In the Xenophontic dialogue, Aristippus replies to Sokrates that the apprenticeship enjoined upon him is too laborious, and that the exercise of power, itself laborious, has no charm for him. He desires a middle course, neither to oppress nor to be oppressed: neither to command, nor to be commanded--like Otanes among the seven Persian conspirators.[162] He keeps clear of political obligation, and seeks to follow, as much as he can, his own individual judgment. Though Sokrates, in the Xenophontic dialogue, is made to declare this middle course impossible, yet it is substantially the same as what the Platonic Sokrates in the Gorgias aspires to:--moreover the same as what the real Sokrates at Athens both pursued as far as he could, and declared to be the only course consistent with his security.[163] The Platonic Sokrates in the Gorgias declares emphatically that no man can hope to take active part in the government of a country, unless he be heartily identified in spirit with the ethical and political system of the country: unless he not merely professes, but actually and sincerely shares, the creed, doctrines, tastes, and modes of appreciation prevalent among the citizens.[164] Whoever is deficient in this indispensable condition, must be content "to mind his own business and to abstain from active meddling with public affairs". This is the course which the Platonic Sokrates claims both for himself and for the philosopher generally:[165] it is also the course which Aristippus chooses for himself, under the different title of a middle way between the extortion of the ruler and the suffering of the subordinate. And the argument of Sokrates that no middle way is possible--far from refuting Aristippus (as Xenophon says that it did)[166] is founded upon an incorrect assumption: had it been correct, neither literature nor philosophy could have been developed. [Footnote 162: Herodot. iii. 80-83.] [Footnote 163: Plato, Apol. So. p. 32 A. [Greek: i)diôteu/ein, a)lla\ mê\ dêmosieu/ein].] [Footnote 164: Plato, Gorgias, pp. 510-513. [Greek: Ti/s ou)=n pot' e)sti\ te/chnê tê=s paraskeuê=s tou= mêde\n a)dikei=sthai ê)\ ô(s o)li/gista? ske/psai ei)/ soi dokei= ê(=|per e)moi/. e)moi\ me\n ga\r dokei= ê(/de; ê)\ au)to\n a)/rchein dei=n e)n tê=| po/lei ê)\ kai\ turannei=n, ê)\ tê=s u(parchou/sês politei/as e(tai=ron ei)=nai]. (This is exactly the language which Sokrates holds to Aristippus, Xenoph. Memor. ii. 1, 12.) [Greek: o(\s a)\n o(moê/thês ô)\n, tau)ta pse/gôn kai\ e)painô=n, e)the/lê| a)/rchesthai kai\ u(pokei=sthai tô=| a)/rchonti--eu)thu\s e)k ne/ou e)thi/zein au(to\n toi=s au)toi=s chai/rein kai\ a)/chthesthai tô=| despo/tê|] (510 D). [Greek: ou) ga\r mimêtê\n dei= ei)=nai a)ll' au)tophuô=s o(/moion tou/tois] (513 B).]