Plato Republic 9.576

ἀλλότριοι : sc. γιγνόμενοι, rather than γίγνονται, which Schneider supplies. The participles are all in explanatory apposition with τοιοίδε. Ast bids us repeat ὡς, wrongly: see Heindorf on Theaet. 167 E .

φίλοι μὲν ‐‐ οὐδενί . Cf. Xen. Hiero 3 and VIII 567 B note

οἷον κτλ. : “qui vigilans talis est, qualem finximus supra (571 C, D, E) somniantem” (Stallbaum). The Oxford editors, with D. and V., and apparently also Schneider, translate ‘He is the man who in reality is such as we imagined him in our dream.’ The Greek is perhaps a little simpler if we take this view, but I agree with Bosanquet in preferring Stallbaum's, partly because such a statement could scarcely be called a κεφάλαιον, and partly on account of 574 E οἷος ὀλιγάκις ἐγίγνετο ὄναρ, ὕπαρ τοιοῦτος ἀεὶ γενόμενος — a striking observation which would be at once recalled to Adimantus' mind, although the strong antithesis between ὄναρ and ὕπαρ is alone sufficient to suggest the meaning. We expect brevity and compression in a summary description of this kind. For the purposes of grammatical explanation we should supply εἶναι after διήλθομεν (‘as we described a man to be in dreams’). The ellipse is easy because of ᾖ: for ὃς—ᾖ is logically antecedent to οἷον—διήλθομεν .

οὗτος γίγνεται . οὗτος is in the predicate. For γίγνεται see on VIII 562 A.

διαδεξάμενος κτλ. We have now finished our account of depraved cities and individuals, and the change of interlocutors shews that we are about to enter on a new stage in the discussion: cf. VI 487 A, 506 D al. Aristotle blames Plato for not saying what is to follow tyranny ( Pol. E 12. 1316^{a} 25 ff.). In reply, Plato would, I think, first point out that he is not required to touch on this subject either by the main thesis of the Republic or by the special aim which he has in view throughout Books VIII and IX (see VIII 543 A note). He might afterwards observe that, since the best hope of founding the perfect city lies in imbuing an absolute ruler or one of his descendants with a love of genuine philosophy (VI 499 B—502 C), the deepest darkness perhaps contained a promise of the dawn. See especially the striking passage in Laws 709 E—712 A. Aristotle seems to have understood him to mean this ( ἐπεὶ κατ’ ἐκεῖνον δεῖ εἰς τὴν πρώτην καὶ τὴν ἀρίστην· οὕτως γὰρ ἂν ἐγίνετο συνεχὲς καὶ κύκλος l.c.), and criticises him accordingly from the facts of experience; but the succession of polities in the Republic is not intended to be in all respects, or even primarily and chiefly, historical (VIII 543 A note).

τοῖς δὲ πολλοῖς κτλ. = ‘although the multitude are multitudinous also in their views’ expresses the antithesis implied in the emphatic τῇ ἀληθείᾳ )( τῇ δόξῃ. Herwerden's conjecture τοῖς δὲ πολλοῖς ἄλλα δοκεῖ is singularly feeble and inelegant. The Scholiast neatly remarks πολλὰ δοκεῖ· ἀντὶ τοῦ ψευδῆ· τὸ γὰρ ψεῦδος πολυχοῦν, ‘ἁπλοῦς δ’ ὁ μῦθος τῆς ἀληθείας ἔφυ.’ On Plato's contempt of the many see VI 494 A note

ταῦτα refers to the two questions, not to τοῖς—δοκεῖ. If otherwise, Plato would, I think, have written τοῦτο here.

ὁμοιότητι , though doubted by Ast, Cobet, Herwerden, and others, is sound enough: see on VIII 555 A.

ἀρετῇ . See cr. n. The correct reading was first restored by Schneider.

εὐδαιμονίας ‐‐ ἀθλιότητος κτλ. For the genitive see on V 470 A. μὴ ἐκπληττώμεθα = ‘do not let us be dazzled’ (D. and V.): cf. 577 A. Jowett's ‘panicstricken’ suggests a wrong idea.

ἀλλ’ ὡς κτλ. : ‘but as it is necessary to go into and survey the entire city, do not let us give our opinion until we have crept into the whole of the interior and seen it.’ It is best to make ὡς virtually causal, as it often is when dependent on imperatives or imperatival expressions (here ἀποφαινώμεθα): cf. I 336 D, IV 420 E, Symp. 189 B et al. With εἰς ὅλην τὴν πόλιν κτλ. cf. IV 421 B ἢ τοῦτο μὲν εἰς τὴν πόλιν ὅλην βλέποντας θεατέον κτλ. καταδῦναι playfully suggests that we mean to elude the tyrant's eye (cf. infra 579 B, Gorg. 485 D ). He shall not catch us if we can help it. For other views on this clause see App. I.