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Since the Hebrew scripture first introduces Moses declining the leadership of the people through what he said to the one who was speaking the oracle: "I pray, lord, appoint another who is able, whom you will send;" and then Saul hiding so as not to accept the kingship, and the prophet Jeremiah making excuses, hear how Plato also establishes the reasonableness of refusal, speaking thus: 12.9.2 "Therefore, Thrasymachus, this is already clear, that no art or rule provides what is beneficial for itself, but, as was said long ago, it both provides and commands for the one who is ruled, looking to his advantage, since he is the weaker, 12.9.3 and not to the advantage of the stronger. For these reasons, indeed, my dear Thrasymachus, I was just now saying that no one is willing to rule voluntarily and to take in hand the ills of others to set them right, but they ask for a wage, because whoever is going to practice his art well never does what is best for himself nor commands it when he gives commands according to his art, but for the one who is ruled. For which reasons, it seems, there must be a wage for those who are going to be willing to rule, either money or honor, or a penalty, if he does not rule."

12.10.1 10. CONCERNING THE JUST MAN ACCORDING TO PLATO Since the Hebrew oracles teach that their prophets and just men courageously endured the utmost insults and abuses and every danger, you may learn what is in harmony with Plato's opinion on this matter also from these words of his, which he set down in the second book of the Republic: 12.10.2 "Having set up such a man, then, let us in our argument place the just man next to him, a man simple and noble, who, in Aeschylus’ words, wishes not to seem, but to be, good. But we must take away the seeming. For if he should seem to be just, he will have honors and gifts for seeming to be such. It would be unclear, then, whether he is such for the sake of justice or for the sake of the 12.10.3 gifts and honors. He must be stripped, then, of everything except justice and must be set in a condition opposite to the former; for though doing no injustice let him have the reputation for the greatest injustice, so that he may be tested for justice by not being swayed by a bad reputation and its consequences; but let him remain steadfast until death, seeming to be unjust throughout his life." 12.10.4 And a little later he adds: "So it must be said; and indeed, even if it is said rather crudely, do not suppose that it is I who say it, Socrates, but those who praise injustice before justice. They will say the following, that the just man in this condition will be scourged, will be racked, will be bound, will have his eyes burned out, and at last, after suffering every evil, he will be impaled, and will know that one ought not to wish to be just, but to seem so." 12.10.5 Plato said these things in words; but in deeds long before, the just men and prophets among the Hebrews are remembered to have suffered all the things that have been said, who, being most just, as if most unjust, "were stoned, were sawn in two, died by the slaughter of the sword, went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves 12.10.6 and holes in the earth, of whom the world was not worthy." And the apostles of our savior, too, pursuing the highest justice and piety, but cloaked in a reputation for injustice among the many, it is possible to hear what sort of things they suffered from them as they say: "We have become a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men" and: "To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no fixed course; being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat; 12.10.7 we have become as the filth of the world." But even to this day the noble

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Τῆς παρ' Ἑβραίοις γραφῆς πρῶτον εἰσαγούσης Μωσέα παραιτούμενον τὴν τοῦ λαοῦ προστασίαν δι' ὧν πρὸς τὸν χρηματίζοντα ἔφησε· «∆έομαι, κύριε, προχείρισαι ἄλλον τὸν δυνάμενον, ὃν ἀποστελεῖς» κἄπειτα τὸν Σαοὺλ κρυπταζόμενον πρὸς τὸ μὴ ἀναδέξασθαι τὴν βασιλείαν καὶ τὸν προφήτην Ἱερεμίαν ὑποπαραιτούμενον, ἐπάκουσον ὅπως καὶ ὁ Πλάτων τὸ εὔλογον τῆς παραιτήσεως συνίστησι, λέγων οὕτως· 12.9.2 «Οὐκοῦν, ὦ Θρασύμαχε, τοῦτο ἤδη δῆλον, ὅτι οὐδεμία τέχνη οὐδὲ ἀρχὴ τὸ αὑτῇ ὠφέλιμον παρασκευάζει, ἀλλ', ὅπερ πάλαι ἐλέγετο, τὸ τῷ ἀρχομένῳ καὶ παρασκευάζει καὶ ἐπιτάττει, τὸ ἐκείνου ξυμφέρον ἐλάττονος ὄντος 12.9.3 σκοποῦσα, ἀλλ' οὐ τὸ τοῦ κρείττονος. διὰ δὴ ταῦτα ἔγωγε, ὦ φίλε Θρασύμαχε, καὶ ἄρτι ἔλεγον μηδένα ἐθέλειν ἑκόντα ἄρχειν καὶ τὰ ἀλλότρια κακὰ μεταχειρίζεσθαι ἐπανορθοῦντα, ἀλλὰ μισθὸν αἰτεῖν, ὅτι μέλλων καλῶς τῇ τέχνῃ πράξειν οὐδέποτε αὑτῷ τὸ βέλτιστον πράττει οὐδ' ἐπιτάττει κατὰ τὴν τέχνην ἐπιτάττων, ἀλλὰ τῷ ἀρχομένῳ. ὧν δὴ ἕνεκα, ὡς ἔοικε, μισθὸν δεῖ ὑπάρχειν τοῖς μέλλουσιν ἐθελήσειν ἄρχειν, ἢ ἀργύριον ἢ τιμήν, ἢ ζημίαν, ἐὰν μὴ ἄρχῃ.»

12.10.1 ιʹ. ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΚΑΤΑ ΠΛΑΤΩΝΑ ∆ΙΚΑΙΟΥ Τῶν παρ' Ἑβραίοις λογίων τοὺς παρ' αὐτοῖς προφήτας καὶ δικαίους ἄνδρας ὕβρεις ἐσχάτας καὶ προπηλακισμοὺς πάντα τε κίνδυνον εὐθαρσῶς ὑπομεῖναι διδασκόντων, τὰ συνῳδὰ τῆς Πλάτωνος καὶ περὶ τούτου δόξης μάθοις ἂν ἀπὸ τῶνδε αὐτοῦ τῶν φωνῶν, ἃς ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ τέθειται τῆς Πολιτείας· 12.10.2 «Τὸν δ' οὖν τοιοῦτον θέντες τὸν δίκαιον αὖ παρ' αὐτὸν ἱστῶμεν τῷ λόγῳ, ἄνδρα ἁπλοῦν καὶ γενναῖον, κατ' Αἰσχύλον οὐ δοκεῖν, ἀλλ' εἶναι ἀγαθὸν ἐθέλοντα. ἀφαιρετέον δὲ τὸ δοκεῖν. εἰ γὰρ δόξει δίκαιος εἶναι, ἔσονται αὐτῷ τιμαὶ καὶ δωρεαὶ δοκοῦντι τοιούτῳ εἶναι. ἄδηλον οὖν εἴτε τοῦ δικαίου εἴτε τῶν δω12.10.3 ρεῶν τε καὶ τιμῶν ἕνεκα τοιοῦτος εἴη. γυμνωτέος δὴ πάντων πλὴν δικαιοσύνης καὶ ποιητέος ἐναντίως διακείμενος τῷ προτέρῳ· μηδὲν γὰρ ἀδικῶν δόξαν ἐχέτω τῆς μεγίστης ἀδικίας, ἵνα βεβασανισμένος ᾖ εἰς δικαιοσύνην τῷ μὴ τέγγεσθαι ὑπὸ κακοδοξίας καὶ τῶν ἀπ' αὐτῆς γιγνομένων· ἀλλ' ἔστω ἀμετάστατος μέχρι θανάτου, δοκῶν μὲν εἶναι ἄδικος διὰ βίου.» 12.10.4 Καὶ μετὰ βραχέα ἐπιλέγει· «Λεκτέον οὖν· καὶ δή, κἂν ἀγροικοτέρως λέγηται, μὴ ἐμὲ οἴου λέγειν, ὦ Σώκρατες, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἐπαινοῦντας πρὸ δικαιοσύνης ἀδικίαν. ἐροῦσι δὲ τάδε, ὅτι οὕτω διακείμενος ὁ δίκαιος μαστιγώσεται, στρεβλώσεται, δεδήσεται, ἐκκοπήσεται τὼ ὀφθαλμώ, τελευτῶν πάντα κακὰ παθὼν ἀνασκινδυλευθήσεται καὶ γνώσεται ὅτι οὐκ εἶναι δίκαιον, ἀλλὰ δοκεῖν δεῖ ἐθέλειν.» 12.10.5 Ταῦτα λόγοις ὁ Πλάτων· ἔργοις δὲ πολὺ πρότερον οἱ παρ' Ἑβραίοις δίκαιοι καὶ προφῆται μνημονεύονται τὰ εἰρημένα πάντα πεπονθέναι, οἵ γε δικαιότατοι ὄντες ὡς ἀδικώτατοι «ἐλιθάσθησαν, ἐπρίσθησαν, ἐν φόνῳ μαχαίρας ἀπέθανον, περιῆλθον ἐν μηλωταῖς, ἐν αἰγείοις δέρμασιν, ὑστερούμενοι, κακουχούμενοι, ἐν ἐρημίαις πλανώμενοι καὶ ὄρεσι καὶ σπηλαίοις 12.10.6 καὶ ταῖς ὀπαῖς τῆς γῆς, ὧν οὐκ ἦν ἄξιος ὁ κόσμος.» καὶ οἱ ἀπόστολοι δὲ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν τὴν ἀνωτάτω δικαιοσύνην τε καὶ εὐσέβειαν μετιόν τες, δόξαν δ' ἀδικίας παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς περιβαλλόμενοι, ὁποῖα ἔπασχον αὐτῶν πάρεστιν ἐπακοῦσαι λεγόντων· «Θέατρον ἐγενήθημεν τῷ κόσμῳ καὶ ἀγγέλοις καὶ ἀνθρώποις» καί· «Μέχρι τῆς ἄρτι ὥρας καὶ πεινῶμεν καὶ διψῶμεν καὶ γυμνητεύομεν καὶ κολαφιζόμεθα καὶ ἀστατοῦμεν· λοιδορούμενοι εὐλογοῦμεν, διωκόμενοι ἀνεχόμεθα, δυσφημούμενοι παρακαλοῦμεν· 12.10.7 ὡς περικαθάρματα τοῦ κόσμου ἐγενήθημεν.» ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰσέτι δεῦρο οἱ γενναῖοι