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Republic, Book VI, 487e
“So,” said I, “you are making fun of me after driving me into such an impasse of argument. But, all the same, hear my comparison so that you may still better see how I strain after1 imagery. For so cruel is the condition of the better sort in relation to the state that there is no single thing2 like it in nature. But to find a likeness for it and a defence for them one must bring together many things in such a combination as painters mix when they portray goat-stags3 and similar creatures.4 Conceive this sort of thing happening either on many ships or on one: Picture a shipmaster5 in height and strength surpassing all others on the ship, 488b but who is slightly deaf6 and of similarly impaired vision, and whose knowledge of navigation is on a par with7 his sight and hearing. Conceive the sailors to be wrangling with one another for control of the helm, each claiming that it is his right to steer though he has never learned the art and cannot point out his teacher8 or any time when he studied it. And what is more, they affirm that it cannot be taught at all,9 but they are ready to make mincemeat of anyone10 who says that it can be taught, 488c and meanwhile they are always clustered about11 the shipmaster importuning him and sticking at nothing12 to induce him to turn over the helm to them. And sometimes, if they fail and others get his ear, they put the others to death or cast them out13 from the ship, and then, after binding14 and stupefying the worthy shipmaster15 with mandragora or intoxication or otherwise, they take command of the ship, consume its stores and, drinking and feasting, make such a voyage16 of it as is to be expected17 from such, and as if that were not enough, they praise and celebrate as a navigator, 488d a pilot, a master of shipcraft, the man who is most cunning to lend a hand18 in persuading or constraining the shipmaster to let them rule,19 while the man who lacks this craft20 they censure as useless. They have no suspicions21 that the true pilot must give his attention22 to the time of the year, the seasons, the sky, the winds, the stars, and all that pertains to his art if he is to be a true ruler of a ship, and that he does not believe that there is any art or science of seizing the helm23 488e with or without the consent of others, or any possibility of mastering this alleged art24 and the practice of it at the same time with the science of navigation. With such goings-on aboard ship do you not think that the real pilot would in very deed25 be called a star-gazer, an idle babbler, a useless fellow, by the sailors in ships managed after this fashion?” “Quite so,” said Adeimantus. “You take my meaning, I presume, and do not require us to put the comparison to the proof1 and show that the condition2 we have described is the exact counterpart of the relation of the state to the true philosophers.” “It is indeed,” he said. “To begin with, then, teach this parable3 to the man who is surprised that philosophers are not honored in our cities, and try to convince him that it would be far more surprising 489b if they were honored.” “I will teach him,”4 he said. “And say to him further: You are right in affirming that the finest spirit among the philosophers are of no service to the multitude. But bid him blame for this uselessness,5 not the finer spirits, but those who do not know how to make use of them. For it is not the natural6 course of things that the pilot should beg the sailors to be ruled by him or that wise men should go to the doors of the rich.7 The author of that epigram8 was a liar. But the true nature of things is that whether the sick man be rich or poor he must needs go to the door of the physician, 489c and everyone who needs to be governed9 to the door of the man who knows how to govern, not that the ruler should implore his natural subjects to let themselves be ruled, if he is really good for anything.10 But you will make no mistake in likening our present political rulers to the sort of sailors we are just describing, and those whom these call useless and star-gazing ideologists to the true pilots.” “Just so,” he said. “Hence, and under these conditions, we cannot expect that the noblest pursuit should be highly esteemed by those whose way of life is quite the contrary. 489d But far the greatest and chief disparagement of philosophy is brought upon it by the pretenders11 to that way of life, those whom you had in mind when you affirmed that the accuser of philosophy says that the majority of her followers12 are rascals and the better sort useless, while I admitted13 that what you said was true. Is not that so?” “Yes.”
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