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things that are not of a kind suited to it, so that it turns the whole life of all the parts
upside-down.”
“Very much so,” he said.
“And wouldn’t this pair also stand guard on behalf of the whole soul and body
against their external enemies in the most beautiful way,” I said, “one part deliberating
while the other goes to war, following its ruler and accomplishing with its courage the
things that have been decided?”
“That’s the way it is.”
“And I imagine we call each one person courageous on account of this part, when
the spirited part of him preserves through pains and pleasures what’s been passed on to
it by speeches as something to be feared or not.”
“Rightly so,” he said.
“And wise by that little part, the one that ruled in him and passed those things on,
and it in turn has knowledge in it of what’s advantageous for each part and for the whole
consisting of the three of them in common.”
“Very much so.”
“And what next? Isn’t each person moderate by the friendship and concord
among these same things, when the ruling part and the pair that are ruled are of the same
opinion that the reasoning part ought to rule and aren’t in revolt against it?”
“Moderation is certainly nothing other than that,” he said, “in a city or a private
person.”
“But each person will be just on account of the thing we repeat so often, and in
that manner.”
“That’s a big necessity.”
“Then what about this?” I said. “Surely it hasn’t gotten fuzzy around the edges for
us in any way, has it, so it would seem to be some other sort of justice than the one that
came to light in the city?”
“It doesn’t seem to me it has,” he said.
“Well,” I said, “we could establish this beyond all doubt, if anything in our soul
still stands unconvinced, by applying the commonplace standards to it.”
“What sort of standards exactly?”
“For example, if we were asked to come to an agreement about that city and the
man who’s like that by nature and upbringing, as to whether it seemed such a man
would steal a deposit of gold or silver he’d accepted in trust, do you think anyone would
imagine he’d be more likely to do that than all those not of his sort?”
“No one would,” he said.
“And wouldn’t temple robberies, frauds, and betrayals, either of friends in private
or cities in public capacities, be out of the question for this person?”
“Out of the question.”
“And in no way whatever would he be unfaithful to oaths or other agreements.”
“How could he?”
“And surely adultery, neglect of parents, and lack of attentiveness to the gods
belong more to any other sort of person than to this one.”
“Any other sort for sure,” he said.
“And isn’t the thing responsible for all that the fact that each of the parts within
him does what properly belongs to it in connection with ruling and being ruled?”
“That and nothing else.”
“So are you still looking for justice to be anything other than the power that pro-
duces men and cities of that sort?”
“By Zeus,” he said, “not I.”
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