batch.motif.greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg-l5259-l5329
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg-l5259-l5329
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
passage_locator:
label: The Republic / THE REPUBLIC / INTRODUCTION AND ANALYSIS.; lines 5259-5329
start: '5259'
end: '5329'
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 analyzes true and false pleasures, contrasting bodily relief
from pain with the purer satisfaction of knowledge and reason. It uses images
of an Olympian contest, movement through lower, middle, and upper regions, shadows,
earthly feeding, a leaky vessel, and numerical distance between king and tyrant
to describe degrees of happiness and illusion.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The just man is described as having twice overthrown the unjust, with a further
trial framed as an Olympian contest preceded by prayer to Zeus.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: A wise man is said to whisper that the pleasures of the wise are true and
pure, while all others are only a shadow.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: Pleasure is contrasted with pain, and a mean state that is neither pleasure
nor pain is examined.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: The passage describes pleasure and pain as motions, and the absence of them
as rest.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: A simile describes upper, middle, and lower regions, where a person moving
from lower to middle mistakenly thinks he has reached the upper world.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: Hunger and thirst are called deficiencies of the body, while ignorance and
folly are called deficiencies of the soul.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: Food satisfies bodily deficiency, while knowledge satisfies deficiency of
the soul.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: The soul is said to have more existence, truth, and knowledge than the body,
and therefore a more real satisfaction and more natural pleasure.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:9
text: Those who feed only on earthly food are described as moving randomly between
middle and lower regions and never entering the true upper world.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:10
text: Sensual pleasure-seekers are likened to fatted beasts and to beings with a
leaky vessel.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:11
text: Human beings are said to fight over shadowy pleasures as the Greeks fought
over the shadow of Helen at Troy.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:12
text: The passionate, ambitious, and covetous elements are said to attain their
natural pleasure only under the guidance of reason.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: obs:13
text: The desires of love and tyranny are described as farthest from law, while
those of the king are nearest to it.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: obs:14
text: The tyrant is described as removed from law and reason and as possessing only
the shadow of a shadow of pleasure.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: obs:15
text: A numerical figure states that the king is 729 times happier than the tyrant,
a number said to be nearly equal to the number of days and nights in a year.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: just man
description: The just man who has twice overthrown the unjust.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: unjust man
description: The unjust man overthrown by the just man.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Zeus
description: The saviour Zeus to whom a prayer is offered in the contest image.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: wise man
description: A wise man who whispers that the pleasures of the wise are true and
pure.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: traveller through regions
description: A person in the simile who moves from lower to middle region and mistakes
the middle for the upper world.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: earthly feeders
description: Those who feast only on earthly food and move randomly between middle
and lower regions.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Greeks at Troy
description: The Greeks said, following Stesichorus, to have fought about the shadow
of Helen at Troy.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Helen’s shadow
description: The shadow of Helen at Troy, used as an image of fighting over unreality.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: passionate element
description: The passionate element of the soul, compared with ambitious and covetous
desires.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: tyrant
description: The tyrant, described as far from law and reason and far inferior in
happiness to the king.
role_refs:
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- ev:13
- ev:14
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: oligarch
description: The oligarch, placed between king and tyrant in the numerical figure.
role_refs:
- role:11
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: fig:12
name_or_label: king
description: The king, whose desires are nearest to law and who is said to be 729
times happier than the tyrant.
role_refs:
- role:12
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- ev:14
roles:
- id: role:1
label: victor in justice contest
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The just man is said to have overthrown the unjust in a contest image.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: defeated opponent
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The unjust man is the one overthrown by the just man.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:3
label: saviour deity invoked
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: A prayer is offered to the saviour Zeus before the contest trial.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:4
label: speaker of wisdom about pleasure
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The wise man whispers a claim about true and pure pleasures.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:5
label: mistaken ascender
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The traveller mistakes movement from lower to middle for arrival in the upper
world.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:6
label: bodily pleasure-seeker
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: Those who feast only on earthly food are contrasted with those who reach
true pleasure.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: role:7
label: fighters over an illusion
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The Greeks are said to have fought over the shadow of Helen at Troy.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: role:8
label: illusory object of conflict
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: Helen’s shadow is the thing over which the Greeks fought in the cited image.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: role:9
label: non-rational soul element
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: The passionate element is said to attain proper pleasure only under reason’s
guidance.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: role:10
label: extreme figure of false pleasure
assigned_to:
- fig:10
basis: The tyrant is farthest from law and reason and has only the shadow of a shadow
of pleasure.
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- ev:13
- id: role:11
label: intermediate political figure
assigned_to:
- fig:11
basis: The oligarch is placed between king and tyrant in the removal formula.
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: role:12
label: figure of ordered happiness
assigned_to:
- fig:12
basis: The king is nearest to law and is said to be much happier than the tyrant.
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- ev:14
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: Olympian contest
literal_form: Athletic contest or wrestling fall
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: shadow pleasures
literal_form: Shadow
associated_figures:
- fig:4
- fig:8
- fig:10
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:10
- ev:13
- id: sym:3
label: upper, middle, and lower regions
literal_form: Three vertical regions in nature
associated_figures:
- fig:5
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs:
- ascent
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:8
- id: sym:4
label: earthly food
literal_form: Food eaten by those who do not taste true pleasure
associated_figures:
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: sym:5
label: leaky vessel
literal_form: Vessel that cannot be filled
associated_figures:
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: sym:6
label: Helen’s shadow at Troy
literal_form: Shadow of Helen
associated_figures:
- fig:7
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: sym:7
label: law and reason
literal_form: Law and reason as guiding measures
associated_figures:
- fig:9
- fig:10
- fig:12
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:13
- id: sym:8
label: number 729
literal_form: 729, computed from 3 x 3 and cubing the number
associated_figures:
- fig:10
- fig:11
- fig:12
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Contest between just and unjust
summary: The passage frames the argument as a further fall in an Olympian contest
where the just man has already defeated the unjust and a prayer is offered to
Zeus.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Inquiry into pleasure and pain
summary: The passage examines pleasure, pain, rest, and the appearance that cessation
of pain may be called pleasure.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: scene:3
label: Simile of vertical regions
summary: A person moving between lower, middle, and upper regions mistakes relative
ascent for arrival at the true upper world.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:4
label: Bodily and psychic satisfaction
summary: The passage contrasts bodily hunger and thirst satisfied by food with the
soul’s ignorance and folly satisfied by knowledge.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:4
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: scene:5
label: Conflict over shadows
summary: People who do not know truth are said to desire and fight over shadowy
pleasures, like the Greeks fighting over the shadow of Helen at Troy.
figure_refs:
- fig:7
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: scene:6
label: Hierarchy of soul and rulers
summary: The passionate, ambitious, and covetous elements are contrasted with reason,
and king, oligarch, and tyrant are ranked by distance from law and happiness.
figure_refs:
- fig:9
- fig:10
- fig:11
- fig:12
symbol_refs:
- sym:7
- sym:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:13
- ev:14
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: ascent from lower to upper realm as image of truer knowledge
taxonomy_refs:
- ascent
- wisdom
basis: The vertical-region simile depicts movement from lower to middle and the
true upper world as a way to distinguish apparent from true pleasure and knowledge.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:8
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage uses the ascent spatially and philosophically, not as a narrated
mythic journey.
- id: motif:2
label: shadow or illusion mistaken for reality
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage repeatedly calls inferior pleasures shadows and compares conflict
over them to Greeks fighting over Helen’s shadow.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:10
- ev:13
confidence: high
cautions: No supplied taxonomy reference directly names a shadow or illusion motif.
- id: motif:3
label: leaky vessel of insatiable desire
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Those ruled by gluttony and sensuality are said not to be filled with true
being and to have a leaky vessel.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage itself notes Gorgias, but no further details from that text
are provided here.
- id: motif:4
label: wise rule of reason over desire
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The passage states that the non-rational elements attain their natural pleasure
only under the guidance of reason, while tyrannical desire is farthest from law.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:13
confidence: high
cautions: This is a philosophical pattern rather than a narrative mythic episode.
- id: motif:5
label: numerical measure of moral distance
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage gives a figure in which the king is 729 times happier than the
tyrant and relates the number to days and nights in a year.
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
confidence: medium
cautions: The numeric symbolism is explicitly figurative, but its broader symbolic
interpretation is not developed within the passage.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage explicitly likens people fighting over illusory pleasures to
the Greeks fighting over the shadow of Helen at Troy, attributed to Stesichorus.
claim_level: same_function
target: Stesichorus’ story of the Greeks fighting over Helen’s shadow at Troy
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage gives only a brief allusion and does not provide the full
Stesichorean narrative.
- id: claim:2
claim: The leaky vessel image is explicitly associated in the passage with Gorgias
and functions as an image of unsatisfied desire.
claim_level: same_function
target: Gorgias leaky vessel image
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage names Gorgias parenthetically but does not quote or summarize
the external passage.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: quote
locator: lines 5259-5262
quote_or_summary: "“Twice has the just man overthrown the unjust—once more, as in
an Olympian contest, first offering up a prayer to the saviour Zeus...”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
- id: ev:2
type: quote
locator: lines 5262-5264
quote_or_summary: "“A wise man whispers to me that the pleasures of the wise are
true and pure; all others are a shadow only.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 5264-5271
quote_or_summary: The passage asks whether pleasure is opposed to pain and whether
there is a mean state that is neither, giving examples of sickness, health, pain,
pleasure, and rest.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:4
type: quote
locator: lines 5271-5275
quote_or_summary: "“pleasure and pain are motions, and the absence of them is rest”
and the apparent contradiction is called “witchery of the senses.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 5280-5287
quote_or_summary: A simile presents upper, middle, and lower regions; one moving
from lower to middle imagines he is going up into the upper world, through ignorance
of the true regions.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:6
type: quote
locator: lines 5290-5294
quote_or_summary: "“hunger and thirst are inanitions of the body, ignorance and
folly of the soul; and food is the satisfaction of the one, knowledge of the other.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 5294-5300
quote_or_summary: The invariable and immortal are said to have more real existence
than the variable and mortal; the soul has more existence, truth, and knowledge
than the body.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:8
type: quote
locator: lines 5300-5304
quote_or_summary: "“Those who feast only on earthly food, are always going at random
up to the middle and down again; but they never pass into the true upper world...”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
- id: ev:9
type: quote
locator: lines 5304-5308
quote_or_summary: "“They are like fatted beasts... for they are not filled with
true being, and their vessel is leaky (Gorgias).”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
- id: ev:10
type: quote
locator: lines 5308-5313
quote_or_summary: "“men go fighting about them, as Stesichorus says that the Greeks
fought about the shadow of Helen at Troy, because they know not the truth.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
- id: ev:11
type: summary
locator: lines 5314-5320
quote_or_summary: The passage says the passionate, ambitious, and covetous elements
have inferior satisfaction unless guided by reason, and then they attain their
natural pleasure.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:12
type: quote
locator: lines 5320-5323
quote_or_summary: "“The desires of love and tyranny are the farthest from law, and
those of the king are nearest to it.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
- id: ev:13
type: summary
locator: lines 5323-5327
quote_or_summary: The tyrant is said to have run away from law and reason; he is
third removed from the oligarch and has only the shadow of a shadow of pleasure.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:14
type: quote
locator: lines 5327-5329
quote_or_summary: "“the king is 729 times more happy than the tyrant” and this is
“NEARLY equal to the number of days and nights in a year.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: Extraction is based only on the supplied passage. Motif candidates are mostly
philosophical-symbolic rather than narrative myth episodes.
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 taxonomy IDs beyond the supplied motif family and symbol reference lists were added.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg__l5259-l5329
passage_sha256=ebbbc1cd51a469f57f1a25cda7561006e9541b4e0646a226981b3a4d503dbb12