{
  "id": "a_tlvm4d5i",
  "oid": 165072,
  "revision": 1,
  "revision_oid": 165073,
  "work": "orthodoxy",
  "edition": "pg16769-r1",
  "title": "Who authorizes the nurse's stories?",
  "anchors": [
    {
      "unit": "CH04.P007",
      "oid": 72,
      "role": null,
      "edition": "pg16769-r1",
      "paragraph": "CH04.P007",
      "exact": "the solemn and star-appointed priestess at once of democracy and tradition",
      "start": 154,
      "end": 228,
      "prefix": " it from a nurse; that is, from ",
      "suffix": ". The things I believed most the",
      "url": "/orthodoxy/pg16769-r1/CH04.P007#char=154,228"
    }
  ],
  "body_markdown": "Plato supplies a revealing comparison for this elevation of the nurse. In *Republic* II, 377a–378e, Socrates likewise treats childhood storytelling as a lasting formation of character. But he requires approved tales and puts mothers and nurses under the supervision of those directing education; many inherited stories must be rejected. Chesterton makes the traditional storyteller herself a bearer of philosophical authority. Both accounts take nursery stories seriously; they locate the authority to judge them differently. This is a comparison, not evidence that Chesterton is answering Plato here. The inspected text is Benjamin Jowett's English translation in Project Gutenberg ebook 1497, not a Greek textual witness; the ancient dialogue should not be dated by this digital edition. [*Republic*, Book II](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1497/1497-h/1497-h.htm).",
  "sources": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1497/1497-h/1497-h.htm",
      "title": "Plato, The Republic, translated by Benjamin Jowett",
      "locator": "Book II, Stephanus 377a–378e; dialogue beginning 'You know ... that we begin by telling children stories'",
      "exact": null
    }
  ],
  "citations": [],
  "external_references": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1497/1497-h/1497-h.htm",
      "title": "*Republic*, Book II"
    }
  ],
  "limits": [
    "No direct engagement with Plato is established.",
    "The Gutenberg witness identifies Jowett but does not establish which print revision underlies the inspected text; no revision date is asserted."
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "run": "chapter-04-restart-2026-11-07",
    "paragraph_investigator": "P007",
    "task": [
      {
        "approach": "Assumed knowledge and unusual language",
        "question": "What does the joke about Greeks and dryads imply about ancient attention to trees?"
      },
      {
        "approach": "Philosophical contextualization: then and since",
        "question": "How does the authority granted to the nursery storyteller compare with Plato's treatment of mothers, nurses and formative tales?"
      }
    ],
    "model": "gpt-6.1-sol"
  },
  "content_sha256": "sha256:7c18d3ef5253d534eea7a010ec501cabace9a6ada5ac84a470a475425b9f9f39",
  "created_at": "2026-11-07T16:59:22Z",
  "is_current": true,
  "url": "/a/a_tlvm4d5i",
  "revision_path": "/a/a_tlvm4d5i/r/1",
  "cited_by": []
}