Plato Republic 4.425

)κείνοις : those whom Adimantus in effect described in 424 D. See also next note.

οἱ πρότερον : ‘their predecessors’ (Jowett), i.e. the predecessors of our citizens. The expression betrays the fact that Plato is now censuring the decay of Athenian manners, as of Athenian music and character in 424 D. In ἐξευρίσκουσιν —πάντα Plato speaks as if his regulations were a programme for the reform of his native city. Cf. Krohn Pl. St. pp. 32, 33.

σιγάς τε ‐‐ τοιαῦτα . Cf. Ar. Clouds 961 —1023. Aristophanes mentions the σιγαὶ τῶν νεωτέρων (963), the ὑπαναστάσεις (993), the γονέων θεραπεῖαι (994, 998), and various details of τοῦ σώματος σχηματισμός (973, 983).

κατακλίσεις means literally ‘settings down,’ i.e. causing or permitting others to sit down, as when the Spartans, for example, in the well-known story, made way for the aged stranger at the Panathenaea (Plut. Apophth. Lac. 52. 235 D). Cf. κατακλίναντες in 420 E and II 363 C. The word—which has been curiously misunderstood—is coupled with ὑπανάστασις also in Arist. Eth. Nic. IX 2. 1165^{a} 28. See also Xen. Mem. II 3. 16. After πρέπει supply σιγᾶν out of σιγάς. The older editors read ὡς for ἅς with several deterioris notae MSS.

καὶ ‐‐ γέ with κουράς marks the transition to a new class of particulars: cf. Crit. 47 B , Gorg. 450 D al. Hartman should not have suggested καὶ—τε. It was the Spartans who laid greatest stress upon the points enumerated here: cf. Xen. Rep. Lac. 3. 5, Plut. Cleom. 9. 1 ( κείρεσθαι τὸν μύστακα καὶ προσέχειν τοῖς νόμοις). See also Xen. Cyr. VIII 7. 10.

οὔτε γάρ ‐‐ νομοθετηθέντα . Plato means that specific enactments are powerless either to produce or to maintain civilities and proprieties of this kind. The flowers of civilisation must bloom naturally, or not at all. With the general sentiment of this passage cf. Isocr. Areop. 41 δεῖν δὲ τοὺς ὀρθῶς πολιτευομένους οὐ τὰς στοὰς ἐμπιμπλάναι γραμμάτων ἀλλ’ ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἔχειν τὸ δίκαιον· οὐ γὰρ τοῖς ψηφίσμασιν ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἤθεσι καλῶς οἰκεῖσθαι τὰς πόλεις.

ὅποι ‐‐ εἶναι : “the bent given by education will determine all that follows” (D. and V.): “wohin einer die Richtung durch die Erziehung bekommen hat, dem auch das folgende entspricht” (Schneider). The sense is satisfactory, nor is the apparent correlation of ὅποι and τοιαῦτα a sufficient reason for impugning the text, as (in common with Dobree and others) I formerly did. ὅπῃ (so Ast with q) would convey the idea of direction more precisely than ὅποι, but as the route is determined by the goal, we may be satisfied. Of the various emendations— ὁποἶ (Heller), ὁποῖος (Stallbaum, who afterwards recanted), ὁποίας (Dobree)— that of Dobree deserves high praise for elegance and point. The meaning would be ‘as is the education from which one starts, so is the sequel’; and for ὁποίας = ἐξ ὁποίας we might compare III 402 A, VII 520 D. I once thought of ὁποία ἄν τις ὁρμὴ ᾖ, but am now content with the text as it stands.

τελευτῶν ‐‐ ἀγαθόν . Cf. 424 A ἐάνπερ ἅπαξ ὁρμήσῃ εὖ, ἔρχεται ὥσπερ κύκλος αὐξανομένη.

οὐκ ἂν ἔτι . On ἔτι see III 412 B note

τί δέ; κτλ. ‘Once more: in heaven's name, said I, these markettroubles about contracts which the different classes of citizens make with one another in the market-place etc.—shall we condescend to make laws about any of them?’ I have placed a mark of interrogation after τί δέ (quid vero?): cf. 422 D note and 426 A. This increases the emphasis on ὦ πρὸς θεῶν: cf. I 332 C ὦ πρὸς Διός, ἦν δ’ ἐγώ, εἰ οὖν κτλ. Herwerden puts the pause after τάδε, where it is less suitable; others wrongly omit the word. ταδε (see cr. n.) cannot well be dispensed with: it means ‘these familiar’: cf. III 403 E, and for the omission in A Introd. § 5. Herwerden also cuts out ἀγοραῖα on account of κατ’ ἀγοράν, but the reduplication is quite in Plato's way. The postponement of ἅ throws emphasis on κατ’ ἀγοράν, and thereby helps to contrast ἀγοραῖα ξυμβόλαια with χειροτεχνικά etc.: cf. III 390 B. It is natural to see in this sentence a reference to the judicial and mercantile arrangements of Athens and her empire: see 424 D note

χειροτεχνικῶν κτλ. χειροτεχνικὰ ξυμβόλαια are contracts with builders and the like ( Laws 920 D).

δικῶν λήξεως means simply ‘the bringing of lawsuits’: originally ‘obtaining (by lot) one's rights,’ hence ‘obtaining leave to claim one's rights’ (Meier and Schömann Att. Process pp. 790—794). The reading λήξεις (see cr. n.) cannot be defended.

θέσεις : not ‘the imposition of taxes’ (L. and S.), but ‘the payments,’ as πράξεις is ‘the exactions.’

τὸ παράπαν means ‘in general,’ ‘generally.’ τὸ πάμπαν (see cr. n.) is never (I believe) so used, not even in Tim. 64 E cited by Baiter. Regulations on nearly all the points here specified are laid down in the Laws: on ξυμβόλαια 913 A ff., 920 D ff., on λοιδορία 934 E ff., on αἰκεία (unprovoked assault) 879 B ff., on δικῶν λῆξις 949 C, on δικαστῶν κατάστασις 767 A ff., 956 B ff., on ἀστυνόμοι and ἀγορανόμοι 763 C ff. There is no taxation in the city of the Laws (847 B).

καλοῖς κἀγαθοῖς . Cf. VI 489 E note

ὅσα δεῖ νομοθετήσασθαι shews that Plato does not wish to leave all these matters undefined by legislation; but the legislation is to come from the guardians he has educated. One reason is that laws on matters of this kind can never be final: cf. Laws 769 D. If the guardians are true to the spirit of Plato's commonwealth, they will easily frame such minor regulations, and re-adjust them—should it prove necessary—from time to time. The effort to obtain finality ( οἰόμενοι ἐπιλήψεσθαι τοῦ βελτίστου) in such matters is foredoomed to failure (cf. 426 E), and no one makes it, until he has forgotten the real foundation of a nation's greatness, and lost his sense of the proportion of things. This is Plato's meaning.