[561c]
that some pleasures arise from honorable and
good desires, and others from those that are base,1
and that we ought to practise and esteem the one and control and subdue the
others; but he shakes his head2 at all such admonitions and avers that they are
all alike and to be equally esteemed.” “Such is indeed
his state of mind and his conduct.” “And does he
not,” said I, “also live out his life in this fashion,
day by day indulging the appetite of the day, now wine-bibbing and
abandoning himself to the lascivious pleasing of the flute3 and again drinking only
water and dieting;
1 An obvious reference to the Gorgias. Cf. Gorg. 494 E, Phileb. 13 B ff., Protag. 353 D ff., Laws 733.
2 The Greek Says “throws back his head”—the characteristic negative gesture among Greeks. In Aristoph.Acharn. 115 the supposed Persians give themselves away by nodding assent and dissent in Hellenic style, as Dicaeopolis says.
3 For the word καταυλούμενος cf. 411 A, Laws 790 E, Lucian, Bis acc. 17, and for the passive Eur.I. T. 367. Cf. also Philetaerus, Philaulus, fr. 18, Kock ii. p. 235, Eur.fr. 187. 3μολπαῖσι δ᾽ ἡσθεὶς τοῦτ᾽ ἀεὶ θηρεύεται. For the type cf. Theophrastus, Char. 11, Aristoph.Wasps 1475 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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