a ruler, and yet I do not think that I could have been dreaming when

I imagined that the principal claimants to political science would be

found somewhere in this neighbourhood.

YOUNG SOCRATES: Very true.

STRANGER: Well, let us draw nearer, and try the claims of some who have

not yet been tested: in the first place, there are diviners, who have

a portion of servile or ministerial science, and are thought to be the

interpreters of the gods to men.

YOUNG SOCRATES: True.

STRANGER: There is also the priestly class, who, as the law declares,

know how to give the gods gifts from men in the form of sacrifices which

are acceptable to them, and to ask on our behalf blessings in return

from them. Now both these are branches of the servile or ministerial

art.

YOUNG SOCRATES: Yes, clearly.

STRANGER: And here I think that we seem to be getting on the right

track; for the priest and the diviner are swollen with pride and

prerogative, and they create an awful impression of themselves by

the magnitude of their enterprises; in Egypt, the king himself is not

allowed to reign, unless he have priestly powers, and if he should be

Statesman