[421d]
these are
the causes that corrupt other1 craftsmen too so as positively to spoil them.2” “What
causes?” “Wealth and poverty,”3 said I.
“How so?” “Thus! do you think a potter who
grew rich would any longer be willing to give his mind to his
craft?” “By no means,” said he. “But
will he become more idle and negligent than he was?”
“Far more.” “Then he becomes a worse
potter?” “Far worse too.” “And yet
again, if from poverty he is unable to provide himself with tools and other
requirements of his art,
1 The guardians are δημιουργοὶ ἐλευθερίας(395 C).
2 ὥστε καὶ κακούς, I think, means “so that they become actually bad,” not “so that they also become bad.” Cf. Lysis 217 B.
3 For the dangers of wealth cf. 550, 553 D, 555 B, 556 A, 562, Laws 831 C, 919 B, and for the praises of poverty cf. Aristophanes Plutus 510-591, Lucian, Nigrinus 12, Euripides fr. 55 N., Stobaeus, Flor. 94 (Meineke iii. 198), Class. Phil. vol. xxii. pp. 235-236.
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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