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The Judgment of Animals in Classical Greece: Animal Sculpture and ...

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a1frona gegone/nai nomoqe/thn, w3st' a)gnoei=n o3ti pa&mpolla a)na&gkh<br />

paralei/pesqai toiau~ta, a4 dei= t<strong>in</strong>a sunepo&menon e0panorqou~n, i3na mhdamh|~ xei/rwn,<br />

belti/wn de\ h( politei/a kai\ o( ko&smoj a)ei\ gi/gnhtai peri\ th_n w| )kisme/nhn au)tw|~<br />

po&l<strong>in</strong>;<br />

ATHENIAN. You know how the pa<strong>in</strong>ters’ activity, for example, never seems to f<strong>in</strong>ish<br />

work<strong>in</strong>g on each <strong>of</strong> the figures, but keeps touch<strong>in</strong>g up or highlight<strong>in</strong>g—or whatever the<br />

pa<strong>in</strong>ters’ disciples call such activity? It seems never to cease its adorn<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>and</strong> hence<br />

never to reach a po<strong>in</strong>t where there can be no further improvement <strong>of</strong> the pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs as<br />

regards beauty <strong>and</strong> clarity.<br />

KLEINIAS. I too know pretty well these th<strong>in</strong>gs you’re talk<strong>in</strong>g about, by hearsay—for I<br />

am not at all practiced, at least, <strong>in</strong> such an art.<br />

ATHENIAN. That’s no h<strong>in</strong>drance for you. We’ll still make use <strong>of</strong> this allusion to it<br />

that’s cropped up <strong>in</strong> our discussion now, <strong>in</strong> someth<strong>in</strong>g like the follow<strong>in</strong>g way: suppose<br />

someone once took it <strong>in</strong>to his head to pa<strong>in</strong>t the most beautiful figure possible, one that<br />

would never get worse but would always improve as time went by. Don’t you see that<br />

s<strong>in</strong>ce he’s mortal, he’ll have to leave beh<strong>in</strong>d a successor, able to make it right if the<br />

pa<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g suffers from decay at the h<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> time, as well as to make future touch-ups that<br />

improve the deficiencies left by his own artistic weaknesses? Otherwise, won’t his very<br />

great labor last but a brief time?<br />

KLEINIAS. That’s true.<br />

ATHENIAN. Well, then, don’t you th<strong>in</strong>k the lawgiver has such a purpose? He first<br />

writes his laws with as nearly adequate a precision as he can muster. <strong>The</strong>n, with the<br />

passage <strong>of</strong> time, as his op<strong>in</strong>ions are tried out <strong>in</strong> deed, do you suppose there’s any<br />

lawgiver who is so imprudent as to be ignorant <strong>of</strong> the fact that he must necessarily have<br />

left very many such th<strong>in</strong>gs that require be<strong>in</strong>g set right by some follower, if the regime <strong>and</strong><br />

order <strong>of</strong> the city he has founded are always to become <strong>in</strong> no way worse but <strong>in</strong>stead<br />

better?<br />

146<br />

Plato, Politicus 277c IV B.C.<br />

Text: J. Burnet, ed., Platonis opera I (Oxford, 1900; repr. 1967).<br />

Translation: H. N. Fowler, ed., tr., Plato. Politicus. Philebus (Cambridge, Mass. <strong>and</strong><br />

London, 1962).<br />

dio_ makrote/ran th_n a)po&deic<strong>in</strong> pepoih&kamen kai\ pa&ntwj tw|~ mu&qw| te/loj ou)k<br />

e0pe/qemen, a)ll' a)texnw~j o( lo&goj h(mi=n w3sper zw|~on th_n e1cwqen me\n perigrafh_n<br />

e1oiken i9kanw~j e1xe<strong>in</strong>, th_n de\ oi[on toi=j farma&koij kai\ th|~ sugkra&sei tw~n<br />

xrwma&twn e0na&rgeian ou)k a)peilhfe/nai pw. grafh~j de\ kai\ sumpa&shj<br />

xeirourgi/aj le/cei kai\ lo&gw| dhlou~n pa~n zw|~on ma~llon pre/pei toi=j duname/noij<br />

e3pesqai: toi=j d' a1lloij dia_ xeirourgiw~n.<br />

So we have made our discourse too long <strong>and</strong> after all have never made an end <strong>of</strong> the tale,<br />

but our talk, just like a picture <strong>of</strong> a liv<strong>in</strong>g creature, seems to have a good enough outl<strong>in</strong>e,<br />

but not yet to have received the clearness that comes from pigments <strong>and</strong> the blend<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong><br />

colors. And yet it is more fitt<strong>in</strong>g to portray any liv<strong>in</strong>g be<strong>in</strong>g by speech <strong>and</strong> argument than<br />

399

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