Plato, Republic, ed. John Burnet, 6.500

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[500] ἢ καὶ ἐὰν οὕτω θεῶνται, ἀλλοίαν τοι φήσεις αὐτοὺς δόξαν λήψεσθαι καὶ ἄλλα ἀποκρινεῖσθαι. ἢ οἴει τινὰ χαλεπαίνειν τῷ μὴ χαλεπῷ ἢ φθονεῖν τῷ μὴ φθονερῷ ἄφθονόν τε καὶ πρᾷον ὄντα; ἐγὼ μὲν γάρ σε προφθάσας λέγω ὅτι ἐν ὀλίγοις τισὶν ἡγοῦμαι, ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἐν τῷ πλήθει, χαλεπὴν οὕτω φύσιν γίγνεσθαι.
καὶ ἐγὼ ἀμέλει, ἔφη, συνοίομαι. 500b
οὐκοῦν καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο συνοίει, τοῦ χαλεπῶς πρὸς φιλοσοφίαν τοὺς πολλοὺς διακεῖσθαι ἐκείνους αἰτίους εἶναι τοὺς ἔξωθεν οὐ προσῆκον ἐπεισκεκωμακότας, λοιδορουμένους τε αὑτοῖς καὶ φιλαπεχθημόνως ἔχοντας καὶ ἀεὶ περὶ ἀνθρώπων τοὺς λόγους ποιουμένους, ἥκιστα φιλοσοφίᾳ πρέπον ποιοῦντας;
πολύ γʼ, ἔφη.
οὐδὲ γάρ που, ὦ Ἀδείμαντε, σχολὴ τῷ γε ὡς ἀληθῶς πρὸς τοῖς οὖσι τὴν διάνοιαν ἔχοντι κάτω βλέπειν εἰς ἀνθρώπων 500c πραγματείας, καὶ μαχόμενον αὐτοῖς φθόνου τε καὶ δυσμενείας ἐμπίμπλασθαι, ἀλλʼ εἰς τεταγμένα ἄττα καὶ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἀεὶ ἔχοντα ὁρῶντας καὶ θεωμένους οὔτʼ ἀδικοῦντα οὔτʼ ἀδικούμενα ὑπʼ ἀλλήλων, κόσμῳ δὲ πάντα καὶ κατὰ λόγον ἔχοντα, ταῦτα μιμεῖσθαί τε καὶ ὅτι μάλιστα ἀφομοιοῦσθαι. ἢ οἴει τινὰ μηχανὴν εἶναι, ὅτῳ τις ὁμιλεῖ ἀγάμενος, μὴ μιμεῖσθαι ἐκεῖνο;
ἀδύνατον, ἔφη.
θείῳ δὴ καὶ κοσμίῳ ὅ γε φιλόσοφος ὁμιλῶν κόσμιός τε 500d καὶ θεῖος εἰς τὸ δυνατὸν ἀνθρώπῳ γίγνεται· διαβολὴ δʼ ἐν πᾶσι πολλή.
παντάπασι μὲν οὖν.
ἂν οὖν τις, εἶπον, αὐτῷ ἀνάγκη γένηται ἃ ἐκεῖ ὁρᾷ μελετῆσαι εἰς ἀνθρώπων ἤθη καὶ ἰδίᾳ καὶ δημοσίᾳ τιθέναι καὶ μὴ μόνον ἑαυτὸν πλάττειν, ἆρα κακὸν δημιουργὸν αὐτὸν οἴει γενήσεσθαι σωφροσύνης τε καὶ δικαιοσύνης καὶ συμπάσης τῆς δημοτικῆς ἀρετῆς;
ἥκιστά γε, ἦ δʼ ὅς.
ἀλλʼ ἐὰν δὴ αἴσθωνται οἱ πολλοὶ ὅτι ἀληθῆ περὶ αὐτοῦ 500e λέγομεν, χαλεπανοῦσι δὴ τοῖς φιλοσόφοις καὶ ἀπιστήσουσιν ἡμῖν λέγουσιν ὡς οὐκ ἄν ποτε ἄλλως εὐδαιμονήσειε πόλις, εἰ μὴ αὐτὴν διαγράψειαν οἱ τῷ θείῳ παραδείγματι χρώμενοι ζωγράφοι;
οὐ χαλεπανοῦσιν, ἦ δʼ ὅς, ἐάνπερ αἴσθωνται.

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).) — 6.500 focus

[500] Or even if they do look at them in that way, are you still going to deny that they will change their opinion and answer differently? Or do you think that anyone is ungentle to the gentle or grudging to the ungrudging if he himself is ungrudging¹ and mild? I will anticipate you and reply that I think that only in some few and not in the mass of mankind is so ungentle or harsh a temper to be found. And I, you may be assured, 500b he said, concur. And do you not also concur² in this very point that the blame for this harsh attitude of the many towards philosophy falls on that riotous crew who have burst in³ where they do not belong, wrangling with one another,⁴ filled with spite⁵ and always talking about persons,⁶ a thing least befitting philosophy? Least of all, indeed, he said.
For surely, Adeimantus, the man whose mind is truly fixed on eternal realities⁷ has no leisure 500c to turn his eyes downward upon the petty affairs of men, and so engaging in strife with them to be filled with envy and hate, but he fixes his gaze upon the things of the eternal and unchanging order, and seeing that they neither wrong nor are wronged by one another, but all abide in harmony as reason bids, he will endeavor to imitate them and, as far as may be, to fashion himself in their likeness and assimilate⁸ himself to them. Or do you think it possible not to imitate the things to which anyone attaches himself with admiration? Impossible, he said. Then the lover of wisdom 500d associating with the divine order will himself become orderly and divine in the measure permitted to man.⁹ But calumny¹⁰ is plentiful everywhere. Yes, truly. If, then, I said, some compulsion¹¹ is laid upon him to practise stamping on the plastic matter of human nature in public and private the patterns that he visions there,¹² and not merely to mould¹³ and fashion himself, do you think he will prove a poor craftsman¹⁴ of sobriety and justice and all forms of ordinary civic virtue¹⁵? By no means, he said. But if the multitude become aware 500e that what we are saying of the philosopher is true, will they still be harsh with philosophers, and will they distrust our statement that no city could ever be blessed unless its lineaments were traced¹⁶ by artists who used the heavenly model? They will not be harsh, 501a he said, if they perceive that.

Commentary

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

τοὺς ἔξωθεν κτλ. Isocrates seems to have taken this as a personal attack, as perhaps it was intended to be. His reply may be found in Antid. 260 ff. περὶ τοὺς πολιτικοὺς λόγους ἡμεῖς ὄντες, οὓς ἐκεῖνοί φασιν εἶναι φιλαπεχθήμονας (cf. φιλαπεχθημόνως ἔχοντας here), πολὺ πραότεροι τυγχάνομεν αὐτῶν ὄντες· οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀεί τι περὶ ἡμῶν φλαῦρον λέγουσιν, ἐγὼ δ’ οὐδὲν ἂν εἴποιμι τοιοῦτον, ἀλλὰ ταῖς ἀληθείαις χρήσομαι περὶ αὐτῶν κτλ. See the interesting discussion in Dümmler l.c. pp. 8 ff.

αὑτοῖς and not αὐτοῖς is certainly what Plato wrote. False philosophers, like bad scholars, are always abusing one another. The middle, which is reciprocal, is also decisive in favour of αὑτοῖς: cf. Charm. 154 A λοιδορουμένους ἀλλήλοις. J. and C. (with Stallbaum and the editors generally, except Schneider) read αὐτοῖς, remarking that “it was by no means an uncommon practice of the old philosophers to abuse the people.” Plato is not speaking of the old philosophers at all, but only of sophists and pretenders, who do not abuse, but flatter and cajole the people (493 A ff.).

ἀεὶ περὶ ἀνθρώπων κτλ. The seeker after Truth does not indulge in personalities (cf. Arist. Eth. Nic. IV 9. 1125^{a} 5 ff. and Rhet. II 4. 1381^{b} 7), or scandal ( Theaet. 173 D : cf. 174 E ff.). His singleminded pursuit of Truth leaves him neither time nor inclination to talk about people.

πολύ γε : sc. ἥκιστα. Adimantus accommodates his answer to the last clause of Socrates' question. See on V 465 E.

σχολή . Cf. Theaet. 172 D ff.

Plato Republic 6.500

ed. John Burnet

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