"the world below . . . " i.e., the Underworld, Hades.
"I would rather be a serf . . . " Odyssey, IX, 489.
Pluto god of the Underworld, king of Hades.
Tiresias a legendary blind soothsayer of Thebes; much respected, he figures in many mythical stories.
Persephone the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, abducted by Hades (Pluto) to be his wife in the Underworld; she spends half of each year in Hades, half above ground; out of respect for Tiresias' wisdom, she granted that he should retain his mind after death, while the rest of the souls in Hades are merely "flitting shades."
Cocytus the river of wailing, a tributary of the Acheron in Hades.
Styx the river encircling Hades over which Charon ferries the souls of the dead (the third river is Lethe).
Achilles the son of the human Peleus and the sea nymph Thetis, and a Greek warrior and leader in the Trojan War; he is the great hero of Homer's Iliad. Achilles was angry at Agamemnon as the Trojan War began and required gifts to stop pouting and come out into battle; later he became maddened at the death in battle of his dear friend Patroclus and behaved wildly and dishonorably. These are the actions that Socrates wants the young Guardians to be prevented from reading or hearing.
Priam the last king of Troy, who reigned during the Trojan War; he was the father of Paris, Hector, Troilus, and Cassandra, among the rest of his hundred children by several wives—according to Greek myth.
"Alas my misery! . . . " Iliad, XVIII, 54; Thetis is lamenting the death of her son Achilles. (This and the quotations and references that follow, up to Cheiron, are illustrative of the kinds of incidents that Socrates believes the young Guardians ought not to be exposed to, because they show the mythical figures and legendary heroes in various kinds of bad light. Many translators, to save space, do not include this section of Book III in their translations. We have taken the list of sources in this series, all but one from the Iliad or Odyssey, from Scott Buchanan, ed., The Portable Plato [Viking], whose edition uses the Benjamin Jowett translation.)
"O heavens! With my eyes . . . ." Iliad XXII, 168.
"Woe is me . . . ." Iliad, XVI, 433.
Patroclus son of Menoetius and the dear friend of Achilles, he is a Greek hero in the Iliad.
"Inextinguishable laughter . . . ." Iliad I, 599.
"Any of the craftsmen, whether he be priest or physician or carpenter . . . ." Odyssey XVII, 383.
Diomede (also Diomedes) one of the great Greek heroes in the Trojan War.
"Friend, sit still and obey my word . . . ." Iliad IV, 412.
"The Greeks marched breathing prowess, . . . . in silent awe of their leaders . . . ." Odyssey III, 8; IV, 431.
"O heavy with wine . . . heart of a stag . . . ." Odyssey I, 225.
"the wisest of men" i.e., Odysseus.
"When the tables are full . . . into the cups" Odyssey IX, 8.
"The saddest of fates . . . ." Odyssey XII, 342.
"Without the knowledge of their parents" Iliad XIV, 281.
"Ares and Aphrodite . . . ." Odyssey VIII, 266.
"He smote his breast . . . ." Odyssey XX, 17.
"Gifts persuading gods . . . ." attributed to Hesiod.
Achilles counseled to help the Greeks if they gave him gifts Iliad IX, 515.
Achilles unwilling to restore Hector's dead body Iliad XXIV, 175.
"Thou has wronged me, O far-darter . . . ." Iliad XXII, 15 and following lines.
Achilles' insubordination to the river god Iliad XXI, 130, 223 and following lines.
Achilles' offering to the dead Patroclus of his own hair Iliad XXIII, 151.
Achilles' dragging of Hector's body round the tomb of Patroclus Iliad XXII, 394.
Achilles' slaughter of the captives Iliad XXIII, 175.
Cheiron Achilles' teacher.
Peleus a king of the Myrmidons, father of Achilles.
Theseus, son of Poseidon legendary Greek hero, sometimes said to be the son of the sea god Poseidon; he is supposed to have killed the Minotaur and conquered the Amazons, among other feats.
"The kindred of the gods, the relatives of Zeus . . . ." Aeschylus, from The Niobe.
Chryses in the Iliad, a priest of Apollo and the father of Chryseis, a young woman taken captive by the Greeks; he comes to ransom her, but Agamemnon refuses to give her up, so Apollo sends a pestilence upon the Greek army.
Achaeans in the Iliad, the followers of Achilles or the entire Greek army; another name for the Greeks. (Historically, the Achaeans were one of the first Hellenic tribes to invade Greece, probably during the third millennium B.C.)
Argos ancient city-state in the northeastern Peloponnesus: It dominated the Peloponnesus from the seventh century B.C. until the rise of Sparta.
tragedy here, a collective term for the plays of tragedians such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, etc.
dithyramb in ancient Greece, an impassioned choric hymn in honor of Dionysus; here it refers to a short poem or chant, usually irregular in meter, with a wild, inspired rhythm.
dicast in ancient Athens, any of a large group of citizens chosen annually to serve as a court hearing cases; here, an Athenian who performs the function of both judge and juryman at a trial.
Lydian, Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian ancient Greek musical scales; according to W. J. Baltzell's A Complete History of Music, these were all diatonic scales, all like the "natural minor" scales in modern Western music.
"Apollo and his instruments . . . Marsyas and his instruments" In Greek mythology, Marsyas was a satyr (a minor forest god, part man and part goat) who played the flute so well that he entered a contest with Apollo and lost; Apollo, as his prize, was allowed to do whatever he liked to Marsyas so he flayed the satyr alive. (In the following section of the dialogue, Socrates refers to various contemporary theories of music which held that certain kinds of harmony, rhythm, etc., are conducive to certain states of mind, emotions, etc. Socrates wants the future Guardians exposed only to those kinds of music that will prepare them to be courageous in battle; however, he here affects not to know much about the technical details of these musical theories.)
