This is the justice of heaven, which neither you nor any otherunfortunate will ever glory in escaping, and which the ordainingpowers have specially ordained; take good heed thereof, for it will besure to take heed of you. If you say:-I am small and will creep intothe depths of the earth, or I am high and will fly up to heaven, youare not so small or so high but that you shall pay the fittingpenalty, either here or in the world below or in some still moresavage place whither you shall be conveyed. This is also theexplanation of the fate of those whom you saw, who had done unholy andevil deeds, and from small beginnings had grown great, and you fanciedthat from being miserable they had become happy; and in their actions,as in a mirror, you seemed to see the universal neglect of the Gods,not knowing how they make all things work together and contribute tothe great whole. And thinkest thou, bold man, that thou needest not toknow this?-he who knows it not can never form any true idea of thehappiness or unhappiness of life or hold any rational discourserespecting either. If Cleinias and this our reverend company succeedin bringing to you that you know not what you say of the Gods, thenwill God help you; but should you desire to hear more, listen towhat we say to the third opponent, if you have any understandingwhatsoever. For I think that we have sufficiently proved the existenceof the Gods, and that they care for men:-The other notion that theyare appeased by the wicked, and take gifts, is what we must notconcede to any one, and what every man should disprove to the utmostof his power.
Cle. Very good; let us do as you say.
Ath. Well, then, by the Gods themselves I conjure you to tellme-if they are to be propitiated, how are they to be propitiated?
Who are they, and what is their nature? Must they not be at leastrulers who have to order unceasingly the whole heaven?
Cle. True.
Ath. And to what earthly rulers can they be compared, or who tothem? How in the less can we find an image of the greater? Are theycharioteers of contending pairs of steeds, or pilots of vessels?
Perhaps they might be compared to the generals of armies, or theymight be likened to physicians providing against the diseases whichmake war upon the body, or to husbandmen observing anxiously theeffects of the seasons on the growth of plants; or I perhaps, toshepherds of flocks. For as we acknowledge the world to be full ofmany goods and also of evils, and of more evils than goods, thereis, as we affirm, an immortal conflict going on among us, whichrequires marvellous watchfulness; and in that conflict the Gods anddemigods are our allies, and we are their property. Injustice andinsolence and folly are the destruction of us, and justice andtemperance and wisdom are our salvation; and the place of these latteris in the life of the Gods, although some vestige of them mayoccasionally be discerned among mankind. But upon this earth we knowthat there dwell souls possessing an unjust spirit, who may becompared to brute animals, which fawn upon their keepers, whether dogsor shepherds, or the best and most perfect masters; for they in likemanner, as the voices of the wicked declare, prevail by flattery andprayers and incantations, and are allowed to make their gains withimpunity. And this sin, which is termed dishonesty, is an evil ofthe same kind as what is termed disease in living bodies or pestilencein years or seasons of the year, and in cities and governments hasanother name, which is injustice.
Cle. Quite true.
Ath. What else can he say who declares that the Gods are alwayslenient to the doers of unjust acts, if they divide the spoil withthem? As if wolves were to toss a portion of their prey to the dogs,and they, mollified by the gift, suffered them to tear the flocks.
Must not he who maintains that the Gods can be propitiated argue thus?
Cle. Precisely so.
Ath. And to which of the above-mentioned classes of guardianswould any man compare the Gods without absurdity? Will he say thatthey are like pilots, who are themselves turned away from their dutyby "libations of wine and the savour of fat," and at last overturnboth ship and sailors?
Cle. Assuredly not.
Ath. And surely they are not like charioteers who are bribed to giveup the victory to other chariots?
Cle. That would be a fearful image of the Gods.
Ath. Nor are they like generals, or physicians, or husbandmen, orshepherds; and no one would compare them to dogs who have silencedby wolves.
Cle. A thing not to be spoken of.
Ath. And are not all the Gods the chiefest of all guardians, anddo they not guard our highest interests?
Cle. Yes; the chiefest.
Ath. And shall we say that those who guard our noblest interests,and are the best of guardians, are inferior in virtue to dogs, andto men even of moderate excellence, who would never betray justice forthe sake of gifts which unjust men impiously offer them?
Cle. Certainly not: nor is such a notion to be endured, and he whoholds this opinion may be fairly singled out and characterized as ofall impious men the wickedest and most impious.
Ath. Then are the three assertions-that the Gods exist, and thatthey take care of men, and that they can never be persuaded to doinjustice, now sufficiently demonstrated? May we say that they are?
Cle. You have our entire assent to your words.
Ath. I have spoken with vehemence because I am zealous againstevil men; and I will tell dear Cleinias, why I am so. I would not havethe wicked think that, having the superiority in argument, they may doas they please and act according to their various imaginations aboutthe Gods; and this zeal has led me to speak too vehemently; but ifwe have at all succeeded in persuading the men to hate themselvesand love their opposites, the prelude of our laws about impiety willnot have been spoken in vain.
Cle. So let us hope; and even if we have failed, the style of ourargument will not discredit the lawgiver.