STRANGER: And these, whether they rule with the will, or against the

will, of their subjects, with written laws or without written laws, and

whether they are poor or rich, and whatever be the nature of their

rule, must be supposed, according to our present view, to rule on some

scientific principle; just as the physician, whether he cures us

against our will or with our will, and whatever be his mode of

treatment,--incision, burning, or the infliction of some other

pain,--whether he practises out of a book or not out of a book, and

whether he be rich or poor, whether he purges or reduces in some other

way, or even fattens his patients, is a physician all the same, so long

as he exercises authority over them according to rules of art, if he

only does them good and heals and saves them. And this we lay down to

be the only proper test of the art of medicine, or of any other art of

command.

YOUNG SOCRATES: Quite true.

STRANGER: Then that can be the only true form of government in which

the governors are really found to possess science, and are not mere

pretenders, whether they rule according to law or without law, over

willing or unwilling subjects, and are rich or poor themselves--none

of these things can with any propriety be included in the notion of the

ruler.

YOUNG SOCRATES: True.

Statesman