The Banishment of Hesiod

Hello.

We are reading, in class, another section of The Republic now. The last section, as you might have guessed, was on Justice. This section, chapter three, is on education.

We are, on top of this, preparing for exhibition. Because of this, there are many things that need to be prepared. Danielle Somtrich, Beth Kurtz and I are preparing a skit, the scene from the Iliad in which Agamemnon and Achilles have their argument. Since all of the lines are to be memorized, and that is a lot of work, all of my homework is being cut, that is why you will see considerably less of it here.

The question for tonight is, “Why would Plato (Socrates) ban Hesiod (author of the war between the gods) from his ideal republic?”

My answer:

I think that Plato (Socrates) would ban Hesiod for two reasons. First, because he wasn’t fond of the poets. I think that this was because he believed that a poet, or a storyteller, can take you out of your mind or your body. As Plato (Socrates) was a fairly sensible person, I think that he wouldn’t approve of this departure from reason.

Second, I think that Plato (Socrates) didn’t like the message of Hesiod. The point, after all, of the piece that we read, the upheaval of the gods, is that the young can beat the old. I’m not sure when in his life Plato wrote, but Socrates was an older man and wouldn’t approve of younger men, in his opinion uneducated younger men, ruling the government.

Thursday is the exhibition!

Goodbye.