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Republic 327a

Opening sentence of the Republic. Κατέβην (I went down) will resonate with the allegory of the cave and with Odysseus' descent to the underworld.

Concepts

justiceδικαιοσύνηThe central question of the Republic. δικαιοσύνη is what Socrates and his interlocutors spend the entire dialogue trying to define. "Justice" is the standard translation, but it tends to suggest legal procedure. The Greek term is closer to right-ordering — of the city, of the soul, of one's relations with others and with oneself. Plato's argument is that the just person and the just city share a structural analogy. The word is not separable from the argument.

Transmission

Generally accepted

Strong for core dialogues

The Republic is one of the most securely attributed of Plato's dialogues. Ancient attestation is strong; manuscript tradition is rich; style and doctrine are consistent with early-to-middle Plato. The noble lie and myth of metals (Books III–IV) have generated interpretive controversy about Plato's sincerity, but this is a reading question, not an authenticity question.

Related notes

Opening narrative frame
The Republic begins in narrated past time (χθές) with a first-person aorist (Κατέβην), establishing Socrates as retrospective narrator before the dramatic dial…
καταβαίνω at the opening
Spatially, Athens lies inland and elevated relative to the harbor; 'going down' to Piraeus is geographically apt. Philosophical amplification of descent belong…