James Adam, Commentary on Plato, Republic, ed. James Adam, 8.548D

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[548D] διὰ τὸ ἐξαρκεῖν κτλ. See 544 A note With ἀμήχανον δὲ κτλ. cf. IV 443 D, E note

548D - 550C The character of the timarchical man is now described in close analogy with that of the timarchical State (548 D—549 B). In origin (continues Socrates) he was the son of a good father living in an ill-regulated city and abstaining from public life. Drawn by his father's precepts and example towards the higher life, and by maternal and other influences towards the lower, he finally surrendered himself to the dominion of the intermediate principle in the soul, and thus became timarchical.

πῶς τε γενόμενος : ‘how did he arise?’ Richards proposes γιγνόμενος: but the past tense is in harmony with ἔμπεσε 545 D, with είλκέτην, ἠγέτην, ὡμολόγησαν 547 B, and indeed with the whole of Plato's exposition, which is deliberately arrayed in the vesture of a historical narrative or epic poem: see on 543 A, 544 C. It appears to be the custom to translate most of the aorists of this kind in Books VIII and IX by the present, but in some cases the effect is much more realistic and picturesque if we make them past, and I think that Plato intended some of these aorists to be understood in that way. The instances in point are 550 B ἦλθε, παρέδωκε, ἐγένετο, 550 E ἀπειργάσαντο, 551 B κατεστήσαντο, 555 D ἠνάγκασαν, 560 A—C ὑπεχώρησε, διεφθάρησαν, ἐξέπεσον, κατεκοσμήθη, ἐγένοντο, εἵλκυσαν, ἐνέτεκον, κατέλαβον, κατέσχον, 565 B ἔσχον, 566 E ἠλευθέρωσε, διένειμε. Except in 550 E, 551 B, 555 D, 565 B, and 566 E, in which the aorists are no doubt the so-called gnomic aorists “used in animated language to express general truths” (Goodwin MT. p. 53), each of these tenses is in my opinion correctly translated by a past in English. Plato of course repeatedly employs the present also, not only where he is painting a scene (e.g. 549 B ff., 553 A ff., 555 C ff.), but also when he is describing the actual genesis of a particular sort of commonwealth or individual (e.g. 550 D, 551 A, B al. and many instances of γίγνεται), and in such cases the appearance of historical narration is not preserved, for it would be pedantic to view all these presents as merely examples of the praesens historicum. See also on 549 C.

φιλονικίας : ‘desire to excel.’ The translations ‘party-spirit’ (D. and V.), ‘spirit of contention’ (Jowett) are misleading: see 548 C note On Glauco's φιλονικία see Introd. § 2.

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

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Current edition Perseus

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

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Πολιτεία Perseus (Platonis Opera Tomus IV: Tetralogia VIII. Burnet, John, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 8.548 focus

[548]
ναί.
ἐπιθυμηταὶ δέ γε, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, χρημάτων οἱ τοιοῦτοι ἔσονται, ὥσπερ οἱ ἐν ταῖς ὀλιγαρχίαις, καὶ τιμῶντες ἀγρίως ὑπὸ σκότου χρυσόν τε καὶ ἄργυρον, ἅτε κεκτημένοι ταμιεῖα καὶ οἰκείους θησαυρούς, οἷ θέμενοι ἂν αὐτὰ κρύψειαν, καὶ αὖ περιβόλους οἰκήσεων, ἀτεχνῶς νεοττιὰς ἰδίας, ἐν αἷς 548b ἀναλίσκοντες γυναιξί τε καὶ οἷς ἐθέλοιεν ἄλλοις πολλὰ ἂν δαπανῷντο.
ἀληθέστατα, ἔφη.
οὐκοῦν καὶ φειδωλοὶ χρημάτων, ἅτε τιμῶντες καὶ οὐ φανερῶς κτώμενοι, φιλαναλωταὶ δὲ ἀλλοτρίων διʼ ἐπιθυμίαν, καὶ λάθρᾳ τὰς ἡδονὰς καρπούμενοι, ὥσπερ παῖδες πατέρα τὸν νόμον ἀποδιδράσκοντες, οὐχ ὑπὸ πειθοῦς ἀλλʼ ὑπὸ βίας πεπαιδευμένοι διὰ τὸ τῆς ἀληθινῆς Μούσης τῆς μετὰ λόγων 548c τε καὶ φιλοσοφίας ἠμεληκέναι καὶ πρεσβυτέρως γυμναστικὴν μουσικῆς τετιμηκέναι.
παντάπασιν, ἔφη, λέγεις μεμειγμένην πολιτείαν ἐκ κακοῦ τε καὶ ἀγαθοῦ.
μέμεικται γάρ, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ· διαφανέστατον δʼ ἐν αὐτῇ ἐστὶν ἕν τι μόνον ὑπὸ τοῦ θυμοειδοῦς κρατοῦντος, φιλονικίαι καὶ φιλοτιμίαι.
σφόδρα γε, ἦ δʼ ὅς.
οὐκοῦν, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, αὕτη μὲν ἡ πολιτεία οὕτω γεγονυῖα καὶ τοιαύτη ἄν τις εἴη, ὡς λόγῳ σχῆμα πολιτείας ὑπογράψαντα 548d μὴ ἀκριβῶς ἀπεργάσασθαι διὰ τὸ ἐξαρκεῖν μὲν ἰδεῖν καὶ ἐκ τῆς ὑπογραφῆς τόν τε δικαιότατον καὶ τὸν ἀδικώτατον, ἀμήχανον δὲ μήκει ἔργον εἶναι πάσας μὲν πολιτείας, πάντα δὲ ἤθη μηδὲν παραλιπόντα διελθεῖν.
καὶ ὀρθῶς, ἔφη.
τίς οὖν ὁ κατὰ ταύτην τὴν πολιτείαν ἀνήρ; πῶς τε γενόμενος ποῖός τέ τις ὤν;
οἶμαι μέν, ἔφη ὁ Ἀδείμαντος, ἐγγύς τι αὐτὸν Γλαύκωνος τουτουὶ τείνειν ἕνεκά γε φιλονικίας. 548e
ἴσως, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, τοῦτό γε· ἀλλά μοι δοκεῖ τάδε οὐ κατὰ τοῦτον πεφυκέναι.
τὰ ποῖα;

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).) — 8.548 focus

[548] Yes. Such men, said I, will be avid of wealth, like those in an oligarchy, and will cherish a fierce secret lust for gold¹ and silver, owning storehouses² and private treasuries where they may hide them away, and also the enclosures³ of their homes, literal private love-nests⁴ in which they can lavish their wealth on their women⁵ 548b and any others they please with great expenditure. Most true, he said. And will they not be stingy about money, since they prize it and are not allowed to possess it openly, prodigal of others’ wealth⁶ because of their appetites, enjoying⁷ their pleasures stealthily, and running away from the law as boys from a father,⁸ since they have not been educated by persuasion⁹ but by force because of their neglect of the true Muse, the companion of discussion and philosophy, 548c and because of their preference of gymnastics to music? You perfectly describe, he said, a polity that is a mixture¹⁰ of good and evil. Why, yes, the elements have been mixed, I said, but the most conspicuous¹¹ feature in it is one thing only, due to the predominance of the high-spirited element, namely contentiousness and covetousness of honor.¹² Very much so, said he. Such, then, would be the origin and nature of this polity if we may merely outline the figure 548d of a constitution in words and not elaborate it precisely, since even the sketch will suffice to show us the most just and the most unjust type of man, and it would be an impracticable task to set forth all forms¹³ of government without omitting any, and all customs and qualities of men. Quite right, he said.
What, then, is the man that corresponds to this constitution? What is his origin and what his nature? I fancy, Adeimantus said, that he comes rather close¹⁴ to Glaucon here 548e in point of contentiousness. Perhaps, said I, in that, but I do not think their natures are alike in the following respects. In what?

James Adam Commentary on Plato, Republic 8.548D

ed. James Adam

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