The search after the Statesman, which is carried on, like that for
the Sophist, by the method of dichotomy, gives an opportunity for many
humorous and satirical remarks. Several of the jests are mannered and
laboured: for example, the turn of words with which the dialogue
opens; or the clumsy joke about man being an animal, who has a power
of two-feet--both which are suggested by the presence of Theodorus, the
geometrician. There is political as well as logical insight in refusing
to admit the division of mankind into Hellenes and Barbarians: 'if a
crane could speak, he would in like manner oppose men and all other
animals to cranes.' The pride of the Hellene is further humbled,
by being compared to a Phrygian or Lydian. Plato glories in this
impartiality of the dialectical method, which places birds in
juxtaposition with men, and the king side by side with the bird-catcher;
king or vermin-destroyer are objects of equal interest to science
(compare Parmen.). There are other passages which show that the irony
of Socrates was a lesson which Plato was not slow in learning--as, for
example, the passing remark, that 'the kings and statesmen of our day
are in their breeding and education very like their subjects;' or the
anticipation that the rivals of the king will be found in the class
of servants; or the imposing attitude of the priests, who are the
established interpreters of the will of heaven, authorized by law.
Nothing is more bitter in all his writings than his comparison of the
contemporary politicians to lions, centaurs, satyrs, and other animals
of a feebler sort, who are ever changing their forms and natures. But,
as in the later dialogues generally, the play of humour and the charm of
poetry have departed, never to return.