Use

Use in the book

Alcibiades rejects unlimited rule if it costs his soul because he would have no use of it. Socrates adds the sharper condition: what if he would use it badly and harmfully? Alcibiades rejects that too. The distinction separates mere possession, the opportunity to use, and a worthwhile exercise of that opportunity. A gift’s size and prestige cannot determine its value without this relation to the recipient’s life.

At 145e–146a the verb describes using each of the commonwealth’s specialists. The city lacks both knowledge of the best and the person who knows when and toward whom each should be employed. The relevant “use” is therefore wider than a craftsman operating a tool: it concerns directing organised capacities within a political whole.

The word also appears in contexts that should not be forced into this governing-use thesis. Children “meet with” misfortunes at 142c, and the unguided learned man meets a storm at 147a. At 150c Socrates doubts Alcibiades would be willing to use the Spartans’ prayer, because of his grand self-conception. That final case brings willingness into view: a safe verbal form is available, but possessing or hearing it does not ensure that the ambitious hearer will employ it.

Places to read

1. 141cNo use, bad use and harmful use qualify Alcibiades’ wish for rule.
2. 142cThe same verb describes meeting with misfortune rather than employing a resource.
3. 145e–146aA knowledgeable guide must judge the use of each specialist.
4. 147aThe verb accompanies the storm image.
5. 150cAlcibiades’ disposition may prevent him from using the restrained Spartan prayer.

Translation in this edition

The edition translates chrēsthai idiomatically according to its complement, so not every occurrence says “use”. At 141c the adverbs are “badly and harmfully”; their force should not be weakened into a neutral inability to extract maximum advantage.

Use in the book

The survey compares soul’s use of body to a helmsman steering a ship or a rider guiding a vehicle. The first analogy emphasizes separability, while the second emphasizes a shared journey. The passage asks for distinctions rather than endorsing one simple model for every kind of embodiment.

Places to read

1. I.49.41.5Ship and vehicle analogies distinguish modes of bodily use.

Translation in this edition

“Use” is direct, with the different kinds of association explained.

Use in the book

An object’s excellence becomes clear through its relations and operations. The sun’s use includes bodily benefits, the disclosure of divine goodness, and the soul’s capacity to enjoy that disclosure. Spiritual uses are therefore not decorative extras attached to a merely practical world; they help explain why its practical benefits matter.

Right use requires right apprehension. Mistaking a saw for a knife prevents even ordinary work; mistaking the world or the soul has graver consequences because it blocks enjoyment. Yet the reader must move from an accurate account to exercise. Knowledge that is never used resembles a supposedly possessed treasure that yields nothing.

The human being also must become useful. Traherne calls a person glorious when that person becomes a blessing and delight to others. Use consequently includes freely communicated affection and praise, which cannot be adequately measured by material output alone.

Places to read

1. III.55A creature’s value is disclosed through its relations and operations.
2. IV.15The saw and knife illustrate why right apprehension is necessary to use.
3. IV.11Discovered happiness must be used rather than left merely studied.
4. IV.47A person’s usefulness consists in becoming a blessing and delight.

In this edition

Useful is not opposed to beautiful or contemplative here. The synonym utility is supplied as an index aid; Traherne’s actual language should not be turned into a later utilitarian ethical theory.