To be sure, he said; and he will be able to trust them best of all.
He puts to death his friends and lives with the slaves whom he has enfranchised. What a blessed creature, I said, must this tyrant be; he [568]has put to death the others and has these for his trusted friends.
Yes, he said; they are quite of his sort.
Yes, I said, and these are the new citizens whom he has called into existence, who admire him and are his companions, while the good hate and avoid him.
Of course.
Euripides and the tragedians praise tyranny, which is an excellent reason for expelling them from our State. Verily, then, tragedy is a wise thing and Euripides a great tragedian.
Why, because he is the author of the pregnant saying,
[B] ‘Tyrants are wise by living with the wise;’
and he clearly meant to say that they are the wise whom the tyrant makes his companions.