Trainers herds and the care of bodies

Use in the book

Socrates asks who is best at distributing food to human bodies, and the companion answers “a trainer” (317e–318a2). Before the name is supplied, Socrates has established the criterion: the best distributor gives the food due to the recipient, and his distributions and laws are best. The name identifies the practitioner of the activity already described.

The next phrase is striking: this person is best at tending “the human herd in its body.” The bodily limitation matters. It is not yet a statement that the trainer rules the entire person or supplies the best laws for souls. Sheep and oxen follow, each with the appropriate herdsman. Only then does Socrates ask whose laws are best for the souls of human beings and press for the answer “the king's” (318a).

The analogy is organized by beneficiaries as well as by rulers. The shepherd's laws are best “for the sheep,” and the oxherd's “for the oxen.” Read within the preceding appeal to right and good law, the example presents rule as competent care for those governed. Yet the text does not separately investigate the possible conflict between a herder's purposes and an animal's interests. Nor does the image establish that citizens lack reason or that political coercion is justified. Those would be further arguments.

The trainer's case remains available at the end because its provisions can be specified. Food makes the body grow; labors exercise and strengthen it (321c). The corresponding provisions for the soul cannot be given. Bodily expertise thus supplies both the route toward the political analogy and the contrast that exposes the speakers' unfinished knowledge.

Places to read

1. 317eτροφὴν ἐπὶ τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων σώματα διανεῖμαι — The trainer is introduced through allocation of food to bodies
2. 317e–318a2Παιδοτρίβης — The companion names the relevant practitioner
3. 318aτὴν ἀνθρωπείαν ἀγέλην τοῦ σώματος νέμειν — Human herding is expressly qualified by the body
4. 318aΟἱ τοῦ ποιμένος ἄρα νόμοι ἄριστοι τοῖς προβάτοις — The sheep are named as beneficiaries of the shepherd's laws
5. 318aΟἱ δὲ τοῦ βουκόλου τοῖς βουσί — The oxherd's competence has its own recipients
6. 318aταῖς ψυχαῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων — The question then moves to the souls of men
7. 321cτροφήν τε καὶ πόνους — The ending can name the body's provisions

Translation in this edition

Paidotribēs is “trainer.” The translation keeps the unusual “human herd in its body” instead of silently rewriting it as a conventional phrase about physical education. Burnet prints σώματος at 318a; the apparatus records a correction in A, but that does not authorize replacing the printed construction with a different Greek text. “Tend” supplies the pastoral sense of nemein.

Ablest — κράτιστος (kratistos)

κράτιστος (kratistos)

Ablest. Most capable at the specified tending of a herd. The superlative evaluates practical competence rather than brute political dominance. Attested: κράτιστος (318a). Trainers herds and the care of bodies.

Bodies — σῶμα (sōma)

σῶμα (sōma)

Bodies. The bodily recipients of appropriate food. The sequence distinguishes this field from the later question about laws for souls. Attested: σώματα (317e). Trainers herds and the care of bodies.

Food — τροφή (trophē) · τροφὴν (317e).

τροφή (trophē)

Food. The nourishment distributed to human bodies by the practitioner identified as the trainer. Its fit to the recipient determines the excellence of his allocation. Attested: τροφὴν (317e). Trainers herds and the care of bodies.

Herd — ἀγέλη (agelē)

ἀγέλη (agelē)

Herd. A group of animals under a herder’s care, applied first to human bodies and then literally to sheep. Attested: ἀγέλην (318a). Trainers herds and the care of bodies.

Human — ἀνθρώπειος (anthrōpeios)

ἀνθρώπειος (anthrōpeios)

Human. Qualifying the herd tended in respect of the body. The unusual expression supplies the transition from physical training to animal tending. Attested: ἀνθρωπείαν (318a). Trainers herds and the care of bodies.

Name — ὄνομα (onoma) · ὄνομα (318a).

ὄνομα (onoma)

Name. The designation of the practitioner best at tending sheep; the companion supplies shepherd, fixing the appropriate expert’s identity by the activity. Attested: ὄνομα (318a). Trainers herds and the care of bodies.

Oxen — βοῦς (bous)

βοῦς (bous)

Oxen. Cattle, the beneficiaries explicitly named in the claim about the oxherd’s laws. Attested: βουσί (318a). Trainers herds and the care of bodies.

Oxherd — βουκόλος (boukolos)

βουκόλος (boukolos)

Oxherd. The cattle-tender whose laws are best for the oxen, following the shepherd’s parallel relation to sheep. Attested: βουκόλου (318a). Trainers herds and the care of bodies.

Sheep — πρόβατον (probaton)

πρόβατον (probaton)

Sheep. The animals whose herd is tended by a shepherd, supplying the literal pastoral case in the analogy. Attested: προβάτων (318a). Trainers herds and the care of bodies.

Shepherd — ποιμήν (poimēn)

ποιμήν (poimēn)

Shepherd. The practitioner who tends sheep; his laws are said to be best for the sheep he cares for. Attested: Ποιμήν (318a). Trainers herds and the care of bodies.

Trainer — παιδοτρίβης (paidotribēs)

παιδοτρίβης (paidotribēs)

Trainer. The physical trainer named as best at the specified bodily distribution and at tending the human herd in its body. Attested: Παιδοτρίβης (317e–318a2). Trainers herds and the care of bodies.