“I assert, then, that the happiness of all, both men and women, consists singly in the fulfilment of their love, and in that possession of its objects by which we are in some degree restored to our ancient nature. If this be the completion of felicity, that must necessarily approach nearest to it, in which we obtain the possession and society of those whose natures most intimately accord with our own. And if we would celebrate any God as the author of this benefit, we should justly celebrate Love with hymns of joy; who, in our present condition, brings good assistance in our necessity, and affords great hopes, if we persevere in piety towards the Gods, that he will restore us to our original state, and confer on us the complete happiness alone suited to our nature.”

THE AGEING PROCESS

Republic

Plato

Translated by Benjamin Jowett, 1888

Socrates is the main protagonist in the majority of Plato’s thirty-odd dialogues. In the Republic, he encounters a group of men at the Piraeus, the port of Athens. They later reconvene at the house of Polemarchus, whose elderly father, Cephalus, Socrates engages in conversation. Let the sea of Greek names wash over you as you witness Socrates drawing out intelligent thought from his interlocutor as only he can. The pair talk about the pleasures and pains of growing old. Their words are an entrée to the discussion of justice and the ideal state for which this dialogue is famous. As well as translating Plato’s dialogues, Benjamin Jowett – intellectual titan of Victorian Oxford where he was Regius Professor of Greek for thirty-eight years – also translated works by Aristotle and Thucydides.

Persons of the Dialogue

SOCRATES, who is the narrator.

GLAUCON.

ADEIMANTUS.

POLEMARCHUS.

CEPHALUS.

THRASYMACHUS.

CLEITOPHON.

And others who are mute auditors.

The scene is laid in the house of Cephalus at the Piraeus; and the whole dialogue is narrated by Socrates the day after it actually took place to Timaeus, Hermocrates, Critias, and a nameless person, who are introduced in the Timaeus.

I went down yesterday to the Piraeus with Glaucon the son of Ariston, that I might offer up my prayers to the goddess1; and also because I wanted to see in what manner they would celebrate the festival, which was a new thing. I was delighted with the procession of the inhabitants; but that of the Thracians was equally, if not more, beautiful. When we had finished our prayers and viewed the spectacle, we turned in the direction of the city; and at that instant Polemarchus the son of Cephalus chanced to catch sight of us from a distance as we were starting on our way home, and told his servant to run and bid us wait for him. The servant took hold of me by the cloak behind, and said: Polemarchus desires you to wait.

I turned round, and asked him where his master was.

There he is, said the youth, coming after you, if you will only wait.