Plato, Gorgias, section 470a

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[470a]

Socrates
Then can you tell me why you disapprove of this kind of power?

Polus
I can.

Socrates
Why, then? Tell me.

Polus
Because it is inevitable that he who acts thus will be punished.

Socrates
And is it not a bad thing to be punished?

Polus
Certainly.

Socrates
So, my remarkable friend, you have come round again to the view that if doing what one thinks fit is attended by advantage in doing it, this is not merely a good thing but at the same time, it seems, the possession of great power; otherwise

Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 3 translated by W.R.M. Lamb. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1967.

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