ΠΟΛΙΤΕΙΑ
Greek text
Plato · Greek text
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
Σωκράτης κατέβην χθὲς εἰς Πειραιᾶ μετὰ Γλαύκωνος τοῦ Ἀρίστωνος προσευξόμενός τε τῇ θεῷ καὶ ἅμα τὴν ἑορτὴν βουλόμενος θεάσασθαι τίνα τρόπον ποιήσουσιν ἅτε νῦν πρῶτον ἄγοντες. καλὴ μὲν οὖν μοι καὶ ἡ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων πομπὴ ἔδοξεν εἶναι, οὐ μέντοι ἧττον ἐφαίνετο πρέπειν ἣν οἱ Θρᾷκες ἔπεμπον.
προσευξάμενοι δὲ καὶ θεωρήσαντες ἀπῇμεν πρὸς τὸ ἄστυ. κατιδὼν οὖν πόρρωθεν ἡμᾶς οἴκαδε ὡρμημένους Πολέμαρχος ὁ Κεφάλου ἐκέλευσε δραμόντα τὸν παῖδα περιμεῖναί ἑ κελεῦσαι. καί μου ὄπισθεν ὁ παῖς λαβόμενος τοῦ ἱματίου, κελεύει ὑμᾶς, ἔφη, Πολέμαρχος περιμεῖναι. καὶ ἐγὼ μετεστράφην τε καὶ ἠρόμην ὅπου αὐτὸς εἴη. οὗτος, ἔφη, ὄπισθεν προσέρχεται· ἀλλὰ περιμένετε. ἀλλὰ περιμενοῦμεν, ἦ δ’ ὃς ὁ Γλαύκων.
καὶ ὀλίγῳ ὕστερον ὅ τε Πολέμαρχος ἧκε καὶ Ἀδείμαντος ὁ τοῦ Γλαύκωνος ἀδελφὸς καὶ Νικήρατος ὁ Νικίου καὶ ἄλλοι τινὲς ὡς ἀπὸ τῆς πομπῆς.
Σωκράτης, Γλαύκων, Πολέμαρχος, Αδείμαντος
ὁ οὖν Πολέμαρχος ἔφη· ὦ Σώκρατες, δοκεῖτέ μοι πρὸς ἄστυ ὡρμῆσθαι ὡς ἀπιόντες.
οὐ γὰρ κακῶς δοξάζεις, ἦν δ’ ἐγώ.
ὁρᾷς οὖν ἡμᾶς, ἔφη, ὅσοι ἐσμέν;
πῶς γὰρ οὔ;
ἢ τοίνυν τούτων, ἔφη, κρείττους γένεσθε ἢ μένετ’ αὐτοῦ.
οὐκοῦν, ἦν δ’ ἐγώ, ἔτι ἓν λείπεται, τὸ ἢν πείσωμεν ὑμᾶς ὡς χρὴ ἡμᾶς ἀφεῖναι;
ἦ καὶ δύναισθ’ ἄν, ἦ δ’ ὅς, πεῖσαι μὴ ἀκούοντας;
οὐδαμῶς, ἔφη ὁ Γλαύκων.
ὡς τοίνυν μὴ ἀκουσομένων, οὕτω διανοεῖσθε.
καὶ ὁ Ἀδείμαντος, ἆρά γε, ἦ δ’ ὅς, οὐδ’ ἴστε ὅτι λαμπὰς ἔσται πρὸς ἑσπέραν ἀφ’ ἵππων τῇ θεῷ;
ἀφ’ ἵππων; ἦν δ’ ἐγώ· καινόν γε τοῦτο. λαμπάδια ἔχοντες διαδώσουσιν ἀλλήλοις ἁμιλλώμενοι τοῖς ἵπποις; ἢ πῶς λέγεις;
οὕτως, ἔφη ὁ Πολέμαρχος. καὶ πρός γε παννυχίδα ποιήσουσιν, ἣν ἄξιον θεάσασθαι· ἐξαναστησόμεθα γὰρ μετὰ τὸ δεῖπνον καὶ τὴν παννυχίδα θεασόμεθα. καὶ συνεσόμεθά τε πολλοῖς τῶν νέων αὐτόθι καὶ διαλεξόμεθα. ἀλλὰ μένετε
καὶ μὴ ἄλλως ποιεῖτε.
καὶ ὁ Γλαύκων, ἔοικεν, ἔφη, μενετέον εἶναι.
ἀλλ’ εἰ δοκεῖ, ἦν δ’ ἐγώ, οὕτω χρὴ ποιεῖν.
Σωκράτης, Γλαύκων, Κέφαλος
ἦιμεν οὖν οἴκαδε εἰς τοῦ Πολεμάρχου, καὶ Λυσίαν τε αὐτόθι κατελάβομεν καὶ Εὐθύδημον, τοὺς τοῦ Πολεμάρχου ἀδελφούς, καὶ δὴ καὶ Θρασύμαχον τὸν Καλχηδόνιον καὶ Χαρμαντίδην τὸν Παιανιᾶ καὶ Κλειτοφῶντα τὸν Ἀριστωνύμου· ἦν δ’ ἔνδον καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ὁ τοῦ Πολεμάρχου Κέφαλος. καὶ μάλα πρεσβύτης μοι ἔδοξεν εἶναι· διὰ χρόνου γὰρ καὶ
ἑωράκη αὐτόν. καθῆστο δὲ ἐστεφανωμένος ἐπί τινος προσκεφαλαίου τε καὶ δίφρου· τεθυκὼς γὰρ ἐτύγχανεν ἐν τῇ αὐλῇ. ἐκαθεζόμεθα οὖν παρ’ αὐτόν· ἔκειντο γὰρ δίφροι τινὲς αὐτόθι κύκλῳ.
εὐθὺς οὖν με ἰδὼν ὁ Κέφαλος ἠσπάζετό τε καὶ εἶπεν· ὦ Σώκρατες, οὐ δὲ θαμίζεις ἡμῖν καταβαίνων εἰς τὸν Πειραιᾶ. χρῆν μέντοι. εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἐγὼ ἔτι ἐν δυνάμει ἦ τοῦ ῥᾳδίως πορεύεσθαι πρὸς τὸ ἄστυ, οὐδὲν ἂν σὲ ἔδει δεῦρο
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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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