Fear in the Ideal City: Plato's Laws

While in the Republic Plato refers to fear mainly vis-à-vis his preoccupation with teaching the virtuous citizens of Kallipolis not to fear death (386a–b; 387c–388d; 397d–e; 486a; 578a; 603e– 606c; cf. Leg. 732c; 800c–e; 949b; 958c–960b), he employs a staggering number of references to fear in the Laws where the new colony of Magnesia inspires him to revisit his proposal for an ideal constitution. Although he acknowledges that citizens are at risk of becoming “drunk with fear” (639a: ὑπὸ μέθης τοῦ φόβου ναυτιᾷ) as much as with other passions that threaten to overwhelm their soul, yet fear-producing wine is praised as a dependable medicine/potion (647e1: φόβου φάρμακον) that contributes critically to fostering the right civic ethos. Plato, aware of the twofold nature of fear (646e-647c), insists that “we must endeavour to master [the disorders of the soul] by the three great principles of fear and law and right reason” (783a: τρισὶ μὲν τοῖς μεγίστοις πειρᾶσθαι κατέχειν, φόβῳ καὶ νόμῳ καὶ τῷ ἀληθεῖ λόγῳ), confident that fear provides the best test ever of superior and inferior natures (831a–b). Thus, my paper explores Plato’s concept of fear as a powerful tool used to instil civic coherence but also as a state of mind akin to the Bacchic state (791a-b). The reference, hardly discussed in the bibliography, stresses Plato’s obsession with introducing fear-induced Bacchic soberness not only to individual philosophers as in the Republic (and elsewhere in his corpus, notably the Phaedrus) but to every citizen of the ideal city.