Pagina 135 di 1391

These brothers and sisters have different natures, and some of

them God framed to rule, whom he fashioned of gold; others he

made of silver, to be auxiliaries; others again to be husbandmen

and craftsmen, and these were formed by him of brass and iron.

But as they are all sprung from a common stock, a golden parent

may have a silver son, or a silver parent a golden son, and then

there must be a change of rank; the son of the rich must descend,

and the child of the artisan rise, in the social scale; for an

oracle says 'that the State will come to an end if governed by a

man of brass or iron.' Will our citizens ever believe all this?

'Not in the present generation, but in the next, perhaps, Yes.'