This story puts forward a thought-experiment concerning what the average man would do if he had unlimited power. It is put in the mouth of Glaucon, who argues that all, or almost all men are restrained from evil only by the fear of punishment. Through the mouth of Socrates, Plato later argues that we ought not to do wrong, even if we have such a ring as the ancestor of Gyges had; because doing wrong enslaves us to our baser appetites, and makes us miserable.
The translation in this video is free to use with attribution only (CC-BY-4.0). I have translated from the Greek text of Burnet 1903, freely available on Perseus.
Transcript:
They speak of a power that once befell the ancestor of Gyges the Lydian. He was (they say) a shepherd, who was in the service of the then-ruler of Lydia. But when a great storm took place and an earthquake, a part of the earth broke open, and a chasm appeared where he was tending to his flocks. On seeing this and wondering at it, he descended: and saw both other wonders that the myth-makers tell us about, and—a horse: bronze, hollow, and with little doors on it. And stooping into the doors, he saw inside them a corpse; as it seemed, bigger in stature than any human being. And this corpse had nothing else on it, except that there was a golden ring on its finger; which Gyges taking for himself, he ascended. Now an assembly was taking place among the shepherds, according to their custom, where every month they reported their doings to the king; and Gyges arrived there also, while wearing the ring. Sitting down, then, among the others, he happened to turn round the bezel of the ring towards himself—into the palm of his hand. And as soon as this happened, he became invisible to those who were sitting next to him, and they conversed about him as though he was absent! And he was at first astonished; and then fingering the ring once again, he turned the bezel outwards, upon which he became visible. Reflecting on what had happened, he experimented with the ring, to see if it possessed this power; and it turned out as follows. When he turned the bezel inwards, he became invisible; outwards, visible. After perceiving this, he immediately got himself made one of the messengers, who personally reported to the king. And when he had arrived—and committed adultery with the king’s wife—he plotted with her against him. Consequently, he slew the king, and thus seized hold of his kingdom. If, then, two rings such as this should come into being, and the just man had one, and the unjust man the other, nobody, as it seems, would be of such an adamantine temper, as to remain in the path of justice.
… οἵαν ποτέ φασιν δύναμιν τῷ Γύγου τοῦ Λυδοῦ προγόνῳ γενέσθαι. εἶναι μὲν γὰρ αὐτὸν ποιμένα θητεύοντα παρὰ τῷ τότε Λυδίας ἄρχοντι, ὄμβρου δὲ πολλοῦ γενομένου καὶ σεισμοῦ ῥαγῆναί τι τῆς γῆς καὶ γενέσθαι χάσμα κατὰ τὸν τόπον ᾗ ἔνεμεν. ἰδόντα δὲ καὶ θαυμάσαντα καταβῆναι καὶ ἰδεῖν ἄλλα τε δὴ ἃ μυθολογοῦσιν θαυμαστὰ καὶ ἵππον χαλκοῦν, κοῖλον, θυρίδας ἔχοντα, καθ᾽ ἃς ἐγκύψαντα ἰδεῖν ἐνόντα νεκρόν, ὡς φαίνεσθαι μείζω ἢ κατ᾽ ἄνθρωπον, τοῦτον δὲ ἄλλο μὲν [ἔχειν] οὐδέν, περὶ δὲ τῇ χειρὶ χρυσοῦν δακτύλιον ὄντα περιελόμενον ἐκβῆναι. συλλόγου δὲ γενομένου τοῖς ποιμέσιν εἰωθότος, ἵν᾽ ἐξαγγέλλοιεν κατὰ μῆνα τῷ βασιλεῖ τὰ περὶ τὰ ποίμνια, ἀφικέσθαι καὶ ἐκεῖνον ἔχοντα τὸν δακτύλιον: καθήμενον οὖν μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων τυχεῖν τὴν σφενδόνην τοῦ δακτυλίου περιαγαγόντα πρὸς ἑαυτὸν εἰς τὸ εἴσω τῆς χειρός, τούτου δὲ γενομένου ἀφανῆ αὐτὸν γενέσθαι τοῖς παρακαθημένοις, καὶ διαλέγεσθαι ὡς περὶ οἰχομένου. καὶ τὸν θαυμάζειν τε καὶ πάλιν ἐπιψηλαφῶντα τὸν δακτύλιον στρέψαι ἔξω τὴν σφενδόνην, καὶ στρέψαντα φανερὸν γενέσθαι. καὶ τοῦτο ἐννοήσαντα ἀποπειρᾶσθαι τοῦ δακτυλίου εἰ ταύτην ἔχοι τὴν δύναμιν, καὶ αὐτῷ οὕτω συμβαίνειν, στρέφοντι μὲν εἴσω τὴν σφενδόνην ἀδήλῳ γίγνεσθαι, ἔξω δὲ δήλῳ: αἰσθόμενον δὲ εὐθὺς διαπράξασθαι τῶν ἀγγέλων γενέσθαι τῶν παρὰ τὸν βασιλέα, ἐλθόντα δὲ καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ μοιχεύσαντα, μετ᾽ ἐκείνης ἐπιθέμενον τῷ βασιλεῖ ἀποκτεῖναι καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν οὕτω κατασχεῖν. εἰ οὖν δύο τοιούτω δακτυλίω γενοίσθην, καὶ τὸν μὲν ὁ δίκαιος περιθεῖτο, τὸν δὲ ὁ ἄδικος, οὐδεὶς ἂν γένοιτο, ὡς δόξειεν, οὕτως ἀδαμάντινος, ὃς ἂν μείνειεν ἐν τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ.
