[612]
And then one might see whether in its real nature
1
it is manifold
2
or single in its simplicity, or what is the truth about it and how.
3
But for the present we have, I think, fairly well described its sufferings and the forms it assumes in this human life of ours.
We certainly have, he said.
Then, said I, we have met all the other demands 612b of the argument, and we have not invoked the rewards and reputes of justice as you said Homer and Hesiod 4 do, but we have proved that justice in itself is the best thing for the soul itself, and that the soul ought to do justice whether it possess the ring of Gyges 5 or not, 6 or the helmet of Hades 7 to boot. Most true, he said. Then, said I, Glaucon, there can no longer be any objection, 8 can there, to our assigning to justice and 612c virtue generally, in addition, all the various rewards and wages that they bring to the soul from men and gods, both while the man still lives and, after his death? There certainly can be none, he said. Will you, then, return to me what you borrowed 9 in the argument? What, pray? I granted to you that the just man should seem and be thought to be unjust and the unjust just; for you thought that, even if the concealment of these things from gods and men was an impossibility in fact, nevertheless, it ought to be conceded for the sake of the argument, 10 in order that the decision might be made 612d between absolute justice and absolute injustice. Or do you not remember? It would be unjust of me, 11 he said, if I did not. Well, then, now that they have been compared and judged, I demand back from you in behalf of justice the repute that she in fact enjoys 12 from gods and men, and I ask that we admit that she is thus esteemed in order that she may gather in the prizes 13 which she wins from the seeming and bestows on her possessors, since she has been proved to bestow the blessings that come from the reality and not to deceive those who truly seek and win her. That is a just demand, he said. 612e Then, said I, will not the first of these restorations be that the gods certainly 14 are not unaware 15 of the true character of each of the two, the just and the unjust? We will restore that, he said. And if they are not concealed, the one will be dear to the gods 16 and the other hateful to them, as we agreed in the beginning. 17 That is so.
Then, said I, we have met all the other demands 612b of the argument, and we have not invoked the rewards and reputes of justice as you said Homer and Hesiod 4 do, but we have proved that justice in itself is the best thing for the soul itself, and that the soul ought to do justice whether it possess the ring of Gyges 5 or not, 6 or the helmet of Hades 7 to boot. Most true, he said. Then, said I, Glaucon, there can no longer be any objection, 8 can there, to our assigning to justice and 612c virtue generally, in addition, all the various rewards and wages that they bring to the soul from men and gods, both while the man still lives and, after his death? There certainly can be none, he said. Will you, then, return to me what you borrowed 9 in the argument? What, pray? I granted to you that the just man should seem and be thought to be unjust and the unjust just; for you thought that, even if the concealment of these things from gods and men was an impossibility in fact, nevertheless, it ought to be conceded for the sake of the argument, 10 in order that the decision might be made 612d between absolute justice and absolute injustice. Or do you not remember? It would be unjust of me, 11 he said, if I did not. Well, then, now that they have been compared and judged, I demand back from you in behalf of justice the repute that she in fact enjoys 12 from gods and men, and I ask that we admit that she is thus esteemed in order that she may gather in the prizes 13 which she wins from the seeming and bestows on her possessors, since she has been proved to bestow the blessings that come from the reality and not to deceive those who truly seek and win her. That is a just demand, he said. 612e Then, said I, will not the first of these restorations be that the gods certainly 14 are not unaware 15 of the true character of each of the two, the just and the unjust? We will restore that, he said. And if they are not concealed, the one will be dear to the gods 16 and the other hateful to them, as we agreed in the beginning. 17 That is so.
Republic. Plato. Paul Shorey (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1935-37.
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