GUIDE TO THE PHILOSOPHY 1938 - 1947.pdf - Rare Books at ...

THEORY OP DEMOCRACY 797
out being liable to be called to account for their use of
it; for if men are in a position to use power without check,
they will abuse it, Plato shows his awareness of the truth
of this contention, by his avowal that it is only when
that an ideal State will become
philosophers are lungs,
possible. If philosophers, that is to say, those who really
know the principles of goodness, truth, and justice, and
wish to embody them in the government of the State,
were or ever had been available, a democrat, persuaded
by the charms of Plato, might perhaps have been willing
to permit them to exercise the powers of kingship. But,
in fact, no such ideal governors have ever presented themselves,
and, in the absence of philosophers, the democrat
regretfully insists that we must do without kings. It is
because men's abuse of power has been notorious and
flagrant, so notorious and so flagrant that, if history is
to be trusted, there is no more subtle corrupter of human
character than the possession of irresponsible power that,
the democrat insists, no superior individual, no party of
superior individuals, however strong their wills, steadfast
their convictions, devoted their efforts and determined
their good intentions, can be safely entrusted with power
which is not subject to check, revision and withdrawal.
The careers of Nero and Caligula in Ancient Rome, of
Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great in Russia, of Louis
XIV and Louis XV in France, to take but a few names,
where history records a hundred, bear witness to the fact
that men whose position raises them above human station
fall in character below it. To give men the power of
gods is, in fact, to afford a reasonable presumption that
they will behave like beasts.
THAT GOOD INTENTIONS ARE NO BAR TO THE
MISUSE OP POWER. But it is not necessary to be a
king, in order to bear witness to the disastrous effects of
the possession of power upon human character. Every
slave-owner who has beaten and starved his slaves, every
mill-owner who has over-worked and under-paid his