Plato

On Polity [The Republic]

The Matters of Polity via the Logos

~A~

~Book I~

Socrates

On the previous day,

I descended into the Piraeus,

with Glaucon, of Ariston,

both to supplicate the Goddess,

and simultaneously intending to spectate,

the sort of turn the festival would produce,

since it is being conducted first in the present.

Indeed then, to me,

the pomp of the inhabitants appeared to be beautiful,

yet it was apparent that the one the Thracians were transmitting,

was no less appropriate.

Having supplicated and having spectated,

we were departing upwards in the direction of the urban area,

and then,

Polemarchos, of Cephalos,

having noticed us from afar,

set in motion for our domicile,

ordered his boy to run and give us orders to remain.

And from the rear, the boy, having seized my himation,

said,

'Polemarchos orders you to remain.'

And I turned around and inquired where self might be.

   'This one,'

said he,

'approaching from the rear,

but remain.'

'Well then, indeed, let us remain,'

said Glaucon.

And a moment later,

Polemarchos was present,

and Adeimantos, the brother of Glaucon,

and Niceratos, of Nicias,

and some others as if they were from the pomp.

Then Polemarchos said,

'O Socrates,

you appear to me as though set in motion,

departing in the direction of the urban area.'

Indeed, you do not opine badly,

said I.

'Do you see, then,'

said he,

'how numerous we are?'

Indeed, how could I not?

'Either generate of these superior,'

said he,

'or be persuaded to remain of self.'

Is there not,

said I,

even now, one that subsists?

How might we convince you that it is requisite to release us?

'Or in turn, do you have power?'

said he,

'to persuade those who do not perceive?'

'There is no way,'

said Glaucon.

'Then,' [said he,] 

'What is the way for us who do not perceive?

By which way might you consider?'

And Adeimantos said,

'Indeed, is it not so, surely,

that you do not know of the lamp event?

It will be in the evening,

from horses, for the Goddess.'

From horses,

said I,

and indeed,

this lamp event that is being exhibited,

they will pass to one another,

contending by means of horses,

or in what way, you say?

'In this way,'

said Polemarchos,

'And more particularly,

we will produce a religious observance.

Surely not, an apt spectacle?

And, to succeed the repast,

we shall elevate and spectate the nocturnal religious observance,

and we shall be conjoined with a multitude of new persons,

in the self-same place,

and we shall engage in the dialectic.

So, remain and do not create differently.'

And Glaucon said,

'It is apparent that one must remain.'

Well, if it appears so,

said I,

then it is necessary to create this.

So, then we came into the residency of Polemarchos,

and in the self-same place,

we discovered,

Lysias and Euthydemos,

brothers of Polemarchos,

and indeed, also,

Thrasymachos the Chalcedonian,

Charmantides the Paeanian,

Cleitophon of Aristonymos.

And, interior,

was the patriarch of Polemarchos, Cephalos.

Indeed, by any consideration,

he appeared to me to be extremely aged.

For there had been an interval of time since I had viewed self.

He was crowned and in a sedentary position,

with a head-pillow, upon a diphros, having sacrificed.

Indeed, we were in the enclosure,

and then we assumed a sedentary position at the side of self.

In the self-same place, diphroi were situated in a circle.

Then, with my appearance,

Cephalos immediately provided a salutation,

and said,

'O Socrates, you do not frequent us,

by descending into the Peiraieus.

One surely is obliged.

For if on the one hand,

I was presently able to make a passage more effortlessly,

and approach the urban area,

it would not be necessary for you to journey here,

and preferably, we would journey and proceed to you.

But, on the other hand,

it is now necessary for you to journey here more frequently.

Well, as you should know, for my part,

to the extent that,

the other hedonisms down the body waste away,

to such an extent,

the intense desires and also hedonisms around the logos are augmented.

Then do not create otherwise, but here,

and retain the company of these newer men,

frequent here and be by the side of us,

thus in the company of the affectionate and absolutely intimate."

Please note, this is an extract from the rough draft.

If you have found this recensional translation helpful,

 the unabridged final edited version of 

Book I of Plato's Republic 

will be published later this year. 

Some entries in the Greek lexicon are not translated.

Self by Self is responsible for these words

and their morphology:

Agathón | Logos | Ousia | Télos

Plato, On Polity A (The Republic, Book I) 

An English Recensional Translation

From Various Sources of the Greek

Written in Lineated Prose

An Approach to Dionysos for the Anagogical

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