Kitap 9
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Clin. Exactly.
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Ath. Nor would it be untrue to say that the third cause of sins is ignorance.Cp. Plat. Laws 864d., Plat. Laws 908e; Aristot. Nic. Eth. 1110b.18 ff. This cause, however, the lawgiver would do well to subdivide into two, counting ignorance in its simple form to be the cause of minor sins, and in its double form—where the folly is due to the man being gripped not by ignorance only, but also by a conceit of wisdom,Cp. Plat. Laws 732a, Plat. Phileb. 48e. as though he had full knowledge of things he knows nothing at all about,—counting this to be the cause of great and brutal sins when it is joined with strength and might, but the cause of childish and senile sins when it is joined with weakness; and these last he will count as sins and he will ordain laws, as for sinners, but laws that will be, above all others, of the most mild and merciful kind.
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Clin. That is reasonable.
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Ath. And pretty well everyone speaks of one man being superior, another inferior, to pleasure or to passion; and they are so.
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Clin. Most certainly.
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Ath. But we have never heard it said that one man is superior, another inferior, to ignorance.i.e. ignorance is not regarded as an active force (like passion or pleasure) capable of opposing reason and tyrannizing over the soul.
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Clin. Quite true.
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Ath. And we assert that all these things urge each man often to go counter to the actual bent of his own inclination.
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Clin. Very frequently.
