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He only blames injustice who, owing to cowardice or age or some

weakness, has not the power of being unjust. And this is proved

by the fact that when he obtains the power, he immediately

becomes unjust as far as he can be.

The cause of all this, Socrates, was indicated by us at the

beginning of the argument, when my brother and I told you how

astonished we were to find that of all the professing panegyrists

of justice-beginning with the ancient heroes of whom any memorial

has been preserved to us, and ending with the men of our own

time-no one has ever blamed injustice or praised justice except

with a view to the glories, honours, and benefits which flow from

them. No one has ever adequately described either in verse or

prose the true essential nature of either of them abiding in the

soul, and invisible to any human or divine eye; or shown that of

all the things of a man's soul which he has within him, justice

is the greatest good, and injustice the greatest evil.