The Tyrant's Vice: Pleonexia and Lawlessness in Plato's Republic

Plato's portrait of the tyrant in book IX of the Republic marks the culmination of Socrates’ defense of the just life. He has been challenged to explain how justice, because of its very self, benefits its possessor and how injustice harms them (367d), and why ‘injustice is the worst thing a soul can have in it’ and ‘justice is the greatest good’ (366e).1 To explain the effects of justice ‘because of its very self’, Socrates must determine what justice is – its ‘nature and origins’ – and thereby show that we always have reason to prefer the just life over the unjust, regardless of the rewards and reputations that follow from being thought to be just. Since these rewards are ‘simulator accessible’2, an unjust person can enjoy them in full, if he ‘creates a façade of illusory virtue’ around himself and ‘deceives those who come near’, while keeping behind the façade ‘the greedy and crafty fox of the wise Archilochus’, as Adeimantus puts it (365c).3 In this way, the unjust man can reap the rewards of complete injustice while enjoying the benefits of a reputation for perfect justice. He gets the best of both worlds, and can even placate the gods with pleasant prayers and sacrifices: stories of Hades won't stay his hand and deter him from committing the ‘whole of injustice’ (hê holê adikia): kidnapping and enslaving the citizens and installing himself as tyrant (344b-c). The defense of the just life is cast as choice: between the life of the perfectly just man with an unearned reputation for the worst injustice, and the life of a perfectly unjust man with an undeserved reputation for perfect justice. To vindicate his claim that ‘justice is the greatest good’, and ‘injustice the worst thing a soul can have in it’, Socrates must show that the tyrant is the least happy of all in the city, although he has committed the whole of injustice and secured the maximum amount of power and wealth for himself. ‘Even though his soul is really greedy for it, he's the only one in the whole city who can't travel abroad or see the sights that other free people want to see. Instead, he lives like a woman, mostly confined to his own house, and envying any other citizen who happens to travel abroad and see something worthwhile’ (579b). ‘A real tyrant is really a slave, compelled to engage in the worst kind of fawning, slavery, and pandering to the worst kind of people. He's so far from satisfying his desires in any way that it is clear – if one happens to know that one must study his whole soul – that he is in the greatest need of most things and truly poor. And, if indeed his state is like that of the city he rules, then, he's full of fear, convulsions, and pains throughout his life’ (579d-e). ‘He is inevitably envious, untrustworthy, unjust, friendless, impious, host and nurse to every kind of vice, and […] his ruling makes him even more so. And because of all these, he is extremely unfortunate and goes on to make those near him like himself’ (580a). ‘Womanly’, ‘slavish’, ‘fearful’, ‘poor’: the tyrant's ambition has made him the opposite of the manly, masterly, and fearless person he wants to be. While ostensibly the envy of all his subjects – ‘a true man’ (hôs alêthôs anêr, 359b2) – his life is impoverished by his own injustice. In this paper, I wish to understand the moral psychology of the tyrant, whether he leads a private life, or ‘some misfortune provides him with the opportunity to become an actual tyrant’ (578c). Why does the tyrant not get what he wants? Why is he enslaved to his own appetites rather than completely free of restraint? How does the tyrant's ‘erotic love’ differ from the appetites of his subjects? When Plato says that the tyrant is ‘forcibly driven by the stings of a dronish gadfly (oistros)’5, how we understand this and the it on the tyrant's The of are in the Socrates by that and have the least power in the and that just want to though see most to an for and other his life be if he in to the tyrant to show that the unjust man is he gets with the ‘whole of in from the of the by his slave, and so by himself a slave, in of his he the to the and himself as is because he has committed the whole of injustice that he is the of we we all want to follow the of injustice if we only because we are to injustice with we and that from committing injustice in for can the on Plato's of the tyrant's life in the Republic and the psychology of have to Plato's of the tyrant as and have him as an kind of man rather than as the of the worst kind of injustice. While the tyrant's though his of it is by his of the The tyrant does not as this is in book between the and of the city and soul that the with reason desires that are and in with reason and He the worst kind of injustice and so he the worst kind of for Plato is a that in kind a from the that the just man and the just – in – has as as in the of and state The tyrant's is the of by whether in its in the or its in the of the that the man to to power as a of the poor. Plato that desires are not to are in the of book Plato that ‘some of and desires are He that are in are in by the and the desires in with In a desires have been while in only a The are the people that has in in book he his claim that one is just from of a who is by injustice or one who has and injustice for that people are and far are or And so most people – even the best – have desires in desires are in the of the soul – the and ruling – the and full of and and to a way to a is that it not – free of all by or The from with whether or – or even a is both in the of its and in its of the other desires – with and the other in – the of the it and it as as the of in this of the soul as its and it any or desires in the man that are thought to be or that have it them and them him of an and him with IX The is a of the – it is in of by the of appetites and in the appetites a as a of a the The of that the the of the soul – reason – it and of desires as its and any that the of this is and In the of any true in the of the the – the of the the that he has from what is or have been from the tyrant's the desires in the are free to The and to wealth from any he from the of the tyrant, Plato that as the that are the and won't the man himself that he to his and even though he is than are – to and his wealth he has his own IX won't it to he it by and if that he it by How these desires to what in book as the of In book to that one does justice only because are to injustice with is like we only the because we the power to injustice the to and get more and more what as is by the of with is not if by we is a kind of that does not just want to the for to so in of in of is is why ‘the to and get more and is an of the The thought that the to get more and more and to is to psychology to a of this a man is by a to man is a that is in of justice as and I with the only being that to the are true only real or this is we are by not just just want to more and we want to we have more than of benefits while of we all to get to the and the maximum of desires that have been Plato rather it for that this as it the psychology of in the of While perfectly have the it is in the of private be be completely to the of it Plato that make it clear that is a and of in even in those of who to be and of is we are all driven by the to and get more and does not that desires are of in a city that is we only that are and not those that are this and and does not come In book Socrates a that on the of the and in book between and desires and appetites we can't from and are we are compelled to we get of if we from are that leads to or the The to to the of and is and for is and on both and the for is we are to the that enjoying them is and The of the city of not a life, enjoy Socrates and on or on with and with and with the enjoy with one more than or is and does not to or for is for people like makes that both the and reason and of the the of actual people are for In the city with a the citizens 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with a because he the power and to he the of To then, and ambition is not a that we to and get more and as rather an of the that we not have of the that we In we for the the Republic a people in the state of reason like Plato's as a an been of have been with a can't the to desires be and To Plato's we all more and more because we want to than not because we are we what we The of and its a in the of the While his of the tyrant to his and while the need for makes him the the tyrant's is not the tyrant, the and all and that him is a way of his and so to – citizens he in the of The tyrant is driven by appetites by and his the he not be to have his appetites that is in if not always in with as and as for To the tyrant's any on his is an a that he is not is only he is the – a rather than a – that the tyrant have the complete from that to his makes him a not to the that to make the lives of the is this to the tyrant's to see how he from his The tyrant is in a in a that is to that of his the of as as the by them in the the in the city – the of and or the of a of as Plato are of is the of book the of justice as Socrates that this an of the in it to that is one of and an of of vice, of are Since that are of soul as are of – and – must study in with the The is while Socrates his for the in and only the of book The best is the one by one person or a of or this is the of all the are in In the and the are and the and the and the and and the The tyrant, who the worst kind of vice, is the of a of Plato's the of and the of Plato from in of as of rather than or the The are the that the worst kind of is with desires that be way of enjoying and so – by – of be the Plato for of the of the be an of of vice, the of are and to – in the of justice – is by and the of of reason with the of the a of and as as in He is the of an in a city that and between the of his and the of the him from and leads a private life and he is whether in private or in in the a he is a The is by and him for that his is and all the other things that over and over in a the is in the of his soul and makes it the other the and the to is that in the city who own are and to be of and so he as a to Since he is not a man by Plato that he in the and the of himself to the – the and He and and the for to a of of whether we or more on those who than those on are and so a the city like a a all his even his life’ The is the He with as his a of The to his all When his him in he to or or The to follow in his him by he to by and he The desires not as a to the of his rather as an the of He the and on the it as a it with and and it with not because he from the of his he to and to the of The man is a he wants for the power and that it it not for the it In this the man and his the are both by in The is a he makes a from and it, and his in though are in his soul because of his of He his appetites in by them that it is not to on them or them with by and fear, for his other he is not to other to his for he not his 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with or of the or life is a to know the with in and the city a as a To be a is to all desires to the to know the so that desires the Plato in the in book desires and of that he is with the of the soul by and those that come from the – if indeed he is a true and not a The man a of then, not because he has the true of the and other the true of the because he in that the of He as a pleasant rather than a way of of these – the and – are between of the and are not in of and rather between the or all over the In this all differ from the man and the tyrant, who show a to a and of than any of the other The tyrant's of is by the in his The as a of the his appetites and that its what I have is the as a in the of the of The and the appetites the of and and any or desires that the of appetites things to and and that of the tyrant least he the kind of that the man goes in for in and that he in Plato the life of the man as The has a of and his appetites for the of his – he does or to not his for a he gets and the tyrant, even the most of of his is a in for with and is to that the tyrant's is an of and that the tyrant's for is the that these he really the of and the of with and the of the and that the tyrant the worst of injustice. injustice in his to any that his the very that make by on of The and that he be if he the and that He is an and his by committing the of injustice with that it is the of the rather than what is by the that the The tyrant power as a to the of his rather power as a an of his by his of that are by the that He can he wants with why he is to those he rules, the truly tyrant is of and is a because he is driven by his appetites rather than by the of his to power is to the to his as ruling is as the to And for this his subjects are his and of While it is true that the tyrant make if by this we that are to the the are not being driven by appetites or being by the of the tyrant is by his does not its own by him know the Instead, it and as an is not in the it his makes the tyrant's of from the is that the tyrant's by the as an and all in the He is by his has any in his and it with Since the desires in the tyrant's the of and the state of his and for an man to that all in the of the of a of and him and that all of his and that the way people to and a one as a one is one in between is manly, and are of the And as for a that this very is the of a who it to it by the of The as a of to all desires something as a of it, he desires of that not one of it and not why a of – the – one of rather than the whole is to be a of something being driven to it by is an of the of is a tyrant because it makes one and like a it does not have a for rather the way in one an of is not a the other of that Plato in the The tyrant to have his In so he of and to his own and in of of in that the and and complete for what is his own and what is of what we other and what we the puts it, desires of that to the very of and not just them he says to the as as to the and the tyrant has himself from as a of as Plato the to is not just a of the tyrant's and of He does not of and because him his desires in any to see how be in this does he from with his own is The of these is not of the of the of his complete of any whether in the of or The tyrant can and to and so he be to the that citizens in a or the that the between and or man and of – and the that he gets with it – is what his and this is his complete from any even the very that make a The tyrant is by his of his most and his as a man who is to and of see how the that as the of in book leads to reason and of have been The that the that in to and this is a kind of to over the and to be a to to the tyrant by his for what it The tyrant his by in of moral and and he is for his he his justice is as and injustice more than justice, the is really to be of – that can get with – not of desires – is the behind the tyrant's In the – and so in – he his true I have that the tyrant's is not a of his of and rather the way in he his power and to be by and The tyrant is to the of least as these to he himself the committing ‘the whole of injustice’ and installing himself as a with he that he is by to the greatest of in the the tyrant, is to he in and is in of he himself as the of the as as in the by he his is in of that deter any from his The tyrant is unjust, not because his appetites are and make him by Plato's because he he to have he because he of in and is a of his for the and that the While or and be on and while the tyrant them as a to an to and defense of this is not his reason for in the of he does so by a or that is in his He as on his He has for his them as and The he in the of them from his the and those who the injustice is the of his of and the he in his not only from from the he in his for who is unjust in the does not the of as a unjust as of the of people who are the and the and and with and own in a way of the more the who are of a of a than that more than is and and that unjust is to get more than I like an are are the why to get a than most is to be unjust and by and why it I that that a just thing for the man and the more man to have a than the man and the that this is so in both the other and in whole and of it that this is what justice has been to that the the and have a than what of justice by he or his he other be I that these these things in with the of what is just – by in with the of and not with the one we the best and the most them while are like and with and we them slavery, them that one is to get more than his and and just. if a man who is to it he and all of he and and all that the slave, and be as and the justice of to in this the of for that not have to be to to the that the of and the of The of this are those we and the The the of this that a of more than of of in is the of justice by in book is it is an the of is to a this he and Plato I by the of The man is full of and and Plato to the of the claim that the tyrant is in the greatest need of most things and truly he is envious, untrustworthy, unjust, friendless, impious, host and nurse to every kind of vice, and […] his ruling makes him even more so. And because of all of these, he is extremely unfortunate and goes on to make those near him like himself’ (580a). The of the tyrant's Why we that Plato is to these to the he to be of the of his and while he be in he makes for it in then, is the tyrant full of And though he make and that his are rather than it to claim that the tyrant is he is of a Why Why full of And why does the tyrant not get what he wants? The is his and are to understand we see the tyrant's true to and the tyrant is to He can only if for what he wants is as a private and what he is his own private he as in with the of are for the of the and because to own private can a and be even if the tyrant his and even if his of it is for the tyrant to have that the as The tyrant's are a of the of his is for the tyrant to what he because he can by that are to of the that he get what he his of and not in for the though his as his and he or The tyrant his not because he are – he does not – because him the he why he is truly and of those who to is not just because his soul is then, that the tyrant is the of his clear we the of the of desires in the Plato have best a on