DE REPUBLICA.

BOOK V.*

HEADS OF THE FIFTH DIALOGUE.

*

P. 451. On the education of the women. There is no natural difference between the sexes, but in point of strength; their exercises, therefore, both of body and mind, are to be alike, as are their employments in the state.

It is probable that this (the 5th) book of the IIoAcTELAL and perhaps the 3rd. were written when Plato was about thirtyfive years old, for he says in his 7th Epistle, (speaking of himself before his first voyage into Sicily) Λεγειν τε ηναγκάσθην, επαινων την ορθην φιλοσοφιαν, &c. p. 326 ; and Aulus Gellius says, “Quod Xenophon inclito illi operi Platonis, quod de optimo statu reipublicæ civitatisque administrandæ scriptum est, lectis ex eo duobus fere libris, qui primi in vulgus exierant, opposuit contra, scripsitque diversum regiæ administrationis genus, quod ļTaidelas Kupov inscriptum est, &c. L. 14. c. 3. I know not how ancient the division of this work into ten books may be ; but there is no reason at all for it, the whole being one continued conversation.

NOTES ON THE GREEK TEXT.

Ρ. 450. Χρυσοχοησοντας οιει.] A proverbial expression used of such as are idly employed, or sent (as we say) on a fool's errand. See Erasmi Adagia, Aurifex. VOL. IV.

R

P. 452. Custom is forced in time to submit to reason. The sight of men exercising naked, was once held indecent in Greece, till the Cretans first, and then the Lacedæmonians, introduced it: it is still held scandalous by the Persians, and by other barbarians.

P. 454. When the entire sexes are compared with each other, the female is doubtless the inferior : but, in individuals, the woman has often the advantage of the

man.

Ρ. 456. Choice of the female soldiery. (αι Φυλακειαι.)

P. 457. Wives in common to all men of the same class. Their times of meeting to be regulated on solemn days accompanied with solemn ceremonies and sacrifices, by the magistracy, who are to contrive by lots

Eγυμνωθησαν τε πρωτοι οι Λακεδαιμονιοι, και ες το φανερον αποδυντες, λιπα μετα του γυμναζεσθαι ηλειψαντο το δε παλαι εν τω Ολυμπιακων αγωνι διαζωματα εχοντες περι τα αιδοια οι αθληται γωνιζοντο, και ου πολλα ετη επειδη πεπαυται, &c. See Thucyd. L. 1. c. 6. This change is said to have been made about the 32d Olymp. See also Etymolog. in Γυμνασιαι and Schol. ad Hom. Il. Y.

1

NOTES.

Ρ. 452. Των χαριεντων σκωμματα.] Vid. Platon. Politicum.

p. 266.

454. The difficulty of avoiding disputes merely about words. Η γενναια δυναμις της αντιλογικης τεχνης. Δοκoυσι γαρ μοι εις αυτην και ακοντες εμπιπτειν, και οιεσθαι ουκ εριζειν, αλλα διαλεγεσθαι, δια το μη δυνασθαι κατ' ειδη διαιρούμενοι το λεγομενον επισκοπειν, αλλα, κατ' αυτο το ονομα, διωκειν του λεχθεντος την εναντιωσιν, εριδι ου διαλεκτω προς αλληλους χρωμενοι.

457. Ατελη του γελοιου. ] An allusion to soune passage of a poet; and also to some comick writer, perhaps Aristophanes or Epicrates, who had ridiculed this institution.

(the secret management of which is known to them alone) that the best and bravest of the men may be paired with women of like qualities, and that those, who are less fit to breed, may come together very seldom.

P. 460. Neither fathers nor mothers are to know their own children, which, when born, are to be conveyed to a separate part of the city, and there (so many of them as the magistrate shall choose) to be brought up by nurses appointed for that purpose.

The time of propagation to be limited, in the men from thirty years of age to fifty-five, in the women from twenty to forty. No children born of parents

NOTES,

P. 458. The following is so just a description of the usual contemplations of indolent persons, especially if they have some imagination, that I cannot but transcribe it. Eacov me eoptagal, ώσπερ οι αργοι την διανοιαν ειωθασιν εστιασθαι υφ' εαυτων, οταν μονοι πορευωνται και γαρ οι τοιουτοι που, πριν εξευρειν τινα τροπον εσται τι ών επιθυμούσι, τουτο παρεντες, ίνα μη καμνωσι βουλευομενοι περι του δυνατου, και μη, θεντες ως υπαρχον ο βουλoνται, ηδη τα λοιπα διαταττουσι, και χαιρoυσι διεξιοντες δια δρασoυσι γενομενου, αργον και αλλως ψυχην ετι αργοτεραν ποιουντες.

460. This was actually the practice of Sparta, (See Plutarch in Lycurgo) where the old men of each tribe sate in judgment on the new-born infants, and, if they were weakly or deformed, ordered them to be cast into a deep cavern, near mount Tay

Thence also are borrowed the prohibition of gold and silver, the čuooltia, or custom of eating together in publick, the naked exercises of the women, the community of goods, the general authority of the old men over the young, the simplicity of musick and of diet, the exemption of the soldiery from all other business, and most of the fundamental institutions in Plato's republick, as Plutarch observes in his Lycurgus.

getus !!!

under or above this term to be brought up, but exposed, and the parents severely censured; as are all who meet without the usual solemnities, and without the license of the magistrate.

P. 461. All children, born within seven or ten months from the time any person was permitted to propagate, are to be considered as their own children: all that are born within the time, in which their parents are suffered to breed, are to regard each other as brethren. Marriage is to be prohibited between persons in these circumstances.

P. 462. Partiality and dissension among the soldiery are prevented by these appointments. A fellow-feeling of pleasures and of pains is the strongest band of union which can connect mankind.

P. 466. Children are to be carried out to war very

NOTES.

P. 473. 'Piyavras ta iuatia.] It was the custom of the Greeks, when they prepared themselves for sudden action, to throw off their pallium : so the chorus in Aristophanes's Irene, v. 728. Acharn. v. 626. Lysistrat. 663 and 687, and Thesmophor. v. 663, lay by their upper garment to dance the Parabasis.

474. Epwtiiw.] Vid. p. 402 and 368. L. 3 and 2.

Ib. 'O MEV ÓTL oluos.] This is imitated by Ovid. de Arte Amandi L. 2. v. 657.

Nominibus mollire licet mala ; fusca vocetur,

Nigrior Illyricâ cui pice sanguis erit, &c. and by Lucretius, L. 4. v. 1150. " Nigra, Melexpoos, est &c.” Whence H. Stephanus would correct this passage, and read for μελαγχλωρους, μελιχροου, but the true reading is μελιχλωρου. So Theocritus Idyll. 10. v. 26.

Συραν καλεοντι τυ παντες,
Ισχναν, άλιοκαυστον εγω δε μονος μελιχλωρον.

early, to see and to learn their intended profession, and wait on their parents in the field.

P. 468. A soldier, who deserts his rank, or throws away his arms, is to be reduced to the rank of a mechanick: he, who is taken prisoner alive, is never to be ransomed.—The reward of the bravest.

P. 469. It is not permitted to reduce a Greek to captivity, nor to strip the dead of any thing but of their arms,

which are forbidden to be dedicated in the temples; it is not permitted to ravage the country farther than to destroy the year's crop, or to burn the buildings.

P. 472. The reason, why a state, thus instituted,

NOTES.

Ρ. 474. Περιθεουσι τοις Διονυσιους.] The Dionysia were celebrated three times * a year at Athens, the Avdeotypia in the month which took its name from them, and answers nearly to our February; the Anvala immediately afterwards in the same month, anciently called Ληναιων ; and the Διονυσια εν Αστει, (particularly so named) between the eighth and eighteenth of Elaphebolion (or March), and once in the Piræeus. All these were accompanied with tragedies, comedies, and other musical entertainments. There were also Ta kat' aypous solemnized in the country in Posideon, or December. The Scholiast on Aristophanes, and some other authors, confound these with the Lenæa, which were undoubtedly held in the city.

Ib. Των κατα Kωμας.] We see therefore that chorusses were performed in the villages on these festivals, as well as in the city. Isocrates indeed tells us, that the city was divided into Kwual, and the country into Anuol. (Areopagit.)