THE REPUBLIC OF PLATO - Studyplace

I. 345] RULING AS AN ART 27
here who feel as I do, and set justice above injustice. It is for you
to convince us that we are not well advised.
How can I he replied. If you are not convinced by what I have
just said,. what more can I do for you Do you want to be fed
with my ideas out of a spoon
God forbidl I exclaimed; not that. But I do want you to stand
by your own words; or, if you shift your ground, shift it openly
and stop trying to hoodwink us as you are doing now. You see,
Thrasymachus, to go back to your earlier argument, in speaking
of the shepherd you did not think it necessary to keep to that strict
sense you laid down when you defined the genuine physician. You
represent him, in his character of shepherd, as feeding up his flock,
not for their own sake but for the table or the market, as if he
were out to make money as a caterer or a cattle-dealer, rather than
a shepherd. Surely the sole concern of the shepherd's art is to do
the best for the charges put under its care; its own best interest is
sufficiently provided for, so long as it does not fall short of all that
shepherding should imply. On that principle it followed, I thought,
that any kind of authority, in the state or in private life, must, in its
character of authority, consider solely what is best for those under
its care. Now what is your opinion Do you think that the men
who govern states-I mean rulers in the strict sense-have no reluctance
to hold office
I don't think so, he replied; I know it.
Well, but haven't you noticed, Thrasymachus, that in other p0­
sitions of authority no one is willing to act unless he is paid wages,
which he demands on the assumption that all the benefit of his action
will go to his charges Tell me: Don't we always distinguish
one form of skill from another by its power to effect some particular
result Do say what you really think, so that we may get on.
Yes, that is the distinction.
And also each brings us some benefit that is peculiar to it: medicine
gives health, for example; the art of navigation, safety at sea;
and so on.
Yes.
And wage-earning brings us wages; that is its distinctive product.
Now, speaking with that precision which you proposed, you