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ἰσονομικοῦ: ‘to whom all laws are equal.’ ‘Equal laws’ (ἰσονομία) was the proud claim of democracy (Hdt. III 80, Bergk Poet. Lyr. Gr.^{4} III Scol. 12). The δημοκρατικός practises what he preaches ὡς ἀληθῶς—by impartially ignor ing every law ! For the etymological figure cf. II 376 B note

παντοδαπόν τε καὶ -- μεστόν. Richards proposes to write the genitive, remarking “surely the words are parallel to ἰσονομικοῦ.” Logically they are, but grammatically they need not be, for the life of an ἰσονομικὸς ἀνήρ is of course ἰσονομικός. With πλείστων ἠθῶν cf. πᾶσιν ἤθεσι πεποικιλμένη 557 C.

καὶ τὸν καλόν τε κτλ. lit.: ‘and that this man is the beautiful and manycoloured man, as the city described above’ (was the beautiful and manycoloured city). “Sunt diversa hominum et civitatum genera, unum simplex ac rectum, alterum duplex, aliud multiplex et varium. Qui primo accensendus est, ἁπλοῦς, qui alteri, διπλοῦς, hic vero καλός τε καὶ ποικίλος audit” (Schneider). Thus understood the article is strictly to the point, and there is no reason for writing τῶν καλῶν τε καὶ ποικίλων with Vind. B and W. H. Thompson. On ποικίλον see 557 C note It is worthy of remark that Clement interprets Joseph's ‘coat of many colours’ in the Old Testament as symbolical of desire: εἴη δ᾽ ἂν ἐπιθυμία ποικίλον ἔνδυμα (Strom. V 8. 84 C ed. Migne).

ἐκείνην τὴν πόλιν. See 557 C, with which and 557 D the words ὂν πολλοί κτλ. are also in close correspondence.

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