Plato--The Republic - Rationalist Philosophy.pdf - Plato - pestis

The Republic

by Plato

Translated by

B. Jowett

About ShareBooks

This eBook has been made available to you by ShareBooks .

You are most welcome to visit and browse through our site,

and download more high-quality eBooks for free.

ShareBooks is entirely funded by our users; we work for tips!

If you would like to help us add more high-quality content to

the site, please come visit us to give your support – you can

pay us a tip, or add a link to us on your website.

We also want to help authors distribute their work! If you or

anyone you know wants to publish an eBook, please contact

us – it’s free, and we split each book’s tips with the author.

The text of this eBook is copyright-free and can be

reproduced without limitation. ‘About ShareBooks’ is

please either include the ‘About ShareBooks’ text without

alteration, or remove it entirely.

BOOK I.

Persons Of The Dialogue:

Socrates, who is the narrator.

Glaucon.

Adeimantus.

Polemarchus.

Cephalus.

Thrasymachus.

Cleitophon.

And others who are mute auditors.

The scene is laid in the house of Cephalus at the Piraeus; and the whole

dialogue is narrated by Socrates the day after it actually took place to

Timaeus, Hermocrates, Critias, and a nameless person, who are introduced

in the Timaeus.

I went down yesterday to the Piraeus with Glaucon the son of Ariston,

that I might offer up my prayers to the goddess (Bendis, the Thracian

Artemis.); 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.

Polemarchus said to me: I perceive, Socrates, that you and your

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 be 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.

Accordingly we went with Polemarchus to his house; and there we found

his brothers Lysias and Euthydemus, and with them Thrasymachus the

Chalcedonian, Charmantides the Paeanian, and Cleitophon the son of

Aristonymus. There too was Cephalus the father of Polemarchus, whom I

had not seen for a long time, and I thought him very much aged. He was

seated on a cushioned chair, and had a garland on his head, for he had

been sacrificing in the court; and there were some other chairs in the room

arranged in a semicircle, upon which we sat down by him. He saluted me

eagerly, and then he said: —

You don’t come to see me, Socrates, as often as you ought: If I were still

able to go and see you I would not ask you to come to me. But at my age

I can hardly get to the city, and therefore you should come oftener to the

Piraeus. For let me tell you, that the more the pleasures of the body fade

away, the greater to me is the pleasure and charm of conversation. Do not

then deny my request, but make our house your resort and keep company

with these young men; we are old friends, and you will be quite at home

with us.

I replied: There is nothing which for my part I like better, Cephalus, than

conversing with aged men; for I regard them as travellers who have gone

a journey which I too may have to go, and of whom I ought to enquire,

whether the way is smooth and easy, or rugged and difficult. And this is a

Plato--The Republic - Rationalist Philosophy.pdf

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: