batch.motif.greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg-l17517-l17660
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg-l17517-l17660
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
passage_locator:
label: BOOK III. / BOOK IV. / BOOK V. / BOOK VI.; lines 17517-17660
start: '17517'
end: '17660'
translation: The Republic
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: '"Truth, as you will remember, was his leader"'
summary: The speaker defends true philosophers against the charge of uselessness,
comparing them to true pilots ignored by mutinous sailors. He describes the lover
of knowledge as following truth toward knowledge of being, then turns to the corruption
of rare philosophic natures by their own gifts, social advantages, and unsuitable
conditions, using plant and seed imagery.
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The speaker says the best votaries of philosophy may seem useless, but their
uselessness is due to those who refuse to use them.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The passage compares present governors to mutinous sailors and true helmsmen
to people called good-for-nothings and star-gazers.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The speaker says truth was the leader of the gentle and noble philosophic
nature.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: The true lover of knowledge is described as striving after being and not resting
in the multiplicity of appearances.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: The lover of knowledge is described as drawing near to and mingling with being,
begetting mind and truth, and ceasing from travail only after attaining knowledge.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: The speaker says the majority of philosophic natures are corrupted, while
few escape being spoiled.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: A perfected philosophic nature is called a rare plant seldom seen among men.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:8
text: The speaker says the philosopher's own virtues and ordinary goods such as
beauty, wealth, strength, rank, and connections can distract the soul from philosophy.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:9
text: The passage compares strong germs or seeds lacking proper nutriment, climate,
or soil to fine natures injured by alien conditions.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: primary speaker
description: The voice conducting the argument and giving analogies about philosophers,
pilots, seeds, and corruption.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:9
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: interlocutor
description: A respondent who agrees, asks questions, and requests clarification.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:8
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: true philosophers / best votaries of philosophy
description: People described as genuinely philosophical, lovers of knowledge, and
followers of truth, though judged useless by others.
role_refs:
- role:3
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: mutinous sailors
description: A comparative group used for present governors of mankind who reject
the true helmsman.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: true helmsmen
description: The competent pilots in the analogy, called useless and star-gazers
by the mutinous sailors.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: rare philosophic nature
description: A nature with the required philosophical qualities, described as a
rare plant seldom seen among men.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
roles:
- id: role:1
label: argument leader
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The speaker directs the inquiry and explains the analogies.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:9
- id: role:2
label: questioning respondent
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The interlocutor asks what the corruptions are and asks for more precise
explanation.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:8
- id: role:3
label: follower of truth
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Truth is named as the philosopher's leader, followed always and in all things.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:4
label: seeker of being and knowledge
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The true lover of knowledge strives after being and seeks the true nature
of every essence.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:5
label: rejecting or disorderly rulers
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: Present governors are compared to mutinous sailors in the ship analogy.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:6
label: competent but rejected guide
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: True helmsmen are called good-for-nothings and star-gazers by the mutinous
sailors.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:7
label: rare and vulnerable noble nature
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The perfected philosophic nature is rare and susceptible to corruption by
gifts, goods, and alien conditions.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: ship-pilot analogy
literal_form: pilot, sailors, helmsman
associated_figures:
- fig:4
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:2
label: truth as leader or captain
literal_form: truth as leader; truth as captain
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:10
- id: sym:3
label: rare plant
literal_form: rare plant seldom seen among men
associated_figures:
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:4
label: seeds and unsuitable environment
literal_form: germs or seeds lacking proper nutriment, climate, or soil
associated_figures:
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: sym:5
label: travail before knowledge
literal_form: travail ceasing after knowledge is attained
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: defense of the unused philosopher
summary: The speaker argues that true philosophers are useless only because others
refuse to employ them, just as a competent pilot does not beg sailors to be commanded
by him.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: description of the true lover of knowledge
summary: The philosopher is described as following truth, hating lies, striving
after being, and attaining knowledge through a power kindred to being.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:10
- id: scene:3
label: corruption of rare philosophic natures
summary: The speaker introduces the question of why philosophic natures are spoiled,
describes the true philosophic nature as rare, and names virtues, worldly goods,
and unsuitable conditions as corrupting forces.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: unrecognized wise guide
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The true helmsman or philosopher is competent to guide but is dismissed as
useless by those who should be governed or guided.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
confidence: high
cautions: This is a philosophical analogy rather than a mythic narrative episode.
- id: motif:2
label: quest for truth and being
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
- mystical_quest
basis: The lover of knowledge follows truth, strives after being, approaches and
mingles with being, and reaches knowledge after travail.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The language supports a quest-like intellectual and metaphysical pattern,
but no literal journey is narrated.
- id: motif:3
label: rare noble nature endangered by corrupting environment
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The perfected philosophic nature is described as a rare plant, and strong
seeds or fine natures are said to be more harmed by unsuitable conditions.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
confidence: high
cautions: No provided taxonomy family directly matches the plant-and-environment
corruption pattern.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: 17517-17533
quote_or_summary: The speaker says the best philosophers are useless only because
others do not use them; those who need governance should go to one able to govern,
as the sick go to physicians.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: quote
locator: 17533-17539
quote_or_summary: '"the present governors of mankind ... may be justly compared
to the mutinous sailors, and the true helmsmen to those who are called by them
good-for-nothings and star-gazers."'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:3
type: quote
locator: 17562-17566
quote_or_summary: '"Truth, as you will remember, was his leader, whom he followed
always and in all things"'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: 17572-17579
quote_or_summary: The true lover of knowledge strives after being and does not rest
in the multiplicity of individual appearances.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: 17579-17587
quote_or_summary: The lover of knowledge attains the true nature of essence, draws
near to and mingles with being, begets mind and truth, and then ceases from travail.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: 17613-17624
quote_or_summary: The speaker proposes to examine why many philosophic natures are
spoiled, why only a few escape, and how unworthy imitators bring reprobation on
philosophy.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: quote
locator: 17627-17631
quote_or_summary: '"a nature having in perfection all the qualities which we required
in a philosopher, is a rare plant which is seldom seen among men."'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: 17635-17647
quote_or_summary: The speaker says the philosopher's own virtues and ordinary goods
such as beauty, wealth, strength, rank, and connections can destroy or distract
the soul from philosophy.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: 17653-17660
quote_or_summary: The speaker says germs or seeds lacking proper nutriment, climate,
or soil are more sensitive in proportion to their vigor; fine natures under alien
conditions receive greater injury than inferior ones.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:10
type: quote
locator: 17591-17596
quote_or_summary: '"when truth is the captain, we cannot suspect any evil of the
band which he leads"'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: uncertain
notes: Literal extraction is strong for the philosophical analogies and plant/seed
imagery. Motif assignment is cautious because the passage is argumentative philosophy
rather than mythic narration. No passage-supported cross-text comparison claims
were made.
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 supplied passage and metadata. Available taxonomy refs were applied only where directly supportable.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg__l17517-l17660
passage_sha256=da5b6d67948eba27aaceb60c9129ca8a9904a7a80b52ce89da34beae43af4266