batch.motif.greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg-l8057-l8096
---
record_id: batch.motif.greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg-l8057-l8096
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
passage_locator:
label: The Republic / THE REPUBLIC / INTRODUCTION AND ANALYSIS.; lines 8057-8096
start: '8057'
end: '8096'
translation: The Republic
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: "“Friends have all things in common.”"
summary: The passage describes a highest political form in which women, children,
property, praise, blame, joy, and sorrow are held in common, making the city as
unified as possible. It then discusses the Statesman in relation to the Republic
and Laws, noting its connection of politics with dialectic, its treatment of rule
by law or by a person, and its myth of a former human existence that raises but
does not answer the question of primitive innocence versus civilized art, science,
and moral distinction.
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The first and highest form of state is described as one in which friends have
all things in common.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The described communion includes women, children, and property, and excludes
private and individual life as far as possible.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: The citizens are said to express praise and blame and feel joy and sorrow
on the same occasions.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:4
text: The laws are said to unite the city to the utmost.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:5
text: A state inhabited by Gods or sons of Gods is said to make its inhabitants
blessed.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:6
text: The described state is presented as the pattern toward which other states
should look and cling.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:7
text: The state under discussion is said, when created, to be nearest to immortality
and unity in the next degree.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:8
text: The Statesman is described as stylistically akin to the Laws and idealistically
resembling the Republic.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:9
text: In both the Republic and the Statesman, politics and dialectic are described
as closely connected.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:10
text: The Statesman considers the comparative advantages of rule by law and rule
by a person, with a decision in favor of a person according to the passage.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:11
text: The passage notes that a person may rule by law and law may function as the
living voice of the legislator.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:12
text: The Statesman contains a myth describing a former, not future, existence of
mankind.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:13
text: The myth-related question contrasts a state of innocence with a condition
like the present one, possessing art and science and distinguishing good from
evil.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:14
text: The passage says no answer is given to the question of the comparative happiness
of civilized and primitive life.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: first and highest form of the state
description: A political form in which communal possession and shared civic feeling
prevail and private individuality is banished as far as possible.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Gods or sons of Gods
description: Possible inhabitants of the ideal state, described as blessed if dwelling
there.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: state now in hand
description: A state to be created, said to be nearest to immortality and unity
in the next degree.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: mankind in the Statesman myth
description: Humanity in a mythic former existence contrasted with a present-like
condition of art, science, and moral distinction.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: legislator
description: A lawgiver whose living voice is used as an image for law properly
applied.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
roles:
- id: role:1
label: communal ideal polity
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The state is defined by common possession, shared responses, and the maximal
unity of the city.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:2
label: blessed divine inhabitants
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The passage says Gods or sons of Gods inhabiting such a state would be blessed.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:3
label: secondary model state
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The state now in hand is described as nearest to immortality and unity in
the next degree.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:4
label: mythic former humanity
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The Statesman myth is said to describe a former existence of mankind.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:5
label: source of law’s living voice
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The passage says law may be applied as the living voice of the legislator.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
symbols: []
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Communal ideal state
summary: The passage imagines the highest state as one where private life is banished,
women, children, and property are common, civic emotions and judgments are shared,
and the laws unite the city.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Secondary state near immortality and unity
summary: The state under current discussion is placed below the highest model but
described as nearest to immortality and unity in the next degree.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Political method and rule in the Statesman
summary: The Statesman is presented as linking politics and dialectic and as considering
rule by law and by a person.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:4
label: Former existence and the question of innocence
summary: The Statesman is said to include a myth of mankind’s former existence and
to raise an unanswered comparison between a state of innocence and a condition
marked by art, science, and knowledge of good and evil.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Communal unity as ideal polity
taxonomy_refs:
- duality
basis: The highest state is defined by the removal of private individuality and
by common property, family relations, emotional responses, and civic judgment,
producing maximal unity.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
confidence: medium
cautions: The taxonomy reference to duality is indirect, based on the contrast between
private individuality and civic commonality; the passage is political-philosophical
rather than mythic narrative.
- id: motif:2
label: Divine or semi-divine blessed inhabitants of an ideal state
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage says that if Gods or sons of Gods inhabit such a state, the state
will make them blessed.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
confidence: medium
cautions: The divine reference is brief and hypothetical, not a developed mythic
episode.
- id: motif:3
label: Immortality and unity of the created state
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The state now in hand is said, when created, to be nearest to immortality
and unity in the next degree.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
confidence: medium
cautions: Immortality is applied to the state as a political quality; the passage
does not describe literal deathlessness of a figure.
- id: motif:4
label: Primitive innocence contrasted with civilized knowledge
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
- duality
basis: The Statesman myth contrasts a state of innocence with a state like the present,
possessing art and science and distinguishing good from evil.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: The passage reports the question without narrating the myth itself and
states that no answer is given.
- id: motif:5
label: Former existence of mankind
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The Statesman is said to contain a myth describing a former, not future,
existence of mankind.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: Only the analytical description of the myth is included, not the mythic
narrative details.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage states that the Statesman, like the Republic, contains a myth,
but distinguishes the Statesman’s myth as concerning a former rather than future
existence of mankind.
claim_level: same_function
target: Republic mythic material compared with Statesman mythic material
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The passage gives only a summary comparison and does not provide the
full content of either myth.
- id: claim:2
claim: The passage states that both the Republic and the Statesman maintain a close
connection between politics and dialectic.
claim_level: same_function
target: Republic and Statesman political-dialectical method
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: This is a thematic-methodological comparison, not a claim of shared
mythic narrative.
- id: claim:3
claim: The passage compares the Statesman with the Laws and Republic, saying it
is stylistically closer to the Laws while resembling the Republic in idealism.
claim_level: same_function
target: Statesman in relation to Laws and Republic
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The claim is based on the passage’s literary analysis; the available
claim levels do not include a specific category for style or philosophical idealism.
- id: claim:4
claim: The passage says the question of the comparative happiness of civilized and
primitive life was often discussed in later periods as well as in the Statesman
context.
claim_level: same_motif
target: Recurring debate over civilized versus primitive life
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage does not name specific later texts or traditions, so the
comparison remains broad.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: quote
locator: 8057-8067
quote_or_summary: The highest state is described by the saying “Friends have all
things in common,” including communion of women, children, and property, with
private and individual life banished and common praise, blame, joy, and sorrow.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt and summary used.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 8067-8073
quote_or_summary: No other principle is said to constitute a state more exalted
in virtue; a state inhabited by Gods or sons of Gods would make them blessed,
and this state is to be treated as the pattern.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary used.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: 8073-8077
quote_or_summary: The state now in hand, when created, will be nearest to immortality
and unity in the next degree; the analysis will begin with the nature and origin
of the second state.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary used.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: 8079-8085
quote_or_summary: The Statesman is described as akin in style to the Laws and resembling
the Republic in idealism; both the Republic and Statesman connect politics and
dialectic.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary used.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: 8085-8090
quote_or_summary: The Statesman considers the advantages of rule by law and by a
person, favoring a person; the passage adds that a person may rule by law and
law may act as the living voice of the legislator.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary used.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: 8090-8095
quote_or_summary: As in the Republic, the Statesman has a myth, but it describes
a former rather than future existence of mankind; it asks whether a state of innocence
or one with art, science, and moral distinction is preferable, and gives no answer.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/greek/project-gutenberg/republic-jowett.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summary used.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The passage is an analytical introduction rather than a primary mythic narrative;
motif extraction is therefore strongest for explicitly stated political and comparative
themes.
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 concrete symbols from the supplied symbol taxonomy are explicitly present in the passage.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:greek-plato-republic-jowett-gutenberg__l8057-l8096
passage_sha256=c14d4f84f86fac945dda2fa012691cf4579920b21c33d89507a791a9d7b42136