ἃ δ᾽ ἂν
κτλ. The argument is that where mutual consent
obtains, since βία is absent, there can be no
ἀδικία. For a different view of δικαιοσύνη see Arist. Eth. N. v. 9. 1136^{b}
32 ff. ἕτερον γὰρ τὸ νομικὸν δίκαιον καὶ τὸ πρῶτον
κτλ.: Crito 52 E: Xen.
Symp. VIII. 20.
οἱ πόλεως...νόμοι. Apparently a
quotation from Alcidamas, a rhetor of the school of Gorgias: see Arist.
Rhet. III. 1406^{a} 18 ff. διὸ τὰ
Ἀλκιδάμαντος ψυχρὰ φαίνεται: οὐ γὰρ ἡδύσματι χρῆται ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ἐδέσματι
τοῖς ἐπιθέτοις, οὕτω πυκνοῖς καὶ μειζόσι καὶ ἐπιδήλοις, οἷον...οὐχὶ
νόμους ἀλλὰ τοὺς τῶν πόλεων βασιλεῖς νόμους (see Cope ad loc.). Two extant works are ascribed to Alcidamas, viz. an
Odysseus and a de Sophistis: the latter is
probably genuine and “seems to justify Aristotle's strictures on his want of
taste in the use of epithets” (Cope loc. cit.). See
further Vahlen, Alkidamas etc. pp. 508 ff.; Blass, Att.
Bereds. II. 328.
εἶναι γὰρ...σωφροσύνη. This definition
of “temperance” is common to both scientific and popular morals.
Cp. Rep. 389 D
σωφροσύνης...αὐτοὺς (εἶναι) ἄρχοντας τῶν περὶ πότους καὶ
ἀφροδίσια καὶ περὶ ἐδωδὰς ἡδονῶν (“temperance, soberness
and chastity”): ib. 430 E, Phaedo
68 C: Antiphon fr. 6 σωφροσύνην δ᾽ ἀνδρὸς...ὅστις
τοῦ θυμοῦ τὰς παραχρῆμα ἡδονὰς ἐμφράσσων κρατεῖν τε καὶ νικᾶν ἠδυνήθη
αὐτὸς ἑαυτόν. See Dobbs op. cit. pp. 149 ff.;
Nägelsbach, Nachhom. Theol. pp. 227 ff.
Ἔρωτος δὲ
κτλ. The argument is vitiated both by the ambiguity
in the use of Eros (as affection and as person) and by the ambiguity in κρατεῖ ἡδονῶν, which in the minor premiss is equivalent to
ἐστὶν ἡ κρατίστη ἡδονή. For similar fallacies,
see Euthyd. 276 D ff.; Arist. soph. el. 165^{b} 32 ff. For ἔρως as a master-passion, cp. Rep. 572 E ff. Agathon here again echoes Gorgias
(Hel. 6 πέφυκε γὰρ οὐ τὸ κρεῖσσον ὑπὸ τοῦ
ἥσσονος κωλύεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἧσσον ὑπὸ τοῦ κρείσσονος ἄρχεσθαι καὶ
ἄγεσθαι κτλ.).
οὐδ᾽ Ἄρης ἀνθίσταται. This comes from
Soph. (Thyestes) fr. 235 N. πρὸς τὴν ἀνάγκην
οὐδ᾽ Ἄρης ἀνθίσταται. Cp. Anacreontea 27 A, 13 ἔλαβεν βέλεμνον (sc. Ἔρωτος）
Ἄρης.
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