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the possession of justice and self-control , the wretched wretched by the possession of vice , must be refuted ; or if this be true , we must consider what are the conclusions from it . The conclusions are , all those which you asked whether I was serious in asserting ; that we ought to accuse ourselves and our friends , and bring ourselves to justice , if we commit
any injury ; and that this is the proper employment of rhetoric . And what you thought that Polus admitted from shamefacedness , was true , viz . that to injure is more ignoble , and consequently a greater evil , than to be injured ; and likewise what Polus said that Gorgias admitted from shamefaced ness , that he who would be rightly a rhetorician , must be just , and must understand justice . 4
This being the case , let us consider whether there was any ground for your reproof of me , when you said that I am not able to protect myself or any of my friends from the greatest dangers ; but that , like those who have been de ^ rivted of their civil rights by the sentence of a court of justice , I am at the mercy of any one who chooses , as you expressed it , to strike me a blow , or to take away my property , or to banish me from the state , or even to kill me : and that to be thus
situated is , of all things , as you said , the most ignoble . But I have said often , and there is no reason against saying it again , that the most ignoble of all things is not to be struck unjustly , or to be robbed or put to death unjustly . To do all these things unjustly , or to injure me in any way whatever , is both a more ignoble and a worse thing to the person who injures , than to me who am injured . This has been established
by arguments strong as iron and adamant ; which , unless you or some stouter man can refute , it is impossible to speak reasonably , speaking otherwise than I do . For I always say the same thing , viz . that I do not myself know how these things are ; that , however , no one , speaking in opposition to what has occurred to me on this subject , is able to avoid absurdity . I therefore lay down these things as true .
* If however they be true ; if injustice be the greatest of evils to the unjust man , but impunity in injustice a still greater evil if possible 5 what kind of protection is it , which , to be unable to render to one ' s self or one ' s friends , is really contemptible ? Is it not that which averts the greatest evil ? Is not the nobleness of being able to protect , and the lgnobleneas of being unable , proportional to the greatness of the evil to be averted ? ' * Certainly , ' replied Callicles . S . * Here then are
two evils : to injure , and to be injured : the first a greater evil , the latter a less . What ought we to provide ourselves with , if we mean to protect ourselves against these two evils ? Power , or merely will ? For example , to escape from being injured , is it sufficient that we should will not to be injured , or is power required for that purpose ? ' C . It is evident that power is required . * S . i And to injure : —Is it sufficient to prevent us from doing injustice , that we should will not to do it , or
is it necessary for this purpose also , to have provided ourselves with a power , with an art , which if we do not learn , and exercise , we shall do injustice ? Did you think that Polus and I were right when we agreed that no one commits injustice willingly , but always unwillingly ? C * Be it so , that you may complete your argument . ' S . i An art , and a power , therefore , are required , in order not to do injustice . ' C . * Yes . 84 What , now , are the means by which a person may contrive that he hould be never injured , or as little aa possible ? To me , it seems that
Untitled Article
830 Plato ' s Dialogues ; the Gorgias .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1834, page 830, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2640/page/12/
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