batch.motif.greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg-l23819-l23921
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg-l23819-l23921
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
passage_locator:
label: BOOK VII. / BOOK VIII. / BOOK IX. / BOOK X.; lines 23819-23921
start: '23819'
end: '23921'
translation: The Republic
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: Socrates argues to Glaucon that imitative poetry resembles painting because
it produces images far from truth and appeals to an inferior part of the soul.
He says poetry strengthens pity, laughter, lust, anger, pain, and pleasure, thereby
weakening reason. He concludes that only hymns to the gods and praises of famous
men should be admitted into the well-ordered State; otherwise pleasure and pain,
rather than law and reason, will rule.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The speaker compares the imitative poet to a painter because both produce
creations with an inferior degree of truth.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The speaker says the imitative poet should be refused admission into a well-ordered
State because he awakens, nourishes, and strengthens feelings while impairing
reason.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: The speaker uses an analogy between a city ruled by evil persons and a soul
in which the imitative poet implants an evil constitution.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The passage describes listeners responding sympathetically to Homer or tragedians
when a pitiful hero laments, weeps, and strikes his breast.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: The speaker contrasts people’s enjoyment of represented lamentation with their
wish to be quiet and patient when experiencing their own sorrow.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: The speaker says sorrow seen in others can strengthen a corresponding feeling
in the spectator, making it harder to repress in the spectator’s own misfortunes.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: The speaker applies the same pattern to laughter, saying comic performances
can release a faculty formerly restrained by reason.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: The speaker extends the claim to lust, anger, desire, pain, and pleasure,
saying poetry feeds and waters passions rather than drying them up.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:9
text: The speaker acknowledges Homer as the greatest poet and first of tragedy writers
while denying that his poetry should regulate life in the State.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:10
text: The speaker says that hymns to the gods and praises of famous men are the
only poetry that should be admitted into the State.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:11
text: The speaker warns that if the honeyed muse enters in epic or lyric verse,
pleasure and pain will rule the State instead of law and reason.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Socrates / first-person speaker
description: The speaker who argues about poetry, the soul, and the State, and addresses
Glaucon.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:8
- ev:10
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Glaucon
description: The addressed interlocutor who agrees with the speaker’s claims.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: imitative poet
description: A maker of images, compared to the painter, said to be far removed
from truth and to affect the inferior part of the soul.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: painter
description: A comparator figure whose creations are said to have an inferior degree
of truth.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Homer
description: Named poet whose eulogists call him the educator of Hellas; the speaker
calls him the greatest of poets and first of tragedy writers.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:8
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: tragedians
description: Poets whose representations include a pitiful hero lamenting and weeping.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: pitiful hero
description: A represented figure who gives a long sorrowful speech, weeps, and
strikes his breast.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: spectator / listener
description: A person who sympathizes with represented sorrow or is amused by comic
unseemliness.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: eulogists of Homer
description: People who declare Homer to be the educator of Hellas and useful for
education and ordering human things.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: honeyed muse
description: A personified image for alluring poetry in epic or lyric verse.
role_refs:
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
roles:
- id: role:1
label: philosophical examiner of poetry
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The speaker advances an argument judging poetry’s effects on soul and State.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:7
- ev:10
- id: role:2
label: assenting interlocutor
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Glaucon is addressed and responds affirmatively to the argument.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:3
label: image-maker harmful to reason
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The imitative poet is described as a manufacturer of images who strengthens
feelings and impairs reason.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:4
label: analogue for imitation
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The painter is used as the model for comparing poetry’s inferior truth-status.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:5
label: canonical poet under debate
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Homer is cited as admired by eulogists and acknowledged as the greatest poet,
but not allowed to regulate life in the State.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:6
label: tragic representers of lamentation
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The tragedians are said to represent pitiful heroes lamenting.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:7
label: lamenting represented sufferer
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The hero is described as sorrowful, weeping, and striking his breast.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:8
label: emotionally affected audience
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: The listener or spectator delights in sympathy, pity, laughter, and emotional
release.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:9
label: advocates of Homeric education
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: They declare Homer to be educator of Hellas and profitable for education
and ordering human things.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:10
label: personification of alluring poetry
assigned_to:
- fig:10
basis: The honeyed muse is described as entering through epic or lyric verse and
displacing law and reason with pleasure and pain.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: manufacturer of images
literal_form: image-making as a description of imitative poetry
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:2
label: soul as constitution or city
literal_form: comparison between a city with evil rulers and a soul with an evil
constitution
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:3
label: weeping and breast-smiting
literal_form: the pitiful hero weeps and smites his breast
associated_figures:
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:4
label: honeyed muse
literal_form: personified alluring muse of epic or lyric poetry
associated_figures:
- fig:10
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Comparison of poet and painter
summary: The speaker compares the imitative poet with the painter and argues that
imitative poetry is far from truth and harmful to the rational order of the soul
and State.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Audience sympathy for tragic lament
summary: The speaker describes people listening to Homer or tragedians and taking
pleasure in pity for a hero who laments, weeps, and strikes his breast.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:3
label: Comic release and emotional contagion
summary: The speaker says comic laughter and other affections can be released by
poetry or performance after having been restrained by reason.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:8
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: scene:4
label: Restriction of poetry in the State
summary: The speaker responds to claims about Homer’s educational authority by allowing
only hymns to the gods and praises of famous men into the State, warning that
the honeyed muse would make pleasure and pain rule instead of law and reason.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:5
- fig:9
- fig:10
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: reason governing passion
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
- duality
basis: The passage repeatedly opposes law and reason to pity, laughter, lust, anger,
pain, and pleasure, and says passions should be controlled for happiness and virtue.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:10
confidence: medium
cautions: This is a philosophical-ethical pattern rather than a narrative mythic
motif.
- id: motif:2
label: dangerous image-maker far from truth
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The imitative poet is described as a manufacturer of images far removed from
truth whose work impairs reason.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage presents an argument about art and knowledge, not a mythic
tale.
- id: motif:3
label: purification of the civic order by excluding harmful performance
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The speaker argues that imitative poetry should be refused admission to the
well-ordered State, while only hymns to the gods and praises of famous men should
be admitted.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:9
- ev:10
confidence: medium
cautions: No supplied taxonomy family directly matches this civic-literary restriction.
- id: motif:4
label: emotional contagion through represented suffering
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage says spectators’ pity for another’s sorrow strengthens their
own sorrow and makes it harder to repress in personal misfortune.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: This is a psychological pattern stated within philosophical dialogue,
not an explicit mythological motif.
comparison_claims: []
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: 23819-23828
quote_or_summary: 'The imitative poet is compared to the painter: both are linked
with inferior truth, and the poet is said to strengthen feelings while impairing
reason.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 23828-23835
quote_or_summary: The speaker compares a city where evil people rule and good people
are displaced to the soul in which the imitative poet implants an evil constitution;
the poet is called a manufacturer of images far from truth.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: 23843-23851
quote_or_summary: Listeners to Homer or tragedians are described as taking pleasure
in sympathy when a pitiful hero laments, weeps, and strikes his breast.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: 23855-23862
quote_or_summary: The speaker contrasts public enjoyment of tragic lament with the
wish to be quiet and patient during one’s own sorrow.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: 23870-23887
quote_or_summary: The speaker says the desire to relieve sorrow by lamentation is
satisfied by poetry, and that sorrow gathered from others’ misfortunes becomes
harder to repress in one’s own misfortunes.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: 23891-23903
quote_or_summary: 'The speaker says the same pattern holds for ridicule: laughter
restrained by reason is released at comedy and may lead the spectator to comic
behavior at home.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: 23907-23914
quote_or_summary: The speaker extends the claim to lust, anger, desire, pain, and
pleasure, saying poetry feeds and waters passions rather than drying them up,
letting them rule when they ought to be controlled.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: 23918-23930
quote_or_summary: The speaker addresses Glaucon about eulogists who call Homer the
educator of Hellas and useful for ordering human life; he honors Homer while refusing
to make him a guide for the State.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: quote
locator: 23930-23934
quote_or_summary: "“hymns to the gods and praises of famous men are the only poetry
which ought to be admitted into our State”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: 23934-23921
quote_or_summary: The speaker warns that if the honeyed muse enters in epic or lyric
verse, pleasure and pain rather than law and reason will rule the State.
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 philosophical rather than mythic narrative; figures and motifs
are therefore mostly argumentative and symbolic patterns rather than mythological
episodes. No comparison claims were added because the passage itself does not
support a cross-traditional 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: |-
Line locators within the supplied passage are approximate subdivisions of the provided stable range; source metadata identifies the text as public domain.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg__l23819-l23921
passage_sha256=2185f48f26a6e7e8c898b2d1d866cbe92e18bb6bff8dd27cc2c4c47c25bc6b18