The Golden Age and the reversal of the myth of good government in Plato’s Statesman. A lesson on the use of models

The Golden Age and the Reversal of the Myth of Good Government in Plato’s Statesman. A Lesson on the Use of Models We would be wrong to state that Plato’s approach to the Golden Age in the Statesman occurs through nostalgia, even if he stresses the immense distance between our world and that blessed time. Plato seems rather aware of the difference between the age of Cronus, constantly looking on the past, and the forward-looking age of Prometheus, a time of transformative action. The real question in the Statesman is how to politically lead the cosmic movement of the universe – face to he divine status, which is not ruled by the god through nature anymore but is entrusted to technical powers that are neither constantly nor necessarily enlightened by divine wisdom. Plato’s great question therefore becomes how to single out the peculiar form of knowledge possessed by the few men that are truly capable to rule. The shepherd-god, who ruled the cosmos during the age of Cronus, is the most ancient and solid image of good government. Yet, when Plato evokes it, he does so by overturning its main feature, that is by leaving aside the completely abandoned disposition of the ruled vis-a-vis the divine status of the ruler, which is only justifiable in presence of an unbridgeable chasm between the two, such as that between gods and men, or men and beasts. As a matter of fact, the tale paves the way to a deep renewal of Plato’s ideas about the model of good government. The close tie between knowledge and power that had been previously expressed in the Republic, though not abandoned, is entirely revised in order to clarify the boundaries of the «kingly technique» that is capable to organise the different kinds of knowledge possessed by the citizens so that they may all contribute to the establishment of the common good. The divine rule that existed during the Golden Age maintains its status as an unrivalled model of caring, hence its present human counterpart may hope to equal its providence only by resorting to effectual co-operation.