οἱ δὲ κατὰ τὴν ψυχήν. Sc.
ἐγκύμονες ὄντες. In this anacoluthic period Rettig
sees a parody of Phaedrus's style with its “langathmigen, anakoluthischen
und regellosen Perioden.”
καὶ κυῆσαι καὶ τεκεῖν. Hug's
conjecture, τεκεῖν for κυεῖν, is fortunate in finding confirmation in the Papyrus. If κυεῖν be read, what is the point of the distinction of
tenses? Schleierm. renders by “erzeugen und erzeugen zu wollen”;
Schulthess, “zeugen und empfangen”; Rettig explains that
“κυεῖν geht auf den dauernden, κυῆσαι auf den vollendeten Process”; Stallb.
“et concepisse (quae est actio semel...perfecta) et conceptum
tenere.” But there is certainly not much point here in making any such
fine-spun distinction, unless it be to imply that Diotima is playing the part of a
σοφιστής!
φρόνησιν...ἀρετήν. “Moral
wisdom and virtue in general”: the phrase is an echo of that in 184 D. For φρόνησις, cp.
Rep. 427 E (with Adam's note); Meno 88 B
(with Thompson's note).
οἱ ποιηταὶ. That the poets were ethical
teachers and the stage a pulpit— just as Homer was the Greek
Bible—was an axiom in the Hellenic world. See the appeal to the authority of
poets in the Protagoras (and Adam's note on 338
E); Ar. Ran. 1009 (Eurip. loquitur) βελτίους τε
ποιοῦμεν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν: Lysis 214 A
οὗτοι γὰρ (sc. οἱ
ποιηταὶ) ἡμῖν ὥσπερ πατέρες τῆς σοφίας εἰσὶ
καὶ ἡγεμόνες. The fact that most kinds of poetry were produced in
connexion with, and under the sanction of, religion, had no doubt something to do with
this estimate of it. See further Adam R. T. G. pp. 9 ff.
δημιουργῶν...εὑρετικοὶ. An allusion to
197 A
δημιουργίαν...ἀνεῦρεν.
μεγίστη...τῆς φρονήσεως. Cp. Crat. 391 B
ὀρθοτάτη τῆς σκέψεως: Rep. 416 B; Thuc. I. 2 τῆς γῆς ἡ
ἀρίστη: see Madv. Gr. S. § 50 a, R. 3.
σωφροσύνη τε καὶ δικαιοσύνη. Cp. Phaedo 82 A
οἱ τὴν δημοτικήν τε καὶ πολιτικὴν ἀρετὴν
ἐπιτετηδευκότες, ἣν δὴ καλοῦσι σωφροσύνην τε καὶ δικαιοσύνην, ἐξ ἔθους
τε καὶ μελέτης γεγονυῖαν ἄνευ φιλοσοφίας τε καὶ νοῦ: Meno 73 A. For these virtues in the
Republic, see Adam on 432 A, 434 C. Here they combine to form a
description of “ordinary civil virtue.”
This text is part of:
The Symposium of Plato. R. G. Bury. 1909. Cambridge. W. Heffer and Sons.
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