The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men.

This sentiment is associated with Plato’s political philosophy in the aftermath of Athens’ instability in the late 5th–early 4th century BCE—defeat in the Peloponnesian War, oligarchic coups, and the execution of Socrates (399 BCE). In dialogues such as the Republic, Plato argues that political order depends on rule by those with knowledge of the good, yet he also recognizes that decent or philosophically minded people may shrink from public life because politics is corrupting and dangerous. The line functions as a warning: withdrawal by the capable creates a vacuum that ambitious, less scrupulous figures will fill, leaving the community governed by “worse” men.

The quote frames political participation as a moral duty rather than a mere option. Plato’s point is not that the wise will be physically punished, but that their “punishment” is a predictable consequence: if capable people refuse to govern or to take part in civic life, governance does not disappear—it is taken up by those less qualified or less virtuous. The aphorism underscores a central Platonic concern: politics shapes the soul and the city, so leaving it to “worse men” degrades both public life and private well-being. It is often invoked to argue that apathy and cynicism are themselves politically consequential choices.

1) “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”
2) “The wise who decline to rule are punished by living under the rule of worse men.”
3) “The penalty that good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”