ΠΟΛΙΤΕΙΑ
Benjamin Jowett
Plato · Benjamin Jowett
Narrator: SOCRATES of Alopece, son of Sophroniscus
Also present: NICERATUS father of Nicias, EUTHYDEMUS brother of Lysias, LYSIAS an orator son of Cephalus, CHARMANTIDES a contemporary of Cephalus, OTHERS friends attending the festival
Scene: on the road to Athens during the Bendis festival / at the house of Polemarchus in the Piraeus
The Republic is Plato's longest and most ambitious dialogue, ranging across nearly the whole of his thought. It opens with a deceptively simple question — what is justice, and is the just life better than the unjust? — pressed hard by the brothers Glaucon and Adeimantus, who challenge Socrates to show that justice is worth having for its own sake, even for a man who could get away with any crime.
To see justice 'writ large', Socrates builds an ideal city in speech, with its three classes — producers, guardian-warriors, and philosopher-rulers — and famously argues that there will be no end to the troubles of states until philosophers rule or rulers philosophize. The city mirrors the tripartite soul, and justice in both turns out to be the same thing: each part doing its own proper work under the rule of reason. Along the way come some of Plato's most radical and most discussed proposals, on education, the community of wives and property among the guardians, and the role of women.
At its heart stand the three great images of the Good — the sun, the divided line, and the allegory of the cave — which set out the philosopher's ascent from the shadows of the senses to the vision of the Good that lies 'beyond being'. The dialogue closes with the Myth of Er, a vision of judgment after death and the soul's choice of its next life, binding justice to the soul's destiny across many lifetimes.
In the library: the complete Republic, including the Cave, the Divided Line, and the Myth of Er.
From the Plato Scroll Encyclopedia · open this entry in the reader
Socrates - Glaucon
I went down yesterday to the Piraeus with Glaucon the son of Ariston, that I might offer up my prayers to the goddess; and also because I wanted to see in what manner they would celebrate the festival, which was a new thing. I was delighted with the procession of the inhabitants; but that of the Thracians was equally, if not more, beautiful. When we had finished our prayers and viewed the spectacle, we turned in the direction of the city; and at that instant Polemarchus the son of Cephalus chanced to catch sight of us from a distance as we were starting on our way home, and told his servant to run and bid us wait for him. The servant took hold of me by the cloak behind, and said: Polemarchus desires you to wait.
I turned round, and asked him where his master was.
There he is, said the youth, coming after you, if you will only wait.
Certainly we will, said Glaucon; and in a few minutes Polemarchus appeared, and with him Adeimantus, Glaucon’s brother, Niceratus the son of Nicias, and several others who had been at the procession.
Socrates - Polemarchus - Glaucon - Adeimantus
Polemarchus said to me: I perceive, Socrates, that you and our companion are already on your way to the city.
You are not far wrong, I said.
But do you see, he rejoined, how many we are?
Of course.
And are you stronger than all these? for if not, you will have to remain where you are.
May there not be the alternative, I said, that we may persuade you to let us go?
But can you persuade us, if we refuse to listen to you? he said.
Certainly not, replied Glaucon.
Then we are not going to listen; of that you may be assured.
Adeimantus added: Has no one told you of the torch-race on horseback in honour of the goddess which will take place in the evening?
With horses! I replied: That is a novelty. Will horsemen carry torches and pass them one to another during the race?
Yes, said Polemarchus, and not only so, but a festival will he celebrated at night, which you certainly ought to see. Let us rise soon after supper and see this festival; there will be a gathering of young men, and we will have a good talk. Stay then, and do not be perverse.
Glaucon said: I suppose, since you insist, that we must.
Very good, I replied.
Glaucon - Cephalus - Socrates
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The Athenian who turned Socratic conversation into a written philosophy and founded the Academy.
Plato was born around 428 BCE into a wealthy and politically prominent Athenian family; through his mother Perictione the family traced kinship to the lawgiver Solon, and his relatives Critias and Charmides were among the oligarchs of the Thirty. A late tradition says his given name was Aristocles and that 'Plato' — from the word for 'broad' — was a nickname. He grew up during the long agony of the Peloponnesian War and came of age amid the violence and disillusion that followed Athens' defeat.
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