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| タイトル | ： 第六回 |
| 投稿日 | ： 2003/10/25(Sat) 09:10 |
| 投稿者 | ： 惣田正明 <vem13077@> |
第六回テキスト
---はじめ---
Or a more general division into two parts may be adopted; the
first (Books I - IV) containing the description of a State
framed generally in accordance with Hellenic notions of
religion and morality, while in the second (Books V - X) the
Hellenic State is transformed into an ideal kingdom of
philosophy, of which all other governments are the
perversions. These two points of view are really opposed, and
the opposition is only veiled by the genius of Plato. The
Republic, like the Phaedrus, is an imperfect whole; the
higher light of philosophy breaks through the regularity of
the Hellenic temple, which at last fades away into the
heavens. Whether this imperfection of structure arises from
an enlargement of the plan; or from the imperfect
reconcilement in the writer's own mind of the struggling
elements of thought which are now first brought together by
him; or, perhaps, from the composition of the work at
different times --are questions, like the similar question
about the Iliad and the Odyssey, which are worth asking, but
which cannot have a distinct answer. In the age of Plato
there was no regular mode of publication, and an author would
have the less scruple in altering or adding to a work which
was known only to a few of his friends. There is no absurdity
in supposing that he may have laid his labors aside for a
time, or turned from one work to another; and such
interruptions would be more likely to occur in the case of a
long than of a short writing. In all attempts to determine
the chronological he order of the Platonic writings on
internal evidence, this uncertainty about any single Dialogue
being composed at one time is a disturbing element, which
must be admitted to affect longer works, such as the Republic
and the Laws, more than shorter ones. But, on the other hand,
the seeming discrepancies of the Republic may only arise out
of the discordant elements which the philosopher has
attempted to unite in a single whole, perhaps without being
himself able to recognize the inconsistency which is obvious
to us. For there is a judgment of after ages which few great
writers have ever been able to anticipate for themselves.
They do not perceive the want of connection in their own
writings, or the gaps in their systems which are visible
enough to those who come after them. In the beginnings of
literature and philosophy, amid the first efforts of thought
and language, more inconsistencies occur than now, when the
paths of speculation are well worn and the meaning of words
precisely defined. For consistency, too, is the growth of
time; and some of the greatest creations of the human mind
have been wanting in unity. Tried by this test, several of
the Platonic Dialogues, according to our modern ideas, appear
to be defective, but the deficiency is no proof that they
were composed at different times or by different hands. And
the supposition that the Republic was written uninterruptedly
and by a continuous effort is in some degree confirmed by the
numerous references from one part of the work to another.
---終わり---