Plato, Republic, ed. John Burnet, 4.442

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[442]
ἆρʼ οὖν οὐχ, ὥσπερ ἐλέγομεν, μουσικῆς καὶ γυμναστικῆς κρᾶσις σύμφωνα αὐτὰ ποιήσει, τὸ μὲν ἐπιτείνουσα καὶ 442a τρέφουσα λόγοις τε καλοῖς καὶ μαθήμασιν, τὸ δὲ ἀνιεῖσα παραμυθουμένη, ἡμεροῦσα ἁρμονίᾳ τε καὶ ῥυθμῷ;
κομιδῇ γε, ἦ δʼ ὅς.
καὶ τούτω δὴ οὕτω τραφέντε καὶ ὡς ἀληθῶς τὰ αὑτῶν μαθόντε καὶ παιδευθέντε προστήσεσθον τοῦ ἐπιθυμητικοῦ—ὃ δὴ πλεῖστον τῆς ψυχῆς ἐν ἑκάστῳ ἐστὶ καὶ χρημάτων φύσει ἀπληστότατον—ὃ τηρήσετον μὴ τῷ πίμπλασθαι τῶν περὶ τὸ σῶμα καλουμένων ἡδονῶν πολὺ καὶ ἰσχυρὸν γενόμενον 442b οὐκ αὖ τὰ αὑτοῦ πράττῃ, ἀλλὰ καταδουλώσασθαι καὶ ἄρχειν ἐπιχειρήσῃ ὧν οὐ προσῆκον αὐτῷ γένει, καὶ σύμπαντα τὸν βίον πάντων ἀνατρέψῃ.
πάνυ μὲν οὖν, ἔφη.
ἆρʼ οὖν, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, καὶ τοὺς ἔξωθεν πολεμίους τούτω ἂν κάλλιστα φυλαττοίτην ὑπὲρ ἁπάσης τῆς ψυχῆς τε καὶ τοῦ σώματος, τὸ μὲν βουλευόμενον, τὸ δὲ προπολεμοῦν, ἑπόμενον δὲ τῷ ἄρχοντι καὶ τῇ ἀνδρείᾳ ἐπιτελοῦν τὰ βουλευθέντα;
ἔστι ταῦτα.
καὶ ἀνδρεῖον δὴ οἶμαι τούτῳ τῷ μέρει καλοῦμεν ἕνα 442c ἕκαστον, ὅταν αὐτοῦ τὸ θυμοειδὲς διασῴζῃ διά τε λυπῶν καὶ ἡδονῶν τὸ ὑπὸ τῶν λόγων παραγγελθὲν δεινόν τε καὶ μή.
ὀρθῶς γʼ, ἔφη.
σοφὸν δέ γε ἐκείνῳ τῷ σμικρῷ μέρει, τῷ ὃ ἦρχέν τʼ ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ ταῦτα παρήγγελλεν, ἔχον αὖ κἀκεῖνο ἐπιστήμην ἐν αὑτῷ τὴν τοῦ συμφέροντος ἑκάστῳ τε καὶ ὅλῳ τῷ κοινῷ σφῶν αὐτῶν τριῶν ὄντων.
πάνυ μὲν οὖν.
τί δέ; σώφρονα οὐ τῇ φιλίᾳ καὶ συμφωνίᾳ τῇ αὐτῶν τούτων, ὅταν τό τε ἄρχον καὶ τὼ ἀρχομένω τὸ λογιστικὸν 442d ὁμοδοξῶσι δεῖν ἄρχειν καὶ μὴ στασιάζωσιν αὐτῷ;
σωφροσύνη γοῦν, ἦ δʼ ὅς, οὐκ ἄλλο τί ἐστιν ἢ τοῦτο, πόλεώς τε καὶ ἰδιώτου.
ἀλλὰ μὲν δὴ δίκαιός γε, ᾧ πολλάκις λέγομεν, τούτῳ καὶ οὕτως ἔσται.
πολλὴ ἀνάγκη.
τί οὖν; εἶπον ἐγώ· μή πῃ ἡμῖν ἀπαμβλύνεται ἄλλο τι δικαιοσύνη δοκεῖν εἶναι ἢ ὅπερ ἐν τῇ πόλει ἐφάνη;
οὐκ ἔμοιγε, ἔφη, δοκεῖ.
ὧδε γάρ, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, παντάπασιν ἂν βεβαιωσαίμεθα 442e εἴ τι ἡμῶν ἔτι ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ ἀμφισβητεῖ, τὰ φορτικὰ αὐτῷ προσφέροντες.
ποῖα δή;

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).) — 4.442 focus

[442] Then is it not, as we said,¹ the blending of music and gymnastics that will render them concordant, intensifying 442a and fostering the one with fair words and teachings and relaxing and soothing and making gentle the other by harmony and rhythm? Quite so, said he. And these two thus reared and having learned and been educated to do their own work in the true sense of the phrase,² will preside over the appetitive part which is the mass³ of the soul in each of us and the most insatiate by nature of wealth. They will keep watch upon it, lest, by being filled and infected with the so-called pleasures associated with the body⁴ and so waxing big and strong, it may not keep to⁵ its own work 442b but may undertake to enslave and rule over the classes which it is not fitting⁶ that it should, and so overturn⁷ the entire life of all. By all means, he said. Would not these two, then, best keep guard against enemies from without⁸ also in behalf of the entire soul and body, the one taking counsel,⁹ the other giving battle, attending upon the ruler, and by its courage executing the ruler’s designs? That is so. Brave, too, then, I take it, we call 442c each individual by virtue of this part in him, when, namely, his high spirit preserves in the midst of pains and pleasures¹⁰ the rule handed down by the reason as to what is or is not to be feared. Right, he said. But wise by that small part that¹¹ ruled in him and handed down these commands, by its possession¹² in turn within it of the knowledge of what is beneficial for each and for the whole, the community composed of the three. By all means. And again, was he not sober 442d by reason of the friendship and concord of these same parts, when, namely, the ruling principle and its two subjects are at one in the belief that the reason ought to rule, and do not raise faction against it? The virtue of soberness certainly, said he, is nothing else than this, whether in a city or an individual. But surely, now, a man is just by that which and in the way we have so often¹³ described. That is altogether necessary. Well then, said I, has our idea of justice in any way lost the edge¹⁴ of its contour so as to look like anything else than precisely what it showed itself to be in the state? I think not, he said. 442e We might, I said, completely confirm your reply and our own conviction thus, if anything in our minds still disputes our definition—by applying commonplace and vulgar¹⁵ tests to it. What are these?

Commentary

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

ἀνλεῖσα κτλ. : ‘slackening the other by soothing address, taming it,’ etc. The three participles are not coordinate, but παραμυθουμένη explains the action of ἀνιεῖσα. It is unnecessary to desert the best MSS (as I once did) and read ἀνιεῖσα, παραμυθουμένη καὶ ἡμεροῦσα with Ξ v and the older editors.

προστατήσετον κτλ. Bekker's emendation—see cr. n.—is now generally accepted. τούτω means λογιστικόν and θυμοειδές: so also in B below. On ὃ δὴ πλεῖστον etc. see II 379 C note

καλουμένων κτλ. καλουμένων is said because such pleasures are no true pleasures: cf. I 336 A note and (for the implication itself) IX 583 B ff., Phil. 36 C ff. On οὐκ αὖ see 426 E note The imagery of this passage suggests that the ἐπιθυμητικόν is a sort of θηρίον: cf. IX 588 E ff.

ὧν ‐‐ γένει : sc. ἄρχειν. “Dativus causam indicat, cur tertiae parti non conveniat duabus reliquis praeesse et imperare, eamque in ipsius genere et indole positam demonstrat” (Schneider). If this is the meaning, we should expect φύσει rather than γένει. Perhaps Plato wrote γενῶν (so q Flor. U, Stallbaum etc.): cf. γένη in 441 C. To προσῆκον Campbell prefers προσῆκεν, but the present ( προσῆκον sc. ἐστίν) is better here.

φυλαττοίτην . The two higher parts of soul are to be φύλακες both of the lower part and (in a different sense) ‘also’ ( καί) ‘of external enemies’: cf. III 415 D, E. Dobree's φυλαττοίσθην fails to give its proper force to καί before τοὺς ἔξωθεν. For φυλάττω used in this way cf. II 367 A οὐκ ἂν ἀλλήλους ἐφυλάττομεν μη ἀδικεῖν, ἀλλ’ αὐτὸς αὑτοῦ ἦν ἕκαστος φύλαξ.

ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου . In this particular the analogy between the city and the soul is not quite exact, otherwise it would be the rulers in the city who prescribe τὸ δεινόν τε καὶ μή, whereas it is the legislator (see on ὁ νομοθέτης 429 C). This point is emphasized, perhaps unduly so, by Krohn ( Pl. St. p. 43). Unless Plato made the Deity the οἰκιστής of the soul, as the original legislator is of the city, it was impossible for him to avoid placing the λογιστικόν in a position of even greater authority than the rulers. In Books VI and VII the inequality is redressed by making the power of the Rulers in the city commensurate with that of λόγος in the soul: see VI 497 C note

ἦρχέν τε κτλ. : ‘ruled within him and issued these instructions.’ The imperfect is used because the instructions must be given before they can be obeyed by θυμοειδές, as described in the last sentence. J. and C. say that ἦρχε refers to 428 E; but Plato is not there speaking of the individual, only of the State. Although a reference to 439 C or 441 E is barely possible, it is much simpler to regard the imperfect as real, and not ‘philosophic.’ See above on III 406 E. Schneider, to judge from his translation, takes the same view. With σμικρῷ μέρει cf. Arist. Eth. Nic. X 7. 1177^{b} 34 ff. εἰ γὰρ καὶ τῷ ὄγκῳ μικρόν ἐστι (sc. τὸ κράτιστον τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ) κτλ.

αὖ κἀκεῖνο κτλ. αὖ καί has been interpreted (1) as implying that the θυμοειδές also has a sort of knowledge: cf. 429 C and 439 E note: (2) as ‘like the rulers in the State’: cf. 428 B ff. The first view is slightly more natural on linguistic grounds, but I think Plato would hardly have attributed ἐπιστήμη in any shape to the θυμοειδές. Probably (2) is right, for the analogy between the city and the soul is in Plato's mind all through this section: see 441 C, D, and 442 D.

ᾧ πολλάκις κτλ. : ‘in virtue of our oft-repeated maxim and in that way’: i.e. τῷ τὰ αὑτοῦ πράττειν. Ficinus seems to have read καὶ ὡς after λέγομεν. At first sight καὶ οὔτως appears to demand the insertion; but Plato is speaking with less formality and precision than in 441 C, D. The reading of Vind. E καὶ οὗτος (for καὶ οὔτως), i.e. ‘the individual, as well as the city,’ is attractive, but unnecessary. Hartman proposes ᾧ <πόλιν> πολλάκις <ἐ> λέγομεν, τούτῳ καὶ οὗτος ἔσται, a solution which will commend itself to few.

μή πῃ ‐‐ εἶναι . ‘Do we find Justice growing dimmer in any way? Does it appear something different from what it was discovered to be in the city?’ lit. ‘blunted, so as to appear’ etc. In the language of 434 D (to which Socrates' question refers) Justice has now ‘passed into’ the Individual; and no feature has been blunted, or lost its clearness of outline. We are therefore confirmed in our view of Justice, both civic and individual. Hartman would read ἀπήμβλυνται, taking ἡμῖν as ‘by us,’ but the present is more expressive, and (with ἡμῖν) represents us as in a certain sense spectators of the selfevolution of Justice: cf. ἐὰν μὲν ἡμῖν καὶ εἰς ἕνα ἰὸν τὸ εἶδος τοῦτο κτλ. 434 D. ἀπαμβλύνεται=‘retunditur’ (Schneider).

τὰ φορτικά . Plato tests his view of Justice by four criteria taken as it were de foro and turning on various popular associations of the word: cf. IX 573 B ff. Of these the first three are concerned with honesty and trustworthiness in public and private life; while the last ( μοιχεῖαι—ἀθεραπευσίαι) refers to morality in general, including the service of the gods. Taken together, they sum up the leading features of the perfect character, and shew that Plato's conception of private, as of political, Justice is in reality Righteousness or Moral Perfection, whereof the other virtues are the fruit. Plato's innovation lay in interpreting Righteousness as τὰ αὑτοῦ πράττειν, or rather in the peculiar meaning which he attached to this phrase: see on 434 C and infra 443 B note

παρακαταθήκην χρυσίου κτλ. Honesty and truthfulness were generally recognised as characteristic of the δίκαιος ἀνήρ: see the passages collected by Nägelsbach Nachhom. Theol. pp. 240—246.

τοῦτο αὐτόν . See cr. n. “Fortasse Plato τοῦτον αὐτό scripsit” (Schneider).

Plato Republic 4.442

ed. John Burnet

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