From the book
Lysis
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordArchē means rule or authority; a beginning or explanatory starting point.
- In LysisAt 209d ἡ τῆς Ἀσίας ἀρχή is rule over Asia, inherited by the Great King’s eldest son.
- Reading contextThe passage introduces a stopping point needed by the present argument and then continues to ask what such a friend would be.
- A place to readThe Greek example means “Arrive at some starting point.”
- English renderings
- Rule or authority; a beginning or explanatory starting point
Meaning
Rule or authority; a beginning or explanatory starting point.
Grammatical category: feminine noun.
Use in the book
At 209d ἡ τῆς Ἀσίας ἀρχή is rule over Asia, inherited by the Great King’s eldest son. The same noun later shifts from political authority to an explanatory starting point.
At 219c the chain of friends loved for the sake of other friends must reach “some starting point” that no longer directs the explanation to a further friend. The noun names what terminates the explanatory referral, even though it is called the beginning.
The local force is explanatory rather than simply chronological. Nothing in the word alone establishes a separately existing Form or a complete metaphysical doctrine. The passage introduces a stopping point needed by the present argument and then continues to ask what such a friend would be.