Plato's Republic: Introduction & Analysis, Reading 2

Boring Books for Bedtime Readings to Help You Sleep

Sharon Handy

Mental Health, Health & Fitness

4.6 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2019

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, we return to the musings of the great Victorian classicist Benjamin Jowett, his analysis of Plato's "Republic", and a whole lot of socractical thinking about justice.

Music: "Peace" by Lee Rosevere (freemusicarchive.org), licensed under CC BY-NC 3.0

All Boring Books readings are taken from works in the public domain. If you'd like to suggest a copyright-free reading, catch us on Twitter @boringbookspod or on our Patreon at www.patreon.com/boringbookspod, where you can also kindly support this podcast.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Good evening and welcome to boring books for bedtime.
0:07.0	I hope tonight's installment provides all the boredom your busy brain needs to quiet down and let you get some sleep for once.
0:16.9	So lie back, adjust your volume, take a nice deep breath, and off we go.
0:25.0	This evening we're returning to an old favorite.
0:30.0	The Republic of Plato translated into English with introduction, analysis,
0:37.0	marginal analysis, and index, by Benjamin Jowett, MA, Master of Balliol College, Regius Professor of Greek in the University of
0:48.7	Oxford, Dr. in Theology of the University of Leiden in three volumes, Oxford, Clarendon Press,
0:59.4	1888. Let's begin where we left off in the introduction and analysis. Leaving the
1:08.8	characters, we may now analyze the contents of the Republic, and then proceed to consider, one, the general
1:16.8	aspects of this Hellenic ideal of the state, and two, the modern lights in which the thoughts of Plato may be read.
1:27.6	Book 1.
1:29.4	The Republic opens with a truly Greek scene, a festival in honor of the goddess Bendis, which is held in the
1:36.4	Piraeus. To this is added the promise of an equestrian torch race in the evening. The whole work is supposed to be recited by and of Cretius, Tameus, Hermocrates, and another.
1:55.0	This we learned from the first words of the Tameus.
1:59.0	When the rhetorical advantage of reciting the dialogue has been gained, the attention is not distracted by any reference to the audience, nor is the reader further reminded of the extraordinary length of the
2:13.7	numerous company, three only take any serious part in the discussion,
2:18.0	nor are we informed whether in the evening they went to the torch race
2:22.1	or talked as in the symposium through the night.
2:26.2	The manner in which the conversation has arisen is described as follows.
2:31.2	Socrates and his companion Galaukin are about to leave the festival when they are
2:36.0	detained by a message from Palomarcus, who speedily appears accompanied by Adamantis, the brother of Galaukin, and with playful violence compels them to remain,
2:47.0	promising them not only the tortoise, but the pleasure of conversation with the young, which to Socrates is a far greater attraction.
	...

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