Friday, January 28, 2022
From Liberty to Slavery
Plato, Republic 8.564a (tr. Paul Shorey):
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"And so the probable outcome of too much freedom is only too much slavery in the individual and the state."
"Yes, that is probable."
"Probably, then, tyranny develops out of no other constitution than democracy—from the height of liberty, I take it, the fiercest extreme of servitude."
"That is reasonable," he said.
ἡ γὰρ ἄγαν ἐλευθερία ἔοικεν οὐκ εἰς ἄλλο τι ἢ εἰς ἄγαν δουλείαν μεταβάλλειν καὶ ἰδιώτῃ καὶ πόλει.
εἰκὸς γάρ.
εἰκότως τοίνυν, εἶπον, οὐκ ἐξ ἄλλης πολιτείας τυραννὶς καθίσταται ἢ ἐκ δημοκρατίας, ἐξ οἶμαι τῆς ἀκροτάτης ἐλευθερίας δουλεία πλείστη τε καὶ ἀγριωτάτη.
ἔχει γάρ, ἔφη, λόγον.
