And when these dread magi Footnote 1An overlooked reference to the Magi who set up the false Smerdis. Cf. Herod. iii. 61 ff. and king-makers come to realize that they have no hope of controlling the youth in any other way, they contrive to engender in his soul a ruling passion Footnote 2Cf. Symp. 205 D. to be the protector Footnote 3προστάτην: cf. 562 D and 565 C-D.
of his idle and prodigal Footnote 4For τὰ ἕτοιμα cf. 552 B, Symp. 200 D and E, and Horace, Odes i. 31. 17
frui paratis.
appetites, a monstrous winged Footnote 5Cf. Alc. I. 135 E ἔρωτα ὑπόπτερον
and the fragment of Eubulus (fr. 41, Kock ii. p. 178): τίς ἦν ὁ γράψας πρῶτος ἀνθρώπων ἄρα ἢ κηροπλαστήσας Ἔρωθ’ ὑπόπτερον drone. Or do you think the spirit of desire in such men is aught else?Nothing but that,
he said. And when the other appetites, buzzing Footnote 6Cf. 564 D. about it, replete with incense and myrrh and chaplets and wine, and the pleasures that are released in such revelries, magnifying and fostering it to the utmost, awaken in the drone the sting of unsatisfied yearnings, Footnote 7Cf. Phaedrus 253 E. why then this protector of the soul has madness for his body-guard and runs amuck, Footnote 8For οἰστρᾷ Cf. Phaedr. 240 D. and if it finds in the man any opinions or appetites accounted Footnote 9For ποιουμένας in this sense cf. 538 C, 498 A, 574 D. worthy and still capable of shame, it slays them and thrusts them forth until it purges Footnote 10Cf. on 560 D, p. 299, note c. him of sobriety, and fills and infects him with frenzy brought in from outside. Footnote 11ἐπακτοῦ: cf. 405 B, Pindar, Pyth. vi. 10, Aesch. Seven against Thebes 583, Soph. Trach. 259.
A perfect description,
he said, of the generation of the tyrannical man.
And is not this analogy,
said I, the reason why Love has long since been called a tyrant Footnote 12Cf. 573 D, Eurip. Hippol. 538, Andromeda, fr. 136 (Nauck)θεῶν τύραννε . . . Ἔρως, and What Plato Said, p. 546 on Symp. 197 B. ?
That may well be,
he said. And does not a drunken man, Footnote 13For drunkenness as a tyrannical mood Cf. Laws 649 B, 671 B, Phaedr, 238 B. my friend,
I said, have something of this tyrannical temper?
Yes, he has.
And again the madman, the deranged man, attempts and expects to rule over not only men but gods.
Yes indeed, he does,
he said. Then a man becomes tyrannical in the full sense of the word, my friend,
I said, when either by nature or by habits or by both he has become even as the drunken, the erotic, the maniacal.
Assuredly.
Such, it seems, is his origin and character, Footnote 14Cf. Adam ad loc., who insists it means his origin as well as that of others, and says his character is still to be described. But it has been in C and before. but what is his manner of life?
As the wits say, you shall tell me. Footnote 15Cf. Phileb. 25 B and perhaps Rep. 427 E with 449 D. The slight jest is a commonplace today. Wilamowitz, Platon, ii. p. 351, says it is a fragment of an elegy. He forgets the Philebus.
I do,
I said; for, I take it, next there are among them feasts and carousals and revellings and courtesans Footnote 16Cf. Vol. I. p 160, note a on 373 A. Emendations are superfluous. and all the doings of those whose Footnote 17ὦν ἄν: cf. 441 D-E ὅτου, etc., 583 A
ἐν ᾧ
and my review of Jowett and Campbell, A.J.P. xvi. p. 237. souls are entirely swayed Footnote 18Cf. Phaedr. 238 B-C. by the indwelling tyrant Eros.Inevitably,
he said. And do not many and dread appetites shoot up beside this master passion every day and night in need of many things?
Many indeed.
And so any revenues there may be are quickly expended.
Of course.
Book 9