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Untitled Article
atitute the Justice which is not merely of institution , init of njrtqre . Vou feaid * if I remember right * that Natural Justice is , for tfcebetter tp cominan 4 the worse , and the more excellent to take more than the more Worthless . Said you hot so V C . * I did , and do . ' * S > . * Do you
consider the better , and the stronger , to be synonymous ? You appeared to indicate something of this sort when you said that great states attack small otites by the justice of nature ^ because they are the stronger . Is it possible , then , to be the better , but at the same time the weaker ; or the stronger , but at the same time the worse ? Or , are the stronger , aad the better , equivalent expressions ? ' O . * They are equivalent . ' S ,
* And are not many by nature stronger than one ? You youtself said that the many give laws to the one . ' C . * Certainly / S . Then the institutions of the many are those of the Stronger . * C . * Yes . S . ' Ami therefore , by your account , of the better / C . * Certainly / S . ' Then the institutions of the many are by nature noble , since the many are the stronger / C * Granted . ' 8 . ' Now , do not the many think , as you before observed , that Equality is just , and that it is more ignoble to
injure than to be injured ? Do not you , too , suffer yourself to be entrapped by shamefacedneas . Do not the many think that justice consists in equality , and not in superiority ? and that to injure is more ignoble than to be injured ? Do not deny rne an answer , in order that , if you agree with me , I may consider my opinion established by the admission of a competent judge / C * The many are of this opinion / S . * To injure ,
then , is more ignoble than to be injured , not by institution only , but likewise by nature : and you were wrong when you accused me , saying that Institution and Nature are contrary to one another , and that 1 , knowing this , quibble in argument , interpreting of Institution that which ie affirmed of Nature , and of Nature what is affirmed of Institution / C . ' This man will never have done trifling . Are you not ashamed , Socrates , at your age , to cavil at words , and triumph if any one makes a mistake in a name 1 Did I not teii you expressly that by the stronger , I meant the better ? Do you think I meant that if a crowd be collected ,
of slaves and all kind of persons having no good quality except perhapB physical force , that whatever they affirm should be right V 8 . ' This then is your meaning V C . * It is / S . * I conjectured before that this -was what you meant , and I only question you in . order to understand you more clearly . For I do not suppose that you consider two to be better than one , or your slaves better than yourself because they are stronger . But pray begin again at the beginning , and tell me whorti you mean by
the better , since you do not mean the stronger . And let me intreat yon to instruct me in a milder manner , lest I should withdraw from y < wff tuition / CL € Ypu are pleased tobe sarcastic / S . ' I swfear by Zetbas , in whose name you were no sarcastic upon me , tJiat I am not . But pray teH me whom you mean by the better / C . The worthier / S . * D < j y <* u n& perceive that you yourself are merely paying us in words , wo telling-us nothing ? Will you not say whether by the better and the stronger , yi * u uhd «** $ tand the more intelligent ?* C . € Yes , surely . G , TJiet ^ one intelligent person fs superior to a thousand who are not intelHgent , and ought to rule over them , and to have a larger share than at is
rt « y ?< ? eUth ^ ( an d I am not cavjllrng words ) whether this J < f WPMS ^ g f € . It ft . And this is What I call natural justice ; -thai ^ better aad more intelligent BhouW govern the worse , and be preferred to tfcem /
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AIMS Ptafcfo D&logues ; the Gorgius .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1834, page 806, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2639/page/60/
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