Statesman by Plato. - HTML preview

51

Statesman

STRANGER: And if any one who is in a private YOUNG SOCRATES: Of course.

station is able to advise the ruler of a country, may not he be said to have the knowledge which the STRANGER: Again, a large household may be com-ruler himself ought to have?

pared to a small state:—will they differ at all, as far as government is concerned?

YOUNG SOCRATES: True.

YOUNG SOCRATES: They will not.

STRANGER: But surely the science of a true king is royal science?

STRANGER: Then, returning to the point which we were just now discussing, do we not clearly see that YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes.

there is one science of all of them; and this science may be called either royal or political or economical; STRANGER: And will not he who possesses this we will not quarrel with any one about the name.

knowledge, whether he happens to be a ruler or a private man, when regarded only in reference to his YOUNG SOCRATES: Certainly not.

art, be truly called ‘royal’?

STRANGER: This too, is evident, that the king can-YOUNG SOCRATES: He certainly ought to be.

not do much with his hands, or with his whole body, towards the maintenance of his empire, compared STRANGER: And the householder and master are with what he does by the intelligence and strength the same?

of his mind.