Pagina 826 de 1391

Then, I said, we will not allow those for whom we profess a care

and of whom we say that they ought to be good men, to imitate a

woman, whether young or old, quarrelling with her husband, or

striving and vaunting against the gods in conceit of her

happiness, or when she is in affliction, or sorrow, or weeping;

and certainly not one who is in sickness, love, or labour.

Very right, he said.

Neither must they represent slaves, male or female, performing

the offices of slaves?

They must not.

And surely not bad men, whether cowards or any others, who do the

reverse of what we have just been prescribing, who scold or mock

or revile one another in drink or out of drink, or who in any

other manner sin against themselves and their neighbours in word

or deed, as the manner of such is. Neither should they be trained

to imitate the action or speech of men or women who are mad or

bad; for madness, like vice, is to be known but not to be

practised or imitated.

Very true, he replied.