Plato’s Puppets of the Gods: Representing the Magical, the Mystical and the Metaphysical KEN MOORE More than any ancient writer, Plato depends on argument by analogy for the explanation of his doctrines; “this was because he treated so largely of the unseen and intangible.”1 Starting in book 1 of the Laws, and referenced elsewhere, Plato’s Athenian Stranger introduces an extended metaphor whereby human beings are likened to “puppets of the gods” or “divine marvels” (thauma . . . theion).2 Occurring in the context of theorizing about law, this is a key element of an unusually metaphysical discussion within a text that, on the surface at any rate, deals less in metaphysics than earlier works, although it frequently alludes to, and presupposes, an understanding of Platonic philosophy and metaphysics. The aim here is to examine this cryptic metaphor in context and in the light of relevant scholarship in order to unpack its significance. It touches on a number of subjects ranging from Plato’s concept of the controlled drinking party and issues surrounding sexual desire to the broader workings of the psychê. On the one hand, it functions within the realm of Platonic metaphysics regarding representation and, as such, connects with the Theory of Forms. On the other, it partakes more broadly of ancient Greek and Near Eastern traditions concerning puppetry and its place in religious and mystical rites. Appropriate to both of these topoi, the allegorical “puppets of the gods” motif entails a number of Pythagorean elements as well. This metaphor is introduced at Laws 644d7 ff. Plato’s Athenian Stranger is discussing the impact on human beings arion 22.2 fall 2014 of expectations about the future, fear, and calculation. The last one of these, (logismos), also renderable as “reckoning,” is identified with Reason’s “golden cord” that guides the psychai of mortals along the correct path.3 “When logismos has become the dogma of the polis,” says the Athenian Stranger, “it is named nomos [law].”4 His interlocutors request further elaboration and he says: Let us conceive of it in the following way. Let us suppose that each of us living creatures is a puppet of the gods, whether contrived as some kind of toy or for some serious purpose; for as to that we know nothing, but we do know that these inner affections of ours, like sinews or cords, drag us along and, being opposed to one another , pull against each other in opposing actions. And herein resides the dividing line between good and evil. For, as our argument declares, there is one of these pulling forces which every person should always follow and in no way leave hold of, counteracting thereby the pull of the other cords. It is this leading golden and holy string of calculation that is titled the public law of the state.5 The Laws is dominated by the notion that the (true) lawgiver is divinely inspired and that the law itself is the work of divinity.6 The word translated as “puppet” here, thauma, literally means “marvel.”7 And a thauma theion would be some kind of “divine marvel” or a “marvel of the gods”; although , from the context, it is clear that he is referring to puppets, or specifically marionettes, about which I shall discuss more below. In this metaphor, a recognizable Platonic formula emerges whereby one who yields to the baser “iron” cords is considered “self-inferior” and one who obeys the “golden cord” is “self-superior.”8 The baser ones are of iron, presumably because, unlike gold, iron rusts; and he may also be making an offhanded allusion here to Hesiod ’s degenerate Age of Iron in the Works and Days.9 This psychological theory, and its tangible illustration in the fable of the puppets, illuminates the nature of “self-mastery” that has been promoted as a paradigm for virtue since the inception of the dialogue (626e2–6, 633d5–e6). Victory over plato’s puppets of the gods 38 one’s self, even if apparently paradoxical prima facie, amounts to victory of the “better” part of the psychê over the “worse” (626e7–627d4).10 While Plato’s “puppets of the gods” metaphor represents fundamental features of...