[360c]
and enter into houses and lie with whom he pleased, and
slay and loose from bonds whomsoever he would, and in all other things
conduct himself among mankind as the equal of a god.1 And in so
acting he would do no differently from the other man, but both would pursue
the same course. And yet this is a great proof, one might argue, that no one
is just of his own will but only from constraint, in the belief that justice
is not his personal good, inasmuch as every man, when he supposes himself to
have the power to do wrong, does wrong.
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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