batch.motif.greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg-l7148-l7231
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg-l7148-l7231
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
passage_locator:
label: The Republic / THE REPUBLIC / INTRODUCTION AND ANALYSIS.; lines 7148-7231
start: '7148'
end: '7231'
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 reflects on inherited illness, marriage, youthful passions,
moral restraint, and Plato's view that family attachments can conflict with higher
public or ideal aims.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The passage describes a family whose members die one by one from an inherited
malady, with parents possibly surviving their children.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The passage recalls an earlier wedding scene in which a bride and bridegroom
joined hands amid the rejoicing of friends and acquaintances.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: Dr. Combe is reported to have avoided marriage because he believed himself
subject to hereditary consumption.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: A friend of the writer wore a black ribbon on his wrist to remind himself
not to yield to affection because of his liability to insanity; he died unmarried
in a lunatic asylum.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: The passage argues that preventing certain marriages would be desirable if
it could be done without violating feeling or propriety.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: The passage states that legal regulation of such marriages would be difficult
because the relevant cases and balances of qualities are uncertain.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: The passage describes youthful passions as first rising, difficult to regulate,
stimulated by imagination, and often left to chance or mystery.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: Those responsible for youth are said to be able to mitigate harm through watchfulness,
affection, exemplary lives, hints, and general admonitions.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:9
text: The passage warns that a counsellor may reveal a secret too early, gain excessive
power over another, or fix a passing evil impression by demanding confession.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:10
text: The passage says Plato is not wrong in asserting that family attachments may
interfere with higher aims.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:11
text: The passage lists family cares, money needs, caste exclusiveness, pride of
birth or wealth, and family life as forces that can divert people from ideal or
heroic pursuits.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:12
text: The passage also acknowledges gentle influences of home, development of affections,
social amenities, and devotion among family members.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: family affected by inherited malady
description: A family whose members die one by one from an inherited disease, while
the parents may survive.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: bride and bridegroom
description: A couple who joined hands at a wedding years before the later family
suffering is imagined.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Dr. Combe
description: A man said to have resisted marriage because he knew he was subject
to hereditary consumption.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: friend wearing a black ribbon
description: A friend of the writer who wore a black ribbon as a reminder to restrain
affection because of liability to insanity, and who died unmarried in a lunatic
asylum.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: youth
description: Young people described as experiencing rising passions that are hard
to regulate and affected by imagination.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: those charged with youth
description: Persons responsible for guiding youth through watchfulness, affection,
example, hints, and admonitions.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: counsellor of another
description: A potential adviser who risks revealing another's secret prematurely
or gaining excessive power.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Plato
description: The philosopher whose assertion about family attachments and higher
aims is discussed.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
roles:
- id: role:1
label: bearers of inherited suffering
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The family is described as dying one by one under an inherited malady.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: marriage partners
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The bride and bridegroom are described joining hands at a wedding.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:3
label: self-restraining abstainer from marriage
assigned_to:
- fig:3
- fig:4
basis: Both figures are presented as avoiding or restraining marriage or affection
because of hereditary or mental illness.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: role:4
label: young persons subject to passions
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Youth are described in connection with the first rising flood of passions
and difficulty of regulation.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:5
label: guide or counsellor
assigned_to:
- fig:6
- fig:7
basis: The passage describes people charged with youth and a counsellor who may
advise another.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:6
label: philosopher critic of family attachments
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: Plato is cited as asserting that family attachments may interfere with higher
aims.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: joined hands
literal_form: gesture of a bride and bridegroom joining hands
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: grave
literal_form: grave into which family members are said to drop one by one
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:3
label: black ribbon
literal_form: black ribbon worn on the wrist as a reminder of self-restraint
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Inherited malady viewed against a past wedding
summary: A family suffers successive deaths from inherited disease, prompting reflection
on the earlier wedding of the parents.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Examples of abstaining from marriage
summary: Dr. Combe and another man are presented as cases of people who restrained
marriage or affection because of known hereditary or mental conditions.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Guidance of youthful passions
summary: Youthful passions are described as powerful and poorly managed, while guardians
and counsellors are urged to guide with restraint and caution.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: scene:4
label: Family attachment and higher aims
summary: The passage discusses Plato's claim that family attachments may obstruct
public, ideal, or heroic purposes, while also acknowledging the good influences
of home.
figure_refs:
- fig:8
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Marriage restrained by inherited danger
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage repeatedly presents marriage as morally problematic when hereditary
disease or insanity may bring suffering to descendants.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
confidence: high
cautions: This is a social and ethical pattern in commentary, not a mythic narrative
episode.
- id: motif:2
label: Reason and self-restraint against passion
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The passage contrasts sentimental or impulsive attachment with reason, duty,
watchfulness, and self-restraint.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:6
- ev:7
confidence: medium
cautions: The taxonomy reference is broad; the passage treats moral education rather
than a personified wisdom figure or mythic wisdom quest.
- id: motif:3
label: Family bonds competing with public or heroic purpose
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage states that family attachments can interfere with higher aims
and can divert people from the ideal or heroic.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
confidence: high
cautions: The passage discusses the motif analytically rather than narrating a mythic
conflict.
- id: motif:4
label: Dangerous knowledge disclosed by a counsellor
taxonomy_refs:
- forbidden_knowledge
basis: The passage warns that a counsellor may reveal a secret prematurely and thereby
harm or dominate another person.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: low
cautions: The passage does not frame the secret as sacred or explicitly forbidden;
the taxonomy link is only a cautious broad analogy.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage explicitly compares the tendency of family life to divert people
from ideal or heroic pursuits in the author's own age with the same tendency in
Plato's age.
claim_level: same_function
target: family attachments in Plato's age and in the writer's own age
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
counter_evidence_refs:
- ev:9
confidence: medium
limitations: This is an internal historical comparison made by the commentator,
not evidence of a shared mythic tradition or historical transmission.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 7148-7156
quote_or_summary: A family dies one by one from an inherited malady; the passage
recalls a wedding years earlier where bride and bridegroom joined hands amid rejoicing.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 7156-7164
quote_or_summary: The passage invokes reason against sentimentalism and reports
that Dr. Combe resisted marriage because of hereditary consumption.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 7164-7171
quote_or_summary: A friend wore a black ribbon on his wrist to remind himself not
to yield to affection because of liability to insanity; he died unmarried in an
asylum.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 7171-7182
quote_or_summary: The passage argues that some marriages should be prevented if
possible and imagines such prohibition protected by natural horror, religion,
or superstitious awe around health practices.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 7182-7195
quote_or_summary: The passage says new prohibitions cannot easily be stamped with
religion, law cannot regulate private fancies, and uncertain cases make enforcement
impracticable.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 7204-7218
quote_or_summary: The first rising flood of youthful passions is difficult to regulate
and is stimulated by imagination; those charged with youth may mitigate harm through
watchfulness, affection, example, hints, and admonitions.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 7218-7224
quote_or_summary: The passage urges reticence and self-restraint in counsel, warning
against premature disclosure, undue power, and demanding confession of evil.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 7225-7231
quote_or_summary: The passage states that Plato is not wrong that family attachments
may interfere with higher aims and lists family cares, wealth, caste, birth, and
family life as diverting people from the ideal or heroic.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 7231-7231
quote_or_summary: The passage acknowledges the gentle influences of home, family
affection, social amenities, and devotion among family members, while saying Plato
presents the reverse side.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The passage is philosophical commentary rather than mythic narrative, so
literal extraction is strong but motif taxonomy alignment is limited and requires
review.
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 or taxonomy identifiers were added beyond those available in the request and supported cautiously by the passage.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg__l7148-l7231
passage_sha256=cc46becbd42f23d87a6bc0db915711e191edc0ff6f438ecd64bf06c0c64261db