The Republic of Plato, Volume 2 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
abstraction Adeimantus Aeschylus animals answer appear Aristotle astronomy Atropos beauty become better body Certainly character citizens Clotho conceive corruption democracy described desires dialectic divine drones earth element Epeus equally evil existence eyes father foll geometry Glaucon Greek guardians gymnastic harmony heaven Hesiod Homer honour human idea ideal imagine imitation individual justice knowledge Lachesis light lives look lover mankind manner marriage mean military tactics mind modern nature never notion oligarchical opinion pain passion perfect persons Phaedrus philosopher Plato pleasure poetry poets politics principle Pythagorean Pythagorean triangle reason replied Republic rule rulers sense shadows sight slaves Socrates sort soul Spartan speaking spirit suppose Tetractys things thought Thrasymachus Timaeus timocracy tion true truth tyranny tyrant unjust Utopia virtue wisdom women words youth
Popular passages
Page 274 - These and other kindred characteristics are proper to democracy, which is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike.
Page 208 - And now, I said, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened: — Behold! human beings living in an underground den, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the den; here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads.
Page 212 - ... the universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light and of the lord of light in this visible world, and the immediate source of reason and truth 10 in the intellectual; and that this is the power upon which he who would act rationally either in public or private life must have his eye fixed.
Page 362 - Hear the word of Lachesis, the daughter of Necessity. Mortal souls, behold a new cycle of life and mortality. Your genius will not be allotted to you, but you will choose your genius; and let him who draws the first lot have the first choice, and the life which he chooses shall be his destiny. Virtue is free, and as a man honours or dishonours her he will have more or less of her; the responsibility is with the chooser — God is justified.
Page 327 - Explain the purport of your remark. Well, I will tell you, although I have always from my earliest youth had an awe and love of Homer, which even now makes the words falter on my lips, for he is the great captain and teacher of the whole of that charming tragic company; but a man is not to be reverenced more than the truth, and therefore I will speak out.
Page 202 - ... beautiful too, as are both truth and knowledge, you will be right in esteeming this other nature as more beautiful than either; and, as in the previous instance, light and sight may be truly said to be like the sun, and yet not to be the sun, so in this other sphere, science and truth may be deemed to be like the good, but not the good; the good has a place of honour yet higher.
Page 213 - And is there anything surprising in one who passes from divine contemplations to the evil state of man, misbehaving himself in a ridiculous manner; if, while his eyes are blinking and before he has become accustomed to the surrounding darkness, he is compelled to fight in courts of law, or in other places, about the images or the shadows of images of justice, and is endeavouring to meet the conceptions of those who have never yet seen absolute justice?
Page 215 - I mean that they remain in the upper world: but this must not be allowed; they must be made to descend again among the prisoners in the den, and partake of their labors and honors, whether they are worth having or not.
Page 366 - And not only did men pass into animals, but I must also mention that there were animals tame and wild who changed into one another and into corresponding human natures — the good into the gentle and the evil into the savage, in all sorts of combinations.
Page 208 - And do you see, I said, men passing along the wall carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals made of wood and stone and various materials, which appear over the wall? Some of them are talking, others silent. You have shown me a strange image, and they are strange prisoners.