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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
answer V P . ' It is true . ' S . * Then , this being granted , if any one , l > ein * an orator or a despot , kills another or takes any of his property or banishes him , thinking it to be a good thing for him to do so , when in reality it is a bad thing , this person does what he thinks fit V P . * YtV
S . * But does he do what he desires , if these things are in reality bad ? Why do you not answer V P . * It appears that he does not do what lie desires / S . ' Can such a person then be said to he powerful in a state , if to be powerful be , as you say , a good thing ? ' P . He ' cannot . ' 5 . * Then I said truly when I affirmed lhat it was possible to effect in a state whatever , we think fit , and yet not to be powerful , nor effect what we desire . *
P . ' So , then , Socrates , you would not like that it should be allowed you to accomplish in the ttate whatever seems fit to you , nor do you feel envy when you see a man killing , or imprisoning ' , or depriving of their property whomsoever he pleases . ' 4 you mean / answered Socrates , * justly or unjustly ? ' P . 'In whichever way it is done , is it not enviable V S . It is not proper to envy the unenviable nor the miserable , but to pity them . ' P . * What ! do you think it is thus with the persons whom I describe V S . * Undoubtedly . '
P . * Does he who kills whomsoever it seems best to him , and kills them justly , appear to you miserable and pitiable ? ' S . * No , but neither does he appear enviable . ' P . Did you not , just now , call him miserable ? S . ' Him who kills unjustly , I called miserable , and pitiable too ; him who kills justly , unenviable . ' P . fc Certainly he who is killed unjustly is pitiable and miserable . ' S . * Less so than his slayer ^ and less so than he who is slain justly . ' P . ' How so V S . ' Because to do injury is the greatest of evils . ' P . 'The greatest ? Is it not a still greater evil to be injured ?' S . 4 By no means . ' P . * Would you prefer to be injured , rather than
do an injury V S . ' I should not prefer either , but if one or the other were unavoidable , I should choose rather to be injured than to injure . ' P . Wo . uld you not consent to be a despot V S . * If by being a despot you mean what I mean , I should not . ' P . ' I mean , as I said before , being allowed to do in the state whatever we think fit : to kill , and banish , an < l
do every thing according to our will . ' < S . * Most excellent person , listen to me . Suppose that I were to go out into the market-place when it is full , with a poniard under my arm , and to say to you , Polus , I have obtained a splendid despotism ; for if it seem good to me that any one of all these men should die , he will die upon the spot ; if I will that he should be wounded , he will be wounded : if that his cloak should be
torn , it will be torn ; so great is my power in this state . And suppose that , you being incredulous , I were to show you my poniard . You would probably answer , that by this account every hotly must be powerful , for
in this way any one might set fire to any / hotise , or to the docks and all the vessels in the harbour , if h ? thought fit . But to be powerful does not consist in being able to do what we think fit . ' P . ' Not in this manner , certainly . ' S . Now can you tell what is your objection to this power ? ' P . ' Surely . ' S . ' What is it ? ' P . 4 That a person who acts thus must inevitably be punished . ' 5 . ' And to be punished is » n evil ? ' P . ' Certainly . S . * Then it again appears to you , that to he powerful is good , only when , doing what we think fit , we do what is for our benefit ; and this is what is meant by being powerful : without th » i it is evil , and is not power but impotence .
Untitled Article
704 Plato ' s Dialogues ; the Gorgias .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1834, page 704, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2638/page/28/
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