260
Str. And surely when men are doing anything in common it is pleasant for them to agree.
260
Y. Soc. Of course it is.
260
Str. On this point, then, so long as we ourselves are in agreement, we need not bother about the opinions of others.
260
Y. Soc. Of course not.
260
Str. Now to which of these two classes is the kingly man to be assigned? Shall we assign him to the art of judging, as a kind of spectator, or rather to the art of commanding, inasmuch as he is a ruler?
260
Y. Soc. Rather to the latter, of course.
260
Str. Then once more we must see whether the art of command falls into two divisions. It seems to me that it does, and I think there is much the same distinction between the kingly class and the class of heralds as between the art of men who sell what they themselves produce and that of retail dealers.
260
Y. Soc. How so?
260
Str. Retail dealers receive and sell over again the productions of others, which have generally been sold before.
260
Y. Soc. Certainly.
260
Str. And in like manner heralds receive the purposes of others in the form of orders, and then give the orders a second time to others.
260
Y. Soc. Very true.
260
Str. Shall we, then, join the art of the king in the same class with the art of the interpreter, the boatswain, the prophet, the herald, and many other kindred arts, all of which involve giving orders? Or, as we just now made a comparison of functions, shall we now by comparison make a name also—since the class of those who issue orders of their own is virtually nameless—and assign kings to the science of giving orders of one’s own, disregarding all the rest and leaving to someone else the task of naming them? For the object of our present quest is the ruler, not his opposite.
261
Y. Soc. Quite right.
261
Str. Then since a reasonable distinction between this class and the rest has been made, by distinguishing the commands given as one’s own or another’s, shall we again divide this class, if there is in it any further line of section?
261
Y. Soc. Certainly.
