DE REPUBLICA. BOOK II. HEADS OF THE SECOND DIALOGUE. 1 P. 357. Good is of three kinds: the First we embrace for 1 itself, without regard to its consequences; such are all innocent delights and amusements. The Second, both for itself and for its consequences, as health, strength, sense, &c. The Third, for its consequences only, as labour, medicine, &c. The second of these is the most perfect : the justice of this class. Objection: To consider it 1 De Legib. L. 2. p. 667. NOTES. P. 358. Noteр opis.] An allusion to the manner of charming serpents, both by the power of certain plants and stones, and by incantations, still practised, and pretended to be valid, in the east, and described by many travellers. 360. Eraшolev av avтov.] See Locke on the Human Understanding, C. 3. s. 6. 362. Ανασχινδιλευθησεται.] Hesychius explains it, ανασκολ οπισθηναι, ανασταυρωθήναι. 363. Ακρας μεν τε φερειν. ] Hesiod Εργ. και Ημερ. ν. 233. Ib. Пaidas yaр Taιdwv.] The Oracle given to Glaucus. Vid. Herodot. Erato, c. 86. see also the description of the Elysian fields : καλλιστος αρετης μισθος, μεθη αιωνιος. Musæus was of rightly we must separate it from honour and from reward, and view it simply as it is in itself, viz: P. 358. Injustice is a real good to its possessor, and justice is an evil: but as men feel more pain in suffering than inflicting injury, and as the greater part are more exposed to suffer it than capable of inflicting it, they have by compact agreed neither to do nor to suffer injustice; which is a medium calculated for the general benefit, between that which is best of all, namely, to do injustice without fear of punishment, and that which is worst, to suffer it without a possibility of revenge. This is the origin of what we call justice. Such as practise the rules of justice do it from their inability to do otherwise, and consequently against their will. Story of1 Gyges's ring, by which he could 1 V. Cic. de Offic. L. 3. c. 9. where he attributes to Gyges himself what Plato relates of one of his ancestors. NOTES. Eleusis, and scholar to Orpheus; he addressed a poem which bore the title of 'Tло0ηкаι, to his son Eumolpus: they were of Thracian origin: Ορφευς μεν γαρ τελετας θ ̓ ἡμῖν κατεδειξε, φονων τ' απεχεσθαι Μουσαίος, δ' εξακεσεις τε νοσων, και χρησμους. Aristophan. Ranæ. v. 1064; where the Scholiast adds, speaking of Musæus; Haida Zeλnvns και Ευμολπου Φιλόχορος φησιν παραλύσεις, και τελετας και καθαρμους συντεθεικεν. Suidas makes him the son of Antiphemus και Ελενης (read Σεληνης) γυναικος. But it is apparent, that in Plato's time he was understood to be the son, not of a woman, but of the moon; and so the inscription on his tomb at Phalerus represents him, which is cited by the Scholiast before-mentioned, and in the Anthologia. make himself invisible at pleasure. No person, who possessed such a ring, but would do wrong. P. 360. Life of the perfectly unjust man, who conceals his true character from the world, and that of the perfectly just man who seems the contrary in the eye of the world, are compared: the happiness of the former is contrasted with the misery of the latter. P. 362. The advantages of probity are not therefore (according to this representation) in itself, but in things exterior to it, in honours and rewards, and they attend not on being, but on seeming, honest. P. 363. Accordingly the praises bestowed on justice, and the reproaches on injustice, by our parents and governours, are employed not on the thing itself, but on its consequences. The Elysian fields and the punishments of Tartarus are painted in the strongest colours by the poets; while they represent the practice of virtue as difficult and laborious, and that of vice, as easy and delightful. They add, that the gods often NOTES. P. 363. Eis nλov.] See the Ranæ of Aristophanes. Ib. Επαγωγαι και καταδεσμοι των Θεων.] Incantations and magical rites, to hurt one's enemies, were practised in Greece and taught by vagabond priests and prophets: a number of books ascribed to Musæus and Orpheus were carried about by such people, prescribing various expiatory ceremonies and mysterious rites: so the chorus of Satyrs in the Cyclops of Euripides; Αλλ' οιδ' επωδην Ορφεως αγαθην πανυ, V. 642. Cycl. Eurip. bestow misery on the former, and prosperity and success on the latter; and, at the same time, they teach us how to expiate our crimes, and even how to hurt our enemies, by prayers, by sacrifices, and by incantations. P. 366. The consequence is, (by this mode of argument) that to dissemble well with the world is the way to happiness in this life; and for what is to come, we may buy the favour of the gods at a trifling expense. P. 369. The nature of political justice. The image of a society in its first formation: it is founded on our natural imbecility, and on the mutual occasion we have for each other's assistance. Our first and most pressing necessity, is that of food; the second, of habitation ; the third, of clothing. The first and most necessary society must therefore consist of a ploughman, a builder, a shoemaker, and a weaver: but, as they will want instruments, a carpenter and a smith will be requisite; and as cattle will be wanted, as well for their skins and wool, as for tillage and carriage, they must NOTES. P. 364. Fragment of Pindar; Iотeρov diкas Teixos vifiov, &c. and of Archilochus, Αλωπεκα ἑλκτεον, &c. All the ideas which the Greeks had of the gods, were borrowed from the poets. 366. Oi volol eo.] These divinities were probably enumerated in the Пapaλvσeis of Musæus: there were mysterious rites celebrated to Bacchus under the name of Avotot TEλETαι. See Suidas. 368. Tηv Meyaрôi μaxnv.] This must, as I imagine, be the action particularly described by Thucydides, L. 4. p. 255. which happened Ol. 89. 1, and if so, both Glauco and Adimantus must have been many years older than their brother Plato, who was then but five years old. take in shepherds and the herdsmen. As one country produces not everything, they will have occasion for some imported commodities, which cannot be procured without exportations in return, so that a commerce must be carried on by merchants; and if it be performed by sea, there will be an occasion for mariners and pilots. Further; as the employment of the shepherds, agricultors, mechanics, merchants, and such persons will not permit them to attend the markets, there must be retailers and tradesmen, and money to purchase with; and there must be servants to assist all these, that is, persons who let out their strength for hire. Such an establishment will not be long without a degree of luxury, which will increase the city with a vast variety of artificers, and require a greater extent of territory to support them : they will then encroach on their neighbours. Hence the origin of war. A militia will be required: but as this is an art, which will engross the whole man, and NOTES. Ρ. 368. Ω παιδες εκείνου του ανδρος. ] So Socrates in the Philebus, speaking of Callias. 372. Ερεβινθων και κυαμων.] This was a common dessert among the Greeks, both eaten raw, when green and tender, or when dry, parched in the fire. See Athenæus, L. 2. p. 54. So Xenophanes of Colophon in Parodis: Χειμωνος εν ώρῃ Πινοντα γλυκυν οινον, ὑποτρωγοντ' ερεβινθους. And Theocritus, in describing a rustick entertainment, Οινον απο κρατηρος αφυξω Παρ πυρι κεκλιμενος κυαμον δε τις εν πυρι φρυξεῖ, Theocr. Idyll. 7. v. 65. 1 |