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δοκεῖ ἂν οὖν -- ἀξιοῦν πλέον ἔχειν. Socrates ignores the proverb καὶ κεραμεὺς κεραμεῖ κοτέει καὶ ἀοιδὸς ἀοιδῷ. Strictly speaking, however, it is not qua κεραμεύς, but qua moneymaker (or the like) that the κεραμεὺς κοτέει. J. and C. cite an admirable parallel from Shakespeare (King John IV 2) “When workmen strive to do better than well, They do confound their skill in covetousness.” The words ἢ ἀξιοῦν πλέον ἔχειν have a suspicious look, and are rejected by Heller (Fl. Jahrb. 1875 p. 171) and others, but such duplicate expressions are common in Plato, and as the illustration from the harp introduces a new and important stage in the argument, Plato may have wished to remind us that after all πλεονεκτεῖν is only the πλέον ἔχειν with which we started (349 B). It should be noted, too, that ἀξιοῦν is a little more than ἐθέλειν.
The Republic of Plato. James Adam. 1902. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
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