[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 bazaar1
of constitutions, and after making his choice, establish his own.”
“Perhaps at any rate,” he said,
1 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.”
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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