Timaeus — Plato

The ideal of Divine goodness. ccxxxi philosophy or rehgion, \vc sometimes substituted one form of Republic. expression for another, lest through the necessities of language Intkouucwe should become the slaves of mere words.

""'^" There is a third ideal, not the same, but akin to these, which has a place in the home and heart of every believer in the religion of Christ, and in which men seem to find a nearer and more familiar truth, the Divine man, the Son of Man, the Saviour of mankind.

Who is the first-born and head of the whole family in heaven and earth, in Whom the Divine and human, that which is without and that which is within the range of our earthly faculties, are indissolubly united. Neither is this divine form of goodness wholly separable from the ideal of the Christian Church, vvhich is said in the New Testament to be 'His body,' or at variance with those other images of good vvhich Plato sets before us.

We see Him in a figure only, and of figures of speech we select but a few, and those the simplest, to be the expression of Him. We behold Him in a picture, but He is not there. We gather up the fragments of His discourses, but neither do they represent Him as He truly was. His dwelling is neither in heaven nor earth, but in the heart of man.

This is that image which Plato saw dimly in the distance, which, when existing among men, he called, in the language of Homer, 'the likeness of God' (Rep. vi.

501 B), the likeness of a nature which in all ages men have felt to be greater and better than themselves, and which in endless forms, whether derived from Scripture or nature, from the witness of history or from the human heart, regarded as a person or not as a person, with or without parts or passions, existing in space or not in space, is and will always continue to be to mankind the Idea of Good.

THE REPUBLIC. BOOK I.- PERSOxVS OF THE DIALOGUE. Socrates, who is the narrator. Cephalus. Glaucon. Thrasymachus. Adeimantus. Cleitophon. polemarchus. And others who are mute auditors. The scene is laid in the house of Cephalus at the Piraeus ; and the whole dialogue is narrated by Socrates the day after it actually took place to Timaeus, Hermocrates, Critias, and a nameless person, who are introduced in the Timaeus. strph. ¥ WENT down yesterday to the Piraeus with Glaucon Republic i. •^^7 1 the son of Ariston, that I might offer up my prayers to socrates, the goddess ^ ; and also because I wanted to see in what Glaucon. manner they would celebrate the festival, which was a Meeting of new thing. I was delighted with the procession of the ciaucon with inhabitants ; but that of the Thracians was equally, if not Poie"iarchus . ^ -^ ' at the Bendimore, beautiful. When we had finished our prayers and dean festival. viewed the spectacle, we turned in the direction of the city ; and at that instant Polemarchus the son of Cephalus chanced to catch sight of us from a distance as we were starting on our way home, and told his servant to run and bid us wait for him. The servant took hold of me by the cloak behind, and said : Polemarchus desires you to wait. I turned round, and asked him where his master was. There he is, said the youth, coming after you, if you will only wait. ' Bendis, the Thracian Artemis. VOL. 111. — 16

The Home of Polernarchus.

Republic I. Socrates, POLEMAR- CHUS, Glaucon, Adeimantus, Cephalus.

The equestrian torchrace.

The gathering of friends at the house of Cephahis.

Certainly we will, said Glaucon ; and in a few minutes Polernarchus appeared, and with him Adeimantus, Glaucon's brother, Niceratus the son of Nicias, and several others who had been at the procession. Polemarchus said to me : I perceive, Socrates, that you and your companion are already on your way to the city. You are not far wrong, I said. But do you see, he rejoined, how many we are? Of course.

And are you stronger than all these? for if not, you will have to remain where you are. May there not be the alternative, I said, that we may persuade you to let us go? But can you persuade us, if we refuse to listen to you? he said. Certainly not, repHed Glaucon. Then we are not going to listen ; of that you may be assured.

Adeimantus added : Has no one told you of the torch-race 32J on horseback in honour of the goddess which will take place in the evening? With horses ! I replied : That is a novelty. Will horsemen carry torches and pass them one to another during the race? Yes, said Polemarchus, and not only so, but a festival will be celebrated at night, which you certainly ought to see.

Let us rise soon after supper and see this festival ; there will be a gathering of young men, and we will have a good talk. Stay then, and do not be perverse. Glaucon said : I suppose, since you insist, that we must. Very good, I replied.

Accordingly we went with Polemarchus to his house ; and there we found his brothers Lysias and Euthydemus, and with them Thrasymachus the Chalcedonian, Charmantides the Paeanian, and Cleitophon the son of Aristonymus. There too was Cephalus the father of Polemarchus, whom I had not seen for a long time, and I thought him very much aged.

He was seated on a cushioned chair, and had a garland on his head, for he had been sacrificing in the court ; and there were some other chairs in the room arranged in a semicircle,