Chapter VI (503-514) Summary and Analysis

Arts such as prose and poetry satisfy crowds. As poetry is a public address, it should be rhetorical. When orators only gratify, they address only their own private interests and fail to consider the common good. Only those desires that improve need to be accepted, in the same way that only things that harmonize and are orderly can benefit the body. Order and harmony indicate positive effects. The body that is in harmony is healthier and stronger and the soul that is in harmony acquires the quality of being lawful, leading to one being law-abiding. Such states also involve self-control and justice.

For Socrates, the sick body needs no abundant food, but the wretched body should be deprived of life because such life would also be wretched. Only those who are healthy can fulfill their desires. The...