Republic (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

by Plato

  ew Theages was a member of Socrates’ circle who predeceased Socrates; a dialogue titled Theages has been preserved in the Platonic corpus but is probably not by Plato.

  ex Heracleitus (today more commonly spelled Heraclitus) posited that the sun was extinguished every evening and rekindled every morning.

  ey Compare Iliad 1.131.

  ez That is, at 3.412c-414b.

  fa A pun on the word tokos, which means both “offspring” and “interest owed on a debt.”

  fb The sun (Helios) was traditionally conceived of as a deity; in later times, Apollo (Phoebus) came to be thought of as the god of the sun. Helios in Greek is a masculine noun; in this passage and again in book 7, Jowett uses masculine pronouns to refer to it.

  fc Jowett uses the masculine possessive adjective to refer to the idea of the good, although it is a neuter entity (to agathon), presumably because Socrates here conceives of “the good” as the “parent” or “father” of the sun.

  fd That is, epístemê (also translated as “knowledge”), the cognitive faculty whereby intelligible objects (the ideas, as opposed to objects in the phenomenal realm) are known; see note 24 on 5.476d.

  fe Duranos (also transliterated as “Uranus”) refers to the sky (or “heavens”) and to the primeval god of the sky. Horatos is a verbal adjective meaning “that which is seen.”

  ff Once again, the word for sun in Greek (helios) is masculine—hence the masculine pronouns in Jowett’s translation.

  fg Odyssey 11.489. Socrates criticizes the verse at 3.386c.

  fh That is, as would happen in the rigorous training of future guardians that is described in books 2 and 3.

  fi The place where those who have led virtuous or exemplary lives were typically thought to be ensconced after death; see also 7.540b.

  fj The references in this paragraph are to 4.419a-421c and 3.414b-415d.

  fk See note 20 on 2.376e for the broad semantic range of mousikê, the word translated here as “music.”

  fl Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides all composed tragedies about Palamedes, a Greek chieftain at Troy, who was traditionally credited with the invention of numbers and also writing; in other sources, the god Prometheus is credited with the invention of numbers.

  fm The term arithmetikê, here translated as “arithmetic,” has more to do with the “science of number”—that is, the study of the characteristics of certain types of numbers (for example, even and odd)—than with simple addition, subtraction, etc.

  fn That is, plane geometry.

  fo Legendary artist and craftsman. Among other achievements, he constructed the labyrinth on Crete to contain the Minotaur.

  fp Literally, “the craftsman (demiourgos) of heaven.” Compare “the artificer (demiourgos) of the senses” at 6.507c.

  fq See notes 32 on 6.509d and 33 on 510b.

  fr The distinction is between doxa and epistemê, as at 5.476d-480a.

  fs Compare 3.412c—414b; also 6.494a-495b.

  ft That is, megaloprepeia (high-mindedness); compare 6.486a.

  fu That is, at 3.412c; compare 6.498b—c.

  fv Athenian statesman and poet (late seventh to early sixth centuries B.C.E.).

  fw Compare 5.467a—e.

  fx See note 6 on 5.454a for the distinction between eristic and dialectic.

  fy Compare 1.347c.

  fz The oracle of Apollo at Delphi. See 5.461e and 4.427b.

  ga Compare 5.455b—457b.

  gb Compare 6.501a.

  gc That is, 4.445c-e.

  gd According to an ancient commentator, the reference is to the way in which wrestlers, after being thrown, rose and resumed their positions.

  ge Compare Odyssey 19.162. For the assumption that the characters of individuals determine the characters of states, see 4.435e.

  gf At 1.344c.

  gg Timê in Greek means “honor”; timokratia and timarchia are Platonic neologisms for the philotimos politeia (“honor-loving constitution” or, as Jowett translates, “government of honor”) in which the ambitious silver class dominates. See 8.548c—e.

  gh Throughout books 8 and 9, Socrates uses the term “aristocracy” to refer to the government of “the best” that is only possible, he argues, in the ideal state.

  gi Adapted from Iliad 16.112.

  gj “That which is of divine birth” is perhaps meant to signify the world as a whole; compare Timaeus 30a.

  gk That is, a period of gestation. The “perfect number” that describes the period of gestation of “that which is divinely born” is left unspecified.

  gl That is, by squaring a number and then multiplying it again by its square (cubing).

  gm More literally, “comprehending three distances and four limits.” “Three distances” refers perhaps to the height, width, and depth of a square or rectangular cube. “Four limits” may signify the four comer points on a cube that define its height, width, and depth.

  gn Alternatively, “of elements that make things like and unlike and cause increase and decrease....” These “elements” are perhaps the numbers 3, 4, and 5, which are the lengths of the sides of the Pythagorean triangle. It may be significant that the combined cubes of these numbers (that is, 33+43+53) yield 216, which some ancient theorists (for example, the Pythagoreans) identified as the minimum number of days for human gestation.

  go Literally, “the base ‘thirded,’ yoked to 5, yields two harmonies when thrice increased.” The base is 3, which is first multiplied by one and one-third times itself (that is, 3 x 4/3, equaling 4); this figure (that is, 3 x 4, or 12) is then multiplied by 5, yielding 60. 60 is then multiplied by itself raised to the third power (that is, 60x603); this yields 12,960,000, which can also be expressed as (3×4×5)4. The number 12,960,000 “comprehends” two geometric figures representing “two harmonies.” The first figure is a square with sides measuring 3600 units (3600 × 3600 = 12,960,000); the second is a rectangle with sides measuring 4800 and 2700 units (4800 x 2700 =12,960,000). Readers should note that, in the original text, the number 12,960,000 is reached through a series of multiplications; Jowett’s translation, “the base of these with a third added,” misrepresents Socrates’ mathematical logic.

  gp The side of the square in question is 36 “100 times as great”—that is, 36 x 100, which equals 3600.

  gq Alternatively, “a figure having one side equal to the other, but oblong [that is, in a rectangle; two sides instead of four have the same measurement], having one side that is 100 squares of the rational diameter of 5, minus 100.” The rational diameter of 5 is 7, because the diameter of a square with sides of 5 units is the square root of 50, and the closest rational number (that is, integer) to the square root of 50 is 7, since 7 x 7 = 49. “100 squares of the rational diameter of 5,” then, is 100 x 7 x 7, or 4900. Subtracting 100 from 4900 yields 4800.

  gr This is shorthand for “or of 100 squares of irrational diameters, wanting 2 each,” which presents an alternative way of arriving at the number 4800: that is, (50-2) x 100. The irrational diameter is the square root of 50; the square of this number is 50; “wanting 2 each” means that 2 must be subtracted from 50, yielding 48.

  gs That is, 100 x 33 = 2700.

  gt Compare 4.423e.

  gu Compare 3.415a—c.

  gv Adapted from Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 451 and 570.

  gw See 8.544c.

  gx The distinction between necessary and unnecessary appetites (and pleasures) is fleshed out at 8.558d—559d.

  gy That is, Ploutos, the god of wealth.

  gz Another pun on the word tokos, which means both “offspring” and “interest (on a loan)”; compare 6.507a.

  ha Compare 6.492a and 6.496a—b.

  hb Compare Odyssey 9.82—104. The reference here is to the “drone desires” mentioned at 8.559d.

  hc Literally, unmixed wine. Greeks typically drank wine mixed with water.

  hd Adapted from a lost play.

  he The proverb in question is “Like mistress, like her dog”; it refers to the
imitation by female slaves of their mistresses’ ways.

  hf The speaker’s platform in, for example, the Assembly.

  hg “Demagogic” politicians (such as Cleon, who died in 422 B.C.E.) styled themselves as “champions [prostatai] of the people.”

  hh That is, Zeus the wolf-god. Tales about werewolves were popular in antiquity.

  hi That is, the rational part of the soul.

  hj For the reliance of tyrants on bodyguards, see 8.566b.

  hk “Motherland” (metris), as opposed to the more typical “fatherland” (patris), was apparently the favored expression on Crete.

  hl Compare 9.580a and 1.344c-d.

  hm That is, aretê; see note 6 on 1.335b.

  hn Ariston’s name is derived from the adjective aristos (“best”); see 2.368a and also note 6 on 1.335b.

  ho That is, the “spirit” (thumos).

  hp The temple of Zeus at Olympia was an important pan-Hellenic site; dedication to Olympian Zeus marks the significance of an object or deed.

  hq That is, “deprivations.” The Greek word kenosis literally means an “emptying.”

  hr The tyrannical man is “three times removed” from his oligarchical counterpart if one counts inclusively, as the Greeks regularly did; compare 10.597e.

  hs That is, since the “timarchic” man is between them. Once again, Socrates counts inclusively.

  ht The tyrant is 3×3 (that is, 9) times removed from the “kingly” man; the kingly man’s pleasure—which Socrates envisions in a “solid” figure—is therefore 93 (that is, 729) times greater than the tyrant’s.

  hu Mythological monsters: The Chimera was envisioned as a conflation of a lion, a goat, and a serpent. The sea-dwelling Scylla had six heads and twelve feet. Cerberus was the triple-headed dog that guarded the underworld.

  hv Oedipus’s son Polyneices, exiled from Thebes by his brother Eteocles, sought to restore himself to power with the help of King Amphiareus of Argos; to secure the reluctant King’s cooperation, he bribed Amphiareus’ wife, Eriphyle, with a necklace.

  hw Compare 3.399e.

  hx Compare 5.472d-e.

  hy See note 24 on 2.379a.

  hz On Asclepius and the Asclepiadae, see 3.405d-406c.

  ia The traditional founder of the Spartan (Lacedaemonian) constitution and way of life (perhaps early eighth century B.C.E.).

  ib Lawgiver in the city-state Catana (on Sicily) and Rhegium (in southern Italy) who was active in the sixth century B.C.E.

  ic By the classical period, the Homeridae (literally, “sons of Homer”) established themselves as authoritative interpreters of the works attributed in antiquity to Homer.

  id Thales (late seventh to early sixth century B.C.E.) of Miletus was credited in antiquity with predicting the occurrence of a solar eclipse that took place in 585 B.C.E.; he is often cited as one of the “seven sages” and is credited with bringing Egyptian techniques of “land measurement” (that is, geometry) to the Greek world.

  ie Anacharsis apparently traveled widely in Greece in the early sixth century B.C.E.; he was credited by some with the invention of the anchor and the potter’s wheel.

  if The Pythagoreans were known for their asceticism.

  ig Rhapsodes were professional (often itinerant) performers of epic poetry; see note 5 on 1.334a.

  ih Compare 4.439c-441c.

  ii Compare 3.387d-e.

  ij Compare 10.608a and also 9.577a.

  ik That is, poetry, which is referred to by feminine pronouns through Jowett’s translation of this passage. In subsequent pages, Jowett also uses feminine pronouns when referring to the soul (psyche in Greek) and justice (dikaiosynê) .

  il The sources of these sayings are unknown.

  im Jowett’s translation is less than literal; literally translated, the Greek reads, “This entire time, from childhood to old age, would be something slight compared to everything [that is, the whole of time].”

  in Eye inflammation.

  io Fisherman who was transformed into a sea-god.

  ip That is, at the soul’s “philosophy.”

  iq That is, material goods, including wealth, fame, and prestige.

  ir The dog-skin “cap of Hades,” which provides invisibility, is mentioned in Iliad 5.844.

  is Literally, “the prizes of victory which it [that is, justice] acquires through reputation and confers on those who possess it [that is, individuals who are just]”; compare “the palms of victory which the gods give the just,” at 10.613b.

  it See 1.352b.

  iu The “goal” is in the mid-course turning point. Both foot and chariot races were typically run in two segments, the first going to and the second returning from a turning point (or post).

  iv Compare 10.608c.

  iw Compare Phaedrus 249b.

  ix A fictional figure.

  iy Compare Gorgias 525c-d.

  iz That is, Tartarus, the lowest place in the underworld. Compare Gorgias 523b and Phaedo 112a-b.[p. 000]

  ja Warship with three banks of oars.

  jb Various “pre-Socratic philosophers,” such as Empedocles and Parmenides, conceived of “Necessity” as a cosmic principle. The personification of Necessity in this passage is in keeping with traditional poetic practices.

  jc That is, the weight on the end of a spindle that keeps it twirling.

  jd The sirens in Odyssey 12 are singers whose alluring song dangerously distracts passing seafarers. In contrast, Socrates envisions them simply as immortal singers.

  je In sources dating to the archaic period, the Fates (Moirai, or “Apportioners”) are identified as daughters of the goddess Night, or of Zeus and Themis; they are traditionally conceived of as spinners who spin and cut threads that determine the courses of individual human lives. Clotho means “Spinner”; Lachesis, “Getting-by-Lot”; and Atropos, “Irresistible.”

  jf That is, “guardian spirit” (daimon).

  jg Swans were thought to sing when they were about to die; Orpheus was supposed to have been killed by Maenads (female worshipers of Dionysus).

  jh Thamyras was a legendary Thracian singer who was punished for challenging the Muses to a contest; the songs of nightingales were considered sweet but mournful.

  ji Ajax (in Greek, Aias) was a Greek chieftain (from the island Salamis) at Troy who figures prominently in Iliad. According to various traditions, Ajax committed suicide after the armor of the dead Achilles was awarded to Odysseus.

  jj Legendary Arcadian maiden and huntress who, since she was unwilling to marry, challenged all her suitors to footraces. ∥Epeus (also spelled Epeius) was the architect of the Trojan horse; see Odyssey 8.493.

  jk A commoner in the Greek army at Troy who dares to criticize Agamemnon and is beaten by Odysseus; compare Iliad 2.211-277.

  jl Also mentioned as a feature of the underworld in Aristophanes, Frogs 186 (produced in 405 B.C.E.).