The Republic begins with four words: katebēn chthes eis Peiraia. We might say ‘Yesterday I went down to the Piraeus.’ Ancient sources report that a tablet was found among Plato’s effects on which these words had been written out in several different orders.
Plato’s final choice puts katebēn (‘I went down’) first.
Why?
The reissue of Hamilton and Cairns’ celebrated edition of Plato’s dialogues shows how every translation bears the marks of its era and of its translator’s taste.
The pleasures of translating Plato | @ArmandDAngour
engelsbergideas.com/reviews/…
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'Whitneyed' has already mentioned Eva Brann, so here's what she writes in "The Music of the Republic", chapter 6 of the 2004 book of the same name, pages 116-18. I think I may have heard the original lecture (1971-75). Sorry about the quality: didn't want to break the spine.
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