Plato Republic 6.502

πεπεισμένοι ἔστων . See on 499 E. Plato's attempt to conciliate the Many is obviously half-hearted. The Multitude can never be philosophers (494 A), and are not likely to believe in the Philosopher-king. But it was necessary to prove or postulate some degree of assent or at least quiescence on their part in order to demonstrate the possibility of the perfect city. Cf. 502 C note

τις . τίς is read by A, but Adimantus's reply makes it probable that the indefinite pronoun is correct.

βασιλέων ἔκγονοι . See on 499 B.

εἷς ἱκανὸς κτλ. Krohn ( Pl. St. p. 125) justly sees in this sentence “an expression of the convictions which led Plato to Sicily” in 367 B.C. Cf. Grote Plato I p. 126 and supra 499 B note Richards would read “ <σῶς> γενόμενος or γενόμενός <τε καὶ σῶς γενόμενος> or something similar.” <περι> γενόμενος would give the same sense, and be better Greek. But γενόμενος= εἰ γένοιτο, ‘should he arise,’ is sufficient. He could not be said to be ἱκανός if he were corrupted.

ἅπερ ἡμῖν δοκεῖ : i.e. the arrangements of Plato's καλλίπολις, as J. and C. point out. A ruler may arise who will approve of these, and frame laws accordingly. Plato is trying to prove that his ideal city is not impossible.

οὐ μέντοι ἀδύνατά γε . ‘Not impossible’ is the final verdict which Plato's readers, like Plato himself, will pass upon his city. His tone is far less hopeful than in Books II—IV, and even in V 473 B ff. he is, I think, more optimistic. It is impossible not to feel that 501 C—502 C is written, in some measure, invita Minerva. Plato is glad to escape from so difficult and uncongenial a topic into his native element again. He is beginning to see that the Perfect City is in truth a παράδειγμα ἐν οὐρανῷ (IX 592 B). See on V 470 E, VI 499 C, 499 E, 502 A and VII 540 D— 541 B, and cf. Hirmer Entst. u. Komp. etc. p. 638.

ἐνέσονται . ἐγγενήσονται is conjectured by Richards, who compares 521 C and VIII 552 E, 557 C. The proposal is attractive, but involves too great a departure from the MSS. ἐνέσονται moreover is better suited to καὶ κατὰ ποίας—ἁπτόμενοι than ἐγγενήσονται would be. τίνα τρόπον ἐνέσονται means, I think, not how they will be produced (that is expressed in ἐκ τίνων—ἐπιτηδευμάτων), but how they will be in the city, i.e. the whole subject of their position and standing in the State. It is this, as well as their education, which is described in the sequel. The present sentence is intended as a full and accurate forecast of the rest of VI and VII. Ξ has ἔσονται, which was read till Bekker restored ἐνέσονται.

οὐδὲν κτλ. Cf. 497 C, D notes There, as here, the κατάστασις τῶν ἀρχόντων and the position of women and children etc. are treated as parts of one and the same question. The first obscure hint of this connexion is in IV 423 E, but it is not till V 471 C ff. that we begin to see the intimate relation between the two subjects. In V 450 C Socrates for the first time touches on the question ‘Are our proposals about women’ etc. ‘possible?’ The same question reappears in 471 C, but with a larger scope ‘Is the perfect city possible as a whole?’ The reply is ‘Yes, if Philosophers are Kings’; and thus is re-opened the whole subject of the κατάστασις τῶν ἀρχόντων. Plato is therefore justified in connecting, as he does, the two topics here mentioned. But he overstates the case when he asserts that the κατάστασις τῶν ἀρχόντων has been omitted in Books III and IV (see III 412 B ff.), or slurred over in the same way as the Community of Wives and Children, in spite of various hints of a fuller treatment still to come (III 414 A: cf. IV 442 C note). See also on 503 A and Krohn Pl. St. p. 127, Pfleiderer Zur Lösung etc. p. 28, with the replies of Grimmelt de reip. Pl. comp. et unit. p. 49 and Westerwick de rep. Pl. comm. pp. 54 ff.

τὴν ‐‐ κατάστασιν =‘the appointment of the Rulers’ is equivalent, as in the title or heading of a chapter, to τὸ περὶ τῆς—καταστάσεως. Of this subject the Rulers' education naturally forms the most important part; but we ought not to explain τῶν ἀρχόντων as brachylogical for τῆς τῶν ἀρχόντων παιδείας (with Krohn Pl. St. p. 126).

παντελῶς ἀληθής . The adjective should be translated literally, so as to suggest that the best κατάστασις is also the truest. The ideal is the true in Plato: cf. V 473 A note

τὸ δὲ ‐‐ δεῖ . Plato admits that the subject of the Rulers requires to be reinvestigated practically from the beginning. Their strictly intellectual needs have hitherto been almost ignored: see 497 C note But Plato does not propose to supersede the earlier education in Music and Gymnastic, nor are the two schemes theoretically incompatible, as Krohn appears to hold ( Pl. St. p. 127). We are clearly intended to suppose that the Rulers receive the moral as well as the intellectual training, although in practice, no doubt, some modifications might be necessary, so long as the two proceeded simultaneously. See VII 536 D and II 376 E notes

ἐλέγομεν . III 412 C—414 B.