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CONTEXT

The subject of the Politicus is the True Statesman.

The best form of government, if we could get it, would be the rule of one eminently good and wise man, who knew and desired the Chief Good of his People, and possessed the art of securing it for them. His unlimited personal initiative would be far better than the best administration of “laws" made only because he could not be found, and because such rulers as were actually available could not be trusted with unlimited initiative.

But before we try to determine exactly the nature of the True Statesman—the man whom we should like to make King, if we could find him; and before we try to define his Art, and distinguish it from all other arts—and we must try to do this, in order that we may get a standard by which to judge the work-a-day rulers, good and bad, whose administration of the "laws" we are obliged to accept as substitute for the personal initiative of the True Statesman, before we try to formulate this standard, let us raise our eyes to an even higher standard: God is the True Ruler of men; and in the Golden Age he ruled men, not through the instrumentality of human rulers, but Gods were his lieutenants on Earth, and lived among men, and were their Kings.

It is with this Golden Age, and the great difference between it and the present age, and the cause of the difference, that the Myth told to the elder and the younger Socrates, and to Theodorus the mathematician, by the Stranger from Elea, is concerned.

268 E

269

Politicus, 268 E-274 E

ΞΕ. ̓Αλλὰ δὴ τῷ μύθῳ μου πάνυ πρόσεχε τὸν νοῦν, καθάπερ οἱ παῖδες· πάντως οὐ πολλὰ ἐκφεύγεις παιδιᾶς ἔτη. ΝΕ. ΣΩ. Λέγοις ἄν.

ΞΕ. Ἦν τοίνυν καὶ ἔτι ἔσται τῶν πάλαι λεχθέντων πολλά τε ἄλλα καὶ δὴ καὶ τὸ περὶ τὴν ̓Ατρέως τε καὶ Θυέστου λεχθεῖσαν ἔριν φάσμα. ἀκήκοας γάρ που καὶ ἀπομνημονεύεις ὅ φασι γενέσθαι τότε.

ΝΕ. ΣΩ. Τὸ περὶ τῆς χρυσῆς ἀρνὸς ἴσως σημεῖον φράζεις.

ΞΕ. Οὐδαμῶς, ἀλλὰ τὸ περὶ τῆς μεταβολῆς δύσεώς τε καὶ ἀνατολῆς ἡλίου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἄστρων, ὡς ἄρα ὅθεν μὲν ἀνατέλλει νῦν, εἰς τοῦτον τότε τὸν τόπον ἐδύετο, ἀνέτελλε δ ̓ ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου, τότε δὲ δὴ μαρτυρήσας ἄρα ὁ θεὸς 'Ατρεῖ μετέβαλεν αὐτὸ ἐπὶ τὸ νῦν σχῆμα.

ΝΕ. ΣΩ. Λέγεται γὰρ οὖν δὴ καὶ τοῦτο.

ΞΕ. Καὶ μὴν αὖ καὶ τήν γε βασιλείαν, ἣν ἦρξε Κρόνος, πολλῶν ἀκηκόαμεν.

B ΝΕ. ΣΩ. Πλείστων μὲν οὖν.

ΞΕ. Τί δέ; τὸ τοὺς ἔμπροσθεν φύεσθαι γηγενεῖς καὶ μὴ ἐξ ἀλλήλων γεννᾶσθαι ;

ΝΕ. ΣΩ. Καὶ τοῦτο ἓν τῶν πάλαι λεχθέντων.

ΞΕ. Ταῦτα τοίνυν ἔστι μὲν ξύμπαντα ἐκ ταὐτοῦ πάθους, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις ἕτερα μυρία καὶ τούτων ἔτι θαυμαστότερα, διὰ δὲ χρόνου πλῆθος τὰ μὲν αὐτῶν ἀπέσβηκε, τὰ δὲ διεσπαρμένα εἴρηται χωρὶς ἕκαστα ἀπ ̓ ο ἀλλήλων. ὁ δ ̓ ἐστὶ πᾶσι τούτοις αἴτιον τὸ πάθος, οὐδεὶς εἴρηκε, νῦν δὲ δὴ λεκτέον· εἰς γὰρ τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως ἀπόδειξιν πρέψει ῥηθέν.

ΝΕ. ΣΩ. Κάλλιστ ̓ εἶπες, καὶ λέγε μηδὲν ἐλλείπων.

TRANSLATION

Be as a

Stranger. Here beginneth my wonderful Tale! child, and listen for indeed not far art thou gotten from the years of childish things.

Socrates.1
Stranger.

Let us hear it.

Well, of those things which have been told from old time, there be many which came to pass, and shall yet again come to pass: whereof I count the Sign which appeared when that Strife the Old Story telleth of was between Atreus and Thyestes; for, methinks, thou hast heard what they say came then to pass, and rememberest it well.

Socrates. speakest? Stranger.

Is it of the marvel of the Golden Lamb that thou

Not of that, but of the change in the setting and rising of the sun and stars; for the story goes that in the quarter whence they now rise in that did they then set, rising from the opposite quarter; but that God, bearing witness for Atreus, changed them into the way which they now keep. Socrates. That story also I know.

Stranger. And of the kingship of Cronus, too, have we heard many tell.

Socrates.
Stranger.

Yea, very many.

And, moreover, do they not tell of how men at first grew out of the earth, and were not begotten of their kind?

Socrates.
Stranger.

That also is one of the old stories.

Well, of all these things one thing is cause; yea, of innumerable other things also which are more wonderful than these things; but by reason of length of time most are vanished, and of the rest mention is made separately of each, as of that which hath no fellowship with the other things. But of that which is the cause of all these things no man hath spoken. Let it therefore now be told; for when it hath been set forth, it will help to our proof concerning the King.

Socrates. Good! Go on, and leave out nothing.

1 Socrates the Younger is the interlocutor throughout the whole passage translated.

N

4

ΞΕ. ̓Ακούοις ἄν. τὸ γὰρ πᾶν τόδε τοτὲ μὲν αὐτὸς ὁ θεὸς ξυμποδηγεῖ πορευόμενον καὶ συγκυκλεῖ, τοτὲ δ ̓ ἀνῆκεν, ὅταν αἱ περίοδοι τοῦ προσήκοντος αὐτῷ μέτρον εἰλήφωσιν ἤδη χρόνου, τὸ δὲ πάλιν αὐτόματον εἰς τἀναντία περιάΟ γεται, ζῶον δν καὶ φρόνησιν εἰληχὸς ἐκ τοῦ συναρμόσαντος αὐτὸ κατ ̓ ἀρχάς. τοῦτο δὲ αὐτῷ τὸ ἀνάπαλιν ἰέναι διὰ τόδ ̓ ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἔμφυτον γέγονεν.

ΝΕ. ΣΩ. Διὰ τὸ ποῖον δή;

ΞΕ. Τὸ κατὰ ταὐτὰ καὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχειν ἀεὶ καὶ ταὐτὸν εἶναι τοῖς πάντων θειοτάτοις προσήκει μόνοις, σώματος δὲ φύσις οὐ ταύτης τῆς τάξεως. ὃν δὲ οὐρανὸν καὶ κόσμον ἐπωνομάκαμεν, πολλῶν μὲν καὶ μακαρίων παρὰ τοῦ γεννήσαντος μετείληφεν, ἀτὰρ οὖν δὴ κεκοινώνηκέ γε καὶ σώματος. ὅθεν αὐτῷ μεταβολῆς ἀμοίρῳ γίγνεσθαι διὰ Ε παντὸς ἀδύνατον, κατὰ δύναμίν γε μὴν ὅ τι μάλιστα ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ κατὰ ταὐτὰ μίαν φορὰν κινεῖται· διὸ τὴν ἀνακύκλησιν εἴληχεν, ὅ τι σμικροτάτην τῆς αὑτοῦ κινήσεως παράλλαξιν. αὐτὸ δὲ ἑαυτὸ στρέφειν ἀεὶ σχεδὸν οὐδενὶ δυνατὸν πλὴν τῷ τῶν κινουμένων αὖ πάντων ἡγουμένῳ. κινεῖν δὲ τούτῳ τοτὲ μὲν ἄλλως, αὖθις δὲ ἐναντίως οὐ θέμις. ἐκ πάντων δὴ τούτων τὸν κόσμον μήτε αὐτὸν χρὴ φάναι στρέφειν ἑαυτὸν ἀεί, μήτ' αὖ ὅλον ἀεὶ ὑπὸ θεοῦ στρέφεσθαι διττὰς καὶ ἐναντίας περιαγωγάς, μήτ' αὖ δύο 270 τινὲ θεώ φρονοῦντε ἑαυτοῖς ἐναντία στρέφειν αὐτόν, ἀλλ ̓ ὅπερ ἄρτι ἐρρήθη καὶ μόνον λοιπόν, τοτὲ μὲν ὑπ ̓ ἄλλης συμποδηγεῖσθαι θείας αἰτίας, τὸ ζῆν πάλιν ἐπικτώμενον καὶ λαμβάνοντα ἀθανασίαν ἐπισκευαστὴν παρὰ παρὰ τοῦ δημιουργοῦ, τοτὲ δ ̓ ὅταν ἀνεθῇ, δι ̓ ἑαυτοῦ αὐτὸν ἰέναι, κατὰ καιρὸν ἀφεθέντα τοιοῦτον, ὥστε ἀνάπαλιν πορεύ εσθαι πολλὰς περιόδων μυριάδας διὰ τὸ μέγιστον ὂν καὶ ἰσορροπώτατον ἐπὶ σμικροτάτου βαῖνον ποδός ἰέναι.

Stranger. Hearken! This Universe, for a certain space of time, God himself doth help to guide and propel in the circular motion thereof; and then, when the cycles of the time appointed unto it have accomplished their measure, he letteth it go. Then doth it begin to go round in the contrary direction, of itself, being a living creature which hath gotten understanding from him who fashioned it in the beginning. This circuit in the contrary direction belongeth of necessity to the nature of the Universe because of this

Socrates. Because of what?

Stranger. Because that to be constant in the same state alway, and to be the same, belongeth only to those things which are the most divine of all; but the nature of Body is not of this order. Now, that which we call Heaven and Universe hath been made, through him who begat it, partaker of many blessed possessions; but, mark this well, Body also is of the portion thereof. Wherefore it is not possible that it should be wholly set free from change, albeit, as far as is possible, it revolveth in the same place, with one uniform motion: for this reason, when it changed, it took unto itself circular motion in the contrary direction, which is the smallest possible alteration of the motion which belongeth unto it. Now, to be constant alway in self-motion is, methinks, impossible save only with him who ruleth all the things which are moved; and move them now in this direction and again in that he may not. From all this it followeth that we must not say that the Universe either of itself moveth itself alway, or again is alway wholly moved by God to revolve now in one direction and then in the contrary direction; nor must we say that there be two Gods which, being contrariously minded, do cause it so to revolve; but we must hold by that which was just now said and alone remaineth, to wit, that at one time it is holpen and guided by the power of God supervening, and hath more life added unto it, and receiveth immortality from the Creator afresh; and then, at another time, when it is let go, it moveth of itself, having been so opportunely released that thereafter it journeyeth in the contrary direction throughout ages innumerable, being so great of bulk, and so evenly balanced, and turning on so fine a point.

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