Kalamdan

Plato

The Republic

Philosophy and Wisdom

Cover of The Republic

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Language
English
First published
1871
Reading time
514 minutes
Chapters
13 chapters
Translator
Benjamin Jowett (1817–1893)

About this book

What is justice, and is the just person really happier than the unjust one?

Plato's Socrates takes up that question at a gathering in a friend's house near Athens and ends up designing an ideal city ruled by philosopher-kings. Along the way come some of the most famous passages in philosophy: the ring that makes its wearer invisible, the prisoners in the cave who mistake shadows for reality, and the myth of Er about the soul after death. This is Benjamin Jowett's classic translation, in his revised edition of 1888. Read it a book at a time, and argue back.

Original work: Written in Greek, about 375 BC

Socrates, who is the narrator. Cephalus.\ Glaucon. Thrasymachus.\ Adeimantus. Cleitophon.\ Polemarchus.

Book I, part 1 of 2

About this edition

  • Source

    Project Gutenberg (eBook #55201)

    Text version

    Benjamin Jowett's translation (first published 1871), in his revised third edition (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1888), from Project Gutenberg eBook #55201 (updated 1 April 2026), downloaded 7 November 2026. The title pages, the dedication, Jowett's preface, his Introduction and Analysis, his marginal analysis, his footnotes, the Stephanus page references, the printed page numbers and the index were not imported. The ten books of the dialogue are unchanged, with Jowett's list of persons at the start; the longest books are split into parts on the site.

  • License

    Public domain

    Copyright status last verified: 9 November 2026

  • Category

    Philosophy and Wisdom

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Chapters

13 chapters
  1. Book I, part 1 of 253 min
  2. Book I, part 2 of 22 min
  3. Book II.51 min
  4. Book III., part 1 of 253 min
  5. Book III., part 2 of 29 min
  6. Book IV.50 min
  7. Book V., part 1 of 253 min
  8. Book V., part 2 of 29 min
  9. Book VI.52 min
  10. Book VII.50 min
  11. Book VIII.49 min
  12. Book IX.39 min
  13. Book X.51 min

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