and an opposite
faction, and he goes to war with himself.

It must be so.

And there are times when the democratical principle gives way to the
oligarchical, and some of his desires die, and others are banished;
a spirit of reverence enters into the young man's soul and order is
restored.

Yes, he said, that sometimes happens.

And then, again, after the old desires have been driven out, fresh ones
spring up, which are akin to them, and because he their father does not
know how to educate them, wax fierce and numerous.

Yes, he said, that is apt to be the way.

They draw him to his old associates, and holding secret intercourse with
them, breed and multiply in him.

Very true.

At length they seize upon the citadel of the young man's soul, which
they perceive to be void of all accomplishments and fair pursuits and
true words, which make their abode in the minds of men who are dear to
the gods, and are their best guardians and sentinels.

None better.

False and boastful conceits and phrases mount upwards and take their
place.

They are certain to do so.

And so the young man returns into the country of the lotus-eaters, and
takes up his dwelling there in the face of all men; and if any help be
sent by his friends to the oligarchical part of him, the aforesaid vain
conceits shut the gate of the king's fastness; and they will neither
allow the embassy itself to enter, nor if private advisers offer the
fatherly counsel of the aged will they listen to them or receive them.
There is a battle and they gain the day, and then modesty, which
they call silliness, is ignominiously thrust into exile by them, and
temperance, which they nickname unmanliness, is trampled in the mire and
cast forth; they persuade men that moderation and orderly expenditure
are vulgarity and meanness, and so, by the help of a rabble of evil
appetites, they drive them beyond the border.

Yes, with a will.

And when they have emptied and swept clean the soul of him who is now in
their power and who is being initiated by them in great mysteries, the
next thing is to bring back to their house insolence and anarchy and
waste and impudence in bright array having garlands on their heads, and
a great company with them, hymning their praises and calling them by
sweet names; insolence they term breeding, and anarchy liberty, and
waste magnificence, and impudence courage. And so the young man
passes out of his original nature, which was trained