To us, economies or accommodations would not be allowable unless they were required by the human faculties or necessary for the communication of knowledge to the simple and ignorant.

We should insist that the word was inseparable from the intention, and that we must not be 'falsely true,' i.e.speak or act falsely in support of what was right or true.

But Plato would limit the use of fictions only by requiring that they should have a good moral effect, and that such a dangerous weapon as falsehood should be employed by the rulers alone and for great objects.
A Greek in the age of Plato attached no importance to the question whether his religion was an historical fact.

He was just beginning to be conscious that the past had a history; but he could see nothing beyond Homer and Hesiod.

Whether their narratives were true or false did not seriously affect the political or social life of Hellas.