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This is my parable; which I will beg you to interpret for me to

those gentlemen who ask why the philosopher has such an evil

name, and to explain to them that not he, but those who will not

use him, are to blame for his uselessness. The philosopher should

not beg of mankind to be put in authority over them. The wise man

should not seek the rich, as the proverb bids, but every man,

whether rich or poor, must knock at the door of the physician

when he has need of him. Now the pilot is the philosopher-he whom

in the parable they call star-gazer, and the mutinous sailors are

the mob of politicians by whom he is rendered useless. Not that

these are the worst enemies of philosophy, who is far more

dishonoured by her own professing sons when they are corrupted by

the world. Need I recall the original image of the philosopher?