384 PL A TO
ence him more than all the rest of the world : and if we desert him shall we not destroy and injure that principle in us which may be assumed to be improved by justice and deteriorated by injustice ; — there is such a principle ?
Crito. Certainly there is, Socrates.
Socrates. Take a parallel instance : if, acting un- der the advice of those who have no understanding, we destroy that which is improved by health and is deteriorated by disease, would life be worth having ? And that which has been destroyed is the body ?
Crito. Yes.
Socrates. Could we live, having an evil and cor- rupted body?
Crito. Certainly not.
Socrates- And will life be worth having, if that higher part of man be destroyed, which is improved by justice and depraA'^ed by injustice ? Do we suppose that principle, whatever it may be in man, which has to do with justice and injustice, to be inferior to the body?
Crito. Certainly not.
Socrates. More honorable than the body?
Crito. Far more.
Socrates. Then, my friend, we must not regard what the many say of us ; but what he, the one man who has understanding of just and unjust, will say, and what the truth will say. And therefore you be- gin in error when you advise that we should regard the opinion of the many about just and unjust, good and evil, honorable and dishonorable. " Well," some one will say, " but the many can kill us."
Crito. Yes, Socrates ; that will clearly be the an- swer.
