This great thing that has just been done can be found here:Ben C. Smith wrote: ↑Sat Oct 24, 2020 8:38 pmFile received! Thanks. I am adding the Greek text now.
The original file had to do with the parallels between the Coptic translation of Plato's Republic and the Gospel of Thomas (several sayings), so for those who get into this kind of thing, here is Ben's updated file. The Greek is the edition preserved on www.Perseus.org.
NHL Codex VI, 5. Translated by James Brashler, in James M. Robinson, ed., The Nag Hammadi Library, revised edition. HarperCollins, San Francisco, 1990 |
The Republic: With an English translation by Paul Shorey. Revised Loeb Edition: Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969 (sic) [1937] |
The Republic of Plato: translated into English, with introd., analysis, marginal analysis, and index, Translated by Benjamin Jowett, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 3rd revised edition, 1888 |
Platonis Opera, ed. John Burnet. Oxford University Press. 1903. |
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Coptic paraphrase of Plato's Republic 588a-589b, | Plato, Republic, Book IX (588a-589b) | Plato, Republic, Book IX (588a-589b) | Ἡ Πολιτεία τοῦ Πλάτωνος IX (588β-589β) |
"Since we have come to this point in a discussion, let us again take up the first things that were said to us. | [588b] “… And now that we have come to this point in the argument, let us take up again the statement with which we began and that has brought us to this pass. | and now having arrived at this stage of the argument, we may revert to the words which brought us hither: | [588β] ... ἐπειδὴ ἐνταῦθα λόγου γεγόναμεν, ἀναλάβωμεν τὰ πρῶτα λεχθέντα, δι᾽ ἃ δεῦρ᾽ ἥκομεν. |
And we will find that he says, 'Good is he who has been done injustice completely. He is glorified justly.' Is not this how he was reproached?" | It was, I believe, averred that injustice is profitable to the completely unjust man who is reputed just. Was not that the proposition?” | Was not some one saying that injustice was a gain to the perfectly unjust who was reputed to be just? | ἦν δέ που λεγόμενον λυσιτελεῖν ἀδικεῖν τῷ τελέως μὲν ἀδίκῳ, δοξαζομένῳ δὲ δικαίῳ: ἢ οὐχ οὕτως ἐλέχθη; |
"This is certainly the fitting way!" | “Yes, that.” | Yes, that was said. | οὕτω μὲν οὖν. |
And I said, "Now then, we have spoken because he said that he who does injustice and he who does justice each has a force." | “Let us, then, reason with its proponent now that we have agreed on the essential nature of injustice and just conduct.” | Now then, having determined the power and quality of justice and injustice, let us have a little conversation with him. | νῦν δή, ἔφην, αὐτῷ διαλεγώμεθα, ἐπειδὴ διωμολογησάμεθα τό τε ἀδικεῖν καὶ τὸ δίκαια πράττειν ἣν ἑκάτερον ἔχει δύναμιν. |
''How then?" | “How?” he said. | What shall we say to him? | πῶς; ἔφη. |
"He said, 'An image that has no likeness is the rationality of soul,' so that he who said these things will understand. | “By fashioning in our discourse a symbolic image of the soul, that the maintainer of that proposition may see precisely what it is that he was saying.” | Let us make an image of the soul, that he may have his own words presented before his eyes. | εἰκόνα πλάσαντες τῆς ψυχῆς λόγῳ, ἵνα εἰδῇ ὁ ἐκεῖνα λέγων οἷα ἔλεγεν. |
He [...] or not? | [588c] “What sort of an image?” he said. | Of what sort? | [588ξ] ποίαν τινά; ἦ δ᾽ ὅς. |
We [...] is for me. But all [...] who told them [...] ruler, these now have become natural creatures - even Chimaera and Cerberus and all the rest that were mentioned. They all came down and they cast off forms and images. And they all became a single image. | “One of those natures that the ancient fables tell of,” said I, “as that of the Chimaera or Scylla or Cerberus, and the numerous other examples that are told of many forms grown together in one.” | An ideal image of the soul, like the composite creations of ancient mythology, such as the Chimera or Scylla or Cerberus, and there are many others in which two or more different natures are said to grow into one. | τῶν τοιούτων τινά, ἦν δ᾽ ἐγώ, οἷαι μυθολογοῦνται παλαιαὶ γενέσθαι φύσεις, ἥ τε Χιμαίρας καὶ ἡ Σκύλλης καὶ Κερβέρου, καὶ ἄλλαι τινὲς συχναὶ λέγονται συμπεφυκυῖαι ἰδέαι πολλαὶ εἰς ἓν γενέσθαι. |
It was said, 'Work now!' | “Yes, they do tell of them.” | There are said of have been such unions. | λέγονται γάρ, ἔφη. |
Certainly it is a single image that became the image of a complex beast with many heads. Some days indeed it is like the image of a wild beast. Then it is able to cast off the first image. And all these hard and difficult forms emanate from it with effort, since these are formed now with arrogance. | “Mould, then, a single shape of a manifold and many-headed beast that has a ring of heads of tame and wild beasts and can change them and cause to spring forth from itself all such growths.” | Then do you now model the form of a multitudinous, many-headed monster, having a ring of heads of all manner of beasts, tame and wild, which he is able to generate and metamorphose at will. | πλάττε τοίνυν μίαν μὲν ἰδέαν θηρίου ποικίλου καὶ πολυκεφάλου, ἡμέρων δὲ θηρίων ἔχοντος κεφαλὰς κύκλῳ καὶ ἀγρίων, καὶ δυνατοῦ μεταβάλλειν καὶ φύειν ἐξ αὑτοῦ πάντα ταῦτα. |
And also all the rest that are like them are formed now through the word. For now it is a single image. | [588d] “It is the task of a cunning artist,” he said, “but nevertheless, since speech is more plastic than wax and other such media, assume that it has been so fashioned.” | You suppose marvelous powers in the artist; but, as language is more pliable than wax or any similar substance, let there be such a model as you propose. | [588δ] δεινοῦ πλάστου, ἔφη, τὸ ἔργον: ὅμως δέ, ἐπειδὴ εὐπλαστότερον κηροῦ καὶ τῶν τοιούτων λόγος, πεπλάσθω. |
For the image of the lion is the one thing and the image of the man is another. [...] single [...] is the [...] of [...] join. And this [...] much more complex than the first. And the second is small." | “Then fashion one other form of a lion and one of a man and let the first be far the largest and the second second in size.” | Suppose now that you make a second form as of a lion, and a third of a man, the second smaller than the first, and the third smaller than the second. | μίαν δὴ τοίνυν ἄλλην ἰδέαν λέοντος, μίαν δὲ ἀνθρώπου: πολὺ δὲ μέγιστον ἔστω τὸ πρῶτον καὶ δεύτερον τὸ δεύτερον. |
"It has been formed." | “That is easier,” he said, “and is done.” | That, he said, is an easier task; and I have made them as you say. | ταῦτα, ἔφη, ῥᾴω, καὶ πέπλασται. |
"Now then, join them to each other and make them a single one - for they are three - so that they grow together, | “Join the three in one, then, so as in some sort to grow together.” | And now join them, and let the three grow into one. | σύναπτε τοίνυν αὐτὰ εἰς ἓν τρία ὄντα, ὥστε πῃ συμπεφυκέναι ἀλλήλοις. |
“They are so united,” he said. | That has been accomplished. | συνῆπται, ἔφη. | |
and all are in a single image outside of the image of the man just like him who is unable to see the things inside him. But what is outside only is what he sees. And it is apparent what creature his image is in and that he was formed in a human image. | “Then mould about them outside the likeness of one, that of the man, so that to anyone who is unable [588e] to look within but who can see only the external sheath it appears to be one living creature, the man.” | Next fashion the outside of them into a single image, as of a man, so that he who is not able to look within, and sees only the outer hull, may believe the beast to be a single human creature. | περίπλασον δὴ αὐτοῖς ἔξωθεν ἑνὸς εἰκόνα, τὴν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ὥστε τῷ μὴ δυναμένῳ τὰ ἐντὸς ὁρᾶν, ἀλλὰ τὸ [588ε] ἔξω μόνον ἔλυτρον ὁρῶντι, ἓν ζῷον φαίνεσθαι, ἄνθρωπον. |
“The sheath is made fast about him,” he said. | I have done so, he said. | περιπέπλασται, ἔφη. | |
"And I spoke to him who said that there is profit in the doing of injustice for the man. He who does injustice truly does not profit nor does he benefit. | “Let us, then say to the speaker who avers that it pays this man to be unjust, and that to do justice is not for his advantage, | And now, to him who maintains that it is profitable for the human creature to be unjust, and unprofitable to be just, | λέγωμεν δὴ τῷ λέγοντι ὡς λυσιτελεῖ τούτῳ ἀδικεῖν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, δίκαια δὲ πράττειν οὐ συμφέρει, |
But what is profitable for him is this: that he cast down every image of the evil beast and trample them along with the images of the lion. | that he is affirming nothing else than that it profits him to feast and make strong the multifarious beast and the lion and all that pertains to the lion, | let us reply that, if he be right, it is profitable for this creature to feast the multitudinous monster and strengthen the lion and the lion-like qualities, | ὅτι οὐδὲν ἄλλο φησὶν ἢ λυσιτελεῖν αὐτῷ τὸ παντοδαπὸν θηρίον εὐωχοῦντι ποιεῖν ἰσχυρὸν καὶ τὸν λέοντα καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸν λέοντα, |
But the man is in weakness in this regard. And all the things that he does are weak. As a result he is drawn to the place where he spends time with them. [...]. | [589a] but to starve the man and so enfeeble him that he can be pulled about whithersoever either of the others drag him, | but to starve and weaken the man, who is consequently liable to be dragged about at the mercy of either of the other two; | τὸν [589α] δὲ ἄνθρωπον λιμοκτονεῖν καὶ ποιεῖν ἀσθενῆ, ὥστε ἕλκεσθαι ὅπῃ ἂν ἐκείνων ὁπότερον ἄγῃ, |
And he [...] to him in[...]. But he brings about [...] enmity [...]. And with strife they devour each other among themselves. | and not to familiarize or reconcile with one another the two creatures but suffer them to bite and fight and devour one another.” | and he is not to attempt to familiarize or harmonize them with one another --he ought rather to suffer them to fight and bite and devour one another. | καὶ μηδὲν ἕτερον ἑτέρῳ συνεθίζειν μηδὲ φίλον ποιεῖν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐᾶν αὐτὰ ἐν αὑτοῖς δάκνεσθαί τε καὶ μαχόμενα ἐσθίειν ἄλληλα. |
Yes, all these things he said to everyone who praises the doing of injustice." | “Yes,” he said, “that is precisely what the panegyrist of injustice will be found to say.” | Certainly, he said; that is what the approver of injustice says. | παντάπασι γάρ, ἔφη, ταῦτ᾽ ἂν λέγοι ὁ τὸ ἀδικεῖν ἐπαινῶν. |
"Then is it not profitable for him who speaks justly?" | “And on the other hand he who says that justice is the more profitable affirms that | To him the supporter of justice makes answer that | οὐκοῦν αὖ ὁ τὰ δίκαια λέγων λυσιτελεῖν φαίη ἂν |
"And if he does these things and speaks in them, within the man they take hold firmly. | all our actions and words should tend to give the man within us [589b] complete domination over the entire man | he should ever so speak and act as to give the man within him in some way or other the most complete mastery over the entire human creature. | δεῖν ταῦτα πράττειν καὶ ταῦτα λέγειν, ὅθεν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὁ ἐντὸς [589β] ἄνθρωπος ἔσται ἐγκρατέστατος, |
Therefore especially he strives to take care of them | and make him take charge of the many-headed beast— | He should watch over the many-headed monster | καὶ τοῦ πολυκεφάλου θρέμματος ἐπιμελήσεται |
and he nourishes them just like the farmer nourishes his produce daily. | like a farmer who cherishes and trains the cultivated plants | like a good husbandman, fostering and cultivating the gentle qualities, | ὥσπερ γεωργός, τὰ μὲν ἥμερα τρέφων καὶ τιθασεύων, |
And the wild beasts keep it from growing." | but checks the growth of the wild— | and preventing the wild ones from growing; | τὰ δὲ ἄγρια ἀποκωλύων φύεσθαι, |
and he will make an ally of the lion's nature, and caring for all the beasts alike will first make them friendly to one another and to himself, and so foster their growth.” | he should be making the lion-heart his ally, and in common care of them all should be uniting the several parts with one another and with himself. | σύμμαχον ποιησάμενος τὴν τοῦ λέοντος φύσιν, καὶ κοινῇ πάντων κηδόμενος, φίλα ποιησάμενος ἀλλήλοις τε καὶ αὑτῷ, οὕτω θρέψει; |
Thanks Ben!
DCH [Edit: 10/26/2020, corrected the table to remove a pesky bug that was duplicating the two English translations.]