Thoughts on completing Plato’s The Republic (Waterfield translation)
This is a book that must be read by all.
I kept it in my bag at all times.
I don’t remember when I started but it was slow.
Last night I finished the last part on the soul and cosmos. I used Librivox on my iPad to help me through it. Librivox uses the Jowett translation. But it was still comprehensible while following the Waterfield translation.
Practical (w)reading lessons learnt:
- Putting aside content, I learnt that it is a better reading experience to complete a chapter before checking the endnotes for each superscript number in the text.
There is much highlighting and annotations in the text. The book could be summarised by removed the interlocutor. But the form of a dialogue is an engaging one that prose alone would not achieve without rhetorical effects.
There are more than a few lines that read almost word-by-word like Quran verses or hadiths. One example is how the Guardians have no need for earthly gold and silver because they will get them as heavenly possessions.