Repulic and book III and outline and homosexuality and education in music and poetry and physical training

From 400d until the end of Book III Plato will speak primarily of the physical training the guardians must face, but he drops in several other provocative (and sometimes seemingly irrelevant) observations along the way. Since his book is not a "policy manual" or "political proposal" for 2005, however, we can't assume that everything he mentions will fit hand in glove into our understanding of things. In this essay I will emphasize three things: (1) S's treatment of the "simple" character, 400d-402d; (2) his words about same-sex affection, 402e-403c; and (3) the beginning of the long section on physical training, 403c-end of book. Recall that what S is doing began in Book II, where divided the education of the guardians into twofold training (376e) of music/poetry and physical training. The music/poetry training includes the content as well as the form of the words.

1. Summing it all Up--The "Simple" Character

We begin, then, with a passage that tries to sum up more than 25 pages of argument. Rhythm and mode of music must conform to the words that are said (400d). And the style and content of the words, when combined, "conform to the character of the speaker's soul" (400d). So now we see where this is heading. What is at stake is shaping the soul of a person or, to put it in language from 2005, making a certain kind of person. S is convinced that the ideas we use, and the word-packages in which these are used, need to "conform" to our soul. But it seems like they not only "conform" to it, like clothes might fit our body, but they shape it, too. "Then fine words, harmony, grace, and rhythm follow simplicity of character" (400e). Plato seems tantalizingly elusive here about what shapes what, but I think it safe to say that his great emphasis on proper form and content in stories implies that the soul can be damaged by exposure to immoral things.

But it is not only poets that need to be supervised to tell harmonious and uplifting stories. The state needs to make sure that other expressions of "gracelessness, bad rhythm, and disharmony" are eliminated (401a). This includes orders that must be given "to other craftsmen, forbidding them to represent--whether in pictures, buildings, or any other works--a character that is vicious, unrestrained, slavish and graceless" (401b). Craftsmen must be able "by nature" to pursue "what is fine and graceful in their work, so that our young people will live in a healthy place and be benefited on all sides" (401c). Why? S's most extensive explanation to this point of the importance of these things is in 401d-402a. He gives two reasons: (1) "because rhythm and harmony permeate the inner part of the soul more than anything else, affecting it most strongly and bringing it grace, so that if someone is properly educated in music and poetry, it makes him graceful, but if not, then the opposite" (401d); and (2) "because anyone who has been properly educated in music and poetry will sense it acutely when something has been omitted from a thing and when it hasn't been finely crafted or finely made by nature" (401e). That is, we are made for harmony and rhythm and, by being educated properly, we recognize if something crucial is missing. As a matter of fact, what is at stake is not only proper education in music and poetry but an education in "the different forms of moderation, courage, frankness, high-mindedness, and all their kindred, and their opposites, too" (402c).

2. An Interlude on Same-Sex Affection, 402e-403c

The person educated as just described will be beautiful and lovable (402d). Then, in a rather jarring digression, S says that if a person lacks harmony in the soul, s/he wouldn't be loved, but "if it was only in the body, he'd put up with it and be willing to embrace the boy who had it" (402e). This leads to a few sentences about the proper intimacy between the older male and a younger boy. In short, Plato doesn't endorse that kind of homosexual relationship. Why? Because it isn't compatible with the moderation he seeks of the guardian (402e). But maybe Plato's argument proves too much, because he says that the nature of love is that it drives one "mad" (403a). "But the right kind of love is by nature the love of order and beauty that has been moderated by education in music and poetry" and "the right kind of love has nothing mad or licentious about it" (403a). Sexual pleasure therefore with "the boy" is wrong not because of some kind of prohibition against homosexuality but becuase it would tend to make one "mad or licentious." But, then again, all forms of love which do that to you are to be shunned. The older man may be with the younger boy "as a father would a son, for the sake of what is fine and beautiful," but if it goes further it is evidence that the person is "lacking in appreciation for what is fine and beautiful" (403c).

Physical Training

Having disposed of that subject, S turns to his final topic, the kind of physical training appropriate for guardians (403c). The "good soul by its own virtue makes the body as good as possible" (403d). The first thing to avoid is drunkenness, "for it is less appropriate for a guardian to be drunk and not to know where on earth he is than it is for anyone else" (403e). Our guardians shouldn't have a diet that athletes eat because it tends to make them sleepy. Rather, our guardians must "be sleepless hounds, able to see and hear as keenly as possible and to endure frequent changes of water and food, as well as summer and winter weather on their campaighns, without faltering in health" (404b). In other words, diet needs to be rather "lean and mean" (my words) in order to allow for maximum flexibility. So, S goes on to give several examples of correct diet, such as roasted meet and no sweet desserts (404c-d). The first is confusing because it seems to be suggested for its convenience (it is "most easily available to soldiers"--404c) rather than its nutrient or strengthening capacity. There follows several lines describing other kinds of pastries and sweets to avoid. The principle is clear: just as simplicty in rhythm and poetry leads to moderation in the soul, so simplicity in diet brings about that same moderation.

One more essay will complete Book III.

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