Statesman | Page 5

weaving, which will have to be distinguished from the kindred arts; and
then, following this pattern, we will separate the king from his
subordinates or competitors. (4) But are we not exceeding all due limits;
and is there not a measure of all arts and sciences, to which the art of
discourse must conform? There is; but before we can apply this
measure, we must know what is the aim of discourse: and our discourse
only aims at the dialectical improvement of ourselves and
others.--Having made our apology, we return once more to the king or
statesman, and proceed to contrast him with pretenders in the same line
with him, under their various forms of government. (5) His
characteristic is, that he alone has science, which is superior to law and
written enactments; these do but spring out of the necessities of
mankind, when they are in despair of finding the true king. (6) The
sciences which are most akin to the royal are the sciences of the general,
the judge, the orator, which minister to him, but even these are
subordinate to him. (7) Fixed principles are implanted by education,
and the king or statesman completes the political web by marrying
together dissimilar natures, the courageous and the temperate, the bold
and the gentle, who are the warp and the woof of society.
The outline may be filled up as follows:--
SOCRATES: I have reason to thank you, Theodorus, for the
acquaintance of Theaetetus and the Stranger.
THEODORUS: And you will have three times as much reason to thank
me when they have delineated the Statesman and Philosopher, as well
as the Sophist.
SOCRATES: Does the great geometrician apply the same measure to
all three? Are they not divided by an interval which no geometrical

ratio can express?
THEODORUS: By the god Ammon, Socrates, you are right; and I am
glad to see that you have not forgotten your geometry. But before I
retaliate on you, I must request the Stranger to finish the argument...
The Stranger suggests that Theaetetus shall be allowed to rest, and that
Socrates the younger shall respond in his place; Theodorus agrees to
the suggestion, and Socrates remarks that the name of the one and the
face of the other give him a right to claim relationship with both of
them. They propose to take the Statesman after the Sophist; his path
they must determine, and part off all other ways, stamping upon them a
single negative form (compare Soph.).
The Stranger begins the enquiry by making a division of the arts and
sciences into theoretical and practical--the one kind concerned with
knowledge exclusively, and the other with action; arithmetic and the
mathematical sciences are examples of the former, and carpentering
and handicraft arts of the latter (compare Philebus). Under which of the
two shall we place the Statesman? Or rather, shall we not first ask,
whether the king, statesman, master, householder, practise one art or
many? As the adviser of a physician may be said to have medical
science and to be a physician, so the adviser of a king has royal science
and is a king. And the master of a large household may be compared to
the ruler of a small state. Hence we conclude that the science of the
king, statesman, and householder is one and the same. And this science
is akin to knowledge rather than to action. For a king rules with his
mind, and not with his hands.
But theoretical science may be a science either of judging, like
arithmetic, or of ruling and superintending, like that of the architect or
master-builder. And the science of the king is of the latter nature; but
the power which he exercises is underived and uncontrolled,--a
characteristic which distinguishes him from heralds, prophets, and
other inferior officers. He is the wholesale dealer in command, and the
herald, or other officer, retails his commands to others. Again, a ruler is
concerned with the production of some object, and objects may be
divided into living and lifeless, and rulers into the rulers of living and
lifeless objects. And the king is not like the master-builder, concerned
with lifeless matter, but has the task of managing living animals. And
the tending of living animals may be either a tending of individuals, or

a managing of herds. And the Statesman is not a groom, but a
herdsman, and his art may be called either the art of managing a herd,
or the art of collective management:--Which do you prefer? 'No matter.'
Very good, Socrates, and if you are not too particular about words you
will be all the richer some day in true wisdom. But how would you
subdivide the herdsman's art? 'I should say, that there is one
management of men, and another of beasts.'