Phaedrus — Plato

p. 221Certainly not. Would you not say that he should combine with the spirited nature the qualities of a philosopher? I do not apprehend your meaning. The trait of which I am speaking, I replied, may be ^ also seen in the dog, and is very remarkable in an animal. ^' What trait ?

Why a dog, whenever he sees a stranger, is angry ; when an acquaintance, he welcomes him, although the one has never done him any harm, nor the other any good. Did this never strike you as curious ? I never before made the observation myself, though I quite recognize the truth of your remark. And surely this instinct of the dog is very charming, — ^your dog is a true philosopher. Why?

Why, because he distinguishes the face of a friend and of an v enemy only by the criterion of knowing and not knowing. And must not the creature be fond of learning who determines what is friendly and what is unfriendly by the test of knowledge and ignorance ? Most assuredly. And is not the love of learning the love of wisdom, which is philosophy ? They are the same, he replied.

And may we not say confidently of man also, that he who is likely to be gentle to his friends and acquaintances, must by nature be a lover of wisdom and knowledge ? That we may safely affirm. Then he who is to be a really good and noble guardian of the State will require to unite in himself philosophy and spirit and swiftness and strength? Undoubtedly.

Then we have found the desired natures; and now that we have found them, how are they to be reared and educated ? Is this an inquiry which may be fairly expected to throw light on the greater inquiry which is our final end — How do justice and injustice grow up in States? for we do not want to admit anything which is superfluous, or leave out anything which is really to the point. Adeimantus thought that the inquiry would be of use to us.

p. 222Then, I said, my dear friend, the task must not be given up, even if somewhat long. Certainly not. Come then, and like story-tellers, let us beat leisure, and our story shall be the education of our heroes. By all means. And what shall be their education ? Can we find a better than the old-fashioned sort ? — and this has two divisions, gym-, naâticfor the body, and music ^"^ for the soul. True.

Music is taught first, and gymnastic afterwards? Certainly. And when you speak of music, do you rank literature under music or not ? I do. And literature mav be either true or false? Yes.

And the young are trained in both kinds, and in the ^Zg" false before the true ? .-; I do not understand your meaning, he said. ^ V \ You know, I said, that we begin by telling children stories, which, though not wholly destitute of truth, are in the main • fictitious; and these stories are told them when they are not of an age to learn gymnastics. Very tnie. That was my meaning in saying that we must teach music before gymnastics.

" " Music to the ancients had a far wider significance than it has tons. It was opposed to gymnastic as * mental ' to ' bodily ' training, and included equally reading and writing, mathematics, harmony, poetry, and music strictly speaking." — ^Jowett, 3d ed, v., p. 474. " The word must'c is not to be judged according to the limited signification which it now bears.

It comprehended from the beginning everything appertaining to the province of the Nine Muses — not merely learning the use of the lyre, or how to bear part in a chorus, but also the hearing, learning, and repeating of poetical compositions, as well as the practice of exact and elegant pronunciation. ...

As the range of ideas enlarged, so the word music and musical teacher acquired an expanded meaning, so as to comprehend matter of instruction at once ampler and more diversified.

During the middle of the fifth century B.C. at Athens, there came thus to be found among the musical teachers, men of the most distinguished abilities and eminence ; masters of all the learning and accomplishments of the age, teaching what wasjcnown of astronomy, geography, and physics, and capable of holding dialectical discussions with their pupils upon all the various problems then afloat among intellectual men." — Grote's History of Greece, III., chap. Ixvii.

p. 223Quite right, he said. You know also that the beginning is the chiefest part of any work, especially in a young and tender thing ; for that is the time at which the character is formed and most readily receives the desired impression. Quite true.

And shall we just carelessly allow children to hear any casual tales which may be framed by casual persons, and to receive into their minds notions which are the very opposite of those which are to be held by them when they are grown up? We cannot allow that.

Then the first thing will be to have a censorship of the writers of fiction, and let the censors receive any tale of fiction which is good, and reject the bad ; and we will desire mothers and nurses to tell their children the authorized ones only. Let them fashion the mind with these tales, and not the tender frame with the hands only. At the same time, most of those which are now in use will have to be discarded.

Of what tales are you jspeaking? he said. You may find a model of the lesser in the greater, I said ; for they are necessarily cast in the same mould, and there is the same spirit in both of them. That may be very true, he rephed ; but I don't as yet know what you would term the greater. Those, I said, which are narrated by Homer and Hesiod, and the rest of the poets, who have ever been the great storytellers of mankind.

But which are the stories that you mean, he said ; and what fault do you find \^dth them ? A fault which is most serious, I said ; the fault of telling a liCy and a bad lie. But when is this fault committed? Whenever an erroneous representation is" made of the nature of gods and heroes, — like the drawing of a limner which has not the shadow of a likeness to the truth.

Yes, he said, that sort of thing is certainly very blamable ; but what are the stories which you mean ? [Socrates gives examples of what he regards as objectionable mythology for the young. He condemns the tales in which