[536a]
“By all
means,” he said. “And with reference to sobriety,”
said I, “and bravery and loftiness of soul1
and all the parts of virtue,2 we must especially be on our guard to distinguish the
base-born from the true-born. For when the knowledge necessary to make such
discriminations is lacking in individual or state, they unawares employ at
random3 for any of these purposes the
crippled and base-born natures, as their friends or rulers.”
“It is so indeed,” he said. “But we,” I
said, “must be on our guard in all such cases,
1 Cf. 487 A and vol. I. p. 261, note c on 402 C. The cardinal virtues are not rigidly fixed in Plato. Cf. on 427 E, vol. I. p. 346.
2 Plato is using ordinary language and not troubling himself with the problem of Protag. 329 D (What Plato Said, p. 497) and Laws 633 A (What Plato Said, p. 624). Cf. also on 533 D.
3 πρὸς ὅ τι ἂν τύχωσι lit. “for whatsoever they happen to of these (services).” Cf. Symp. 181 B, Prot. 353 A, Crito 44 D and 45 D, Gorg. 522 C, Laws 656 C, Rep. 332 B, 561 D, Dem. iv. 46, Isoc.Panath. 25, 74, 239, Aristot.Mat. 1013 a 6.
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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