Sunday, 25 October 2026

Major works meeting

• Continuing Metamorphoses
• Starting from 5.245
• Ending around 6.001
• Next week we’ll continue Metamorphoses

Minor works meeting

• Finishing Statesman
• Starting from 303a
• Ending around 311c
• In two weeks we’ll read the introductory essay Statesman
• And we’ll begin reading Parmenides

Statesman reminder for next week:

[ANDREW]: The other constitutions turn out to be experts in factions, not in statesmanship. We get a brief analogy to purifying gold, which separates out all the junky stuff and late in the process has other rare metals associated with it. Similarly we have reached a late stage of defining statesmanship, and find along with it other fine crafts like generalship, the art of the judge, and the art of persuation. The statesman turns out to have the superior, governing knowledge, of when the subordinate crafts should and should not be performed. The end of the book wraps up with an analogy to weaving (again). We discuss how courage and moderation are somewhat opposed. If moderation goes out of control a city will be enslaved, and in a soul a person will be useless. If courage goes out of control, a city will fight until it is exhausted and then enslaved, in a soul, a person will be too violent. The statesman weaves these two types of people together with the “divine” – the just, good, etc. – and creates a balanced city.