[581c]
“that the ruling principle1 of men's souls is in
some cases this faculty and in others one of the other two, as it may
happen?” “That is so,” he said. “And
that is why we say that the primary classes2 of men also are
three, the philosopher or lover of wisdom, the lover of victory and the
lover of gain.” “Precisely so” “And
also that there are three forms of pleasure, corresponding respectively to
each?” “By all means.” “Are you
aware, then” said I, “that if you should choose to ask
men of these three classes, each in turn,3 which is the most pleasurable of these
lives, each will chiefly commend his own4? The financier
1 Cf. 338 D, 342 C.
2 Cf. my review of Jowett in A.J.P. xiii. p. 366, which Adam quotes and follows and Jowett and Campbell (Republic) adopt. For the three types of men cf. also Phaedo 68 C, 82 C. Stewart, Aristot. Eth. Nic. p. 60 (1095 b 17), says, “The three lives mentioned by Aristotle here answer to the three classes of men distinguished by Plato (Rep. 581). . . . Michelet and Grant point out that this threefold division occurs in a metaphor attributed to Pythagoras by Heracleides Ponticus (apudCic.Tusc. v. 3). . . . “ Cf. Aristot.Eth. Nic. 1097 a-b (i. 5. 1), also Diog. L. vii. 130 on Stoics, Plutarch, De liber. educ. x. (8 A), Renan, Avenir de Ia science, p. 8. Isoc.Antid. 217 characteristically recognizes only the three motives, pleasure, gain, and honor. For the entire argument cf. Aristot.Eth. Nic. 1176 a 31, 1177 a 10, and supra,Introd. pp. liv-lv.
3 For ἐν μέρει cf. 468 B, 520 C and D, 577 C, 615 A, Gorg. 496 B, Laws 876 B, 943 A, 947 C, Polit. 265 A; Contrasted with ἐν τῷ μέρει, Meno 92 E, Gorg. 462 A, 474 A. The two expressions, similar in appearance, illustrate how a slight change alters an idiom. So e.g.καινὸν οὐδέν（Gorg. 448 A) has nothing to do with the idiom οὐδὲν καινόν（Phaedo 100 B);τοῦ λόγου ἕνεκα（Rep. 612 C) is different from λόγου ἕνεκα（Theaet. 191 C—dicis causa);πάντα τἀγαθά（Laws 631 B) has no connection with the idiomatic πάντ᾽ ἀγαθά（Rep. 471 C, Cf. supra ad loc.); nor Pindar's πόλλ᾽ ἄνω τὰ δ᾽ αὖ κάτω（Ol. xii. 6) with ἄνω κάτω as used in Phaedo 96 B, Gorg. 481 D, etc. Cf. also ἐν τέχνῃProt. 319 C with ἐν τῇ τέχνῃ317 C,νῷ ἔχεινRep. 490 A with ἐν νῷ ἔχειν344 D, etc.,τοῦ παντὸς ἡμάρτηκενPhaedr. 235 E with παντὸς ἁμαρτάνειν237 C. The same is true of words—to confuse καλλίχορος with καλλίχοιρος would be unfortunate; and the medieval debates about ὁμοουσία and ὁμοιουσία were perhaps not quite as ridiculous as they are generally considered.
4 Cf. Laws 658 on judging different kinds of literature.
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969.
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