batch.motif.greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg-l13623-l13650
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg-l13623-l13650
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
passage_locator:
label: PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE. / BOOK I. / BOOK II. / BOOK III.; lines 13623-13650
start: '13623'
end: '13650'
translation: The Republic
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: Gold and silver we will tell them that they have from God; the diviner metal
is within them
summary: 'The speaker proposes regulations for guardians: they should possess no
more property than necessary, have no private closed houses or stores, receive
fixed maintenance from citizens, eat and live communally like soldiers, and avoid
gold and silver. Their inner divine metal is contrasted with common precious metals,
which are said to cause unholy deeds. The arrangement is presented as their salvation
and as making them saviours of the State; if they acquire private property, they
will become tyrannical enemies rather than guardians. Glaucon assents.'
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The proposed guardians are to have no private property beyond what is absolutely
necessary.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The guardians are not to have a private house or store closed against anyone
who wants to enter.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: The guardians are to receive from the citizens a fixed rate of pay sufficient
for yearly expenses and no more.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The guardians are to go to mess and live together like soldiers in a camp.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: Gold and silver are described as already possessed by the guardians from God,
in the form of a diviner metal within them.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: Common gold and silver are described as dross current among men and as a source
of many unholy deeds.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: obs:7
text: The guardians alone among the citizens may not touch, handle, share a roof
with, wear, or drink from silver or gold.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:8
text: The regulations are said to be the guardians' salvation and to make them saviours
of the State.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:9
text: If the guardians acquire homes, lands, or money of their own, they are predicted
to become householders and husbandmen instead of guardians, and enemies and tyrants
instead of allies.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:10
text: Glaucon replies affirmatively to the proposed regulations.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: guardians
description: The proposed class whose way of life is being regulated; described
as trained warriors, men of temperance and courage, and potential saviours of
the State.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:6
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: citizens
description: The wider citizen body from whom the guardians receive a fixed rate
of pay; the guardians are distinguished from all other citizens in their prohibition
from gold and silver.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:5
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: the State
description: The political community that the guardians are to save, but that would
be ruined if the guardians acquire private wealth.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Glaucon
description: Dialogue participant who answers yes to the proposed ordering of the
State and regulations for the guardians.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
roles:
- id: role:1
label: regulated warrior-guardians
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: They are described as trained warriors of temperance and courage whose property,
housing, pay, mess, and contact with precious metals are regulated.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:5
- id: role:2
label: saviours of the State
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The passage states that this way of life will be their salvation and that
they will be the saviours of the State.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:3
label: providers of maintenance
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The guardians are to receive from the citizens a fixed rate of pay sufficient
for yearly expenses.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:4
label: community to be saved or ruined
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The State is said to be saved by the guardians under the regulations and
endangered if they acquire private property.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:5
label: assenting respondent
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: Glaucon says yes after the proposed regulations are summarized.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: inner divine metal
literal_form: gold and silver said to be from God and within the guardians as a
diviner metal
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:2
label: common gold and silver
literal_form: silver or gold that may be touched, handled, worn, drunk from, or
kept under the same roof
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: sym:3
label: soldiers' camp
literal_form: communal mess and camp-like living arrangement
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:4
label: private homes, lands, and money
literal_form: homes, lands, or moneys of the guardians' own
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Regulated communal life of guardians
summary: The speaker outlines that guardians should have only necessary property,
open houses and stores, fixed pay, and communal camp-like meals and living.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Prohibition of precious metals
summary: The guardians are told that their true gold and silver are divine and within
them, while common gold and silver are corrupting and forbidden to them.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:3
label: Consequences of private acquisition
summary: The speaker says the regulations save the guardians and the State, while
private wealth would turn guardians into householders, enemies, and tyrants, bringing
ruin near.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: scene:4
label: Glaucon's assent
summary: Glaucon agrees to the proposed ordering and regulations for the guardians.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Renunciation of private wealth by protectors
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The guardians' property is restricted to necessities, and they are forbidden
from acquiring private homes, lands, money, gold, or silver.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: This is a political-philosophical regulation rather than a narrative mythic
episode.
- id: motif:2
label: Inner divine substance contrasted with corrupting external wealth
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The guardians are said to possess divine gold and silver within them, while
ordinary gold and silver are described as dross and a source of unholy deeds.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
confidence: high
cautions: The passage uses metal imagery explicitly, but the broader symbolic meaning
should be reviewed in context.
- id: motif:3
label: Communal warrior discipline as civic salvation
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The guardians live together like soldiers in a camp, and this regulated life
is said to be their salvation and to make them saviours of the State.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The saving function is civic and institutional; no supernatural rescue
event is narrated.
- id: motif:4
label: Corruption of guardians into tyrants through private property
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage predicts that if guardians acquire property, they will become
enemies and tyrants rather than allies, causing ruin to themselves and the State.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: This is a conditional political warning, not an enacted story sequence.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: quote
locator: lines 13623-13628
quote_or_summary: The guardians should have no property beyond what is necessary
and no private house or store closed against entry.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise excerpt summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: quote
locator: lines 13628-13633
quote_or_summary: They should receive fixed yearly maintenance from citizens and
'go to mess and live together like soldiers in a camp.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used.
- id: ev:3
type: quote
locator: lines 13633-13636
quote_or_summary: "'Gold and silver we will tell them that they have from God; the
diviner metal is within them.'"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 13635-13639
quote_or_summary: The passage says the guardians do not need the commoner metal
current among men, which is associated with pollution and many unholy deeds, while
their own metal is undefiled.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 13639-13642
quote_or_summary: The guardians alone may not touch or handle silver or gold, be
under the same roof with them, wear them, or drink from them.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: quote
locator: lines 13642-13643
quote_or_summary: "'This will be their salvation, and they will be the saviours
of the State.'"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 13643-13649
quote_or_summary: If the guardians acquire private homes, lands, or money, they
will become householders and husbandmen instead of guardians, enemies and tyrants
instead of allies, and ruin will be near for themselves and the State.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: quote
locator: line 13650
quote_or_summary: "'Yes, said Glaucon.'"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: high
notes: Literal extraction is straightforward. Motif labels are candidate analytical
summaries of political-symbolic patterns in the passage and require human review.
No comparison claims were added because the passage itself does not support a
specific external comparison.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
Used only the provided passage and metadata; taxonomy references were not assigned because the available motif and symbol lists do not directly match the passage's explicit metal imagery.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg__l13623-l13650
passage_sha256=2a4fa4cc659e49ad59802ae54225633bd6938adb09fa81e3aeb6a8a348135ac3