STRANGER: And shall we say that the violence, if exercised by a rich

man, is just, and if by a poor man, unjust? May not any man, rich or

poor, with or without laws, with the will of the citizens or against

the will of the citizens, do what is for their interest? Is not this the

true principle of government, according to which the wise and good

man will order the affairs of his subjects? As the pilot, by watching

continually over the interests of the ship and of the crew,--not by

laying down rules, but by making his art a law,--preserves the lives of

his fellow-sailors, even so, and in the self-same way, may there not

be a true form of polity created by those who are able to govern in a

similar spirit, and who show a strength of art which is superior to the

law? Nor can wise rulers ever err while they observing the one great

rule of distributing justice to the citizens with intelligence and

skill, are able to preserve them, and, as far as may be, to make them

better from being worse.

YOUNG SOCRATES: No one can deny what has been now said.

STRANGER: Neither, if you consider, can any one deny the other

statement.

YOUNG SOCRATES: What was it?

STRANGER: We said that no great number of persons, whoever they may be,

can attain political knowledge, or order a State wisely, but that the

true government is to be found in a small body, or in an individual, and

Statesman