For in reality every soul of a wise man has heaven for its country, and looks upon earth as a strange land, and considers the house of wisdom his own home; but the house of the body, a lodging-house, on which it proposes to sojourn for a while.
Section 66
Therefore since the mind, the ruler of the flock, having taken the flock of the soul, using the law of nature as its teacher, governs it consistently and vigorously, rendering it worthy of approbation and great praise; but when it manages it sluggishly and indulgently, with a disregard of law, then it renders it blameable. Very naturally, therefore, the one will assume the name of a king, being addressed as a shepherd, but the other will only have the title of a confectioner, or of a baker, being called a keeper of sheep, supplying the means of feasting and gluttonous eating to cattle accustomed to gorge themselves to satiety.
Section 67
I have now therefore explained, in no superficial manner, in what way a husbandman differs from a tiller of the ground, and a shepherd from a keeper of sheep. There is also a third point, having some connection with what has already been said, which we will now proceed to speak of. For I consider that a horseman and a rider differ; meaning by this statement, not merely that one man who is carried on a neighing animal differs from another man who is carried on a similar beast, but the motion of the one is different from the motion of the other; therefore the man who gets on a horse without any skill in horsemanship, is correctly called a rider,
Section 68
and he has given himself up to an irrational and restive animal, to such a degree that it is absolutely inevitable that he must be carried wherever the animal chooses to go, and if he fails to see beforehand a chasm in the earth, or a deep pit, it has happened before now that such a man, in consequence of the impetuosity of his course, has been thrown headlong down a precipice and dashed to pieces.
Section 69
But a horseman, on the other hand, when he is about to mount, takes the bridle in his hand, and then taking hold of the mane on the horse’s neck, he leaps on; and though he appears to be carried by the horse, yet, if one must tell the truth, he in reality guides the animal that carries him, as a pilot guides a ship. For the pilot too, appearing to be carried by the ship which he is managing, does in real truth guide it, and conducts it to whatever harbour he is himself desirous to hasten.
Section 70
While, therefore, the horse goes on in obedience to the rein, the horseman pats the horse, as if praising it; but when it goes on with too great impetuosity, and is carried away beyond moderation, then he pulls it back with force and vigour, so as to restrain its speed. But if the horse continue to be disobedient, then he takes the whole bridle, and pulls him back, and drags back his neck, so that he is compelled to stop.
Section 71
And for all his restiveness and his continued disregard of the rein, there are whips and spurs prepared, and all other instruments of punishment which have been invented by horse-breakers. And it is not wonderful: for when the horseman mounts, the art of horsemanship mounts too; so that there then being two parties borne by the horse, and skilful in horsemanship, they will very naturally get the better of one animal who is subjected to them, and who is incapable of acquiring skill.
Section 72
Therefore now, leaving the consideration of these neighing animals, and of the parties carried by them, investigate, if you will, the condition of your own soul. For in its several parts you will find both horses and a rider in the fashion of a charioteer, just as you do in external things.
Section 73
Now, the horses are appetite and passion, the one being male and the other female. On this account, the one giving itself airs, wishes to be unrestrained and free, and holds its head erect, as a male animal naturally does; and the other, not being free, but of a slavish disposition, and rejoicing in all kinds of crafty wickedness, devours the house, and destroys the house, for she is female. And the rider and charioteer is one, namely the mind. When, indeed, he mounts with prudence, he is a charioteer; but when he does so with folly, then he is but a rider.
Section 74
For a fool, through ignorance, is unable to keep hold of the reins; but they, falling from his hands, drop on the ground. And the animals, immediately that they have got the better of the reins, run on in an ill-regulated and unrestrained course.
Section 75
But the man who has mounted behind them, not being able to take hold of anything by which he may steady himself, falls, and lacerating his knees and his hands and his face, like a miserable man as he is, he bitterly weeps over his disaster; and after hanging by his feet to the chariot after he has been overturned, he is suspended, with his face upwards, lying on his back; and as the chariot proceeds, he is dragged along, and injured in his head, and neck, and both his shoulders; and then, being hurried on in this direction and in that, and being dashed against everything which lies in the way, he endures a most pitiable death.
Section 76
He then meets with an end, such as I have been describing; and the chariot, being lightened by his fall and bounding along violently, when, at last, it is dashed to the ground in the rebound, is easily broken to pieces, so that it can never again be joined or fastened together. And the animals, being now released from everything which could restrain them, proceed at random, and are frantic, and do not cease galloping on, till they are tripped up and fall, or till they are hurried over some high precipice, and so are dashed to pieces and destroyed.
Section 77
In this manner, then, it seems that the whole chariot of the soul is destroyed, with its passengers; and all through the carelessness or unskilfulness of the driver. But it is desirable for them that such horses, and such drivers, and riders, so wholly without skill, should be destroyed, in order that the faculties of virtue may be roused; for when folly has fallen, it follows of necessity that wisdom must rise up.