Plato, Republic, ed. John Burnet, 9.591

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[591] καὶ ἡ τῶν παίδων ἀρχή, τὸ μὴ ἐᾶν ἐλευθέρους εἶναι, ἕως ἂν ἐν αὐτοῖς ὥσπερ ἐν πόλει πολιτείαν καταστήσωμεν, καὶ τὸ βέλτιστον 591a θεραπεύσαντες τῷ παρʼ ἡμῖν τοιούτῳ ἀντικαταστήσωμεν φύλακα ὅμοιον καὶ ἄρχοντα ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ τότε δὴ ἐλεύθερον ἀφίεμεν.
δηλοῖ γάρ, ἦ δʼ ὅς.
πῇ δὴ οὖν φήσομεν, ὦ Γλαύκων, καὶ κατὰ τίνα λόγον λυσιτελεῖν ἀδικεῖν, ἢ ἀκολασταίνειν ἤ τι αἰσχρὸν ποιεῖν, ἐξ ὧν πονηρότερος μὲν ἔσται, πλείω δὲ χρήματα ἢ ἄλλην τινὰ δύναμιν κεκτήσεται;
οὐδαμῇ, ἦ δʼ ὅς.
πῇ δʼ ἀδικοῦντα λανθάνειν καὶ μὴ διδόναι δίκην λυσιτελεῖν; 591b ἢ οὐχὶ ὁ μὲν λανθάνων ἔτι πονηρότερος γίγνεται, τοῦ δὲ μὴ λανθάνοντος καὶ κολαζομένου τὸ μὲν θηριῶδες κοιμίζεται καὶ ἡμεροῦται, τὸ δὲ ἥμερον ἐλευθεροῦται, καὶ ὅλη ἡ ψυχὴ εἰς τὴν βελτίστην φύσιν καθισταμένη τιμιωτέραν ἕξιν λαμβάνει, σωφροσύνην τε καὶ δικαιοσύνην μετὰ φρονήσεως κτωμένη, ἢ σῶμα ἰσχύν τε καὶ κάλλος μετὰ ὑγιείας λαμβάνον, τοσούτῳ ὅσῳπερ ψυχὴ σώματος τιμιωτέρα;
παντάπασιν μὲν οὖν, ἔφη. 591c
οὐκοῦν ὅ γε νοῦν ἔχων πάντα τὰ αὑτοῦ εἰς τοῦτο συντείνας βιώσεται, πρῶτον μὲν τὰ μαθήματα τιμῶν, ἃ τοιαύτην αὐτοῦ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀπεργάσεται, τὰ δὲ ἄλλα ἀτιμάζων;
δῆλον, ἔφη.
ἔπειτά γʼ, εἶπον, τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἕξιν καὶ τροφὴν οὐχ ὅπως τῇ θηριώδει καὶ ἀλόγῳ ἡδονῇ ἐπιτρέψας ἐνταῦθα τετραμμένος ζήσει, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ πρὸς ὑγίειαν βλέπων, οὐδὲ τοῦτο πρεσβεύων, ὅπως ἰσχυρὸς ἢ ὑγιὴς ἢ καλὸς ἔσται, ἐὰν μὴ 591d καὶ σωφρονήσειν μέλλῃ ἀπʼ αὐτῶν, ἀλλʼ ἀεὶ τὴν ἐν τῷ σώματι ἁρμονίαν τῆς ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ ἕνεκα συμφωνίας ἁρμοττόμενος φανεῖται.
παντάπασι μὲν οὖν, ἔφη, ἐάνπερ μέλλῃ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ μουσικὸς εἶναι.
οὐκοῦν, εἶπον, καὶ τὴν ἐν τῇ τῶν χρημάτων κτήσει σύνταξίν τε καὶ συμφωνίαν; καὶ τὸν ὄγκον τοῦ πλήθους οὐκ ἐκπληττόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ τῶν πολλῶν μακαρισμοῦ ἄπειρον αὐξήσει, ἀπέραντα κακὰ ἔχων;
οὐκ οἴομαι, ἔφη. 591e
ἀλλʼ ἀποβλέπων γε, εἶπον, πρὸς τὴν ἐν αὑτῷ πολιτείαν, καὶ φυλάττων μή τι παρακινῇ αὑτοῦ τῶν ἐκεῖ διὰ πλῆθος οὐσίας ἢ διʼ ὀλιγότητα, οὕτως κυβερνῶν προσθήσει καὶ ἀναλώσει τῆς οὐσίας καθʼ ὅσον ἂν οἷός τʼ ᾖ.
κομιδῇ μὲν οὖν, ἔφη.

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).) — 9.591 focus

[591] and this is the aim of our control of children,¹ our not leaving them free before we have established, so to speak, a constitutional government within them² and, by fostering the best element in them 591a with the aid of the like in ourselves, have set up in its place a similar guardian and ruler in the child, and then, and then only, we leave it free. Yes, that is plain, he said. In what way,³ then, Glaucon, and on what principle, shall we say that it profits a man to be unjust or licentious or do any shameful thing that will make him a worse man, but otherwise will bring him more wealth or power? In no way, he said. And how that it pays him to escape detection in wrongdoing and not pay the penalty⁴? 591b Or is it not true that he who evades detection becomes a still worse man, while in the one who is discovered and chastened the brutish part is lulled and tamed and the gentle part liberated, and the entire soul, returning to its nature at the best, attains to a much more precious condition in acquiring sobriety and righteousness together with wisdom, than the body⁵ does when it gains strength and beauty conjoined with health, even as the soul is more precious than the body? Most assuredly, he said. 591c Then the wise man will bend all his endeavors⁶ to this end throughout his life; he will, to begin with, prize the studies that will give this quality to his soul and disprize the others. Clearly, he said. And then, I said, he not only will not abandon the habit and nurture of his body to the brutish and irrational pleasure and live with his face set in that direction, but he will not even make health his chief aim,⁷ nor give the first place to the ways of becoming strong or healthy or beautiful unless these things are likely to bring with them soberness of spirit, 591d but he will always be found attuning the harmonies of his body for the sake of the concord in his soul.⁸ By all means, he replied, if he is to be a true musician.⁹ And will he not deal likewise with the ordering and harmonizing of his possessions? He will not let himself be dazzled¹⁰ by the felicitations of the multitude and pile up the mass¹¹ of his wealth without measure,¹² involving himself in measureless ills. No, I think not, he said. 591e He will rather, I said, keep his eyes fixed on the constitution in his soul,¹³ and taking care and watching lest he disturb anything there either by excess or deficiency of wealth,¹⁴ will so steer his course and add to or detract from his wealth on this principle, so far as may be. Precisely so, he said.

Commentary

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

ἀντικαταστήσωμεν κτλ. : sc. as a counterpart or substitute for our own βέλτιστον ( τῷ παρ’ ἡμῖν τοιούτῳ), by which he has hitherto been guided. Madvig's conjecture ὄντι καταστήσωμεν is both unnecessary and inelegant. On the singular αὐτῷ in spite of the plural παίδων see I 347 A note

ἀδικεῖν ‐‐ ποιεῖν . It is more natural and better in point of literary effect to make the infinitives coordinate (with the English translators) than to suppose (with Schneider) that ἢ—ἤ is ‘either—or’ and ἀκολασταίνειν and τι αἰσχρὸν ποιεῖν intended as different species of the genus ἀδικία.

πῇ δ’ ἀδικοῦντα κτλ. It was maintained in II 361 A ff., 365 C ff. that Injustice could evade detection and punishment. So much the worse, says Socrates, for the sinner, who thereby forfeits his only chance of reformation, since Punishment is the appointed cure for Vice. It may be doubted whether so humane a view altogether corresponded to the actual administration of the Athenian or any other State; but to an idealist like Plato ‘is’ means ‘should be,’ and in so far as human laws fulfil their true function by reflecting the divine ordinances, we may truly say that punishment is remedial. See on the whole subject II 380 B note

ἀπεργάσεται κτλ. Editors rightly abandon the present ἀπεργάζεται (see cr. n.) as indefensible. ζήσει is condemned by Cobet ( V. L.^{2} p. 610) as an interpolation, but some verb is needed, and Cobet himself allows that “ ζήσω apud Atticos semel et iterum comparet” (e.g. V 465 D, Ar. Plut. 263 and Fr. 498 D indorf). ζώσει (see cr. n.) can hardly be maintained in Plato, though not, apparently, unknown in Ionic: see Kühner-Blass Gr. Gr. I 2, p. 436. The erroneous ζῴη is clearly due to a misunderstanding of οὐχ ὅπως (non modo non).

ἀλλ’ ἀεὶ κτλ. With the sentiments cf. III 410 A ff., VI 498 B note On φανεῖται see cr. n. If we retain φαίνηται, as I formerly did, with J. and C., Schneider and the early editions, the conjunctive is parallel to the future ἔσται, both depending on ὅπως: cf. (with Schneider) Tim. 18 E μηχανᾶσθαι κλήροις τισίν, ὅπως— ξυλλήξονται, καὶ μή τις αὐτοῖς ἔχθρα— γίγνηται. A few additional examples are cited by Kühner Gr. Gr. II p. 893 note 5. In this instance, however, φαίνηται is particularly awkward, and may easily be a corruption of φανεῖται, under the influence of the preceding ἐάν. q has φαίνοιτο, which doubtless springs from the same misunderstanding which produced the corruption ζῴη for ζήσει in C. φανεῖται is adopted also by Ast, Stallbaum, and a reviewer of my Text of the Republic in Hermathena XXIV p. 256. We must understand the clause as still under the government of ὅπως, and not as independent; otherwise the verb becomes otiose, as it is in fact regarded by Hermann, Stallbaum and Baiter, all of whom bracket it.

ἐάνπερ ‐‐ μουσικὸς εἶναι . Cf. IV 432 A, 443 D, E.

οὐκοῦν ‐‐ ξυμφωνίαν ; sc. τῆς ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ ἕνεκα ξυμφωνιας ἁρμόσεται .

τοῦ πλήθους κτλ. : i.e. τοῦ πλήθους τῶν χρημάτων κτλ.: cf. VIII 563 B note οὐκ before ἐκπληττόμενος is not interrogative, but negatives ἐκπληττόμενος—αὐξήσει. The interrogative force of οὐκοῦν is carried on from the last sentence.

ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τιμάς γε κτλ. See on VIII 566 E. The idiom has more in common with ‘partitive apposition’ than with such an ἀνακόλουθον accusative as in Tim. 37 D (quoted by Schneider) ἡμέρας γὰρ καὶ νύκτας καὶ μῆνας καὶ ἐνιαυτούς, οὐκ ὄντας πρὶν οὐρανὸν γενέσθαι, τότε ἅμα ἐκείνῳ ξυνισταμένῳ τὴν γένεσιν αὐτῶν μηχανᾶται.

Plato Republic 9.591

ed. John Burnet

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