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[557a]
apart from any external impulse faction arises1?”
“Most emphatically.” “And a democracy, I
suppose, comes into being when the poor, winning the victory, put to death
some of the other party, drive out2 others, and grant the rest of
the citizens an equal share3 in
both citizenship and offices—and for the most part these offices
are assigned by lot.4” “Why, yes,” he said,
“that is the constitution of democracy alike whether it is
established by force of arms or by terrorism5 resulting in the withdrawal of one of the
parties.”“What,
then,” said I, “is the manner of their life
[557b]
and what is the quality of such a constitution?
For it is plain that the man of this quality will turn out to be a
democratic sort of man.” “It is plain,” he
said. “To begin with, are they not free? and is not the city
chock-full of liberty and freedom of speech? and has not every man
licence6 to do as he likes?” “So it is
said,” he replied. “And where there is such licence, it
is obvious that everyone would arrange a plan7 for leading his own life in the way that pleases
him.” “Obvious.” “All sorts8 and conditions of men,
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then, would arise in this polity more than in any
other?” “Of course.”
“Possibly,” said I, “this is the most
beautiful of polities as a garment of many colors, embroidered with all
kinds of hues, so this, decked and diversified with every type of character,
would appear the most beautiful. And perhaps,” I said,
“many would judge it to be the most beautiful, like boys and
women9 when they see bright-colored
things.”
[557d]
“Yes
indeed,” he said. “Yes,” said I,
“and it is the fit place, my good friend, in which to look for a
constitution.” “Why so?” “Because,
owing to this licence, it includes all kinds, and it seems likely that
anyone who wishes to organize a state, as we were just now doing, must find
his way to a democratic city and select the model that pleases him, as if in
a bazaar10
of constitutions, and after making his choice, establish his own.”
“Perhaps at any rate,” he said,
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“he would not be at a loss for
patterns.” “And the freedom from all compulsion to hold
office in such a city, even if you are qualified,11 or again, to submit to rule,
unless you please, or to make war when the rest are at war,12 or to keep the peace
when the others do so, unless you desire peace; and again, the liberty, in
defiance of any law that forbids you, to hold office and sit on juries none
the less,
1 στασιάζει is applied here to disease of body. Cf. Herod. v. 28νοσήσασα ἐς τὰ μάλιστα στάσι, “grievously ill of faction.” Cf. on 554 D, p. 276, note c.
2 Cf. 488 C, 560 A, Gorg. 466 C, 468 D, Prot. 325 B. Exile, either formal or voluntary, was always regarded as the proper thing for the defeated party in the Athenian democracy. The custom even exists at the present time. Venizelos, for instance, has frequently, when defeated at the polls, chosen to go into voluntary exile. But that term, in modern as in ancient Greece, must often be interpreted cum grano salis.
3 ἐξ ἴσου: one of the watchwords of democracy. Cf. 561 B and C, 599 B, 617 C, Laws 919 D, Alc. I. 115 D, Crito 50 E, Isoc.Archid. 96, Peace 3.
4 But Isoc.Areop. 22-23 considers the lot undemocratic because it might result in the establishment in office of men with oligarchical sentiments. See Norlin ad loc.For the use of the lot in Plato Cf. Laws 759 B, 757 E, 690 C, 741 B-C, 856 D, 946 B, Rep. 460 A, 461 E. Cf. Apelt, p. 520.
5 Cf. 551 B.
6 ἐξουσία: cf. Isoc. xii. 131τὴν δ᾽ ἐξουσίαν ὅ τι βούλεται τις ποιεῖν εὐδαιμονίαν. Cf. Arnold, Culture and Anarchy, chap. ii. Doing as One Likes.
7 κατασκευή is a word of all work in Plato. Cf. 419 A, 449 A, 455 A, Gorg. 455 E, 477 B, etc.
8 παντοδαπός usually has an unfavorable connotation in Plato. Cf. 431 b-C, 561 D, 567 E, 550 D, Symp. 198 B, Gorg. 489 C, Laws 788 C, etc. Isoc. iv. 45 uses it in a favorable sense, but in iii. 16 more nearly as Plato does. for the mixture of things in a democracy cf. Xen.Rep. Ath. 2. 8φωνῇ καὶ διαίτῃ καὶ σχήματι . . . Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ κεκραμένῃ ἐξ ἁπάντων τῶν Ἑλλήνων καὶ βαρβάρων; and Laws 681 D. Libby, Introduction to History of Science, p. 273, says “Arnold failed in his analysis of American civilization to confirm Plato's judgement concerning the variety of natures to be found in the democratic state.” De Tocqueville also, and many English observers, have commented on the monotony and standardization of American life.
9 For the idea that women and children like many colors cf. Sappho's admiration for Jason's mantle mingled with all manner of colors (Lyr. Graec. i. 196). For the classing together of women and boys Cf. Laws 658 D, Shakes.As You Like It,III. ii. 435 “As boys and women are for the most part cattle of this color,” Faguet, Nineteenth Century“Lamartine a été infiniment aimé des adolescents sérieux et des femmes distinguées.”
10 Cf. Plutarch, Dion 53. Burke says “A republic, as an ancient philosopher has observed, is no one species of government, but a magazine of every species.” Cf. Laws 789 B for an illustration of the point. Filmer, Patriarcha, misquotes this saying “The Athenians sold justice . . . , which made Plato call a popular estate a fair where everything is to be sold.”
11 Cf. Aristot.Pol. 1271 a 12δεῖ γὰρ καὶ βουλόμενον καὶ μὴ βουλόμενον ἄρχειν τὸν ἄξιον τῆς ἀρχῆς. cf. 347 B-C.
12 Cf. Laws 955 B-C, where a penalty is pronounced for making peace or war privately, and the parody in Aristoph.Acharn. passim.
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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