Phaedrus — Plato
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p. 347arnbition; and these are due to the prevalence of the passionate or spirited element.*^ Assuredly, he said.
Such is the origin and such the character of this State, of which the outline only has been given ; the more perfect exe* cution of the sketch was not required, because the outline is enough to show the type of the most perfectly just and unjust; and to go through all the States and all the characters of men, leaving none of them out, would be an interminable labor. Very true, he rephed.
Who answers to this form of government — how did he come into being, and what is he like? I think, said Adeimantus, that in the spirit of contention which characterizes him, he is not unlike our friend Glaucon. Perhaps, I said, he may be like him in that one point ; but there are other respects in which he is very different. In what respects?
He should have more of self-assertion and be somewhat less favored by the Muses, yet not other than a lover of the Muses ; and he should be a good listener, but not a speaker.
A man of this sort may be imagined to be rough with slaves, not like the educated man, who is too proud for that ; and he ^ will also be courteous to freemen, and remarkably obedient to authority ; he is a lover of power and a lover of honor ; claiming to be a ruler, not because he is a speaker, or on any ground of that sort, but because he is a soldier, and, as a soldier, has performed feats of arms : he is also a lover of gymnastic exercises and of the chase.
Yes, he said, that is the character of timocracy. Such an one will despise riches only when he is young; but as he gets older he will be more and more attracted to them, because he has a piece of the avaricious nature in him, and is not single-minded towards virtue, having lost his best guardian.
Who is that ? said Adeimantus. ( Philosophy, I said, tempered with music,^ who comes and ' See Book IV. , 439 and following. ^ This sentence embraces Plato*s entire Scheme of education. In early life the soul should be compassed by influences in art form, which have been determined in accordance with absolute truth by the philosopher.
Later, the soul which is properly educated through such influences should rise to clear knowledge of the absolute truth by means of philosophic reflection.
p. 348takes up her abode in a man through life, and is the only saviour of his virtue. Good, he said. Such, I said, is the timocratical youth, and he is like the timocratical State. Exactly. His origin is as follows : He is often the son of a brave father, who dwells in an ill-governed city, the honors and offices of which he declines, and will not go to law, but is ready to waive his rights in order that he may escape trouble.
And how does the son come into being ? The character of the son begins to develop when he hears his mother grumbling at her husband for not having a seat in the government, the consequence of which is that she loses precedence among other women.
Further, when she sees her husband not very eager about money, and instead of battling and railing in the law courts or assembly, taking everything of that sort quietly ; and when she observes that his thoughts always centre in himself, while he treats her with very considerable indifference, she is annoyed at all this, and says to her son that his father is only half a man and far too easygoing : not to mention other similar complaints which women love to utter.
Yes, said Adeimantus, they give us plenty of them, and in their own characteristic style.
And you know, I said, that the old servants of the family, who are supposed to be attached, talk privately in the same strain to the sons ; and if they see any one who owes money to their father, or is wronging him in any way, and he fails to prosecute them, they tell the youth that when he grows up he must retaliate upon his injurers, and be more of a man than his father.
He has only to walk abroad and he hears and sees the same sort of thing : those who do their own business in the city are called simple, and held in no esteem, while the busybodies are honored and applauded.
The result is that the young man, hearing and seeing all these things, — hearing, too, the words of his father, and having a nearer view of his way of life, and making comparisons of him and others, — is drawn opposite ways : while his father is watering and nourishing the rational principle in his soul, the others are encouraging the passionate and appetitive ; and he being p. 349not originally of a bad nature, but having kept bad company, is brought by their joint influence to a middle point, and gives up the kingdom which is within him to the middle principle of contentiousness and passion,^ and becomes proud and ambitious. You seem to me to have described his origin perfectly. Then we have now, I said, the second form of government and the second type of character ? We have.
Next, let us look at another man who, as -^schylus says, is set over against another State ; or rather, as our plan requires, begin with the State. By all means. I believe that oligarchy follows next in order. And what manner of government do you term oligarchy ? A government resting on a valuation of property, in which the rich have power and the poor are deprived of power. I understand, he replied.
Shall I describe how the change from timocracy to oligarchy arises ? Yes. Well, I said, no eyes are required in order to see how that comes about. How? That private hoard of theirs is the source of the evil ; the accumulation of gold ruins timocracy : they invent some extravagance which is in open contravention of the law, but neither they nor their wives care about this. That might be expected.
And then one seeing another prepares to rival him, and thus the whole body of the citizens acquires a similar character. Likely enough. After that they get on in trade, and the more they think of this the less they think of virtue ; for when riches and virtue are placed together in the scales of the balance, the one always rises as the other falls. True.
And in proportion as riches and rich men are honored in the State, virtue and the virtuous are dishonored. **' Clearly. • See Book IV., 435-443.
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