§6.500ἢ οἴει τινὰ χαλεπαίνειν τῷ μὴ χαλεπῷ ἢ φθονεῖν τῷ μὴ φθονερῷ ἄφθονόν τε καὶ πρᾷον ὄντα;
"Or do you think that anyone who is without envy and gentle feels anger at one who is not angry, or envies one who is not envious, if he himself is without envy and gentle?
ἐγὼ μὲν γάρ σε προφθάσας λέγω ὅτι ἐν ὀλίγοις τισὶν ἡγοῦμαι, ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἐν τῷ πλήθει, χαλεπὴν οὕτω φύσιν γίγνεσθαι. καὶ ἐγὼ ἀμέλει, ἔφη, συνοίομαι. οὐκοῦν καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο συνοίει, τοῦ χαλεπῶς πρὸς φιλοσοφίαν τοὺς πολλοὺς διακεῖσθαι ἐκείνους αἰτίους εἶναι τοὺς ἔξωθεν οὐ προσῆκον ἐπεισκεκωμακότας, λοιδορουμένους τε αὑτοῖς καὶ φιλαπεχθημόνως ἔχοντας καὶ ἀεὶ περὶ ἀνθρώπων τοὺς λόγους ποιουμένους, ἥκιστα φιλοσοφίᾳ πρέπον ποιοῦντας; πολύ γʼ, ἔφη.
For I, anticipating you, say that I believe such a harsh nature arises in some few, but not in the multitude." "And I, indeed," he said, "agree." "Do you not, then, also agree with this very thing, that the harsh disposition of the multitude toward philosophy is caused by those outsiders who have burst in like revelers where they do not belong, abusing one another and being full of enmity, and always making their speeches about persons, doing what is least fitting for philosophy?" "Very much so," he said.
οὐδὲ γάρ που, ὦ Ἀδείμαντε, σχολὴ τῷ γε ὡς ἀληθῶς πρὸς τοῖς οὖσι τὴν διάνοιαν ἔχοντι κάτω βλέπειν εἰς ἀνθρώπων πραγματείας, καὶ μαχόμενον αὐτοῖς φθόνου τε καὶ δυσμενείας ἐμπίμπλασθαι, ἀλλʼ εἰς τεταγμένα ἄττα καὶ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἀεὶ ἔχοντα ὁρῶντας καὶ θεωμένους οὔτʼ ἀδικοῦντα οὔτʼ ἀδικούμενα ὑπʼ ἀλλήλων, κόσμῳ δὲ πάντα καὶ κατὰ λόγον ἔχοντα, ταῦτα μιμεῖσθαί τε καὶ ὅτι μάλιστα ἀφομοιοῦσθαι.
"For surely, Adeimantus, a man who has his understanding truly directed toward the things that are has no leisure to look down upon the affairs of men, and, by fighting with them, to be filled with envy and ill-will; rather, looking at things that are orderly and always remain the same, neither doing injustice nor suffering injustice from one another, but all being orderly and according to reason, they imitate these and make themselves as like them as possible.
ἢ οἴει τινὰ μηχανὴν εἶναι, ὅτῳ τις ὁμιλεῖ ἀγάμενος, μὴ μιμεῖσθαι ἐκεῖνο; ἀδύνατον, ἔφη.
Or do you think there is any way that anyone who associates with what he admires can avoid imitating it?" "Impossible," he said.
θείῳ δὴ καὶ κοσμίῳ ὅ γε φιλόσοφος ὁμιλῶν κόσμιός τε καὶ θεῖος εἰς τὸ δυνατὸν ἀνθρώπῳ γίγνεται· διαβολὴ δʼ ἐν πᾶσι πολλή. παντάπασι μὲν οὖν. ἂν οὖν τις, εἶπον, αὐτῷ ἀνάγκη γένηται ἃ ἐκεῖ ὁρᾷ μελετῆσαι εἰς ἀνθρώπων ἤθη καὶ ἰδίᾳ καὶ δημοσίᾳ τιθέναι καὶ μὴ μόνον ἑαυτὸν πλάττειν, ἆρα κακὸν δημιουργὸν αὐτὸν οἴει γενήσεσθαι σωφροσύνης τε καὶ δικαιοσύνης καὶ συμπάσης τῆς δημοτικῆς ἀρετῆς; ἥκιστά γε, ἦ δʼ ὅς.
"Then the philosopher, associating with what is divine and orderly, becomes orderly and divine as far as is possible for a human; though slander is rife among all." "Absolutely." "If, then," I said, "some necessity arises for him to practice putting what he sees there into the characters of men both in private and in public, and not just to shape himself, do you think he will prove a bad craftsman of moderation, justice, and all popular virtue?" "Least of all," he said.
ἀλλʼ ἐὰν δὴ αἴσθωνται οἱ πολλοὶ ὅτι ἀληθῆ περὶ αὐτοῦ λέγομεν, χαλεπανοῦσι δὴ τοῖς φιλοσόφοις καὶ ἀπιστήσουσιν ἡμῖν λέγουσιν ὡς οὐκ ἄν ποτε ἄλλως εὐδαιμονήσειε πόλις, εἰ μὴ αὐτὴν διαγράψειαν οἱ τῷ θείῳ παραδείγματι χρώμενοι ζωγράφοι; οὐ χαλεπανοῦσιν, ἦ δʼ ὅς, ἐάνπερ αἴσθωνται. §6.501ἀλλὰ δὴ τίνα λέγεις τρόπον τῆς διαγραφῆς; λαβόντες, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, ὥσπερ πίνακα πόλιν τε καὶ ἤθη ἀνθρώπων, πρῶτον μὲν καθαρὰν ποιήσειαν ἄν, ὃ οὐ πάνυ ῥᾴδιον·
"But if the multitude perceive that we speak the truth about him, will they still be angry with the philosophers and disbelieve us when we say that a city could never be happy unless the painters who use the divine pattern outline it?" "They won't be angry," he said, "if they perceive it." "But how do you say this outlining is done?" "Taking the city and the characters of men like a tablet," I said, "first they would make it clean, which is not at all easy.
ἀλλʼ οὖν οἶσθʼ ὅτι τούτῳ ἂν εὐθὺς τῶν ἄλλων διενέγκοιεν, τῷ μήτε ἰδιώτου μήτε πόλεως ἐθελῆσαι ἂν ἅψασθαι μηδὲ γράφειν νόμους, πρὶν ἢ παραλαβεῖν καθαρὰν ἢ αὐτοὶ ποιῆσαι. καὶ ὀρθῶς γʼ, ἔφη.
But at any rate, you know they would immediately differ from others in this: they wouldn't want to touch either a private person or a city, or to draw laws, until they received a clean canvas or made it so themselves." "And rightly so," he said.
οὐκοῦν μετὰ ταῦτα οἴει ὑπογράψασθαι ἂν τὸ σχῆμα τῆς πολιτείας; τί μήν; ἔπειτα οἶμαι ἀπεργαζόμενοι πυκνὰ ἂν ἑκατέρωσʼ ἀποβλέποιεν, πρός τε τὸ φύσει δίκαιον καὶ καλὸν καὶ σῶφρον καὶ πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα, καὶ πρὸς ἐκεῖνʼ αὖ τὸ ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐμποιοῖεν, συμμειγνύντες τε καὶ κεραννύντες ἐκ τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων τὸ ἀνδρείκελον, ἀπʼ ἐκείνου τεκμαιρόμενοι, ὃ δὴ καὶ Ὅμηρος ἐκάλεσεν ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐγγιγνόμενον θεοειδές τε καὶ θεοείκελον. ὀρθῶς, ἔφη.
"And after this, don't you think they would sketch the outline of the constitution?" "How else?" "Then, I think, in carrying out their work they would look frequently in both directions: on the one hand, to what is naturally just, beautiful, moderate, and all such things, and on the other hand, to what they are producing in human beings, mixing and blending the human likeness from their practices, taking indication from that which Homer called the godlike and god-resembling when it appears in men." "Right," he said.
καὶ τὸ μὲν ἂν οἶμαι ἐξαλείφοιεν, τὸ δὲ πάλιν ἐγγράφοιεν, ἕως ὅτι μάλιστα ἀνθρώπεια ἤθη εἰς ὅσον ἐνδέχεται θεοφιλῆ ποιήσειαν. καλλίστη γοῦν ἄν, ἔφη, ἡ γραφὴ γένοιτο.
"And they would, I think, erase one thing and paint in another, until they made human characters as dear to the gods as possible." "It would indeed be the most beautiful painting," he said.
ἆρʼ οὖν, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, πείθομέν πῃ ἐκείνους, οὓς διατεταμένους ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς ἔφησθα ἰέναι, ὡς τοιοῦτός ἐστι πολιτειῶν ζωγράφος ὃν τότʼ ἐπῃνοῦμεν πρὸς αὐτούς, διʼ ὃν ἐκεῖνοι ἐχαλέπαινον ὅτι τὰς πόλεις αὐτῷ παρεδίδομεν, καί τι μᾶλλον αὐτὸ νῦν ἀκούοντες πραΰνονται;
"Are we then," I said, "somehow persuading those who you said were marching against us in battle array, that such is the painter of constitutions whom we were then praising to them, because of whom they were angry with us for turning the cities over to him?
καὶ πολύ γε, ἦ δʼ ὅς, εἰ σωφρονοῦσιν. πῇ γὰρ δὴ ἕξουσιν ἀμφισβητῆσαι;
And are they any more gentle now when they hear this?" "And much more so," he said, "if they are wise." "For where indeed will they have any ground for dispute?
πότερον μὴ τοῦ ὄντος τε καὶ ἀληθείας ἐραστὰς εἶναι τοὺς φιλοσόφους; ἄτοπον μεντἄν, ἔφη, εἴη.
Will they deny that philosophers are lovers of being and truth?" "That would be absurd," he said.
ἀλλὰ μὴ τὴν φύσιν αὐτῶν οἰκείαν εἶναι τοῦ ἀρίστου, ἣν ἡμεῖς διήλθομεν; οὐδὲ τοῦτο. τί δέ;
"Or that their nature, which we described, is akin to the best?" "Nor that." "What then?
τὴν τοιαύτην τυχοῦσαν τῶν προσηκόντων ἐπιτηδευμάτων οὐκ ἀγαθὴν τελέως ἔσεσθαι καὶ φιλόσοφον, εἴπερ τινὰ ἄλλην;
That such a nature, if it meets with the proper pursuits, will not be perfectly good and philosophical, if any is?
ἢ ἐκείνους φήσει μᾶλλον, οὓς ἡμεῖς ἀφωρίσαμεν; οὐ δήπου. ἔτι οὖν ἀγριανοῦσι λεγόντων ἡμῶν ὅτι πρὶν ἂν πόλεως τὸ φιλόσοφον γένος ἐγκρατὲς γένηται, οὔτε πόλει οὔτε πολίταις κακῶν παῦλα ἔσται, οὐδὲ ἡ πολιτεία ἣν μυθολογοῦμεν λόγῳ ἔργῳ τέλος λήψεται; ἴσως, ἔφη, ἧττον.
Or will they say those others are, whom we excluded?" "Surely not." "Will they still be angry then when we say that until the philosophical class becomes master of the city, there will be no rest from evils for the city or the citizens, nor will the constitution which we mythologize in words receive its realization in deed?" "Perhaps less so," he said."