batch.motif.greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg-l17792-l17900
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg-l17792-l17900
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
passage_locator:
label: BOOK III. / BOOK IV. / BOOK V. / BOOK VI.; lines 17792-17900
start: '17792'
end: '17900'
translation: The Republic
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: The passage argues that naturally gifted youths may be diverted from philosophy
by flattery, ambition, wealth, social pressure, and poor education. Philosophy
is personified as desolate, forsaken, and dishonoured by unworthy people, whose
alliance with her produces sophistical opinions rather than true wisdom.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A gifted person is described as becoming prominent from childhood, especially
if bodily qualities match mental qualities.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Friends and fellow-citizens are described as flattering and honouring the
gifted person because they want future access to his power.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: A rich, noble, tall youth in a great city is described as likely to become
ambitious and proud, imagining he can manage Greek and non-Greek affairs.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: A corrective speaker tells the proud youth that he is foolish and must gain
understanding through effort, but the youth is unlikely to listen under those
conditions.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: Friends are described as trying to prevent a person from yielding to philosophy,
including through private intrigues and public prosecutions against the teacher.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: Qualities suited to philosophy are said to divert a person from philosophy
if they are badly educated, as can riches and other goods of life.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: The best natures are described as rare and capable of producing either the
greatest good or the greatest evil for states and individuals.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: Philosophy is personified as left desolate, with her marriage rite incomplete,
after those who belong to her have fallen away and forsaken her.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:9
text: Unworthy persons are described as entering philosophy and dishonouring her
when she lacks kinsmen or protectors.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:10
text: A simile compares unworthy entrants into philosophy to prisoners running from
prison into a sanctuary.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:11
text: A simile compares an unworthy philosophical entrant to a bald little tinker
released from confinement, newly dressed as a bridegroom to marry his master’s
poor and desolate daughter.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:12
text: 'Improper alliances with philosophy are said to generate vile and bastard
results: sophisms pleasing to the ear but not genuine or akin to true wisdom.'
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Primary speaker
description: The questioning voice who develops the argument and uses the images
of desolate philosophy, unworthy suitors, and defective offspring.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:7
- ev:10
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Respondent
description: The answering voice who agrees with the speaker’s questions and analogies.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:9
- ev:10
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Gifted youth or philosophic nature
description: A young person with exceptional mental and possibly bodily qualities,
vulnerable to flattery, ambition, and bad education.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Friends and fellow-citizens
description: People who flatter and honour the gifted youth in order to use his
future power, and later obstruct his turn toward philosophy.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Corrective teacher or adviser
description: Someone who tells the proud youth that he is foolish and must gain
understanding by effort; later made powerless by opponents.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Philosophy personified
description: Philosophy is described as desolate, forsaken, lacking protectors,
dishonoured, and ranked above unworthy entrants.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:10
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Unworthy entrants into philosophy
description: People with imperfect natures and maimed souls who leave their trades
for philosophy because of her remaining dignity.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:10
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Bald little tinker in the simile
description: A small craftsman newly released from confinement, bathed and dressed
as a bridegroom after coming into a fortune.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Master’s daughter in the simile
description: A poor and desolate daughter whom the newly adorned tinker is imagined
to marry.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
roles:
- id: role:1
label: argument-framing speaker
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The speaker poses successive questions and interprets the consequences for
philosophy.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:7
- ev:10
- id: role:2
label: assenting interlocutor
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The respondent repeatedly agrees with the speaker’s claims and analogies.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:9
- ev:10
- id: role:3
label: endangered candidate for philosophy
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The gifted youth has qualities suitable for philosophy but may be turned
away by bad education, ambition, and social pressure.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:5
- id: role:4
label: corrupting social circle
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: Friends and citizens seek to use the youth’s future power and obstruct his
philosophical conversion.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- id: role:5
label: teacher of understanding
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The adviser tells the youth he needs understanding and may be opposed by
intrigues and prosecutions.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: role:6
label: personified abandoned bride or noble partner
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: Philosophy is described with imagery of desolation, incomplete marriage,
lack of protectors, dishonour, and superior rank.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:10
- id: role:7
label: unworthy claimant
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: Unworthy persons enter philosophy, dishonour her, and generate sophistical
opinions.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:10
- id: role:8
label: low-status bridegroom image
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: The tinker is used as a simile for the unworthy person who presents himself
as a bridegroom.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: role:9
label: poor desolate bride image
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: The master’s daughter is the imagined poor and desolate woman in the marriage
simile.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: incomplete marriage rite
literal_form: philosophy’s marriage rite left incomplete
associated_figures:
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs:
- sacred_marriage
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:2
label: desolate bride or daughter
literal_form: desolate philosophy and the poor desolate master’s daughter in the
simile
associated_figures:
- fig:6
- fig:9
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:9
- id: sym:3
label: unworthy bridegroom
literal_form: bald little tinker dressed as a bridegroom
associated_figures:
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: sym:4
label: prison and sanctuary image
literal_form: prisoners running out of prison into a sanctuary
associated_figures:
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: sym:5
label: bastard offspring of improper alliance
literal_form: vile and bastard issue; sophisms generated by unworthy alliance with
philosophy
associated_figures:
- fig:6
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Flattering the gifted youth
summary: A promising young person is imagined as admired, honoured, and flattered
by friends and citizens who seek to benefit from his future power.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Failed correction toward understanding
summary: A corrective figure tells the proud youth to seek understanding, but social
conditions make him unlikely to listen; friends then work to prevent his philosophical
turn and weaken his teacher.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: scene:3
label: Desolation and dishonouring of philosophy
summary: Philosophy is personified as abandoned by her proper companions, left without
protectors, and dishonoured by unworthy entrants.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: scene:4
label: Unworthy marriage and defective offspring
summary: 'The passage uses a marriage simile: an unworthy tinker becomes a bridegroom
for a poor desolate daughter; similarly, unworthy persons allied with philosophy
produce sophisms rather than true wisdom.'
figure_refs:
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
- fig:9
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Wisdom sought or corrupted by unworthy seekers
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The passage contrasts true understanding and wisdom with the failure of gifted
natures and the production of sophisms by unworthy entrants into philosophy.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:10
confidence: high
cautions: The passage is philosophical argument using figurative imagery, not a
narrative myth.
- id: motif:2
label: Abandoned noble bride and unworthy suitors
taxonomy_refs:
- sacred_marriage
basis: Philosophy is personified as desolate with an incomplete marriage rite; unworthy
persons enter and dishonour her, and a simile presents an unsuitable bridegroom
marrying a poor desolate daughter.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:9
- ev:10
confidence: medium
cautions: The marriage imagery is metaphorical and polemical; the passage does not
describe a divine or ritual marriage literally.
- id: motif:3
label: Misalliance producing defective offspring
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Improper alliance with philosophy is said to generate vile and bastard results,
identified as sophisms rather than genuine wisdom.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
confidence: medium
cautions: This is an abstract analogy about education and ideas, not a literal birth
narrative.
- id: motif:4
label: Captivity and refuge as image of status change
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Unworthy entrants into philosophy are compared to prisoners escaping confinement
into a sanctuary, and a tinker is imagined as released from durance before assuming
bridal dress.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
confidence: low
cautions: The captivity and sanctuary language occurs within similes and is secondary
to the main argument about philosophy.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: 17792-17808
quote_or_summary: A gifted person is imagined as first among others from childhood;
friends and fellow-citizens flatter and honour him in order to use his future
power.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 17809-17818
quote_or_summary: A rich, noble, tall youth in a great city is described as likely
to form boundless aspirations, imagine ruling Greek and non-Greek affairs, and
become vain and proud.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: 17819-17827
quote_or_summary: Someone gently tells the proud youth that he is foolish and must
gain understanding through effort, but the speaker says he is unlikely to listen
under adverse circumstances.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: 17828-17839
quote_or_summary: If a person is partly opened to philosophy, friends fearing loss
of advantage will try to prevent him and render his teacher powerless through
private intrigues and public prosecutions.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: 17840-17850
quote_or_summary: The speaker concludes that traits fitting a person for philosophy
may divert him from philosophy when badly educated, as can wealth and other goods
of life.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: 17851-17862
quote_or_summary: The best natures are said to be rare and capable of causing either
the greatest evil or the greatest good for states and individuals.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: quote
locator: 17863-17874
quote_or_summary: "“philosophy is left desolate, with her marriage rite incomplete”;
unworthy persons enter when she has no kinsmen to protect her and dishonour her."
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; short excerpt used.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: 17875-17889
quote_or_summary: Unworthy entrants are compared to prisoners running from prison
into a sanctuary and leaving their trades for philosophy because she retains dignity.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: 17890-17897
quote_or_summary: The unworthy entrant is compared to a bald little tinker released
from confinement, bathed, newly clothed, and dressed as a bridegroom to marry
his master’s poor desolate daughter.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: 17898-17900
quote_or_summary: Such marriages are said to have vile and bastard issue; unworthy
alliances with philosophy generate sophisms pleasing to the ear but lacking genuine
kinship with true wisdom.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain translation; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: high
notes: Literal argument and imagery are clear. Motif candidates are cautious because
the passage is philosophical and metaphorical rather than mythic narrative. No
comparison claims were added because the passage itself does not compare this
imagery with another tradition or corpus.
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 supplied passage text and metadata. Taxonomy references were limited to available motif families and applied only where directly supported by the passage’s wisdom and marriage imagery.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg__l17792-l17900
passage_sha256=b7ee4c03312afa0a315a5b1a1262706bff7b377eb745a9b4cad9a8725346f148