James Adam, Commentary on Plato, Republic, ed. James Adam, 6.503C

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[503C] εὐμαθεῖς κτλ. ‘The faculty of learning easily, memory, sagacity, quickness, and so on, together with spirit and high-mindedness, are, as you know, not often naturally combined with the disposition to live soberly in quiet and stedfast ways’ etc. Plato means that natural intelligence and vivacity, with their accompaniments of spirit and highmindedness, rarely go with moral stedfastness. A good illustration is afforded by the contrast between “the Athenian and the Spartan, the former ‘neither resting themselves nor letting anyone else rest, the latter so slow that aggression can hardly rouse them to repel it’” (Bosanquet). Cf. Thucyd. I 70. For other views on the text and interpretation of this difficult passage see App. VI.

ὑπὸ ὀξύτητος κτλ. Theaet. 144 A οἵ τε ὀξεῖς—καὶ ἀγχίνοι καὶ μνήμονες—ᾄττοντες φέρονται ὥσπερ τὰ ἀνερμάτιστα πλοῖα.

τὰ βέβαια κτλ. Theaet. 144 B οἵ τε αὖ ἐμβριθέστεροι νωθροί πως ἀπαντῶσι πρὸς τὰς μαθήσεις καὶ λήθης γέμοντες.

Commentary on Plato, Republic. James Adam. ed. James Adam. Cambridge. 1926-1929.

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Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

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

Editions (1)

Πολιτεία Perseus (Platonis Opera Tomus IV: Tetralogia VIII. Burnet, John, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 6.503 focus

[503] ἐλέγομεν 503a δʼ, εἰ μνημονεύεις, δεῖν αὐτοὺς φιλοπόλιδάς τε φαίνεσθαι, βασανιζομένους ἐν ἡδοναῖς τε καὶ λύπαις, καὶ τὸ δόγμα τοῦτο μήτʼ ἐν πόνοις μήτʼ ἐν φόβοις μήτʼ ἐν ἄλλῃ μηδεμιᾷ μεταβολῇ φαίνεσθαι ἐκβάλλοντας, ἢ τὸν ἀδυνατοῦντα ἀποκριτέον, τὸν δὲ πανταχοῦ ἀκήρατον ἐκβαίνοντα ὥσπερ χρυσὸν ἐν πυρὶ βασανιζόμενον, στατέον ἄρχοντα καὶ γέρα δοτέον καὶ ζῶντι καὶ τελευτήσαντι καὶ ἆθλα. τοιαῦτʼ ἄττα ἦν τὰ λεγόμενα παρεξιόντος καὶ παρακαλυπτομένου τοῦ 503b λόγου, πεφοβημένου κινεῖν τὸ νῦν παρόν.
ἀληθέστατα, ἔφη, λέγεις· μέμνημαι γάρ.
ὄκνος γάρ, ἔφην, ὦ φίλε, ἐγώ, εἰπεῖν τὰ νῦν ἀποτετολμημένα· νῦν δὲ τοῦτο μὲν τετολμήσθω εἰπεῖν, ὅτι τοὺς ἀκριβεστάτους φύλακας φιλοσόφους δεῖ καθιστάναι.
εἰρήσθω γάρ, ἔφη.
νόησον δὴ ὡς εἰκότως ὀλίγοι ἔσονταί σοι· ἣν γὰρ διήλθομεν φύσιν δεῖν ὑπάρχειν αὐτοῖς, εἰς ταὐτὸν συμφύεσθαι αὐτῆς τὰ μέρη ὀλιγάκις ἐθέλει, τὰ πολλὰ δὲ διεσπασμένη φύεται. 503c
πῶς, ἔφη, λέγεις;
εὐμαθεῖς καὶ μνήμονες καὶ ἀγχίνοι καὶ ὀξεῖς καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα τούτοις ἕπεται οἶσθʼ ὅτι οὐκ ἐθέλουσιν ἅμα φύεσθαι καὶ νεανικοί τε καὶ μεγαλοπρεπεῖς τὰς διανοίας οἷοι κοσμίως μετὰ ἡσυχίας καὶ βεβαιότητος ἐθέλειν ζῆν, ἀλλʼ οἱ τοιοῦτοι ὑπὸ ὀξύτητος φέρονται ὅπῃ ἂν τύχωσιν, καὶ τὸ βέβαιον ἅπαν αὐτῶν ἐξοίχεται.
ἀληθῆ, ἔφη, λέγεις.
οὐκοῦν τὰ βέβαια αὖ ταῦτα ἤθη καὶ οὐκ εὐμετάβολα, οἷς 503d ἄν τις μᾶλλον ὡς πιστοῖς χρήσαιτο, καὶ ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ πρὸς τοὺς φόβους δυσκίνητα ὄντα, πρὸς τὰς μαθήσεις αὖ ποιεῖ ταὐτόν· δυσκινήτως ἔχει καὶ δυσμαθῶς ὥσπερ ἀπονεναρκωμένα, καὶ ὕπνου τε καὶ χάσμης ἐμπίμπλανται, ὅταν τι δέῃ τοιοῦτον διαπονεῖν.
ἔστι ταῦτα, ἔφη.
ἡμεῖς δέ γέ φαμεν ἀμφοτέρων δεῖν εὖ τε καὶ καλῶς μετέχειν, ἢ μήτε παιδείας τῆς ἀκριβεστάτης δεῖν αὐτῷ μεταδιδόναι μήτε τιμῆς μήτε ἀρχῆς.
ὀρθῶς, ἦ δʼ ὅς.
οὐκοῦν σπάνιον αὐτὸ οἴει ἔσεσθαι;
πῶς δʼ οὔ; 503e
βασανιστέον δὴ ἔν τε οἷς τότε ἐλέγομεν πόνοις τε καὶ φόβοις καὶ ἡδοναῖς, καὶ ἔτι δὴ ὃ τότε παρεῖμεν νῦν λέγομεν, ὅτι καὶ ἐν μαθήμασι πολλοῖς γυμνάζειν δεῖ, σκοποῦντας εἰ καὶ τὰ μέγιστα μαθήματα δυνατὴ ἔσται ἐνεγκεῖν εἴτε καὶ 504a ἀποδειλιάσει, ὥσπερ οἱ ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀποδειλιῶντες.

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).) — 6.503 focus

[503] We were saying, if you recollect, 503a that they must approve themselves lovers of the state when tested¹ in pleasures and pains, and make it apparent that they do not abandon² this fixed faith³ under stress of labors or fears or any other vicissitude, and that anyone who could not keep that faith must he rejected, while he who always issued from the test pure and intact, like gold tried in the fire,⁴ is to be established as ruler and to receive honors in life and after death and prizes as well.⁵ Something of this sort we said while the argument slipped by with veiled face⁶ 503b in fear⁷ of starting⁸ our present debate. Most true, he said; I remember. We shrank, my friend, I said, from uttering the audacities which have now been hazarded. But now let us find courage for the definitive pronouncement that as the most perfect⁹ guardians we must establish philosophers. Yes, assume it to have been said, said he. Note, then, that they will naturally be few,¹⁰ for the different components of the nature which we said their education presupposed rarely consent to grow in one; but for the most part these qualities are found apart. 503c What do you mean? he said. Facility in learning, memory, sagacity, quickness of apprehension and their accompaniments, and youthful spirit and magnificence in soul are qualities, you know, that are rarely combined in human nature with a disposition to live orderly, quiet, and stable lives;¹¹ but such men, by reason of their quickness,¹² are driven about just as chance directs, and all steadfastness is gone out of them. You speak truly, he said. And on the other hand, the steadfast and stable temperaments, whom one could rather trust in use, 503d and who in war are not easily moved and aroused to fear, are apt to act in the same way¹³ when confronted with studies. They are not easily aroused, learn with difficulty, as if benumbed,¹⁴ and are filled with sleep and yawning when an intellectual task is set them. It is so, he said. But we affirmed that a man must partake of both temperaments in due and fair combination or else participate in neither the highest¹⁵ education nor in honors nor in rule. And rightly, he said. Do you not think, then, that such a blend will be a rare thing? 503e Of course. They must, then, be tested in the toils and fears and pleasures of which we then spoke,¹⁶ and we have also now to speak of a point we then passed by, that we must exercise them in many studies, watching them to see whether their nature is capable of enduring the greatest and most difficult studies 504a or whether it will faint and flinch¹⁷ as men flinch in the trials and contests of the body.

James Adam Commentary on Plato, Republic 6.503C

ed. James Adam

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