Plato, Republic, ed. John Burnet, 2.374

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[374]
ἔτι δή, ὦ φίλε, μείζονος τῆς πόλεως δεῖ οὔ τι σμικρῷ, 374a ἀλλʼ ὅλῳ στρατοπέδῳ, ὃ ἐξελθὸν ὑπὲρ τῆς οὐσίας ἁπάσης καὶ ὑπὲρ ὧν νυνδὴ ἐλέγομεν διαμαχεῖται τοῖς ἐπιοῦσιν.
τί δέ; ἦ δʼ ὅς· αὐτοὶ οὐχ ἱκανοί;
οὔκ, εἰ σύ γε, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, καὶ ἡμεῖς ἅπαντες ὡμολογήσαμεν καλῶς, ἡνίκα ἐπλάττομεν τὴν πόλιν· ὡμολογοῦμεν δέ που, εἰ μέμνησαι, ἀδύνατον ἕνα πολλὰς καλῶς ἐργάζεσθαι τέχνας.
ἀληθῆ λέγεις, ἔφη. 374b
τί οὖν; ἦν δʼ ἐγώ· ἡ περὶ τὸν πόλεμον ἀγωνία οὐ τεχνικὴ δοκεῖ εἶναι;
καὶ μάλα, ἔφη.
ἦ οὖν τι σκυτικῆς δεῖ μᾶλλον κήδεσθαι ἢ πολεμικῆς;
οὐδαμῶς.
ἀλλʼ ἄρα τὸν μὲν σκυτοτόμον διεκωλύομεν μήτε γεωργὸν ἐπιχειρεῖν εἶναι ἅμα μήτε ὑφάντην μήτε οἰκοδόμον ἀλλὰ σκυτοτόμον, ἵνα δὴ ἡμῖν τὸ τῆς σκυτικῆς ἔργον καλῶς γίγνοιτο, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἑνὶ ἑκάστῳ ὡσαύτως ἓν ἀπεδίδομεν, πρὸς ὃ ἐπεφύκει ἕκαστος καὶ ἐφʼ ᾧ ἔμελλε τῶν ἄλλων 374c σχολὴν ἄγων διὰ βίου αὐτὸ ἐργαζόμενος οὐ παριεὶς τοὺς καιροὺς καλῶς ἀπεργάσεσθαι· τὰ δὲ δὴ περὶ τὸν πόλεμον πότερον οὐ περὶ πλείστου ἐστὶν εὖ ἀπεργασθέντα; ἢ οὕτω ῥᾴδιον, ὥστε καὶ γεωργῶν τις ἅμα πολεμικὸς ἔσται καὶ σκυτοτομῶν καὶ ἄλλην τέχνην ἡντινοῦν ἐργαζόμενος, πεττευτικὸς δὲ ἢ κυβευτικὸς ἱκανῶς οὐδʼ ἂν εἷς γένοιτο μὴ αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἐκ παιδὸς ἐπιτηδεύων, ἀλλὰ παρέργῳ χρώμενος; 374d καὶ ἀσπίδα μὲν λαβὼν ἤ τι ἄλλο τῶν πολεμικῶν ὅπλων τε καὶ ὀργάνων αὐθημερὸν ὁπλιτικῆς ἤ τινος ἄλλης μάχης τῶν κατὰ πόλεμον ἱκανὸς ἔσται ἀγωνιστής, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων ὀργάνων οὐδὲν οὐδένα δημιουργὸν οὐδὲ ἀθλητὴν ληφθὲν ποιήσει, οὐδʼ ἔσται χρήσιμον τῷ μήτε τὴν ἐπιστήμην ἑκάστου λαβόντι μήτε τὴν μελέτην ἱκανὴν παρασχομένῳ;
πολλοῦ γὰρ ἄν, ἦ δʼ ὅς, τὰ ὄργανα ἦν ἄξια.
οὐκοῦν, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, ὅσῳ μέγιστον τὸ τῶν φυλάκων ἔργον, 374e τοσούτῳ σχολῆς τε τῶν ἄλλων πλείστης ἂν εἴη καὶ αὖ τέχνης τε καὶ ἐπιμελείας μεγίστης δεόμενον.
οἶμαι ἔγωγε, ἦ δʼ ὅς.
ἆρʼ οὖν οὐ καὶ φύσεως ἐπιτηδείας εἰς αὐτὸ τὸ ἐπιτήδευμα;
πῶς δʼ οὔ;
ἡμέτερον δὴ ἔργον ἂν εἴη, ὡς ἔοικεν, εἴπερ οἷοί τʼ ἐσμέν, ἐκλέξασθαι τίνες τε καὶ ποῖαι φύσεις ἐπιτήδειαι εἰς πόλεως φυλακήν.
ἡμέτερον μέντοι.
μὰ Δία, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, οὐκ ἄρα φαῦλον πρᾶγμα ἠράμεθα· ὅμως δὲ οὐκ ἀποδειλιατέον, ὅσον γʼ ἂν δύναμις παρείκῃ.

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

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Current edition Perseus

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).) — 2.374 focus

[374] Then, my friend, we must still further enlarge our city 374a by no small increment, but by a whole army, that will march forth and fight it out with assailants in defence of all our wealth and the luxuries we have just described. How so? he said; are the citizens themselves¹ not sufficient for it? Not if you, said I, and we all were right in the admission we made when we were molding our city. We surely agreed, if you remember, that it is impossible for one man to do the work of many arts well. True, he said. Well, then, said I, 374b don’t you think that the business of fighting is an art and a profession? It is indeed, he said. Should our concern be greater, then, for the cobbler’s art than for the art of war? By no means. Can we suppose,² then, that while we were at pains to prevent the cobbler from attempting to be at the same time a farmer, a weaver, or a builder instead of just a cobbler, to the end that³ we might have the cobbler’s business well done, and similarly assigned to each and every one man one occupation, for which he was fit and naturally adapted and at which he was to work all his days, 374c at leisure⁴ from other pursuits and not letting slip the right moments for doing the work well, and that yet we are in doubt whether the right accomplishment of the business of war is not of supreme moment? Is it so easy⁵ that a man who is cultivating the soil will be at the same time a soldier and one who is practising cobbling or any other trade, though no man in the world could make himself a competent expert at draughts or the dice who did not practise that and nothing else from childhood⁶ but treated it as an occasional business? And are we to believe that a man who 374d takes in hand a shield or any other instrument of war springs up on that very day a competent combatant in heavy armor or in any other form of warfare—though no other tool will make a man be an artist or an athlete by his taking it in hand, nor will it be of any service to those who have neither acquired the science⁷ of it nor sufficiently practised themselves in its use? Great indeed, he said, would be the value of tools in that case.⁸
Then, said I, in the same degree that the task of our guardians⁹ is the greatest of all, 374e it would require more leisure than any other business and the greatest science and training. I think so, said he. Does it not also require a nature adapted to that very pursuit? Of course. It becomes our task, then, it seems, if we are able, to select which and what kind of natures are suited for the guardianship of a state. Yes, ours. Upon my word, said I, it is no light task that we have taken upon ourselves. But we must not faint 375a so far as our strength allows.

Commentary

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

αὐτοὶ οὐχ ἱκανοί ; Glauco speaks as an Athenian citizen-soldier. In making war a profession, and citizens synonymous with soldiers, Plato is laconizing. The language which Isocrates ( Archid. 81) applies to Sparta might in point of fact be used of Plato's State: τῶν Ἑλλήνων διενηνόχαμεν οὐ τῷ μεγέθε<*> τῆς πόλεως, οὐδὲ τῷ πλήθει τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλ) ὅτι τὴν πολιτείαν ὁμοίαν κατεστησάμεθα στρατοπέδῳ καλῶς διοικουμένῳ καὶ πειθαρχεῖν <*>θέλοντι τοῖς ἄρχουσιν. Cf. Grote Plato III pp. 176, 209.

ὡμολογοῦμεν : without εἶναι as in X 610 C ἀθανάτους τὰς ψυχὰς ὁμολογεῖν, and Soph. 246 E . The analogy of these cases shews that ἀδύνατον here is not neuter but masculine, agreeing with ἕνα. The reference is to 370 B.

ἀλλ’ ἄρα . As διεκωλύομεν is certainly interrogative, Ast conjectured ἆρα for ἄρα, but ἄρα ( nimirum) is regularly present in a fortiori arguments of this kind, either in the δέ clause ( Ap. 34 C , 37 C, D, Crito 46 D) or in both ( Crito 50 E, Prot. 325 B , C). In place of the second ἄρα is here written δὴ ( τὰ δὲ δὴ περὶ τὸν πόλεμον κτλ.). For the combination ἀλλ’ ἄρα cf. Soph. 243 E ἀλλ) ἄρα τὰ ἄμφω βούλεσθε καλεῖν ὄν; Ἴσως.

ἀλλὰ σκυτοτόμον . See cr. n. and Introd. § 5. The homoioteleuton as well as the presence of the clause ἵνα—γίγνοιτο is in favour of the genuineness of these words: and the construction itself, which requires ἐκελεύομεν or the like to be supplied out of διεκωλύομεν (see Heindorf on Gorg. 457 C and Kühner Gr. Gr. II p. 1072), is too idiomatic to have been readily invented by a scribe.

ἐφ’ ᾧ : with σχολὴν ἄγων (Schneider): cf. Ap. 36 D . The phraseology here recalls 370 B and C.

ἢ οὕτω ῥᾴδιον : singular in spite of the plural τὰ περί. Cf. (with Schneider) Hipp. Maior 299 A, Laws 708 D.

τε καὶ ὀργάνων is ejected by Herwerden, who is also inclined to denounce τὰ ὄργανα below. But it is just these words which “point the analogy: the weapons of the warrior are his tools.” (J. and C.) On similarly inadequate grounds τῶν νέων has been condemned in Euthyph. 3 A τοὺς τῶν νέων τὰς βλάστας διαφθείροντας: see my note ad loc. τινος ἄλλης μάχης below refers for example to ψιλοί or πελτασταί; the ἀσπίς (it should be remembered) was worn by the ὁπλίτης (whence ἀσπίδα μὲν λαβὼν—ὁπλιτικῆς). The necessity of special knowledge and training for success in war is insisted on by the historical Socrates in Xen. Mem. III 1.

φυλάκων . This is the first occurrence of φύλακες in the technical sense which it bears throughout the Republic. It is important to remember that the name includes not only the soldiers, but also—after they have been introduced— the rulers; when it becomes necessary to distinguish between the two classes, the former are called ἐπίκουροι (first named in III 414 B), the latter φύλακες παντελεῖς (III 414 B), τέλεοι φύλακες (IV 428 D) or the like, or more commonly ἄρχοντες (first alluded to in III 389 B, but not expressly separated off until 412 B ff., and finally and fully described only in Books VI and VII).

ὅσον γ’ ἂν δύναμις παρείκῃ . The phrase is not found elsewhere in Plato, although παρείκει is found with a personal subject ( ὁ θεός, θεοί) again in Theaet. 150 D , Laws 934 C. Herwerden would eject δύναμις (cf. Symp. 187 E καθ’ ὅσον παρείκει), but such a word is very unlikely to have been interpolated. δύναμις is simply ‘our powers’: the article is omitted as in the idiomatic κατὰ δύναμιν, εἰς δύναμιν.

πλούτου δὲ οὐδέν and Liebhold ( Fl. Jahrb. 1888, p. 107)

κόσμου δὲ ἄλλο μὲν <ἔχοντ)> οὐδέν for τοῦτον δὲ ἄλλο μὲν οὐδέν. Neither of these proposals has any plausibility, and it is best to regard this as one of the places where we owe the right reading to Π .

Plato Republic 2.374

ed. John Burnet

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