Plato Republic 2.365

τελευτήσασιν ‐‐ τελετάς . The Orpheotelestae connected τελεταί with τελευτᾶν, sometimes on the ground assigned by Plato here, sometimes because they alleged that the sensations of dying resembled those of initiation into the great mysteries (Plut. Frag. de An. 725). This and other ancient derivations are given by Lobeck Aglaoph. pp. 124, 126, 172. For περιμένει Cobet needlessly conjectures περιμένειν.

τιμῆς i. q. τοῦ τιμᾶν. Cf. (with J. and C.) 359 C above.

τί ‐‐ ποιεῖν . The subject to ποιεῖν is ταῦτα πάντα—λεγόμενα: ψυχάς is its secondary object. Cf. infra 367 B τί ποιοῦσα ἑκατέρα τὸν ἔχοντα κτλ. and 367 E. This view, which Schneider also holds, is better than to make ψυχάς subject to ποιεῖν and ταῦτα πάντα κτλ. dependent on ἀκουούσας.

ἐπιπτόμενοι . The image, as Jowett remarks, suggests a bee gathering honey: cf. Ion 534 B λέγουσι γὰρ—οἱ ποιηταὶ ὅτι ἀπὸ κρηνῶν μελιρρύτων ἐκ Μουσῶν κήπων τινῶν καὶ ναπῶν δρεπόμενοι τὰ μέλη ἡμῖν φέρουσιν ὥσπερ αἱ μέλιτται, Simon. Fr. 47 ὁμιλεῖ δ’ ἄνθεσιν (viz. the poet) ὧτε μέλισσα ξανθὸν μέλι κηδομένα and Pind. Pyth. X 53 f.

πότερον δίκᾳ ‐‐ ἀναβάς . The fragment (which appears tolerably often in ancient citations) is restored as follows by Bergk ( Fr. 213) Πότερον δίκᾳ τεῖχος ὕψιον | ἢ σκολίαις ἀπάταις ἀναβαίνῃ | ἐπιχθονίων γένος ἀνδρῶν | δίχα μοι νόος ἀτρέκειαν εἰπεῖν. It is, I think, unlikely that θεσπέσιος βίος and κύριον εὐδαιμονίας below “si non a Pindaro, certe ex poetis petita sunt” (Bergk).

ἐὰν καὶ μὴ δοκῶ has been commonly altered to ἐὰν μὴ καὶ δοκῶ on the suggestion of Dobree and Boeckh (with a few inferior MSS): but the text is sound. We are dealing with ταῦτα πάντα— λεγόμενα κτλ.; and it has not been said that it is useless to be just, unless one is also believed to be just ( ἐὰν μὴ καὶ δοκῶ). This would imply that it is useful to be just, if one is also considered just; but what has been urged is that Justice is in itself never advantageous, although its εὐδοκιμήσεις (363 A) are: see 358 C, E, 360 C ( οὐδεὶς ἑκὼν δίκαιος, ἀλλ’ ἀναγκαζόμενος, ὡς οὐκ ἀγαθοῦ ἰδιᾳ ὄντος), 362 A ( οὐκ εἶναι δίκαιον, ἀλλὰ δοκεῖν δεῖ ἐθέλειν). The words ἐὰν καὶ μὴ δοκῶ mean ‘if I also seem unjust,’ for οὐ δοκῶ δίκαιος εἶναι, not δοκῶ οὐ δίκαιος εἶναι, is the Greek idiom. This meaning suits exactly. What has to be established is that δοκεῖν prevails over εἶναι in human life ( οὐκοῦν—βιᾶται). The proof is as follows. To be just and seem unjust is misery (see 361 E): to be unjust, and seem just is bliss (see 362 A, C): therefore δοκεῖν is everything, and ἐπὶ τοῦτο τρεπτέον ὅλως.

φασιν . Is τὰ λεγόμενα the subject? or is the sentence an anacoluthon? (“nam quo modo res ipsa comparata sit, nescio: quae quidem vulgo dicuntur, talia sunt, ut iusto mihi commodi quicquam fore negetur” Schneider). The latter view is the more likely. Similar anacolutha are cited by Engelhardt Anac. Pl. Spec. III p. 40.

οἱ σοφοί . Simonides ( σοφὸς γὰρ καὶ θεῖος ἀνήρ I 331 E) Fr. 76 B ergk. Plato himself sets no small store by a good name (coupled with virtue) in Laws 950 C.

πρόθυρα ‐‐ σχῆμα : ‘as my porch and trappings.’ The mixture of metaphors is thoroughly Platonic: cf. VII 527 D note With σχῆμα (any kind of external or adventitious means of impressing others or hiding one's own deficiencies) cf. Gorg. 511 E περιπατεῖ ἐν μετρίῳ σχήματι.

σκιαγραφίαν (‘perspective drawing’ VII 523 B, X 602 D) with its cognate words is continually used by Plato of things unreal, counterfeit, illusory: cf. infra IX 583 B note, 586 B al., and Wohlrab on Theaet. 208 E .

τοῦ σοφωτάτου κτλ. Archilochus seems to have canonized the fox as the embodiment of cunning in Greek literature: fragments are preserved of at least two fables of his in which the fox appears (86—88 and 89 ed. Bergk). In the second (89. 5, 6) occur the lines τῷ δ) (sc. πιθήκῳ) ἆρ’ ἀλώπηξ κερδαλέη συνήντετο | πυκνὸν ἔχουσα νόον. The κερδαλέαν καὶ ποικίλην of Plato corresponds in meaning to κερδαλέη—πυκνὸν ἔχουσα νόον, and may have ended one of the iambics in this or another Archilochean fable: it is at all events clear that they are from Archilochus. ‘The crafty and subtle fox of Archilochus’ means simply ‘the crafty and subtle fox of which Archilochus speaks’: the rest of the imagery is due to Plato. With the general sentiment cf. St Matth. vii 15 ἔρχονται πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐν ἐνδύμασι προβάτων (this is the σκιαγραφία ἀρετῆς), ἔσωθεν δέ εἰσιν λύκοι ἅρπαγες: with ἑλκτέον ἐξόπισθεν (opposed to πρόθυρα μὲν καὶσχῆμα) Milton Samson Agonistes 358— 360 “Why are his gifts desirable, to tempt Our earnest prayers, then, given with solemn hand As graces, draw a scorpion's tail behind?” Unnecessary difficulty has been caused by an erroneous gloss of Timaeus ( τὴν ἀλωπεκῆν· τὴν πανουργίαν), which seems to imply that he read ἀλωπεκῆν ‘fox's skin’ for ἀλώπεκα in this passage. Ruhnken (followed by Ast and Stallbaum) while retaining ἀλώπεκα explained it of the fox's skin; but it would be pointless to ‘drag behind a fox's skin.’ With ἀλώπεκα—‘fox’ for ‘foxiness’—cf. infra 382 D ποιητὴς—ψευδὴς ἐν θεῷ οὐκ ἔνι , Phaed. 77 E , and the well-known “astutam vapido servas sub pectore vulpem” Persius V 117.

ἀλλὰ γάρ ‘at enim,’ like ἀλλὰ δή (infra D, X 600 A al.), introduces an objection: cf. infra 366 A al.

οὐδὲ γὰρ ‐‐ μεγάλων : an audacious application of the proverb χαλεπὰ τὰ καλά .

ὡς ‐‐ φέρει . For ὡς we might expect ᾗ (Ficinus has quâ). ταύτῃ must be taken as referring to what precedes, though further explained by ὡς—φέρει. ἴχνη and φέρει shew that the metaphor is still the ὁδὸς βίου. The words ἴχνη φέρει may be from Archilochus. For the sentiment cf. III 394 D.

ξυνωμοσίας ‐‐ ἑταιρίας . An allusion to the political life of Athens: cf. Ap. 36 B , Theaet. 173 D , Thuc. VIII 54 ξυνωμοσίας, αἵπερ ἐτύγχανον πρότερον ἐν τῇ πόλει οὖσαι ἐπὶ δίκαις καὶ ἀρχαῖς. In the Laws, Plato would suppress all such secret clubs and cabals with a strong hand: see 856 B ff. The πειθοῦς διδάσκαλοι mentioned presently are the Sophists.

ὡς for ὥστε (except in idiomatic phrases like ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, ὥς γε ἐντεῦθεν ἰδεῖν) is a curious archaism, tolerably frequent in Xenophon (e.g. Cyrop. I 2. 8, V 2. 5, VI 4. 16, VIII 5. 1 and 7. 27), but almost unexampled in Plato. The Protagoras (330 E) furnishes an instance with οὕτως preceding (cf. Xen. Cyr. IV 2. 13 ). ὡς in Phaed. 108 E is perhaps to be explained in the same way: cf. also Alc. II 141 B and Symp. 213 B παραχωρῆσαι γὰρ τὸν Σωκράτη ὡς ἐκεῖνον καθίζειν. See also on ὡς δή in I 337 C. As βιάζομαι can be followed by the simple infinitive, it might seem preferable to connect ὡς πλεονεκτοῦντες as a participial explanatory clause either with βιασόμεθα or with δίκην μὴ διδόναι (‘not to be punished for aggrandisement’); but the first alternative gives a wrong sense to πλεονεκτοῦντες, and the second involves too harsh an inversion.

οὐκοῦν κτλ. Cf. Laws 885 B θεοὺς ἡγούμενος εἰναι κατὰ νόμους οὐδεὶς πώποτε οὔτε ἔργον ἀσεβὲς εἰργάσατο ἑκὼν οὔτε λόγον ἀφῆκεν ἄνομον, ἀλλὰ ἓν δή τι τῶν τριῶν πάσχων, ἢ τοῦτο ὅπερ εἶπον οὐχ ἡγούμενος, ἢ τὸ δεύτερον ὄντας οὐ φροντίζειν ἀνθρώπων, ἢ τρίτον εὐπαραμυθήτους εἶναι θυσίαις τε καὶ εὐχαῖς παραγομένους. These three classes of heretics are severally refuted in 886 A—899 D, 899 D— 905 D, 905 D—907 B. It is clear both from this passage and from the Laws that the air was full of such heresies in Plato's day. The first was doubtless fostered by the sceptical attitude of Protagoras— περὶ μὲν θεῶν οὐκ ἔχω εἰδέναι οὔθ’ ὡς εἰσὶν οὔθ’ ὡς οὐκ εἰσίν (ap. D. L. IX 51): for the second cf. Aesch. Ag. 369 —372 οὐκ ἔφα τις | θεοὺς βροτῶν ἀξιοῦσθαι μέλειν | ὅσοις ἀθίκτων χάρις | πατοῖθ’ · ὁ δ’ οὐκ εὐσεβής: the third—the most pernicious of all, according to Plato Laws 948 C—furnished the raison d'être of a degenerate priesthood.

τί καὶ ἡμῖν κτλ. ‘If the gods do not care for us, why should we in our turn ( καί) care’ etc. For the text see cr. n. and App. III.

ἀκηκόαμεν ‐‐ ποιητῶν . The first ἤ is ‘or’ and the second ‘than.’ In λόγων Plato may be thinking inter alia of the works of early λογογράφοι like Pherecydes, who wrote genealogies of gods and heroes in prose; but there is no occasion to change λόγων into λογίων with Muretus. γενεαλογησάντων ποιητῶν refers to Homer and the Hesiodic and Orphic theogonies.

θυσίαις ‐‐ ἀγανῇσιν : see 364 D.

ἀπό : ‘from the proceeds of.’ Cf. Laws 906 C, D τοῦτον δὴ τὸν λόγον ἀναγκαῖον λέγειν τὸν λέγοντα ὡς εἰσὶ συγγνώμονες ἀεὶ θεοὶ τοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀδίκοις καὶ ἀδικοῦσιν, ἂν αὐτοῖς τῶν ἀδικημάτων τις ἀπονέμῃ, καθάπερ κυσὶ λύκοι τῶν ἁρπασμάτων σμικρὰ ἀπονέμοιεν, οἱ δὲ ἡμερούμενοι τοῖς δώροις συγχωροῖεν τὰ ποίμνια διαρπάζειν.

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 .