Book 10

Book ten begins with Socrates' thoughts on imitation. He uses forms, as usual, for his examples. Couches and chairs are created by couch and chair makers who know the essence of a couch or chair. Ill buy it. He wonders if painters paint what is or what looks. He concludes that a painter's craft is far from truth because he only imitates what something looks like. This brings us to the second conclusion that imitation is far from truth. We then go off on a tangent about Homer and whether he is as near what is, or the truth, as people say. Socrates points out that if Homer were really capable of knowing rather than imitating as the painter does he would have had much more success in his own time. In the middle of book ten he says, "one must accept the fall of the dice and settle one's affairs accordingly." This struck me when i first read it. It goes along fine from the viewpoint of a man trying to govern a city, but i read from the position of a citizen, who by nature must question what happens. Accepting how the dice falls is what the people of Germany did in WWII. I say the dice may fall one way, but you can always roll a second hand. Of course, Socratese was referring to a man who has had some certain misfortune, like the death of the son, in which case there is no second chance. He says that a strong man of virtue will grieve, but will also not hold on to the pain.