ACASTOS increasingly excited by his ideas but confused

I mean, I think good art is good for us, it teaches us – great poetry is wise –

CALLISTOS he has donned the mask again and begins to declaim

Zeus, whoever he may be,

If he cares to bear this name –

MANTIAS

All this woolly talk has simply brought us to the obvious point which I wanted to make at the start! At last Acastos has quite accidentally said something sensible! He says good art is good for us! That’s the whole thing in a nutshell. It’s educational. Socrates said your ideas were standing in a circle holding hands and each trying to explain the next and couldn’t. My idea breaks the circle. If we think of art as education everything becomes clear, it answers all the questions – it’s clear why we classify the arts together, it makes sense of music, it clarifies this notion of morality which Acastos has introduced –

ACASTOS

I don’t mean that art is education.

MANTIAS

You said so!

ACASTOS

I said it was good for us.

MANTIAS

What’s the difference? I’m concerned with politics and social life, unlike some who are only interested in their own little messy private feelings. Politics is not self–centred, it’s to do with other people, with caring, with society. The essence of politics is explanation, that is persuasive explanation.

DEXIMENES

I thought the essence of politics was coercion.

MANTIAS

I said persuasive explanation, another name for this is rhetoric. And this explains the nature of art. Art is rhetoric. Not copying or music or thought. Rhetoric.

SOCRATES

You stun us with the simplicity of your idea.

MANTIAS

Well it’s so clear. And that’s how we distinguish between good and bad art. Good art makes good citizens, bad art makes bad citizens. It’s as simple as that.

SOCRATES

Do you define good art as art which benefits society?

MANTIAS after hesitation but firmly

Yes.

ACASTOS

Oh no!

CALLISTOS

Horrid!

MANTIAS

The really useful and valuable arts are the ones which make plain statements, stuff you can understand.

DEXIMENES

Lots of poetry is very obscure, or personal, or erotic.

MANTIAS

Art which is private and obsessive is bad, it distracts people from the real world, the public world. I should have thought that’s obvious and should be of interest to Acastos with his concern for truth! And erotic art makes people think that sex is the whole point of life!

CALLISTOS

Isn’t it?

DEXIMENES

All art can be used as pornography. Art happens in the mind. Even great art isn’t sacred. We all have obsessions.

MANTIAS

You have.

CALLISTOS

Sex is funny!

MANTIAS

An art which is solely concerned with sex and personal relations is selfish and untruthful. Wouldn’t you agree, Acastos?

Acastos is not sure

SOCRATES

Isn’t it the nature of art to explore the relation between the public and the private? Art turns us inside out, it exhibits what is secret. What goes on inwardly in the soul is the essence of each man, it’s what makes us individual people. The relation between that inwardness and public conduct is morality. How can art ignore it?