[9] Plato, Apolog. Sokrat. p. 30 B.
λέγων ὅτι οὐκ ἐκ χρημάτων ἀρετὴ γίγνεται, ἀλλ’ ἐξ ἀρετῆς χρήματα καὶ τἄλλα ἀγαθὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἅπαντα καὶ ἰδία καὶ δημοσίᾳ.
Xenophon in the Cyropædia puts the following language into the mouth of the hero Cyrus, in addressing his officers (Cyrop. i. 5, 9). Καίτοι ἔγωγε οἶμαι, οὐδεμίαν ἀρετὴν ἀσκεῖσθαι ὑπ’ ἀνθρώπων, ὡς μηδὲν πλέον ἔχωσιν οἱ ἐσθλοὶ γενόμενοι τῶν πονηρῶν· ἀλλ’ οἵ τε τῶν παραυτίκα ἡδονῶν ἀπεχόμενοι, οὔχ ἵνα μηδέποτε εὐφρανθῶσι, τοῦτο πράττουσιν, ἀλλ’ ὡς διὰ ταύτην τὴν ἐγκράτειαν πολλαπλάσια εἰς τὸν ἔπειτα χρόνον εὐφρανούμενοι, οὕτω παρασκευάζονται, &c.
The love of praise is represented as the prominent motive of Cyrus to the practice of virtue (i. 5, 12, i. 2, 1).
Compare also Xenophon, Cyropæd. ii. 3, 5-15, vii. 5, 82, and Xenophon, Economic. xiv. 5-9; Xenophon, De Venatione, xii. 15-19.
[10] Xenophon, Memorab. ii. 1, 19-20, &c. We read in the ‘Works and Days’ of Hesiod, 287:—
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Τὴν μέν τοι κακότητα καὶ ἰλαδὸν ἔστιν ἐλέσθαι Ῥηϊδίως· λείη μὲν ὁδός, μάλα δ’ ἐγγύθι ναίει. Τῆς δ’ ἀρετῆς ἱδρῶτα θεοὶ προπάροιθεν ἔθηκαν Ἀθάνατοι· μακρὸς δὲ καὶ ὄρθιος οἶμος ἐπ’ αὐτήν, Καὶ τρῆχυς τοπρῶτον· ἐπὴν δ’ εἰς ἄκρον ἵκηαι, Ῥηϊδίη δ’ ἠπειτα πέλει, χαλεπή περ ἐοῦσα. |
It is remarkable that while the Xenophontic Sokrates cites these verses from Hesiod as illustrating and enforcing the drift of his exhortation, the Platonic Sokrates cites them as misleading, and as a specimen of the hurtful errors instilled by the poets (Republic, ii. p. 364 D).
We see thus that the doctrine which the Platonic Sokrates impugns in the Republic, is countenanced elsewhere by Sokratic authority. It is, in my judgment, more true than that which he opposes to it. The exhortations and orders of parents to their children, which he condemns — were founded upon views of fact and reality more correct than those which the Sokrates of the Republic would substitute in place of them.
Argument of Sokrates to refute them. Sentiments in which it originates. Panegyric on Justice.