Strona 157 z 1391

BOOK IV. Adeimantus said: 'Suppose a person to argue, Socrates,

that you make your citizens miserable, and this by their own

free-will; they are the lords of the city, and yet instead of

having, like other men, lands and houses and money of their own,

they live as mercenaries and are always mounting guard.' You may

add, I replied, that they receive no pay but only their food, and

have no money to spend on a journey or a mistress. 'Well, and

what answer do you give?' My answer is, that our guardians may or

may not be the happiest of men,-I should not be surprised to find

in the long-run that they were,-but this is not the aim of our

constitution, which was designed for the good of the whole and

not of any one part.