[342c]
“does not consider the
advantage of medicine but of the body?” “Yes.”
“Nor horsemanship of horsemanship but of horses, nor does any
other art look out for itself—for it has no need—but for
that of which it is the art.” “So it seems,”
he replied. “But surely,1
Thrasymachus, the arts do hold rule and are stronger than that of which they
are the arts.” He conceded this but it went very hard.
“Then no art considers or enjoins2
the advantage of the stronger but every art that of the weaker
1 The next step is the identification of (true) politics with the disinterested arts which also rule and are the stronger. Cf. Xenophon Memorabilia iii. 9. 11.γε emphasizes the argumentative implication of ἄρχουσι to which Thrasymachus assents reluctantly; and Socrates develops and repeats the thought for half a page. Art is virtually science, as contrasted with empiric rule of thumb, and Thrasymachus's infallible rulers are of course scientific. “Ruler” is added lest we forget the analogy between political rule and that of the arts. Cf. Newman, Introduction Aristotle Politics 244, Laws 875 C.
2 It is not content with theoretic knowledge, but like other arts gives orders to achieve results. Cf. Politicus 260 A, C.
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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