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ago , that as a gymnast ought not to be blamed nor expelled from the State if a boxer or wrestler makes an ill use of his art , so if an orator uses rhetoric for a bad purpose , we ought not to reproach or banish the teacher of rhetoric , but the person who perverts it to unjust purposes . ' G . * I did . ' S . * But now it seems that a rhetorician cannot be unjust / G . ' It seeins so . ' S . ' And it was observed before , that
the subject of rhetoric is discourse ; not discourse on numbers , but discourse on the just and the unjust . ' G . ' Yes / S . * AVhen you said this , I imagined that rhetoric could not be an unjust thing , since all its discourse is of justice ; but when you afterwards said that an orator might employ rhetoric unjustly , I wondered , and thinking the * two
assertions inconsistent , I said , that if you , like myself , thought it a benefit to be refuted , it was worth while to continue the argument , but if not , it was better to leave it alone . / And now , on further inquiry , we have admitted that a rhetorician carmot possibly use rhetoric unjustly , or wish to do injustice . To discover how this is , would require not a little conversation and discussion . '
Here Polus breaks in ; and , as we have seen in the preceding part of the dialogue how Socrates could conduct a respectful and well-bred disputation , we shall now see in what manner he could beat back an overweening and petulant assailant . ' What ! ' said Polus : do you really think , on the subject of rhetoric , what you say ? Do you not perceive that the advantage you have assumed over Gorgias is only owing * to his shamefacedness , because he
did not like to confess the truth ? He was ashamed not to profess that a rhetorician knows what is really just , and good , and noble , and that he , Gorgias , if any one comes to him ignorant of these things , can teach them . In consequence of this admission , something like a contradiction , perhaps , arose in his discourse ; the thing which always delights you . Who do you suppose would not , if asked , affirm that he knows what is just , and can teach it ? But it is extremely unfair and ill-bred to drive any one into such a dilemma . ' 4
'Most excellent Polus , ' replied Socrates , the great use of having friends or sons is , that when we grow old and fall into error , you younger men may set us right . If , therefore , Gorgias and I have made any mistake , do you correct it : and if any of our admissions appear to you improper , we will retract it , if you will only guard against one thing . ' P > ' What thing ? ' 5 ? . ' That lengthiness of discourse which you began
With . * P . What 1 Shall I not be allowed to say as much as I please ?' S . 4 You would be extremely ill used , my good friend , if coming to Athens , where there is greater freedom of speech than in any other city iu Greece , you alone should not be suffered to participate in it . But consider this on the other hand : If you make long speeches , and do not choose to answer the question that is put to you , should not I
tin unity apparent in the other vrorks of Plato , and nowhere more clearly than in the t'ubswjuviit part of this dialogue , via ., that he wan inclined to the opinion that each J > f the virtues was a branch of intelligence , and that no one is vicious because he Hitemls to be so , but . merely from ignorance of virtue . Philosophical instruction in vjrhie wag , therefore , in hit * vi » w , the vin' fhin ^ needfu l for ensuring tlie prac tice ( it . Under this idea it was no absurdity to say , that he who has learnt justice , t « 1 ' iXKKx . fAif * . et § 9 )** s , must be just ; because injustice , according to this theory , was 0 I % a non-understanding of justice .
Untitled Article
Plato ' s Dialogues ; the Gorgias . 699
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1834, page 699, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2638/page/23/
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