Ath. If such convivialities should turn out to have any advantage equal in importance to that of gymnastic, they are in their very nature to be preferred to mere bodily exercise, inasmuch as they have no accompaniment of pain.
Cle. True ; but I hardly think that we shall be able to discover any such benefits to be derived from them.
Ath. That is just what we must endeavour to show. And let me ask you a question : — Do we not distinguish two kinds of fear, which are very different ?
Cle. What are they ?
Ath. There is the fear of expected evil.
Cle. Yes.
Ath. And there is the fear of an evil reputation ; we are afraid of being thought evil, because we do or say some dishonourable thing, which fear we and all men term shame.
Cle. Certainly.
Ath. These are the two fears, as I called them ; one of which is the opposite of pain and other fears, and the opposite also of the greatest and most numerous sort of pleasures.
Cle. Very true.
Ath. And does not the legislator and every one who is good for anything, hold this fear in the greatest honour ? This is what he terms reverence, and the confidence which is the reverse of this he terms insolence ; and the latter he always deems to be a very great evil both to individuals and to states.
Cle. True.
Ath. Does not this kind of fear preserve us in many important ways ? What is there which so surely gives victory and safety in war ? For there are two things which give victory — confidence before enemies, and fear of disgrace before friends.
Cle. There are.
Ath. Then each of us should be fearless and also fearful ; and why we should be either has now been determined.
Cle. Certainly.
Ath. And when we want to make any one fearless, we and the law bring him face to face with many fears.
Cle. Clearly.
Ath. And when we want to make him rightly fearful, must we not introduce him to shameless pleasures, and train him to take up arms against them, and to overcome them ? Or does this principle apply to courage only, and must he who would be perfect in valour fight against and overcome his own natural character — since if he be unpractised and inexperienced in such conflicts, he will not be half the man which he might have been — and are we to suppose, that with temperance it is otherwise, and that he who has never fought with the shameless and unrighteous temptations of his pleasures and lusts, and conquered them, in earnest and in play, by word, deed, and act, will still be perfectly temperate ?
Cle. A most unlikely supposition.
Ath. Suppose that some God had given a fear-potion to men, and that the more a man drank of this the more he regarded himself at every draught as a child of misfortune, and that he feared everything happening or about to happen to him ; and that at last the most courageous of men utterly lost his presence of mind for a time, and only came to himself again when he had slept off the influence of the draught.
Cle. But has such a draught, Stranger, ever really been known among men ?
Ath. No ; but, if there had been, might not such a draught have been of use to the legislator as a test of courage ? Might we not go and say to him, “O legislator, whether you are legislating for the Cretan, or for any other state, would you not like to have a touchstone of the courage and cowardice of your citizens ?”
Cle. “I should,” will be the answer of every one.
Ath. “And you would rather have a touchstone in which there is no risk and no great danger than the reverse ?”
Cle. In that proposition every one may safely agree.
Ath. “And in order to make use of the draught, you would lead them amid these imaginary terrors, and prove them, when the affection of fear was working upon them, and compel them to be fearless, exhorting and admonishing them ; and also honouring them, but dishonouring any one who will not be persuaded by you to be in all respects such as you command him ; and if he underwent the trial well and manfully, you would let him go unscathed ; but if ill, you would inflict a punishment upon him ? Or would you abstain from using the potion altogether, although you have no reason for abstaining ?”
Cle. He would be certain, Stranger, to use the potion.
Ath. This would be a mode of testing and training which would be wonderfully easy in comparison with those now in use, and might be applied to a single person, or to a few, or indeed to any number ; and he would do well who provided himself with the potion only, rather than with any number of other things, whether he preferred to be by himself in solitude, and there contend with his fears, because he was ashamed to be seen by the eye of man until he was perfect ; or trusting to the force of his own nature and habits, and believing that he had been already disciplined sufficiently, he did not hesitate to train himself in company with any number of others, and display his power in conquering the irresistible change effected by the draught — his virtue being such, that he never in any instance fell into any great unseemliness, but was always himself, and left off before he arrived at the last cup, fearing that he, like all other men, might be overcome by the potion.
Cle. Yes, Stranger, in that last case, too, he might equally show his self-control.
Ath. Let us return to the lawgiver, and say to him : — Well, lawgiver, there is certainly no such fear-potion which man has either received from the Gods or himself discovered ; for witchcraft has no place at our board. But is there any potion which might serve as a test of overboldness and excessive and indiscreet boasting ?
Cle. I suppose that he will say, Yes — meaning that wine is such a potion.
Ath. Is not the effect of this quite the opposite of the effect of the other ? When a man drinks wine he begins to be better pleased with himself, and the more he drinks the more he is filled full of brave hopes, and conceit of his power, and at last the string of his tongue is loosened, and fancying himself wise, he is brimming over with lawlessness, and has no more fear or respect, and is ready to do or say anything.
Cle. I think that every one will admit the truth of your description.
Meg. Certainly.
Ath. Now, let us remember, as we were saying, that there are two things which should be cultivated in the soul : first, the greatest courage ; secondly, the greatest fear —
Cle. Which you said to be characteristic of reverence, if I am not mistaken.
Ath. Thank you for reminding me. But now, as the habit of courage and fearlessness is to be trained amid fears, let us consider whether the opposite quality is not also to be trained among opposites.
Cle. That is probably the case.
Ath. There are times and seasons at which we are by nature more than commonly valiant and bold ; now we ought to train ourselves on these occasions to be as free from impudence and shamelessness as possible, and to be afraid to say or suffer or do anything that is base.
Cle. True.
Ath. Are not the moments in which we are apt to be bold and shameless such as these ? — when we are under the influence of anger, love, pride, ignorance, avarice, cowardice ? or when wealth, beauty, strength, and all the intoxicating workings of pleasure madden us ? What is better adapted than the festive use of wine, in the first place to test, and in the second place to train the character of a man, if care be taken in the use of it ? What is there cheaper, or more innocent ? For do but consider which is the greater risk : — Would you rather test a man of a morose and savage nature, which is the source of ten thousand acts of injustice, by making bargains with him at a risk to yourself, or by having him as a companion at the festival of Dionysus ? Or would you, if you wanted to apply a touchstone to a man who is prone to love, entrust your wife, or your sons, or daughters to him, perilling your dearest interests in order to have a view of the condition of his soul ? I might mention numberless cases, in which the advantage would be manifest of getting to know a character in sport, and without paying dearly for experience. And I do not believe that either a Cretan, or any other man, will doubt that such a test is a fair test, and safer, cheaper, and speedier than any other.
Cle. That is certainly true.
Ath. And this knowledge of the natures and habits of men’s souls will be of the greatest use in that art which has the management of them ; and that art, if I am not mistaken, is politics.
Cle. Exactly so.