Plato, Republic, ed. John Burnet, 2.381

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[381] οἷον σῶμα ὑπὸ σιτίων τε καὶ ποτῶν καὶ πόνων, καὶ πᾶν φυτὸν ὑπὸ εἱλήσεών τε καὶ ἀνέμων καὶ τῶν τοιούτων παθημάτων, οὐ τὸ ὑγιέστατον καὶ ἰσχυρότατον 381a ἥκιστα ἀλλοιοῦται;
πῶς δʼ οὔ;
ψυχὴν δὲ οὐ τὴν ἀνδρειοτάτην καὶ φρονιμωτάτην ἥκιστʼ ἄν τι ἔξωθεν πάθος ταράξειέν τε καὶ ἀλλοιώσειεν;
ναί.
καὶ μήν που καὶ τά γε σύνθετα πάντα σκεύη τε καὶ οἰκοδομήματα καὶ ἀμφιέσματα κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον τὰ εὖ εἰργασμένα καὶ εὖ ἔχοντα ὑπὸ χρόνου τε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων παθημάτων ἥκιστα ἀλλοιοῦται.
ἔστι δὴ ταῦτα. 381b
πᾶν δὴ τὸ καλῶς ἔχον ἢ φύσει ἢ τέχνῃ ἢ ἀμφοτέροις ἐλαχίστην μεταβολὴν ὑπʼ ἄλλου ἐνδέχεται.
ἔοικεν.
ἀλλὰ μὴν ὁ θεός γε καὶ τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ πάντῃ ἄριστα ἔχει.
πῶς δʼ οὔ;
ταύτῃ μὲν δὴ ἥκιστα ἂν πολλὰς μορφὰς ἴσχοι ὁ θεός.
ἥκιστα δῆτα.
ἀλλʼ ἆρα αὐτὸς αὑτὸν μεταβάλλοι ἂν καὶ ἀλλοιοῖ;
δῆλον, ἔφη, ὅτι, εἴπερ ἀλλοιοῦται.
πότερον οὖν ἐπὶ τὸ βέλτιόν τε καὶ κάλλιον μεταβάλλει ἑαυτὸν ἢ ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον καὶ τὸ αἴσχιον ἑαυτοῦ; 381c
ἀνάγκη, ἔφη, ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον, εἴπερ ἀλλοιοῦται· οὐ γάρ που ἐνδεᾶ γε φήσομεν τὸν θεὸν κάλλους ἢ ἀρετῆς εἶναι.
ὀρθότατα, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, λέγεις. καὶ οὕτως ἔχοντος δοκεῖ ἄν τίς σοι, ὦ Ἀδείμαντε, ἑκὼν αὑτὸν χείρω ποιεῖν ὁπῃοῦν ἢ θεῶν ἢ ἀνθρώπων;
ἀδύνατον, ἔφη.
ἀδύνατον ἄρα, ἔφην, καὶ θεῷ ἐθέλειν αὑτὸν ἀλλοιοῦν, ἀλλʼ ὡς ἔοικε, κάλλιστος καὶ ἄριστος ὢν εἰς τὸ δυνατὸν ἕκαστος αὐτῶν μένει ἀεὶ ἁπλῶς ἐν τῇ αὑτοῦ μορφῇ.
ἅπασα, ἔφη, ἀνάγκη ἔμοιγε δοκεῖ. 381d
μηδεὶς ἄρα, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, ὦ ἄριστε, λεγέτω ἡμῖν τῶν ποιητῶν, ὡς—

θεοὶ ξείνοισιν ἐοικότες ἀλλοδαποῖσι,

παντοῖοι τελέθοντες, ἐπιστρωφῶσι πόληας·

Hom. Od. 17.485-486 μηδὲ Πρωτέως καὶ Θέτιδος καταψευδέσθω μηδείς, μηδʼ ἐν τραγῳδίαις μηδʼ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις ποιήμασιν εἰσαγέτω Ἥραν ἠλλοιωμένην, ὡς ἱέρειαν ἀγείρουσαν—

Ἰνάχου Ἀργείου ποταμοῦ παισὶν βιοδώροις·

Aesch. 381e καὶ ἄλλα τοιαῦτα πολλὰ μὴ ἡμῖν ψευδέσθων. μηδʼ αὖ ὑπὸ τούτων ἀναπειθόμεναι αἱ μητέρες τὰ παιδία ἐκδειματούντων, λέγουσαι τοὺς μύθους κακῶς, ὡς ἄρα θεοί τινες περιέρχονται νύκτωρ πολλοῖς ξένοις καὶ παντοδαποῖς ἰνδαλλόμενοι, ἵνα μὴ ἅμα μὲν εἰς θεοὺς βλασφημῶσιν, ἅμα δὲ τοὺς παῖδας ἀπεργάζωνται δειλοτέρους.
μὴ γάρ, ἔφη.
ἀλλʼ ἆρα, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, αὐτοὶ μὲν οἱ θεοί εἰσιν οἷοι μὴ μεταβάλλειν, ἡμῖν δὲ ποιοῦσιν δοκεῖν σφᾶς παντοδαποὺς φαίνεσθαι, ἐξαπατῶντες καὶ γοητεύοντες;
ἴσως, ἔφη.

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).) — 2.381 focus

[381] as, for example, a body by food and drink and toil, and plants¹ by the heat of the sun and winds and similar influences—is it not true that the healthiest and strongest is least altered? 381a Certainly. And is it not the soul that is bravest and most intelligent, that would be least disturbed² and altered by any external affection? Yes. And, again, it is surely true of all composite implements, edifices, and habiliments, by parity of reasoning, that those which are well made and in good condition are least liable to be changed by time and other influences. That is so. It is universally³ true, then, that that which is in the best state by nature or 381b art or both admits least alteration by something else. So it seems. But God, surely, and everything that belongs to God is in every way in the best possible state. Of course. From this point of view, then, it would be least of all likely that there would be many forms in God. Least indeed.
But would he transform and alter himself? Obviously, he said, if he is altered. Then does he change himself for the better and to something fairer, or for the worse⁴ and to something uglier than himself? 381c It must necessarily, said he, be for the worse if he is changed. For we surely will not say that God is deficient in either beauty or excellence. Most rightly spoken, said I. And if that were his condition, do you think, Adeimantus, that any one god or man would of his own will worsen himself in any way? Impossible, he replied. It is impossible then, said I, even for a god to wish to alter himself, but, as it appears, each of them being the fairest and best possible abides⁵ for ever simply in his own form. An absolutely necessary conclusion to my thinking. No poet then, 381d I said, my good friend, must be allowed to tell us that

The gods, in the likeness of strangers,

Many disguises assume as they visit the cities of mortals.

Hom. Od. 17.485-486 ⁶ Nor must anyone tell falsehoods about Proteus⁷ and Thetis, nor in any tragedy or in other poems bring in Hera disguised as a priestess collecting alms

for the life-giving sons of Inachus, the Argive stream.

Aesch. ⁸ 381e And many similar falsehoods they must not tell. Nor again must mothers under the influence of such poets terrify their children⁹ with harmful tales, how that there are certain gods whose apparitions haunt the night in the likeness of many strangers from all manner of lands, lest while they speak evil of the gods they at the same time make cowards of children. They must not, he said. But, said I, may we suppose that while the gods themselves are incapable of change they cause us to fancy that they appear in many shapes deceiving and practising magic upon us? Perhaps, said he.

Commentary

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

καὶ ἀμφιέσματα . See cr. n. and Introd. § 5.

ἀνάγκη : sc. ἐστίν. For ἔμοιγε δοκεῖ without ὡς see on I 332 E. Hartman needlessly suggests ἔμοιγε δοκεῖν.

θεοὶ ‐‐ πόληας . Od. XVII 485 f. Cf. Nägelsbach Hom. Theol. pp. 166—168.

Πρωτέως καὶ Θέτιδος . For Proteus see Od. IV 456—458. Aeschylus also wrote a satyric drama called Proteus: Fragg. 208—213. The transformations of Thetis to escape marrying Peleus had been celebrated by Pindar ( Nem. IV 62 ff.), Sophocles ( Fr. 548), perhaps also (as Stallbaum thinks) by Hesiod in his ἐπιθαλάμιον εἰς Πηλέα καὶ Θέτιν (see Goettling's Hesiod pp. XLIX and 304).

ὡς ἱέρειαν ‐‐ βιοδώροις : from Aesch. Ξαντρίαι (Schol. on Ar. Frogs 1344 ). Dindorf ( Aesch. Fr. 170 ) restores as follows: ὀρεσσιγόνοισι | Νύμφαις κρηνιάσιν κυδραῖσι θεαῖσιν ἀγείρω, | Ἰνάχου Ἀργείου ποταμοῦ παισὶν βιοδώροις. Herwerden's βιοδώρου is a wanton change: the sons of the river-god are his tributaries, and lifegiving like himself. It is not clear why Hera was disguised as a priestess. The incident in Inachus' history most suited to dramatic treatment was the persecution of his daughter Io by Hera in consequence of her intrigue with Zeus. As Io was a priestess of Hera, Hera may have disguised herself as another priestess in order to discover her husband's unfaithfulness: see Apollod. Bibl. II 1. 3 φωραθεὶς δὲ (sc. ὁ Ζεὺς) ὑφ’ Ἥρας, τῆς μὲν κόρης ἁψάμενος εἰς βοῦν μετεμόρφωσε λευκήν, αὐτὴν δὲ ἀπωμόσατο μὴ συνελθεῖν. The subject seems to have been treated by Sophocles in his satyric drama Inachus ( Fragg. 255—278). With ὡς ἱέρειαν ἀγείρουσαν cf. ἀγύρται in 364 B and note ad loc.

τοιαῦτα πολλά . For examples see Heyne's Virgil II pp. 146— 152 (cited by Ast on 381 D). πολλὰ ψεύδονται ἀοιδοί. said the proverb.

κακῶς : like οὐ καλῶς 377 E.

ὡς ‐‐ ἰνδαλλόμενοι . ἄρα expresses incredulity (358 C note) and τινες contempt. Plato is thinking, inter alia, of the bugbears of the nursery—Lamia, Mormo, and Empusa, whose power of self-transformation was unlimited: see Blaydes on Ar. Frogs 293 . ξένοις need not here be limited to the masculine gender. Cf. Strab. I 19 παισὶ προσφέρομεν—εἰς ἀποτροπὴν—τοὺς φοβεροὺς ( μύθους). ἥ τε γὰρ Λαμία μῦθός ἐστι καὶ ἡ Γοργὼ καὶ ὁ Ἐφιάλτης καὶ ἡ Μορμολύκη.

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 2.381

ed. John Burnet

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