batch.motif.greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg-l21985-l22135
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg-l21985-l22135
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
passage_locator:
label: BOOK VI. / BOOK VII. / BOOK VIII. / BOOK IX.; lines 21985-22135
start: '21985'
end: '22135'
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 describes the tyrannical person whose desires exhaust his property,
drive him to cheat or assault parents, commit theft and sacrilege, and become
in waking life what was formerly only dream. Personified Love rules within him
as tyrant, leading a rabble of desires. Such people, when numerous in a city,
choose the most tyrannical among them as ruler, who then subjugates the fatherland
or motherland as he once mistreated his parents. The tyrant is said to be master
or servant, never a true friend, and utterly unjust.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The man's desires are described as growing daily and nightly, becoming many
and formidable, and quickly consuming his revenues.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: When his resources are gone, the man's desires are compared to young ravens
in a nest crying for food.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: Love is described as the captain of the desires and later as the tyrant who
lives lawlessly in the man.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:5
- id: obs:4
text: The man is said to seek money by fraud, despoiling, cheating, deception, force,
and plunder.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: The man is described as willing to take property from his father and mother
and even strike or subject them for the sake of a new attachment.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: After taking parental property, the man proceeds to housebreaking, theft from
a night traveler, temple robbery, murder, forbidden eating, and other horrid acts.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: Former childhood opinions about good and evil are said to be overthrown by
newly emancipated passions that become the bodyguard of love.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:8
text: The man's waking life is described as the reality of what had previously appeared
only rarely in dreams.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:9
- id: obs:9
text: When such men are few in a city, they become mercenary bodyguards elsewhere
or commit theft, burglary, robbery, temple robbery, kidnapping, false witness,
and bribery at home.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:10
text: When the noxious class becomes numerous, they choose the person with the most
tyrant in his soul and create him as tyrant.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:11
text: The political tyrant is compared to a man who first beat his parents and then
subjugates his fatherland or motherland under young retainers.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:12
text: The tyrannical person is said to be either master or servant, never a true
friend, and to lack true freedom and friendship.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: tyrannical son or tyrannical man
description: A person ruled by many desires and by Love, who spends his property,
mistreats parents, commits crimes, and becomes increasingly tyrannical.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:9
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: father and mother
description: The parents whose property the tyrannical son seeks, and whom he may
cheat, plunder, strike, or subject to another's authority.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Love
description: A personified ruling passion described as captain of the desires, tyrant,
king, and lordly presence within the man.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:5
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: desires and pleasures
description: Many formidable demands that swarm, cry out, replace older pleasures,
and act as a rabble or bodyguard associated with Love.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:5
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: noxious class and followers
description: A class of tyrannical people in the state who commit crimes and, when
numerous, choose a tyrant from among themselves.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: political tyrant
description: The person chosen from the noxious class as the one with most of the
tyrant in his own soul, who subjugates the fatherland or motherland if resisted.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: fatherland or motherland
description: The country or city imagined as an aged parent whom the tyrant subjugates
under young retainers.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
roles:
- id: role:1
label: ruled-by-desire figure
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The man is driven by many desires and by Love as their captain and tyrant.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:5
- id: role:2
label: parent-plunderer
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He takes parental property and may cheat, deceive, use force, plunder, or
strike his parents.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: role:3
label: criminal transgressor
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He is described as breaking into houses, robbing travelers and temples, committing
murder, eating forbidden food, and doing other horrid acts.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:4
label: violated parents
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The parents resist the loss of their property and may be beaten or subjected
by the tyrannical son.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: role:5
label: inner tyrant
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Love is explicitly described as tyrant, king, and captain within the man.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:5
- id: role:6
label: inner rabble or bodyguard
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The desires swarm, demand gratification, and are described as the bodyguard
of Love.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:5
- id: role:7
label: criminal faction
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The group commits civic crimes and produces a tyrant when numerous and conscious
of its strength.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:8
label: ruler produced by lawless class
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The people choose the one with most tyrant in his soul and create him tyrant.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:9
label: political parent-victim
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The fatherland or motherland is treated analogously to parents subjected
by the tyrant.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: young ravens in a nest
literal_form: young ravens crying in a nest
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:2
label: hive of the soul
literal_form: pleasures swarming in the hive of his soul
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:3
label: bodyguard of love
literal_form: emancipated passions as bodyguard sharing Love's empire
associated_figures:
- fig:3
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:4
label: dream becoming waking reality
literal_form: waking reality of what was formerly dream
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:9
- id: sym:5
label: fatherland or motherland
literal_form: country named as fatherland or motherland
associated_figures:
- fig:6
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: sym:6
label: temple robbery
literal_form: clearing a temple or robbers of temples
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Desires exhaust property and demand satisfaction
summary: The tyrannical man's desires multiply, consume his revenues, and drive
him toward fraud and plunder to obtain money.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Assault on parental order
summary: The tyrannical son seeks to take his parents' property, first by deception
and then by force, and may subject them to a new beloved or companion.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: scene:3
label: Inner tyranny and criminal acts
summary: Love rules within the man, childhood judgments are overthrown, and the
man commits theft, sacrilege, murder, forbidden eating, and other reckless acts.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:4
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:4
label: Criminal class in the city
summary: Tyrannical individuals become mercenaries or commit civic crimes, and when
numerous they select the most tyrannical soul among themselves as ruler.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: scene:5
label: Subjugation of the fatherland or motherland
summary: The tyrant's private violence against parents becomes an analogy for political
domination of the fatherland or motherland under young retainers.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: scene:6
label: Summary of tyrannical character
summary: The tyrannical person is described as master or servant rather than friend,
lacking true freedom and friendship, treacherous, unjust, and the waking reality
of dream.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: inner tyranny of desire
taxonomy_refs:
- duality
basis: The passage presents a structured analogy between the soul ruled by Love
and desires and a city ruled by a tyrant; the inner ruler leads a rabble to lawless
acts.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:7
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: The taxonomy reference to duality is based on the passage's repeated inner-political
analogy, not on a named mythic pair.
- id: motif:2
label: dream transgression made waking life
taxonomy_refs:
- duality
basis: The man becomes in waking reality what he had formerly been only rarely in
dream, and the worst man is summarized as the waking reality of what was dreamed.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:9
confidence: high
cautions: This is a philosophical-psychological pattern rather than a narrative
myth episode.
- id: motif:3
label: violation of parents as sign of tyranny
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The tyrannical son escalates from taking parental property to cheating, plundering,
striking, and subjecting father and mother.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
confidence: high
cautions: No external mythic parent-violence motif is asserted.
- id: motif:4
label: sacrilegious theft under lawless passion
taxonomy_refs:
- sacred_theft
basis: The passage includes robbing or clearing a temple among the tyrannical person's
escalating crimes and also lists robbers of temples among civic evildoers.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The available taxonomy term is broader than the passage's brief mention
of temple robbery; the act is one example within a moral catalogue.
- id: motif:5
label: criminal faction creates tyrant
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: A noxious class and its followers, once numerous and conscious of strength,
choose the person with most tyranny in his soul and create him tyrant.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: This is a political-ethical pattern internal to the passage rather than
an explicit mythic event.
- id: motif:6
label: homeland as parent subjected by ruler
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The tyrant is said to subjugate the fatherland or motherland as he previously
beat father and mother.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: The passage itself marks this as an analogy; no external motherland/fatherland
myth is identified.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: 'The passage explicitly compares tyranny in the soul to tyranny in the State:
Love rules the person as a tyrant rules a city, and the most tyrannical soul becomes
the political tyrant.'
claim_level: same_function
target: tyrannical soul and tyrannical State
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:7
- ev:8
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The comparison is philosophical and analogical within the passage,
not evidence of historical contact or shared mythic origin.
- id: claim:2
claim: The passage compares private violence against father and mother with political
domination of fatherland or motherland.
claim_level: same_function
target: parental household and homeland under tyrannical domination
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:8
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The analogy is internal to the passage and should not be extended to
a broader myth family without additional evidence.
- id: claim:3
claim: The passage compares dream-state lawlessness with waking tyrannical conduct,
making the tyrant the waking form of what was formerly dreamed.
claim_level: same_function
target: dream transgression and waking tyranny
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:9
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The passage supports functional analogy, not a claim about an external
dream-vision tradition.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: 21985-21994
quote_or_summary: Desires grow daily and nightly, make many demands, and the man's
revenues are soon spent, leading to debt and loss of property.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: quote
locator: 21995-22004
quote_or_summary: Desires crowd in the nest like young ravens, while love is described
as their captain and the man seeks someone to defraud or despoil.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: 22005-22020
quote_or_summary: The younger man claims more than father and mother, takes a slice
of their property, and if refused tries cheating, deception, force, and plunder.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: 22021-22038
quote_or_summary: The passage asks whether he would strike his mother or subject
her to a new beloved, and do the same to his old father for a newly found youth;
the answer affirms this.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: 22039-22070
quote_or_summary: After parental property fails, pleasures swarm in the soul; old
judgments are overthrown by passions that are Love's bodyguard. Love is tyrant
and king, leading him to housebreaking, theft, temple robbery, murder, forbidden
food, and other horrid acts, making waking reality what had been dream.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: 22071-22092
quote_or_summary: When few in the state, such men become bodyguards or mercenaries
elsewhere, or at home become thieves, burglars, cut-purses, footpads, temple robbers,
kidnappers, informers, false witnesses, and bribe-takers.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: 22093-22104
quote_or_summary: When the noxious class and their followers become numerous and
aware of their strength, aided by popular infatuation, they choose the one with
most tyrant in his soul and create him tyrant.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: 22105-22115
quote_or_summary: If resisted, the tyrant beats the people as he began by beating
father and mother, and keeps his fatherland or motherland subject to young retainers.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: 22116-22135
quote_or_summary: Such men associate with flatterers or tools, are always masters
or servants and never friends, lack true freedom and friendship, are treacherous
and unjust, and the worst man is the waking reality of what was dreamed.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: high
notes: The passage is explicit about the psychology-polis analogy and about the
sequence of moral decline. Motif-family taxonomy fits are limited because this
is a philosophical argument rather than a mythic narrative.
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: |-
No external comparisons were added beyond analogies directly supported by the supplied passage.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg__l21985-l22135
passage_sha256=3ecfde5e867dba600c408a51c64c1ae86451a9532513bc281e6b6c939877b1f7