batch.motif.greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg-l5618-l5704
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg-l5618-l5704
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
passage_locator:
label: The Republic / THE REPUBLIC / INTRODUCTION AND ANALYSIS.; lines 5618-5704
start: '5618'
end: '5704'
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 poetry inflames emotion and should be excluded
from the ideal state except for hymns to gods and praises of famous men; it frames
poetry and philosophy as ancient rivals, permits poetry to defend herself if she
can prove usefulness, and then turns to an argument for the immortality and simplicity
of the soul, ending with an image of the soul like the sea-god Glaucus, encrusted
by worldly accretions.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Poetry is said to excite feelings injuriously by encouraging sympathetic weeping
and laughter at behavior one would reject in oneself.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: obs:2
text: Poetry is described as feeding and watering passions and desires, letting
them rule instead of ruling them.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:3
text: The state is said to permit only hymns to the Gods and praises of famous men,
with law and reason rather than pleasure and pain as rulers.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:4
text: Poetry is personified as a female figure who might charge the speakers with
discourtesy and may return only if she makes a defence of herself.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:5
text: The passage names an ancient quarrel between poetry and philosophy and cites
hostile poetic sayings about philosophers.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:6
text: The soul is argued to be immortal because neither its own corruptions nor
bodily evils are said to destroy it.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: obs:7
text: Souls are said always to exist in the same number, neither diminishing nor
increasing.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:8
text: The soul is compared to the sea-god Glaucus, bruised and maimed in the sea
which is the world and covered with shells and stones from earthly entertainments.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Poetry
description: Personified as a female figure with charms, accused of exciting passions,
expelled, and invited to defend herself if she can show usefulness as well as
delight.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:5
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Homer
description: Named as a great poet and tragedian, and described by his encomiasts
as the educator of Hellas.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Gods
description: Named as the proper subjects of hymns allowed in the state.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Famous men
description: Named as the proper subjects of praise allowed in the state.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Philosophy
description: Set against poetry in an ancient quarrel and associated with rational
reflection on the soul and the divine, immortal, and eternal.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:11
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Philosophers
description: Mentioned in hostile poetic sayings as those ready to circumvent Zeus
and as paupers.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Zeus
description: Mentioned in a cited poetic saying about philosophers ready to circumvent
Zeus.
role_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Soul
description: Described as immortal, everlasting, not destroyed by internal or external
evil, and visible in the present condition as disfigured by worldly accretions.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:10
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Body
description: Contrasted with the soul and said to be destroyed by disease or by
badness communicated through food, while bodily evil cannot destroy the soul.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Sea-god Glaucus
description: Used as an image for the soul in its present condition, bruised, maimed,
and covered with shells and stones.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
roles:
- id: role:1
label: passion-exciting art
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Poetry is said to feed and water passions and desires and let them rule.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:2
label: banished but conditionally returnable figure
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Poetry is expelled, apologized to, and allowed to return only if she can
make a defence of herself.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:3
label: claimed educator of Hellas
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Homer’s encomiasts affirm that he is the educator of Hellas.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:4
label: approved subject of civic poetry
assigned_to:
- fig:3
- fig:4
basis: The only permitted poetry is hymns to the Gods and praises of famous men.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:5
label: rational rival to poetry
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Philosophy is placed in an ancient quarrel with poetry and is associated
with reasoned contemplation of the soul.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:11
- id: role:6
label: targets of poetic ridicule
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: Poetic sayings cited in the passage deride philosophers.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:7
label: immortal subject of moral concern
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: The soul is argued to be immortal and tied to the good or evil at stake in
human life.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: role:8
label: mortal counterpart contrasted with soul
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: The body is described as destructible by bodily disease or communicated badness,
unlike the soul.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:9
label: mythic image of the soul’s obscured condition
assigned_to:
- fig:10
basis: Glaucus is used as the likeness for the soul in its worldly, encrusted condition.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: sea as world
literal_form: the sea which is the world
associated_figures:
- fig:8
- fig:10
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: sym:2
label: shells and stones as accretions
literal_form: shells and stones incrusted upon the soul from the entertainments
of earth
associated_figures:
- fig:8
- fig:10
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: sym:3
label: light of reason
literal_form: the light of reason by which the soul must be viewed
associated_figures:
- fig:5
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: sym:4
label: feeding and watering passions
literal_form: poetry feeds and waters the passions and desires
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Emotional contagion through poetry
summary: The passage describes hearers who weep at heroic suffering or laugh at
comic buffoonery and are thereby drawn into similar emotional habits in their
own lives.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:2
label: Civic restriction and apology to poetry
summary: Poetry is expelled from the state except for hymns and praises, then addressed
as a charming but dangerous beloved who may return only if she proves herself
useful.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:3
label: Ancient quarrel of poetry and philosophy
summary: The passage states that poetry and philosophy have an ancient quarrel and
cites hostile poetic sayings about philosophers and Zeus.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: scene:4
label: Argument for the immortal soul
summary: The passage argues that every thing has its own good and evil, that injustice
and related corruptions do not destroy the soul as disease destroys the body,
and that the soul must therefore be immortal and everlasting.
figure_refs:
- fig:8
- fig:9
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: scene:5
label: Glaucus image of the worldly soul
summary: The soul is to be viewed by reason and philosophy, but in its present condition
is likened to Glaucus, disfigured in the worldly sea and covered with shells and
stones.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
- fig:8
- fig:10
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Wisdom and reason governing desire
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The passage contrasts rule by law and reason with rule by pleasure, pain,
passions, and desires, and links philosophy with contemplation of the divine and
eternal.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:11
confidence: high
cautions: This is a philosophical ethical pattern rather than a narrative myth episode.
- id: motif:2
label: Duality of body and immortal soul
taxonomy_refs:
- duality
basis: The passage distinguishes body and soul, treating bodily destruction as unlike
the soul’s condition and arguing that the soul is immortal and everlasting.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
confidence: high
cautions: The passage is argumentative and metaphysical; it does not narrate a mythic
separation event.
- id: motif:3
label: Obscured divine or immortal nature under worldly accretions
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The soul is compared to Glaucus, a sea-god whose true form is obscured by
bruising, maiming, shells, and stones in the worldly sea.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
confidence: medium
cautions: The motif label generalizes from a single metaphor in the passage; no
taxonomy reference is supplied beyond the literal water symbol.
- id: motif:4
label: Rivalry of poetry and philosophy
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage explicitly names an ancient quarrel between poetry and philosophy
and frames poetry as charming but potentially dangerous unless subordinated to
rational usefulness.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: This is a literary-philosophical rivalry pattern, not a mythic episode
in the narrow sense.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage explicitly compares its criticism of poetry with an older literary
pattern, naming an ancient quarrel between poetry and philosophy and citing poetic
sayings as traces of that quarrel.
claim_level: same_function
target: ancient quarrel between poetry and philosophy in poets' writings
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage supports only an internal literary comparison; it does
not establish a broader historical origin or cross-cultural connection.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: quote
locator: lines 5618-5631
quote_or_summary: Poetry has the power of “injuriously exciting the feelings,” as
when hearers sympathize with a hero’s extended lament.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 5631-5638
quote_or_summary: The passage says that weeping at others’ sorrows leads to weeping
at one’s own, and stage laughter at buffoonery can make one a buffoon at home.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: quote
locator: lines 5638-5641
quote_or_summary: "“Poetry feeds and waters the passions and desires; she lets them
rule instead of ruling them.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 5641-5649
quote_or_summary: Homer is called by supporters the educator of Hellas, but the
state will prohibit poetry beyond hymns to the Gods and praises of famous men;
law and reason, not pleasure and pain, are to rule.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 5650-5667
quote_or_summary: The speakers apologize to personified poetry, acknowledge her
charms, and allow her to return only if she can defend herself as useful as well
as delightful.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: quote
locator: lines 5652-5659
quote_or_summary: There is “an ancient quarrel between poetry and philosophy,” with
cited poetic sayings about a she-dog, philosophers circumventing Zeus, and philosophers
as paupers.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 5674-5683
quote_or_summary: The passage argues that all things have inherent good and evil;
the soul’s corruptions include injustice, intemperance, and cowardice, but these
do not destroy it as disease destroys the body.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 5683-5693
quote_or_summary: The body and soul are distinguished; bodily evils such as disease
or violence cannot destroy the soul unless they make it unholy and unjust, which
is denied.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 5694-5700
quote_or_summary: Because neither internal nor external evil destroys the soul,
it is called immortal and everlasting; souls are said to remain the same in number,
neither diminishing nor increasing.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:10
type: quote
locator: lines 5700-5704
quote_or_summary: The soul is seen “like the sea-god Glaucus,” bruised in “the sea
which is the world,” and covered with shells and stones.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used.
- id: ev:11
type: summary
locator: lines 5698-5704
quote_or_summary: The soul should be viewed by the light of reason, pure as at birth,
or as reflected in philosophy when conversing with the divine, immortal, and eternal.
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: medium
notes: Literal extraction is strong because the passage is explicit. Motif labels
are cautious because the passage is philosophical analysis with limited narrative
action.
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. Taxonomy references were limited to available motif families and symbols supported by the passage.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg__l5618-l5704
passage_sha256=a9e74ebe8bb83ff71a6c495c0501636ba1086297cf1174c2c516f4338e089244