Plato, Republic, ed. John Burnet, 8.565

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[565] 565a
δῆμος δʼ ἂν εἴη τρίτον γένος, ὅσοι αὐτουργοί τε καὶ ἀπράγμονες, οὐ πάνυ πολλὰ κεκτημένοι· ὃ δὴ πλεῖστόν τε καὶ κυριώτατον ἐν δημοκρατίᾳ ὅτανπερ ἁθροισθῇ.
ἔστιν γάρ, ἔφη· ἀλλʼ οὐ θαμὰ ἐθέλει ποιεῖν τοῦτο, ἐὰν μὴ μέλιτός τι μεταλαμβάνῃ.
οὐκοῦν μεταλαμβάνει, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, ἀεί, καθʼ ὅσον δύνανται οἱ προεστῶτες, τοὺς ἔχοντας τὴν οὐσίαν ἀφαιρούμενοι, διανέμοντες τῷ δήμῳ, τὸ πλεῖστον αὐτοὶ ἔχειν. 565b
μεταλαμβάνει γὰρ οὖν, ἦ δʼ ὅς, οὕτως.
ἀναγκάζονται δὴ οἶμαι ἀμύνεσθαι, λέγοντές τε ἐν τῷ δήμῳ καὶ πράττοντες ὅπῃ δύνανται, οὗτοι ὧν ἀφαιροῦνται.
πῶς γὰρ οὔ;
αἰτίαν δὴ ἔσχον ὑπὸ τῶν ἑτέρων, κἂν μὴ ἐπιθυμῶσι νεωτερίζειν, ὡς ἐπιβουλεύουσι τῷ δήμῳ καί εἰσιν ὀλιγαρχικοί.
τί μήν;
οὐκοῦν καὶ τελευτῶντες, ἐπειδὰν ὁρῶσι τὸν δῆμον, οὐχ ἑκόντα ἀλλʼ ἀγνοήσαντά τε καὶ ἐξαπατηθέντα ὑπὸ τῶν 565c διαβαλλόντων, ἐπιχειροῦντα σφᾶς ἀδικεῖν, τότʼ ἤδη, εἴτε βούλονται εἴτε μή, ὡς ἀληθῶς ὀλιγαρχικοὶ γίγνονται, οὐχ ἑκόντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο τὸ κακὸν ἐκεῖνος ὁ κηφὴν ἐντίκτει κεντῶν αὐτούς.
κομιδῇ μὲν οὖν.
εἰσαγγελίαι δὴ καὶ κρίσεις καὶ ἀγῶνες περὶ ἀλλήλων γίγνονται.
καὶ μάλα.
οὐκοῦν ἕνα τινὰ ἀεὶ δῆμος εἴωθεν διαφερόντως προΐστασθαι ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ τοῦτον τρέφειν τε καὶ αὔξειν μέγαν;
εἴωθε γάρ. 565d
τοῦτο μὲν ἄρα, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, δῆλον, ὅτι, ὅτανπερ φύηται τύραννος, ἐκ προστατικῆς ῥίζης καὶ οὐκ ἄλλοθεν ἐκβλαστάνει.
καὶ μάλα δῆλον.
τίς ἀρχὴ οὖν μεταβολῆς ἐκ προστάτου ἐπὶ τύραννον; ἢ δῆλον ὅτι ἐπειδὰν ταὐτὸν ἄρξηται δρᾶν ὁ προστάτης τῷ ἐν τῷ μύθῳ ὃς περὶ τὸ ἐν Ἀρκαδίᾳ τὸ τοῦ Διὸς τοῦ Λυκαίου ἱερὸν λέγεται;
τίς; ἔφη.
ὡς ἄρα ὁ γευσάμενος τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου σπλάγχνου, ἐν ἄλλοις ἄλλων ἱερείων ἑνὸς ἐγκατατετμημένου, ἀνάγκη δὴ 565e τούτῳ λύκῳ γενέσθαι. ἢ οὐκ ἀκήκοας τὸν λόγον;
ἔγωγε.

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).) — 8.565 focus

[565] 565a
And the third class,¹ composing the people, would comprise all quiet² cultivators of their own farms³ who possess little property. This is the largest and most potent group in a democracy when it meets in assembly. Yes, it is, he said, but it will not often do that,⁴ unless it gets a share of the honey. Well, does it not always share, I said, to the extent that the men at the head find it possible, in distributing⁵ to the people what they take from the well-to-do,⁶ to keep the lion’s share for themselves⁷? Why, yes, he said, it shares 565b in that sense. And so, I suppose, those who are thus plundered are compelled to defend themselves by speeches in the assembly and any action in their power. Of course. And thereupon the charge is brought against them by the other party, though they may have no revolutionary designs, that they are plotting against the people, and it is said that they are oligarchs.⁸ Surely. And then finally, when they see the people, not of its own will⁹ but through misapprehension,¹⁰ and being misled 565c by the calumniators, attempting to wrong them, why then,¹¹ whether they wish it or not,¹² they become in very deed oligarchs, not willingly, but this evil too is engendered by those drones which sting them. Precisely. And then there ensue impeachments and judgements and lawsuits on either side. Yes, indeed. And is it not always the way of a demos to put forward one man as its special champion and protector¹³ and cherish and magnify him? Yes, it is. This, then, is plain, 565d said I, that when a tyrant arises he sprouts from a protectorate root¹⁴ and from nothing else. Very plain. What, then, is the starting-point of the transformation of a protector into a tyrant? Is it not obviously when the protector’s acts begin to reproduce the legend that is told of the shrine of Lycaean Zeus in Arcadia¹⁵? What is that? he said. The story goes that he who tastes of the one bit of human entrails minced up with those of other victims 565e is inevitably transformed into a wolf. Have you not heard the tale? I have.

Commentary

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

κυριώτατον . In a democracy the sovereignty lies with the δῆμος in its assemblies.

οὐ θαμὰ κτλ. Under the earliest and best form of democratical government, according to Aristotle, the δῆμος consists chiefly of farmers, and ἐκκλησίαι are infrequent, for διὰ τὸ ἐσπάρθαι κατὰ τὴν χώραν οὔτ’ ἀπαντῶσιν οὔθ’ ὁμοίως δέονται τῆς συνόδου ταύτης ( Pol. Ζ 4. 1319^{a} 30 ff., 3. 1318^{b} 11, and Δ 5. 1292^{b} 27). It is a later and degenerate phase when assemblies are multiplied by the payment of ἐκκλησιαστικὸς μισθός and other forms of ‘honey’ (ib. Δ 6. 1293^{a} 1 ff.). Plato in this passage contributes some hints towards a historical analysis of the evolution of Greek democracy such as we find in Aristotle.

ἐὰν μὴ ‐‐ μεταλαμβάνῃ . Cf. Ar. Peace 632 —643. There is little doubt that the compulsory migration of Athenian farmers into Athens at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war had a decisive effect on the course of Athenian democracy: cf. Thuc. II 14 and 16 and Gilbert Beiträge etc. pp. 98 ff.

τοὺς ἔχοντας κτλ. On the oppression of the rich in Athens see Hermann-Thumser Gr. Staatsalt. pp. 688 ff., 747.

διανέμοντες κτλ. : ‘while dividing it among the people to retain the lion's share themselves.’ The epigram is spoiled if (with Cobet) we read <ὀλίγα> διανέμοντες. For the sentiment cf. Dem. Ol. III 31, Ar. Peace l.c., Knights 46 ff., 792 ff., 1218 ff. and (with J. and C.) Wasps 655—679.

οὕτως : emphatic, ‘with that proviso’ (D. and V.).

πράττοντες is quite satisfactory: cf. λέγει τε καὶ πράττει 564 D. Richter should not have proposed ταράττοντες .

ὅπῃ δύνανται κτλ. : ‘in any way they can.’ Their opportunities of public action in self-defence are limited; hence they form e.g. secret associations and the like. On the tense of ἔσχον see 548 D note, and for the statement itself ( αἰτίαν—ὀλιγαρχικοί) many passages in Aristophanes, e.g. Wasps 488 ff. and others quoted by Whibley Pol. Part. in Athens p. 65 note 3.

τότ) ἤδη ‐‐ οὐχ ἑκόντες . Isocrates makes a similar complaint ( Antid. 318): οὐ τοὺς μὲν ἐνδοξοτάτους τῶν πολιτῶν καὶ μάλιστα δυναμένους ποιῆσαί τι τὴν πόλιν ἀγαθόν, ὀλιγαρχίαν ὀνειδίζοντες καὶ λακωνισμόν, οὐ πρότερον ἐπαύσαντο (sc. οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν ) πρὶν ἠνάγκασαν ὁμοίους γενέσθαι ταῖς αἰτίαις ταῖς λεγομέναις περὶ αὐτῶν; Cf. also Arist. Pol. E 5. 1304^{b} 21 ff. Observe how Plato now begins to insist on the inevitable necessity which dogs the footsteps of political decay: see on 566 A and 567 C.

εἰσαγγελίαι : ‘impeachments,’ as e.g. for κατάλυσις τοῦ δήμου. On eisangelia in Attic legal procedure see Hager Dict. Ant. s.v. and Meier u. Schömann Att. Proc. I pp. 312—335.

ἀγῶνες περὶ ἀλλήλων : ‘trials of one another’ (Jowett): lit. ‘trials about one another,’ i.e. trials in which the individuals chiefly concerned, viz. the defendants, belong to one or other of the two parties in the State. ἀλλήλων by itself would be better suited to the words εἰσαγγελίαι καὶ κρίσεις, but ἀγῶνες ἀλλήλων is too harsh an expression, and that, I think, is why Plato writes ἀγῶνες περὶ ἀλλήλων. This explanation is in my opinion better than to translate “Processe um Leben und Tod” (Schneider: cf. ἀγῶνας—περὶ σφέων αὐτῶν Hdt. VIII 102). Some may think that ἀλλήλους should replace ἀλλήλων: but περί with the accusative would not express a close enough connexion in this passage.

οὐκοῦν κτλ. So in Ar. Knights 1127 Demos says βούλομαι τρέφειν ἕνα προστάτην. The προστάτης τοῦ δήμου in Athens was simply, “the leading demagogue, who acted as guardian and representative of the demos, as the ordinary προστάτης did of the metoecs” (Whibley Pol. Part. in Ath. p. 51). He was not a magistrate, although his position was recognised and much sought after. Pericles was certainly προστάτης, and, among his successors, apparently Cleon and others. For the authorities see Whibley l.c. and Gilbert Beiträge etc. pp. 78 ff. For ἕνα τινά Cobet substitutes ἕνα γέ τινα, without sufficient reason: cf. VI 494 D note To my mind the emphasis on ἕνα is much stronger without γε: and Plato clearly intends to emphasise that word, for it is by the rise of a single champion that tyranny is caused.

ἐκ προστατικῆς ῥίζης κτλ. Arist. Pol. E 10. 1310^{b} 14 ff. σχεδὸν γὰρ οἱ πλεῖστοι τῶν τυράννων γεγόνασιν ἐκ δημαγωγῶν ὡς εἰπεῖν, πιστευθέντες ἐκ τοῦ διαβάλλειν τοὺς γνωρίμους. This was especially true of earlier times, when the orator also held military command (ib. 5. 1305^{a} 7 ff.). See Gilbert Gr. Staatsalt. II pp. 280 ff.

καὶ οὐκ ἄλλοθεν . If we treat this sentence as a statement of historical fact, Plato expresses himself too strongly; for tyranny sometimes arose in other ways. See however on 564 A and 543 A, 544 C notes

τῷ μύθῳ . See [Hecat.] Frag. 375 in Müller Frag. Hist. Gr. I p. 31 and Paus. VIII 2. 6. In his note on the latter passage, Frazer collects the ancient legends about werewolves. For the later history of the superstition consult M^{c}Lennan's article Lycanthropy in Enc. Brit. ed. 9, and for parallels in non-classical mythologies Tylor Prim. Culture^{2} I pp. 308— 315.

ἑνός is bracketed by Herwerden; but τοῦ in τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου σπλάγχνου proves it genuine. But for ἑνός Plato must have written τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου σπλάγχνου <τοῦ> ἐν ἄλλοις κτλ. The werewolf superstition was similarly associated with cannibalism in some of its later European forms (M^{c}Lennan l.c.).

ἀνάγκη δὴ κτλ. The anacoluthon is illustrated by Engelhardt Spec. Anac. Pl. III p. 40.

ἐμφυλίου αἵματος . Cf. Pind. Pyth. II 32 ἐμφύλιον αἷμα πρώτιστος οὐκ ἄτερ τέχνας ἐπέμιξε θνατοῖς. The style rises into poetry as usual in passages of solemn import and sustained emotion; cf. 560 B, D notes

ἀνδρός is poetic for ἀνθρώπου: cf. Aesch. Ag. 1020 f. ἀνδρὸς μέλαν αἷμα τίς ἂν πάλιν | ἀγκαλέσαιτ’ ἐπαείδων; and often in Pindar ( Ol. I 35, 66 etc.).

γλώττῃ τε καὶ ‐‐ ξυγγενοῦς . The blood of fellow-citizens is kindred blood: for all are sons of the same fatherland. ‘The unholy tongue and lips’ is an eloquent amplification of γευόμενος, in harmony with the story to which Plato has referred in D above. J. and C. seem to me to mar the effect of Plato's eloquence by remarking that “the tongue and lips which make the slanderous accusation are vividly imagined as actually tasting blood.”

ἀνδρηλατῇ κτλ. Cf. Gorg. 466 C τί δέ; οὐχ ὥσπερ οἱ τύραννοι ἀποκτιννύασί τε (sc. οἱ ῥήτορες) ὃν ἂν βούλωνται, καὶ ἀφαιροῦνται χρήματα καὶ ἐκβάλλουσιν ἐκ τῶν πόλεων ὃν ἂν δοκῇ αὐτοῖς; Νὴ τὸν κύνα. The unscrupulous mob-orator is a budding tyrant.

Plato Republic 8.565

ed. John Burnet

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