On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
tion / S . ( Is not injustice and doing injury the greatest of evils punishment the cure of it , impunity the permanence of it , to be unjust and be punished the greatest of all evils , except oue , to be unjust with impunity the greatest of all V P . So it appears / S . If this be the case , what , then , is the great use of rhetoric ? It appears from our admissions , that it is most of all incumbent upon every one to guard himself against the evil of injustice / P . ' Certainly / & . ' But if he
or any one in whom he takes interest , should commit injustice , he ought voluntarily to court a speedy punishment , and go to the magistrate , as he would to the physician , as fast as he can , in order that the disease may not become inveterate by age , and taint his constitution , and be incurable . Does not this necessarily follow from our former admissions ? ' P . * What else can we say ? ' S . * Rhetoric , then , is of no use to us for defending our own injustice , or that of our friends , or our country . We ought , on the contrary , to accuse ourselves in the first instance , and next our relatives and our friends , and not to conceal
our transgressions , but bring them to light , that we may suffer punishment , and be restored to health ; not caring for the pain , but , if we have merited stripes , giving ourselves up to the stripe ; if imprisonment , to the prison ; if death , to death ; and employing rhetoric for the accusation of ourselves , and of those who are dear to us , that their guilt may be made manifest , and they may be freed from the greatest of evils , that of injustice . —Is it not so ?* P . 'It appears tome extremely
paradoxical , but , from our previous admissions , it cannot perhaps be escaped from / S . * Then we must either refute our admissions , or grant these conclusions . P . 'Yes / 4 On the other hand , ( continued Socrates , ) * if we wish to do evil to any one , to an enemy for instance , we ought indeed to avoitl being ourselves injured by him ; but , if he injure any other person , we ought to exert ourselves in every manner , by word and deed , to save him from being brought to justice ; and , if he be indicted , we should contrive that he may escape , and not suffer
punishment ; but , if he has possessed himself wrongfully of much wealth , may not be compelled to refund it , but may expend it on himself and his connexions unjustly and impiously ; and , if lie has committed crimes worthy of death , that he may not die : if possible , never , but may be immortal in his wickedness ; but , if not , that he may live as long in it as he can . For such purposes rhetoric may be of use ; but , for one who is not to commit injustice , I cannot see that it can be of any great utility /
The dramatic unity of the Gorgias is eo perfect , that it must suffer much by being divided , and it is to be regretted that space compels us to postpone a part of our abstract till next month . As a sudden turn takes place in the dialogue at this point , and a new interlocutor is introduced , this seems the most convenient place at which we can for
the present terminate .
Untitled Article
710 Plato 9 Dialogues ; the Gorgias .
Untitled Article
A .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1834, page 710, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2638/page/34/
-