Humanitext Reader

Plato · Statesman §276

Defining the Statesman by Herd-Care and Voluntary Rule

Passage 12 of 34 · Greek

Summary

The dialogue discusses the correct definition and division of the ruling art to avoid objections. By correcting "herd-rearing" to "herd-tending (care)" and dividing it into divine shepherd vs. human caretaker, and compulsory (tyrant) vs. voluntary (king/statesman) rule, the true statesman is defined.

§276ΝΕ. ΣΩ. ὀρθῶς.
YOUNG SOCRATES: Right.
ἀλλʼ ἡ μετὰ τοῦτο διαίρεσις αὖ τίνα τρόπον ἐγίγνετʼ ἄν;
But in what way, in turn, would the division after this have been made?
ΞΕ. κατὰ ταὐτὰ καθʼ ἅπερ ἔμπροσθεν διῃρούμεθα τὴν ἀγελαιοτροφικὴν πεζοῖς τε καὶ ἀπτῆσι, καὶ ἀμείκτοις τε καὶ ἀκεράτοις, τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἄν που τούτοις διαιρούμενοι καὶ τὴν ἀγελαιοκομικὴν τήν τε νῦν καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ Κρόνου βασιλείαν περιειληφότες ἂν ἦμεν ὁμοίως ἐν τῷ λόγῳ.
STRANGER: In the very same way as we previously divided herd-rearing into pedestrian and wingless, and unmixed and hornless, by dividing herd-tending by these same categories, we would surely have encompassed in our discussion both the present reign and that under Cronus in like manner.
ΝΕ. ΣΩ. φαίνεται· ζητῶ δὲ αὖ τί τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο.
YOUNG SOCRATES: So it appears; but I ask, in turn, what comes after this.
ΞΕ. δῆλον ὅτι λεχθέντος οὕτω τοῦ τῆς ἀγελαιοκομικῆς ὀνόματος οὐκ ἄν ποτε ἐγένεθʼ ἡμῖν τό τινας ἀμφισβητεῖν ὡς οὐδʼ ἐπιμέλεια τὸ παράπαν ἐστίν, ὥσπερ τότε δικαίως ἠμφεσβητήθη μηδεμίαν εἶναι τέχνην ἐν ἡμῖν ἀξίαν τούτου τοῦ θρεπτικοῦ προσρήματος, εἰ δʼ οὖν τις εἴη, πολλοῖς πρότερον αὐτῆς καὶ μᾶλλον προσήκειν ἤ τινι τῶν βασιλέων.
STRANGER: Clearly, if the name of 'herd-tending' had been spoken in this way, we would never have had anyone disputing that it is not care at all; unlike at that time when it was justly disputed that there is no art among us worthy of this title of 'nurturing', and that if there were indeed any, it would belong to many others before and more appropriately than to any of the kings.
ΝΕ. ΣΩ. ὀρθῶς.
YOUNG SOCRATES: Right.
ΞΕ. ἐπιμέλεια δέ γε ἀνθρωπίνης συμπάσης κοινωνίας οὐδεμία ἂν ἐθελήσειεν ἑτέρα μᾶλλον καὶ προτέρα τῆς βασιλικῆς φάναι καὶ κατὰ πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἀρχῆς εἶναι τέχνη.
STRANGER: But indeed, no other care of the entire human community would wish to claim, more than and prior to the kingly art, that it is the art of ruling over all humans.
ΝΕ. ΣΩ. λέγεις ὀρθῶς.
YOUNG SOCRATES: You speak rightly.
ΞΕ. μετὰ ταῦτα δέ γε, ὦ Σώκρατες, ἆρʼ ἐννοοῦμεν ὅτι πρὸς αὐτῷ δὴ τῷ τέλει συχνὸν αὖ διημαρτάνετο;
STRANGER: But after this, Socrates, do we perceive that, right at the very end, a great error was again committed?
ΝΕ. ΣΩ. τὸ ποῖον;
YOUNG SOCRATES: What sort of error?
ΞΕ. τόδε, ὡς ἄρʼ εἰ καὶ διενοήθημεν ὅτι μάλιστα τῆς δίποδος ἀγέλης εἶναί τινα θρεπτικὴν τέχνην, οὐδέν τι μᾶλλον ἡμᾶς ἔδει βασιλικὴν αὐτὴν εὐθὺς καὶ πολιτικὴν ὡς ἀποτετελεσμένην προσαγορεύειν.
STRANGER: This: that even if we had understood as clearly as possible that there is some nurturing art of the two-legged flock, we ought not at all on that account to have immediately addressed it as the kingly and statesmanlike art, as if it were complete.
ΝΕ. ΣΩ. τί μήν;
YOUNG SOCRATES: Why, what then?
ΞΕ. πρῶτον μέν, ὃ λέγομεν, τοὔνομα μετασκευωρήσασθαι, πρὸς τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν μᾶλλον προσαγαγόντας ἢ τὴν τροφήν, ἔπειτα ταύτην τέμνειν· οὐ γὰρ σμικρὰς ἂν ἔχοι τμήσεις ἔτι.
STRANGER: First, as we say, to remodel the name, bringing it closer to 'care' rather than 'nurture', and then to divide this; for it would still admit of no small divisions.
ΝΕ. ΣΩ. ποίας;
YOUNG SOCRATES: What sort?
ΞΕ. ἧι τε τὸν θεῖον ἄν που διειλόμεθα νομέα χωρὶς καὶ τὸν ἀνθρώπινον ἐπιμελητήν.
STRANGER: That by which we would surely have divided the divine shepherd apart on one side, and the human caretaker on the other.
ΝΕ. ΣΩ. ὀρθῶς.
YOUNG SOCRATES: Right.
ΞΕ. αὖθις δέ γε τὴν ἀπονεμηθεῖσαν ἐπιμελητικὴν δίχα τέμνειν ἀναγκαῖον ἦν.
STRANGER: And again, it was necessary to cut the assigned caretaking art in two.
ΝΕ. ΣΩ. τίνι;
YOUNG SOCRATES: By what division?
ΞΕ. τῷ βιαίῳ τε καὶ ἑκουσίῳ.
STRANGER: Into the compulsory and the voluntary.
ΝΕ. ΣΩ. τί δή;
YOUNG SOCRATES: Why so?
ΞΕ. καὶ ταύτῃ που τὸ πρότερον ἁμαρτάνοντες εὐηθέστερα τοῦ δέοντος εἰς ταὐτὸν βασιλέα καὶ τύραννον συνέθεμεν, ἀνομοιοτάτους ὄντας αὐτούς τε καὶ τὸν τῆς ἀρχῆς ἑκατέρου τρόπον.
STRANGER: Because in this too, I suppose, we erred previously, and more foolishly than we ought to have, we combined the king and the tyrant into the same thing, although they themselves and the manner of ruling of each are most dissimilar.
ΝΕ. ΣΩ. ἀληθῆ.
YOUNG SOCRATES: True.
ΞΕ. νῦν δέ γε πάλιν ἐπανορθούμενοι, καθάπερ εἶπον, τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ἐπιμελητικὴν δίχα διαιρώμεθα, τῷ βιαίῳ τε καὶ ἑκουσίῳ;
STRANGER: But now, correcting this in turn, as I said, shall we divide human caretaking in two, by the compulsory and the voluntary?
ΝΕ. ΣΩ. πάνυ μὲν οὖν.
YOUNG SOCRATES: By all means.
ΞΕ. καὶ τὴν μέν γέ που τῶν βιαίων τυραννικήν, τὴν δὲ ἑκούσιον καὶ ἑκουσίων διπόδων ἀγελαιοκομικὴν ζῴων προσειπόντες πολιτικήν, τὸν ἔχοντα αὖ τέχνην ταύτην καὶ ἐπιμέλειαν ὄντως ὄντα βασιλέα καὶ πολιτικὸν ἀποφαινώμεθα;
STRANGER: And indeed, by calling that which is over the unwilling tyrannical, and the voluntary care of voluntary two-legged herd-animals political, shall we declare the one who has in turn this art and care to be the truly existing king and statesman?

Notes

  1. 276aπεριειληφότες ἂν ἦμεν — A periphrastic construction combining the perfect active participle περιειληφότες with the imperfect of εἰμί (ἦμεν) and the particle ἄν, representing the apodosis of a past contrary-to-fact condition.
  2. 276bτό τινας ἀμφισβητεῖν — An articular infinitive phrase where the neuter article τό nominalizes the entire clause τινας ἀμφισβητεῖν (with τινας as the accusative subject of the infinitive), serving as the subject or content of the impersonal verb ἐγένεθʼ.
  3. 276dἧι — The feminine dative of the relative pronoun ᾗ (or relative adverb ᾗ) used instrumentally ("by which" or "in which way") to introduce the relative clause, relating back to the concept of division (τμήσεις).

Cite this passage

Plato, Statesman §276. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0059.tlg008.humanitext-grc2:276

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