[589e]
Or is it conceivable that, while, if the taking of the
gold enslaved his son or daughter and that too to fierce and evil men, it
would not profit him,1 no matter how large the sum, yet that,
if the result is to be the ruthless enslavement of the divinest part of
himself to the most despicable and godless part, he is not to be deemed
wretched
1 Cf. Matt. xvi.26, Mark viii. 36, “What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” A typical argumentum ex contrario. Cf. 445 A-B and Vol. I. p. 40, note c. On the supreme value of the soul Cf. Laws 726-728, 743 E, 697 B, 913 B, 959 A-B. Cf. 585 D.
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969.
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