[576e]
as is
right, and declare our opinion only after we have so dived to its uttermost
recesses and contemplated its life as a whole.” “That is
a fair challenge,” he said, “and it is clear to
everybody that there is no city more wretched than that in which a tyrant
rules, and none more happy than that governed by a true king.1” “And
would it not also be a fair challenge,” said I,
1 For the contrast of tyranny and kingdom cf. 587 B, Polit. 276 E. It became a commonplace in later orations on the true king. Cf. Dümmler, Prolegomena, pp. 38-39.
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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