§8.559δικαίως δὴ τοῦτο ἐπʼ αὐταῖς ἐροῦμεν, τὸ ἀναγκαῖον. δικαίως. τί δέ; ἅς γέ τις ἀπαλλάξειεν ἄν, εἰ μελετῷ ἐκ νέου, καὶ πρὸς οὐδὲν ἀγαθὸν ἐνοῦσαι δρῶσιν, αἱ δὲ καὶ τοὐναντίον, πάσας ταύτας εἰ μὴ ἀναγκαίους φαῖμεν εἶναι, ἆρʼ οὐ καλῶς ἂν λέγοιμεν; καλῶς μὲν οὖν. προελώμεθα δή τι παράδειγμα ἑκατέρων αἵ εἰσιν, ἵνα τύπῳ λάβωμεν αὐτάς; οὐκοῦν χρή. ἆρʼ οὖν οὐχ ἡ τοῦ φαγεῖν μέχρι ὑγιείας τε καὶ εὐεξίας καὶ αὐτοῦ σίτου τε καὶ ὄψου ἀναγκαῖος ἂν εἴη; οἶμαι. ἡ μέν γέ που τοῦ σίτου κατʼ ἀμφότερα ἀναγκαία, ᾗ τε ὠφέλιμος ᾗ τε μὴ παῦσαι ζῶντα δυνατή. ναί. ἡ δὲ ὄψου, εἴ πῄ τινα ὠφελίαν πρὸς εὐεξίαν παρέχεται, πάνυ μὲν οὖν.
"Then we shall justly call this 'necessary' in their case." "Justly." "And what about those which one might get rid of, if he practiced from youth, and which do nothing good when present, and some indeed even the contrary—if we should say that all these are not necessary, would we not speak well?" "Well indeed." "Shall we then select some example of both kinds of what they are, so that we may grasp them in outline?" "Indeed we must." "Would not the desire for eating up to the point of health and well-being, and for simple bread and relish, be necessary?" "I think so." "The desire for bread, indeed, is presumably necessary on both counts, in that it is beneficial and in that it is capable of keeping a living being from ceasing to exist." "Yes." "And that for relish, if in any way it provides some benefit toward well-being?" "Very much so." "But what about the desire for foods beyond these, and for other dishes of this sort, which is capable of being gotten rid of in most cases if disciplined and trained from youth, and is harmful to the body, and harmful to the soul both in respect to wisdom and to self-control?
τί δὲ ἡ πέρα τούτων καὶ ἀλλοίων ἐδεσμάτων ἢ τοιούτων ἐπιθυμία, δυνατὴ δὲ κολαζομένη ἐκ νέων καὶ παιδευομένη ἐκ τῶν πολλῶν ἀπαλλάττεσθαι, καὶ βλαβερὰ μὲν σώματι, βλαβερὰ δὲ ψυχῇ πρός τε φρόνησιν καὶ τὸ σωφρονεῖν; ἆρά γε ὀρθῶς οὐκ ἀναγκαία ἂν καλοῖτο; ὀρθότατα μὲν οὖν. οὐκοῦν καὶ ἀναλωτικὰς φῶμεν εἶναι ταύτας, ἐκείνας δὲ χρηματιστικὰς διὰ τὸ χρησίμους πρὸς τὰ ἔργα εἶναι; τί μήν; οὕτω δὴ καὶ περὶ ἀφροδισίων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων φήσομεν; οὕτω. ἆρʼ οὖν καὶ ὃν νυνδὴ κηφῆνα ὠνομάζομεν, τοῦτον ἐλέγομεν τὸν τῶν τοιούτων ἡδονῶν καὶ ἐπιθυμιῶν γέμοντα καὶ ἀρχόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν μὴ ἀναγκαίων, τὸν δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀναγκαίων φειδωλόν τε καὶ ὀλιγαρχικόν; ἀλλὰ τί μήν; πάλιν τοίνυν, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, λέγωμεν ὡς ἐξ ὀλιγαρχικοῦ δημοκρατικὸς γίγνεται.
Would it not indeed rightly be called not necessary?" "Most rightly indeed." "Then let us say that these desires are spendthrift, and the others are money-making because they are useful for work?" "Why not?" "And shall we say the same about sexual pleasures and the others?" "Yes." "And did we not just now call the one who is full of such pleasures and desires, and who is ruled by those that are not necessary, a 'drone', and the one ruled by the necessary ones 'frugal' and 'oligarchical'?" "Why, what else?" "Again then," I said, "let us tell how the democratic man comes to be from the oligarchical.
φαίνεται δέ μοι τά γε πολλὰ ὧδε γίγνεσθαι. πῶς; ὅταν νέος, τεθραμμένος ὡς νυνδὴ ἐλέγομεν, ἀπαιδεύτως τε καὶ φειδωλῶς, γεύσηται κηφήνων μέλιτος, καὶ συγγένηται αἴθωσι θηρσὶ καὶ δεινοῖς, παντοδαπὰς ἡδονὰς καὶ ποικίλας καὶ παντοίως ἐχούσας δυναμένοις σκευάζειν, ἐνταῦθά που οἴου εἶναι ἀρχὴν αὐτῷ μεταβολῆς ὀλιγαρχικῆς τῆς ἑαυτῷ εἰς δημοκρατικήν. πολλὴ ἀνάγκη, ἔφη.
And it appears to me to happen in most cases in this way." "How?" "When a youth, reared as we were just now saying, uneducatedly and frugally, tastes the honey of the drones, and associates with fierce and terrible beasts who are able to prepare all kinds of multi-colored pleasures that are of every variety, then, I suppose, you must think is the beginning of his change from the oligarchical character within himself to the democratic." "Of great necessity," he said.
ἆρʼ οὖν, ὥσπερ ἡ πόλις μετέβαλλε βοηθησάσης τῷ ἑτέρῳ μέρει συμμαχίας ἔξωθεν, ὁμοίας ὁμοίῳ, οὕτω καὶ ὁ νεανίας μεταβάλλει βοηθοῦντος αὖ εἴδους ἐπιθυμιῶν ἔξωθεν τῷ ἑτέρῳ τῶν παρʼ ἐκείνῳ, συγγενοῦς τε καὶ ὁμοίου; παντάπασιν μὲν οὖν. §8.560καὶ ἐὰν μέν γε οἶμαι ἀντιβοηθήσῃ τις τῷ ἐν ἑαυτῷ ὀλιγαρχικῷ συμμαχία, ἤ ποθεν παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἢ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων οἰκείων νουθετούντων τε καὶ κακιζόντων, στάσις δὴ καὶ ἀντίστασις καὶ μάχη ἐν αὐτῷ πρὸς αὑτὸν τότε γίγνεται. τί μήν; καὶ ποτὲ μὲν οἶμαι τὸ δημοκρατικὸν ὑπεχώρησε τῷ ὀλιγαρχικῷ, καί τινες τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν αἱ μὲν διεφθάρησαν, αἱ δὲ καὶ ἐξέπεσον, αἰδοῦς τινος ἐγγενομένης ἐν τῇ τοῦ νέου ψυχῇ, καὶ κατεκοσμήθη πάλιν. γίγνεται γὰρ ἐνίοτε, ἔφη.
"Is it not, then, just as the city was changing when an alliance from outside came to the aid of one of its parts, like to like, that the young man also changes when a class of desires from outside comes to the aid, in turn, of one of the parts within him, kin and like to it?" "By all means indeed." "And if, I suppose, some alliance comes to the aid of the oligarchical element within him, either from his father or from his other relatives, admonishing and abusing him, then indeed faction, counter-faction, and battle arise in him against himself." "Why, what else?" "And sometimes, I suppose, the democratic element yields to the oligarchical, and some of the desires are destroyed, while others are cast out, a kind of shame arising in the young man's soul, and order is established again." "For it does happen sometimes," he said.
αὖθις δὲ οἶμαι τῶν ἐκπεσουσῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν ἄλλαι ὑποτρεφόμεναι συγγενεῖς διʼ ἀνεπιστημοσύνην τροφῆς πατρὸς πολλαί τε καὶ ἰσχυραὶ ἐγένοντο. φιλεῖ γοῦν, ἔφη, οὕτω γίγνεσθαι.
"But again, I suppose, other desires akin to those cast out, being secretly nurtured through the father's ignorance of rearing, become many and strong." "At any rate, it is accustomed to happen so," he said.
οὐκοῦν εἵλκυσάν τε πρὸς τὰς αὐτὰς ὁμιλίας, καὶ λάθρᾳ συγγιγνόμεναι πλῆθος ἐνέτεκον. τί μήν; τελευτῶσαι δὴ οἶμαι κατέλαβον τὴν τοῦ νέου τῆς ψυχῆς ἀκρόπολιν, αἰσθόμεναι κενὴν μαθημάτων τε καὶ ἐπιτηδευμάτων καλῶν καὶ λόγων ἀληθῶν, οἳ δὴ ἄριστοι φρουροί τε καὶ φύλακες ἐν ἀνδρῶν θεοφιλῶν εἰσι διανοίαις. καὶ πολύ γʼ, ἔφη.
"Did they not, then, draw him toward the same associations, and, breeding in secret, generate a multitude?" "Why not?" "In the end, then, I suppose, they seized the acropolis of the young man's soul, perceiving it to be empty of studies, beautiful pursuits, and true words, which are indeed the best guardians and protectors in the minds of men beloved by the gods." "Very much so indeed," he said.
ψευδεῖς δὴ καὶ ἀλαζόνες οἶμαι λόγοι τε καὶ δόξαι ἀντʼ ἐκείνων ἀναδραμόντες κατέσχον τὸν αὐτὸν τόπον τοῦ τοιούτου. σφόδρα γʼ, ἔφη.
"And false and boastful words and opinions, I suppose, running up in place of those, occupied the same place in such a man." "Very much so," he said.
ἆρʼ οὖν οὐ πάλιν τε εἰς ἐκείνους τοὺς Λωτοφάγους ἐλθὼν φανερῶς κατοικεῖ, καὶ ἐὰν παρʼ οἰκείων τις βοήθεια τῷ φειδωλῷ αὐτοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀφικνῆται, κλῄσαντες οἱ ἀλαζόνες λόγοι ἐκεῖνοι τὰς τοῦ βασιλικοῦ τείχους ἐν αὐτῷ πύλας οὔτε αὐτὴν τὴν συμμαχίαν παριᾶσιν, οὔτε πρέσβεις πρεσβυτέρων λόγους ἰδιωτῶν εἰσδέχονται, αὐτοί τε κρατοῦσι μαχόμενοι, καὶ τὴν μὲν αἰδῶ ἠλιθιότητα ὀνομάζοντες ὠθοῦσιν ἔξω ἀτίμως φυγάδα, σωφροσύνην δὲ ἀνανδρίαν καλοῦντές τε καὶ προπηλακίζοντες ἐκβάλλουσι, μετριότητα δὲ καὶ κοσμίαν δαπάνην ὡς ἀγροικίαν καὶ ἀνελευθερίαν οὖσαν πείθοντες ὑπερορίζουσι μετὰ πολλῶν καὶ ἀνωφελῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν; σφόδρα γε. τούτων δέ γέ που κενώσαντες καὶ καθήραντες τὴν τοῦ κατεχομένου τε ὑπʼ αὐτῶν καὶ τελουμένου ψυχὴν μεγάλοισι τέλεσι, τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο ἤδη ὕβριν καὶ ἀναρχίαν καὶ ἀσωτίαν καὶ ἀναίδειαν λαμπρὰς μετὰ πολλοῦ χοροῦ κατάγουσιν ἐστεφανωμένας, ἐγκωμιάζοντες καὶ ὑποκοριζόμενοι, ὕβριν μὲν εὐπαιδευσίαν καλοῦντες, ἀναρχίαν δὲ ἐλευθερίαν, ἀσωτίαν δὲ μεγαλοπρέπειαν, ἀναίδειαν δὲ ἀνδρείαν.
"Does he not, then, go back again to those Lotus-eaters and live there openly? And if some help from his relatives arrives for the frugal part of his soul, those boastful words, having closed the gates of the royal wall within him, neither let the alliance itself pass, nor do they receive the envoys, the words of older private individuals; and they themselves conquer in battle, and naming shame 'foolishness', they push it out as a dishonored exile, and calling self-control 'unmanliness' and insulting it, they cast it out, and persuading him that moderation and orderly expenditure are 'rusticity' and 'illiberality', they exile them beyond the borders along with many useless desires?" "Very much so." "And having indeed emptied and swept clean of these the soul of the man who is possessed by them and being initiated into great mysteries, after this they next lead back insolence, anarchy, wastefulness, and impudence, shining brilliantly with a great chorus and wearing crowns, praising them and calling them by sweet names: calling insolence 'good breeding', anarchy 'freedom', wastefulness 'magnificence', and impudence 'courage'."