Plato Republic 2.370

οὕτω ῥᾷον ἢ )κείνως . οὕτω refers to the alternative which is more familiar, although mentioned first: cf. (with Ast) Xen. Mem. I 3. 13 τοῦτο τὸ θηρίον—τοσούτῳ δεινότερόν ἐστι τῶν φαλαγγίων ὅσῳ ἐκεῖνα μὲν ἁψάμενα, τοῦτο δὲ οὐδ’ ἁπτόμενον—ἐνίησί τι. On the corruption ῥᾴδιον for /ῥᾷον (also in Men. 94 E ) see Introd. § 5.

φύεται strikes the keynote of the City of Books II—IV. The first critic to lay sufficient stress on this point was Krohn: see Pl. St. pp. 59—62, where he collects the references to φύσις throughout Books I—IV. The City of II—IV is a κατὰ φύσιν οἰκισθεῖσα πόλις. What is meant by φύσις? Not inorganic Nature, but the ‘nature’ of a πόλις or aggregate of πολῖται, i.e. (as the unit in a city is the man) human nature, in other words, the nature of the human soul, which, according to Plato and Socrates, constitutes a man's true and proper individuality. It is not however human nature as it is, but as it ought to be, which is the foundation on which the Platonic State is built; so that, although the doctrine of transcendent Ideas is excluded from the first four books (see on III 402 C), Idealism at all events is present. See also Krohn Plat. Frage pp. 8—11, and (for the connotation of φύσις) Benn's article on ‘The Idea of Nature in Plato’ in Archiv f. Gesch. d. Phil. IX pp. 24 —49 and Pöhlmann l.c. pp. 110 ff.

ὅταν ‐‐ εἷς μίαν . This principle—the cardinal principle of the Republic, reiterated also with great emphasis in Laws 846 D—847 B—is deduced by Plato from φύσις, whose rule is specialization: cf. 370 C ὅταν εἷς ἓν κατὰ φύσιν—πράττῃ. Plato (as usual in the Republic) is thinking of Man's nature, one man being naturally fitted for one pursuit, another for another: cf. III 395 B, IV 433 A, 434 A, B. The principle of specialization had already been enunciated by Socrates: see e.g. Xen. Mem. III 9. 3 , 15, Cyrop. VIII 2. 5, 6. Aristotle widens it into a general law of Nature: οὐθὲν γὰρ ἡ φύσις ποιεῖ τοιοῦτον οἷον οἱ χαλκοτύποι τὴν Δελφικὴν μάχαιραν πενιχρῶς, ἀλλ’ ἓν πρὸς ἕν ( Pol. A 2. 1252^{b} 1 ff.). In its application to politics, the principle becomes in Plato's hands a weapon for attacking the foundations of Athenian democracy (see Gorg. 455 A —C), to which, in this respect, his own Ideal City was a kind of counterblast.

κάλλιον . Did Plato write καλλίω? κάλλιον γίγνεται may no doubt mean ‘are better made,’ which is fairly satisfactory in point of sense, but καλλίω forms a better balance to πλείω τε, and is more suited to καλόν just below. With ῥᾷον immediately following, the corruption would be easy. On the other hand the collocation καλλίω καὶ ῥᾷον is unpleasing, and it is probably safer to adhere to the MSS.

ἐπὶ τὸ ἀροῦν . See on 372 B.

αὐτὴν τὴν πόλιν : ipsam urbem: the city as opposed to the inhabitants ( τέκτονες, χαλκῆς etc.). Cf. 360 D note It is not necessary to adopt Hermann's conjecture αὖ for αὐτήν, or (with Hartman) to eject τὴν πόλιν.

σχεδόν τι ἀδύνατον . Plato nevertheless endeavours to secure this advantage in the Laws: see 704 A—705 B. Cf. Arist. Pol. H 5. 1326^{b} 26 ff.

ὧν ἐκεῖνοι δέονται . All exchange with foreign cities is to be in kind: money is used only for transactions within the city: see infra 371 C ff. Here again Plato is constructing his city κατὰ φύσιν: cf. Arist. Pol. A 9. 1257^{a} 28 ἡ μὲν οὐν τοιαύτη μεταβλητικὴ οὔτε παρὰ φύσιν οὔτε χρηματιστικῆς ἐστὶν εἷδος οὐδέν.

ὧν ἂν αὐτοῖς χρεία . αὐτοῖς is of course emphatic ( ipsis). For the rare omission of ᾗ cf. III 416 D and Schanz Nov. Comm. Pl. p. 33 with Cope's Rhetoric of Aristotle Vol. II p. 328.

πλούτου δὲ οὐδέν and Liebhold ( Fl. Jahrb. 1888, p. 107)

κόσμου δὲ ἄλλο μὲν <ἔχοντ)> οὐδέν for τοῦτον δὲ ἄλλο μὲν οὐδέν. Neither of these proposals has any plausibility, and it is best to regard this as one of the places where we owe the right reading to Π .