And quite right too, said he, for, if he were ashamed, he would never be ashamed again.

Yes, I said, and he who is caught is put to death." 22

Inevitably.

And he, the protector of whom we spake, is not fallen in his might, but himself the overthrower of many, is to be seen standing up in the chariot of State with the reins in his hand, no longer protector, but tyrant absolute.

No doubt, he said.

And now let us tell of the happiness of the man, and also of the State, in which this sort of creature is generated.

Yes, he said, let us tell of that.

At first, in the early days of his power, he smiles upon every one and salutes every one; he to be called a tyrant, who is making promises in public and also in private liberating debtors, and distributing land to the people and to his followers, and wanting to be kind and good to every one.

That is the regular thing.

But when he has got rid of foreign enemies, and is reconciled with some of them and has destroyed others, and there is nothing to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader.

Yes, that may be expected of him.

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Has he not also another object, which is that they may be impoverished by payment of taxes, and thus compelled to devote themselves to their daily wants, and therefore less likely to plot against him?

Clearly.

Yes, and if he suspects any of them of having notions of freedom, and of being disloyal to him, he has a good pretext for destroying them by giving them up to the enemy; and for all these reasons the tyrant is always compelled to be getting up a war. That is inevitable.

Now he begins to grow unpopular.

That is the necessary result.

Then some of those who joined in setting him up, and who are in power-that is to say, the most courageous of them— speak their minds to him and to one another, and cast in his teeth the things which are being done.

22 Note the fate of Polemarchus, Republic, I., note 1.

Yes, that is to be expected.

And the tyrant, if he means to rule, must get rid of them; he cannot stop while he has a friend or an enemy who is good for anything.

That is plain.

And therefore he must use his eyes and see who is valiant, who is high-minded, who is wise, who wealthy; happy man, he is the enemy of them all, and must seek occasion against them whether he will or no, until he has made a purgation of the State.

Yes, he said, and a rare purgation.

Yes, I said, not the sort of purgation which the physicians make of the body; for they take away the worse and leave the better part, but he does the opposite.

I suppose that he cannot help himself, he replied.

What a blessed alternative, I said, to be compelled to dwell only with the many bad, and hated by them, or not to live at all.

Yes, that is the alternative.

And the more detestable he is in his actions the more bodyguards and the greater devotion in them will he require? Certainly.

And who are the devoted band, and where will he procure them ?

They will flock to him, he said, of their own accord, if he pays them.

By the dog! I said, you are again introducing drones out of other lands and of every sort.

Yes, he said, that I am.

But will he not desire to get them on the spot ?
How do you mean?

He will emancipate the slaves and enroll them in his bodyguard?

To be sure, he said, and he will be able to trust them best of all. What a blessed fellow, I said, must this tyrant be; when he has put to death the others he has only these for his trusted friends. 568

Yes, he said, and they are his friends.

Yes, I said, and these are the new citizens whom he has called into existence, who admire him and live with him, while the good hate and avoid him.

Of course.

Verily, then, tragedy is a wise thing and Euripides a great tragedian.

Why do you say that?

Why, because he is the author of that rare saying,—

"Tyrants are wise by living with the wise;"

and he clearly meant to say that they are the wise with whom the tyrant lives.

Yes, he said, and he also praises tyranny as godlike this and many other things of the same kind are said by him and the other poets.

And therefore, I said, the tragic poets in their wisdom will forgive us and others who have a similar form of government, if we object to having them in our State, because they are the eulogists of tyranny.

us.

Yes, he said, those who have the wit will doubtless forgive

Yes, I said, and they go about to other cities and attract mobs; and have voices fair and loud and persuasive, and draw the cities over to tyrannies and democracies.

Very true.

Moreover, they are paid for this and receive honor-the greatest honor from tyrants, and the next greatest from democracies; but the higher they ascend our constitution hill, the more their reputation fails, and seems unable from shortness of breath to proceed further.

True.

But we are digressing. Let us therefore return and inquire how the tyrant will maintain that fair and numerous and various and ever-changing army of his.

If, he said, there are sacred treasures in the city, he will spend them as far as they go; that is obvious. And he will then be able to diminish the taxes which he would otherwise have to impose.

And when these fail?

Why, clearly, he said, then he and his boon companions, whether male or female, will be maintained out of his father's estate.

I see your meaning, I said. You mean that the people who begat him will maintain him and his companions?

Yes, he said; he cannot get on without that.

But what if the people go into a passion, and aver that a grown-up son ought not to be supported by his father, but that the father should be supported by the son? He did not 569 bring his son into the world and establish him in order that when he was grown up he himself might serve his own servants, and maintain him and his rabble of slaves and companions; but that, having such a protector, he might be emancipated from the government of the rich and aristocratic, as they are termed. And now, here is this son of his, bidding him and his companions pack, just as a father might drive out of his house a riotous son and his party of revelers.

In the end, he said, the parent will be certain to discover what a monster he has been fostering in his bosom; and when he wants to drive him out, he will find that he is weak and his son strong.

Why, you do not mean to say that the tyrant will use violence? What! beat his father if he resists?

Yes, he will; and he will begin by taking away his arms. Then he is a parricide, and a cruel unnatural son to an aged parent whom he ought to cherish; and this is real tyranny, about which there is no mistake: as the saying is, the people who would avoid the slavery of freemen, which is smoke and appearance, has fallen under the tyranny of slaves, which is fire. Thus liberty, getting out of all order and reason, passes into the harshest and bitterest form of slavery. Yes, he said, that is true.

Very well, I said; and may we not say that we have discussed enough the nature of tyranny, and the manner of the transition from democracy to tyranny?

Yes, quite enough, he said.

BOOK IX

LAST of all comes the tyrannical man; about whom we have once more to ask how is he formed out of the democratical? and how does he live, in happiness or in misery?

Yes, he said, he is the only one remaining.

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There is, however, I said, a previous question which I should like to consider.

What is that?

I do not think that we have adequately determined the nature and number of the appetites, and until this is accomplished the inquiry will always be perplexed.

Well, but you may supply the omission.

Very true, I said; and observe the point which I want to understand. Certain of the unnecessary pleasures and appetites are deemed to be unlawful; every man appears to have them, only in some persons they are controlled by the laws and by reason, and the better desires prevail over them, and either they are wholly banished or are few and weak while in the case of others they are stronger, and there are more of them. Which appetites do you mean ?

I mean those which are awake when the reasoning and taming and ruling power is asleep; the wild beast in our nature, gorged with meat or drink, starts up and walks about naked, and surfeits after his manner, and there is no conceivable folly or crime, however shameless or unnatural-not excepting incest or parricide, or the eating of forbidden food-of which such a nature may not be guilty.

That is most true, he said.

But when a man's pulse is healthy and temperate, and he goes to sleep cool and rational, after having supped on a feast of reason and speculation, and come to a knowledge of himself, having indulged appetites neither too much nor too little, but just enough to lay them to sleep, and prevent them and their enjoyments and pains from interfering with the higher principle-leaving that in the solitude of pure abstraction, free to contemplate and aspire to the knowledge of the unknown, whether in past, present, or future: when, again,

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