CHAPTER XIV
Here begins the third part of Protagoras' reply:
324E328D In
this chapter he begins to show that virtue is in point of fact
taught to all by showing that it would be absurd to suppose that
it is not.
1.
λοιπὴ ἀπορία. For the omission of the article before a
relative clause (Heindorf suggested the insertion of
ἡ after
λοιπή) Sauppe quotes
Rep. III. 413E φύλαξ αὑτοῦ ὢν ἀγαθὸς καὶ
μουσικῆς ἧς ἐμάνθανεν. The
ἀπορία was raised by Socrates in
319Dff.
3.
διδάσκουσιν. Contrast below
325Bτὰ μὲν ἄλλα διδάσκονται τοὺς υἱεῖς and
ibid. τοὺς υἱεῖς διδάσκονται, said of the parents
as
διδάσκουσιν (in the usual sense of
διδάσκονται) is said here and
in
Meno, 94B. Similarly in
Prot. 320Aἐπαίδευε is used where we
should expect
ἐπαιδεύετο: cf.
ἐπαιδεύσατο in
Meno, 93D.
ἃ διδασκάλων ἔχεται. See note on
319Eabove.
6.
οὐκέτι μῦθον ἀλλὰ λόγον.
Gorg. 523A ὃν σὺ μὲν ἡγήσει
μῦθον, ὡς ἐγὼ οἶμαι, ἐγὼ δὲ λόγον: ὡς ἀληθῆ γὰπ ὄντα σοι λέξω ἃ
μέλλω λέγειν.
12.
δικαιοσύνη—τὸ ὅσιον εἶναι. Thus for the first time
Protagoras definitely speaks of the virtues in language implying
their unity: cf.
323E
14.
ἀνδρὸς ἀρετήν: ἀνδρός is somewhat loftier and more impressive than
ἀνθρώπου (cf.
Rep. VIII. 565E βίον ἀνδρὸς ἀφανίζων).
For the sentiment cf.
Rep. VI. 501B ξυμμιγνύντες τε καὶ κεραννύντες ἐκ τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων τὸ ἀνδρείκελον, ἀπ᾽ ἐκείνου τεκμαιρόμενοι, ὃ δὴ καὶ Ὅμηρος ἐκάλεσεν ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐγγιγνόμενον
θεοειδές τε καὶ θεοείκελον.
15.
μετὰ τοὐτου: not
μεθ᾽ οὗ, see on
313Aκαὶ ἐν ᾧ. For the
use of
μετά cf.
Phaed. 69A ff. (
μὴ)
ᾖ ἐκεῖνο μόνον τὸ νόμισμα
ὀρθόν, ἀνθ᾽ οὗ δεῖ ἅπαντα ταῦτα καταλλάττεσθαι, φρόνησις, καὶ τούτου
μὲν καὶ μετὰ τούτου (
ὠνούμενά τε καὶ πιπρασκόμενα)
τῷ ὄντι ᾖ καὶ
ἀνδρεία κτλ.
18.
καὶ παῖδα καὶ ἄνδρα καὶ γυναῖκα: nearly equivalent to
‘not only child but etc.’:
παῖδα is put first as the natural object
of
κολάζειν—‘et nos ergo manum ferulae subduximus’ (Juv.
1. 15).
20.
ὑπακούῃ is more than obey: the word means ‘to hear
and answer’ (cf.
Crito, 43A): tr. ‘respond’, sc. by becoming
better (as explained in l. 19).
21.
ὡς ἀνίατον ὄντα—ἀποκτείνειν:
Rep. III. 410A τοὺς—
κατὰ τὴν ψυχὴν κακοφυεῖς καὶ ἀνιάτους αὐτοὶ ἀποκτενοῦσι. In the
next line
αὐτοῦ in
αὐτοῦ πεφυκότος is still this ‘one thing’, viz.
ἀνδρὸς ἀρετή.
24.
ὡς θαυμάσιοι γίγνονται. The MSS. have
ὡς θαυμασίως
γίγνονται, which could only mean ‘in what a strange way are
produced’—a meaning irrelevant here. The point is that it is
θαυμαστόν if ‘good men’—virtue having been proved to be
teachable—teach their sons everything except virtue.
θαυμάσιοι
(with Kroschel and other editors) seems the simplest of the
many emendations proposed: cf.
Euthyd. 305B θαυμάσιοί εἰσιν
οἱ τοιοῦτοι ἄνδρες. The mistake may have arisen from the
influence of the common
θαυμασίως ὡς. Next best is Hirschig's
θαυμασίως γίγνονται ἀγαθοὶ οἱ ἀγαθοὶ (cf.
328Eοὐκ εἶναι ἀνθρωπίνην ἐπιμέλειαν ᾖ ἀγαθοὶ οἱ ἀγαθοὶ γίγνονται) or
θαυμασίως
γίγνονται οἱ ἀγαθοὶ ἀγαθοί: cf.
Meno, 89B οἱ ἀγαθοὶ ἀγαθοὶ
γίγνονται and Heindorf's emendation on
326Cbelow. As to
γίγνονται ‘Saepius a Platone id quod argumentatione colligitur,
γίγνεσθαι dicitur, ut p.
355Aφημὶ ὑμῖν τούτου οὕτως ἔχοντος
γελοῖον τὸν λόγον γίγνεσθαι ὅταν λέγητε κτλ., Euthyd. p. 298E
οὐκοῦν ὁ κύων πατὴρ ὢν σός ἐστιν, ὥστε σὸς πατὴρ γίγνεται ὁ κύων’
(Kroschel). The same use of
γίγνεσθαι is common in Aristotle.
27.
τὰ μὲν ἄλλα ἄρα. For the form of the sentence and for
ἄρα here and in l. 33 cf. note on
Crito, 50E ἢ πρὸς μὲν ἄρα.
28.
διδάσκονται (but not of course
ἄρα) is interrogative: so
οὐ διδάσκονται in l. 33.
29.
ἐφ᾽ ᾦ. This, and not
ἐφ᾽ ὦν (as asserted by Schanz), is
after all the reading of B: see Adamson in
Cl. Rev. VII, 445. In
itself,
ἐφ᾽ ὧν (so T) is not indefensible:
ἐφ᾽ ὧν (i.e.
ἐπὶ τούτων ἃ）
κτλ. would mean ‘in the case of subjects which if they have not
learnt’ (
μὴ μαθοῦσι), the latent
ἅ depending on
μαθοῦσι. This use
of
ἐπὶ with the genitive is common in Plato, e.g.
Rep. VII. 524E
ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ δακτύλου ἐλέγομεν. But
ἐφ᾽ ᾧ (which Heindorf had
already conjectured) is simpler and better. For the misplacement of
τε in
ἥ τε ζημία see note on
316Dabove.
32.
ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν is to be taken with
ξυλλήβδην, which goes
with the verbal noun
ἀνατροπαί: ‘almost wholesale subversion of
their house’.
ξυλλήβδην means ‘not
κατὰ σμικρόν, but so as to
embrace everything’: cf.
Rep. 1.
344AB
τυραννὶς ἣ οὐ κατὰ
σμικρὸν τἀλλότρια καὶ λάθρᾳ καὶ βίᾳ ἀφαιρεῖται—ἀλλὰ ξυλλήβδην,
and Theognis, 147
ἐν δὲ δικαιοσύνῃ συλλήβδην πᾶσ᾽ ἀρετὴ 'νι. For
ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν see on
317A
34.
οἴεσθαί γε χρή: a way of answering one's own question:
Crito, 53D, 54B.
