Plato, Republic, ed. John Burnet, 8.562

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[562] 562a
τί οὖν; τετάχθω ἡμῖν κατὰ δημοκρατίαν ὁ τοιοῦτος ἀνήρ, ὡς δημοκρατικὸς ὀρθῶς ἂν προσαγορευόμενος;
τετάχθω, ἔφη.
ἡ καλλίστη δή, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, πολιτεία τε καὶ ὁ κάλλιστος ἀνὴρ λοιπὰ ἂν ἡμῖν εἴη διελθεῖν, τυραννίς τε καὶ τύραννος.
κομιδῇ γʼ, ἔφη.
φέρε δή, τίς τρόπος τυραννίδος, ὦ φίλε ἑταῖρε, γίγνεται; ὅτι μὲν γὰρ ἐκ δημοκρατίας μεταβάλλει σχεδὸν δῆλον.
δῆλον.
ἆρʼ οὖν τρόπον τινὰ τὸν αὐτὸν ἔκ τε ὀλιγαρχίας δημοκρατία 562b γίγνεται καὶ ἐκ δημοκρατίας τυραννίς;
πῶς;
ὃ προύθεντο, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, ἀγαθόν, καὶ διʼ ὃ ἡ ὀλιγαρχία καθίστατο—τοῦτο δʼ ἦν ὑπερπλοῦτος· ἦ γάρ; —
ναί.
ἡ πλούτου τοίνυν ἀπληστία καὶ ἡ τῶν ἄλλων ἀμέλεια διὰ χρηματισμὸν αὐτὴν ἀπώλλυ.
ἀληθῆ, ἔφη.
ἆρʼ οὖν καὶ ὃ δημοκρατία ὁρίζεται ἀγαθόν, ἡ τούτου ἀπληστία καὶ ταύτην καταλύει;
λέγεις δʼ αὐτὴν τί ὁρίζεσθαι;
τὴν ἐλευθερίαν, εἶπον. τοῦτο γάρ που ἐν δημοκρατουμένῃ 562c πόλει ἀκούσαις ἂν ὡς ἔχει τε κάλλιστον καὶ διὰ ταῦτα ἐν μόνῃ ταύτῃ ἄξιον οἰκεῖν ὅστις φύσει ἐλεύθερος.
λέγεται γὰρ δή, ἔφη, καὶ πολὺ τοῦτο τὸ ῥῆμα.
ἆρʼ οὖν, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, ὅπερ ᾖα νυνδὴ ἐρῶν, ἡ τοῦ τοιούτου ἀπληστία καὶ ἡ τῶν ἄλλων ἀμέλεια καὶ ταύτην τὴν πολιτείαν μεθίστησίν τε καὶ παρασκευάζει τυραννίδος δεηθῆναι;
πῶς; ἔφη.
ὅταν οἶμαι δημοκρατουμένη πόλις ἐλευθερίας διψήσασα 562d κακῶν οἰνοχόων προστατούντων τύχῃ, καὶ πορρωτέρω τοῦ δέοντος ἀκράτου αὐτῆς μεθυσθῇ, τοὺς ἄρχοντας δή, ἂν μὴ πάνυ πρᾷοι ὦσι καὶ πολλὴν παρέχωσι τὴν ἐλευθερίαν, κολάζει αἰτιωμένη ὡς μιαρούς τε καὶ ὀλιγαρχικούς.
δρῶσιν γάρ, ἔφη, τοῦτο.
τοὺς δέ γε, εἶπον, τῶν ἀρχόντων κατηκόους προπηλακίζει ὡς ἐθελοδούλους τε καὶ οὐδὲν ὄντας, τοὺς δὲ ἄρχοντας μὲν ἀρχομένοις, ἀρχομένους δὲ ἄρχουσιν ὁμοίους ἰδίᾳ τε καὶ δημοσίᾳ ἐπαινεῖ τε καὶ τιμᾷ. ἆρʼ οὐκ ἀνάγκη ἐν τοιαύτῃ 562e πόλει ἐπὶ πᾶν τὸ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἰέναι;
πῶς γὰρ οὔ;
καὶ καταδύεσθαί γε, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, ὦ φίλε, εἴς τε τὰς ἰδίας οἰκίας καὶ τελευτᾶν μέχρι τῶν θηρίων τὴν ἀναρχίαν ἐμφυομένην.
πῶς, ἦ δʼ ὅς, τὸ τοιοῦτον λέγομεν;

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).) — 8.562 focus

[562] 562a Shall we definitely assert, then, that such a man is to be ranged with democracy and would properly be designated as democratic? Let that be his place, he said.
And now, said I, the fairest¹ polity and the fairest man remain for us to describe, the tyranny and the tyrant. Certainly, he said. Come then, tell me, dear friend, how tyranny arises.² That it is an outgrowth of democracy is fairly plain. Yes, plain. Is it, then, in a sense, in the same way in which democracy arises out of oligarchy that tyranny arises from democracy? 562b How is that? The good that they proposed to themselves³ and that was the cause of the establishment of oligarchy—it was wealth,⁴ was it not? Yes. Well, then, the insatiate lust for wealth and the neglect of everything else for the sake of money-making was the cause of its undoing. True, he said. And is not the avidity of democracy for that which is its definition and criterion of good the thing which dissolves it⁵ too? What do you say its criterion to be? Liberty,⁶ I replied; for you may hear it said that this is best managed in a democratic city, 562c and for this reason that is the only city in which a man of free spirit will care to live.⁷ Why, yes, he replied, you hear that saying everywhere. Then, as I was about to observe,⁸ is it not the excess and greed of this and the neglect of all other things that revolutionizes this constitution too and prepares the way for the necessity of a dictatorship? How? he said. Why, when a democratic city athirst for liberty gets bad cupbearers 562d for its leaders⁹ and is intoxicated by drinking too deep of that unmixed wine,¹⁰ and then, if its so-called governors are not extremely mild and gentle with it and do not dispense the liberty unstintedly,it chastises them and accuses them of being accursed¹¹ oligarchs.¹² Yes, that is what they do, he replied. But those who obey the rulers, I said, it reviles as willing slaves¹³ and men of naught,¹⁴ but it commends and honors in public and private rulers who resemble subjects and subjects who are like rulers. 562e Is it not inevitable that in such a state the spirit of liberty should go to all lengths¹⁵? Of course. And this anarchical temper, said I, my friend, must penetrate into private homes and finally enter into the very animals.¹⁶ Just what do we mean by that? he said.

Commentary

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

ἡ καλλίστη κτλ. As Oligarchy fell a victim to the excessive pursuit of its ideal, viz. Wealth, so also the extravagant devotion to liberty and equality subverts in course of time the democratic State. In 562 A—565 D Plato puts before us the different stages in the fall of democracy: cf. Arist. Pol. Δ 4 1291^{b} 30—1292^{a} 38, where the various εἴδ<*>ς δημοκρατίας are distinguished, and Newman The Politics of Aristotle IV pp. xxxvi—lxi. Plato's description, as usual, can be illustrated in many places from Greek and especially Athenian political and social life: see 562 D, E, 563 B, C, D al. notes

γίγνεται =‘prodit,’ ‘quaerentibus se offert’ (Schneider). Cf. III 412 C οἱ δὲ γεωργῶν ἄριστοι ἆρ’ οὐ γεωργικώτατοι γίγνονται, Euthyd. 298 E ὥστε σὸς πατὴρ γίγνεται ὁ κύων καὶ σὺ κυναρίων ἀδελφός, infra 566 A, IX 576 B and Prot. 325 B with my note ad loc. ‘What,’ asks Socrates, ‘do we find to be the character of tyranny? As for its origin, it is pretty obvious that tyranny comes from democracy.’ For the order of questions cf. 558 C. The words ὅτι μὲν γὰρ κτλ., when taken in connexion with the preceding question, seem at first sight to suggest that the μεταβολή will not be described: but cf. V 466 D, where μὲν γὰρ is used in exactly the same way, and followed by a full account of the topic to which its clause refers. See also App. V.

ἆρ’ οὖν κτλ. begins a long description of the τρόπος τῆς γενέσεως: the τρόπος τῆς πολιτείας is not described till 566 D ff. Here again the situation in V 466 D is nearly, though not quite, analogous: see note ad loc. For other views on this passage consult App. V.

προὔθεντο : sc. the citizens of the oligarchical State. Stallbaum reads προὔθετο, on inferior MS authority; but the plural is easy enough: cf. 550 D.

καὶ δἰ ὃ κτλ. explains and amplifies ὃ—ἀγαθόν. Wealth is the cause of oligarchy, that ‘on account of’ which it was established: cf. 550 D ff., 551 C, 555 B ( τοῦ προκειμένου ἀγαθοῦ). The reading δἰ οὗ (see cr. n.) would make wealth the means or instrument in producing the result, and this it was not, except in the loose sense in which the προκείμενον ἀγαθόν is also a means. I formerly conjectured δἰ ὃ αὖ ( Cl. Rev. IV p. 357), but αὖ is unsuitable. For the corruption in the MSS see note on διὰ τοῦτο X 610 D. Jowett wrongly translates καθίστατο by ‘was maintained.’

πλοῦτος . See cr. n. The majority of editors reject ὑπέρπλουτος: rightly, for the word is not used except as an adjective. A host of emendations has been suggested, ὁ πέρα πλοῦτος (Richter Fleck. Jb. 1867 p. 146), ὑπέρπλουτος <πλοῦτος> (Stallbaum), ὑπὲρ πλούτου (Madvig—but the use of ὑπέρ is not above suspicion), που πλοῦτος (Campbell), ὑπερπλουτεῖν (apud J. and C.), εἴπερ τι, πλοῦτος (Apelt Berl. Phil. Woch. 1895 p. 968). Stephanus' conjecture γίγνεσθαι ὑπέρπλουτον was adopted by Ast. The expression ὑπέρπλουτος πλοῦτος occurs in Joan. Damasc. III 733 A ed. Migne, but in a highly rhetorical passage and without any reference to Plato. It is probably best to read πλοῦτος, with Schneider and Hermann. ὑπέρπλουτος may have originally been a marginal note intended to recall ὑπέρπλουτοι in 552 B.

ἀπώλλυ . 555 C—557 A.

ἐλευθερίαν . See 557 B note

ἀκούσαις ‐‐ ἐλεύθερος rings like an echo from some of the panegyrists of Athens: cf. Eur. Ion 669 —675 with Menex. 239 A ff. and Thuc. II 37. 2.

ἔχει ‐‐ κάλλιστον (sc. ἡ δημοκρατουμένη πόλις)=‘is its fairest possession,’ not ‘it has this in the highest perfection’ (as suggested in J. and C.).

προστατούντων . See on 565 C.

ἂν μὴ ‐‐ ὀλιγαρχικούς . For a striking example see the account of the proceedings after Arginusae in Xen. Hell. I 7. 12 —15.

μέχρι τῶν θηρίων . See on 563 C, D.

πατέρα μὲν κτλ. Cf. Laws 701 B, [Xen.] Rep. Ath. I 8—12 and Mem. III 5. 15, 16 (Hermann Gesch. u. System d. Pl. Phil. p. 91).

Plato Republic 8.562

ed. John Burnet

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