διέξοδοι
means finished narratives or descriptions (cf.
λόγῳ διεξελθών and
διεξιέναι in
320C
. It is to be noted that so far we have not got beyond
ποίησις ψιλή (i.e. unaccompanied by music): lyric poetry begins to be studied when the lyre has been learnt (l. 25).
ἕτερα τοιαῦτα
: for the phrase see on
Apol. 26A
. The accusative (internal) depends on
ἐπιμελοῦνται as in
325C
ἐπιμελοῦνται πᾶσαν ἐπιμέλειαν and
Laws, VII. 812E
ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ὁ παιδευτὴς ἐπιμελείσθω: the whole phrase is equivalent to
ἑτέραν τοιαύτην σωφροσύνης τε ἐπιμέλειαν ποιοῦνται . Verbs taking the external object in the genitive or dative are not precluded from taking the internal object in the accusative.
εἰς τὰ κιθαρίσματα ἐντείνοντες.
ἐντείνειν εἰςis to stretch into, i.e. to ‘put into’: whence
ἐντείνειν ἐς κύκλον χωρίον τρίγωνον ‘to describe a triangle in a circle’ (
Meno, 87A
);
περὶ γάπ τοι τῶν ροιημάτων ὦν ρεροίηκας ἐντείνας τοὺς τοῦ Αἰσώρου λόγους of adapting to metre (
Phaed. 60D); and here of accompanying poems on the lyre: the boys learn the poems and tunes (made by the poet) together, while the Citharist plays the lyre. Plato in the
Laws, VII. 812D
ff. requires the
κιθαρίσματα to be identical with the tune to which the poem is sung:
δεῖ—τοῖς φθόγγοις τῆς λύπας ρποσχπῆσθαι—τόν τε κιθαπιστὴν καὶ τὸν ραιδευόμενον, ἀροδιδόντας ρπόσχοπδα τὰ φθέγματα τοῖς φθέγμασι· τὴν δ’ ἑτεποφωνίαν καὶ ροικιλίαν τῆς λύπας, ἄλλα μὲν μέλη τῶν χοπδῶν ἱεισῶν, ἄλλα δὲ τοῦ τὴν μελω?δίαν ξυνθέντος ροιητοῦ—ράντα τὰ τοιαῦτα μὴ προσφέρειν κτλ.
ῥυθμούς τε καὶ ἁρμονίας.
ῥυθμοίtimes or rhythms (cf.
Rep. III. 399E
ff.),
ἁρμονίαι scales (
ibid.
398D
ff.).
ῥυθμός and
ἁρμονία between them make up
μουσική in the narrower sense: see
Symp. 187A
ff., where music is defined as
περὶ ἁρμονίαν καὶ ῥυθμὸν ἐρωτικῶν ἐπιστήμη—περὶ ἁρμονίαν since it reconciles
ὀξύ and
βαρύ, περὶ ῥυθμόν since it reconciles
ταχύ and
βραδύ .
οἰκειοῦσθαι ταῖς ψυχαῖς τῶν παίδων
. Sauppe quotes
Rep. III. 401D
κυριωτάτη ἐν μουσικῇ τροφή, ὅτι μάλιστα καταδύεται εἰς τὸ ἐντὸς τῆς ψυχῆς ὄ τε ῥυθμὸς καὶ ἁρμονία καὶ ἐρρωμενέστατα ἅπτεται αὐτῆς.
εὐρυθμότεροι καὶ εὐαρμοστότεροι
. See
Rep. III. 400C ff., where, after it is shown that
τὸ εὔρυθμον and
τὸ εὐάρμοστον imply
εὐλογία , Plato continues (400D)
εὐλογία ἄρα καὶ εὐαπμοστία καὶ εὐσχημοσύνη καὶ εὐπυθμία εὐηθείᾳ ἀκολουθεῖ, οὐχ ἣν ἄνοιαν οὖσαν ὑροκοπιζόμενοι καλοῦμεν ὡς εὐήθειαν, ἀλλὰ τὴν ὡς ἀληθῶς εὖ τε καὶ καλῶς τὸ ἦθος κατεσκευασμένην διάνοιαν .
εἰς παιδοτρίβου
: Protagoras passes to
γυμναστική , the second great division of Greek education:
Rep. II. 376E
.
ὑπηρετῶσι τῇ διανοίᾳ
. Plato asserts that the true object of
γυμναστική is not to cultivate the body, but to educate the soul to the proper mean between hardness and softness:
Rep. III. 410C
ff. On the soul as the mistress of the body see
Phaedo, ch. 43.
μάλιστα οἱ μάλιστα δυνάμενοι
. The first
μάλιστα is due to Heindorf: it is necessary to the meaning. Most of the editors insert the word
μάλιστα not after
ποιοῦσιν but after
δυνάμενοι , explaining its loss by the presence of
μάλιστα following: but it comes (we think) more naturally after
ποιοῦσιν .
ἐκ διδασκάλων ἀπαλλαγῶσιν·
ἐκis rejected by Cobet (cf.
Gorg. 514C
ἐπειδὴ τῶν διδασκάλων ἀπηλλάγημεν): but the phrase is just as stereotyped as
εἰς διδασκάλων , to which (in l. 39) it forms an appropriate contrast—in neither of the two cases were the Greeks (in all probability) conscious in common parlance of an ellipse. Sauppe quotes a fragment of Ar.
Banqueters, 42
οὐκ εὐθὺς ἀπεδίδρασκες ἐκ διδασκάλου ;
Plutus, 84
ἐκ Πατροκλέους ἔρχομαι , and other parallels.
ἀναγκάζει μανθάνειν
: hardly to be taken literally, but only in the sense that ignorance was no excuse for breaking the laws.
κατὰ τούτους ζῆν
. After
ζῆν occur in the MSS. the words
κατὰ παράδειγμα . ‘Facile succurrat cuivis
κατὰ τούτους ζῆν καθάπερ παράδειγμα —quamquam talia notanda potius quam statim corrigenda’ says Heindorf. Most recent editors bracket or reject the words, which are open to objection on several grounds, that the laws are not an example but a
rule of life, and Plato does not use
παράδειγμα precisely in this way, as well as from the harsh omission of
ὡς . The suggestion of Sauppe that the words are a gloss on
κατὰ τούτους by a scribe referring to the illustration which follows—‘as for example’— has much probability.
γραμματισται
: see on
γραμματιστοῦ ,
312B
ὑπογράψαντες γραμμὰς τῇ γραφίδι
should be understood of tracing (by dots or otherwise) the outlines of the lines (
γραμμαί ) which form letters. These outlines would be filled up by the pupil: see Blümner,
Griechische Privataltherthümer, p. 315. The usual view (since Heindorf) has been to regard the
γραμμαί as horizontal lines ruled for guidance; ‘ut pueri in schola directe s. ad lineam scribere iubentur, ita in vita quae agunt ad legis normam iis dirigenda sunt’ (Kroschel). Such a view is, however, inconsistent with the meaning of
ὑπογράφειν and of
ὑφήγησις , and (in view of Plato's statements as to the nature of Law) renders the simile inexact.
ὑπογράφειν in Plato regularly refers to an outline drawing (as
ὑποτυποῦσθαι to moulding in outline
Tim. 76E
) and is opposed to
ἀπεργάσασθαι and (in Aristotle) to
ἀναγράφειν , e.g.
Rep. VIII. 548C
-D
οὐκοῦν— αὕτη μὲν ἡ ρολιτεία οὕτω γεγονυῖα καὶ τοιαύτη ἄν τις εἴη, ὡς λόγῳ σχῆμα ρολιτείας ὑρογπάψαντα μὴ ἀκπιβῶς ἀρεπγάσασθαι διὰ τὸ ἐξαπκεῖν μὲν ἰδεῖν καὶ ἐκ τῆς ὑρογπαφῆς τόν τε δικαιότατον καὶ τὸν ἀδικώτατον , and
Theaet. 172E
, where a litigant's
ἀντωμοσία is called
ὑπογραφή —a sort of outline drawing
ὧν ἐκτὸς οὐ ῥητέον , but which his speech must simply
ἀπεργάσασθαι. ὑφηγεῖσθαι is similarly used, only with the added idea of guiding: e.g.
Rep. III. 403D-E
οὐκοῦν εἰ τὴν διάνοιαν ἱκανῶς θεραπεύσαντες παραδοῖμεν αὐτῇ τὰ περὶ τὸ σῶμα ἀκριβολογεῖσθαι, ἡμεῖς δὲ ὅσον τοὺς τύπους ὑφηγησαίμεθα—ὀρθῶς ἃν ποιοῖμεν
; and
Laws, X. 890C
δεῖ ταῦτα οὕτω πράττειν διανοουμένους ὅπῃπερ ἂν ὁ νομοθέτης ὑφηγήσηται γράφων. The point of the simile is this. As the child draws his pen between the outlines of the lines forming letters (making e.g. into ), so we must keep our actions between certain outlines, which are the laws. Plato invariably regards
νόμοι as only
τύποι , within which our actions should fall: cf.
Rep. II. 383C
παντάπασιν—ἔγωγε τοὺς τύπους τούτους συγχωρῶ, καὶ ὡς νόμοις ἂν χρώ?μην(whence
νόμους ὑπογράφειν here and in
Laws, V. 734E
): see also
Polit. 294A ff.
τὸ δ’ ἄριστον οὐ τοὺς νόμους ἐστὶν ἰσχύειν, ἀλλ’ ἄνδπα τὸν μετὰ φπονήσεως βασιλικὸν—ὅτι νόμος οὐκ ἄν ροτε δύναιτο τό τε ἄπιστον καὶ τὸ δικαιότατον ἀκπιβῶς ρᾶσιν ἅμα ρεπιλαβὼν τὸ βέλτιστον ἐριτάττειν. αἱ γὰπ ἀνομοιότητες τῶν τε ἀνθπώρων καὶ τῶν ρπάξεων—οὐδὲν ἐῶσιν ἁρλοῦν ἐν οὐδενὶ ρεπὶ ἁράντων καὶ ἐρὶ ράντα τὸν χπόνον ἀποφαίνεσθαι τέχνην οὐδ’ ἡντινοῦν —for which reason in the
Republic (VI. 497D) there must always be a power above the laws. The explanation which we have given does not disagree with the account of Seneca in his
Epistles, XV. 2. 51 ‘Pueri ad praescriptum discunt. Digiti illorum tenentur et aliena manu
per literarum simulacra ducuntur’: it is supported by Quintilian, I. 1. 27 ‘cum vero iam ductus sequi coeperit, non inutile erit eas (sc. literas) tabellae quam optime insculpi, ut
per illos velut sulcos ducatur stilus’. It is probable that both these authors had the present passage in view.
ὣς δὲ καὶ.
ὥςfor
οὕτως is rare in Attic prose: Heindorf quotes (
inter alia )
Rep. VII. 530D
κινδυνεύει ὡς πρὸς ἀστρονομίαν ὄμματα πέπηγεν, ὣς πρὸς ἐναρμόνιον φορὰν ὦτα παγῆναι. For
δέ see above on
318C
εὐθῦναι
regularly denotes the ‘putting straight’ or examination of a magistrate when his office expired. It is not clear whether Protagoras' philological zeal does not cause him to stretch a point in giving to the word a wider signification: but see on
εὐθύνουσιν in
325D
