Book 1
639
Ath. Now has anyone ever yet beheld this institution rightly conducted? Both of you can easily make answer—Never yet at all, for with you this institution is neither customary nor legal; but I have come across many modes of banqueting in many places, and I have also inquired into nearly all of them, and I have scarcely seen or heard of a single one that was in all points rightly conducted; for if any were right at all, it was only in a few details, and most of them were almost entirely on the wrong lines.
640
Clin. What do you mean by that, Stranger? Explain yourself more clearly; for since we are (as you observed) without any experience of such institutions, even if we did come across them, we would probably fail to see at once what was right in them and what wrong.
640
Ath. That is very probable. Try, however, to learn from my description. This you understand—that in all gatherings and associations for any purpose whatsoever it is right that each group should always have a commander.
640
Clin. Of course.
640
Ath. Moreover, we have recently said that the commander of fighting men must be courageous.
640
Clin. Of course.
640
Ath. The courageous man is less perturbed by alarms than the coward.
640
Clin. That is true, too.
640
Ath. Now if there had existed any device for putting an army in charge of a general who was absolutely impervious to fear or perturbation, should we not have made every effort to do so?
640
Clin. Most certainly.
640
Ath. But what we are discussing now is not the man who is to command an army in time of war, in meetings of foe with foe, but the man who is to command friends in friendly association with friends in time of peace.
640
Clin. Quite so.
640
Ath. Such a gathering, if accompanied by drunkenness, is not free from disturbance, is it?
640
Clin. Certainly not; quite the reverse, I imagine.
640
Ath. So those people also need, in the first place, a commander?
640
Clin. Undoubtedly—they above all.
640
Ath. Should we, if possible, provide them with a commander who is imperturbable?
640
Clin. Certainly.
