[562d]
for its leaders1 and is
intoxicated by drinking too deep of that unmixed wine,2 and then, if its
so-called governors are not extremely mild and gentle with it and do not
dispense the liberty unstintedly,it chastises them and accuses them of being
accursed3
oligarchs.4” “Yes, that is
what they do,” he replied. “But those who obey the
rulers,” I said, “it reviles as willing slaves5 and men of
naught,6 but it commends and honors in
public and private rulers who resemble subjects and subjects who are like
rulers.
1 Or “protectors,” “tribunes,”προστατούντων. Cf. on 565 C, p. 318, note d.
2 Cf. Livy xxxix. 26 “velut ex diutina siti nimis avide meram haurientes libertatem,” Seneca, De benefic. i. 10 “male dispensata libertas,” Taine, Letter,Jan. 2, 1867 “nous avons proclamé et appliqué l’égalité . . . C’est un vin pur et généreux; mais nous avons bu trop du nôtre.”
3 μιαρούς is really stronger, “pestilential fellows.” Cf. Apol. 23 D, Soph.Antig. 746. It is frequent in Aristophanes.
4 For the charge of oligarchical tendencies cf. Isoc.Peace 51 and 133, Areop. 57, Antid. 318, Panath. 158.
5 Cf. Symp. 184 C, 183 A. Cf. the essay of Estienne de la Boétie, De la servitude volontaire. Also Gray, Ode for Music, 6 “Servitude that hugs her chain.”
6 For οὐδὲν ὄντας cf. 341 C, Apol. 41 E, Symp. 216 E, Gorg. 512 C, Erastae 134 C, Aristoph.Eccles. 144, Horace, Sat. ii. 7. 102 “nil ego,” Eurip.I. A. 371, Herod. ix. 58οὐδένες ἐόντες.
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
Purchase a copy of this text (not necessarily the same edition) from Amazon.com
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.