Phaedrus — Plato

they will be afraid that he may be praising, not new songs, but a new kind of song ; and this ought not to be praised, . nor is this to be regarded as the meaning of the poet ; for any musical innovation is full of danger to the State, and ought to be prevented.

This is what Damon ^ tells me, and I can quite believe him ; he says that when modes of music change, the fundamental laws of the State always change with them.^ Yes, said Adeimantus ; and you may add my suffrage to Damon's and your own. Then, I said, our guardians must lay the foundations of the fortress in music? Yes, he said ; and license easily creeps in ; there can be no doubt of that.

Yes, I replied, in a kind of play, and at first sight appears harmless. * See Book V. , 441-466. * Damon : a distinguished musician of Athens, known also as a Sophist. * The Greeks had originally three musical modes which differed in key. They believed that each of these had " its own peculiar emotional influence. See Grote, I., 644. Compare the saying : Let me make a people's songs and I care not who may make its laws.

p. 257. Why, he said, and there is no harm ; but the evil is, that little by little this spirit of license, finding a home, penetrates into manners and customs ; thence, issuing with greater force, invades agreements between man and man, and from agreements proceeds to laws and constitutions, in utter recklessness, and ends by an overthrow of things in general, private as well as public. Is all that true? I said.

That is my belief, he replied. Then, as I was saying, our youth should be educated in a\ stricter rule from the first, for if education becomes lawless, and the youths themselves become lawless, they can never grow up into well-conducted and virtuous citi- ^ zj zens. Very true, he said. And the education must begin with their plays.

The spiriP of law must be imparted to them in music, and the spirit of order, instead of disorder, will attend them in all their actions, and make them grow, and if there be any part of the State which has fallen down, will raise that up again. ^ Very true, he said. Thus educated, they will have np difficulty in rediscovering w any l^er matters which* have been neglected by their predecessors.

What do you mean ? * I mean such things as these : when the young are to be silent before their elders ; how they are to show respect to them by sitting down and rising up ; what honor is due to parents ; what garments or shoes are to be worn ; what mode of wearing the hair is to be the pattern ; and the fashions of the body, and manners in general. You would agree with me in that? Yes.

You think, as I am disposed to think, that there would be small Wisdom in legislating about them ; for that is never done, nor are any precise verbal enactments about them likely to be lasting. Imix)ssible. We may assume, Adeimantus, that the direction in which education starts a man will determine his future life. Does not like always invite lil^e ? 17

p. 258No question. £nding, as you may say, at last in some one rare and grand result, which may be good, and may be the reverse of good. That is not to be denied, he answered. And for this reason, I said, I shall not attempt further to ' legislate about them. Naturally enough, he replied.

Well, I said, and about the business of the agora,''' or about bargains and contracts with artisans ; about insult and injury, or the order in which causes are to be tried, and how judges are to be appointed ; there may also be questions about impositions and exactions of market and harbor dues, ^d ii\ ^general touching the administration of markets .oil townsor harbors and the like.

But, O heavens ! shall we condescenc to legislate on any of these particulars ? I I think, he said, that there is no need to impose them by I law on good men ; most of the necessary regulations they will find out soon enough for themselves.

Yes, I said, my friend, if God will only guard the laws that we have given them. / And without divine help, said Adeimantus, they will go on { forever making and mending their laws and their lives in the I hope of attaining perfection. You would compare them, I said, to those inv^ds who, having no self-restraint, will not leave off their habits of intemperance ? Exactly.

Yes, I said ; and how charming those people are ! they are always doctoring and increasing and complicating their disorders, fancying they will be cured by some nostrum which somebody advises them to try, — never getting better, but rather growing worse. ^ That is often the case, he said, with invalids such as you describe.

Yes, I replied ; they have a charming way of going on, and the charming thing is that they deem him their worst enemy who tells them the truth, which is simply that, unless they give up eating and drinking and lusting and sleeping, neither drug nor cautery nor spell nor amulet nor anything will be of any avail. ' See Apology, note a.