See "Horsemanship," ii. 1.
Soc. Not so, no more than I would recommend you to purchase lads and train them up from boyhood as farm-labourers. But in my opinion there is a certain happy moment of growth which must be seized, alike in man and horse, rich in present service and in future promise. In further illustration, I can show you how some men treat their wedded wives in such a way that they find in them true helpmates to the joint increase of their estate, while others treat them in a way to bring upon themselves wholesale disaster. (11)
(11) Reading {e os pleista}, al. {e oi pleistoi} = "to bring about
disaster in most cases."
Crit. Ought the husband or the wife to bear the blame of that?
Soc. If it goes ill with the sheep we blame the shepherd, as a rule, or if a horse shows vice we throw the blame in general upon the rider. But in the case of women, supposing the wife to have received instruction from her husband and yet she delights in wrong-doing, (12) it may be that the wife is justly held to blame; but supposing he has never tried to teach her the first principles of "fair and noble" conduct, (13) and finds her quite an ignoramus (14) in these matters, surely the husband will be justly held to blame. But come now (he added), we are all friends here; make a clean breast of it, and tell us, Critobulus, the plain unvarnished truth: Is there an one to whom you are more in the habit of entrusting matters of importance than to your wife?
(12) Cf. "Horsemanship," vi. 5, of a horse "to show vice."
(13) Or, "things beautiful and of good report."
(14) Al. "has treated her as a dunce, devoid of this high knowledge."
Crit. There is no one.
Soc. And is there any one with whom you are less in the habit of conversing than with your wife?
Crit. Not many, I am forced to admit.
Soc. And when you married her she was quite young, a mere girl—at an age when, as far as seeing and hearing go, she had the smallest acquaintance with the outer world?
Crit. Certainly.
Soc. Then would it not be more astonishing that she should have real knowledge how to speak and act than that she should go altogether astray?
Crit. But let me ask you a question, Socrates: have those happy husbands, you tell us of, who are blessed with good wives educated them themselves?
Soc. There is nothing like investigation. I will introduce you to Aspasia, (15) who will explain these matters to you in a far more scientific way than I can. My belief is that a good wife, being as she is the partner in a common estate, must needs be her husband's counterpoise and counterpart for good; since, if it is through the transactions of the husband, as a rule, that goods of all sorts find their way into the house, yet it is by means of the wife's economy and thrift that the greater part of the expenditure is checked, and on the successful issue or the mishandling of the same depends the increase or impoverishment of a whole estate. And so with regard to the remaining arts and sciences, I think I can point out to you the ablest performers in each case, if you feel you have any further need of help. (16)
(15) Aspasia. See "Mem." II. vi. 36.
(16) Al. "there are successful performers in each who will be happy to
illustrate any point in which you think you need," etc.
IV
But why need you illustrate all the sciences, Socrates? (Critobulus asked): it would not be very easy to discover efficient craftsmen of all the arts, and quite impossible to become skilled in all one's self. So, please, confine yourself to the nobler branches of knowledge as men regard them, such as it will best befit me to pursue with devotion; be so good as to point me out these and their performers, and, above all, contribute as far as in you lies the aid of your own personal instruction.
Soc. A good suggestion, Critobulus, for the base mechanic arts, so called, have got a bad name; and what is more, are held in ill repute by civilised communities, and not unreasonably; seeing they are the ruin of the bodies of all concerned in them, workers and overseers alike, who are forced to remain in sitting postures and to hug the loom, or else to crouch whole days confronting a furnace. Hand in hand with physical enervation follows apace enfeeblement of soul: while the demand which these base mechanic arts makes on the time of those employed in them leaves them no leisure to devote to the claims of friendship and the state. How can such folk be other than sorry friends and ill defenders of the fatherland? So much so that in some states, especially those reputed to be warlike, no citizen (1) is allowed to exercise any mechanical craft at all.
(1) "In the strict sense," e.g. the Spartiates in Sparta. See "Pol.
Lac." vii.; Newman, op. cit. i. 99, 103 foll.
Crit. Then which are the arts you would counsel us to engage in?
Soc. Well, we shall not be ashamed, I hope, to imitate the kings of Persia? (2) That monarch, it is said, regards amongst the noblest and most necessary pursuits two in particular, which are the arts of husbandry and war, and in these two he takes the strongest interest.
(2) "It won't make us blush actually to take a leaf out of the great
king's book." As to the Greek text at this point see the
commentators, and also a note by Mr. H. Richers in the "Classical
Review," x. 102.
What! (Critobulus exclaimed); do you, Socrates, really believe that the king of Persia pays a personal regard to husbandry, along with all his other cares?
Soc. We have only to investigate the matter, Critobulus, and I daresay we shall discover whether this is so or not. We are agreed that he takes strong interest in military matters; since, however numerous the tributary nations, there is a governor to each, and every governor has orders from the king what number of cavalry, archers, slingers and targeteers (3) it is his business to support, as adequate to control the subject population, or in case of hostile attack to defend the country. Apart from these the king keeps garrisons in all the citadels. The actual support of these devolves upon the governor, to whom the duty is assigned. The king himself meanwhile conducts the annual inspection and review of troops, both mercenary and other, that have orders to be under arms. These all are simultaneously assembled (with the exception of the garrisons of citadels) at the mustering ground, (4) so named. That portion of the army within access of the royal residence the king reviews in person; the remainder, living in remoter districts of the empire, he inspects by proxy, sending certain trusty representatives. (5) Wherever the commandants of garrisons, the captains of thousands, and the satraps (6) are seen to have their appointed members complete, and at the same time shall present their troops equipped with horse and arms in thorough efficiency, these officers the king delights to honour, and showers gifts upon them largely. But as to those officers whom he finds either to have neglected their garrisons, or to have made private gain of their position, these he heavily chastises, deposing them from office, and appointing other superintendents (7) in their stead. Such conduct, I think we may say, indisputably proves the interest which he takes in matters military.
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