[327α]
Σωκράτης
κατέβην χθὲς εἰς Πειραιᾶ μετὰ Γλαύκωνος τοῦ Ἀρίστωνος προσευξόμενός τε τῇ θεῷ καὶ ἅμα τὴν ἑορτὴν βουλόμενος θεάσασθαι τίνα τρόπον ποιήσουσιν ἅτε νῦν πρῶτον ἄγοντες. καλὴ μὲν οὖν μοι καὶ ἡ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων πομπὴ ἔδοξεν εἶναι, οὐ μέντοι ἧττον ἐφαίνετο πρέπειν ἣν οἱ Θρᾷκες ἔπεμπον.
Hide browse bar Your current position in the text is marked in blue. Click anywhere in the line to jump to another position:
section:
section 327asection 327bsection 327csection 328asection 328bsection 328csection 328dsection 328esection 329asection 329bsection 329csection 329dsection 329esection 330asection 330bsection 330csection 330dsection 330esection 331asection 331bsection 331csection 331dsection 331esection 332asection 332bsection 332csection 332dsection 332esection 333asection 333bsection 333csection 333dsection 333esection 334asection 334bsection 334csection 334dsection 334esection 335asection 335bsection 335csection 335dsection 335esection 336asection 336bsection 336csection 336dsection 336esection 337asection 337bsection 337csection 337dsection 337esection 338asection 338bsection 338csection 338dsection 338esection 339asection 339bsection 339csection 339dsection 339esection 340asection 340bsection 340csection 340dsection 340esection 341asection 341bsection 341csection 341dsection 341esection 342asection 342bsection 342csection 342dsection 342esection 343asection 343bsection 343csection 343dsection 343esection 344asection 344bsection 344csection 344dsection 344esection 345asection 345bsection 345csection 345dsection 345esection 346asection 346bsection 346csection 346dsection 346esection 347asection 347bsection 347csection 347dsection 347esection 348asection 348bsection 348csection 348dsection 348esection 349asection 349bsection 349csection 349dsection 349esection 350asection 350bsection 350csection 350dsection 350esection 351asection 351bsection 351csection 351dsection 351esection 352asection 352bsection 352csection 352dsection 352esection 353asection 353bsection 353csection 353dsection 353esection 354asection 354bsection 354c
This text is part of:
Click on a word to bring up parses, dictionary entries, and frequency statistics
Plato. Platonis Opera, ed. John Burnet. Oxford University Press. 1903.
The Annenberg CPB/Project provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share
Alike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.
show
Browse Bar
327A - 328B Socrates describes how he visited the Piraeus in company with Glauco, and was induced by Polemarchus and others to defer his return to Athens. κατέβην κτλ. Dionys. Hal. de comp. verb. p. 208 (Reiske) ὁ δὲ Πλάτων, τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ διαλόγους κτενίζων καὶ βοστρυχίζων, καὶ πάντα τρόπον ἀναπλέκων, οὐ διέλιπεν ὀγδοήκοντα γεγονὼς ἔτη. πᾶσι γὰρ δή που τοῖς φιλολόγοις γνώριμα τὰ περὶ τῆς φιλοπονίας τἀνδρὸς ἱστορούμενα, τά τ᾽ ἄλλα, καὶ δὴ καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν δέλτον ἣν τελευτήσαντος αὐτοῦ λέγουσιν εὑρεθῆναι ποικίλως μετακειμένην τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς πολιτείας ἔχουσαν τήνδε “κατέβην χθὲς εἰς Πειραιᾶ μετὰ Γλαύκωνος τοῦ Ἀρίστωνος.” See also Quint. VIII 6. 64, and Diog. Laert. III 37. The latter gives as his authorities Euphorion and Panaetius. As Cicero was tolerably familiar with the writings of Panaetius, it is possible that he too has the same story in view in de Sen. V 13, where he says of Plato ““scribens est mortuus.”” The anecdote may well be true, but does not of course justify any inference as to the date of composition of the Republic. See Introd. § 4. τῇ θεῷ. What goddess? Bendis or Athena? The festival is the Bendideia (354 A) and it is perhaps safest to acquiesce in the usual view that Bendis is here meant. “Alii Minervam intelligunt, quae vulgo ἡ θεὸς appellabatur; neque mihi videtur Socrates in ista Panathenaeorum propinquitate de Minerva veneranda cogitare non potuisse: sed quod simpliciter τὴν ἑορτὴν dicit, numina diversa statuere non sinit” (Schneider). We hear of a temple of Bendis in the Piraeus in 403 B.C. (τὴν ὁδὸν ἡ φέρει πρός τε τὸ ἱερὸν τῆς Μουνυχίας Ἀρτεμίδος καὶ τὸ Βενδίδειον Xen. Hell. II 4. 11). See also Introd. § 3 and App. I. νῦν πρῶτον. Perhaps 410 B.C. Introd. § 3. οἱ Θρᾷκες. Probably resident aliens (as opposed to the ἐπιχώριοι or natives), living for commercial purposes in the Piraeus, which at all times contained a large admixture of foreign population. It was part of Athenian policy to encourage commercial settlers by allowing them to exercise their own cults (Foucart des assoc. relig. chez les Grecs p. 131). Foucart holds that the worship of the Thracian goddess Bendis was brought to the Piraeus by Thracian merchants (p. 84). Others have supposed that οἱ Θρᾷκες refers to envoys from Thrace, or Thracian mercenaries, the survivors of those who came to Athens in 414 B.C. (Thuc. VII 27); but the other view is more probable.
[327a]
Socrates
I1 went down yesterday to the Peiraeus2 with Glaucon, the son of Ariston, to pay my devotions3 to the Goddess,4 and also because I wished to see how they would conduct the festival since this was its inauguration.5 I thought the procession of the citizens very fine, but it was no better than the show, made by the marching of the Thracian contingent.
I1 went down yesterday to the Peiraeus2 with Glaucon, the son of Ariston, to pay my devotions3 to the Goddess,4 and also because I wished to see how they would conduct the festival since this was its inauguration.5 I thought the procession of the citizens very fine, but it was no better than the show, made by the marching of the Thracian contingent.
1 Socrates narrates in the first person, as in the Charmides and Lysis; see Introduction p. vii, Hirzel, Der Dialog, i. p. 84. Demetrius, On Style, 205, cites this sentence as an example of “trimeter members.” Editors give references for the anecdote that it was found in Plato's tablets with many variations. For Plato's description of such painstaking Cf. Phaedrus 278 D. Cicero De sen.. 5. 13 “scribens est mortuus.”
2 Cf. 439 E; about a five-mile walk.
3 Plato and Xenophon represent Socrates as worshipping the gods,νόμῳ πόλεως. Athanasius, Contra gentes, 9, censures Plato for thus adoring an Artemis made with hands, and the fathers and medieval writers frequently cite the passage for Plato's regrettable concessions to polytheism—“persuasio civilis” as Minucius Felix styles it. Cf. Eusebius Praep. Evang. xiii. 13. 66.
4 Presumably Bendis (354 A), though, as the scholiast observes, Athena is ἡ θεός for an Athenian. For foreign cults at the Peiraeus see Holm, History of Greece, iii. p. 189.
5 See Introduction.
show
Vocabulary Tool
hide
Search
hide
Display Preferences
