[443e]
and all others there may be
between them, and having linked and bound all three together and made of
himself a unit,1 one
man instead of many, self-controlled and in unison, he should then and then
only turn to practice if he find aught to do either in the getting of wealth
or the tendance of the body or it may be in political action or private
business, in all such doings believing and naming2 the just and honorable action to be that which
preserves and helps to produce this condition of soul, and wisdom the
science
1 Cf. Epin. 992 B. The idea was claimed for the Pythagoreans; cf. Zeller I. i. p. 463, Guyau, Esquisse d'une Morale, p. 109 “La moralité n'est autre chose que l'unité de l'être.” “The key to effective life is unity of life,” says another modern rationalist.
2 ὀνομάζοντα betrays a consciousness that the ordinary meaning of words is somewhat forced for edification. Cf. Laws 864 A-B and Unity of Plato's Thought, p. 9, n. 21. Aristotle (Eth. Nic. 1138 b 6) would regard all this as mere metaphor.
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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