This text is part of:
αὐτῶν τῶν δούλων. “Quum ingenui desint, a quibus auxilium petat, nonnullis ex servorum ipsorum, quos timet, numero adulari cogitur” (Schneider). This explanation, which Vermehren also approves (Pl. Stud. p. 114), exactly meets the case, and there is no reason either to change αὐτῶν to αὖ (with Stephanus) or to delete τῶν δούλων (with Ast and Herwerden). οὐδὲν δεόμενος: ‘when he needn't.’ He is under no obligation to set them free: why then should he make them a present of their freedom? The innuendo is in Plato's neatest style. For the language cf. (with Schneider) Plut. Tib. Gracch. 21. 2 δείσασα περὶ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἡ βουλὴ ψηφίζεται μηδὲν δεομένη πέμπειν αὐτὸν εἰς Ἀσίαν. The conjecture οὐδὲν δεομένους (Groen v. Prinsterer Prosop. Plat. p. 211, Ast, and Herwerden, who appeals in vain to Plut. Cato Maior 12. 3, Dem. 11. 9, and Isocr. Areop. 25) is, as Schneider shews, inept; for if the slaves do not need to be set free, because they are practically free already, “ne ero quidem opus est ut ad eos coercendos illam aliamve ineat rationem.” ἄλλους -- γείτονας. These freeborn neighbours in Plato's simile represent surrounding independent States, who detest tyranny, and help the tyrant's subjects. See Newman's Politics of Aristotle II p. 315.
The Republic of Plato. James Adam. 1902. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.