The Philosopher Kings Read Online Free PDF

he really thought, and so that’s why we excluded drama. Or rather, since almost all of the original Masters were people who loved the art of the ancient world, and much of what survived was drama, we decided to keep drama in the library but not allow it to be acted. Reading it quietly, we thought, wouldn’t have such an emotional effect.”
    â€œWhy did you change your minds?” I asked. “Not that I’m not glad you did, because I’m really excited about playing Briseis at the Dionysia.”
    â€œWe didn’t change our minds. It was debated several times, and always decided against, until two years ago.”
    I was about to ask what happened two years ago, then I realized: the first cohort of Young Ones had become old enough to vote. “Are plays still banned in the other cities?”
    â€œAs far as I know they’re allowed in Sokratea and the City of Amazons, but banned in Psyche and Athenia.”
    â€œAnd is there any difference in how philosophical people are?”
    Ficino laughed. “How would you measure that?”
    I opened my mouth to answer, but he held up his hand again.
    â€œNo, think about it. Write me a paper on it, either an essay or a dialogue, as you prefer.”
    I groaned, but only because it was work. It sounded like a really interesting question to think about. I also wanted to talk to other people about it, most especially Maia, and Simmea. I bade farewell to Ficino, gathered up the plates, and took them to the kitchen, thinking about it. How would you measure the general level of philosophy in a population—or even in an individual? There might be simple tests, like how many times books were checked out of the library, but that would only show how many people were studying philosophy, not how philosophical they were. It wasn’t my turn to clean up, but they were short-handed so I helped for a while, still thinking about it. Some people were naturally philosophical. Others were not. That’s why everyone was divided into their rightful metals, gold and silver and bronze and iron. My friend Erinna said she was glad to be a silver, relieved and pleased.
    How philosophical a city was could be simply measured by how many golds it had, except that originally in the City (and even now in Psyche and Athenia) the proportions were worked out numerologically rather than justly. That had been one of the more telling points Sokrates made in the Last Debate. But in Psyche and Athenia they believed that numerology was magical, that numbers described true Forms underlying the world. And Father said he didn’t know whether they did or not, and Mother said they had an inner logic and so perhaps they did, but not the way that Proclus and Plotinus wrote.
    I hadn’t read the Republic yet, but Ficino had told us Plato said that a Just City would hold justice and the pursuit of excellence as the highest good. He said that as such a city declined, it would become a timarchy, meaning that the citizens would prize honor above justice. Sparta had been a timarchy, and Plato thought it better than oligarchy, the next stage of decline, where the citizens would prize money and possessions above honor. I wondered what the signs of starting to prize honor above wisdom and justice might be, and how that could be measured.
    I went home after the kitchen cleanup was done. I didn’t have any work scheduled that day, and I had a calculus class later that afternoon. Mother was teaching it, so it was held in the garden of Thessaly. I knew I had a good hour before the class, and that Mother might be home but nobody else would. I wanted to tell her about being chosen to play Briseis, and I wanted to ask her about ways of measuring levels of philosophy. She wasn’t home, but that meant I had the house to myself until everyone arrived for the class, which was good because I had to learn my lines. The Myrmidons was to be performed at the Dionysia in just over a month.