86 PLATO
“I do,” he said.
“So if one ought to refer to any city as stronger than pleasures and desires, and
than itself, that needs to be applied to this one.”
“Absolutely so,” he said.
“So then isn’t it moderate too in all these respects?”
“Very much so,” he said.
“And also, if in any city the same opinion is present in both the rulers and the
ruled about who ought to rule, it would be present in this one. Doesn’t that seem so?”
“Emphatically so,” he said.
“Then as for being moderate, in which group of citizens will you say it’s present
when they’re in this condition, in the rulers or in the ruled?”
“In both, presumably,” he said.
“So do you see,” I said, “that we had an appropriate premonition just now that
moderation is like a certain harmony?”
“Why’s that?”
“Because it’s not like courage and wisdom, each of which by its presence in a
certain part showed the city to be either wise or courageous. It doesn’t act that way, but
is in fact stretched through the whole across the scale, showing the weakest, the
strongest, and those in between to be singing the same song together, whether you want
to rank them in intelligence, or, if you want, in strength, or even by their number or their
money or by anything whatever of that sort. So we’d be most correct in claiming that
this like-mindedness is moderation, a concord of the naturally worse and better about
which ought to rule, both in the city and in each one.”
“The way it seems to me is completely in accord with that,” he said.
“Well then,” I said, “three of them have been spotted in our city—at least it seems
that way. So what would be the remaining form by which the city would further partake
in virtue? For it’s clear that this is justice.”
“That’s clear.”
“So now, Glaucon, don’t we need to take up positions like hunters in a circle
around a patch of woods and concentrate our attention, so that justice doesn’t escape
anywhere, disappear from our sight, and become obscure? Because it’s evident that it’s
in there somewhere. So look and make a spirited effort to catch sight of it, in case you
spot it in any way before I do, and you’ll show it to me.”
“If only I were able to,” he said. “Instead, if you treat me as a follower who’s
capable of seeing what’s pointed out to him, you’ll be handling me in an entirely sen-
sible way.”
“Follow then,” I said, “after offering up prayers along with me.”
“I’ll do that,” he said; “just you lead.”
“The place sure does look like an inaccessible and shadowy one,” I said; “at any
rate it’s dark and hard to scout through. But still, one needs to go on.”
“Yes, one does need to go on,” he said.
And spotting something, I called, “Got it! Got it, Glaucon! We’ve probably got its
trail, and I don’t think it’s going to get away from us at all.”
“You bring good tidings,” he said.
“But oh what a slug-like condition we were in,” I said.
“In what sort of way?”
“All this time, you blessed fellow, and it seems it’s been rolling around in front of
our feet from the beginning, and we didn’t see it for all that, but were utterly ridiculous;
the way people holding something in their hands sometimes look for the things they’ree432a
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