1、REPUBLIC书书书ContentsThe Introduction1BOOK 23BOOK 71BOOK 114BOOK 167BOOK 211BOOK 265BOOK 311BOOK 355BOOK 400BOOK 436书书书The Introductionhe Republic of Plato is the longest of hisworks with the exception of the Laws，and iscertainly the greatest of themThere arenearer approaches to modern metaphysics int
2、he Philebus and in the Sophist;the Politicus or Statesman ismore ideal;the form and institutions of the State are moreclearly drawn out in the Laws;as works of art，theSymposium and the Protagoras are of higher excellence Butno other Dialogue of Plato has the same largeness of view andthe same perfec
3、tion of style;no other shows an equalknowledge of the world，or contains more of those thoughtswhich are new as well as old，and not of one age only but ofall Nowhere in Plato is there a deeper irony or a greaterwealth of humor or imagery，or more dramatic power Nor inany other of his writings is the a
4、ttempt made to interweave lifeand speculation，or to connect politics with philosophy TheRepublic is the centre around which the other Dialogues maybe grouped;here philosophy reaches the highest point towhich ancient thinkers everattainedPlatoamongtheGreeks，like Bacon among the moderns，was the first
5、whoconceived a method of knowledge，although neither of themalways distinguished the bare outline or form from thesubstance of truth;and both of them had to be content with an1abstraction of science which was not yet realized He was thegreatest metaphysical genius whom the world has seen;and inhim，mo
6、re than in any other ancient thinker，the germs offuture knowledge are contained The sciences of logic andpsychology，which have supplied so many instruments ofthought to after-ages，are based upon the analyses of SocratesandPlatoTheprinciplesofdefinition，thelawofcontradiction，thefallacyofarguinginacir
7、cle，thedistinction between the essence and accidents of a thing ornotion，between means and ends，between causes andconditions;also the division of the mind into the rational，concupiscent，and irascible elements，or of pleasures anddesires into necessary and unnecessarythese and other greatforms of thou
8、ght are all of them to be found in the Republic，and were probably first invented by Plato The greatest of alllogical truths，and the one of which writers on philosophy aremost apt to lose sight，the difference between words andthings，has been most strenuously insisted on by him，although he has not alw
9、ays avoided the confusion of them inhis own writings But he does not bind up truth in logicalformulae，logic is still veiled in metaphysics;and thescience which he imagines tocontemplate all truth and allexistence is very unlike the doctrine of the syllogism whichAristotle claims to have discoveredNe
10、ither must we forget that the Republic is but the thirdpart of a still larger design which was to have included anideal history of Athens，as well as a political and physicalphilosophy The fragment of the Critias has given birth to aworld-famous fiction，second only in importance to the tale of2REPUBL
11、ICTroy and the legend of Arthur;and is said as a fact to haveinspired some of the early navigators of the sixteenth centuryThis mythical tale，of which the subject was a history of thewars of the Athenians against the Island of Atlantis，issupposed to be founded upon an unfinished poem of Solon，towhic
12、h it would have stood in the same relation as the writingsof the logographers to the poems of Homer It would have toldof a struggle for Liberty，intended to represent the conflict ofPersiaandHellasWemayjudgefromthenoblecommencement of the Timaeus，from the fragment of theCritias itself，and from the th
13、ird book of the Laws，in whatmanner Plato would have treated this high argument We canonly guess why the great design was abandoned;perhapsbecause Plato became sensible of some incongruity in afictitious history，or because he had lost his interest in it，orbecause advancing years forbade the completio
14、n of it;and wemay please ourselves with the fancy that had this imaginarynarrative ever been finished，we should have found PlatohimselfsympathizingwiththestruggleforHellenicindependence，singing a hymn of triumph over Marathon andSalamis，perhaps making the reflection of Herodotus where hecontemplates
15、 the growth of the Athenian empireHow bravea thing is freedom of speech，which has made the Atheniansso far exceed every other state of Hellas in greatness!or，more probably，attributing the victory to the ancient goodorder of Athens and to the favor of Apollo and AtheneAgain，Plato may be regarded as t
16、hecaptain(，?or leader of a goodly band of followers;for in the Republic isto be found the original of Ciceros De Republica，of St3The IntroductionAugustines City of God，of Utopia of Sir Thomas More，andof the numerous other imaginary States which are framed uponthe same modelThe extent to which Aristotle or theAristotelian school were indebted to him in the Politics hasbeen little recognized，and the recognition is the morenecessary because it is not made by Aristotle himself The twophilosophers ha
