Vulgar words in The Republic (Page 1)

This book at a glance

bastard x 7
buffoon x 2
make love x 1
            

Page 1

~   ~   ~   Sentence 656   ~   ~   ~

We cannot allow men to play the parts of women, quarrelling, weeping, scolding, or boasting against the gods,-least of all when making love or in labour.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 1,351   ~   ~   ~

Will they not be vile and bastard, devoid of truth and nature?

~   ~   ~   Sentence 1,710   ~   ~   ~

I dare say that you have not forgotten how our rulers were chosen; and the process of selection may be carried a step further:-As before, they must be constant and valiant, good-looking, and of noble manners, but now they must also have natural ability which education will improve; that is to say, they must be quick at learning, capable of mental toil, retentive, solid, diligent natures, who combine intellectual with moral virtues; not lame and one-sided, diligent in bodily exercise and indolent in mind, or conversely; not a maimed soul, which hates falsehood and yet unintentionally is always wallowing in the mire of ignorance; not a bastard or feeble person, but sound in wind and limb, and in perfect condition for the great gymnastic trial of the mind.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 2,363   ~   ~   ~

The same is true of comedy,-you may often laugh at buffoonery which you would be ashamed to utter, and the love of coarse merriment on the stage will at last turn you into a buffoon at home.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 6,032   ~   ~   ~

And the same law will apply to any one of those within the prescribed age who forms a connection with any woman in the prime of life without the sanction of the rulers; for we shall say that he is raising up a bastard to the State, uncertified and unconsecrated.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 6,690   ~   ~   ~

Will they not be vile and bastard?

~   ~   ~   Sentence 7,341   ~   ~   ~

The mistake at present is, that those who study philosophy have no vocation, and this, as I was before saying, is the reason why she has fallen into disrepute: her true sons should take her by the hand and not bastards.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 7,348   ~   ~   ~

And, again, in respect of temperance, courage, magnificence, and every other virtue, should we not carefully distinguish between the true son and the bastard?

~   ~   ~   Sentence 7,349   ~   ~   ~

for where there is no discernment of such qualities states and individuals unconsciously err; and the state makes a ruler, and the individual a friend, of one who, being defective in some part of virtue, is in a figure lame or a bastard.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 8,683   ~   ~   ~

There are jests which you would be ashamed to make yourself, and yet on the comic stage, or indeed in private, when you hear them, you are greatly amused by them, and are not at all disgusted at their unseemliness;-the case of pity is repeated;-there is a principle in human nature which is disposed to raise a laugh, and this which you once restrained by reason, because you were afraid of being thought a buffoon, is now let out again; and having stimulated the risible faculty at the theatre, you are betrayed unconsciously to yourself into playing the comic poet at home.

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