[2501]: Health in the familiar skolion (Cf. Gorg. 451 E, Laws 631 C, 661 A, 728 D-E, Euthydem. 279 A-B, Meno 87 E, Soph. frag. 356) is proverbially the highest of ordinary goods. Cf. Gorg. 452 A-B, Crito 47 D, Eryxias 393 C. In fact, for Plato as for modern scientific ethics, health in the higher sense—the health of the soul—may be said to be the ultimate sanction. Cf. Vol. I. Introd. pp. xvi and xxi, Unity of Plato’s Thought, p. 26, Idea of Good in Plato’s Republic, pp. 192-194 f. But an idealistic ethics sometimes expresses itself in the paradox that not even health, highest of earthly goods, is of any value compared with the true interests of the soul. Cf. Laws 661 C-E ff., 728 D-E, 744 A, 960 D, Laches 195 C; and Arnold, Culture and Anarchy, p. 17 Bodily health and vigor . . . have a more real and essential value . . . but only as they are more intimately connected with a perfect spiritual condition than wealth and population are. This idea may be the source of the story from which the Christian Fathers and the Middle Ages derived much edification, that Plato intentionally chose an unhealthy site for the Academy in order to keep down the flesh. Cf. Aelian, Var. Hist. ix. 10, perhaps the first mention, Porphyry, De abstinentia i. 36, Zeller, Phil. d. Gr. ii. 1.4 416, n. 2; Camden on Cambridge, Gosse, Gossip in a Library, p. 23, and Himerius, Ecl. iii. 18 (Diels ii.3 p. 18)ἑκὼν δὲ ἐνόσει σῶμα Δημόκριτος, ἵνα ὑγιαίνῃ τὰ κρείττονα.
[2502]: Cf. What Plato Said, p. 485, on Laches 188 D.
[2503]: Cf. Phaedo 61 A.
[2504]: Cf. p. 355, note d, on 576 D.
[2505]: ὄγκον: cf. Horace’s use of acervus, Shorey on Odes ii. 2. 24.
[2506]: Cf. Vol. I. p. 163, note g, Newman i. p. 136. For the evils of wealth Cf. Laws 831 C ff., 870 B-C, Rep. 434 B, 550 D ff., etc.
[2507]: This analogy pervades the Republic. Cf. 570 C and p. 240, note b, on 544 D-E, Introd. Vol. I. p. xxxv. Cf. ὥσπερ ἐν πόλει 590 E, 605 B. For the subordination of everything to the moral life cf. also 443 D and p. 509, note d, on 618 C.
[2508]: As in the state, extremes of wealth and poverty are to be avoided. Cf. What Plato Said, p. 645, on Laws 915 B.
[2509]: Almost Aristotle’s use of ἕξις.
[2510]: Cf. pp. 52-55 on 496 D-E. The later schools debated the question whether the sage would take part in politics. Cf. Seneca, De otio. xxx. 2 f. and Von Arnim, Stoic Vet. Frag. i. p. 62. 22 f.: Zenon ait: accedet ad rempublicam (sapiens), nisi si quid impedierit; ibid. iii. p. 158. 31 ff.: consentaneum est huic naturae, ut sapiens velit gerere et administrare rempublicam atque, ut e natura vivat, uxorem adiungere et velle ex ea liberos; ibid. p. 174. 32: negant nostri sapientem ad quamlibet rempublicam accessurum; ibid. 37 ff.: praeterea, cum sapienti rempublicam ipso dignam dedimus, id est mundum, non est extra rempublicam, etiamsi recesserit; ibid. iii. p. 157. 40 ff. ἑπόμενον δὲ τούτοις ὑπάρχειν καὶ τὸ πολιτεύεσθαι τὸν σοφὸν καὶ μάλιστ’ ἐν ταῖς τοιαύταις πολιτείαις ταῖς ἐμφαινούσαις τινὰ προκοπὴν πρὸς τὰς τελείας πολιτείας ibid. p. 172. 18 f. δεύτερον δὲ τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς πολιτείας, πολιτεύεσθαι γὰρ κατὰ τὸν προηγούμενον λόγον. . . ; ibid. 173. 19 ff. ἔφαμεν δ’ ὅτι καὶ πολιτεύεσθαι κατὰ τὸν προηγούμενον λόγον οἷον ἐστι. μὴ πολιτεύεσθαι δὲ ἐάν τι κωλύῃ καὶ μάλιστ’ ἂν μηδὲν ὠφφελεῖν μέλλη τὴν πατρίδα, κινδύνους δὲ παρακολουθεῖν ὑπολαμβάνῃ μεγάλους καὶ χαλεποὺς ἐκ τῆς πολιτείας; ibid. p. 175. 3 f. πολιτεύεσθαι φασὶ τὸν σοφὸν ἂν μή τι κωλύη, ὥς φησι Χρύσιππος ἐν πρώτῳ περὶ βίων; ibid. 6 ff. Χρύσιππος δὲ πάλιν ἐν τῷ Περὶ Ῥητορικῆς γράφων, οὕτω ῥντορεύσειν καὶ πολιτεύεσθαι τὸν σοφόν, ὡς καὶ τοῦ πλούτου ὄντος ἀγαθοῦ, καὶ τῆς δόξης καὶ τῆς ὑγείας
[2511]: Cf. on 399 E, Phaedr. 228 B, Gorg. 466 C, 461 A, 482 B, Phaedo 98 E, 567 E.
[2512]: θεία . . . τύχη. So θεῖα μοῖρα is often used to account for an exception, e.g.493 A, Laws 875 C, 642 C, Meno 99 E, etc. Cf. θεῖον . . . ἐξαιρῶμεν λόγου 492 E.
[2513]: Lit. in words. This is one of the most famous passages in Plato, and a source of the idea of the City of God among both Stoics and Christians. Cf. Marc. Aurel. ix. 29 μηδὲ τὴν Πλάτωνος πολιτείαν ἔλπιζε, Justin Martyr’s επὶ γῆς διατρίβουσιν ἀλλ’ ἐν οὐρανῷ πολιτεύονται, which recalls Philippians iii. 20 ἡμῶν δὲ τὸ πολίτευμα ἐν οὐρανοῖς ὑπάρχει and also Heb. xii. 22, xi. 10 and 16, xiii. 14, Eph. ii. 19, Gal. iv. 26, Rev. iii. 12 and xxi. 2 ff. Ackermann, Das Christliche bei Platon, p. 24, compares Luke xvii. 21 the kingdom of God is within you. Cf. also John xviii. 36. Havet, Le Christianisme et ses origines, p. 207, says, Platon dit de sa République précisément ce qu’on a dit plus tard du royaume de Dieu, qu’elle n’est pas de ce monde. Cf. also Caird, Evolution of Theology in Greek Philosophy, ii. p. 170, Harnack, Hist. of Dogma(tr. Buchanan), vol. i. p. 332, ii. pp. 73-74 and 338, Proclus, Comm. 352 (Kroll i. 16); Pater, Marius the Epicurean, p. 212 Marcus Aurelius speaks often of that City on high, of which all other cities are but single habitations . . . , p. 213 . . . the vision of a reasonable, a divine order, not in nature, but in the condition of human affairs, that unseen Celestial City, Uranopolis, Callipolis . . .;ibid. p. 158 thou hast been a citizen in this wide city, and pp. 192-193. Cf. further Inge, Christian Ethics, pp. 104-105, let us fly hence to our dear country, as the disciples of Plato have repeated one after another. There are a few people who are so well adjusted to their environment that they do not feel, or rarely feel, this nostalgia for the infinite . . . Somewhat different is the Stoic idea of a world state and of the sage as citizen of the world, e.g. Marc. Aurel. iv. 4, Sen. De otio 31, Cic. Nat. deor. ii. 62 (154). Cf. Newman, Aristot. Pol. i. p. 92; also ibid. pp. 87-88. For the identification of the πόλις with philosophy cf. Diog. Laert. vi. 15 and vii. 40, Lucian, Hermotim. 22, Sale of Lives 17, Ver. Hist. 17, Proclus i. 16 (Kroll). Diogenes Laertius, ii. 7, reports that, when Anaxagoras was reproached for not concerning himself with the affairs of his country, he replied, Indeed, I am greatly concerned with my country, and pointed to heaven.
[2514]: Cf. 499 C-D.
[2515]: Cf. Theaet. 176 E, which Wilamowitz, Platon, ii. p. 179 says must refer to the Republic, Laws 739 D-E, 746 B, and What Plato Said, p. 458 on Euthyphro 6 E.
[2516]: ἑαυτὸν κατοικίζειν: Adam found a city in himself. See his note ad loc. Cf. Jebb on Soph. Oed. Col. 1004.
[2517]: Cf. 499 C-D, 472 B-E, and What Plato Said, p. 564.
[2518]: In Book III. On the whole question see Introd. Max. Tyr. Diss. 23 Εἰ καλῶς Πλάτων Ὅμηρον τῆς Πολιτείας παρῃτήσατο, and 32 ἔστι καθ’ Ὅμηρον αἵρεσις. Strabo i. 2 3. Athenaeus v. 12. 187 says that Plato himself in the Symposium wrote worse things than the poets whom he banishes. Friedländer, Platon, i. p. 138, thinks that the return to the poets in Book X. is intended to justify the poetry of Plato’s dialogues. On the banishment of the poets and Homer cf. also Minucius Felix (Halm), pp. 32-33, Tertullian (Oehler), lib. ii. c. 7, Olympiodorus, Hermann vi. p. 367, Augustine, De civ. Dei, ii. xiv.
[2519]: Supra 394 D, 568 B, and on 398 A-B, 607 A.
[2520]: In the narrower sense. Cf. Vol. I. p. 224, note c, on 392 D, and What Plato Said, p. 561.
[2521]: Lit. species. Cf. 435 B ff., 445 C, 580 D, 588 B ff., Phaedr. 271 D, Unity of Plato’s Thought, p. 42.
[2522]: Cf. Gorg. 462 B, Protag. 309 A, 339 E.
[2523]: Cf. 605 C, Meno 91 C, Laws 890 B.
[2524]: φάρμακον: this passage is the source of Plutarch’s view of literature in education; see Quomodo adolescens poetas audire debeat 15 C.
[2525]: Isoc. ii. 48-49 is perhaps imitating this. For Homer as a source of tragedy cf. also 598 D, 605 C-D, 607 A, 602 B, Theaet. 152 E, schol. Trendelenburg, pp. 75 ff.; Dryden, Discourse on Epic Poetry: The origin of the stage was from the epic poem . . . those episodes of Homer which were proper for the state the poets amplifies each into an action, etc. Cf. Aristot. Poet. 1448 b 35 f., Diog. Laert. iv. 40, and 393 A ff.
[2526]: Cf. What Plato Said, p. 532, on Phaedo 91 C, Aristot. Eth. Nic. 1096 a 16 ἄμφοιν γὰρ ὄντοιν φίλοιν ὅσιον προτιμᾶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, Henri-Pierre Cazac, Polémique d’Aristote contre la théorie platonicienne des Idées, p. 11, n.: Platon lui-même, critiquant Homère, . . . fait une semblabe réflexion, On doit plus d’égards à la vérité qu’à un homme. Cousin croit, après Camérarius, que c’est là l’origine du mot célèbre d’Aristote. Cf. St. Augustine, De civ. Dei. x. 30 homini praeposuit veritatem.
[2527]: For ἦ που Cf. Phaedo 84 D.
[2528]: Perhaps a slight failure in Attic courtesy. Cf. Laws 715 D-E, and for ὀξύτερον βλεπόντων927 B, Euthydem. 281 D, Rep. 404 A, Themist. Orat. ii. p. 32 C. Cf. the saying πολλάκι καὶ κηποῦρος ἀνὴρ μάλα καίριον εἶπεν.
[2529]: Cf. Phaedo 76 D, 100 B, Phileb. 16 D, 479 E, Thompson on Meno 72 D. See Zeller, Phil. d. Gr. ii. 1. p. 660. The intentional simplicity of Plato’s positing of the concept here (cf. 597 A), and his transition from the concept to the idea, has been mistaken for a primitive aspect of his thought by many interpreters. It is quite uncritical to use Aristot. Met. 991 b 6 ff. to prove that Plato’s later theory of ideas did not recognize ideas of artefacts, and therefore that this passage represents an earlier phase of the theory. He deliberately expresses the theory as simply as possible, and a manufactured object suits his purpose here as it does in Cratyl. 389. See also ibid, Introd. pp. xxii-xxiii.
[2530]: Forms with a capital letter is even more misleading than ideas.
[2531]: Cf. Cratyl. 389 A-B. There is no contradiction, as many say, with 472 D.
[2532]: Cf. Emerson, The Poet: and therefore the rich poets—as Homer, Chaucer, Shakespeare and Raphael—have no limits to their riches except the limits of their lifetime, and resemble a mirror carried through the streets ready to render an image of every created thing. (Cf. 596 D-E κάτοπτρον περιφέρειν and Julian, Or. v. 163 D.) Empedocles, fr. 23 (Diels i.3 pp. 234-235): ὡς δ’ ὁπόταν γραφέες . . . δένδρεά τε κτίζοντε καὶ ἀνέρας ἠδὲ γυναῖκας . . .
[2533]: Climax beyond climax. Cf. on 508 E p. 104, note c.
[2534]: It is a tempting error to refer this to God, as I once did, and as Wilamowitz, Platon. i. p. 604 does. So Cudworth, True Intel. System of the Universe, vol. ii. p. 70: Lastly, he is called ὃς πάντα τά τε ἄλλα ἐργάζεται, καὶ ἑαυτόν, he that causeth or produceth both all other things, and even himself. But the producer of everything, including himself, is the imitator generalized and then exemplified by the painter and the poet. Cf. Soph. 234 A-B.
[2535]: Eurip. Hippol. 921 δεινὸν σοφιστὴν εἶπας.
[2536]: καὶ τίς is sceptical as in Aristoph. Acharn. 86.
[2537]: Art is deception. Diels ii.3 p. 339, Dialex. 3 (10) ἐν γὰρ τραγωιδοποιίᾳ καὶ ζωγραφίᾳ ὅστις κε πλεῖστα ἐξαπατῇ ὅμοια τοῖς ἀληθινοῖς ποιέων, οὗτος ἄριστος, Xen. Mem. iii. 10. 1 γραφική ἐστιν εἰκασία τῶν ὁρωμένων. Cf. Plut. Quomodo adolescens 17 F-18 A on painting and poetry. There are many specious resemblances between Plato’s ideas on art and morality and those of the lunatic fringe of Platonism. Cf. Jane Harrison, Ancient Art and Ritual, pp. 21-22, Charles F. Andrews, Mahatma Gandhi’s Ideas, p. 332. William Temple, Plato and Christianity, p. 89: In the tenth book of the Republic he says that, whereas the artificer in making any material object imitates the eternal idea, an artist only imitates the imitation (595 A-598 D); but in Book V he said that we do not blame an artist who depicts a face more beautiful than any actual human face either is or ever could be (472 D). But this does not affect Plato’s main point here, that the artist imitates the real world, not the world of ideas. The artist’s imitation may fall short of or better its model. But the model is not the (Platonic) idea.
[2538]: ὃ ἔστι belongs to the terminology of ideas. Cf. Phaedo 74 D, 75 B, 75 D, Rep. 507 B.
[2539]: τελέως . . . ὄν: Cf. 477 A, and Soph. 248 E παντελῶς ὄντι.
[2540]: An indirect reference to Plato and his school like the friends of ideas in Soph. 248 A.
[2541]: Cf. 597 C, 598 A, 501 B φύσει, Phaedo 103 B, Parmen. 132 D.
[2542]: Proclus says that this is not seriously meant (apud Beckmann, Num Plato artifactorum Ideas statuerit, p. 12). Cf. Zeller, Phil. d. Gr. ii. 1, p. 666, who interprets the passage correctly; A. E. Taylor, in Mind, xii. p. 5 Plato’s meaning has been supposed to be adequately indicted by such half-jocular instances as that of the idea of a bed or table in Republic x., etc.
[2543]: In Tim. 31 A the same argument is used for the creation of one world ἵνα . . . κατὰ τὴν μόνωσιν ὅμοιον ᾖ τῷ παντελεῖ ζώῳ. See my De Plat. Idearum doct. p. 39. Cf. Renan, Dialogues Phil. p. 25: Pour forger les premières tenailles, dit le Talmud, il fallut des tenailles. Dieu les créa.
[2544]: The famous argument of the third man. Cf. What Plato Said, p. 585, on Parmen. 132 A and Introd. p. xxiii.
[2545]: Cf. Soph. 265 E θήσω τὰ μὲν φύσει λεγόμενα ποιεῖσθαι θείᾳ τέχνῃ, Hooker, Eccles. Pol. i. 3. 4 those things which Nature is said to do are by divine art preformed, using nature as an instrument, Browne, apud J. Texte, Etudes de littérature européenne, p. 65 la nature est l’art de Dieu, Cic. De nat. deor. ii. 13 deoque tribuenda, id est mundo, De leg. i. 7. 21, Seneca, De benef. iv. 7 quid enim aliud est natura quam deus? Höffding, Hist. of Mod. Philos. ii. 115 Herder uses the word Nature in his book in order to avoid the frequent mention of the name of God.
[2546]: Cf. 587 C, Phaedr. 248 E, where the imitator is sixth in the scale.
[2547]: Cf. Gorg. 488 D, Soph. 222 C.
[2548]: Cf. Soph. 263 B, Cratyl. 385 B, Euthydem. 284 C.
[2549]: Cf. 599 A, Soph. 232 A, 234 E, 236 B, Prot. 356 D.
[2550]: Cf. 581 E.
[2551]: For εἴδωλον cf. p. 197, note e.
[2552]: Commentators sometimes miss the illogical idiom. So Adam once proposed to emend τεχνῶν to τεχνίτων, but later withdrew this suggestion in his note on the passage. Cf. 373 C, Critias 111 E, and my paper in T.A.P.A. xlvii. (1916) pp. 205-234.
[2553]: Cf. Soph. 234 B.
[2554]: So Dryden, Essay on Satire: Shakespeare . . . Homer . . . in either of whom we find all arts and sciences, all moral and natural philosophy without knowing that they ever studied them, and the beautiful rhapsody of Andrew Lang, Letters to Dead Authors, p. 238: They believe not that one human soul has known every art, and all the thoughts of women as of men, etc. Pope, pref. to his translation of the Iliad: If we reflect upon those innumerable knowledges, those secrets of nature and physical philosophy which Homer is generally supposed to have wrapped up in his allegories, what a new and ample scene of wonder may this consideration afford us. Cf. Xen. Symp. 4. 6. Brunetière, Epoques, p. 105, says: Corneille . . . se piquait de connaître à fond l’art de la politique et celui de la guerre. For the impossibility of universal knowledge Cf. Soph. 233 A, Charm. 170 B, Friedländer, Platon, ii. p. 146 on Hipp. Min. 366 C ff. Cf. also Ion 536 E, 541 B, 540 B, and Tim. 19 D. Tate, Plato and Allegorical Interpretation, Class. Quarterly, Jan. 1930, p. 2 says: The true poet is for Plato philosopher as well as poet. He must know the truth. This ignores the ἄρα in 598 E. Plato there is not stating his own opinion but giving the arguments of those who claim omniscience for the poet. Wilamowitz, Platon, ii. p. 313 n. 1 completely misunderstands and misinterprets the passage. Cf. Class. Phil. xxvii. (1932) p. 85. E.E. Sikes, The Greek View of Poetry, p. 175, says Rymer held that a poet is obliged to know all arts and sciences. Aristotle from a different point of view says we expect the wise man to know everything in the sense in which that is possible, Met. 982 a 8.
[2555]: Cf. οὐδενὸς ὅτου οὐχί Charm. 175 C, οὐδὲν ὅτι οὐ Ala. I 105 E, Phil. 54 B, Phaedo 110 E, Euthyph. 3 C, Euthydem. 294 D, Isoc. Panegyr. 14, Herod. v. 97.
[2556]: πάσσοφος is generally ironical in Plato. Cf. What Plato Said, p. 489, on Lysis 216 A.
[2557]: For ἀνεπιστημοσύνην Cf. Theaet. 199 E f.
[2558]: For Homer as tragedian cf. on 595 B-C, p. 420, note a.
[2559]: Cf. on 598 B.
[2560]: Cf. 598 B.
[2561]: Cf. Petit de Julleville, Hist. lit. francaise vii. p. 233, on the poet Lamartine’s desire to be a practical statesman, and ibid: Quand on m’apprendrait que le divin Homère a refusé les charges municipales de Smyrne ou de Colophon, je ne croirais jamais qu’il eût pu mieux mériter de la Grèce en administrant son bourg natal qu’en composant l’Iliade et l’Odyssée.
[2562]: But Cf. Symp. 209 D.
[2563]: For the challenge to the poet to specify his knowledge Cf. Ion 536 E f.
[2564]: Cf. Ion 541 A f.
[2565]: Cf. Gorg. 515 B, Laches 186 B.
[2566]: Cf. Laws 630 D, 632 D, 858 E, Symp. 209 D, Phaedr. 258 B, Minos 318 C, Herod. i. 65-66, Xen. Rep. Lac. 1. 2 and passim, Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus.
[2567]: Cf. Symp. 209 D, Phaedr. 258 B, 278 C, Charm. 155 A, 157 E, Prot. 343 A, Tim. 20 E ff., Herod. i. 29 ff. and 86, ii. 177, v. 113, Aristot. Ath. Pol. v. ff., Diog. Laert. i. 45 ff., Plutarch, Life of Solon,Freeman, The Work and Life of Solon.
[2568]: On the literature of inventions, εὑρήματα, see Newman ii. p. 382 on Aristot. Pol. 1274 b 4. Cf. Virgil, Aen. vi. 663 inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes, and Symp. 209 A.
[2569]: Diog. Laert. i. 23-27.
[2570]: Diog. Laert. i. 105 says he was reported to be the inventor of the anchor and the potter’s wheel.
[2571]: In the (spurious?) seventh epistle, 328 A, Plato speaks of the life and λόγος advocated by himself. Cf. Novotny, Plato’s Epistles, p. 168.
[2572]: Diels i3 pp. 27 f.
[2573]: Cf. ὀρφικοὶ . . . βίοι Laws 782 C.
[2574]: Of the beef-clan. The scholiast says he was a Chian and an epic poet. See Callimachus’s epigram apud Sext. Empir., Bekker, p. 609 (Adv. Math. i. 48), and Suidas s. v. κρεώφυλος
[2575]: Modern Greeks also are often very sensitive to the etymology of proper names. Cf. also on 580 B, p. 369, note d.
[2576]: See on 540 B, p. 230, note d.
[2577]: Cf. Prot. 315 A-B, 316 C.
[2578]: See What Plato Said, p. 486, on Laches 197 D.
[2579]: For διοικεῖν Cf. Protag. 318 E.
[2580]: See Thompson on Meno 70 B.
[2581]: On μόνον οὐκ Cf. Menex. 235 C, Ax. 365 B.
[2582]: Stallbaum refers to Themist. Orat. xxii. p. 254 A ὃν ἡμεῖς διὰ ταύτην τὴν φαντασίαν μόνον οὐκ ἐπὶ ταῖς κεφαλαῖς περιφέρομεν, Erasmus, Chiliad iv. Cent. 7 n. 98 p. 794, and the German idiom einen auf den Händen tragen.
[2583]: Cf. Protag. 328 B.
[2584]: The article perhaps gives the word a contemptuous significance. So Meno 89 B τὸ χρυσίον.
[2585]: οἴκοι εἶναι: J. J. Hartman, Ad Platonis Remp. 600 E, Mnem. 1916, p. 45, would change εἶναι to μεῖναι. But cf. Cic. Att. vii. 10 erimus una.
[2586]: Cf. 366 E. Gorg. 471 C-D, Symp. 173 D.
[2587]: Or about which they versify, playing with the double meaning of ποιεῖν.
[2588]: For the association of χρώματα and σχήματα Cf. Phileb. 12 E. 47 A, 51 B, Laws 669 A, Soph. 251 A, Meno 75 A with Apelt’s note, Cratyl. 431 C, Gorg. 465 B, Phaedo 100 D, Aristot. Poet. 1447 a 18-19.
[2589]: Cf. Symp. 198 B, Apol. 17 C. The explicit discrimination of ὀνόματα as names of agents and ῥήματα as names of actions is peculiar to Soph. 262. But Cf. Cratyl. 431 B, 425 A, Theaet. 206 D. And in Soph. 257 B ῥήματι is used generally. See Unity of Plato’s Thought, pp. 56-57. Cf. Euthydem. 304 E with Symp. 187 A, Phaedr. 228 D, 271 C and my note in Class. Phil. xvii. (1922) p. 262.
[2590]: Cf. What Plato Said, p. 593 on Soph. 240 A.
[2591]: Cf. 607 C, Laws 840 C, Protag. 315 A-B.
[2592]: Cf. Gorg. 502 C εἴ τις περιέλοι τῆς ποιήσεως πάσης τό τε μέλος καὶ τὸν ῥυθμόν, 392, Ion 530 b, Epicharmus apud Diog. Laert. iii. 17 περιδύσας τὸ μέτρον ὃ νῦν ἔχει, Aeschines, In Ctes. 136 περιελόντες τοῦ ποιητοῦ τὸ μέτρον, Isoc. Evag. 11 τὸ δὲ μέτρον διαλύσῃ with Horace, Sat. i. 4. 62 invenias etiam disiecti membra poetae, Aristot. Rhet. 1404 a 24 ἐπεὶ δ’ οἱ ποιηταὶ λέγοντες εὐήθη διὰ τὴν λέξιν ἐδόκουν πορίσασθαι τήνδε τὴν δόξαν. Sext. Empir., Bekker, pp. 665-666 (Adv. Math. ii. 288), says that the ideas of poets are inferior to those of the ordinary layman. Cf. also Julian, Or. ii. 78 D, Coleridge, Table Talk: If you take from Virgil his diction and metre what do you leave him?
[2593]: Aristot. Rhet. 1406 b 36 f. refers to this. Cf. Tyrtaeus 8 (6). 28 ὄφρ’ ἐρατῆς ἥβης ἀγλαὸν ἄνθος ἔχῃ, Mimnermus i. 4 ἥβης ἄνθη γίγνεται ἁρπαλέα; Theognis 1305: παιδείας πλουηράτου ἄνθος ὠκύτερον σταδίου Xen. Symp. 8. 14 τὸ μὲν τῆς ὥρας ἄνθος ταχὺ δήπου παρακμάζει, Plato, Symp. 183 E τῷ τοῦ σώματος ἄνθει λήγοντι
[2594]: The δέ γε has almost the effect of a retort.
[2595]: Cf. Aristot. Eth. Nic. 1094 a 10-11 καθάπερ ὑπὸ τὴν ἱππικὴν ἡ χαλινοποιικὴ. . .
[2596]: For the idea that the user knows best see Cratyl. 390 B, Euthydem. 289 B, Phaedr. 274 E. Zeller, Aristotle(Eng.) ii. p. 247, attributes this pertinent observation to Aristotle. Cf. Aristot. Pol. 1277 b 30 αὐλητὴς ὁ χρώμενος. See 1282 a 21, 1289 a 17. Coleridge, Table Talk: In general those who do things for others know more about them than those for whom they are done. A groom knows more about horses than his master. But Hazlitt disagrees with Plato’s view.
[2597]: So in Laws 669 A-B, Plato says that the competent judge of a work of art must know three things, first, what it is, second, that it is true and right, and third, that it is good.
[2598]: For the reference of beauty to use see Hipp. Maj. 295 C ff.
[2599]: πίστιν ὀρθήν is used because of πιστεύων above. It is a slightly derogatory synonym of δόξαν ὀρθήν below, 602 A. Cf. 511 E.
[2600]: This does not contradict book V. 477-478. For right opinion and knowledge cf. 430 B and What Plato Said, p. 517, on Meno 98 A-B.
[2601]: χαρίεις is ironical like χαριέντως in 426 A and καλόν in Theaet. 183 A, but Glaucon in his answer takes it seriously.
[2602]: Note the accumulation of particles in the Greek. Similarly in 619 B, Phaedo 59 D, 61 E, 62 B, 64 A, Parmen. 127 D, Demosth. xxiii. 101, De cor. 282, Pind. Pyth. iv. 64 A, Isoc. Peace 1, Aristot. De gen. et corr. 332 a 3, Iliad vii. 360.
[2603]: Cf. on 536 C, p. 214, note b.
[2604]: Cf. 608 A.
[2605]: For ἐν ἔπεσι cf. 607 A, 379 A, Meno 95 D.
[2606]: The antithesis of περί and πρός marks the transition.
[2607]: Cf. Protag. 356 A, 523 C.
[2608]: Cf. Tennyson (The Higher Pantheism) For all we have power to see is a straight staff bent in a pool. For the illusions of sense, and measurement as a means of correcting them Cf. Phileb. 41 E-42 A f., 55 E, Protag. 356 C-D, Euthyphro 7 C.
[2609]: ἐπιθεμένη helps to personify σκιαγραφία. Cf. Gorg. 464 C.
[2610]: Adam’s leaves no magic art untried is misleading. ἀπολείπειν is here used as in 504 C. For the idiomatic οὐδὲν ἀπολείπει see p. 200, note b, on 533 A.
[2611]: Cf. Xen. Mem. i. 1. 9.
[2612]: Cf. Protag. 356 D ἡ τοῦ φαινομένου δύναμις
[2613]: λογισάμενον: Cf. Laws 644 D, Crito 46 B.
[2614]: Cf. Vol. I. p. 36, note a. Of course some of the modern connotations of function are unknown to Plato.
[2615]: For λογιστικοῦ cf. on 439 D.
[2616]: See p. 448, note c, and my Platonism and the History of Science, p. 176.
[2617]: 436 B, Vol. I. p. 383.
[2618]: Cf. 604 D, Phaedr. 253 D and E.
[2619]: Cf. Lysias ix. 4 ἐπὶ μηδενὶ ὑγιεῖ and for the idiom οὐδὲν ὑγιές on 523 B, p. 153, note f.
[2620]: Cf. 496 A, and on 489 D, p. 26, note b.
[2621]: Cf. Phaedo 92 D διὰ τῶν εἰκότων.
[2622]: Cf. 399 A-B, Laws 655 D, 814 E ff., Aristot. Poet. 1448 A 1-2 ἐπεὶ δὲ μιμοῦνται οἱ μιμούμενοι πράττοντας ἀνάγκη δὲ τούτους ἢ σπουδαίους ἢ φαύλους εἶναι, ibid. 1449 b 36-37 f.
[2623]: See What Plato Said, p. 505, on Gorg. 482 A-B.
[2624]: Cf. 554 D, and p. 394, note e, on 586 E.
[2625]: 439 B ff.
[2626]: Plato sometimes pretends to remedy an omission or to correct himself by an afterthought. So in Book V. 449 B-C ff., and Tim. 65 C.
[2627]: 387 D-E.
[2628]: This suggests the doctrine of μετριοπάθεια as opposed to the Stoic ἀπάθεια. Joel ii. 161 thinks the passage a polemic against Antisthenes. Seneca, Epist. xcix. 15 seems to agree with Plato rather than with the Stoics: inhumanitas est ista non virtus. So Plutarch, Cons. ad Apol. 3 (102 cf.). See also ibid. 22 (112 E-F). Cf. Horace, Odes ii. 3. 1 aequam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem, and also Laws 732 C, 960 A.
[2629]: Cf. Laws 645 A, Phaedr. 238 C, and for the conflict in the soul also Rep. 439 B ff.
[2630]: The conflict proves that for practical purposes the soul has parts. Cf. 436 B ff.
[2631]: Cf. Apology, in fine.
[2632]: Cf. Laws 803 B and Class. Phil. ix. p. 353, n. 3, Friedländer, Platon, i. p. 143.
[2633]: Höffding, Outlines of Psychology, p. 99, refers to Saxo’s tale of the different effect which the news of the murder of Regner Lodbrog produced on his sons: he in whom the emotion was the weakest had the greatest energy for action.
[2634]: Cf. Herod. i. 20 πρὸς τὸ παρεὸν βουλεύηται.
[2635]: Cf. Eurip. Electra 639 and fr. 175 πρὸς τὸ πῖπτον, Iph. Aul. 1343 and Hippol. 718 πρὸς τὰ νῦν πεπτωκότα, Epictet. ii. 5. 3. See also Stallbaum ad loc.
[2636]: Cf. 440 B, 607 B, Herod. i. 132.
[2637]: Cf. Demosthenes’ description of how barbarians box iv. 40 (51), ἀεὶ τῆς πληγῆς ἔχεται.
[2638]: Cf. Soph. Ajax 582 θρηνεῖν ἐπῳδὰς πρὸς τομῶντι πήματι with Ovid, Met. i. 190: sed immedicabile vulnus Ense recidendum est.
[2639]: Cf. on 603 B, p. 450, note a.
[2640]: ἔχει in the sense of involves, admits of, as frequently in Aristotle’s Metaphysics.
[2641]: For πέπηγεν cf. 530 D.
[2642]: ἀντίστροφον is used as in Aristot. Rhet. 1354 a 1.
[2643]: Cf. p. 412, note d.
[2644]: Cf. p. 420, note a, on 595 B-C.
[2645]: For ἐν πένθει cf. Soph. El. 290, 846, Herod. i. 46.
[2646]: Cf. Phileb. 48 A.
[2647]: See the description in Ion 535 E, and Laws 800 D.
[2648]: This is qualified in 387 E-388 A by οὐδὲ ταύταις σπουδαίαις. Cf. also 398 E.
[2649]: Cf. Vol. I. p. 509, note b, on 473 E.
[2650]: Cf. Isoc. Panegyr. 168 for a different application.
[2651]: This contains a hint of one possible meaning of the Aristotelian doctrine of κάθαρσις, Poet. 1449 b 27-28. Cf. κουφίζεσθαι μεθ’ ἡδονῆς Pol. 1342 a 14, and my review of Finsler, Platon u. d. Aristot. Poetik, Class. Phil. iii. p. 462. But the tone of the Platonic passage is more like that of Ruskin, Sesame and Lilies: And the human nature of us imperatively requiring awe and sorrow of some kind, for the noble grief we should have borne with our fellows, and the pure tears we should have wept with them, we gloat over the pathos of the police court and gather the night dew of the grave.
[2652]: This anticipates the idea of the censor in modern psychology.
[2653]: Cf. τῇ δ’ ἀσφαλείᾳ κερδανεῖς Eurip. Herc. Fur. 604, which is frequently misinterpreted; Herod. viii. 60. 3.
[2654]: For the psychology Cf. Laws 656 B and on 385 C-D.
[2655]: Cf. 442 A.
[2656]: Cf. Vol. I. p. 211, note f, La Bruyère, Des Ouvrages de l’esprit (Oeuvres, ed. M. G. Servois, i. p. 137): D’où vient que l’on rit si librement au théâtre, et que l’on a honte d’y pleurer?
[2657]: In the Laws 816 D-E Plato says that the citizens must witness such performances since the serious cannot be learned without the laughable, nor anything without its opposite; but they may not take part in them. That is left to slaves and foreigners. Cf. also Vol. I. p. 239, note B, on 396 E.
[2658]: I.e. as opposed to public performances. Cf. Euthydem. 305 D ἐν δὲ ἰδίοις λόγοις, Theaet. 177 B, Soph. 232 C ἔν γε ταῖς ἰδίαις συνουσίαις, and Soph. 222 C προσομιλητικήν with Quintil. iii. 4. 4. Wilamowitz, Antigonos von Karystos, p. 285, fantastically says that it means prose and refers to Sophron. He compares 366 E. But see Laws 935 B-C.
[2659]: Cf. 603 C.
[2660]: Cf. 550 B.
[2661]: Isocrates, Panegyr. 159, says Homer was given a place in education because he celebrated those who fought against the barbarians. Cf. also Aristoph. Frogs 1034 ff.
[2662]: The same conjunction is implied in Protagoras’s teaching, Protag. 318 E and 317 B.
[2663]: For the μέν Cf. Symp. 180 E, Herod. vii. 102.
[2664]: The condescending tone is that of Euthydem. 306 C-D.
[2665]: Aristotle, Poet. 1453 a 29, says that Euripides is τραγικώτατος of poets.
[2666]: Cf. 605 C, 595 B-C.
[2667]: Cf. Laws 801 D-E, 829 C-D, 397 C-D, 459 E, 468 D, Friedländer, Platon, i. p. 142, and my review of Pater, Plato and Platonism, in The Dial, 14 (1893) p. 211.
[2668]: Cf. Laws 802 C τῆς γλυκείας Μούσης. See Finsler, Platon u. d. aristot. Poetik, pp. 61-62.
[2669]: See on 604 C, p. 455, note h.
[2670]: For the quarrel between philosophy and poetry Cf. Laws 967 C-D, Friedländer, Platon, ii. p. 136. It still goes on in modern times.
[2671]: Unknown
[2672]: Wilamowitz, Platon, i. p. 252, conjectures that these quotations are from Sophron; cf. also ibid. ii. pp. 386-387.
[2673]: Unknown
[2674]: Cf. p. 420, note b, on 595 C.
[2675]: Cf. ibid, Introd. p. lxiii.
[2676]: In Laws 658 D Plato says that old men would prefer Homer and epic to any other literary entertainment.
[2677]: This was taken up by Aristotle (Poetics), Plutarch (Quomodo adolescens), Sidney (Defense of Poesie), and many others.
[2678]: βίᾳ μέν, ὅμως δέ: Cf. Epist. iii. 316 E, and vii. 325 A, and Raeder, Rhein. Mus. lxi. p. 470, Aristoph. Clouds 1363 μόλις μὲν ἀλλ’ ὅμως, Eurip. Phoen. 1421 μόλις μέν, ἐξέτεινε δ’, and also Soph. Antig. 1105, O.T. 998, Eurip. Bacch. 1027, Hec. 843, Or. 1023, El. 753, Phoen. 1069, I.A. 688, 904.
[2679]: Ironical, as καλλίστη in 562 A.
[2680]: For ἐπᾴδοντες Cf. Phaedo 114 D, 77 E.
[2681]: Cf. 602 B.
[2682]: Cf. on 591 E, p. 412, note d.
[2683]: Cf. Phaedo 114 C, 107 C, Phaedr. 247 B, Gorg. 526 E, Blaydes on Aristoph. Peace 276, and for the whole sentence Phaedo 83 B-C, 465 D, 618 B-C f. and p. 404, note d, on 589 E.
[2684]: ἐπαρθέντα: cf. 416 C.
[2685]: Cf. 404 C, 509 A, 548 B, 588 a, Apol. 41 C, Charm. 155 D.
[2686]: Clement, Strom. iv. p. 496 B ὁθούνεκ’ ἀρετὴ τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις μόνη οὐκ ἐκ θυραίων τἀπίχειρα λαμβάνει, αὐτὴ δ’ ἑαυτὴν ἆθλα τῶν πόνων ἔχει.
[2687]: Cf. on 496 A, p. 9, mote f and 498 D.
[2688]: For the colorless use of πρᾶγμα see What Plato Said, p. 497, on Protag. 330 C-D. Cf. Shakes. Hamlet,I. iv. 67 being a thing immortal as itself.
[2689]: ἐμβλέψας: Cf. Charmides 155 C.
[2690]: Glaucon is surprised in spite of 498 D. Many uncertain inferences have been drawn from the fact that in spite of the Phaedo and Phaedrus(245 C ff.) interlocutors in Plato are always surprised at the idea of immortality. Cf. ibid, Introd. p. lxiv.
[2691]: For the idiomatic εἰ μὴ ἀδικῶ cf. 430 ECharm. 156 A, Menex. 236 B, 612 D.
[2692]: Cf. Protag. 341 A τὸ χαλεπὸν τοῦτο, which is a little different, Herod. vii. 11 τὸ δεινὸν τὸ πείσομαι.
[2693]: See Vol. I. p. 90, note a and What Plato Said, p. 567, on Cratyl. 385 B.
[2694]: Ruskin, Time and Tide 52 (Brantwood ed. p. 68): Every faculty of man’s soul, and every instinct of it by which he is meant to live, is exposed to its own special form of corruption,; Boethius, Cons. iii. 11 (L.C.L. trans. p. 283), things are destroyed by what is hostile; Aristot. Top. 124 a 28 εἰ γὰρ τὸ φθαρτικὸν διαλυτικόν.
[2695]: γε vi termini. Cf. 379 A, Phaedo 106 D.
[2696]: See What Plato Said, p. 490, on Lysis 216 D.
[2697]: Cf. Vol. I. p. 529, note a, on 478 D.
[2698]: Cf. Aristot. Pol. 1309 b 28 μηδὲ ῥῖνα ποιήσει φαίνεσθαι.
[2699]: The argument that follows is strictly speaking a fallacy in that it confounds the soul with the physical principle of life. Cf. on 35 C and on 352 E, Gorg. 477 B-C, and ibid, Introd. p. lxvii. But Dean Inge, Platonism and Human Immortality (Aristot. Soc., 1919, p. 288) says: Plato’s argument, in the tenth book of the Republic, for the immortality of the soul, has found a place in scholastic theology, but is supposed to have been discredited by Kant. I venture to think that his argument, that the soul can only be destroyed by an enemy (so to speak) in pari materia, is sound. Physical evils, including death, cannot touch the soul. And wickedness does not, in our experience, dissolve the soul, nor is wickedness specially apparent when the soul (if it perishes at death) would be approaching dissolution. Cf. 610 C. Someone might object that wickedness does destroy the soul, conceived as a spiritual principle.
[2700]: Plato generally disregards minor distinctions when they do not affect his point.
[2701]: Cf. 610 D.
[2702]: For the challenge to refute or accept the argument Cf. Soph. 259 A, 257 A, Gorg. 467 B-C, 482 B, 508 A-B, Phileb. 60 D-E.
[2703]: Or to take the bull by the horns. For ὁμόσε ἰέναι see What Plato Said, p. 457, on Euthyph. 3 C. Cf. ἐγγὺς ἰόντες Phaedo 95 B.
[2704]: Herbert Spencer nearly does this: Death by starvation from inability to catch prey shows a falling short of conduct from its ideal. It recalls the argument with which Socrates catches Callicles in Gorg. 498 E, that if all pleasures are alike those who feel pleasure are good and those who feel pain are bad.
[2705]: For the future indicative after εἰ, usually minatory or monitory in tone, cf. Aristoph. Birds 759, Phileb. 25 D.
[2706]: Cf. Phaedo 107 C, 84 B, Blaydes on Aristoph. Acharn. 757.
[2707]: μάλα is humorous, as in 506 D, Euthydem 298 D, Symp. 189 A.
[2708]: Cf. Horace, Epist. i. 2. 32 ut iugulent hominem surgunt de nocte latrones.
[2709]: For the metaphor Cf. Proverbs viii. 12 σοφία κατεσκήνωσα βουλήν. Plato personifies injustice, as he does justice in 612 D,σκιαγραφία in 602 D, bravery in Laches 194 A,κολαστική in Soph. 229 A,κολακευτική Gorg. 464 C,σμικρότης Parmen. 150 A πονηρία Apol. 39 A-B, and many other abstract conceptions. See further Phileb. 63 A-B, 15 D, 24 A, Rep. 465 A-B, Laws 644 C, Cratyl. 438 D.
[2710]: σχολῇ: cf. 354 C, Phaedo 106 D.
[2711]: Cf. 345 D.
[2712]: Cf. Carveth Read, Man and His Superstitions p. 104: Plato thought that by a sort of law of psychic conservation there must always be the same number of souls in world. There must therefore be reincarnation. . . .
[2713]: Cf. Phaedo 72 C-D.
[2714]: The idea of self-contradiction is frequent in Plato. See What Plato said, p. 505, on Gorg. 482 B-C.
[2715]: σύνθετον: Cf. Phaedo 78 C, Plotinus, Enneades i. 1. 12, Berkeley, Principles, 141: We have shown that the soul is indivisible, incorporeal, unextended; and it is consequently incorruptible. . . . cannot possibly affect an active, simple, uncompounded substance. See also Zeller, Ph. d. Gr. ii. 1, pp. 828-829.
[2716]: 603 D. see also Frutiger, Mythes de Platon, pp. 90 f.
[2717]: Such as are given in the Phaedo, Phaedrus, and perhaps elsewhere.
[2718]: Cf. also Phaedo 82 E, 83 D-E, 81 C, and Wisdom of Solomon ix 14 φθαρτὸν γὰρ σῶμα βαρύνει ψυχήν, καὶ βρίθει τὸ γεῶδες σκῆνος νοῦν πολυφρόντιδα, for the corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things.
[2719]: See schol. Hermann vi. 362, Eurip. Or. 364 f., Apollonius, Argon. 1310 ff., Athenaeus 296 B and D, Anth. Pal. vi. 164, Frazer on Pausanias ix. 22. 7, Gädecker, Glaukos der Meeresgott, Göttingen, 1860.
[2720]: Cf. Tim. 42 C προσφύντα.
[2721]: Cf. Phaedr. 250 C ὀστρέου τρόπον δεδεσμευμένοι, Phaedo 110 A.
[2722]: Cf. Phaedo 79 D, Laws 899 D, and 494 D τὸ σιγγενὲς τῶν λόγων.
[2723]: Cf. Phileb. 55 C περικρούωμεν, 519 A περιεκόπη.
[2724]: Cf. Charm. 158 A, Laws 695 A, 783 A. See λεγόμενα ἀγαθά491 C, 495 A, Laws 661 C.
[2725]: Cf. Phaedo 246 A.In Tim. 72 D Plato says that only God knows the truth about the soul. See Laws 641 D, and Unity of Plato’s Thought, p. 42.
[2726]: Cf. Phaedr. 271 A.
[2727]: ὅπῃ καὶ ὅπως: cf. 621 B, Phaedo 100 D, Tim. 37 A-B, Laws 652 A, 834 E, 899 A and B.
[2728]: 363 B-C.
[2729]: 359 D f.
[2730]: Cf. 367 E.
[2731]: Iliad v. 845, Blaydes on Aristoph. Acharn. 390.
[2732]: Cf. Soph. 243 A, Laws 801 E ἄνευ φθόνων, Eurip. Hippol. 497 οὐκ ἐπίφθονον, Aeschines, De falsa legatione 167 (49). Friedländer, Platon, ii. p. 406 does object and finds the passage inconsistent with the idealism of 592 and with Laws 899 D ff. and 905 B. Cf. Renan, Averroes, pp. 156-157, Guyau, Esquisse d’une morale, pp. 140-141. See Unity of Plato’s Thought, p. 80 and n. 612, Idea of Justice in Plato’s Republic, pp. 197-198. Gomperz, ignoring this passage and interpreting the Republic wholly from 367 E, strangely argues that Phaedo 107 C proves that the Phaedo must have been composed at a time when Plato was less sure of the coincidence of justice and happiness. A religious thinker may in his theodicy justify the ways of God to man by arguing that worldly happiness is not the real happiness, and yet elsewhere remark that, as a rule, the righteous is not forsaken even in this world. Cf. Psalm 37.25 ff., Prov. 10.3 and passim. See Renan, Hist. du Peuple d’Israel, p. 376: Il en est de ces passages comme de tant de préceptes de l’Evangile, insensés si on en fait des articles de code, excellents si on n’y voit, que l’expression hyperbolique de hauts sentiments moraux.
[2733]: Cf. Polit. 267 A.
[2734]: τοῦ λόγου ἕνεκα: not the same as λόγου ἕνεκα. See on 581 C, p. 374, note a.
[2735]: Cf. εἰ μὴ ἀδικῶ 608 D.
[2736]: For the idiom ὥσπερ ἔχει δόξης cf. 365 A ὡς . . . ἔχουσι τιμῆς, 389 C ὅπως . . . πράξεως ἔχει, Thucyd. i. 22 ὡς . . . μνήμης ἔχοι. For the thought cf. Isoc. viii. 33.
[2737]: Cf. Phileb. 22 B and E.
[2738]: γε vi termini. Cf. 379 A and Class. Phil. x. p. 335.
[2739]: Cf. 365 D.
[2740]: Cf. Phileb. 39 E.
[2741]: Cf. 352 B.
[2742]: This recalls the faith of Socrates in Apol. 41 C-D and Phaedo 63 B-C, and anticipates the theodicy of Laws 899 D ff., 904 D-E ff.
[2743]: Besides obvious analogies with Buddhism, this recalls Empedocles fr. 115, Diels i3 p. 267.
[2744]: Cf. ὁμοίωσις θεῷ Theaet. 176 B, and What Plato Said, p. 578, p. 72, note d.
[2745]: Cf. Laws 716 C-D, 904 E.
[2746]: For the order Cf. Laws 913 B λεγόμενον εὖ, Thucyd. i. 71. 7, Vahlen, Op. acad. i. 495-496. for the figure of the race cf. Eurip. El. 955, 1Corinthians ix. 24 f., Heb. xii. 1, Gal. ii. 2, v. 7, Phil. ii. 16.
[2747]: English idiom would say, with their tails between their legs. Cf. Horace, Sat. i. 9. 20 dimitto auriculas. For the idea cf. also Laws 730 C-D, Demosth. ii. 10, and for εἰς τέλος, Laws 899 E πρὸς τέλος, Hesiod, Works and Days 216 ἐς τέλος ἐξελθοῦσα, Eurip. Ion 1621 εἰς τέλος γὰρ οἱ μὲν ἐσθλοὶ τυγχάνουσιν ἀξίων, for the good at last shall overcome, at last attain their right. (Way, Loeb tr.)
[2748]: Cf. Vol. I. pp. 125-127, 362 B-C.
[2749]: He turns the tables here as in Gorg. 527 A. The late punishment of the wicked became an ethical commonplace. Cf. Plutarch’s De sera numinis vindicta 1, also Job and Psalms passim.
[2750]: Cf. 361 E ἀγροικοτέρως, and Gorg. 473 C.
[2751]: i.e. the just and unjust man.
[2752]: τελέως: cf. 361 A.
[2753]: See Proclus, In Remp.,Kroll ii. 96 ff., Macrob. in Somnium Scip. i. 2. The Epicurean Colotes highly disapproved of Plato’s method of putting his beliefs in this form. See Chassang, Histoire du roman, p. 15. See also Dieterich, Nekyia, pp. 114 ff., and Adam ad loc.
[2754]: Odyssey ix.-xii. The term also became proverbial for a lengthy tale. See K. Tümpel, Ἀλκίνου ἀπόλογος, Philologus 52. 523 ff.
[2755]: Plato puns on the name Alcinous. For other puns on proper names see on 580 B. See Arthur Platt, Plato’s Republic, 614 B, Class. Review, 1911, pp. 13-14. For the ἀλλὰ μέν without a corresponding δέ he compares Aristoph. Acharn. 428 οὐ Βελλεροφόντης· ἀλλὰ κἀκεῖνος μὲν ἦ χωλός . . . (which Blaydes changed to ἀλλὰ μήν), Odyssey xv. 405 and Eryxias 308 B.
[2756]: Perhaps we might say, of the tribe of Everyman. For the question of his identity see Platt, loc. cit.
[2757]: Thomas Browne, Urn Burial, ch. iii., Plato’s historian of the other world lies twelve days incorrupted, while his soul was viewing the large stations of the dead, See also Rohde, Psyche ii.6 pp. 92-93.
[2758]: Stories of persons restored to life are fairly common in ancient literature. There are Eurydice and Alcestis in Greek mythology, in the Old Testament the son of the widow revived by Elijah (1Kings xvii. 17 ff. Cf. 2Kings iv. 34 ff. and xiii. 21), in the New Testament the daughter of Jairus (Matt. ix. 23 f.), the son of the widow of Nain (Luke vii. 11 ff.), and Lazarus(John xi.). but none of these recount their adventures. Cf. also Luke xvi. 31 If they hear not Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded through one rose from the dead. But in that very parable Lazarus is shown in Abraham’s bosom and the rich man in torment. See further, Proclus, In Remp. ii. pp. 113-116, Rohde, Psyche ii.6 p. 191.
[2759]: For the indirect reflexive cf. p. 507, note f, on 617 E.
[2760]: For the description of the place of judgement cf. also Gorg. 524 A. Cf. Phaedo 107 D, 113 D, where there is no description but simply the statement that the souls are brought to a place and judged. On the topography of the myth in general cf. Bréhier, La Philos. de Plot. pp. 28-29: Voyez, par exemple, la manière dont Numénius . . . interprète le mythe du Xe livre de Ia République, et comment il précise, avec Ia lourdeur d’un théologien, les traits que la poésie de Platon avait abandonnés à l’imagination du lecteur. Le lieu du jugement devient le centre du monde; le ciel platonicien devient Ia sphère des fixes; le lieu sonterrain où sont punies les âmes, ce sont les planètes; la bouche du ciel, par laquelle les âmes descendront à la naissance, est le tropique du Cancer; et c’est par le Capricorne qu’elles remontent.
[2761]: Cf. Gorg. 523 E f., 524 E-525 B, 526 B-C.
[2762]: Gorg. 526 B.
[2763]: Cf. Gorg. 525 A-B, 526 B. For right and left cf. the story of the last judgement, Matt. xxv. 33-34 and 41.
[2764]: Cf. the rich man’s request that a messenger be sent to his brethren, Luke xvi. 27-31.
[2765]: ἐκεῖ: so in 330 D, 365 A, 498 C, Phaedo 61 E, 64 A, 67 B, 68 E, Apol. 40 E, 41 C, Crito 54 B, Symp. 192 E. In 500 D and Phaedr. 250 A it refers to the world of the ideas, in 516 C and 520 C to the world of the cave.
[2766]: Cf. Gorg. 524 A.
[2767]: Cf. 621 A, 610 E, and John i. 14 ἐσκήνωσεν.
[2768]: Cf. 421 B.
[2769]: Cf. Phaedr. 256 D, Epist. vii. 335 B-C.
[2770]: Phaedr. 249 A, Virgil, Aen. vi. 748.
[2771]: The ideal Hindu length of life is said to be 100 years.
[2772]: For the words Cf. Tim. 76 E εὐθὺς γιγνομένοις. Plato does not take up the problem of infant damnation! Warburton says, and I make no doubt but the things not worth to be remembered was the doctrine of infants in purgatory, which appears to have given Plato much scandal, who did not at that time at least reflect upon its original and use. See also Mozley, Augustinian Doctrine of Predestination, p. 307, apud Seebohm. The Oxford Reformers (3rd ed.), p. 495: Augustine had laid down that the punishment of such children was the mildest of all punishment in hell. . . . Aquinas laid down the further hypothesis that this punishment was not pain of body or mind, but want of the Divine vision. Virgil, Aen. vi. 427, Anth. Pal. ix. 359. 10 θανεῖν αὐτίκα τικτόμενον. Stallbaum and Ast think ἀποθανόντων dropped out of the text after γενομένων.
[2773]: Cf. Phaedo 113 E-114 A, where there is a special penalty for murderers and parricides.
[2774]: Cf. Archelaus in Gorg. 471.
[2775]: Cf. Gorg. 525 D-526 A.
[2776]: Cf. Gorg. 525 C, and What Plato Said, p. 536, on Phaedo 113 E. Biggs, Christian Platonists, ii. p. 147 At the first assize there will be found those who like Ardiaeus are incurable.
[2777]: This naturally suggests the devils, of Dante (Inferno xxi. 25 ff.) and other mediaeval literature. See Dieterich, Nekyia, p.4 and pp. 60 f.
[2778]: See Rogers on Aristoph. Knights 262. Cf. Herod. i. 92 ἐπὶ κνάφου ἕλκων διέφθειρε.
[2779]: Il. viii. 13 f., Hesiod, Theog. 682, 721, etc., Pind. Pyth. i. 15 f., Eurip. Orest. 265 μέσον μ’ ὀχμάζεις ὡς βάλῃς εἰς Τάρταρον.
[2780]: Cf. Blaydes on Aristoph. Knights 279, Acts xxvii. 17.
[2781]: Plotinus, Enn. ii. 3 9, p. 35, vol. ii. Budé e. Mais (dira-t-on) rappelons-nous le fuseau; pour les anciens, c’était un fuseau matériel que tournent en filant les Moires; pour Platon, il représente le ciel des fixes; or les Moires et la Nécessité, leur mère, en le faisant tourner, filent le destin de chaque être à sa naissance; par elle, les êtres engendrés arrivent â la naissance, etc. St. Paulinus Nolanus calls it a deliramentum. Tannery, Science hellène, p. 238, thinks it alludes to the system of Parmenides. Le fuseau central de la Nécessité l’indique suffisamment; si la présence des sirènes est une marque de pythagorisme, elle pent seulement signifier soit les relations de Parménide avec l’école soit plutôt l’origine des déterminations particulières que donne Platon et qui évidemment ne remontent pas à l’Eléate. Cf. ibid. p. 246. For various details of the picture cf. Milton, the Genius’s speech in Arcades (quoted and commented on in E.M.W. Tillyard, Milton, p. 376).
[2782]: Cf. Burnet, Early Greek Philos. pp. 216-217 In Plato’s Myth of Er, which is certainly Pythagorean in its general character, we do not hear of spheres but of the lips of concentric whorls fitted into one another like a nest of boxes . . . With 616-617 Cf. Laws 822 A-B, Tim. 36 D, Dante, Convivio, ii. 3. 5 ff. The names of the planets occur first in Epinomis 987 B-C.
[2783]: Burnet, op. cit. p. 123, says; This view that the planets had an orbital motion from west to east is attributed by Aetios ii. 16. 3 to Alkmaion (96), which certainly implies that Pythagoras did not hold it. As we shall see (152) it is far from clear that any of the Pythagoreans did. It seems rather to be Plato’s discovery. Cf. ibid. p. 352.
[2784]: The best mss. have τὸν before τρίτον. It is retained by some editors, but Schleiermacher rejected it and Adam and Burnet omit it.
[2785]: The music of the spheres. Cf. Cic. De nat. deor. iii. 9. 26, Mayor, vol. iii. p. 86, Macrob. on Somn. Scip. ii. 3, Ritter-Preller (9th ed.), pp. 69-70 ( 81-82), K. Gronau, Poseidonios und die jüdisch-christliche Genesisexegese, pp. 59-61. Aristotle’s comment, De caelo 290 b 12 ff., is that the notion of a music of the spheres is pretty and ingenious, but not true. He reports the (Pythagorean?) explanation that we do not hear it because we have been accustomed to it from birth. see Carl v. Jan, Die Harmonie der Sphären, Philologus, lii. 13 ff.
[2786]: Pictured in Michelangelo’s Le Parche. Cf. Catullus 64. 306 ff.; Lowell, Villa Franca: Spin, Clotho, spin, Lachesis twist and Atropos sever.
[2787]: See What Plato Said, p. 550, on Phaedr. 235 C.
[2788]: Cf. Laws 923 A, Pindar, Pyth. viii. 95, Aesch. Prom. 83, 547, Aristot. Hist. an. 552 b 18 f., Cic. Tusc. i. 39. 94, Plut. Cons. ad Apol. 6 (104 A)ἀνθρώπων . . . ἐφήμερα τὰ σώματα, ibid. 27 (115 D)ἐφήμερον σπέρμα. See also Stallbaum ad loc., and for the thought Soph. Ajax 125-126, Iliad i. 146, Mimnermus ii. 1, Soph. fr. 12 and 859 (Nauck), Job vii. 6, viii. 9, ix. 25, xiv. 2, xxi. 17, etc.
[2789]: Zeller-Nestle, p. 166, says that this looks like intentional correction of Phaedo 107 D. Cf. Phaedo 113 D and Lysias ii. 78 ὅ τε δαίμων ὁ τὴν ἡμετέραν μοῖραν εἰληχὼς ἀπαραίτητος. Arnobius, Adversus gentes, ii. 64, says that similarly Christ offers us redemption but does not force it upon us.
[2790]: Cf. Milton’s Love Virtue; she alone is free (Comus).
[2791]: Justin Martyr. Apol. xliv. 8, quotes this. Cf. Tim. 42 D, Dieterich, Nekyia, p. 115, Odyssey i. 32 f., Bacchylides xiv. 51 f. (Jebb, p. 366) Ζεὺς . . . οὐκ αἴτιος θνατοῖς μεγάλων ἀχέων, etc., Manitius, Gesch. d. lat. Lit. d. Mittelalters, ii. p. 169. For the problem of evil in Plato see What Plato Said, p. 578 on Theaet. 176 A, and for the freedom of the will ibid. pp. 644-645 on Laws 904 C.
[2792]: Cf. Symp. 175 C, where the words are the same but the construction different. For the indirect reflexive cf. 614 B οὖ ἐκβῆναι, Symp. 176 D, Symp. 223 B ἓ δὲ ὕπνον λαβεῖν.
[2793]: For διατελεῖς Cf. Laws 661 D τυραννίδα διὰ τέλους.
[2794]: For the idiom ἀναγκαίως ἔχειν Cf. Phaedo 91 E, Laws 771 E, 928 E, Lysias vi. 35.
[2795]: μεσοῦν Phaedr. 241 D.
[2796]: Cf. Phaedo 107 C, 114 D, Gorg. 526 E, Eurip. Medea 235 ἀγὼν μέγιστος, Thucyd. i. 32. 5 μέγας ὁ κίνδυνος, Aristoph. Clouds 955 νῦν γὰρ ἅπας . . . κίνδυνος ἀνεῖται, Frogs 882 ἀγὼν . . . ὁ μέγας, Antiphon v. 43 ἐν ᾦ μοι ὁ πᾶς κίνδυνος ἦν. For the expression Cf. Gorg. 470 E ἐν τούτῳ ἡ πᾶσα εὐδαιμονία ἐστιν.
[2797]: Cf. 443-444, 591 E-592 A, Gorg. 527 B f., Laws 662 B f., 904 A ff.
[2798]: The singular verb is used after plural subjects, because the subjects are united in the writer’s mind into one general idea. Cf. Rep. 363 A, Laws 925 E, Symp. 188 B.
[2799]: See Unity of Plato’s Thought, p. 25, Laws 661-662, and for the word 360 B, Gorg. 509 A.
[2800]: Cf. 576 D.
[2801]: An anticipation of the Aristotelian doctrine, Eth. Nic. 1106 b 6 f. Cf. What Plato Said, p. 629, on Laws 691 C.
[2802]: Cf. Isoc. Epist. vi. 12 Xen. Hiero 7. 2 ὅμως προπετῶς φέρεσθε εἰς αὐτήν.
[2803]: Cf. What Plato Said, p. 532, on Phaedo 90 D.
[2804]: Phaedo 82 B.
[2805]: Cf. Phaedo 81 E ff., Phaedr. 248-249, Tim. 42 A-D, 91 D ff. For the idea of reincarnation in Plato see What Plato Said, p. 529, on Phaedo 81 E-82 B.
[2806]: Urwiek, The Message of Plato, p. 213, says: If Plato knew anything at all of Indian allegory, he must have known that the swan (Hamsa) is in Hinduism the invariable symbol of the immortal Spirit; and to say, as he does, that Orpheus chose the life of a swan, refusing to be born again of a woman, is just an allegorical way of saying that he passed on into the spiritual life. . . .
[2807]: Like Orpheus a singer. He contended with the Muses in song and was in consequence deprived by them of sight and of the gift of song. Cf. also Ion 533 B-C, Laws 829 D-E, Iliad ii. 595.
[2808]: Cf. Aesch. Ag. 114 ff.
[2809]: Who built the Trojan horse. See Hesychius s. v.
[2810]: Cf. Iliad ii. 212 ff.
[2811]: For ἀπράγμονος cf. on 565 A, p. 316, note b.
[2812]: Phaedr. 249 specifies that only beasts who had once been men could return to human form.
[2813]: Cf. 617 E, and for daemons in Plato What Plato Said, pp. 546-547, on Symp. 202 E, Dieterich, Nekyia, p. 59.
[2814]: δίνης: Cf. Cratyl. 439 C and Phaedo 99 B.
[2815]: Cf. Laws 960 C.
[2816]: τὰ ἐπικλωσθέντα: Cf. Laws 957 E, Theaet. 169 C, and the Platonic epigram on Dion, Anth. Pal. vii. 99 Μοῖραι ἐπέκλωσαν, Od. i. 17, iii. 208, etc., Aesch. Eumen. 335, Callinus i. 9 Μοῖραι ἐπικλώσως.
[2817]: Cf. Aristoph. Frogs 186.
[2818]: In later literature it is the river that is called Lethe. Cf. Aeneid vi. 714 f.
[2819]: In Tim. 41 D-E each soul is given a star as its vehicle. Cf. Aristoph. Peace 833 f. ὡς ἀστέρες γιγνόμεθ’ ὁταν τις ἀποθάνῃ . . . with the Platonic epigram to Ἄστηρ: . . νῦν δὲ θανὼν λάμπεις Ἕσπερος ἐν φθιμένοιςThere is an old superstition in European folklore to the effect that when a star falls a soul goes up to God. Cf. also Rohde, Psyche, ii.6 p. 131.
[2820]: Cf. Phaedrus 243 B ἀνέβλεψεν.
[2821]: Cf. Phileb. 14 A, Laws 645 B, Theaet. 164 D.
[2822]: Phaedo 58 B ἔσωσε τε καὶ αὐτὸς ἐσώθη. σώζειν is here used in its higher sense, approaching the idea of salvation, not as in Gorg. 511 C f., 512 D-E, Laws 707 D, where Plato uses it contemptuously in the tone of whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it.
[2823]: Cf. James i. 27, Phaedo 81 B, 2Peter iii. 14, and the Emperor Julian’s last speech animum . . . immaculatum conservavi. Cf. Marius the Epicurean, pp. 15-16: A white bird, she told him once, looking at him gravely, a bird which he must carry in his bosom across a crowded public place his own soul was like that.
[2824]: Cf. Laws 693 B ἑαυτῇ φίλην, Rep. 589 B, Horace, Epist. i. 3. 29 si nobis vivere cari. Jowett’s dear to one another misses the point. Cf. my review of Lemercier, Les Pensées de Marc-Aurèle, in Class. Phil. vii. p. 115: In iii. 4, in fine, the words οἵγε οὐδὲ αὐτοὶ ἑαυτοῖς ἀρέσκονται are omitted because le gens que méprise Marc-Aurèle sont loin de mépriser eux-mêmes. That is to forget that Seneca’s omnis stultitia fastidio laborat sui is good Stoic doctrine, and that the idea that only the wise and good man can be dear to himself is found in the last sentence of Plato’s Republic. Cf. also Soph. OC 309 τίς γὰρ ἐσθλὸς οὐχ αὑτῷ φίλος;.
[2825]: Cf. Vol. I. p. 480, note c, on 465 D.
[2826]: For the thought Cf. Gorg. 527 C εὐδαιμονήσεις καὶ ζῶν καὶ τελευτήσας. Cf. Vol. I. p. 104, note b, on 353 E. The quiet solemnity of εὖ πράττωμεν illustrates the same characteristic of style that makes Plato begin his Laws with the word θεός, and Dante close each of the three sections of the Divine Comedy with stelle.