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THE REPUBLIC

By Plato

Translated by Benjamin Jowett

PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE.

CEPHALUS, a wealthy and aged man, host of the dialogue.

POLEMARCHUS, his son, a young man of repute.

SОCRATES, the famous philosopher of Athens.

GLAUCON, son of Ariston, Plato’s elder brother.

ADIMANTUS, son of Ariston, Plato’s brother.

THRASYMACHUS, a famous Sophist.

CLITOPHON, a pupil of the Sophists.

(And others who take no important part in the Dialogue.)

BOOK I.

I went down yesterday to the Piraeus with Glaucon, the son of Ariston, for the purpose of offering up my prayers to the Goddess, and also because I was curious to see in what manner they would celebrate the festival which was then being held for the first time.

Now the festival, as I was informed, was recently instituted in honor of the Goddess by the Thracians; and there was a torch-lit procession in its honor. The beauty of the procession was a new spectacle worth seeing. But, both the sight and the procession were less interesting to me than the conversation which I had with Polemarchus, the son of Cephalus, who bade me stay, and I, as well as Glaucon, remained.

I said: Polemarchus, you are too strong for us, I see, and you must stay.

Polemarchus replied: That is clear, Socrates; for you must remain as guests of the evening.

And later, as we were leaving, Thrasymachus, Clitophon, and Charmantides, the son of Glaucon, came up to us. I was about to go to the city of Magnesia, when they saw me, and called out in a body, "Socrates, you are not going to leave the city by the outer road and by the gate, but by the way of the wall to the Piraeus?"

I answered: "Is that not the way out?"

"Yes," said Polemarchus, "but do not go that way; ask us to stay and see the games."

"But the games," I said, "are in the evening; let us go on for the present."

"Very well," said Polemarchus, "but we are not to be beaten by you in a race."

And so we turned back and went along the wall towards the house of Cephalus. And there we found the rest of our company. Cephalus welcomed me kindly, and said: "You are a frequent visitor to my house, Socrates, and you forget that you are an old man now. If you come here oftener, the younger men will not be able to carry on their old arguments without you."

I answered: "Cephalus, the love of discourse is not a thing of old age; if men apply their minds to it, it grows with them. And I am very glad to find you in the comfortable chair of which you speak, for old age sits lightly upon you. Many who are older than you complain of the sufferings which they have to endure from old age, but you are cheerful."

Cephalus replied: "The truth is, Socrates, that the chief advantage of wealth is that it makes a man secure in his old age, and allows him to pay off any debts to the gods or men, and, as you say, to reflect upon his life. For I consider that the greatest blessing for a man is to be able to review his life with satisfaction, and to say, 'I have never wronged anyone willingly, nor even when compelled by necessity, and I have lived a good life.'"

Then I said: "That is a fine thing, Cephalus, to be able to say that; for you have lived, as is evident, a life of great justice. But tell me, is the truth of which you speak the same as justice? For to say what is true and to pay back what one has received from another, may be sometimes doing an injury. For example, if a friend, being in his right mind, deposits with you his arms, and afterwards goes mad, and demands them back when he is mad, he ought not to be paid back, nor would he be right in demanding them. And if he were to be paid back, he would be doing no good to himself or to his friends. To this I do not think that a just man would consent, and he would rather refuse to give back the arms, and would think that he was doing right in not giving them back."

Cephalus answered: "That is true, Socrates. But the case you put is an exception. In general, the greatest good is to speak the truth and pay what is owing."

"But," I said, "is it always right to tell the truth and always right to pay back what is received?"

"In general, yes," he said.

"But consider this case," I replied: "If a man steals the arms of a friend who is in his right mind, and then goes mad and asks for them back, should we return them to him? Surely not."

"No, not in that case," said Polemarchus, who had been listening to the argument. "For that would be doing him an injury, as well as yourself."

"Certainly," said Cephalus, "for you should not return what is taken unjustly, nor indeed what is in any way hurtful, to anyone, whether he asks for it or not, if he is not in his right mind."

"Then," I said, "it is not always right to tell the truth or to pay back what is received."

"This is true, Socrates, in this particular case," Cephalus replied.

"But," I continued, "in general, the speaking of truth and the paying of debts may be considered the marks of a just man."

"I think so," said Cephalus.

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