Motif
appearance versus reality of virtue
appearance_versus_reality_of_virtue
A motif of the Sacred Knowledge and Wisdom family. Every row below is a tagged passage; each rests on a quote in its source text.
1 occurrences
1 traditions
greek
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The Republic THE REPUBLIC. / PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE. / BOOK I. / BOOK II.; lines 10460-10547 confidence: high
The passage proposes isolating a perfectly unjust man who appears just and a perfectly just man who appears unjust; the just man is described with Aeschylus's phrase about wishing to be and not seem good, and the comparison asks which life is happier.
The unjust man is to seem just while being unjust, and the just man is to be just while seeming unjust; the test separates inner character from reputation.
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