Plato, Republic, ed. John Burnet, 7.519

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[519] ἢ οὔπω ἐννενόηκας, τῶν λεγομένων πονηρῶν μέν, σοφῶν δέ, ὡς δριμὺ μὲν βλέπει τὸ ψυχάριον καὶ ὀξέως διορᾷ ταῦτα ἐφʼ ἃ τέτραπται, ὡς οὐ φαύλην ἔχον τὴν ὄψιν, κακίᾳ δʼ ἠναγκασμένον ὑπηρετεῖν, ὥστε ὅσῳ ἂν ὀξύτερον βλέπῃ, τοσούτῳ πλείω κακὰ ἐργαζόμενον;
πάνυ μὲν οὖν, ἔφη.
τοῦτο μέντοι, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, τὸ τῆς τοιαύτης φύσεως εἰ ἐκ παιδὸς εὐθὺς κοπτόμενον περιεκόπη τὰς τῆς γενέσεως 519b συγγενεῖς ὥσπερ μολυβδίδας, αἳ δὴ ἐδωδαῖς τε καὶ τοιούτων ἡδοναῖς τε καὶ λιχνείαις προσφυεῖς γιγνόμεναι περὶ κάτω στρέφουσι τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ὄψιν· ὧν εἰ ἀπαλλαγὲν περιεστρέφετο εἰς τὰ ἀληθῆ, καὶ ἐκεῖνα ἂν τὸ αὐτὸ τοῦτο τῶν αὐτῶν ἀνθρώπων ὀξύτατα ἑώρα, ὥσπερ καὶ ἐφʼ ἃ νῦν τέτραπται.
εἰκός γε, ἔφη.
τί δέ; τόδε οὐκ εἰκός, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, καὶ ἀνάγκη ἐκ τῶν προειρημένων, μήτε τοὺς ἀπαιδεύτους καὶ ἀληθείας ἀπείρους 519c ἱκανῶς ἄν ποτε πόλιν ἐπιτροπεῦσαι, μήτε τοὺς ἐν παιδείᾳ ἐωμένους διατρίβειν διὰ τέλους, τοὺς μὲν ὅτι σκοπὸν ἐν τῷ βίῳ οὐκ ἔχουσιν ἕνα, οὗ στοχαζομένους δεῖ ἅπαντα πράττειν ἃ ἂν πράττωσιν ἰδίᾳ τε καὶ δημοσίᾳ, τοὺς δὲ ὅτι ἑκόντες εἶναι οὐ πράξουσιν, ἡγούμενοι ἐν μακάρων νήσοις ζῶντες ἔτι ἀπῳκίσθαι;
ἀληθῆ, ἔφη.
ἡμέτερον δὴ ἔργον, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, τῶν οἰκιστῶν τάς τε βελτίστας φύσεις ἀναγκάσαι ἀφικέσθαι πρὸς τὸ μάθημα ὃ ἐν τῷ πρόσθεν ἔφαμεν εἶναι μέγιστον, ἰδεῖν τε τὸ ἀγαθὸν 519d καὶ ἀναβῆναι ἐκείνην τὴν ἀνάβασιν, καὶ ἐπειδὰν ἀναβάντες ἱκανῶς ἴδωσι, μὴ ἐπιτρέπειν αὐτοῖς ὃ νῦν ἐπιτρέπεται.
τὸ ποῖον δή;
τὸ αὐτοῦ, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, καταμένειν καὶ μὴ ἐθέλειν πάλιν καταβαίνειν παρʼ ἐκείνους τοὺς δεσμώτας μηδὲ μετέχειν τῶν παρʼ ἐκείνοις πόνων τε καὶ τιμῶν, εἴτε φαυλότεραι εἴτε σπουδαιότεραι.
ἔπειτʼ, ἔφη, ἀδικήσομεν αὐτούς, καὶ ποιήσομεν χεῖρον ζῆν, δυνατὸν αὐτοῖς ὂν ἄμεινον; 519e
ἐπελάθου, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, πάλιν, ὦ φίλε, ὅτι νόμῳ οὐ τοῦτο μέλει, ὅπως ἕν τι γένος ἐν πόλει διαφερόντως εὖ πράξει, ἀλλʼ ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ πόλει τοῦτο μηχανᾶται ἐγγενέσθαι, συναρμόττων τοὺς πολίτας πειθοῖ τε καὶ ἀνάγκῃ, ποιῶν μεταδιδόναι 520a ἀλλήλοις τῆς ὠφελίας ἣν ἂν ἕκαστοι τὸ κοινὸν δυνατοὶ ὦσιν ὠφελεῖν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐμποιῶν τοιούτους ἄνδρας ἐν τῇ πόλει, οὐχ ἵνα ἀφιῇ τρέπεσθαι ὅπῃ ἕκαστος βούλεται, ἀλλʼ ἵνα καταχρῆται αὐτὸς αὐτοῖς ἐπὶ τὸν σύνδεσμον τῆς πόλεως.

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).) — 7.519 focus

[519] Have you never observed in those who are popularly spoken of as bad, but smart men,¹ how keen is the vision of the little soul,² how quick it is to discern the things that interest it,³ a proof that it is not a poor vision which it has, but one forcibly enlisted in the service of evil, so that the sharper its sight the more mischief it accomplishes?” “I certainly have,” he said. “Observe then,” said I, “that this part of such a soul, if it had been hammered from childhood, and had thus been struck free⁴ of the leaden weights, so to speak, of our birth 519b and becoming, which attaching themselves to it by food and similar pleasures and gluttonies turn downwards the vision of the soul⁵—If, I say, freed from these, it had suffered a conversion towards the things that are real and true, that same faculty of the same men would have been most keen in its vision of the higher things, just as it is for the things toward which it is now turned.” “It is likely,” he said. “Well, then,” said I, “is not this also likely⁶ and a necessary consequence of what has been said, that neither could men who are uneducated and inexperienced in truth ever adequately 519c preside over a state, nor could those who had been permitted to linger on to the end in the pursuit of culture—the one because they have no single aim⁷ and purpose in life to which all their actions, public and private, must be directed, and the others, because they will not voluntarily engage in action, believing that while still living they have been transported to the Islands of the Blest.⁸” True, he said. “It is the duty of us, the founders, then,” said I, “to compel the best natures to attain the knowledge which we pronounced the greatest, and to win to the vision of the good, 519d to scale that ascent, and when they have reached the heights and taken an adequate view, we must not allow what is now permitted.” “What is that?” “That they should linger there,” I said, “and refuse to go down again⁹ among those bondsmen and share their labors and honors, whether they are of less or of greater worth.” “Do you mean to say that we must do them this wrong, and compel them to live an inferior life when the better is in their power?” 519e
“You have again forgotten,¹⁰ my friend,” said I, “that the law is not concerned with the special happiness of any class in the state, but is trying to produce this condition¹¹ in the city as a whole, harmonizing and adapting the citizens to one another by persuasion and compulsion,¹² and requiring them to impart to one another any benefit¹³ 520a which they are severally able to bestow upon the community, and that it itself creates such men in the state, not that it may allow each to take what course pleases him, but with a view to using them for the binding together of the commonwealth.”

Commentary

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

ὧν εἰ ἀπαλλαγὲν κτλ. For the anacoluthon cf. Laws 810 D, E (Engelhardt Anac. Pl. Spec. III p. 37). Cobet gratuitously adds τά before ἐφ’ ἅ. Cf. 519 A note With the sentiment cf. VI 491 C, D notes, 494 C ff. notes Plato may well be thinking of Alcibiades again. The present passage is a conspicuous proof of the almost boundless influence which Plato ascribed to education, when applied to gifted natures.

σκοπὸν ‐‐ ἕνα κτλ. The εἷς σκοπός of Plato's guardians is the Idea of Good, which is therefore clearly not only a metaphysical but also an ethical concept—the goal of conduct as well as the ultimate cause of knowledge and existence. Cf. 540 A and App. III.

ἑκόντες εἶναι . I 336 E note

τῶν οἰκιστῶν =‘the founders’ is in explanatory apposition with ἡμέτερον .

ἐν τῷ πρόσθεν . VI 505 A.

ἰδεῖν τε κτλ. depends on ἀναγκάσαι and explains ἀφικέσθαι—μέγιστον (J. and C.). τε balances καί before ἀναβῆναι. This explanation is better than to regard τε as ‘and’ (with Schneider and D. and V.).

ἔπειτα and ε<*>τα are used like our ‘what!’ in indignant or quasi-indignant questions. Cf. Gorg. 466 C , Ap. 28 B and elsewhere, with Blaydes on Ar. Av. 911 .

ἐπελάθου κτλ. πάλιν does not mean that Glauco has forgotten twice, but only that he remembered before. The emphasis falls on ἐπελάθου rather than on πάλιν. Plato is thinking of V 466 A, where Glauco says μέμνημαι when challenged on this point. To this explanation, which he gives as an alternative, Schneider inclines to prefer the view which sees in πάλιν a reference directly to IV 419 A ff. But the interlocutor there is Adimantus, not Glauco, and even Adimantus in IV could not strictly be said to forget what Socrates for the first time expressly asserts (IV 420 B οὐ μὴν πρὸς τοῦτο—ἡ πόλις) in reply to Adimantus' difficulties.

νόμῳ is the reading of all the best MSS, and was restored by Schneider for νομοθέτῃ. Law is personified throughout the whole sentence: cf. (with Schneider) Tim. 24 B . νομοθέτῃ gives a good sense, but is weaker than νόμῳ: Law, we feel, is free from selfishness and partiality, but a legislator need not be.

ἐπὶ τὸν ξύνδεσμον is not ‘so as to be the bond of the State’ (as J. and C. suggest), but ‘for binding the city together,’ with reference to ξυναρμόττων τοὺς πολίτας. Cf. Laws 921 C.

τοίνυν =‘further’ (I 339 D note). Socrates has not yet replied to Glauco's indignant ἀδικήσομεν αὐτούς; but proceeds to do so now.

οὐδ’ ἀδικήσομεν : (besides what I have just said) we shall not be wronging them either. οὐδέ is used in the same way in Euthyph. 12 A and Laws 673 C. δέ in οὐδέ cannot mean ‘in spite of what you say’ (as J. and C. imagine).

ὥσπερ ἐν σμήνεσιν κτλ. is probably a Socratic comparison: cf. Xen. Cyr. V 1. 24 (quoted by Ast) βασιλεὺς μὲν γὰρ ἔμοιγε δοκεῖς σὺ πεφυκέναι οὐδὲν ἧττον ἢ ὁ ἐν τῷ σμήνει φυόμενος τῶν μελιττῶν ἡγεμών. See also Pöhlmann Gesch. d. ant. Komm. p. 134 note

ἀμφοτέρων : “et publicorum negotiorum et philosophiae” Stallbaum. Cf. Gorg. 485 A ἀλλ), ο<*>μαι, τὸ ὀρθότατόν ἐστιν ἀμφοτέρων μετασχεῖν. Is the θεωρητικός or the πρακτικὸς βίος the better? It is clear that the subject was often debated in Plato's time: see the fragments of Euripides' Antiope in Pl. Gorg. 484 E ff. and Arist. Eth. Nic. I 3. 1095^{b} 17 ff., X 7. 1177^{a} 12 ff. If we contrast them with each other, Plato would reply, the θεωρητικός easily wins the prize, but under the existing conditions of human nature the best life is a combination of both. The practical statesman must derive his inspiration from θεωρία, and experience of affairs is an advantage as well as a duty to the thinker. Cf. VI 496 D—497 A notes

ξυνεθιζόμενοι κτλ. Cf. 518 A note

εἴδωλα . 517 D note The word is here used quite generally of all the idols of Plato's cave. “We have risen to a point of view from which the σκευαστά and the σκιαί are included under one notion as εἴδωλα” (J. and C.).

ὕπαρ κτλ. Cf. V 476 C. The Homeric line οὐκ ὄναρ, ἀλλ) ὕπαρ <*>σθλόν, ὅ τοι τετελεσμένον ἔσται ( Od. 19. 547) is in Plato's mind, though ὕπαρ and ὄναρ are here adverbial accusatives (cf. Cobet V. L.^{2} pp. 523 ff.).

σκιαμαχούντων : ‘fighting about shadows.’ See 517 D note and cf. IX 586 C note Dreamland is also shadowland.

ἐν πόλει ᾗ κτλ. On ᾗ for ἐν ᾗ see note on ἐν ἅπασιν οἶς ἔστι III 402 A. Van Cleef ( de attr. in enunt. rel. usu Plat. p. 46) explains the construction as equivalent to ἐν ᾗ πόλει, comparing Men. 96 C , which is however (like Tim. 45 D ) only an example of inverse attraction.

ταύτην : an anacoluthon, as in VI 510 E. For the sentiment see I 347 D note

σχοῦσαν =‘which gets’: a gnomic aorist participle. See Goodwin MT. p. 55. Richards conjectures ἔχουσαν, and ἴσχουσαν (which appears in the margin of A) has slight MS authority; but the inchoative sense (516 E note) is better suited to οἱ μέλλοντες ἄρξειν.

ἕκαστοι . The plural implies relays of governors relieving one another from time to time: cf. ἑκάστοις in 540 B.

μετ’ ἀλλήλων κτλ. “Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife.” ἐν τῷ καθαρῷ means ‘in the undefiled.’ The phrase is half-mystical, as καθαρόν constantly is in Plato. It is natural to think of the myth of the Phaedo (109 B ff. αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν γῆν καθαρὰν ἐν καθαρῷ κεῖσθαι τῷ οὐρανῷ), but we should not translate “sub divo” (Ast), nor even “auf der reinen Höhe” (Schneider). Either version is too precise, and ἐν καθαρῷ does not mean sub divo even in Homer. The Ideas in Plato are τὸ καθαρόν: see Phaed. 79 D ἐκεῖσε οἴχεται εἰς τὸ καθαρόν τε καὶ ἀεὶ ὂν καὶ ἀθάνατον καὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχον.

παντὸς μὴν κτλ. The πόλις ἀνδρῶν ἀγαθῶν has now been found. That Plato intended to recal the prophecy of I 347 D is clear from the verbal echoes between the two passages. On the absence of the preposition before τὸ ἄρχειν see VIII 553 B note

Plato Republic 7.519

ed. John Burnet

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