[605a]
that is alien to them.” “By
all means.” “And is it not obvious that the nature of
the mimetic poet is not related to this better part of the soul and his
cunning is not framed1 to please it, if
he is to win favor with the multitude, but is devoted to the fretful and
complicated type of character because it is easy to imitate?”
“It is obvious.” “This consideration, then,
makes it right for us to proceed to lay hold of him and set him down as the
counterpart2 of the painter; for he
resembles him in that his creations are inferior in respect of reality; and
the fact that his appeal is to the inferior part of the soul
2 ἀντίστροφον is used as in Aristot.Rhet. 1354 a 1.
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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