Distribution and tending

Use in the book

After reaffirming law as the finding of what is, Socrates proposes another thing to view within it (317d). The new question is who knows how to distribute seeds on soil. The farmer is a good nomeus, and his nomoi and dianomai are right. Law is now placed beside an activity with material, recipients, and a standard of appropriate assignment.

The sequence passes from seeds and soils to musical strokes and tunes, then to food and bodies. At each stage competence belongs to the person who can give what is due. With the trainer and the “human herd,” the pastoral sense becomes explicit (318a). The shepherd's and oxherd's laws are best for the animals they tend; the king's are best for human souls. This is not merely a pun detached from the reasoning. The shared vocabulary carries an account of governance as the knowledgeable fitting of provisions and direction to those governed.

Nevertheless, the linguistic connection does not independently prove the political conclusion. A shared family of words helps organize the comparison; it does not show what the king must distribute to souls or identify which historical king actually knows how. Those are precisely the matters toward which the dialogue next moves.

The family returns at two different levels. Homer is said to have “distributed” the honor of Zeus' education to Minos alone (319c): that is an allocation made by a poet's representation. Minos himself is later called a good distributor, and the best ancient lawgivers are distributors and shepherds of men (321b–c). The final question asks what the distributor gives to the soul. The word survives to the end, but the corresponding object cannot be named by the companion. That unresolved specification is more exact than the broad claim that political order is beneficial.

Places to read

1. 317dδιανεῖμαι ἐπὶ γῇ τὰ σπέρματα — Seed distribution begins the sequence
2. 317dνομεὺς ἀγαθὸς τούτων — The farmer is a good distributor of these particular things
3. 317dοἱ τούτου νόμοι καὶ διανομαὶ — Laws and distributions are coupled explicitly
4. 317dκαὶ τὰ ἄξια νεῖμαι — The musical question includes being good at distributing what is due
5. 318aτὴν τῶν προβάτων ἀγέλην κράτιστος νέμειν — Nemein takes its ordinary pastoral object
6. 319cἀπένειμεν Ὅμηρος — Homer assigns the exceptional privilege of divine education
7. 321b–cνομεὺς ἀγαθός; νομῆς τε καὶ ποιμένες ἀνδρῶν — The argument's distributor becomes a description of the ancient lawgivers
8. 321dδιανέμων ἐπὶ τὴν ψυχὴν — The ending asks for the contents of distribution to the soul

Translation in this edition

Nemein and dianemein are “distribute,” and nomeus “distributor”; with a herd as object, nemein becomes “tend.” At 317d Burnet retains the infinitive νεῖμαι. The translation therefore says “and good at distributing what is due,” rather than silently adopting the finite verb “distributes” proposed by Boeckh. The editorial detail affects the construction, not the basic sequence of examples.

Distribute — διανέμειν (dianemein)

διανέμειν (dianemein)

Distribute. To allocate or apportion, here seeds on soil. The infinitive specifies what the knowledgeable farmer can do. Attested: διανεῖμαι (317d). Distribution and tending.

Distributes — διανέμειν (dianemein)

διανέμειν (dianemein)

Distributes. The farmer’s assigning suitable seeds to each soil, making the recipient-specific allocation concrete. Attested: διανέμει (317d). Distribution and tending.

Distribute — νέμειν (nemein)

νέμειν (nemein)

Distribute. The aorist infinitive in the question about distributing the musical strokes that are due. Burnet prints an infinitive, not Boeckh’s proposed finite verb. Attested: νεῖμαι (317d). Distribution and tending.

Tend — νέμειν (nemein)

νέμειν (nemein)

Tend. To pasture or care for a herd. The pastoral sense joins the earlier allocations to the shepherd’s and oxherd’s activity. Attested: νέμειν (318a). Distribution and tending.

Distributed — ἀπονέμειν (aponemein)

ἀπονέμειν (aponemein)

Distributed. To assign or allot; here Homer grants Minos the exceptional privilege of having been educated by Zeus. This is the poet’s allocation of an honor in his representation. Attested: ἀπένειμεν (319c). Distribution and tending.

Distributions — διανομή (dianomē)

διανομή (dianomē)

Distributions. Allocations made by the competent farmer and evaluated as right alongside his laws. The noun belongs to the family linking nomos with distributing. Attested: διανομαὶ (317d). Distribution and tending.

Distributor — νομεύς (nomeus)

νομεύς (nomeus)

Distributor. One who allots or distributes, here the farmer. The word also supports the transition to the herdsman’s care in 318a. Attested: νομεὺς (317d). Distribution and tending.