Plato's ΠΟΛΙΤΕΙΑ - THE REPUBLIC, Book Nine, The Three Parts of the Soul
From the Introduction
THIS IS THE SECOND volume in a new series of translations from Plato. The first, entitled The One and the Many', took a passage from Book 10 of the Politeia, in which Plato apparently banishes the poets from his city, or polis. As I have said before, the Politeia is a dialogue which has always been known in English as 'The Republic', but which can be translated more accurately as 'Citizenship'. This second volume takes a passage from Book 9, and is concerned, as my title suggests, with Plato's definition of the three parts of the soul. Socrates has been talking to his friends about what it means to be a good citizen. Here, with Glaucon to help him, he carries on to develop his idea of the three parts of the soul and its connection with society.
As before, I have made no alterations to Plato's text except for the introduction of the speakers' names at the beginning of this section. I also use the feminine pronoun where Plato did not. So much of his thought and work makes me think he would have welcomed it. I think he might be able to forgive me for that, even if he were unable to forgive me for what I have done to his inimitable and poetic prose!
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Introduction and translation
© Irene Noel-Baker 2005
2005, 68 pages
ISBN 095310043X
£8.95