James Adam, Commentary on Plato, Republic, ed. James Adam, 3.387C

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[387C] ἐνέρους καὶ ἀλίβαντας . The Scholiast writes: ἐνέρους τοὺς νεκρούς, ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐν τῇ ἔρᾳ ( ὅ ἐστι γῇ) κεῖσθαι. Cf. ἔραζε. Early psychology scarcely separated the dead body from the surviving spirit: the latter still lived where the body lay ‘within the ground.’ Hence ‘those within the ground’ (opposed to the ἐπιχθόνιοι or living) became an expression for the spirits of the departed, and the denizens of the lower world in general: see Il. XV 188, XX 61. The Scholiast's derivation is more probable than that of Brugmann, who ( Grundriss II p. 180) derives the word from ἐν and a nominal suffix ‐ερο. Plato at any rate would have preferred the Scholiast. On ἀλίβαντας (not found in Homer or Hesiod) see Plut. Quaest. Symp. VIII 736 A (cited by Ast) ὁ δὲ ἀλίβας καὶ ὁ σκελετὸς ἐπὶ τοῖς νεκροῖς γέγονε, λοιδορουμένης ὀνόματα ξηρότητος. The ancients derived the word from ἀ and the root of λείβω λίψ etc., calling the dead ‘sapless’ διὰ τὴν τῆς λιβάδος ἀμεθεξίαν (Schol.). L. and S. object that the ἀ is long, relying perhaps on the line of Callimachus in Et. M. 63, 51 ἔβηξαν οἷον ἀλίβαντα πίνοντες (where ἀλίβαντα = ὄξος). There, however, the right reading may be ἁλίβαντα, i.e. οἱ ἀλίβαντα. But in Sophocles Fr. 751 ed. Dindorf the α is certainly long, unless the text is corrupt. Possibly the word is connected with ἠλίβατος; cf. Hesych. s. v. ἠλίβατον, where we are told that Στησίχορος Τάρταρον ἠλίβατον τὸν βαθὺν λέγει.

τούτου τοῦ τύπου . Instead of writing ἄλλα ὀνόματα ὅσα τούτου τοῦ τύπου ὄντα Plato writes ἄλλα ὄσα τούτου τοῦ τύπου ὀνομαζόμενα, with precisely the same meaning: τούτου τοῦ τύπου therefore depends on the copula involved in ὀνομαζόμενα. Stallbaum takes ὀνομαζόμενα as “quum pronuntiantur”; but this is pointless. The words mean simply ‘other names of this type which make all who hear them shudder’ etc.

φρίττειν δὴ ποιεῖ . The remark ὡς οἴεται, which appears in the best MSS— see cr. n.—after ποιεῖ gives no sense, and is admittedly corrupt. ὡς οἷόν τε, found in four inferior MSS besides q, is a rare phrase, occurring, I believe, nowhere else in Plato (except of course in combination with superlatives, e.g. III 412 B, VI 484 C), though found in Aristotle ( Pol. E 11. 1313^{a} 39, where Bekker conjectured οἴονται); but ‘to shiver as much as possible’ is painfully frigid. No emendation at all satisfactory has yet been proposed—neither Winckelmann's οἰκέτας, nor Hermann's ὅσα <*>τη (with reference to recitations of the rhapsodists!), nor Madvig's ὡς οἰητέα, nor Campbell's ὡς ἐτεά. Hertz ( Fl. Jahrb. 1872 p. 852) supposes the words to be a gloss by some Christian reader, meaning ‘as he’ (i.e Plato) ‘imagines.’ The author of the gloss wished to indicate that he at least could hear such tales without shivering. After ὡς οἴεται found its way into the text, it was probably altered to οἴονται (to suit the plural ἀκούοντας), from which οἷόν τε is a corruption: cf. 11 358 E, where q has οἴονται as against οἷόν τε of the best MSS. See also on VI 504 E.

καὶ ἴσως ‐‐ ἄλλο τι : “videlicet ad suavitatem et delectationem: v. p. 387 B, 390 A, 397 D, 398 A al.” (Stallbaum).

μὴ ἐκ ‐‐ ἡμῖν . φρίκη is a cold shiver, sometimes followed by sweat, whence ἐκ τῆς τοιαύτης φρίκης θερμότεροι. Cf. (with Hartman) Phaedr. 251 A ἰδόντα δὲ αὐτόν, οἷον ἐκ τῆς φρίκης, μεταβολή τε καὶ ἱδρὼς καὶ θερμότης ἀήθης λαμβάνει, where Thompson remarks that φρίκη is used by Hippocrates of the ‘cold fit of a fever.’ In θερμότεροι καὶ μαλακώτεροι Plato is thinking of the softening effect of heat upon iron: cf. (with J. and C.) infra 411 B ὥσπερ σίδηρον ἐμάλαξε, Laws 666 C, 671 B καθάπερ τινὰ σίδηρον τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν πινόντων διαπύρους γιγνομένας μαλθακωτέρας γίγνεσθαι; see also Il. XVIII 468—477 and Whitelaw on Soph. Ajax 651 in Cl. Rev. v pp. 66, 230. In so far as it associates heat with cowardice, the comparison breaks down, for heat meant courage to the Greeks. For this reason Stephanus conjectured ἀθερμότεροι and Ast ἀθυμότεροι, a reading afterwards found in v. Ast's conjecture is thus refuted by Hartman (l.c.): “Astii coniectura inepta est, quum ἀθυμία vitium sit, non vero iusta ac temperata μαλακία (dixit enim μαλακώτεροι τοῦ δέοντος).” In the next sentence Hartman expunges φοβούμεθα without sufficient cause.

Commentary on Plato, Republic. James Adam. ed. James Adam. Cambridge. 1926-1929.

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Current edition Perseus

Commentary on Plato, Republic (English) (Plato. The Republic, Vol 1-2. Adam, James, editor. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1902-1903.)

Editions (1)

Πολιτεία Perseus (Platonis Opera Tomus IV: Tetralogia VIII. Burnet, John, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 3.387 focus

[387] 387a καὶ τὸ—

ψυχὴ δὲ κατὰ χθονός, ἠΰτε καπνός,

ᾤχετο τετριγυῖα

Hom. Il. 23.100 καὶ—

ὡς δʼ ὅτε νυκτερίδες μυχῷ ἄντρου θεσπεσίοιο

τρίζουσαι ποτέονται, ἐπεί κέ τις ἀποπέσῃσιν

ὁρμαθοῦ ἐκ πέτρης, ἀνά τʼ ἀλλήλῃσιν ἔχονται,

ὣς αἳ τετριγυῖαι ἅμʼ ᾔεσαν.

Hom. Od. 24.6-10 387b ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα πάντα παραιτησόμεθα Ὅμηρόν τε καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ποιητὰς μὴ χαλεπαίνειν ἂν διαγράφωμεν, οὐχ ὡς οὐ ποιητικὰ καὶ ἡδέα τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀκούειν, ἀλλʼ ὅσῳ ποιητικώτερα, τοσούτῳ ἧττον ἀκουστέον παισὶ καὶ ἀνδράσιν οὓς δεῖ ἐλευθέρους εἶναι, δουλείαν θανάτου μᾶλλον πεφοβημένους.
παντάπασι μὲν οὖν.
οὐκοῦν ἔτι καὶ τὰ περὶ ταῦτα ὀνόματα πάντα τὰ δεινά τε καὶ φοβερὰ ἀποβλητέα, Κωκυτούς τε καὶ Στύγας καὶ 387c νέρους καὶ ἀλίβαντας, καὶ ἄλλα ὅσα τούτου τοῦ τύπου ὀνομαζόμενα φρίττειν δὴ ποιεῖ ὡς οἴεται πάντας τοὺς ἀκούοντας. καὶ ἴσως εὖ ἔχει πρὸς ἄλλο τι· ἡμεῖς δὲ ὑπὲρ τῶν φυλάκων φοβούμεθα μὴ ἐκ τῆς τοιαύτης φρίκης θερμότεροι καὶ μαλακώτεροι τοῦ δέοντος γένωνται ἡμῖν.
καὶ ὀρθῶς γʼ, ἔφη, φοβούμεθα.
ἀφαιρετέα ἄρα;
ναί.
τὸν δὲ ἐναντίον τύπον τούτοις λεκτέον τε καὶ ποιητέον;
δῆλα δή. 387d
καὶ τοὺς ὀδυρμοὺς ἄρα ἐξαιρήσομεν καὶ τοὺς οἴκτους τοὺς τῶν ἐλλογίμων ἀνδρῶν;
ἀνάγκη, ἔφη, εἴπερ καὶ τὰ πρότερα.
σκόπει δή, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, εἰ ὀρθῶς ἐξαιρήσομεν ἢ οὔ. φαμὲν δὲ δὴ ὅτι ὁ ἐπιεικὴς ἀνὴρ τῷ ἐπιεικεῖ, οὗπερ καὶ ἑταῖρός ἐστιν, τὸ τεθνάναι οὐ δεινὸν ἡγήσεται.
φαμὲν γάρ.
οὐκ ἄρα ὑπέρ γʼ ἐκείνου ὡς δεινόν τι πεπονθότος ὀδύροιτʼ ἄν.
οὐ δῆτα.
ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τόδε λέγομεν, ὡς ὁ τοιοῦτος μάλιστα αὐτὸς αὑτῷ αὐτάρκης πρὸς τὸ εὖ ζῆν καὶ διαφερόντως τῶν 387e ἄλλων ἥκιστα ἑτέρου προσδεῖται.
ἀληθῆ, ἔφη.
ἥκιστα ἄρʼ αὐτῷ δεινὸν στερηθῆναι ὑέος ἢ ἀδελφοῦ ἢ χρημάτων ἢ ἄλλου του τῶν τοιούτων.
ἥκιστα μέντοι.
ἥκιστʼ ἄρα καὶ ὀδύρεσθαι, φέρειν δὲ ὡς πρᾳότατα, ὅταν τις αὐτὸν τοιαύτη συμφορὰ καταλάβῃ.
πολύ γε.

Translations (1)

Republic Perseus (Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 5-6. Shorey, Paul, translator. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1935-37 (printing).) — 3.387 focus

[387] 387a and:

Under the earth like a vapor vanished the gibbering soul,

Hom. Il. 23.100 and:

Even as bats in the hollow of some mysterious grotto

Fly with a flittermouse shriek when one of them falls from the cluster

Whereby they hold to the rock and are clinging the one to the other,

Flitted their gibbering ghosts.

Hom. Od. 24.6-10 ¹ 387b We will beg Homer and the other poets not to be angry if we cancel those and all similar passages, not that they are not poetic and pleasing² to most hearers, but because the more poetic they are the less are they suited to the ears of boys and men who are destined to be free and to be more afraid of slavery than of death. By all means.
Then we must further taboo in these matters the entire vocabulary of terror and fear, Cocytus³ 387c named of lamentation loud, abhorred Styx , the flood of deadly hate, the people of the infernal pit and of the charnel-house, and all other terms of this type, whose very names send a shudder⁴ through all the hearers every year. And they may be excellent for other purposes,⁵ but we are in fear for our guardians lest the habit of such thrills make them more sensitive⁶ and soft than we would have them. And we are right in so fearing. We must remove those things then? Yes. And the opposite type to them is what we must require in speech and in verse? Obviously. And shall we also do away with the 387d wailings and lamentations of men of repute? That necessarily follows, he said, from the other. Consider, said I, whether we shall be right in thus getting rid of them or not. What we affirm is that a good man⁷ will not think that for a good man, whose friend he also is, death is a terrible thing. Yes, we say that. Then it would not be for his friend’s⁸ sake as if he had suffered something dreadful that he would make lament. Certainly not. But we also say this, that such a one is most of all men sufficient unto himself⁹ 387e for a good life and is distinguished from other men in having least need of anybody else. True, he replied. Least of all then to him is it a terrible thing to lose son¹⁰ or brother or his wealth or anything of the sort. Least of all. Then he makes the least lament and bears it most moderately when any such misfortune overtakes him. Certainly.

James Adam Commentary on Plato, Republic 3.387C

ed. James Adam

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