[431a]
and he who is subject to himself would be master. For
the same person is spoken of in all these expressions.”
“Of course.” “But,” said I,
“the intended meaning of this way of speaking appears to me to be
that the soul of a man within him has a better part and a worse part, and
the expression self-mastery means the control of the worse by the naturally
better part. It is, at any rate, a term of praise. But when, because of bad
breeding or some association,1 the better part, which is the
smaller, is dominated by the multitude2 of
the worse, I think that our speech
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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