Plato Republic 8.543

τῇ μελλούσῃ ἄκρως κτλ. Cf. Laws 739 C, D. The adverb ἄκρως is said by Herwerden ( Mn. XIX p. 335) to be a ἅπαξ εἰρημένον in classical Greek. On the word βασιλέας Pfleiderer ( Zur Lösung etc. p. 73) bases a chorizontic argument; but see on IV 445 D. Plato's rulers may well be called ‘Kings,’ for Plato holds that there is no difference of principle between Kingship and Aristocracy: cf. VII 520 B with V 473 C, IX 587 B, and Henkel Stud. zur Gesch. d. Gr. Lehre vom Staat p. 57.

αὐτῶν . The genitive is partitive: ‘and that those of their number are to be Kings who have shewn themselves best’ etc. Jowett wrongly translates ‘their kings.’

ξυνεχωρήσαμεν . III 415 D ff.

οἷαι . The reference is to III 416 D ff. Liebhold's conjecture ὅτι κοιναί is an undeserved reflection on Glauco's powers of memory.

οἱ ἄλλοι . οἱ ἄνθρωποι, which I once suggested ( Cl. Rev. IV p. 357), would be more exact, and ΑΛΛΟΙ and ΑΝ—ΟΙ are pretty easily confused in uncial MSS (Cobet V.L.^{2} p. 432: cf. Heindorf on Prot. 354 B ). Owing to νῦν, οἱ ἄλλοι can only mean ‘the rest of mankind,’ and the Guardians are therefore virtually spoken of as a section of living men. This kind of looseness is not uncommon, though here it has no stylistic effect. An alternative view might be to understand οἱ ἄλλοι of the rest of the citizens ( τῶν ἄλλων below) and νῦν as ‘in point of fact’ or ‘in our present discussion’; but this explanation is much less satisfactory. ὡς, which some inferior MSS write for ὧν, does not remove the inaccuracy in οἱ ἄλλοι: nor is οἷον ἄλλοι in IV 419 A precisely parallel, though it supports the view that οἱ ἄλλοι means ‘the rest of mankind.’

ἀθλητάς ‐‐ πολέμου . VII 521 D note

εἰς ἐνιαυτόν . Nothing is to remain over at the end of the year (III 416 E).

εἰς ταῦτα : viz. εἰς τὰ τῆς φυλακῆς etc. For the use of the pronoun cf. VII 536 A and infra 558 E notes Madvig's εἰς τακτά is unnecessary, and ταξαμένους in III 416 D means something quite different.

ἀλλά γ’ ἐπειδὴ κτλ. : ‘yes, but after we finished that subject, let us recall where we digressed to come here, that we may resume the old path.’ “ γε ad sequentia ε<*>πειδὴ τοῦτ) ἀπετελέσαμεν pertinet et priora recte quidem dicta a Glaucone, sed unum idque non leve reliquum esse significat, quod item sit in memoriam revocandum, ut relictam viam denuo capessere possint” (Schneider). The MSS fluctuate between ἀλλά γ) (the reading of A), ἀλλ’ ἄγ) and ἀλλ’ ἄγε ( Π), the last of which readings is adopted by all editors except Schneider. α<*>λλά γε, though rare, is, I believe, firmly established in Plato: see on I 331 B. It fits the situation in this passage exactly, whereas ἀλλ’ ἄγε does not, if we translate ἐπειδὴ τοῦτ’ ἀπετελέσαμεν correctly, and not (with D. and V., Jowett etc.) by ‘now that we have concluded the subject.’ τοῦτο is not Books V—VII, but the arrangements of the earlier city of II—IV, as described in 543 B, C: and ἀπετελέσαμεν is aorist, not perfect. ἀναμνησθῶμεν (as Schneider observes) is necessitated by ἵνα —ἴωμεν, otherwise Socrates might simply have said ἀλλά γ’ ἐπειδὴ τοῦτ’ ἀπετελέσαμεν, πόθεν δεῦρο ἐξετραπόμεθα; There is moreover no need for so vigorous an exhortation to exercise the memory as would be conveyed by ἀλλ’ ἄγε ἀναμνησθῶμεν, especially as Glauco's recollection had left nothing to be desired in B and C above.

καθάπερ νῦν . νῦν refers to 541 B.

ὡς διεληλυθὼς ‐‐ πόλεως : “quasi disputatione de civitate absoluta” (Stallbaum): cf. V 450 A. The MSS vary between this reading, and ὡς διελήλυθας or διελήλυθας alone: but A (with which Π^{2} and several other MSS agree) is certainly right.

λέγων κτλ. V 449 A.

καὶ ταῦτα κτλ. : ‘and that, too, though, as it seems, you could have told us of a still more beautiful city and man’ viz. the city of the philosopherking and the philosopher-king himself, afterwards described by Socrates in V 472 B—VII. The city of V—VII is spoken of as a different city from that of II— IV: see on ἐν μὲν τῇ προτέρᾳ ἐκλογῇ VII 536 C, II 372 D note, and Hirzel Der Dialog pp. 235 ff. Jowett's translation “although, as now appears, you had more excellent things to relate both of State and man” is a defensible construction, but unnatural, and certainly not what Plato meant. The passage has been curiously misunderstood by some critics, through inattention to the force of the imperfect participle ε<*>χων. Herwerden, for example, actually proposes to insert <οὐ> before καλλίω. Schneider and Stallbaum translate the sentence correctly.