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A Docile Mob

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Plato 2004. Republic. Translated from the New Standard Greek Text, with Introduction, by C. D. C. Reeve. Indianapolis; Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. [Book VIII]

[SOCRATES:] You see, the ones I mean are the very ones that already have names: the one that is praised by "the many," your Cretan or Laconian constitution. The second - and second in the praise it receives - is called oligarchy, a constitution filled with a host of evils. Antagonistic to it, and next in order, is democracy. And "noble" tyranny, surpassing all of them, is the fourth and most extreme disease of cities. (Plato 2004: 239, 544b-c)

"Üllas" türannia. Griffithi tõlge nõretab sarkasmist paremini: "And then there is the wonderful institution of tyranny" (2000: 253).

SOCRATES: Something like this: "It is difficult for a city constituted in this way to change. However, since everything that comes-to-be must decay, not even one so constituted will last forever. On the contrary, it, too, must face dissolution. And this is how it will be dissolved: not only plants that grow in the earth, but also animals that grow upon it, have periods of fertility and infertility of both soul and bodies each time their cycles complete a revolution. These cycles are short for what is short-lived and the opposite for what [|] is the opposite. (Plato 2004: 240-241, 546a)

Kairos. Kõik kukub koost (things fall apart): "destruction awaits everything that has come to be" (2000: 255). Lühikeste ja pikkade elutsüklite ja sigimise vahelise seose jaoks on tänapäeval r/K selection theory.

[SOCRATES:] "Now, for the birth of a divine creature there is a cycle comprehended by a perfect number; while for a human being, it is the first number in which are found increases involving both roots and powers, comprehending three intervals and four terms, of factors that cause likeness and unlikeness, cause increase and decrease, and make all things mutually agreeable and rational in their relations to one another. Of these factors, the base ones - four in relation to three, together with five - give two harmonies when thrice increased. One is a square, so many times a hundred. The other is of equal length one way, but oblong. One of its sides are 100 squares of the rational diameter of five each diminished by one, or alternatively 100 squares of the irrational diameter each diminished by two. The other side are 100 cubes of three. This whole geometrical number controls better and worse births. (Plato 2004: 241, 546b-c)

Minu jaoks on siit oluline ruutu ja ristküliku eristus, sest need esinevad Philolaose vastandite tabelis.

The human geometrical number is the product of 3, 4, and 5 "thrice increased": if (3 × 4 × 5) × (3 × 4 × 5) = (3 × 4 × 5)2 is one increase, (3 × 4 × 5) × (3 × 4 × 5) × (3 × 4 × 5) × (3 × 4 × 5) = (3 × 4 × 5)4 is three. This formula included "increases involving both roots and powers": (3 × 4 × 5) is a root; its indices are powers. It "comprehends" three "intervals," symbolized by ×, and four "terms" - namely, the roots. The resulting number, 12,960,000, can be represented geometrically as (1) a square whose sides are 3,600, or (2) an "oblong" or rectangle whose sides are 4,800 and 2,700. (1) is "so many times 100": 36 times. (2) is obtained as follows. The "rational diameter" of 5 is the nearest rational number to the real diameter of a square whose sides are 5. This diameter = √52 + 52 = √50 = 7. Since the square of 7 is 49, we get the longer side of the rectangle by diminishing 49 by 1 and multiplying the result by 100. This gives 4,800. The "irrational diameter" of 5 is √50. When squared (= 50), diminished by 2 (= 48), and multiplied by 100, this, too, is 4,800. The short side, "100 cubes of three," = 2,700. The significance of the number is more controversial. The factors "that cause likeness and unlikeness, cause increase and decrease, and make all things mutually agreeable and rational in their relations to one another" are probably the numbers, since odd numbers were thought to cause likeness and even one unlikeness (Aristotle, Physics 203a13-5). Of the numbers significant in human life, one is surely the 100 years of its maximum span (615a8-b1). Another might be the number of days in the year (roughly 360), and a third might be the divisions of those days into smaller units determined by the sun's place in the sky, since it is the sun that provides for "the coming-to-be, growth, and nourishment" of all visible things (509b2-4). Assuming that those units are the 360 degrees of the sun's path around the earth (a suggestion due to Robin Waterfield), the number of moments in a human life that have a potential effect on its coming-to-be, growth, and nourishment would be 100 × 360 × 360, or 12,960,000 - Plato's human geometrical number. (Reeve 2004: 241, fn 10)

Oijummel. Siin tuleb sildistada pedantse punktuatsiooniga, et hiljem seda üles leida: "12.960,000".

SOCRATES: When faction arose, each of these two races, the iron and the bronze, pulled the constitution toward moneymaking and the acquisition of land, houses, gold, and silver. The other two, by contrast, the gold and silver races - since they are not poor, but naturally rich in their souls - led toward virtue and the old political system. Striving and struggling with one another, they compromised on a middle way: they distributed the land and houses among themselves as private property; enslaved and held as serfs and servants those whom they had previously guarded as free friends and providers of upkeep; and took responsibility themselves for making war and for guarding against the ones they had enslaved. (Plato 2004: 242, 547b-c)

Siin saab lõpuks konkreetse eristuse tõmmata: maamehe metall on pronks, kaupmehe metall on raud. Valvurid (kelle metall on hõbe) ja valitsejad (kelle metall on kuld) seevastu pürivad tagasi vooruse poole põhjendusel, mis on iseenesest väga kõnekas või hästikõlav: rikastuda tahavad need, kes on hingelt vaesed. Griffithil: "since in their souls they are not poor, but naturally wealthy" (2000: 256). Ühtlasi ei jää märkamatuks, et siin timokraatias või timarhias juhtub see, mida Aleksandrov jt pidasid ideaalriigi tunnuseks: valvurid ei kaitse niivõrd väliste vaenlaste vastu kuiet rõhuvad alamaid klasse.

SOCRATES: And he comes to exist in some such way as this: sometimes he is the young son of a good father, who lives in a city that is not politically well governed; avoids honors, political office, lawsuits, and all such meddling in other people's affairs; and who is even willing to be put at a disadvantage so as to avoid trouble.
ADEIMANTUS: Yes, but how does he become timocratic?
SOCRATES: It first happens when he listens to his mother complaining that her man is not one of the rulers and that she is at a disadvantage among the other women as a result. Next, she sees that he is not very serious about money, either; does not fight or exchange insults in private lawsuits or in the public assembly, but takes easily everything of that sort; has a mind [|] always absorbed in its own thoughts; and does not overvalue her or undervalue her either. As a result of all those things, she complains and tells her son that his father is unmanly and too easygoing, and makes a litany of the other sorts of things women love to recite on such occasions. (Plato 2004: 244-245, 549c-d)

Just vaatasin ära Fleishman Is In Trouble, kus on täpselt see dünaamika. Griffithil: "a good man who lives in a badly governed state"; "he starts listening to his mother complaining about her husband not being one of the ruling group, and her own failure, in consequence, to receive the respect she is entitled to from the other women" (2000: 259).

[SOCRATES:] When the young man hears and sees all this, then, and, on the other hand, also listens to what his father says, and sees his practices from close at hand and compares them with those of the others, he is pulled by both - his father nourishing the rational element in his soul and making it grow; the others nourishing the appetitive and spirited elements. And, because he is not a bad man by nature, but has kept bad company, he compromises on a middle way when he is pulled in these two directions, and surrenders the rule within him to the middle element - the victory-loving and spirited one - and becomes a proud and honor-loving man. (Plato 2004: 245, 550a-b)

Märkimisväärne, sest siin järjekordselt kujutatakse ette ranget skaalat, milles on (1) iharad kasumiahnitsejad, (2) himurad au ja uhkuse armastajad, ja (3) ratsionaalsed teadmistearmastajad. Selle natuke kummastava "ranguse" all pean silmas seda, et (1) ja (3) segunemisel maandutakse (2)-l. St mitte nagu astmiktrepp või "degeneratiivne" hierarhia, vaid nagu kauss, mille ühes servas on (1), teises (3) ja põhjas (2) - ja inimene veereb selles nagu pall, sõltuvalt sellest, kummale poole kaussi kallutatakse.

SOCRATES: After that then, they become further involved in moneymaking; and the more honorable they consider it, the less honorable they consider virtue. Or isn't virtue so opposed to wealth that if they were set on the scale of a balance, they would always incline in opposite directions? (Plato 2004: 246, 550d)

Ennemini läheb kaamel läbi nõelasilma kui rikas mees taevasse jne.

SOCRATES: That a city of this sort is not one, but inevitably two - a city of the poor and one of the rich, living in the same place and always plotting against one another. (Plato 2004: 247, 551d)

Niimoodi kirjeldab Sokrates siin oligarhiat. Nõukogude Liidu propagandistid aga arvavad, et see kirjeldab kapitalistlikku ühiskond: "Selles, et maksew ühiskonna ja riigiworm kôlbmatada on, ei kahtle Platon pôrmugi. Ta räägib: "Eraomandus, wastolud, mis rikaste ja waeste wahel tekiwad, wiiwad riigid kokkulangemisele. Tôepoolest sisaldab üks nn. riik, eneses kahte riiki, üks neist seisab waesetest koos, teine aga - rikastest" (Liiw 1919: 9).

SOCRATES: And I suppose he makes the rational and spirited elements sit on the ground beneath it, one on either side, and be slaves. He won't allow the first to calculate or consider anything except how a little money can be made into more; or the second to admire or honor anything except wealth and wealthy people, or to love being honored for anything besides the possession of wealth and whatever contributes to it. (Plato 2004: 249, 553c-d)

Jällegi üllatavalt konkreetsed kehastused antud hingejagudele.

SOCRATES: And when rulers and subjects, socialized in this way, meet on journeys or some other shared undertakings, whether in an embassy or a military campaign; or as shipmates or fellow soldiers; or when they watch one another in dangerous situations - in these circumstances, don't you think the poor are in no way despised by the rich? On the contrary, don't you think it is often the case that a poor man, lean and suntanned, is stationed in battle next to a rich one, reared in the shade and carrying a lot of excess flesh, and sees him panting and completely at a loss? And don't you think he believes that it is because of the cowardice of the poor that such people are rich and that one poor man says to another when they meet in private: "These men are ours for the taking; they are good for nothing"? (Plato 2004: 253, 556c-d)

Mul on olnud selline kogemus palju aastaid tagasi. Istusin kord (sellise aine, kuhu sattus igasugust rahvast kokku) loengus kellegi ärika kõrval - noor nägus kõhn mees, viksilt ülikonnas ilma kuueta, aga hingamine kähises kuuldavalt. Mina, ühekülgsest toitumisest (praekartulitest) rasvunud suitsetaja, vähemalt hingasin vabalt.

SOCRATES: It looks, then, as though it is the most beautiful of all the constitutions. For just like an embroidered cloak embroidered with every kind of ornament, it is embroidered with every sort of character, and so would appear to be the most beautiful. And presumably, many people would behave like women and children looking at embroidered object and actually judge it to be the most beautiful. (Plato 2004: 254, 557c)

Hakkab selginema: (1) ideaalriigis valitseb tarkus ja seeläbi õiglus ehk hingejagude harmoonia; (2) timokraatias valitseb mehisus, aga pole rahu, sest himustatakse au, kuulsust ja võitu iga hinnaga; (3) oligarhias valitseb ihalev hingejagu ning puudub mõõdukus - vähemus on ülirikkad ja enamusel pole midagi; (4) demokraatias on kõik läbisegi; ja eeldatavasti (5) türannia on lihtsalt kõige ebaõiglasem (edasises ehk selgub, mis vahekorras on seal hingejaod).

SOCRATES: What about an appetite that goes beyond these and seeks other sorts of foods; that, if it is restrained from childhood and educated, most people can get rid of; and that is harmful to the body and harmful to the soul's capacity for wisdom and temperance? Wouldn't it be correct to call it unnecessary? (Plato 2004: 256, 559b)

(1) Ihalemine (toidu)luksuse järele on kahjulik (1) mõtlemisele ja (2) enesevalitsemisele. Griffithil: "harmful to the soul's capacity for thought and self-control" (2000: 271).

SOCRATES: Finally, I suppose, they seize the citadel of the young man's soul, since they realize that it is empty of the fine studies and practices and the true arguments that are the best watchmen and guardians in the minds of men loved by the gods. (Plato 2004: 257, 560b)

Hingekindlus.

SOCRATES: And so he lives from day to day, gratifying the appetite of the moment. Sometimes he drinks heavily while listening to the flute, while at others he drinks only water and is on a diet. Sometimes he goes in for physical training, while there are others when he is idle and neglects everything. Sometimes he spends his time engaged in what he takes to be philosophy. Often, though, he takes part in politics, leaping to his feet and saying and doing whatever happens to come into his mind. If he admires some military men, that is the direction in which he is carried; if some money-makers, then in that different one. There is neither order nor necessity in his life, yet he calls it pleasant, free, and blessedly happy, and follows it throughout his entire life. (Plato 2004: 259, 561c-d)

Demokraatia-inimene on tuisupea.

[SOCRATES:] A teacher in such circumstances is afraid of his students and flatters them, while the students belittle their teachers and do the same to their tutors, [|] too. In general, the young are the spitting images of their elders and compete with them in words and deeds, while the old stoop to the level of the young and are full of wit and indulgence, imitating the young for fear of being thought disagreeable and masterful. (Plato 2004: 260-261, 563a)

Türannias puudub vanemate-austus.

SOCRATES: Summing up all these things together, then, do you notice how sensitive they make the citizens' souls, so that if anyone tries to impose the least degree of slavery, they get irritated and cannot bear it? In the end, as I am sure you are aware, they take no notice of the laws - written or unwritten - in order to avoid having any master at all. (Plato 2004: 261, 563d)

Inimesed on täitsa hukas - ei taha orjad olla!

SOCRATES: For extreme freedom probably cannot lead to anything but a change to extreme slavery, whether in a private individual or a city. (Plato 2004: 262, 564a)

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY but unironically...

SOCRATES: Isn't it the same, then, with a popular leader? Once he really takes over a docile mob, he does not restrain himself from shedding a fellow citizen's blood. But by leveling the usual false charges and bringing people into court, he commits murder. And by blotting out a man's life, his impious tongue and lips taste kindred blood. Then he banishes and kills and drops hints about the cancellation of debts and the redistribution of land. And after that, isn't such a man inevitably fated either to be killed by his enemies or to be a tyrant, transformed from a man into a wolf? (Plato 2004: 264, 565e-566a)

Mitte "inimene on inimesele hunt" vaid populist on oma rahvale hunt.

SOCRATES: To start with, in the early days of his reign, won't he greet everyone he meets with a smile, deny he is a tyrant, promise all sorts of [|] things in private and in public, free the people from debt, redistribute the land to them and to his followers, and pretend to be gracious and gentle to all? (Plato 2004: 265-266, 566d-e)

Natuke nagu ambitsioon selle sõna algupärases tähenduses (poliitiliste sõprade-toetajate soetamine).

SOCRATES: But once he has dealt with his exiled enemies by making peace with some and destroying others, and all is calm on that front, his primary concern, I imagine, is to be constantly stirring up some war or other, so that the people will need a leader. (Plato 2004: 266, 566e)

"Ent türann peab pidevalt sõda sepitsema, et lihtrahvas juhi järele vajadust tunneks" (Asmus 1971: 90).

SOCRATES: And also, wouldn't you say, so that impoverished by war taxes, they will be forced to concentrate on their daily needs and be less likely to plot against him? (Plato 2004: 266, 567a)

Täiesti kohatu on kõnelda Vladimir Putinist kui türannist. Venemaa on ju rikas riik kus lihtrahvas on jõukas ja ostujõuline, elatustase on kõrge ja majandus muudkui kasvab.

SOCRATES: And don't some of those who helped establish his tyranny and hold positions of power within it, the ones who are bravest, speak freely to him and to each other, criticizing what is happening?
ADEIMANTUS: Probably.
SOCRATES: Then the tyrant will have to do away with all of them if he intends to rule, until he is left with no friend or enemy who is worth anything at all. (Plato 2004: 266, 567b)

See on see moment mil Vene oligarhid ridamisi kukuvad aknast välja või äkitselt tapavad kogu oma perekonna ja poovad end oma Hispaania villas üles.

SOCRATES: He will have to keep a sharp lookout, then, for anyone who is brave, magnanimous, wise, or rich. He is so happy, you see, that he is forced, whether he wants to or not, to be their enemy and plot against all of them until he has purged the city. (Plato 2004: 266, 567b-c)

(1) rikkad, (2) julged, (3) targad ja (4) nooblid? on kõik türanni vaenlased. Griffithi tõlge nõretab eriti hästi sarkasmist: "it is his unavoidable good fortune, whether he likes it or not, to be the enemy of all of them" (2000: 282). Venemaa puhul võib täheldada, kuidas nooblimad ja targemad lasid Venemaalt jalga peatselt parast 2012. aasta valimisi; Ukraina sõja alguses läksid kõige julgemad üle Ukraina poolele ja sundmobilisatsiooniga põgenesid Gruusiasse ja mujale kõik, kellel oli piisavalt raha, et seda teha.

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