[575d]
the greatest and mightiest tyrant in
his own soul.” “Naturally,” he said,
“for he would be the most tyrannical.” “Then
if the people yield willingly—’tis well,1 but if the city resists him,
then, just as in the previous case the man chastized his mother and his
father, so now in turn will he chastize his fatherland if he can, bringing
in new boon companions beneath whose sway he will hold and keep enslaved his
once dear motherland2—as the Cretans name
her—and fatherland. And this would be the end of such a man's
desire.3”
1 In the Greek the apodosis is suppressed. Cf. Protag. 325 D. Adam refers to Herwerden, Mn. xix. pp. 338 f.
2 So also the Hindus of Bengal, The Nation,July 13, 1911, p. 28. Cf. Isoc. iv. 25πατρίδα καὶ μητέρα, Lysias ii. 18μητέρα καὶ πατρίδα, Plut. 792 E (An seni resp.）ἡ δὲ πατρὶς καὶ μητρὶς ὡς Κρῆτες καλοῦσι. Vol. I. p. 303, note e, on 414 E, Menex. 239 A.
3 Cf. the accidental coincidence of Swinburne's refrain, “This is the end of every man's desire” (Ballad of Burdens).
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969.
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