And will not he who has been shown to be the wickedest,be also the most miserable? and he who has tyrannized long-est and most, most continually and truly miserable;...

Ludzie pragną czasami się rozstawać, żeby móc tęsknić, czekać i cieszyć się z powrotem.

And must not the tyrannical man be like the tyrannical
State, and the democratical man like the democratical State;
and the same of the others?
Certainly.
And as State is to State in virtue and happiness, so is man
in relation to man?
To be sure.
Then comparing our original city, which was under a king,
and the city which is under a tyrant, how do they stand as to
virtue?
They are the opposite extremes, he said, for one is the very
best and the other is the very worst.
There can be no mistake, I said, as to which is which, and
therefore I will at once inquire whether you would arrive at
a similar decision about their relative happiness and misery.
And here we must not allow ourselves to be panic-stricken at
the apparition of the tyrant, who is only a unit and may per-
haps have a few retainers about him; but let us go as we
ought into every corner of the city and look all about, and
then we will give our opinion.
A fair invitation, he replied; and I see, as everyone must,
that a tyranny is the wretchedest form of government, and the
rule of a king the happiest.
And in estimating the men, too, may I not fairly make a
like request, that I should have a judge whose mind can enter
into and see through human nature? he must not be like a
child who looks at the outside and is dazzled at the pompous
aspect which the tyrannical nature assumes to the beholder,
but let him be one who has a clear insight. May I suppose
that the judgment is given in the hearing of us all by one
who is able to judge, and has dwelt in the same place with
him, and been present at his daily life and known him in his
family relations, where he may be seen stripped of his tragedy
attire, and again in the hour of public danger--he shall tell
us about the happiness and misery of the tyrant when com-
pared with other men?
That again, he said, is a very fair proposal.
Shall I assume that we ourselves are able and experienced
judges and have before now met with such a person? We
shall then have someone who will answer our inquiries.
By all means.
Let me ask you not to forget the parallel of the individual
and the State; bearing this in mind, and glancing in turn
from one to the other of them, will you tell me their respec-
tive conditions?
What do you mean? he asked.
Beginning with the State, I replied, would you say that a
city which is governed by a tyrant is free or enslaved?
No city, he said, can be more completely enslaved.
And yet, as you see, there are freemen as well as masters
in such a State?
Yes, he said, I see that there are--a few; but the people,
speaking generally, and the best of them are miserably de-
graded and enslaved.
Then if the man is like the State, I said, must not the same
rule prevail? His soul is full of meanness and vulgarity--
the best elements in him are enslaved; and there is a small
ruling part, which is also the worst and maddest.
Inevitably.
And would you say that the soul of such a one is the soul
of a freeman or of a slave?
He has the soul of a slave, in my opinion.
And the State which is enslaved under a tyrant is utterly
incapable of acting voluntarily?
Utterly incapable.
And also the soul which is under a tyrant (I am speaking
of the soul taken as a whole) is least capable of doing what
she desires; there is a gadfly which goads her, and she is
full of trouble and remorse?
Certainly.
And is the city which is under a tyrant rich or poor?
Poor.
And the tyrannical soul must be always poor and insatiable?
True.
And must not such a State and such a man be always full
of fear?
Yes, indeed.
Is there any State in which you will find more of lamenta-
tion and sorrow and groaning and pain?
Certainly not.
And is there any man in whom you will find more of this
sort of misery than in the tyrannical man, who is in a fury
of passions and desires?
Impossible.
Reflecting upon these and similar evils, you held the tyran-
nical State to be the most miserable of States?
And I was right, he said.
Certainly, I said. And when you see the same evils in the
tyrannical man, what do you say of him?
I say that he is by far the most miserable of all men.
There, I said, I think that you are beginning to go wrong.
What do you mean?
I do not think that he has as yet reached the utmost ex-
treme of misery.
Then who is more miserable?
One of whom I am about to speak.
Who is that?
He who is of a tyrannical nature, and instead of leading a
private life has been cursed with the further misfortune of
being a public tyrant.
From what has been said, I gather that you are right.
Yes, I replied, but in this high argument you should be a
little more certain, and should not conjecture only; for of all
questions, this respecting good and evil is the greatest.
Very true, he said.
Let me then offer you an illustration, which may, I think,
throw a light upon this subject.
What is your illustration?
The case of rich individuals in cities who possess many
slaves: from them you may form an idea of the tyrant's con-
dition, for they both have slaves; the only difference is that
he has more slaves.
Yes, that is the difference.
You know that they live securely and have nothing to ap-
prehend from their servants?
What should they fear?
Nothing. But do you observe the reason of this?
Yes; the reason is, that the whole city is leagued together
for the protection of each individual.
Very true, I said. But imagine one of these owners, the
master say of some fifty slaves, together with his family and
property and slaves, carried off by a god into the wilderness,
where there are no freemen to help him--will he not be in
an agony of fear lest he and his wife and children should be
put to death by his slaves?
Yes, he said, he will be in the utmost fear.
The time has arrived when he will be compelled to flatter
divers of his slaves, and make many promises to them of free-
dom and other things, much against his will--he will have
to cajole his own servants.
Yes, he said, that will be the only way of saving himself.
And suppose the same god, who carried him away, to sur-
round him with neighbors who will not suffer one man to
be the master of another, and who, if they could catch the
offender, would take his life?
His case will be still worse, if you suppose him to be every-
where surrounded and watched by enemies.
And is not this the sort of prison in which the tyrant will
be bound--he who being by nature such as we have described,