James Adam, The Republic of Plato

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ὑπὸ φυγῆς καταληφθέν: ‘arrested by exile,’ so as not ἐκπεσεῖν ἐκ τοῦ ἐπιτηδεύματος (495 A): cf. κατασχεῖν below. Stallbaum's explanation ‘overtaken by exile,’ which D. and V. apparently accept, is in my judgment wrong. The reading καταλειφθέν (q and several other MSS, followed by Ast and one or two other scholars) is less expressive and picturesque, though it gives a fair sense if interpreted as καταλειφθὲν τῇ φιλοσοφίᾳ. Van Heusde's conjecture ἀπὸ φυγῆς καταλειφθέν would (as Schneider observes) mean ‘those who survived after exile’ and is wholly inadmissible, as well as ἀπὸ φυγῆς καταληφθέν (‘debarred from exile’), which Herwerden proposes, inserting also ἤ after ἦθος. Has Plato any special instances in view? Steinhart (Einleitung p. 208) thinks of Anaxagoras, and even of Plato himself. But it cannot be said that either of them was saved by exile from deserting Philosophy, and Plato was hardly exiled, even metaphorically speaking. Krohn (Pl. St. pp. 117, 384) declares for Xenophon. It is however more than doubtful, even after Boeckh's attempt to overthrow the tradition about unfriendliness between Xenophon and Plato (De simultate quam Pl. c. Xen. exercuisse fertur 1811), whether Plato would have gone out of his way to pay a compliment to his fellow-disciple. Can Plato be thinking of his friend Dio? If so, this passage must have been written in or after 367 B.C., the year of Dio's banishment from Syracuse. A personal reference is easily combined with the description of a class, and a tribute to Dio would be very pleasing here. I have lately found the same conjecture in Thomas Gray's notes on the Republic. See also Introd. § 4 and (for Plato's connexion with Dio) Grote X pp. 332 ff. See also 499 B note

ὅταν κτλ. There is no reason to suppose (with e.g. Steinhart Einleitung p. 208) that Plato means Euclides of Megara. Heraclitus is a good instance, although Ephesus was hardly a σμικρὰ πόλις.

βραχὺ δέ πού τι κτλ. Some have thought of Phaedo of Elis, and Simon the Athenian, both of whom were members of the Socratic circle (Steinhart l.c. p. 208). The latter (whose very existence has been denied by some recent critics, but—as Hirzel Der Dialog pp. 102 ff. shews—on wholly inadequate grounds) was once a shoemaker (D. L. II 122). We may also in some respects compare the architect-philosopher Hippodamus of Miletus: see Susemihl and Hicks' Politics of Aristotle I pp. 331—334. Zeller^{4} II 1, p. 52 note 1 thinks Plato may have had Socrates himself in view, but the δαιμόνιον σημεῖον accounts for him.

Θεάγους. Cf. Ap. 33 E, where it is implied that Theages died before Socrates. The tribute which Plato pays to his memory is all the more touching because Greek literature too seldom recognises that physical weakness may be combined with mental and moral strength: see III 406 C note Plutarch (de tuenda san. praecepta 126 C, quoted by Stallbaum) remarks καὶ γὰρ φιλοσοφεῖν ἀρρωστίαι πολλοὺς παρέχουσι—a reminiscence, perhaps, of Plato.