Republic (Hackett Classics) by Plato

Author:Plato [Plato]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
Published: 1992-11-15T05:00:00+00:00

1. This task is taken up in Book VIII.

2. See 423e–424a.

3. Literally: to refine gold. A proverbial expression applied to those who neglect the task at hand for some more fascinating but less profitable pursuit. Thrasymachus seems to be reminding Socrates of his own words at 336e.

4. Adrasteia was a kind of Nemesis, a punisher of pride and proud words. The “bow to Adrasteia” is therefore a kind of apology for the kind of act or statement that might otherwise spur her to take action.

5. See Plato, Laws 869e.

6. This may be an allusion to the mimes of Sophron of Syracuse (c. 470–400 B.C.), which were classified as male mimes and female mimes, because males were represented in the former, females in the latter.

7. It is useful to contrast Plato’s views on women with those of his contemporaries in Athens. The most reliable brief discussion of the latter is John Gould, “Law, Custom and Myth: Aspects of the Social Position of Women in Classical Athens,” Journal of Hellenic Studies 100 (1980): 38–59.

8. A palestra is a wrestling school and training ground.

9. See Herodotus, Histories 1.23–24 for the story of Arion’s rescue by the dolphin.

10. Plato is here adapting a phrase of Pindar, “plucking the unripe fruit of wisdom.”

11. See 382c ff. and 414b ff.

12. There can be no doubt that Plato is recommending infanticide by exposure for these babies, a practice which was quite common in ancient Greece as a method of birth control.

13. The priestess of Apollo at Delphi.

14. The Athenian democracy had nine archontes, or rulers, in Plato’s time. These included the chief magistrates, the chief military leader, and an important authority in religious matters.

15. See 429c.

16. See 416d ff.

17. See 419a ff.

18. Works and Days 40.

19. Iliad 7.321.

20. Iliad 8.162.

21. Works and Days 122. On daimons, see 382e n.23.

22. Apollo. See 427b.

23. Greek views on pollution, which is now a foreign concept to us, are discussed in R. Parker, Miasma (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983).

24. See 414e.

25. See 369a–c.

26. Socrates here seems to be applying the principle he introduced at 438a–b. See 475c.

27. See 596a ff.

28. A poem is fashioned out of sounds and a painting out of colors and shapes. See 600e–601b.

29. Socrates may be referring here either to particular things that are beautiful or to the various beauties in them, which are properties or universals. The same is true later when Socrates speaks of “the many just things,” “the many doubles,” and the rest.

30. It is important to note that the argument that follows is intended to convince the lovers of sights and crafts that they have opinion rather than knowledge. Since these people are defined as being unable to countenance forms, the argument cannot achieve its purpose if it simply presupposes that there are forms or draws on the theory of forms, for the lovers of sight and crafts will not be convinced by an argument which appeals to something they are unable to accept.

31. Because of the ambiguity of the verb einai (“to be”),

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