Dialogues

over himself, if he is ever to be made perfect. “That is reasonable enough.” And now, suppose that the Gods had given mankind a drug, of which the effect was to exaggerate every sort of evil and danger, so that the bravest man entirely lost his presence of mind and became a coward for a time:⁠—would such a drug have any value? “But is there such a drug?” No; but suppose that there were; might not the legislator use such a mode of testing courage and cowardice? “To be sure.” The legislator would induce fear in order to implant fearlessness; and would give rewards or punishments to those who behaved well or the reverse, under the influence of the drug? “Certainly.” And this mode of training, whether practised in the case of one or many, whether in solitude or in the presence of a large company⁠—if a man have sufficient confidence in himself to drink the potion amid his boon companions, leaving off in time and not taking too much⁠—would be an equally good test of temperance? “Very true.” Let us return to the lawgiver and say to him, “Well, lawgiver, no such fear-producing potion has been given by God or invented by man, but there is a potion which will make men fearless.” “You mean wine.” Yes; has not wine an effect the contrary of that which I was just now describing⁠—first mellowing and humanizing a man, and then filling him with confidence, making him ready to say or do anything? “Certainly.” Let us not forget that there are two qualities which should be cultivated in the soul⁠—first, the greatest fearlessness, and, secondly, the greatest fear, which are both parts of reverence. Courage and fearlessness are trained amid dangers; but we have still to consider how fear is to be trained. We desire to attain fearlessness and confidence without the insolence and boldness which commonly attend them. For do not love, ignorance, avarice, wealth, beauty, strength, while they stimulate courage, also madden and intoxicate the soul? What better and more innocent test of character is there than festive intercourse? Would you make a bargain with a man in order to try whether he is honest? Or would you ascertain whether he is licentious by putting your wife or daughter into his hands? No one would deny that the test proposed is fairer, speedier, and safer than any other. And such a test will be particularly useful in the political science, which desires to know human natures and characters. “Very true.”

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Book II. And are there any other uses of well-ordered potations? There are; but in order to explain them, I must repeat what I mean by right education; which, if I am not mistaken, depends on the due regulation of convivial intercourse. “A high assumption.” I believe that virtue and vice are originally present to the mind of children in the form of pleasure and pain; reason and fixed principles come later, and happy is he who acquires them even in declining years; for he who possesses them is the perfect man. When pleasure and pain, and love and hate, are rightly implanted in the yet unconscious soul, and after the attainment of reason are discovered to be in harmony with her, this harmony of the soul is virtue, and the preparatory stage, anticipating reason, I call education. But the finer sense of pleasure and pain is apt to be impaired in the course of life; and therefore the Gods, pitying the toils and sorrows of mortals, have allowed them to have holidays, and given them the Muses and Apollo and Dionysus for leaders and playfellows. All young creatures love motion and frolic, and utter sounds of delight; but man only is capable of taking pleasure in rhythmical and harmonious movements. With these education begins; and the uneducated is he who has never known the discipline of the chorus, and the educated is he who has. The chorus is partly dance and partly song, and therefore the well-educated must sing and dance well. But when we say, “He sings and dances well,” we mean that he sings and dances what is good. And if he thinks that to be good which is really good, he will have a much higher music and harmony in him, and be a far greater master of imitation in sound and gesture than he who is not of this opinion. “True.” Then, if we know what is good and bad in song and dance, we shall know what education is? “Very true.” Let us now consider the beauty of figure, melody, song, and dance. Will the same figures or sounds be equally well adapted to the manly and the cowardly when they are in trouble? “How can they be, when the very colours of their faces are different?” Figures and melodies have a rhythm and harmony which are adapted to the expression of different feelings (I may remark, by the way, that the term “colour,” which is a favourite word of music-masters, is not really applicable to music). And one class of harmonies is akin to courage and all virtue, the other to cowardice and all vice. “We agree.” And do all men equally like all dances? “Far otherwise.” Do some figures, then, appear to be beautiful which are not? For no one will admit that the forms of vice are more beautiful than the forms of virtue, or that he prefers the first kind to the second. And yet most persons say that the merit of music is to give pleasure. But this is impiety. There is, however, a more plausible account of the matter given by others, who make their likes or dislikes the criterion of excellence. Sometimes nature crosses habit, or conversely, and then they say that such and such fashions or gestures are pleasant, but they do not like to exhibit them before men of sense, although they enjoy them in private. “Very true.” And do vicious measures and strains