Plato’s Visitor sums up his previous discussion by observing, “The art that governs all these matters and takes care of the law and all civic affairs, weaving them together in the best possible way, we would reasonably, I think, drawing on the term for the community, call by the term statesmanship.”[25] That is, the master art of the polis is the politikē technē. And its work, if we haven’t noticed, consists of a weaving together of the different threads that make up the state. Plato now turns back to his analogy of weaving to finish his discussion of government.
The Visitor turns his attention to two virtues that we might consider contrasting civic virtues: courage (andreia) and moderation (sōphrosunē).[26] The one calls for boldness and self-assertion, the other for restraint and self-control. One of them tends towards violence and extremism, the other towards gentleness and conformity. Citizens, moreover, tend to manifest one or other of the virtues: some are more warlike, some more pacific; some are hawks, some are doves. The state needs both kinds of citizens if it is not to be enslaved to others, on the one hand, or to be too contentious to be governed, on the other. Indeed, Plato had provided for a class division in his ideal state described in the Republic, so that the citizens outstanding in courage might be recruited into the Auxiliary class, exercising military and policing functions, while those outstanding in moderation might be found among the Workers.
The Visitor explains that citizens will need some measure of both virtues if they are to function well. Government leaders will direct teachers and educators to improve the characters of young people. Those who prove intransigent will be punished, even exiled or put to death.[27] And “they who wallow in great ignorance and depravity [the leaders] will yoke down into slavery.”[28] Plato does not talk much about slavery in his ideal or well-ordered states, but he seems to expect it. Plato’s brief discussion of the leaders’ role in preparing good citizens sounds ominously like the extreme measures described in more detail in the Republic. Plato’s government of statesmen does not sound notably more benevolent that the ideal state of his earlier theory.
On the positive side, the leaders will weave together those characters who tend toward courage with those who tend toward moderation, producing a state in which both virtues are exemplified in the proper situations. The Visitor hints that the proper education will allow all those citizens who are not of a depraved and incorrigible nature to participate in both virtues and to harmonize them internally.[29] A well-governed state will also promote intermarriage between people who tend to one type of virtue with people who tend to the other type. And the government will see that people of both types are appointed to offices in which they will work together, sharing their talents and presumably learning from each other.
Thus the state that is ruled by the art of statesmanship will emerge as a well-woven fabric in which the contrasting virtues reinforce each other and present a harmonious and successful community.[30]
[25] Plato Statesman 305e.
[26] Plato Statesman 306a-b.
[27] Plato Statesman 308c-309a.
[28] Plato Statesman 309a.28
[29] Plato Statesman 309a-310a.
[30] Plato Statesman 310a-311c.