July 8, 2025

…see how sensitive the citizens become: they chafe impatiently at the least touch of authority and at length, as you know, they cease even to care even for the laws, written or unwritten; they will have no one over them.

Plato (429?–347 BC), Athenian philosopher, Republic, VIII, 562a

If this is true, what is to be done?

[Vide January 29] This is among the best arguments for vesting the control of government in the hands of competent men and women, capable of reading the public mood, and knowing how best to lead the people where they might not wish at first to go, but should go, for the benefit of all.