Republic

Yes, well said. But what of this sort of thing? Heavy with wine with the eyes of a dog and the heart of a fleet deer, Hom. Il. 1.225 and the lines that follow, are these well—and other impertinences in prose or verse of private citizens to their rulers? They are not well. They certainly are not suitable for youth to hear for the inculcation of self-control. But if from another point of view they yield some pleasure we must not be surprised, or what is your view of it? This, he said. Again, to represent the wisest man as saying that this seems to him the fairest thing in the world, When the bounteous tables are standing Laden with bread and with meat and the cupbearer ladles the sweet wine Out of the mixer and bears it and empties it into the beakers. Hom. Od. 9.8-10 —do you think the hearing of that sort of thing will conduce to a young man’s temperance or self-control? or this: Hunger is the most piteous death that a mortal may suffer. Hom. Od. 12.342 Or to hear how Zeus lightly forgot all the designs which he devised, watching while the other gods slept, because of the excitement of his passions, and was so overcome by the sight of Hera that he is not even willing to go to their chamber, but wants to lie with her there on the ground and says that he is possessed by a fiercer desire than when they first consorted with one another, Deceiving their dear parents. Hom. Il. 14.296 Nor will it profit them to hear of Hephaestus’s fettering Ares and Aphrodite for a like motive. No, by Zeus, he said, I don’t think it will. But any words or deeds of endurance in the face of all odds attributed to famous men are suitable for our youth to see represented and to hear, such as: He smote his breast and chided thus his heart, Endure, my heart, for worse hast thou endured. Hom. Od. 20.17-18 By all means, he said. It is certain that we cannot allow our men to be acceptors of bribes or greedy for gain. By no means. Then they must not chant: Gifts move the gods and gifts persuade dread kings. unknown Nor should we approve Achilles’ attendant Phoenix as speaking fairly when he counselled him if he received gifts for it to defend the Achaeans, but without gifts not to lay aside his wrath;