Plato, Republic, ed. John Burnet, 8.567

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[567] 567a
οὐκοῦν καὶ ἵνα χρήματα εἰσφέροντες πένητες γιγνόμενοι πρὸς τῷ καθʼ ἡμέραν ἀναγκάζωνται εἶναι καὶ ἧττον αὐτῷ ἐπιβουλεύωσι;
δῆλον.
καὶ ἄν γέ τινας οἶμαι ὑποπτεύῃ ἐλεύθερα φρονήματα ἔχοντας μὴ ἐπιτρέψειν αὐτῷ ἄρχειν, ὅπως ἂν τούτους μετὰ προφάσεως ἀπολλύῃ ἐνδοὺς τοῖς πολεμίοις; τούτων πάντων ἕνεκα τυράννῳ ἀεὶ ἀνάγκη πόλεμον ταράττειν;
ἀνάγκη.
ταῦτα δὴ ποιοῦντα ἕτοιμον μᾶλλον ἀπεχθάνεσθαι τοῖς 567b πολίταις;
πῶς γὰρ οὔ;
οὐκοῦν καί τινας τῶν συγκαταστησάντων καὶ ἐν δυνάμει ὄντων παρρησιάζεσθαι καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους, ἐπιπλήττοντας τοῖς γιγνομένοις, οἳ ἂν τυγχάνωσιν ἀνδρικώτατοι ὄντες;
εἰκός γε.
ὑπεξαιρεῖν δὴ τούτους πάντας δεῖ τὸν τύραννον, εἰ μέλλει ἄρξειν, ἕως ἂν μήτε φίλων μήτʼ ἐχθρῶν λίπῃ μηδένα ὅτου τι ὄφελος.
δῆλον.
ὀξέως ἄρα δεῖ ὁρᾶν αὐτὸν τίς ἀνδρεῖος, τίς μεγαλόφρων, 567c τίς φρόνιμος, τίς πλούσιος· καὶ οὕτως εὐδαίμων ἐστίν, ὥστε τούτοις ἅπασιν ἀνάγκη αὐτῷ, εἴτε βούλεται εἴτε μή, πολεμίῳ εἶναι καὶ ἐπιβουλεύειν, ἕως ἂν καθήρῃ τὴν πόλιν.
καλόν γε, ἔφη, καθαρμόν.
ναί, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, τὸν ἐναντίον ἢ οἱ ἰατροὶ τὰ σώματα· οἱ μὲν γὰρ τὸ χείριστον ἀφαιροῦντες λείπουσι τὸ βέλτιστον, ὁ δὲ τοὐναντίον.
ὡς ἔοικε γάρ, αὐτῷ, ἔφη, ἀνάγκη, εἴπερ ἄρξει. 567d
ἐν μακαρίᾳ ἄρα, εἶπον ἐγώ, ἀνάγκῃ δέδεται, ἣ προστάττει αὐτῷ ἢ μετὰ φαύλων τῶν πολλῶν οἰκεῖν, καὶ ὑπὸ τούτων μισούμενον, ἢ μὴ ζῆν.
ἐν τοιαύτῃ, ἦ δʼ ὅς.
ἆρʼ οὖν οὐχὶ ὅσῳ ἂν μᾶλλον τοῖς πολίταις ἀπεχθάνηται ταῦτα δρῶν, τοσούτῳ πλειόνων καὶ πιστοτέρων δορυφόρων δεήσεται;
πῶς γὰρ οὔ;
τίνες οὖν οἱ πιστοί; καὶ πόθεν αὐτοὺς μεταπέμψεται;
αὐτόματοι, ἔφη, πολλοὶ ἥξουσι πετόμενοι, ἐὰν τὸν μισθὸν διδῷ.
κηφῆνας, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, νὴ τὸν κύνα, δοκεῖς αὖ τινάς μοι 567e λέγειν ξενικούς τε καὶ παντοδαπούς.
ἀληθῆ γάρ, ἔφη, δοκῶ σοι.
τίς δὲ αὐτόθεν; ἆρʼ οὐκ ἂν ἐθελήσειεν—
πῶς;
τοὺς δούλους ἀφελόμενος τοὺς πολίτας, ἐλευθερώσας, τῶν περὶ ἑαυτὸν δορυφόρων ποιήσασθαι.
σφόδρα γʼ, ἔφη· ἐπεί τοι καὶ πιστότατοι αὐτῷ οὗτοί εἰσιν.

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).) — 8.567 focus

[567] 567a And also that being impoverished by war-taxes they may have to devote themselves to their daily business and be less likely to plot against him? Obviously. And if, I presume, he suspects that there are free spirits who will not suffer his domination, his further object is to find pretexts for destroying them by exposing them to the enemy? From all these motives a tyrant is compelled to be always provoking wars¹? Yes, he is compelled to do so. And by such conduct 567b will he not the more readily incur the hostility of the citizens? Of course. And is it not likely that some of those who helped to establish² and now share in his power, voicing their disapproval of the course of events, will speak out frankly to him and to one another—such of them as happen to be the bravest? Yes, it is likely. Then the tyrant must do away³ with all such if he is to maintain his rule, until he has left no one of any worth, friend or foe. Obviously. He must look sharp to see, then, 567c who is brave, who is great-souled, who is wise, who is rich and such is his good fortune that, whether he wishes it or not, he must be their enemy and plot against them all until he purge the city.⁴ A fine purgation, he said. Yes, said I, just the opposite of that which physicians practise on our bodies. For while they remove the worst and leave the best, he does the reverse. Yes, for apparently he must, he said, if he is to keep his power.
Blessed, then, is the necessity that binds him, 567d said I, which bids him dwell for the most part with base companions who hate him, or else forfeit his life. Such it is, he said. And would he not, the more he offends the citizens by such conduct, have the greater need of more and more trustworthy bodyguards? Of course. Whom, then, may he trust, and whence shall he fetch them? Unbidden, he said, they will wing their way⁵ to him in great numbers if he furnish their wage. Drones, by the dog, I said, I think you are talking of again, 567e an alien⁶ and motley crew.⁷ You think rightly, he said. But what of the home supply,⁸ would he not choose to employ that? How? By taking their slaves from the citizens, emancipating them and enlisting them in his bodyguard. Assuredly, he said, since these are those whom he can most trust.

Commentary

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

οὐκοῦν καὶ κτλ. Arist. Pol. l.c. 1313^{b} 18 ff. καὶ τὸ πένητας ποιεῖν τοὺς ἀρχομένους τυραννικὸν ὅπως—πρὸς τῷ καθ’ ἡμέραν ὄντες ἄσχολοι ὦσιν ἐπιβουλεύειν—καὶ ἡ εἰσφορὰ τῶν τελῶν, οἶον ἐν Συρακούσαις· ἐν πέντε γὰρ ἔτεσιν ἐπὶ Διονυσίου τὴν οὐσίαν ἅπασαν εἰσενηνοχέναι συνέβαινεν. Cf. Grote l.c. p. 223.

πρὸς τῷ . A majority of MSS have πρὸς τό, which is also the older reading (see cr. n.); but εἰμι πρός τι in this sense lacks authority, and is inherently improbable. Cf. Phaedr. 249 D and IX 585 A, X 604 C, D note

ὅπως ‐‐ πολεμίοις : sc. πολέμους τινὰς ἀεὶ κινεῖ as before. ἕτοιμον in line 7 is impersonal—a rare usage, for which cf. Epp. 7. 333 A and Eur. H. F. 86 .

ὑπεξαιρεῖν . For the corruption ὑπεξαίρειν (cr. n.) cf. Xen. Hiero 5. 2 ὅταν δὲ τοὺς τοιούτους—ὑπεξαιρῶνται (J. G. Schneider's conjecture for ὑπεξαίρωνται of the MSS). On this passage the poet Gray remarks: “Compare this description with the Hiero of Xenophon: it is in almost every step a picture of the politicks and way of life of the elder Dionysius.”

ἕως ἂν μήτε φίλων κτλ. There is no solitude or desolation like the tyrant's: for he is the enemy of the whole human race. See the passages quoted by Nägelsbach Nachhom. Theol. p. 304.

καλόν γε ‐‐ καθαρμόν . Cf. VII 540 E note The famous anecdote of Thrasybulus and Periander (Hdt. V 92: cf. Arist. Pol. Γ 13. 1284^{a} 26 ff., E 10. 1311^{a} 20 ff., also Eur. Suppl. 445 —449, where the poet borrows his imagery from the same story) is one instance out of many in Greek history: see Greenidge Gk Const. H. pp. 31 ff.

ἀνάγκη : sc. ἐστιν. J. and C. strangely say that “ ἀνάγκη is the subject of ἔοικε.” For αὐτῷ ἀνάγκη cf. 568 E and IX 579 A. On the force of ἀνάγκη here and just below see 565 C, 566 A notes

ἥξουσι πετόμενοι : ‘will wing their way.’ πετόμενοι leads up to κηφῆνας.

τὸν μισθόν : ‘the pay,’ i.e. ‘the necessary pay’ (J. and C.). W. H. Thompson would omit τόν or replace it by μόνον: but insufficient pay would not attract mercenaries.

ξενικούς ‐‐ παντοδαπούς . The body-guard of foreign mercenaries was a familiar feature in Greek tyrannies: see Xen. Hiero 5. 3 and (for Dionysius in particular) Grote X p. 221.

τοὺς δούλους κτλ. As Dionysius, for example, did (Grote X p. 221 and Freeman's Sicily IV p. 13).

Plato Republic 8.567

ed. John Burnet

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