And then one might see whether in its real nature Footnote 1Cf. Phaedo 246 A.In Tim. 72 D Plato says that only God knows the truth about the soul. See Laws 641 D, and Unity of Plato’s Thought, p. 42. it is manifold Footnote 2Cf. Phaedr. 271 A. or single in its simplicity, or what is the truth about it and how. Footnote 3ὅπῃ καὶ ὅπως: cf. 621 B, Phaedo 100 D, Tim. 37 A-B, Laws 652 A, 834 E, 899 A and B. But for the present we have, I think, fairly well described its sufferings and the forms it assumes in this human life of ours.
We certainly have,
he said.
Then,
said I, we have met all the other demands of the argument, and we have not invoked the rewards and reputes of justice as you said Homer and Hesiod Footnote 4363 B-C. do, but we have proved that justice in itself is the best thing for the soul itself, and that the soul ought to do justice whether it possess the ring of Gyges Footnote 5359 D f. or not, Footnote 6Cf. 367 E. or the helmet of Hades Footnote 7Iliad v. 845, Blaydes on Aristoph. Acharn. 390. to boot.
Most true,
he said. Then,
said I, Glaucon, there can no longer be any objection, Footnote 8Cf. Soph. 243 A, Laws 801 E
ἄνευ φθόνων
, Eurip. Hippol. 497 οὐκ ἐπίφθονον
, Aeschines, De falsa legatione 167 (49). Friedländer, Platon, ii. p. 406 does object and finds the passage inconsistent with the idealism of 592 and with Laws 899 D ff. and 905 B. Cf. Renan, Averroes, pp. 156-157, Guyau, Esquisse d’une morale, pp. 140-141. See Unity of Plato’s Thought, p. 80 and n. 612, Idea of Justice in Plato’s Republic, pp. 197-198. Gomperz, ignoring this passage and interpreting the Republic wholly from 367 E, strangely argues that Phaedo 107 C proves that the Phaedo must have been composed at a time when Plato was less sure of the coincidence of justice and happiness. A religious thinker may in his theodicy justify the ways of God to man by arguing that worldly happiness is not the real happiness, and yet elsewhere remark that, as a rule, the righteous is not forsaken even in this world. Cf. Psalm 37.25 ff., Prov. 10.3 and passim. See Renan, Hist. du Peuple d’Israel, p. 376: Il en est de ces passages comme de tant de préceptes de l’Evangile, insensés si on en fait des articles de code, excellents si on n’y voit, que l’expression hyperbolique de hauts sentiments moraux.
can there, to our assigning to justice and virtue generally, in addition, all the various rewards and wages that they bring to the soul from men and gods, both while the man still lives and, after his death?There certainly can be none,
he said. Will you, then, return to me what you borrowed Footnote 9Cf. Polit. 267 A. in the argument?
What, pray?
I granted to you that the just man should seem and be thought to be unjust and the unjust just; for you thought that, even if the concealment of these things from gods and men was an impossibility in fact, nevertheless, it ought to be conceded for the sake of the argument, Footnote 10τοῦ λόγου ἕνεκα: not the same as λόγου ἕνεκα. See on 581 C, p. 374, note a. in order that the decision might be made between absolute justice and absolute injustice. Or do you not remember?
It would be unjust of me, Footnote 11Cf.
he said, εἰ μὴ ἀδικῶ
608 D. if I did not.
Well, then, now that they have been compared and judged, I demand back from you in behalf of justice the repute that she in fact enjoys Footnote 12For the idiom ὥσπερ ἔχει δόξης cf. 365 A
ὡς . . . ἔχουσι τιμῆς
, 389 C ὅπως . . . πράξεως ἔχει
, Thucyd. i. 22 ὡς . . . μνήμης ἔχοι
. For the thought cf. Isoc. viii. 33. from gods and men, and I ask that we admit that she is thus esteemed in order that she may gather in the prizes Footnote 13Cf. Phileb. 22 B and E. which she wins from the seeming and bestows on her possessors, since she has been proved to bestow the blessings that come from the reality and not to deceive those who truly seek and win her.That is a just demand,
he said. Then,
said I, will not the first of these restorations be that the gods certainly Footnote 14γε vi termini. Cf. 379 A and Class. Phil. x. p. 335. are not unaware Footnote 15Cf. 365 D. of the true character of each of the two, the just and the unjust?
We will restore that,
he said. And if they are not concealed, the one will be dear to the gods Footnote 16Cf. Phileb. 39 E. and the other hateful to them, as we agreed in the beginning. Footnote 17Cf. 352 B.
That is so.
Book 10