Body, soul, and the demand to specify improvement

Use in the book

The soul appears before the close when Socrates asks whose laws are best for human souls and elicits the answer “the king's” (318a). The preceding examples have assigned food to the trainer, sheep to the shepherd and cattle to the oxherd. This establishes a proposed corresponding expert for the human soul but does not yet identify exactly what that expert distributes.

At 321c Socrates restarts with a hypothetical third party asking the two speakers what a good lawgiver and distributor supplies to the body in order to improve it. The familiar bodily case receives a compact answer: food and labors. Their functions are differentiated. Food makes the body grow; exertions exercise and consolidate it. Good distribution therefore does not mean indiscriminately supplying pleasant things. A beneficial regimen can contain demanding activity, and its parts can work in different ways.

The next hypothetical question asks for the corresponding distributions to the soul. The wording does not simply ask who the expert is: the king has already been named. Nor does it ask for an encomium of that expert: Minos has just received one. It asks what the things are that the good lawgiver and distributor allocates so as to make the recipient better. The form presses the earlier analogy toward an explanatory specificity available in the bodily case but still lacking in the psychic one.

Several earlier passages bear on the question without constituting its spoken answer. The interpretation of Zeus' association with Minos emphasized words, education and virtue; the laws were said to produce civic happiness; tragedy was said to lead souls. Yet the last exchange does not select one of these as the precise answer, show how it should be distributed, or distinguish beneficial psychic influence from effective but harmful influence. The companion says he can no longer answer. Supplying “virtue,” “education” or “true beliefs” as if printed here would close an opening the work leaves exposed.

The last sentence makes souls the subjects of knowing and inquiry as well as the recipients of distribution. Their own good and poor qualities are within their concern, yet they have examined bodily and other matters while failing to know those internal matters. This is a reversal of priority, not a denial that knowledge of the body is genuine or useful.

Places to read

1. 318aοἱ δὲ τοῦ τίνος νόμοι ἄριστοι ταῖς ψυχαῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων; — The earlier analogy asks whose laws best serve souls
2. 321cδιανέμων ἐπὶ τὸ σῶμα βέλτιον αὐτὸ ποιεῖ — The bodily distributor's activity is measured by improvement
3. 321cτροφήν τε καὶ πόνους — Food and labors are the available answer
4. 321cτῇ μὲν αὔξων, τοῖς δὲ γυμνάζων καὶ συνιστὰς τὸ σῶμα αὐτό — Their distinct bodily functions are stated
5. 321dἐπὶ τὴν ψυχὴν βελτίω αὐτὴν ποιεῖ — The same demand is now directed toward the soul
6. 321dτὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὸ φλαῦρον — The final sentence locates good and poor within the souls' own sphere

Translation in this edition

“Food and labors” preserves the pairing rather than substituting a generic “health regimen.” “Soul” is the attested psychē, unlike works in which a commentator imports that noun. The supplied relative ⟨ἃ⟩ at 321d remains editorially marked in the Greek and English. Its presence clarifies the relative clause; it supplies no answer to the question.

Are present within — ἔνειναι (eneinai)

ἔνειναι (eneinai)

Are present within. To be in or present within something; good and poor are located within the souls whose self-directed knowledge is lacking. Attested: ἔνεστι (321d). Body, soul, and the demand to specify improvement.

Better — βελτίων (beltiōn)

βελτίων (beltiōn)

Better. Improved or better; the comparative states the lawgiver's intended effect on the soul without specifying what makes it better. Attested: βελτίω (321d). Body, soul, and the demand to specify improvement.

Body — σῶμα (sōma)

σῶμα (sōma)

Body. The body as recipient of beneficial distribution, specifically food and exertion in the closing example. Attested: σῶμα (321c). Body, soul, and the demand to specify improvement.

Make better — ποιεῖν (poiein)

ποιεῖν (poiein)

Make better. The lawgiver’s distribution is assessed by whether it makes the soul better; the question still asks which provisions accomplish that improvement. Attested: ποιεῖ (321d). Body, soul, and the demand to specify improvement.

Exercising — γυμνάζειν (gymnazein)

γυμνάζειν (gymnazein)

Exercising. To train or exercise; one effect of the labors distributed for bodily improvement. Attested: γυμνάζων (321c). Body, soul, and the demand to specify improvement.

Food — τροφή (trophē) · τροφήν (321c).

τροφή (trophē)

Food. Nourishment, one part of the bodily distributor's provision; its expressly stated function is to make the body grow. Attested: τροφήν (321c). Body, soul, and the demand to specify improvement.

Giving firmness — συνιστάναι (synistanai)

συνιστάναι (synistanai)

Giving firmness. To bring together or establish; here consolidating or giving firmness to the body through exertion. Attested: συνιστὰς (321c). Body, soul, and the demand to specify improvement.

Labors — πόνος (ponos)

πόνος (ponos)

Labors. Exertions or demanding exercises; paired with food as the bodily regimen's training and strengthening component. Attested: πόνους (321c). Body, soul, and the demand to specify improvement.

Making grow — αὔξειν (auxein)

αὔξειν (auxein)

Making grow. To increase or make grow; the bodily effect attributed to nourishment in the final analogy. Attested: αὔξων (321c). Body, soul, and the demand to specify improvement.

Soul — ψυχή (psychē)

ψυχή (psychē)

Soul. The soul as recipient of lawgiving intended to improve it; the precise beneficial distributions are left unnamed by the final exchange. Attested: ψυχὴν (321d). Body, soul, and the demand to specify improvement.

Answering well and briefly (contextual phrase)

321c: καλῶς τε καὶ διὰ βραχέων ἀποκρινόμενοι. The phrase describes the answer they could give about bodily improvement: food and labors. Its brevity is possible because the objects and their effects can be named. The contrast with the following psychic question is therefore not merely a contrast between long and short speeches, but between an available concise explanation and an unavailable one. See Body and soul.