OUR GUARDIAN IS BOTH RELATED TO US, AND INDEPENDENT OF US.
Besides, our guardian is not entirely exterior to us; and, on the other hand, he is not bound to us, and is not active in us; he is ours, in the sense that he has a certain relation with our soul; he is not ours, in the sense that we are such men, living such a life under his supervision. This is the meaning of the terms used (by Plato) in the Timaeus.[325] If these be taken in the above sense, all explains itself; if not, Plato contradicts himself.