Plato, Republic, ed. John Burnet, 1.346

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[346]
τί δέ, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, ὦ Θρασύμαχε; τὰς ἄλλας ἀρχὰς οὐκ ἐννοεῖς ὅτι οὐδεὶς ἐθέλει ἄρχειν ἑκών, ἀλλὰ μισθὸν αἰτοῦσιν, ὡς οὐχὶ αὐτοῖσιν ὠφελίαν ἐσομένην ἐκ τοῦ ἄρχειν ἀλλὰ 346a τοῖς ἀρχομένοις; ἐπεὶ τοσόνδε εἰπέ· οὐχὶ ἑκάστην μέντοι φαμὲν ἑκάστοτε τῶν τεχνῶν τούτῳ ἑτέραν εἶναι, τῷ ἑτέραν τὴν δύναμιν ἔχειν; καί, ὦ μακάριε, μὴ παρὰ δόξαν ἀποκρίνου, ἵνα τι καὶ περαίνωμεν.
ἀλλὰ τούτῳ, ἔφη, ἑτέρα.
οὐκοῦν καὶ ὠφελίαν ἑκάστη τούτων ἰδίαν τινὰ ἡμῖν παρέχεται ἀλλʼ οὐ κοινήν, οἷον ἰατρικὴ μὲν ὑγίειαν, κυβερνητικὴ δὲ σωτηρίαν ἐν τῷ πλεῖν, καὶ αἱ ἄλλαι οὕτω;
πάνυ γε. 346b
οὐκοῦν καὶ μισθωτικὴ μισθόν; αὕτη γὰρ αὐτῆς ἡ δύναμις· ἢ τὴν ἰατρικὴν σὺ καὶ τὴν κυβερνητικὴν τὴν αὐτὴν καλεῖς; ἢ ἐάνπερ βούλῃ ἀκριβῶς διορίζειν, ὥσπερ ὑπέθου, οὐδέν τι μᾶλλον, ἐάν τις κυβερνῶν ὑγιὴς γίγνηται διὰ τὸ συμφέρον αὐτῷ πλεῖν ἐν τῇ θαλάττῃ, ἕνεκα τούτου καλεῖς μᾶλλον αὐτὴν ἰατρικήν;
οὐ δῆτα, ἔφη.
οὐδέ γʼ, οἶμαι, τὴν μισθωτικήν, ἐὰν ὑγιαίνῃ τις μισθαρνῶν.
οὐ δῆτα.
τί δέ; τὴν ἰατρικὴν μισθαρνητικήν, ἐὰν ἰώμενός τις μισθαρνῇ; 346c
οὐκ ἔφη.
οὐκοῦν τήν γε ὠφελίαν ἑκάστης τῆς τέχνης ἰδίαν ὡμολογήσαμεν εἶναι;
ἔστω, ἔφη.
ἥντινα ἄρα ὠφελίαν κοινῇ ὠφελοῦνται πάντες οἱ δημιουργοί, δῆλον ὅτι κοινῇ τινι τῷ αὐτῷ προσχρώμενοι ἀπʼ ἐκείνου ὠφελοῦνται.
ἔοικεν, ἔφη.
φαμὲν δέ γε τὸ μισθὸν ἀρνυμένους ὠφελεῖσθαι τοὺς δημιουργοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ προσχρῆσθαι τῇ μισθωτικῇ τέχνῃ γίγνεσθαι αὐτοῖς.
συνέφη μόγις. 346d
οὐκ ἄρα ἀπὸ τῆς αὑτοῦ τέχνης ἑκάστῳ αὕτη ἡ ὠφελία ἐστίν, ἡ τοῦ μισθοῦ λῆψις, ἀλλʼ, εἰ δεῖ ἀκριβῶς σκοπεῖσθαι, ἡ μὲν ἰατρικὴ ὑγίειαν ποιεῖ, ἡ δὲ μισθαρνητικὴ μισθόν, καὶ ἡ μὲν οἰκοδομικὴ οἰκίαν, ἡ δὲ μισθαρνητικὴ αὐτῇ ἑπομένη μισθόν, καὶ αἱ ἄλλαι πᾶσαι οὕτως τὸ αὑτῆς ἑκάστη ἔργον ἐργάζεται καὶ ὠφελεῖ ἐκεῖνο ἐφʼ ᾧ τέτακται. ἐὰν δὲ μὴ μισθὸς αὐτῇ προσγίγνηται, ἔσθʼ ὅτι ὠφελεῖται ὁ δημιουργὸς ἀπὸ τῆς τέχνης;
οὐ φαίνεται, ἔφη. 346e
ἆρʼ οὖν οὐδʼ ὠφελεῖ τότε, ὅταν προῖκα ἐργάζηται;
οἶμαι ἔγωγε.
οὐκοῦν, ὦ Θρασύμαχε, τοῦτο ἤδη δῆλον, ὅτι οὐδεμία τέχνη οὐδὲ ἀρχὴ τὸ αὑτῇ ὠφέλιμον παρασκευάζει, ἀλλʼ, ὅπερ πάλαι ἐλέγομεν, τὸ τῷ ἀρχομένῳ καὶ παρασκευάζει καὶ ἐπιτάττει, τὸ ἐκείνου συμφέρον ἥττονος ὄντος σκοποῦσα, ἀλλʼ οὐ τὸ τοῦ κρείττονος.

Republic. Plato. ed. John Burnet. Oxford. 1905.

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Πολιτεία (Greek) (Platonis Opera Tomus IV: Tetralogia VIII. Burnet, John, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.)

Translations (1)

Republic Perseus (Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 5-6. Shorey, Paul, translator. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1935-37 (printing).) — 1.346 focus

[346]
But what of other forms of rule, Thrasymachus? Do you not perceive that no one chooses of his own will to hold the office of rule, but they demand pay, which implies that not to them will benefit accrue from their holding office but to those whom they rule? 346a For tell me this: we ordinarily say, do we not, that each of the arts is different from others because its power or function is different? And, my dear fellow, in order that we may reach some result, don’t answer counter to your real belief.¹ Well, yes, he said, that is what renders it different. And does not each art also yield us benefit² that is peculiar to itself and not general,³ as for example medicine health, the pilot’s art safety at sea, and the other arts similarly? Assuredly. And does not the wage-earner’s art yield wage? For that is its function. 346b Would you identify medicine and the pilot’s art? Or if you please to discriminate precisely as you proposed, none the more if a pilot regains his health because a sea voyage is good for him, no whit the more, I say, for this reason do you call his art medicine, do you? Of course not, he said. Neither, I take it, do you call wage-earning medicine if a man earning wages is in health. Surely not. 346c But what of this? Do you call medicine wage-earning, if a man when giving treatment earns wages? No, he said. And did we not agree that the benefit derived from each art is peculiar to it? So be it, he said. Any common or general benefit that all craftsmen receive, then, they obviously derive from their common use of some further identical thing. It seems so, he said. And we say that the benefit of earning wages accrues to the craftsmen from their further exercise of the wage-earning art. He assented reluctantly. Then the benefit, 346d the receiving of wages does not accrue to each from his own art. But if we are to consider it precisely medicine produces health but the fee-earning art the pay, and architecture a house but the fee-earning art accompanying it the fee, and so with all the others, each performs its own task and benefits that over which it is set, but unless pay is added to it is there any benefit which the craftsman receives from the craft? Apparently not, he said. Does he then bestow no benefit either 346e when he works for nothing? I’ll say he does. Then, Thrasymachus, is not this immediately apparent, that no art or office provides what is beneficial for itself—but as we said long ago it provides and enjoins what is beneficial to its subject, considering the advantage of that, the weaker, and not the advantage the stronger?

Commentary

Commentary on Plato, Republic (Plato. The Republic, Vol 1-2. Adam, James, editor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1902-1903.) focus

Πλάτωνος Πολιτεία . On the name, characters, and date of action of the dialogue, see Introd. §§ 1, 2, 3.

οὐχὶ ‐‐ μέντοι : 339 B note

παρὰ δόξαν is simply ‘contrary to your opinion’ (“gegen deine Ueberzeugung” Schneider) as in Prot. 337 B , cf. 349 A ἕως ἄν σε ὑπολαμβάνω λέγειν ἅπερ διανοεῖ and 350 E. The words could hardly mean an ‘unexpected or paradoxical’ reply (as Tucker construes). Socrates is appealing—note ὦ μακάριε— to Thrasymachus not to obstruct the discovery of the truth by want of candour and sincerity.

ἀλλὰ ‐‐ ἑτέρα sc. ἐστίν. The reading ἑτέραν is in itself equally good, but has inferior MS authority. Herwerden needlessly recommends the omission of ἑτέρα, or (as alternatives) ἀλλὰ τούτῳ, ἔφη, τῷ ἑτέραν, or ἀλλὰ τούτῳ, ἔφη, ἑτέραν, τῷ ἑτέραν .

οὐκοῦν κτλ. Aristotle agrees with this analysis: see Pol. A 3. 1258^{a} 10 ff. It should be noted that the antecedent to αὕτη is not μισθόν, but τὸ παρέχεσθαι μισθόν.

διὰ τὸ ξυμφέρειν . See cr. n. To ξυμφέρον there are two objections: first that διά with the participle used like διά with the infinitive is rare and dubious; second that ξυμφέρον is more naturally to be taken as a virtual adjective than as a participle. The last objection might be surmounted by reading ξυμφέρον<ὄν>, but the more serious flaw would still remain, and ξυμφέρειν is in itself so much superior, that (like most editors) I feel bound to adopt it.

οὐδέ γ’ οἶμαι τὴν μισθωτικήν sc. καλεῖς ἰατρικήν. The reasoning is somewhat subtle. ἰατρική, κυβερνητική, μισθωτική ( μισθαρνητική), says Socrates, are three distinct arts. κυβερνητική is not to be called ἰατρική, even if ἰατρική should accompany its operation, nor is μισθωτική to be called ἰατρική in a similar case. Nor is ἰατρική to be called μισθωτική, even if ἰατρική should be accompanied by μισθωτική.

κοινῇ ‐‐ προσχρώμενοι : ‘from the common use of some additional element which is the same in all.’

τὸ μισθὸν ἀρνυμένους . δέ γε as usual introduces the minor premise. The semi-poetic word ἀρνυμένους is used to suggest μισθαρνεῖν and μισθαρνητική, the word μισθόν at the same time bringing the product of the art well into view. As τὸ—δημιουργούς is the subject to γίγνεσθαι, the masculine τόν—so most MSS—for τό is impossible.

ἔλεγον μηδένα ἐθέλειν . μή with the infinitive after verbs of saying, thinking and the like “carries with it the emphasis of the witness on oath, so to speak the emphasis of desire” (Gildersleeve in A. J. Ph. 1 50). Cf. Theaet. 155 A , Euthyph. 6 B , Phaed. 94 C al., and infr. III 407 E, IV 419 A.

Plato Republic 1.346

ed. John Burnet

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