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Ἀλκίνου -- ἀπόλογον. Books IX—XII of the Odyssey were known as Ἀλκίνου ἀπόλογοι the ‘tales to Alcinous’: see Ael. Var. Hist. XIII 14 Ἀλκίνου ἀπολόγους [καὶ] Κυκλώπειαν καὶ Νέκυιαν καὶ τὰ τῆς Κίρκης. Cf. Arist. Poet. 16. 1455^{a} 2 and Rhet. III 16. 1417^{a} 13, from which it appears that the whole four books were also called collectively ὁ Ἀλκίνου ἀπόλογος. There is doubtless an allusion, as the Oxford editors remark, to the νέκυια of Od. XI, which is itself one of the ‘tales to Alcinous’; but the expression has also a proverbial application, being used of a long and tedious story (ἐπὶ τῶν φλυαρούντων καὶ μακρὸν ἀποτεινόντων λόγον Suidas s.v. Ἀπόλογος Ἀλκίνου. Other authorities will be found in Leutsch u. Schneidewin Paroem. Gr. I p. 210, II p. 13). For the paronomasia Ἀλκίνου — ἀλκίμου see Riddell Digest § 323. Ἠρὸς τοῦ Ἀρμενίου κτλ. The names point to the East. Ἦρ ὄνομα κύριον Ἑβραικόν, says Suidas, and Er is one of the ancestors of Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary: see St Luke 3. 28. By some of the ancients, including Clement (Strom. V 157 Migne), Er was identified with Zoroaster (Proclus l.c. p. 109). τοῦ Ἀρμενίου is of course ‘son of Armenius,’ not ‘the Armenian,’ as some ancient expositors imagined (see Proclus in remp. II p. 110). Plutarch Symp. IX 740 B appears to have read Ἁρμονίου, a reading which was known to Proclus (l.c.), and which commended itself also to the poet Gray: but Ἁρμονίου has no MS authority. Proclus himself adopts the same reading as that of our best MSS, and explains the passage quite correctly in p. 110. 19 ff. δεκαταίων. The occurrence of the number 10 and its multiples is one of the Pythagorean elements of the story: cf. infra 615 A, B εἶναι δὲ τὴν πορείαν χιλιέτη (10^{3} years)—ὑπὲρ ἑκάστου δεκάκις—ὡς βίου ὄντος τοσούτου (10^{2} years) τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου and εἰκοστήν in 620 B. See also on 614 C. ἀναβιοὺς δὲ -- ἴδοι. Other miraculous stories about the dead or seemingdead returning to life again and describing what they have seen are given by Proclus l.c. pp. 113—116, 122. Cf. also Rohde Psyche^{2} II pp. 90—102. ἀφικνεῖσθαι. In Phaed. 107 D and 113 D each soul is conducted by its δαίμων to the place of judgment.
The Republic of Plato. James Adam. 1902. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
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