Farming, carpentry, and coordinated work

Use in the book

Farming is the first practical perspective in the dialogue: Demodocus speaks among those who cultivate land and compares tending growth with rearing a son (121b–c). That analogy establishes care as prolonged and difficult. When farming returns at 124a, its argumentative use changes. It is now a wisdom by which people know how to direct several related operations.

The enumerated activities make the scope of such direction tangible. Reaping and grape-gathering collect produce; planting and sowing establish growth; threshing processes the harvest. The text does not explain agricultural technique, but its list provides a recognizable group whose work can fall under farming expertise. Socrates presents it as a field Theages is not seeking.

Carpentry supplies a parallel case (124b). Sawing, drilling, planing, and turning can be coordinated within one craft. Again the question concerns the competence ruling these workers together, not whether every single worker is separately a master carpenter. The parallel gives Socrates a basis for distinguishing particular expertise from the desired power to govern the practitioners themselves.

The next formulation includes all these workers, the farmers and carpenters themselves, all craftsmen, private persons, women, and men. Theages enthusiastically identifies this as what he has meant all along. The expansion is important, but limited. It determines the extent of a governed population; it does not establish what political expertise knows, whether it teaches, or which manner of exercising authority is legitimate.

Farmers recur in the variations on the poetic line at 125c. “Wise farmers” are made wise by being with people wise in farming. Here the craft becomes an analogy for the connection between teacher and learner, rather than an example of governmental scope. The sequence places three distinct uses of agriculture before the reader: nurture, coordination, and apprenticeship. Keeping them separate makes the dialogue more exact than treating every farmer reference as one undifferentiated “craft analogy.”

Places to read

1. 121bτὴν γῆν γεωργοῦμεν — Demodocus speaks from cultivation of land
2. 124aθεριζόντων; τρυγώντων; φυτευόντων; σπειρόντων; ἁλοώντων — Farming's coordinated operations
3. 124aγεωργική — The named field governing these activities
4. 124bπριζόντων; τρυπώντων; ξεόντων; τορνευόντων — The woodworkers' coordinated operations
5. 124bτεκτονική; τῶν γεωργῶν καὶ τῶν τεκτόνων — The craft and the practitioners included in wider rule
6. 125cσοφοὶ γεωργοὶ; τὰ γεωργικά — Farmers and the relevant subject matter in the poetic variation

Translation in this edition

The supplied text prints πριζόντων, while the apparatus records Cobet's πριόντων. An exact register should keep the printed form rather than silently substituting the conjecture. The English “plane” and “turn” make the carpentry context explicit without claiming that the passage provides technical descriptions of particular tools.

All together — σύμπας (sympas)

σύμπας (sympas)

All together. The woodworking activities are grouped within one competence. Attested: συμπάντων (124b). Farming, carpentry, and coordinated work.

Carpenters — τέκτων (tektōn)

τέκτων (tektōn)

Carpenters. Woodworking practitioners are included in the comprehensive population. Attested: τεκτόνων (124b). Farming, carpentry, and coordinated work.

Carpentry — τεκτονική (tektonikē)

τεκτονική (tektonikē)

Carpentry. The craft that coordinates the specified woodworking activities. Attested: τεκτονική (124b). Farming, carpentry, and coordinated work.

Drilling — τρυπᾶν (trypan)

τρυπᾶν (trypan)

Drilling. Boring holes as a coordinated woodworking operation. Attested: τρυπώντων (124b). Farming, carpentry, and coordinated work.

Farm — γεωργεῖν (geōrgein)

γεωργεῖν (geōrgein)

Farm. Demodocus speaks as one of those who cultivate land. Attested: γεωργοῦμεν (121b). Farming, carpentry, and coordinated work.

Farmers — γεωργός (geōrgos)

γεωργός (geōrgos)

Farmers. Agricultural practitioners themselves become subjects of the wider proposed rule. Attested: γεωργῶν (124b). Farming, carpentry, and coordinated work.

Farming — γεωργική (geōrgikē)

γεωργική (geōrgikē)

Farming. The competence directing the enumerated agricultural operations. Attested: γεωργική (124a). Farming, carpentry, and coordinated work.

Gathering grapes — τρυγᾶν (trygan)

τρυγᾶν (trygan)

Gathering grapes. Harvesting grapes as a specified agricultural activity. Attested: τρυγώντων (124a). Farming, carpentry, and coordinated work.

Planing — ξέειν (xeein)

ξέειν (xeein)

Planing. Smoothing or shaving wood in the carpentry list. Attested: ξεόντων (124b). Farming, carpentry, and coordinated work.

Planting — φυτεύειν (phyteuein)

φυτεύειν (phyteuein)

Planting. A coordinated agricultural activity, distinct in argumentative role from the opening begetting analogy. Attested: φυτευόντων (124a). Farming, carpentry, and coordinated work.

Reaping — θερίζειν (therizein)

θερίζειν (therizein)

Reaping. One agricultural activity under the coordination of farming. Attested: θεριζόντων (124a). Farming, carpentry, and coordinated work.

Sawing — πρίζειν (prizein)

πρίζειν (prizein)

Sawing. The printed form for one woodworking activity; Cobet's alternative is not substituted. Attested: πριζόντων (124b). Farming, carpentry, and coordinated work.

Sowing — σπείρειν (speirein)

σπείρειν (speirein)

Sowing. Putting in seed as one operation directed within farming. Attested: σπειρόντων (124a). Farming, carpentry, and coordinated work.

Threshing — ἁλοᾶν (haloan)

ἁλοᾶν (haloan)

Threshing. An agricultural processing activity included in the farming field. Attested: ἁλοώντων (124a). Farming, carpentry, and coordinated work.

Turning — τορνεύειν (torneuein)

τορνεύειν (torneuein)

Turning. Working material by turning as one carpentry operation. Attested: τορνευόντων (124b). Farming, carpentry, and coordinated work.