Pagina 219 de 1391

'Socrates, all the world will take off his coat and rush upon you

with sticks and stones, and therefore I would advise you to

prepare an answer.' You got me into the scrape, I said. 'And I

was right,' he replied; 'however, I will stand by you as a sort

of do-nothing, well-meaning ally.' Having the help of such a

champion, I will do my best to maintain my position. And first, I

must explain of whom I speak and what sort of natures these are

who are to be philosophers and rulers. As you are a man of

pleasure, you will not have forgotten how indiscriminate lovers

are in their attachments; they love all, and turn blemishes into

beauties. The snub-nosed youth is said to have a winning grace;

the beak of another has a royal look; the featureless are

faultless; the dark are manly, the fair angels; the sickly have a

new term of endearment invented expressly for them, which is

'honey-pale.' Lovers of wine and lovers of ambition also desire

the objects of their affection in every form.