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Therefore I say that in the perfectly unjust man we must assume

the most perfect injustice; there is to be no deduction, but we

must allow him, while doing the most unjust acts, to have

acquired the greatest reputation for justice. If he have taken a

false step he must be able to recover himself; he must be one who

can speak with effect, if any of his deeds come to light, and who

can force his way where force is required by his courage and

strength, and command of money and friends. And at his side let

us place the just man in his nobleness and simplicity, wishing,

as Aeschylus says, to be and not to seem good. There must be no

seeming, for if he seem to be just he will be honoured and

rewarded, and then we shall not know whether he is just for the

sake of justice or for the sake of honours and rewards;

therefore, let him be clothed in justice only, and have no other

covering; and he must be imagined in a state of life the opposite

of the former.