of no name for such a government other than timocracy, or perhaps timarchy) ; and then we will view the like character in the individual ; and, after that, consider oligarchy and the oligarchical man ; and then again we will turn our attention to democracy and the democratical man ; and lastly, we will go and view the city of tyranny, and there take a look into the tyrant's soul, and try to arrive at the final decision.

That way of viewing and judging of the matter will be very rational. First, then, I said, let us inquire how timocracy (or the government of honor) arises out of aristocracy (or the government of the best). Clearly, all political changes originate in divisions of the actual governing power ; for a government which is united, however small, cannot be moved. That is true, he said.

In what way, then, will our city be moved, and in what manner will the two classes of auxiliaries and rulers disagree among themselves or with one another ? Shall we, after the manner of Homer, pray the Muses to tell us '*how strife was first kindled ? " Shall we imagine them, in tragic style, pretending to be in earnest, playing with us as with children in solemn words ? How would they address us ? » The philosopher.

p. 345After this manner: A city which is thus constituted can hardly be shaken ; but, seeing that everything which has a beginning has also an end, even this constitution will in ^ time perish and come to dissolution. ^ ^ [It is explained how guardians who are good and wise may have children who possess none of the qualities which a guardian should have.

So, though the guardians appoint the best of the youth to be their successors,] still they will be unworthy to hold their father's places, and when they come into power as guardians, they will soon be found to fail in taking care of us, the Muses, first by undervaluing music, and secondly gymnastic ; and hence our young men will be less cultivated. In the succeeding generation rulers will be appointed who have none of the qualities of guardians.

In order to put to the test the metal of your different races, which, Hke Hesiod*s, are of gold, and silver, and brass, and iron,^ iron will be mingled with silver, and brass ^^^ with gold, and hence there will arise inequality and irregularity, which always and in all places are causes of enmity and war. Such is the origin of strife, wherever arising ; and this is the answer of the Muses to us.

Yes, he said, and we may assume that they answer truly. Why, yes, I said, of course they answer truly : the Muses cannot do otherwise. And what do the Muses say next ? When strife arose, then the two races were drawn different ways : the iron and brass fell to acquiring money and land and houses and gold and silver ; but the gold and silver races, having the true riches in their own nature, inchned towards virtue and the ancient order of things.

There was a battle between them, and at last they agreed to assign their land and houses to the possession of individuals ; and they enslaved their friends and maintainers, whom they had formerly protected in the condition of freemen, and made of them subjects and servants ; while they themselves were occupied with war and the watching of them. That, he replied, will probably be the origin of the change. * Comptre mjrth, close of Book III.

p. 346And the new government which thus arises will be of a form intermediate between ohgarchy and aristocracy. Very true. And now, after the change has been made, what will be their way of life ? Clearly, the new State, being in a mean between oligarchy and the perfect State, will partly follow one and partly the other, and will also have some peculiarities. That is true, he said.

In the honor given to rulers, in the abstinence of the warrior class from agriculture, handicrafts, and other trades, in the institution of common meals, attention to gymnastics and military training — in all these the citizen will resemble the perfect State. True.

But in the fear of admitting philosophers to power, because their philosophy is no longer simple and earnest, but made up of mixed elements ; and in turning from them to passionate g and simpler characters, who are by nature fitted for war rather than peace ; and in the value which they set upon military stratagems and contrivances, and in their everlasting wars — this State will be for the most part peculiar. Yes.

Yes, I said ; and men of this stamp will be covetous of money, like those who live in oligarchies ; they will have a fierce secret longing after gold and silver, which they will hoard in dark places, having magazines and treasures of their own for the deposit and concealment of them ; also castles which are just nests for their eggs, and in which they will spend large sums on their wives, or on any others whom they please.

That is most true, he said. And they are miserly because they have no means of openly acquiring the money which they prize ; they will spend that which is another man's in their lust; stealing their pleasures and running away like children from the law, their father: they have been schooled not by gentle influences but by force ; for they have no thought of the true muse of reason and philosophy, and gymnastic is preferred by them to music.

Undoubtedly, he said, the form of government which you describe is a mixture of good and evil. Why, there is a mixture, I said ; but one thing, and one thing only, is predominantly seen, — the spirit of contention and