Kitap 8
568
Truly, said I, this tyrant businessFor the idiomatic and colloquial χρῆμα cf. Herod. i. 36, Eurip. Androm. 181, Theaet. 209 E, Aristoph. Clouds 1, Birds 826, Wasps 933, Lysistr. 83, 1085, Acharn. 150, Peace 1192, Knights 1219, Frogs 1278. is a blessedFor the wretched lot of the tyrant cf. p. 368, note a. thing on your showing, if such are the friends and trusties he must employ after destroying his former associates. But such are indeed those he does make use of, he said. And these companions admire him, I said, and these new citizens are his associates, while the better sort hate and avoid him. Why should they not? Not for nothing,For οὐκ ἐτός cf. 414 E. The idiom is frequent in Aristoph. Cf. e.g. Acharn. 411, 413, Birds 915, Thesm. 921, Plut. 404, 1166, Eccl. 245. said I, is tragedy in general esteemed wise, and Euripides beyond other tragedians.This is plainly ironical and cannot be used by the admirers of Euripides. Why, pray? Because among other utterances of pregnant thoughtCf. πυκιναὶ φρένες Iliad xiv. 294, πυκινὸς νόος xv. 41 etc. he said, Tyrants are wise by converse with the wise.Cf. Theages 125 B f. The line is also attributed to Sophocles. Cf. Stemplinger, Das Plagiat in der griechischen Literatur, p. 9; Gellius xiii. 18, F. Dümmler, Akademika, p. 16. Wilamowitz, Platon, i. p. 119 thinks this an allusion to Euripides and Agathon at the court of Archelaus of Macedon. Isocrates ix. 40, like the poets, praises the tyrants, but ii. 3-5 contrasts their education unfavorably with that of the ordinary citizen. Throughout the passage he is plainly thinking of Plato. He meant evidently that these associates of the tyrant are the wise. Yes, he and the other poets, he said, call the tyrant’s power likest God’sCf. Vol. I. p. 119, note c, Eurip. Tro. 1169, Isoc. ii. 5. and praise it in many other ways. Wherefore, said I, being wise as they are, the poets of tragedy will pardon us and those whose politics resemble ours for not admitting themCf. 394 D, What Plato Said, p. 561, 598 ff. into our polity, since they hymn the praises of tyranny. I think, he said, that the subtle minds κομψοί is used playfully or ironically. among them will pardon us. But going about to other cities, I fancy, collecting crowds and hiring fine, loud, persuasive voices,Cf. Gorg. 502 B ff., Laws 817 C, and for the expression Protag. 347 D. they draw the polities towards tyrannies or democracies. Yes, indeed. And, further, they are paid and honored for this, chiefly, as is to be expected, by tyrants, and secondly by democracy.Cf. Laches 183 A-B. But the higher they go, breasting constitution hill, the more their honor fails, as it were from lack of breathCf. Shakes. Ant. and Cleop.III. X. 25 Our fortune on the sea is out of breath. unable to proceed. Quite so. But this, said I, is a digression.Cf. on 572 B, p. 339, note e. Let us return to that fair, multitudinous, diversified and ever-changing bodyguard of the tyrant and tell how it will be supported. Obviously, he said, if there are sacred treasures in the city he will spend these as long as they last and the property of those he has destroyed, thus requiring smaller contributions from the populace. But what when these resources failCf. 574 D, Diels1 p. 578, Anon. Iambl. 3.? Clearly, he said, his father’s estate will have to support him and his wassailers, his fellows and his she-fellows. I understand, I said, that the people which begot the tyrantCf. Soph. O. T. 873 ὕβρις φυτεύει τύραννον. will have to feed him and his companions. It cannot escape from that, he said.
