Let us see.
Would he not, in the first place, resemble it in prizing wealth above everything?
Inevitably.
And also by being thrifty and laborious, satisfying only his own necessary Footnote 1Cf. on 558 D, p. 291, note i. appetites and desires and not providing for expenditure on other things, but subduing his other appetites as vain and unprofitable?
By all means.
He would be a squalid Footnote 2αὐχμηρός: Cf. Symp. 203 D. fellow,
said I, looking for a surplus of profit Footnote 3For περιουσίαν cf. Blaydes on Aristoph. Clouds 50 and Theaet. 154 E. in everything, and a hoarder, the type the multitude approves. Footnote 4Cf. Phaedr. 256 E, Meno 90 A-B by implication. Numenius (ed. Mullach iii. 159) relates of Lacydes that he was
a bit greedy (ὑπογλισχρότερος) and after a fashion a thrifty manager (οἰκονομικός)—as the expression is—the sort approved by most people.
Emerson, The Young American, they recommend conventional virtues, whatever will earn and preserve property.
But this is not always true in an envious democracy: cf. Isoc. xv. 159-160 and America today. Would not this be the character of the man who corresponds to such a polity?I certainly think so,
he said. Property, at any rate, is the thing most esteemed by that state and that kind of man.
That, I take it,
said I, is because he has never turned his thoughts to true culture.
I think not,
he said, else he would not have made the blind Footnote 5Plato distinctly refers to the blind god Wealth. Cf. Aristoph. Plutus,Eurip. fr. 773, Laws 631 C
πλοῦτος οὐ τυφλός
which was often quoted. Cf. What Plato Said, p. 624, Otto, p. 60. one leader of his choir and first in honor. Footnote 6Cf. Herod. iii. 34, vii. 107. Well said,
I replied. But consider this. Shall we not say that owing to this lack of culture the appetites of the drone spring up in him, some the beggarly, others the rascally, but that they are forcibly restrained by his general self-surveillance and self- control Footnote 7Cf. 552 E
ἐπιμελείᾳ βίᾳ
. For ἄλλης cf. 368 B ἐκ τοῦ ἄλλου τοῦ ὑμετέρου τρόπου
. ?We shall indeed,
he said. Do you know, then,
said I, to what you must look to discern the rascalities of such men?
To what?
he said. To guardianships of orphans, Footnote 8For the treatment of inferiors and weaker persons as a test of character Cf. Laws 777 D-E, Hesiod, Works and Days, 330, and Murray, Rise of the Greek Epic, pp. 84-85, who, however, errs on the meaning of αἰδώς. For orphans cf. also Laws 926-928, 766 C, 877 C, 909 C-D. and any such opportunities of doing injustice with impunity.
True.
And is it not apparent by this that in other dealings, where he enjoys the repute of a seeming just man, he by some better Footnote 9ἐπιεικεῖ is here used generally, and not in its special sense of
sweet reasonableness.
element in himself forcibly keeps down other evil desires dwelling within, Footnote 10For ἐνούσας Cf. Phileb. 16 D, Symp. 187 E. not persuading them that it is better not
Footnote 11Cf. 463 D. For the idea here Cf. Phaedo 68-69, What Plato Said, p. 527. nor taming them by reason, but by compulsion and fear, trembling for his possessions generally.Quite so,
he said. Yes, by Zeus,
said I, my friend. In most of them, when there is occasion to spend the money of others, you will discover the existence of drone-like appetites.
Most emphatically.
Such a man, then, would not be free from internal dissension. Footnote 12For the idea
at war with himself,
Cf. 440 B and E (στάσις), Phaedr. 237 D-E, and Aristot. Eth. Nic. 1099 a 12 f. He would not be really one, but in some sort a double Footnote 13Cf. 397 E. man. Yet for the most part, his better desires would have the upper hand over the worse.It is so.
And for this reason, I presume, such a man would be more seemly, more respectable, than many others; but the true virtue of a soul in unison and harmony Footnote 14Cf. on 443 D-E, Vol. I. p. 414, note e; also Phaedo 61 A, and What Plato Said, p. 485 on Laches 188 D. with itself would escape him and dwell afar.
I think so.
Book 8