Getting Ready for Plato's Republic

The schedule, plus some notes on translations

At the end of this month, we’re going to read Plato’s Republic together. The Republic is traditionally divided into ten books, which gives us a helpful division for working through the text together.

Here’s the schedule:

• March 31: Book I

• April 7: Book II

• April 14: Book III

• April 21: Reading Week

• April 28: Book IV

• May 5: Book V

• May 8: Members-Only Zoom Call, 3PM Eastern

• May 12: Book VI

• May 18: Members-Only Zoom Call, 8PM Eastern

• May 19: Book VII

• May 26: Reading Week

• June 2: Book VIII

• June 9: Book IX

• June 16: Book X

• June 22: Members-Only Zoom Call, 8PM Eastern

If you look back at the original post where I announced the 2025 read-alongs, you’ll see that I wrote:

Considered by modern readers to be the pinnacle of Plato’s philosophy, the Republic is traditionally divided into ten books. This is a true essential of ancient Greek philosophy, and we’ll benefit from reading it together.

I expect us to read this in March, April, and the beginning of May. I’ll let you know which editions to buy, and which to avoid, about a month before.

Well, as you can see, I was a little too optimistic about when we’d read it. Since we need a small break between The Dispossessed and The Republic, we won’t start until the very end of March, and then we’ll need all of April, May, and June to read it. I also wanted to include two reading weeks to help you catch up if you fall behind and, conveniently for me, one of those reading weeks is the day after Orthodox Easter, which is a day where I am typically very tired (Orthodox Christians tend to stay up all night that weekend, and the feast after the liturgy can be long). I’ll have to adjust the rest of 2025’s read-alongs accordingly.

Thanks in advance for your flexibility.

Which edition should you buy? I’m going to recommend several, and I’m going to tell you to avoid one in particular.

You can read either the Grube translation published by Hackett or the Griffith translation published by Cambridge if you want to follow along with my exact wording. I’ll likely refer to Griffith more often, but this remains to be seen. The Hackett volume is, like all of their volumes, affordable and reliable.

You should not read the Oxford World Classics edition translated by Waterfield. The translator made the choice to ignore the traditional divisions of The Republic, dividing it into 14 chapters rather than 10 books. This is a fine enough editorial choice, but it makes for an awful experience in a read-along structured by the traditional 10 book division. So, please do not read this. If someone tries to read that Oxford edition and asks for guidance on what to read each week, I won’t be able to offer any.

One other possibility you could read is the Emlyn-Jones and Preddy translation from Loeb Classical Library. This translation is found in two handsome hardback volumes. These are notable for also containing the Greek text.

Loeb reached out to me and offered to send some free copies. Because of that, I have two sets of the Loeb Republic to give away to readers. If you’d like to enter to win, all you need to do is comment down below expressing interest and telling me what you hope to learn in this read-along of The Republic. That’s it. I’ll pick two names at random from the comments.

But, I need to specify that since I’m paying for shipping, I can only send this to US readers. International shipping simply isn’t in the budget right now, and I don’t want these volumes to get lost across the ocean. Additionally, please only enter the giveaway if you honestly expect to complete the read-along. I can’t enforce that second condition (I won’t come and confiscate the volumes if you fall behind), but consider it a matter of honor. I want these volumes to go to someone who will read them!

You don’t need to be a paying subscriber to enter the read-along; it is open to free and paid readers alike. But if you want to join the Zoom calls, or you just want to help me keep this project going, consider becoming a paid subscriber.