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οἷς μὲν οὖν κτλ. The logical sequence is somewhat difficult. Do not (says Socrates) be so anxious to persuade οἱ πολλοί of the usefulness of our curriculum. Its true utility is difficult to understand, and οἱ πολλοί will not easily be persuaded of it. Those who agree with us about its true utility will highly approve of your proposals; but οἱ πολλοί will not, for they can see no practical advantage (worthy of mention) accruing from them. δόξεις λέγειν attributes the proposals to Glauco as in D μὴ δοκῇςπροστάττειν, and ἄλλην is said with reference to τούτου. To the ὠφελία of intellectual salvation such persons are blind; and they cannot see any other, i.e. any practical ὠφελία worth mentioning in Plato's studies. ἄλλην cannot be understood as “beyond their practical applications” (D. and V.) unless we refer it to Glauco's remark τὸ γὰρ περὶ κτλ. in D, to the detriment both of grammar and of sense.

527E - 528A 35 σκόπει οὖν κτλ. ‘Very well: make up your mind once for all with which of these parties you are discoursing: or are you not addressing your remarks to either, but’ etc.? Glauco's insistence on the practical uses of astronomy may be all very well with a popular audience, but are out of place in a philosophical discussion. For this peremptory αὐτόθεν cf. Symp. 213 A. οὐ πρὸς οὐδετέρους lit. ‘not to neither’: cf. the familiar μᾶλλον οὐ for μᾶλλον (Kühner Gr. Gr. II pp. 771—773). I understand ὄνασθαι (with Ast) as an independent question: for it is difficult to supply ‘whether.’ Schneider's objections to this view are based on the idea that οὐ (if interrogative) must have an affirmative answer; but οὐ has nothing to do with , and only balances ἀλλά: cf. Ar. Plut. 372 μῶν οὐ κέκλοφας, ἀλλ᾽ ἥρπακας; Plato makes this clear by placing the two contrasting clauses in close juxtaposition. οὐ is omitted by Ξ and some inferior MSS. The text is, however, sound, and none of the proposed corrections— σὺ for οὐ (Schneider), εἰ πρὸς οὐδετέρους (Madvig), οὐδὲ πρὸς ἑτέρους (Cobet), εἰ οὐδὲ πρὸς ἑτέρους (Baiter), που πρὸς οὐδετέρους (Liebhold)—will bear examination, though Cobet's deserves the praise of elegance.

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