[379a]
but
founders of a state. And to founders it pertains to know the patterns on
which poets must compose their fables and from which their poems must not be
allowed to deviate; but the founders are not required themselves to compose
fables.” “Right,” he said; “but this
very thing—the patterns or norms of right speech about the gods,
what would they be?” “Something like this,” I
said. “The true quality of God we must always surely attribute to
him whether we compose in epic, melic, or tragic verse.”
“We must.” “And is not God of course1 good in
reality
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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