by Plato
o That is, an attendant at a public bath. Aristophanes, Knights 1403 stereotypes bathmen, along with prostitutes, as disreputable individuals.
p “Good” here is agathos in Greek, the positive form of the superlative adjective aristos.
q “Lyre” (lyra) can refer to any number of stringed instruments commonly played in ancient Greece.
r Festival in honor of the goddess Bendis; see the first paragraph of 1.327.
s In book 1 of his Histories, Herodotus (c.490-420 B.C.E.) relates a somewhat different story about how Gyges came to be king of Lydia (in western Asia Minor) in the late eighth century B.C.E. His descendant Croesus ruled Lydia in the middle of the sixth century B.C.E.
t Athenian tragedian (c.525-456 B.C.E.). The reference here is to Seven Against Thebes 592-594.
u Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 574-575.
v An ancient commentator (scholiast) states that the source of the proverb is Odyssey 16.97-98; compare Iliad 21.308-309.
w Poet from Boeotia (c. late eighth century B.C.E.), author of several major poems in dactylic hexameter, including the extant Theogony (about the origins of various gods and their conflicts with one another) and the didactic poem Works and Days. As far back as the fifth century B.C.E., Hesiod was frequently linked to (or contrasted with) Homer.
x Hesiod, Works and Days 232-233.
y Odyssey 19.109-112.
z Musaeus was a legendary singer, often associated with the singer Orpheus and also with the god Apollo, the Muses, and the Moon (see below at 2.364e). “His son” probably refers to Eumolpus, the legendary ancestor of the Eumolpidae clan in Eleusis.
aa God of the underworld; by extension, the underworld itself.
ab Itinerant prophets and seers, as well as bards and musicians, would have traditionally been guests in the households of wealthy, powerful men in Greek city-states.
ac Hesiod, Works and Days 287-289.
ad Adapted from Iliad 9.497-501.
ae Legendary Thracian singer and founder of the religious movement called Or phism, which entertained ideas about reincarnation and transmigration of the soul. The phrase “host of books” refers to Orphic texts.
af From a poem by Pindar that is no longer extant.
ag The allusion is to a poem by Simonides.
ah Archilochus was an iambic and elegiac poet (early seventh century B.C.E.) from the island Paros; two extant fragments of Archilochus’ poetry deal with clever foxes.
ai From Iliad 9.497-501, adapted above at 2.364d-e.
aj Literally, “sons of that man”—that is, Thrasymachus. Glaucon and Adeimantus are Thrasymachus’ “sons” insofar as they have continued the argument he began in book 1.
ak Possibly Critias (460-403 B.C.E.), a distant relation of Plato and his brothers, who eventually led the oligarchic coup of 404-403 B.C.E.
al There were battles at Megara in 424 and 409 B.C.E.; if the “dramatic date” of Republic is meant to be 411 or 410 B.C.E., reference to the battle in 409 would be an anachronism.
am The name Ariston evokes the adjective aristos (“best”); compare 9.580b.
an That is, a polis, or city-state.
ao The Greek means, literally, “our need will create [or determine] it.”
ap Hetairai in Greek. “Courtesans and cakes” are juxtaposed in lists of luxuries in, for example, Aristophanes, Acharnians 1090-1092.
aq That is, to raise pigs for food. Although animals in the “healthy city” would be slaughtered for their hides, the inhabitants would apparently subsist on a vegetarian diet (2.372b).
ar Uranus (Ouranos in Greek), the ancient deity of the sky and mate of Gaia (Earth), was castrated by his son Cronus (Hesiod, Theogony 154-181); Cronus was in turn deposed by his son, Zeus, the current ruler of the cosmos (Hesiod, Theogony 453-506).
as Pigs were typically sacrificed in the initiatory rites for the mystery cult at Eleusis.
at There are several accounts of battles between the Olympian gods, led by Zeus, and the giants (created, according to Hesiod, Theogony 185, when the blood of the castrated Uranus fell onto Gaia).
au The story of Hephaestus’ binding of his mother Here (Hera), the wife and sister of Zeus, was apparently related by Pindar. Hephaestus is the god of fire and metal-working crafts.
av Iliad 1.586-594. Zeus’ punishment left Hephaestus permanently lame.
aw This quotation and the two following are from Iliad 24.527-532.
ax Source unknown.
ay In Iliad 4, the Trojan Pandarus breaks the truce between the Greeks and the Trojans by shooting an arrow at Menelaus, the husband of Helen and the brother of Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek forces.
az Daughter of Zeus, goddess of war, wisdom, and crafts, and patron of the Greeks at Troy. In Iliad 4.85-104, Athena disguises herself as a Trojan and prompts Pandarus to wound Menelaus.
ba Probably a reference to Iliad 20.1-74, where Zeus dispatches the goddess Themis to call the gods to the council.
bb From a lost play about Niobe by Aeschylus.
bc Daughter of Tantalus and wife of Amphion, Niobe boasted that her twelve children made her more blessed than the goddess Leto, mother (by Zeus) of the gods Apollo and Artemis. Apollo and Artemis killed all the children of Niobe, who subsequently turned to stone in grief.
bd Odyssey 17.485-486.
be Odyssey 4.455-460 describes the shape-changing of Proteus, a minor sea-god.
bf Pindar, in the fourth Nemean ode, describes how Thetis, a minor goddess who became (by the mortal Peleus) the mother of the mortal warrior Achilles, transformed herself in order to avoid marrying Peleus.
bg From a lost play by Aeschylus.
bh Indicated here are the tales about “bogey monsters,” such as those mentioned in Aristophanes, Frogs 293.
bi Iliad 2.1-34.
bj Perhaps from Aeschylus’ lost Contest of Arms (Hoplon krisis). Whatever the origin of the quotation, “her fair progeny” refers to Achilles, and “Phoebus” refers to the god Apollo.
bk Odyssey 11.489-491. The verses, spoken by the ghost of Achilles in the underworld, are also quoted in Republic at 7.516d. From this point on, the representation of Achilles’ conduct (in Iliad) is one of the chief foci of Socrates’ criticism of poetry’s content.
bl Iliad 20.64-65. Pluto is another name for Hades, the god of the underworld.
bm Iliad 23.103-104.
bn Odyssey 11.493-495. Tiresias is the legendary blind Theban prophet. In Odyssey 11, in order to learn about his future, Odysseus calls up the spirit of Tiresias from the underworld.
bo Iliad 16.856-857.
bp Iliad 23.100.
bq Odyssey 246-249.
br Two rivers in the underworld.
bs Allusion to Iliad 24.10-12, which describes the grief of Achilles as he mourns for his recently killed companion Patroclus.
bt Allusion to Iliad 18.23, when Achilles first learns of Patroclus’ death.
bu Iliad 22.414-415. Priam, king of Troy, is “kinsman of the gods” because he is descended from Zeus.
bv Iliad 18.54. Thetis, Achilles’ mother, is the speaker.
bw Iliad 22.168. The speaker is Zeus.
bx Iliad 16.433. Again, the speaker is Zeus. Sarpedon is Zeus’ son by a mortal woman and is hence himself mortal. Zeus laments his pending death at the hands of Patroclus.
by Iliad 1.599.
bz Odyssey 17.383-384.
ca Iliad 4.412. Diomedes was one of the Greek chieftains at Troy.
cb These verses do not follow Iliad 4.412. The first is Iliad 3.8, the second Iliad 4.431.
cc Iliad 1.225, addressed by Achilles to Agamemnon. Although Achilles is the best warrior in the Greek army, Agamemnon is its commander; hence the judgment that Achilles’ words are “ill spoken.”
cd Odyssey 9.8-10.
ce Odyssey 12.342.
cf Iliad 14.281. In Iliad 14, Here (Hera) seduces Zeus and thus temporarily distracts him from his supervision of the battle between the Greeks and the Trojans. The description above of Zeus lyi
ng awake “devising plans” is actually derived from Iliad 2.1-4.
cg In Odyssey 8.266-366, the Phaeacian bard Demodocus relates a story about how Hephaestus caught his wife, Aphrodite, the goddess of lust and sensuality, in bed with the handsome young war-god Ares.
ch Odysseus in Odyssey 20.17-18.
ci Saying attributed to Hesiod.
cj In Iliad 9, Phoenix (along with Odysseus and Ajax) brings gifts from Agamemnon to Achilles in an effort to persuade Achilles to relent in his anger toward Agamemnon and to rejoin the fighting against the Trojans.
ck Although Achilles refuses the gifts from Agamemnon in Iliad 9, he accepts them in Iliad 19 as he prepares to go back into battle.
cl Achilles kills Hector, the leading warrior of the Trojans and Priam’s son, in Iliad 22. In Iliad 24, he accepts ransom for Hector’s body and returns it to Priam.
cm Iliad 22.15 and 20.
cn Achilles fights the river-god Scamander in Iliad 21.
co Iliad 23.140-151. Achilles vowed to offer locks of his hair to the river Spercheius if he safely returned to Greece after the war; by the time he prepares Patroclus’ funeral pyre in Iliad 23, however, he knows that he will die in Troy.
cp Iliad 24.14-17.
cq Iliad 23.175-177.
cr Cheiron was the centaur (half-human, half-horse) who was Achilles’ tutor.
cs Theseus was a legendary king of Athens and descendant of Poseidon, god of the sea; he and his companion Peirithous ventured to the underworld to steal away Persephone, goddess of the underworld, from her husband, Hades.
ct Both quotations are from Aeschylus’ tragedy Niobe. Ida is the mountain near the city of Troy.
cu Iliad 1.15-16. Chryses, priest of Apollo in a town near Troy that had been plun dered by the Greeks, seeks to pay ransom for his daughter Chryseis but is rebuffed by Agamemnon, who has taken her as a concubine. The god who becomes angered against the Greeks because of Chryses’ prayer is Apollo.
cv The Greeks in Iliad and Odyssey are typically called Achaeans, Danaans, and Argives.
cw Dithyrambs were narrative poems performed by large choruses (some composed of men, some of boys); they were featured, along with tragedies and comedies, in festal competitions at the Theater of Dionysus in Athens.
cx Once again, physis; see note 9 on 2.367e, page 358.
cy In Greek, harmonia (“harmony,” referring literally to the “attunement” of lyre strings); also translated as “mode.”
cz Although the word aulos is commonly translated as “flute,” the aulos is not, properly speaking, flute-like. “Pipe” is a more accurate rendering of aulos; it is a different instrument from the rustic Pan’s pipe (syrinx) that Socrates deems appropriate for shepherds.
da The Greek actually reads “the lyre and cithara”; the cithara was the specific type of lyre used by professional musicians (citharists, who played the instrument but did not sing, and citharodes, who played and sang).
db Anubis; compare 9.592a and Gorgias 428b. Plato at times represents Socrates swearing unusual oaths—for example, “by the goose.”
dc Influential theorist on music from Athens (fifth century B.C.E.).
dd That is, a prostitute.
de Cakes (pemmata); compare 2.373a for the juxtaposition of “courtesans” and cakes.
df The Asclepiadae were a group of physicians with schools in Cyrene, Rhodes, and elsewhere. Asclepius was a legendary healer and son of Apollo.
dg Greek chieftain at Troy. Socrates plainly refers to Iliad 11.833, but it was Machaon, not Eurypylus, who was given the wine-barley-cheese drink in Iliad 11.614. The sons of Asclepius at the Trojan War are Machaon and Podalirius, the two doctors in the Greek army.
dh Physician (from Megara, fifth century B.C. E.) who was an expert in physical training and diet. He is not to be confused the brother of the Sicilian rhetorician Gorgias, also named Herodicus, who is mentioned in Gorgias 448b and was also a physician.
di Poet from Miletus (sixth century B.C.E.). Plato distorts the emphases of Phocylides’ verse.
dj Adaptation of Iliad 4.218.
dk King of Phrygia in northwestern Asia Minor (late eighth to early seventh century B.C.E.) who was proverbially wealthy. Plato perhaps alludes here to a line in a poem by Tyrtaeus (Spartan but possibly of Athenian birth, early seventh century B.C.E.). The story of Midas’ “golden touch” can be found in the Roman poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses 11.
dl That is, by representing heroic figures such as Asclepius taking bribes; compare 3.390e-391a.
dm The conception of the earth (Gaia) as a mother-figure is well established in ancient Greek mythology.
dn For the concept that different people have different “natures,” see note 9 on 2.367e and note 12 on 2.370b.
do That is, the hypothetical questioner posited at 4.419a.
dp An obscure reference. On the divided nature of all other cities, see 8.551d.
dq Compare Odyssey 1.351-352.
dr The Hydra was a mythical monster with multiple heads; when one head was cut off, two more grew back in its place.
ds Site of an important pan-Hellenic sanctuary dedicated to Apollo. The oracular shrine at Delphi, where Apollo was thought to prophesy through his priestess (the Pythia), was conceived of as resting on the supposed center (“navel”) of the earth.
dt Daimones in Greek; that is, guardian spirits.
du Figures such as Achilles, Heracles, Theseus, and Helen, as well as less well known and locally important figures, were worshiped throughout the Greek world in hero cults.
dv That is, chthonic deities such as the Furies (Eumenides) and Persephone.
dw that is, Apollo.
dx The concept of self-mastery (literally, being “superior” to oneself) was integral to the popular understanding of moderation (sophrosynê).
dy The “weaker” class is the “bronze/iron” class of artisans and farmers; the “stronger” is the “gold” class of rulers, and the “middle” is the “silver” class of auxiliaries.
dz Compare Compare 2.370b; also 2.372a.
ea In a fragment of a lost comedy, someone named Leotrophidas is said to seem as “comely as a corpse” to a certain Leontius, who is presumably the same individual as the one described in this anecdote.
eb Odyssey 20.17, quoted with approval above at 3.390d.
ec Compare 4.424a.
ed Goddess and personification of retribution.
ee That is, a wrestling school. Spartan women exercised and trained in public. Athenians of the classical period found the Spartan practice distasteful and ridiculous.
ef That is, the hypothetical critics of Socrates’ proposals concerning the training of female guardians. See also the references to “the adversary’s position” and “our opponents” below in 453a-b.
eg Arion (seventh century B.C.E.) was a musician from Lesbos; a dolphin supposedly rescued him after he was thrown overboard.
eh From a lost poem by Pindar.
ei Literally, in the city of the eudaimones; see note 13 on 1.344a.
ej Some ancient medical writers claimed that children are not born in the eighth month of pregnancy; this perhaps explains Socrates’ choice of wording.
ek See 4.427b for Socrates’ designation of Apollo as the patron deity of the ideal state and for Apollo’s association with the Pythian oracle at Delphi; compare 7.540b-c.
el Works and Days 40.
em That is, with garlands.
en Reference to Iliad 7.321-322.
eo Iliad 8.162.
ep Works and Days 121-122. The verses describe how members of the primeval golden race became, after their blessed lives and painless deaths, “guardians” (phylakes) of the living.
eq That is, Apollo; compare 5.470a.
er Literally, an “erotic man” (anêr erotikos); see note 16 on 3.402e.
es Momus is, properly speaking, the personification of censure and faultfinding.
et That is, the hypothetical critic posited by Adeimantus at 6.487c.
&n
bsp; eu The saying was attributed to Simonides.
ev Literally, “those who practice opposite things”—that is, politicians and their ilk who, in their bids for power, displace philosophers from political leadership, just as the mutinous sailors in the image of the ship stand in the way of the true helmsman.
