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ἐναντία γὰρ -- φύσις. Plato regarded this opposition as the fundamental antithesis of human character, and thought it a statesman's foremost duty to blend the θυμοειδές and πρᾶον harmoniously together: see Pol. 306 C— 311 C, infra III 410 B ff., VI 503 C, Theaet. 144 A, B.

ταῦτα -- ἔοικεν. Van Heusde (Initia Phil. Plat. p. 471 note 1) somewhat hastily declares these words to be corrupt, and supplies ἀμφότερα ἔχειν after ταῦτα δέ. ταῦτα refers like τούτων simply to the two qualities πρᾶον and μεγαλόθυμον: ‘these’—meaning the combination of these as opposed to one of them—‘are apparently unattainable’: cf. VI 499 D οὐ γὰρ ἀδύνατος γενέσθαι, οὐδ᾽ ἡμεῖς ἀδύνατα λέγομεν.

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    • Plato, Theaetetus, 144a
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