What Plato said about tyrants

[BayouBengal07]

"At first, in the early days of his power, he is full of smiles,
and he salutes every one whom he meets;--he to be called a tyrant,
who is making promises in public and also in private! liberating debtors, and distributing land to the people and his followers, and wanting to be so kind and good to every one!

Of course, he said.

But when he has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty,
and there is nothing to fear from them, then he is always stirring up
some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader.

To be sure.

Has he not also another object, which is that they may be impoverished
by payment of taxes, and thus compelled to devote themselves to their
daily wants and therefore less likely to conspire against him? Clearly.

And if any of them are suspected by him of having notions of freedom,
and of resistance to his authority, he will have a good pretext
for destroying them by placing them at the mercy of the enemy;
and for all these reasons the tyrant must be always getting up
a war.

He must.

Now he begins to grow unpopular.

A necessary result.

Then some of those who joined in setting him up, and who are in power,
speak their minds to him and to one another, and the more courageous
of them cast in his teeth what is being done.

Yes, that may be expected.

And the tyrant, if he means to rule, must get rid of them; he cannot
stop while he has a friend or an enemy who is good for anything.

He cannot.

And therefore he must look about him and see who is valiant,
who is high-minded, who is wise, who is wealthy; happy man,
he is the enemy of them all, and must seek occasion against them
whether he will or no, until he has made a purgation of the State.

Yes, he said, and a rare purgation.

Yes, I said, not the sort of purgation which the physicians make
of the body; for they take away the worse and leave the better part,
but he does the reverse."


Hmmmm...

[Avalux]

1. Plato is the coolest

Check out my sig line. :hi:

[IChing]

2. But Socrates was his maistre

We had to read those boring pieces and discuss them in 10th grade
and form logical socratic discourse
I'm so glad that the education system of today
doesn't think they are still relevant.
But they did drink alot of good wine if I remember correct.

Man, what about those Jets?

:sarcasm:

"Yes, I said, not the sort of purgation which the physicians make
of the body; for they take away the worse and leave the better part,
but he does the reverse."

purgation:

the purification or cleansing of someone or something : the purgation by ritual violence of morbid social emotions.

[Avalux]

3. Yes,

thank god our public education system doesn't teach that horrible stuff anymore. What a waste of time. :silly:

[IChing]

4. I know because I don't.

"One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing."

"The comic and the tragic lie inseparably close, like light and shadow."

what a comedian............

[tjwmason]

5. Have you read his section on women guardians exercising

I'm sorry, and it's really good that he was into an equal position waaaaaay back then, but really do we need a side-ways discourse on how both old-men and old-women get wrinkly? :puke: