[488c]
and meanwhile they are
always clustered about1 the shipmaster importuning him and sticking at
nothing2 to induce
him to turn over the helm to them. And sometimes, if they fail and others
get his ear, they put the others to death or cast them out3 from the ship, and then, after binding4 and stupefying the worthy shipmaster5 with mandragora
or intoxication or otherwise, they take command of the ship, consume its
stores and, drinking and feasting, make such a voyage6 of it as is to be
expected7 from such, and as if that were not enough, they
praise and celebrate as a navigator,
1 The participle περικεχυμένους occurs in Polit. 268 C, but is avoided here by anacoluthon.
2 For the idiom πάντα ποιεῖν Cf. Euthyph. 8 C, 504 D-E, 471 C, 575 E, 494 E, Gorg. 479 C, Phaedr. 252 E, Apol. 39 A, and, slightly varied, Eurip.Heracleidae 841.
3 The word ἐκβάλλοντας helps the obvious allegory, for it also means banish.
4 Here figurative. Cf. Gorg. 482 E, Theaet. 165 E. Infra 615 E it is used literally.
5 Cf. Polit. 297 E. The expression is slightly ironical. Such is frequently the tone of γενναῖος in Plato. Cf. Rep. 454 A, 363 A, 544 C, 348 CHipp. Min. 370 D, Soph. 231 B, Hipp. Maj. 290 , Polit. 274 E.
6 Cf. Polit. 302 A, Laws 906 E, Jebb on Soph.Antig. 189-190.
7 Cf. 407 D with Thucyd. iv. 26, vi 69, vii. 25.
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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