[502b]
not one of all could be saved,1 will anyone maintain that?”
“How could he?” “But surely,” said
I, “the occurrence of one such is enough,2 if he has a state which obeys
him,3 to realize4 all that now seems so
incredible.” “Yes, one is enough,” he said.
“For if such a ruler,” I said, “ordains the
laws and institutions that we have described it is surely not impossible
that the citizens should be content to carry them out.”
“By no means.” “Would it, then, be at all
strange or impossible for others to come to the opinion to which we have
come5?”
1 Cf. 494 A.
2 Cf. Epist. vii. 328 C and Novotny, Plato's Epistles, p. 170 Plato's apparent radicalism again. Cf. on 501 A. Cf. also Laws 709 E, but note the qualification in 875 C, 713 E-714 A. 691 C-D. Wilamowitz, Platon, ii. pp. 381-383 seems to say that the εἷς ἱκανός is the philosopher—Plato.
3 Note the different tone of 565 Eλαβὼν σφόδρα πειθόμενον ὄχλον. Cf. Phaedr. 260 Cλαβὼν πόλιν ὡσαύτως ἔχουσαν πείθῃ.
4 Cf. on 499 D, and Frutiger, Mythes de Platon, p. 43.
5 Cf. Epist. vii. 327 B-C, viii. 357 B ff.
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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