Page:History of Greece Vol VIII.djvu/416

 394 HISTORY OF GREECE. acter, which lends so much value and charm to the substantive speculations of Plato, counts as a deduction from his trustworthi- ness as critic or witness, in reference to the living agents whom he saw at work in Attens and other cities, as statesmen, generals, or teachers. His criticisms are dictated by his own point of view, according to which the entire society was corrupt, and all the instruments who carried on its functions were of essentially base metal. Whoever will read either the " Gorgias" or the u Republic," will see in how sweeping and indiscriminate a man- ner he passes his sentence of condemnation. Not only all the sophists and all the rhetors, 1 but all the musicians and dithyram- bic or tragic poets ; all the statesmen, past as well as present, not excepting even the great Perikles, receive from his hands one common stamp of dishonor. Every one of these men are numbered by Plato among the numerous category of flatterers, who minister to the immediate gratification and to the desires of the people, without looking to their permanent improvement, or making them morally better. " Perikles and Kimon (says Sok- rates in the " Gorgias") are nothing but servants or ministers who supply the immediate appetites and tastes of the people; just as the baker and the confectioner do in their respective departments, without knowing or caring whether the food will do any real good, a point which the physician alone can deter- mine. As ministers, they are clever enough : they have provided the city amply with tribute, walls, docks, ships, and suck other follies : but I (Sokrates) am the only man in Athens who aim, no far as my strength permits, at the true purpose of politics, the mental improvement of the people." 2 So wholesale a condemna- 1 Plato, Gorgias, c. 57, 58 ; pp. 502, 503. 2 Plato, Gorgias, c. 72, 73, p. 517 (Sokrates speaks) : 'Aty&elf upa ol ifurpoa&ev Aoyot i/aav, on ovdeva ^ueif lofiev uvdpa uyaddv ycyovbra T& iroTitriKu tv TySe ry irofai. T 2 6aip.6vie, otxP eyw if/eyu rovTovf (Perikles and Kimon) uf ye Sta~ Kovovf elvai nofauf, uX'kH (tot tionovoi TUV ye vvv d i OKOV i KUT e pot yeyovivai nal /za^Aov oloi re iKTtopi&iv ry Trofai uv frrediifiei. 'A^.^ yap itTaj3if)aeiv rdf tTTidvpiae Kdl (J.TI iiriTpeTreiv, irsi&ovTff KOI /3ia6/jEvoi tirl ovro, odev lue^Aov ups'ivovf eoea&ai ol TroXZrai, uf e:rof elntlv, ovdev rov- ruv 6ieepov inelvoi. 6~tp fiovov epyov ianv uycidov TTO^ITOV AVEV yup au^fioarvrj^ KOI SiKatoftvvrjf, /uftcvuv Kal Tei%uv K it veupiuv aJ