Pagina 469 di 1391

Returning to Plato, we may observe that a similar mixture of

truth and error appears in other parts of the argument. He is

aware of the absurdity of mankind framing their whole lives

according to Homer; just as in the Phaedrus he intimates the

absurdity of interpreting mythology upon rational principles;

both these were the modern tendencies of his own age, which he

deservedly ridicules. On the other hand, his argument that Homer,

if he had been able to teach mankind anything worth knowing,

would not have been allowed by them to go about begging as a

rhapsodist, is both false and contrary to the spirit of Plato

(Rep.). It may be compared with those other paradoxes of the

Gorgias, that 'No statesman was ever unjustly put to death by the

city of which he was the head'; and that 'No Sophist was ever

defrauded by his pupils' (Gorg.)...