The Republic of Plato

Aristocracy (i.e. the ideal state or government of the best), 4. 445 C (cp. 8. 544 E, 545 D, and see State); mode of its decline, 8. 546; —the aristocratical man, 7. 541 B; 8. 544 E (see Guardians, Philosopher, Ruler): —(in the ordinary sense of the word), 1. 338 D. Cp. Constitution.

Arithmetic, must be learnt by the rulers, 7. 522–526; use of, in forming ideas, ib. 524 foll. (cp. 10. 602); spirit in which it should be pursued, 7. 525 D; common notions about, mistaken, ib. E; an excellent instrument of education, ib. 526 [cp. Laws 5. 747]; employed in order to express the interval between the king and the tyrant, 9. 587. Cp. Mathematics.

Art, influence of, on character, 3. 400 foll.; —art of building, ib. 401 A; 4. 438 C; carpentry, 4. 428 C; calculation, 7. 524, 526 B; 10. 341 602; cookery, 1. 332 C; dyeing, 4. 429 D; embroidery, 3. 401 A; exchange, 2. 369 C; measurement, 10. 602; money-making, 1. 330; 8. 556; payment, 1. 346; tactics, 7. 522 E, 525 B; weaving, 3. 401 A; 5. 455 D; weighing, 10. 602 D; —the arts exercised for the good of their subject, 1. 342, 345–347 [cp. Euthyph. 13]; interested in their own perfection, 1. 342; differ according to their functions, ib. 346; full of grace, 3. 401 A; must be subject to a censorship, ib. B; causes of the deterioration of, 4. 421; employment of children in, 5. 467 A; ideals in, ib. 472 D; chiefly useful for practical purposes, 7. 533 A; —the arts and philosophy, 6. 495 E, 496 C (cp. supra 5. 475 D, 476 A); —the handicraft arts a reproach, 9. 590 C; —the lesser arts (τεχνύδρια), 5. 475 D; (τέχνια), 6. 495 D; —three arts concerned with all things, 10. 601.

Art. [Art, according to the conception of Plato, is not a collection of canons of criticism, but a subtle influence which pervades all things animate as well as inanimate (3. 400, 401). He knows nothing of ‘schools’ or of the history of art, nor does he select any building or statue for condemnation or admiration. [Cp. Protag. 311 C, where Pheidias is casually mentioned as the typical sculptor, and Meno 91 D, where Socrates says that Pheidias, ‘although he wrought such exceedingly noble works,’ did not make nearly so much money by them as Protagoras did by his wisdom.] Plato judges art by one test, ‘simplicity,’ but under this he includes moderation, purity, and harmony of proportion; and he would extend to sculpture and architecture the same rigid censorship which he has already applied to poetry and music (3. 401 A). He dislikes the ‘illusions’ of painting (10. 602) and the ‘false proportions’ given by sculptors to their subjects (Soph. 234 E), both of which he classes as a species of magic. With more justice he points out the danger of an excessive devotion to art; (cp. the ludicrous pictures of the unmanly musician (3. 411), and of the dilettanti who run about to every chorus (5. 475)). But he hopes to save his guardians from effeminacy by the severe discipline and training of their early years. Sparta and Athens are to be combined [cp.

Introduction, p. clxx]: the citizens will live, as Adeimantus complains, ‘like a garrison of mercenaries’ (4. 419); but they will be surrounded by an atmosphere of grace and beauty, which will insensibly instil noble and true ideas into their minds.]

Asclepius, son of Apollo, 3. 408 C; not ignorant of the lingering treatment, ib.406 D; a statesman, ib.407 E; said by the poets to have been bribed to restore a rich man to life, ib.408 B; left disciples, 10. 599 C; —descendants of, 3. 406 A; —his sons at Troy, ibid.

Athlete, Atalanta chooses the soul of an, 10. 620 B; athletes, obliged to pay excessive attention to diet, 3. 404 A; sleep away their lives, ibid.; are apt to become brutalized, ib. 410, 411 (cp. 7. 535 D); —the guardians athletes of war, 3. 403 E, 404 B; 4. 422; 7. 521 E; 8. 543 [cp. Laws 8. 830].