[549c]
“His
origin1 is
somewhat on this wise: Sometimes he is the young son of a good father who
lives in a badly governed state and avoids honors and office and law-suits
and all such meddlesomeness2 and is willing to
forbear something of his rights3 in order to escape
trouble.4” “How does he originate?” he said.
“Why, when, to begin with,” I said, “he hears
his mother complaining5
1 δέ γ᾽ marks the transition from the description of the type to its origin. Cf. 547 E, 553 C, 556 B, 557 B, 560 D, 561 E, 563 B, 566 E. Ritter, pp. 69-70, comments on its frequency in this book, but does not note the reason. There are no cases in the first five pages.
2 Cf. Lysias xix. 18ἐκείνῳ μὲν γὰρ ἦν τὰ ἑαυτοῦ πράττειν, with the contrasted type ἀνήλωσεν ἐπιθυμῶν τιμᾶσθαι, Isoc.Antid. 227ἀπραγμονεστάτους μὲν ὄντας ἐν τῇ πόλει. Cf.πολυπραγμοσύνη444 B, 434 B, Isoc.Antid. 48, Peace 108,30, and 26, with Norlin's note (Loeb). Cf. also Aristoph.Knights 261.
3 ἐλαττοῦσθαι cf. Thuc. i. 77. 1, Aristot.Eth. Nic. 1198 b 26-32, Pol. 1319 a 3.
4 For πράγματα ἔχειν cf. 370 A, Gorg. 467 D, Alc. I. 119 B, Aristoph.Birds 1026, Wasps 1392. Cf.πράγματα παρέχειν, Rep. 505 A, 531 B, Theages 121 D, Herod. i. 155, Aristoph.Birds 931, Plutus 20, 102.
5 Wilamowitz, Platon, i. p. 434 with some exaggeration says that this is the only woman character in Plato and is probably his mother, Perictione. Pohlenz, Gött. Gel. Anz. 1921, p. 18, disagrees. For the complaints cf. Gerard, Four Years in Germany, p. 115 “Now if a lawyer gets to be about forty years old and is not some kind of a Rat his wife begins to nag him . . .”
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969.
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