Statesman | Page 4

interrupted by purely
logical illustrations. The younger Socrates resembles his namesake in
nothing but a name. The dramatic character is so completely forgotten,
that a special reference is twice made to discussions in the Sophist; and
this, perhaps, is the strongest ground which can be urged for doubting
the genuineness of the work. But, when we remember that a similar
allusion is made in the Laws to the Republic, we see that the entire
disregard of dramatic propriety is not always a sufficient reason for
doubting the genuineness of a Platonic writing.
The search after the Statesman, which is carried on, like that for the
Sophist, by the method of dichotomy, gives an opportunity for many
humorous and satirical remarks. Several of the jests are mannered and
laboured: for example, the turn of words with which the dialogue opens;
or the clumsy joke about man being an animal, who has a power of
two-feet--both which are suggested by the presence of Theodorus, the
geometrician. There is political as well as logical insight in refusing to
admit the division of mankind into Hellenes and Barbarians: 'if a crane
could speak, he would in like manner oppose men and all other animals
to cranes.' The pride of the Hellene is further humbled, by being
compared to a Phrygian or Lydian. Plato glories in this impartiality of
the dialectical method, which places birds in juxtaposition with men,

and the king side by side with the bird- catcher; king or
vermin-destroyer are objects of equal interest to science (compare
Parmen.). There are other passages which show that the irony of
Socrates was a lesson which Plato was not slow in learning--as, for
example, the passing remark, that 'the kings and statesmen of our day
are in their breeding and education very like their subjects;' or the
anticipation that the rivals of the king will be found in the class of
servants; or the imposing attitude of the priests, who are the established
interpreters of the will of heaven, authorized by law. Nothing is more
bitter in all his writings than his comparison of the contemporary
politicians to lions, centaurs, satyrs, and other animals of a feebler sort,
who are ever changing their forms and natures. But, as in the later
dialogues generally, the play of humour and the charm of poetry have
departed, never to return.
Still the Politicus contains a higher and more ideal conception of
politics than any other of Plato's writings. The city of which there is a
pattern in heaven (Republic), is here described as a Paradisiacal state of
human society. In the truest sense of all, the ruler is not man but God;
and such a government existed in a former cycle of human history, and
may again exist when the gods resume their care of mankind. In a
secondary sense, the true form of government is that which has
scientific rulers, who are irresponsible to their subjects. Not power but
knowledge is the characteristic of a king or royal person. And the rule
of a man is better and higher than law, because he is more able to deal
with the infinite complexity of human affairs. But mankind, in despair
of finding a true ruler, are willing to acquiesce in any law or custom
which will save them from the caprice of individuals. They are ready to
accept any of the six forms of government which prevail in the world.
To the Greek, nomos was a sacred word, but the political idealism of
Plato soars into a region beyond; for the laws he would substitute the
intelligent will of the legislator. Education is originally to implant in
men's minds a sense of truth and justice, which is the divine bond of
states, and the legislator is to contrive human bonds, by which
dissimilar natures may be united in marriage and supply the
deficiencies of one another. As in the Republic, the government of
philosophers, the causes of the perversion of states, the regulation of
marriages, are still the political problems with which Plato's mind is

occupied. He treats them more slightly, partly because the dialogue is
shorter, and also because the discussion of them is perpetually crossed
by the other interest of dialectic, which has begun to absorb him.
The plan of the Politicus or Statesman may be briefly sketched as
follows: (1) By a process of division and subdivision we discover the
true herdsman or king of men. But before we can rightly distinguish
him from his rivals, we must view him, (2) as he is presented to us in a
famous ancient tale: the tale will also enable us to distinguish the divine
from the human herdsman or shepherd: (3) and besides our fable, we
must have an example; for our example we will select the art of