Plato's Republic 2 PDF

PL AT O Republic 2 'What education shall we giv~ them, then? Isn't it difficult to impr ove on· the time-honoured system, that is, gymnastics for the body...

PL AT O Republic 2 'What education shall we giv~ them, then? Isn't it difficult to impr ove on· the time-honoured system, that is, gymnastics for the body and I music1 for the soul?' 'It IS. ' I. ·' 'The~ shall we begin our education with music before gym I nastics?' I 'Of course.' I. - 'Under music do you include stories or not?' 'I do.' 'And there are two kinds of stories, one true, the other false?' 'Yes.' 'Should children.be educated in both or only in tQe false ories?' 'I don't understand what you mean.' -'Don't you understand that we tell myths to children first of all? And _~yth -is in general false, but also -contains some· truth. And we tell : children myths before we give them physical training.' -' 'That's so.' -· 'This is what I meant by saying that we should start with music before gymnastics.' --'That's right.' 'And, as you know, the beginning is the most important part of every ~k, especially when dealing with anything young and tender; for then " It 18 most easily moulded and takes on any impression which one wishes to stamp on it.'. ~Certainly., 'Shall we then carelessly allow the children to listen to any myths lllade up bYanyone, and 1ons which are to absorb into their souls op1n 15  CL AS SI CA L Ll TE RA RY CR IT IC IS M for th e m os t pa rt th e op po si te of th os e w e th in k th th ey gr ow up ?' ey sh ou ld ha vewhen 'N o w e certainly sh an 't ' al lo w th at.' 'S o first of all w e m us t supervise th e m ak in g of th e go od ones, bu t re je m yths and a ct.the ba d. A nd w e shall , ccept m ot he rs to tell th e ac ce pe rs ua de nurses and pt ed on es to ch ild re n, an w ith myths m uc h m or e d to m ou ld their souls th an th ey m ou ld th ei r b~ M os t of those w e no w dies w ith their hands. tell w ill ha ve to be re je 'W hi ch ones?' ct ed.' 'If w e take th e greater m yt hs as example~, w e sh pa tte rn of th e lesser ones all see in th em the to o, for bo th m us t be ca an d have th e same effect st in th e same mould , do n' t yo u thl)tlc?'.. 'I do; bu t I do n' r·u nd er st an d w ha t yo u m ea n by 'T ho se th at H es io d an d th e greater myths.' H om er an d th e ot he r po Fo r th ey co m po se d false ets have told us. m yt hs an d. to ld th em to 'W ha t so rt of myths, an people, and still do.' d w ha t fault do yo u fm d 'T he w or st possible faul in thein?' t, especially if so ~e on e tel 'W ha t is that?' ls a lie that is ugly.'.. 'W he n ·someone makes a ba d verbal ~e ne ss of go a pa in te r w ho se pa in tin ds an d heroes, like g bears no resemblance to portray.' to th e things he wants ' 'It 's certainly rig ht to fin d fault w ith _that ki nd ones are w e talking abou of thing._ B ut which t?'... 'First of all th er e is th ' e biggest lie ab ou t th e m - th e ugly lie th at O ur os t iqiportant matters an os2 di d w ha t H es io d th at K ro no s to ok vengea says he did, and nce on hi m. Th e story an d w ha t he suffered at of ~h at Kronos did th e hands of his· so n sh re pe at ed to th e yo un g ould no t be lightly an d foolish, ev en if it w sh ou ld be passed ov er in er e true. If possible it silence, bu t 1f it ha d to do ne in secrecy before be told, it should be th e smallest possible au sacrifice, no t of a pig,3 dience, and after ~e bu t of so m e large an d th at ve ry fe w w ou ld he inaccessible victim, so· ar th e story.' 'In de ed these are difficu - lt stories.' ·. 'A nd th ey m us t no t be to ld in ou r city, Adeimantu allow a yo un g pe rs on to s. N or shoul~ we he ar th at , if he co m m itt or di d his ut m os t to pu ni ed th e w on t c~ eS , sh an un ju st father, he w ou ld be doing nothing ' 16  PL AT O: RE PU BL IC 2. t of the ord ina ry, bu t me rel y doi ng oU , wh at the first and the greatest of the gods have don e. ,... _, _ - 'No indeed, I do n t thi nk the se s~ones are suitable.' 'And stories abo ut the gods ma kin g wa r and plo ttin g and fighting. against each oth er will be absolutely for bid den , for· the y are no t tru e. If we wa nt our future guardians to believe tha t hat ing one ano the r is the worst evil, the y mu st no t be tol d tale s ab~ ut the battles of giants or have the m e~b roi der ed on robes, 4 nor mu st the y hea r abo ut the various other quarrels of gods and her oes wit h the ir kin sm en and friends. If __ ~~mehow we are· to persuade the m tha t no citizen has eve r quarrelled.. with any oth er, and tha t it.is wr ong to do so, we mu st ma ke old me n and wo me n tell chi ldr en stories to tha t effect fro m the start, and poets must be com pel led to tell the m similar s~ories wh en the y gro w up. Stories ofHe ra bei ng tied up by h~r son , or of Hephaestus bei ng thr ow n. out by his fat~er for try ing to def end his mo the r fro m a beating, and ~ ~os e battles of the gods in Ho mer- mu st not be allowed in our city, whether the y we re com pos ed allegorical ly or not. For a child can not distinguish bet we en wh at is allegorical and wh at is not , and opinions formed at tha t age ten d to bec om e per ma nen t and indelible. For these reasons ·everything mu st be. don e to ens ure· tha t the first stories the y hear are as suitable as possible for the enc ouragement of virtue.' - 'Yes, ind eed , tha t's reasonable. Bu t if som eon e we re to ask us wh at stories we had in min d, wh at wo uld we say?' 'Adeimantus, you and I are not poets at the mo me nt, but founders of a city; and founders nee d to kno w the pa~tems on ~h ich poets are to com pos e the ir stories, and fro m wh ich the y must not. be allowed to deviate, but the y don 't nee d to· compose the stories themselves.' 'Tr ue, but wh at are the patterns for sto ries abo ut the gods?'. 'So me thin g like this: god mu st surely always be _represented as he really is, wh eth er in epic or lyric or trag edy.' 'He mu st.' -. · 'An d in reality god is goo d and mu st be so describe~.' 'Of course.' ,;; l, ~And not hin g tha t is goo d is han nfu l, is it?' 'No. , 17  CLASSICAL LITERARY CRITICISM.. 'And can what is not harmful cause harm?' I 'Not at all.' i 'And can wha't does no harm do any evil?' I 'No again.' I 'And what does no evil is the cause of no evil?' I 'How c·ould it. be?' 'Now then, is the good useful?' ·. 'Yes.' ' , 'Therefore the cause of well-being?' : 'Yes.' ' 'So the good is not the cause of everything, but only ofwhat is good; it is not the cause of evil.' '... · 'Qmte so. '.,.. 'So, since god is good he is not responsible · for everything that ·.happens to human beings, as most people say·, but only for a few things; there is much for which he is not responsible. For the good things in human life are far fewer than the evils, and whilst god alone must be the cause of the good, w~ must _find the cause ·of evils elsewhere.'.. ,. 'I think that's perfectly true.' · ·: 'So we· cannot allow Homer or any other poet to make this foolish mistake about-the gods when he says that.. ' Two urns stand at.Zeus' door -· Full of fates, one of good, one of evil, and that the man to whom Zell:s gives a ~ r e of both Now meets with evil, now with good, but as for the man to whom he gives unmixed evil, Dread hunger drives him over the earth. 5 Nor can we allow that Zeus is "dispenser of good and evil". Nor shall we approve of anyone who says that Pandarus' breaking of the treaty and the oath was prompted by Athena and Zeus,6 or that TheJillS 18  PLATO : R.BPUB LIC 2 and Zeus caused strife and dissension among the gods. And we must not allow the young to hear the words of Aeschylus, wh,en he says that· God implants a fault in mortals When he wants to destroy a house utterly. But if anyone does write about the sufferings of Niobe (the subject of the play in which these lines occur), or the house of Pelops, or the Trojan war, or anythin g else like that, either he must not be allowe d to say that they are the work of god, or, if they are, he must find some account such as we are now seeking: he.mus t say that what.g od did was just and good, and that the sufferers benefit ed from being punish ed..But the poet mu~t not be allowe d t