c 'I know it indeed, my friend. There is, however, just one circumstance in their case, whenever they are obliged to give and to receive an explanation in private about the studies which they condemn, and are willing to stand their ground manfully for a long time, and not run away like cowards, then at last, my good sir, they are strangely dissatisfied with themselves and their arguments, and their fine rhetoric somehow fades away, so that they seem to be no better than children.'

CHAPTER XXX

d AMONG us also there is this saying concerning all sophistry practised among men: For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will set at nought the prudence of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world?'

Moreover that those who study a divine philosophy ought to have no narrow-minded thoughts, we are taught in the saying: 'While we look not at the things which are seen, but at those which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.'

p. 607 And of the fact that wickedness gathers close around the earth and this mortal life, the word of God says somewhere: 'Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.' And: 'Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.' The prophet also says: Cursing, and stealing, and adultery, and murder, are poured out upon the earth, and they mingle blood with blood.'

And with regard to escaping from this world to God, Moses says: "Thou shalt walk after the Lord thy God, and to b Him shalt thou cleave.' And the same Moses teaches us to imitate God, saying: 'Ye shall be holy, for the Lord your God is holy.'

David also knowing that God is righteous, and urging us to become imitators of Him ourselves, says: 'Righteous

8

d 3 ibid. i. 19, 20 d9 a Cor, iv. 18 a 4 Matt. vi. 34 a 5 Hos. iv. 2 b a Lev. xi. 45 bs Ps. xi. 7 5

606 d 21 Cor. iii. 19 607 & 3 Eph. v. 16 Deut. x. 20

is the Lord, and loveth righteousness.' The same David taught us to despise wealth, saying: 'If riches increase, set not your heart upon them'; and, 'Be not thou afraid, when a man is made rich, and when the glory of his house is increased: for when he dieth, he shall carry nothing away, nor shall his glory descend with him.'

Also in the following words he taught us not to c admire the ruling powers among mankind: 'Put not your trust in princes, nor in any sons of men, in whom there is no safety. His breath will go forth, and he will return to his earth: in that day shall all his thoughts perish.'

CHAPTER XXXI

'BUT even if the case were not such as our argument has d PLATO now proved it to be, if a lawgiver, who is to be of ever so little use, could have ventured to tell any falsehood at all to the young for their good, is there any falsehood that he could have told more beneficial than this, and better able to make them all do everything that is just, not by compulsion but willingly?

'Truth, O Stranger, is a noble and an enduring thing; it seems, however, not easy to persuade men of it.'

Now you may find in the Hebrew Scriptures also thousands of such passages concerning God as though He were jealous, or sleeping, or angry, or subject to any p. 608 other human passions, which passages are adopted for the benefit of those who need this mode of instruction.

CHAPTER XXXII

‘ARE we then agreed as to our former statements ? 'About what?

'That every one, man and boy, free and slave, male and female, and the whole city, should never cease from reciting to themselves these charms which we have just described, changed from time to time in some way or other, and presenting every kind of variation, ea Ps. cxlvi. 3

b6 Ps. lxii. 10 di Plato, Laws, 663 D

b 7 Pa. xlix. 16 608 b ibid. 665 B

b PLATO

PLATO SO that the singers may have an insatiable desire for the hymns, C and pleasure in them.

'How could there be any doubt that this practice ought to be adopted?'

In the fifth Book also of the Republic he writes to the like effect, saying as follows:

'Do you then know any human occupation, in which the male sex is not superior in all these respects to the female? Or need we waste time by mentioning the art of weaving, and the making of pancakes and preserves, in which the female sex is thought forsooth to be great, and in which their utter inferiority is most ridiculous?

d 'You say with truth, said he, that the one sex is far surpassed by the other, I might almost say, in everything. Many women, no doubt, are better than many men in many points, but the general truth is as you say.

'No occupation then, my friend, of those who manage the affairs of the state belongs to a woman as woman nor to a man as man; but the natural qualities are found here and there in both sexes alike, and while woman has by nature a share in all pursuits, and man in all, yet woman is in all weaker than man. 'Yes, certainly.

'Are we then to assign all employments to men, and none to

women?

'How can we?

'In fact, we shall say, I suppose, that among women also one has a natural gift of healing and another has not, and one is musical and another unmusical?

'Certainly.

'Also one fit for gymnastics and for war, and another unwarlike and with no taste for gymnastics?

'So I suppose.

'Again, one woman is a philosopher, another hates philosophy? P. 609 And one is high-spirited, another spiritless?

"This too is true.

'So there is one woman fit for a guardian, and another unfit.

608 66 Plato, Republie, 455 C

Or was not such the nature which we selected as that of men PLATO

who were fit for guardians?

'Yes, it was such.

'Both woman and man therefore have the same natural fitness

for guardianship of the state, except in so far as one is weaker and another stronger.

'So it appears.

"We must then select women also who are of this character to live with men of the same character, and to share in their guardianship, since they are competent, and akin to them in nature.'

With good reason then our Word also admits to its b divine instruction and philosophy every class not only of men but also of women, and not only of free men and slaves, but also of Barbarians and Greeks.

CHAPTER XXXIII

'LET us look at it then in this way. Now suppose some one c were to praise the breeding of goats, and the animal itself as a fine property; and some one else, having seen goats feeding without a goatherd in cultivated ground and doing mischief, should find fault with them, and on seeing any kind of cattle without a keeper or with bad keepers, should in this case blame them, do we think that such a man's censure would convey any just blame whatever?

'How should it?'

Also after a few sentences:

'And what would you say of one who praises or blames any kind of community, which ought naturally to have a ruler, and which with his aid is useful, whereas the critic had never d seen it in its rightful association with a ruler, but always without rule, or with bad rulers? Do we suppose that observers such as these could pronounce any useful censure or praise on communities of this kind?

'How could they?'

609 o Plato, Laws, 639 A

If then among us also it should appear that some without any president and ruler, or with evil rulers, were doing evil, one ought not to find fault with our whole school, but rather to admire our religious constitution from the conduct of those who follow it rightly.

CHAPTER XXXIV

p. 610 IN the Proverbs of Solomon it is briefly stated: "The memory of the just is associated with praises, but the name of the ungodly is extinguished'; and again it is said: 'Call no man blessed before his death': so now hear how Plato b interprets the thought in the seventh Book of the Laws, saying:

PLATO

'Whosoever of the citizens should reach the end of their life after having wrought good and laborious works either in body or soul, and been obedient to the laws, it would be fitting that they should receive eulogies.

'By all means.

'It is not safe, however, to honour those who are still alive with eulogies and hymns, before a man has finished his whole course of life, and crowned it with a noble end. And let us have all these honours common to men and to women who have C been conspicuously good.'

CHAPTER XXXV

As Solomon had said in Proverbs: 'Give me neither poverty nor riches,' so Plato says in the fourth Book of the Republic:

'But we have found, it seems, some other things for the guardians, against which they must watch in every way, that d they may not creep in unobserved into the state.

'What kind of things?

'Riches, said I, and poverty; as the one engenders luxury, and idleness, and revolution, and the other meanness and mischievousness, as well as revolution.'

By mischievousness is meant every disgraceful action.

610 a 1 Prov. X. 7 o a Prov. xxx. 8

a 3 Ecclus. xi. 28 05 Plato, Rep. 431 E

b 3 Plato, Laws, 801 E