take us too far afield to discuss the diverse ways in which Plato uses his principle. We may observe in passing, however, that he applies it to war, in his interesting criticism of the citizen-soldier;170 to the finer arts, even when they are quite similar to each other;171 to politics, as noted above; to justice and the moral life in general;172 and to the intellectual life, in his unsparing criticism of the superficial versatility and dilettantism of the contemporary Athenian democracy, which trusts the government to any incompetent, professes to be able to imitate everything, and makes the many-sided Sophist (πολλαπλοῦς) the man of the hour.173
Though he begins with the development of the principle as an economic fact, his primary interest in it is as a moral and intellectual maxim. The fact that the cobbler sticks to his last is only a symbol (εἴδωλον) of justice.174
Nevertheless Plato does appreciate to a remarkable degree the economic bearings of the law, and his discussion of it is notably scientific and complete.175