mould in which we are to cast our ideas about divine things. The Gods are not magicians who transform themselves, neither do they deceive mankind in word or deed.

I grant that.

Then, although we are lovers of Homer, we do not love the lying dream which Zeus sends to Agamemnon; neither will we praise the verses of Aeschylus in which Thetis says that Apollo at her nuptials

'Was celebrating in song her fair progeny whose days were to be long, and to know no sickness. And in conclusion he raised a note of triumph over the blessedness of my lot, and cheered my soul. And I thought that the word of Phoebus, being divine and full of prophecy, would not fail. And now he himself who uttered the strain, he who was present at the banquet, and who said this-he is the very god who has slain my son'.'

These are the kind of sentiments about the gods which will arouse our anger; and he who utters them shall be refused a chorus; neither shall we allow them to enter into education, meaning, as we do, that our guardians, as far as men can be, should be true worshippers of the gods and like them.

I entirely agree, he said, in the propriety of these principles, and promise to make them my laws.

1 From a lost play.

F

BOOK III.

SUCH then, I said, are our principles of theology—some tales 386 are to be told, and others are not to be told to our disciples from their youth upwards, if we mean them to honour the gods and their parents, and to value friendship with one another.

Yes; and I think that our principles are right, he said. But if they are to be courageous, must they not learn, besides these, other lessons also, such as will have the effect of taking away the fear of death? the fear of death in him?

Certainly not, he said.

Can any man be courageous who has

And can he be fearless of death, or will he choose death in battle rather than defeat and slavery, who believes in the reality and the terror of the world below?

Impossible.

Then we must assume a control over this class of tales as well as over the others, and beg the relaters of them not simply to revile, but rather to commend the world below, intimating to them that their descriptions are untrue, and will do no good to our future warriors.

That will be our duty, he said.

Then, I said, we shall have to obliterate obnoxious passages, beginning with the verse,—

'I would rather be a serf on the land of a poor portionless man who is not well to do, than rule over all the dead who have come to nought'?'

We must also expunge the verse, which tells us how Pluto feared,

'Lest the mansions grim and squalid which the gods abhor should be seen both of mortals and immortals 2.'

And again :

'O heavens! verily in the house of Hades there is soul and ghostly form but no mind!'

3 Ib. xxiii. 103.

2 Il. xx. 64.

1 Od. xi. 489.

387

Again of Tiresias :

'To him alone did Persephone give mind, that he should be wise even after death; but the other souls are flitting shades1.'

Again :

'The soul flying from the limbs had gone to Hades, lamenting her fate, leaving strength and youth".'

Again :

'And the soul, with shrilling cry, passed like smoke beneath the earth 3.? And,

'As bats in hollow of mystic cavern, whenever any of them dropped out of the string falls from the rock, fly shrilling and hold to one another, so did they with shrilling cry hold together as they moved '.'

And we must beg Homer and the other poets not to be angry if we strike out these and similar passages, not because they are unpoetical, or unattractive to the popular ear, but because the greater the charm of them as poetry, the less are they meet for the ears of boys and men who are to be sons of freedom, and are to fear slavery more than death.

Undoubtedly.

Also we shall have to reject all the terrible and appalling names which describe the world below-Cocytus and Styx, ghosts under the earth, and sapless shades, and any similar words of which the very mention causes a shudder to pass through the inmost soul of him who hears them. I do not say that these horrible stories may not have a use of some kind; but there is a danger that the nerves of our guardians may become affected by them.

We have reason to fear that, he said.

Then there must be no more of them.

True.

And shall we proceed to get rid of the weepings and wailings of famous men?

They will go with the others.

1 Od. x. 495.

2 Il. xvi. 856.

3 Ib. xxiii. 100. 4 Od. xxiv. 6.

But shall we be right in getting rid of them? Reflect: our principle is that the good man will not consider death terrible to a good man.

Yes; that is our principle.

And therefore he will not sorrow for his departed friend as though he had suffered anything terrible?

He will not.

Such an one, as we further maintain, is enough for himself and his own happiness, and therefore is least in need of other men. True, he said.

And for this reason the loss of a son or brother, or the deprivation of fortune, is to him of all men least terrible.

Assuredly.

And therefore he will be least likely to lament, and will bear with the greatest equanimity any misfortune of this sort which may befall him.

Yes, he will feel such a misfortune far less than another.

Then we shall be right in getting rid of the lamentations of famous men, and making them over to women (and not even to women who are good for anything), or to men of a baser sort, 388 that those who are being educated by us to be the defenders of their country may scorn to do the like.

That will be very right.

Then we will once more entreat Homer and the other poets not to depict Achilles', who is the son of a goddess, first lying on his side, then on his back, and then on his face; then starting up and sailing in a frenzy along the shores of the barren sea; now taking the dusky ashes in both his hands 2 and pouring them over his head, or bewailing and sorrowing in the various modes which Homer has delineated. Nor should he describe Priam the kinsman of the gods as praying and beseeching,

'Rolling in the dirt, calling each man loudly by his name3.' Still more earnestly will we beg of him not to introduce the gods lamenting and saying,

'Alas! my misery! Alas! that I bore the bravest to my sorrow *' But if he must introduce the gods, at any rate let him not dare 4 Ib. xviii. 54.

1 Il. xxiv. 10.

2 Ib. xviii. 23.

3 lb. xxii. 414.

so completely to misrepresent the greatest of the gods, as to

make him say—

'O heavens! with my eyes I behold a dear friend of mine driven round and round the city, and my heart is sorrowful'.'

Or again :

'Woe is me that I am fated to have Sarpedon, dearest of men to me, subdued at the hands of Patroclus the son of Menoetius 2.'

For if, my sweet Adeimantus, our youth seriously believe in such unworthy representations of the gods, instead of laughing at them as they ought, hardly will any of them deem that he himself, being but a man, can be dishonoured by similar actions; neither will he rebuke any inclination which may arise in his mind to say and do the like. And instead of having any shame or self-control, he will be always whining and lamenting on slight occasions.

Yes, he said, that is very certain."

Yes, I replied; but that is just what ought not to be, as the argument proved to us; and we must abide by our conviction until we find a better.

True.

Neither ought our guardians to be given to laughter. For a fit of laughter which has been indulged to excess almost always produces a violent reaction.

So I believe.

Then persons of worth, even if only mortal, must not be represented as overcome by laughter, and still less must such a representation of the gods be allowed.

389 Still less of the gods, as you say, he replied.

Then we shall not suffer such an expression to be used about the gods as that in which Homer describes how

'Inextinguishable laughter arose among the blessed gods, when they saw Hephaestus bustling about the mansion".

On your views, we must not admit them.

On my views, if you like to father them on me; that we must not admit them is certain.

Again, truth should be highly valued; if, as we were saying, a lie is useless to the gods, and useful only as a medicine

1 Il. xxii. 168.

2 Ib. xvi. 433.

3 Ib. i. 599.