Finished: The Republic - Books I, II & III (Plato). A huge dose of the philosophy of Socrates via Plato. Plato was a student of Socrates. Plato's biggest work was The Republic, a large piece divided into ten books. I could only bring myself to read three of the ten right now. Basically....Plato wrote a story about a dialogue that Socrates had with several people. Socrates wanted to find out the meaning of justice. There is a whole lot of tangent taking, and repetitive points are constantly made. Basically Socrates gives most of the people who disagree with him a verbal butt-whipping of round-about logic that they either can't contest, or are too tired to contest, once Socrates is done. Kind of like, if A = B and B = Phi and Phi = Zeta and Zeta = 2 and 2 = C, then A = C. Eventually the logic gets there, but not as simply as it could. :-)

  

There were a few gems of dialogue though. I especially like the one that was translated with the word "sillybillies". Only because I can just imagine Plato saying "sillybillies"! Seriously, though, I liked what he had to say in all the snippets below. I didn't know "Necessity is the mother of invention" came from Plato!

"Then, I said, let us begin and create in idea a State; and yet the true creator is necessity, who is the mother of our invention."

 

 

"There is nothing which for my part I like better, Cephalus, than conversing with aged men; for I regard them as travellers who have gone a journey which I too may have to go, and of whom I ought to enquire, whether the way is smooth and easy, or rugged and difficult. And this is a question which I should like to ask of you who have arrived at that time which the poets call the `threshold of old age'--Is life harder towards the end, or what report do you give of it?"

"The truth is, Socrates, that these regrets, and also the complaints about relations, are to be attributed to the same cause, which is not old age, but men's characters and tempers; for he who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition youth and age are equally a burden."

"He roared out to the whole company: What folly. Socrates, has taken possession of you all? And why, sillybillies, do you knock under to one another? I say that if you want really to know what justice is, you should not only ask but answer, and you should not seek honour to yourself from the refutation of an opponent, but have your own answer; for there is many a one who can ask and cannot answer."

"Now the worst part of the punishment is that he who refuses to rule is liable to be ruled by one who is worse than himself. And the fear of this, as I conceive, induces the good to take office, not because they would, but because they cannot help--not under the idea that they are going to have any benefit or enjoyment themselves, but as a necessity, and because they are not able to commit the task of ruling to any one who is better than themselves, or indeed as good. For there is reason to think that if a city were composed entirely of good men, then to avoid office would be as much an object of contention as to obtain office is at present; then we should have plain proof that the true ruler is not meant by nature to regard his own interest, but that of his subjects; and every one who knew this would choose rather to receive a benefit from another than to have the trouble of conferring one."

"For what men say is that, if I am really just and am not also thought just profit there is none, but the pain and loss on the other hand are unmistakable. But if, though unjust, I acquire the reputation of justice, a heavenly life is promised to me. Since then, as philosophers prove, appearance tyrannizes over truth and is lord of happiness, to appearance I must devote myself."


"And the country which was enough to support the original inhabitants will be too small now, and not enough?

    Quite true.
Then a slice of our neighbours' land will be wanted by us for pasture and tillage, and they will want a slice of ours, if, like ourselves, they exceed the limit of necessity, and give themselves up to the unlimited accumulation of wealth?
    That, Socrates, will be inevitable.
And so we shall go to war, Glaucon. Shall we not?
    Most certainly, he replied.
Then without determining as yet whether war does good or harm, thus much we may affirm, that now we have discovered war to be derived from causes which are also the causes of almost all the evils in States, private as well as public."


"Would not he who is fitted to be a guardian, besides the spirited nature, need to have the qualities of a philosopher?
     I do not apprehend your meaning.
The trait of which I am speaking, I replied, may be also seen in the dog, and is remarkable in the animal.
     What trait?
Why, a dog, whenever he sees a stranger, is angry; when an acquaintance, he welcomes him, although the one has never done him any harm, nor the other any good. Did this never strike you as curious?
     The matter never struck me before; but I quite recognise the truth of your remark.
And surely this instinct of the dog is very charming;--your dog is a true philosopher.
     Why?
Why, because he distinguishes the face of a friend and of an enemy only by the criterion of knowing and not knowing. And must not an animal be a lover of learning who determines what he likes and dislikes by the test of knowledge and ignorance?"


"And therefore, I said, Glaucon, musical training is a more potent instrument than any other, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul, on which they mightily fasten, imparting grace, and making the soul of him who is rightly educated graceful, or of him who is ill-educated ungraceful; and also because he who has received this true education of the inner being will most shrewdly perceive omissions or faults in art and nature, and with a true taste, while he praises and rejoices over and receives into his soul the good, and becomes noble and good, he will justly blame and hate the bad, now in the days of his youth, even before he is able to know the reason why; and when reason comes he will recognise and salute the friend with whom his education has made him long familiar."

OK, I think I need to bring myself back to modern times for awhile....even if only up to the 1700's. :-) I will explore Homer, Virgil and Dante later.