Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T21:59:40.127Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A Discussion of Phaedo 69 a 6–c 21

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

J. V. Luce
Affiliation:
Trinity College, Dublin.

Extract

This long and complicated sentence has not been correctly translated nor clearly explained by any of the editors of the Phaedo that I have been able to consult. Bekker, Stallbaum, Wohlrab, Geddes, Wagner, Archer-Hind, Williamson, Burnet, in their notes on the passage say much that is true, but all seem to fall into certain errors. None of them has given an accurate and coherent picture of the passage as a whole. In attempting to supply such a picture I have pointed out what I believe to be the mistakes of these editors, and on certain points of grammar, textual criticism, and interpretation I have some new suggestions to offer. So much emphasis on one sentence is not misplaced, for this is an important sentence, the culminating point of the first section of the dialogue, and containing in brief the essence of the ethics which Plato expounds through the mouth of Socrates. It is the peroration of Socrates' Apologia pro Vita sua, introduced by the impressive words: ⋯ μακ⋯ριε ειμμ^iota;α, a form of address often used by Socrates in passages of ‘pith and moment’.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1944

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

page 60 note 2 e.g. Protog. 313 e 5, another passage dealing with the buying and selling of virtue; Rep. 432 d 7, the dramatic discovery of the definition of justice; Charm. 157 a 3, the need for tending the soul before attempting to cure the body.

page 60 note 3 The Essence of Plato's Philosophy, trans, by Alles, Adam, p. 68Google Scholar.

page 61 note 1 Laws 915 d 6, Soph. 223 d 9, Rep. 371 d 1.

page 61 note 2 Rutherford, , New Phrynickus, p. 213Google Scholar, accepts ὠνουμενα here as passive, remarking that this is the only instance in Classical Greek.

page 61 note 3 For ⋯λλ⋯ττεσθαι governing a genitive without any preposition cf. Laws 849 e 6 ⋯λλ⋯ττεσθαι ν⋯μισμ⋯ τε χρημ⋯των καἱ χρ⋯σματοσ …

page 61 note 4 Theo Smyrnaeus, , Math. Plat., c. 1, p. 18Google Scholar.

page 62 note 1 Cf. κ⋯θσαρμα, a scapegoat.

page 62 note 2 Published by Casaubon, , Exercitatt. Antibar.,p. 392Google Scholar.

page 63 note 3 68 C II.

page 63 note 4 68 d 2.

page 63 note 5 68 e 5.

page 63 note 6 68 d 12.

page 63 note 7 ⋯δον⋯σ πρ⋯σ ⋯δον⋯σ … κα⋯ π⋯βον πρ⋯σ π⋯βον καταλλ⋯ττεσθ*alpha;ι.

page 63 note 8 μ⋯ γ⋯ρ ουχ αυχ αυτη ῇ ορθ⋯ πρ⋯σ ⋯ρετ⋯ν ⋯λλαγ⋯.

page 63 note 9 ⋯kappa;εῖνο ῇ … ⋯λησισ.

page 63 note 10 τῷ ὂντι ῇληθ⋯, μητ⋯ pi;ρον⋯σεωσ.

page 64 note 1 68 e 2.

page 64 note 2 ⋯ντι ου δεῖ π⋯ντα κατα⋯λλεσθαι.

page 64 note 3 τουτου μ⋯ν π⋯ντα (⋯λλαττ⋯μενα).

page 64 note 4 Such true and pure pleasures are always recognized by Plato as part of the good life, e.g. Phileb. 63 e 3: ⋯λλ' ἃσ τε ⋯δον⋯σ ⋯ληθεῖσ και καθαρ⋯σ ειπεσ, σχεδ⋯σ οἰκεασ ⋯μῖν ν⋯μιζε, και πρ⋯σ ταυταισ τ⋯σ μεθ υλιειασ και του σωπρνειν, και δ⋯ και συμπ⋯σησ ⋯ρετ⋯σ … ταυτασ μειγνυ.

page 64 note 5 και προσγιγνομ⋯νων και ⋯πογιγνομ⋯νων και ⋯δον⋯ν και π⋯βων και τ⋯ν ἅλλων π⋯ντων

page 64 note 6 χωριζ⋯μενα δ⋯ προν⋯σεωσ.

page 64 note 7 σκιαγραπια.

page 64 note 8 ⋯nu;δραποδὼδησ.