CHAPTER XVIII
Socrates elicits from Protagoras (1) that while Virtue as a whole
is one, the single virtues differ from each other and from the
whole like the parts of the face, that it is possible to possess one
virtue without possessing all, and that in all there are five
virtues, justice, temperance, holiness, bravery, wisdom, of
which the last is greatest (
329D330A; (2) that the virtues
differ from each other not only in themselves, but in their
δύναμις (
330A330B; (3) that justice is just, and holiness holy
(
330B330E. The refutation of Protagoras does not begin till
the next chapter.
3.
προσώπου: προσώπου is treated as an abstract conception
—‘parts of face’: cf.
ψυχή in
313Cκάπηλος τῶν ἀγωγίμων ἀφ᾽
ὧν ψυχὴ τρέφεται,
Rep. IV. 435C εἰς φαῦλόν γε αὖ—σκῶμμα
ἐμρερτώκαμεν ρεπὶ ψυχῆς, εἴτε ἔχει τὰ τπία εἴδη ταῦτα ἐν αὑτῆ̣ εἴτε
μή. In Aristotelian language, the face is
ἀνομοιομερές.
6.
ἀλλήλων καὶ τοῦ ὅλου: so the MSS. and Heindorf (who
suggests
ἀλλήλων τε καὶ τοῦ ὅλου): recent editors mostly omit
either
ἀλλήλων or
τὰ ἕτερα τῶν ἑτέρων. τὰ ἕτερα τῶν ἑτέρων should
be taken quite generally,
τῶν ἑτέρων (and thus, by implication,
τὰ ἕτερα) having its meaning defined by the clause
ἀλλήλων καὶ
τοῦ ὅλου. τὰ ἕτερα τῶν ἑτέρων could be dropped without injury
to the sense, but hardly
ἀλλήλων: without
ἀλλήλων Plato would
have written
οὐδὲν διαφέρει τὸ ἕτερον τοῦ ἑτέρου καὶ τοῦ ὅλου: cf.
330Aἆρ᾽ οὖν οὕτω καὶ τὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς μόρια οὐκ ἔστιν τὸ ἕτερον
οἷον τὸ ἕτερον (not
τὰ ἕτερα οἷα τὰ ἕτερα); and so
330E 331A
331D 349B 359A
10.
μεταλαμβάνουσιν—μορίων—ἄλλο. μεταλαμβάνειν, μετέχειν, μεταδιδόναι and the like take an accusative of the part
as well as a genitive of the whole.
μεταλαμβάνειν μόριον = ‘to
receive a part of a whole’:
μεταλαμβάνειν μορίου = ‘to receive
a part of a part’.
13.
ἀνδρεῖοί εἰσιν ἄδικοι δέ: cf.
Laws, I. 630B πιστὸς μὲν γὰρ
καὶ ὑγιὴς ἐν στάσεσιν οὐκ ἄν ροτε γένοιτο ἄνευ ξυμράσης ἀπετῆς.
διαβάντες δ᾽ εὖ καὶ μαχόμενοι ἐθέλοντες ἀροθνῄσκειν ἐν τῷ ρολέμῳ
ὡς φπάζει Τύπταιος τῶν μισθοφόπων εἰσὶ ράμρολλοι, ὧν οἱ ρλεῖστοι
γίγνονται θπασεῖς καὶ ἄδικοι καὶ ὑβπισταὶ καὶ ἀφπονέστατοι σχεδὸν
ἁπάντων.
14.
καὶ ταῦτα: for
σοφία and
ἀνδρεία have not yet been
named—only
δικαιοσύνη and
σωφροσύνη and
ὁσιότης. See Introd.
p. xxxi.
16.
καὶ μέγιστόν γε σοφία: Protagoras speaks as a
σοφιστής, glorifying his profession.
17.
ἄλλο, τὸ δὲ ἄλλο: equivalent to
τὸ μὲν ἄλλο, τὸ δὲ ἄλλο.
τὸ δέ, τὰ δέ, etc., without preceding
τὸ μέν, τὰ μέν, etc., is a
frequent idiom.
Crat. 399A πολλάκις ἐπεμβάλλομεν γράμματα, τὰ
δ᾽ ἐξαιροῦμεν, Soph.
O.T. 1229
οἶμαι γὰρ οὔτ᾽ ἂν Ἴστρον οὔτε
Φᾶσιν ἂν νίψαι καθαπμῷ τήνδε τὴν στέγην ὅσα κεύθει, τὰ δ᾽ αὐτίκ᾽
εἰς τὸ φῶς φανεῖ κακά.
18.
ὥσπερ τὰ τοῦ προσώπου: we have placed the mark of
interrogation before
ὥσπερ: see on
ἄλλο γε in
311E The sentence
ὥσπερ τὰ τοῦ προσώπου οὐκ ἔστιν ὀφθαλμὸς οἷον τὰ ὦτα thus corresponds exactly to
ἆρ᾽ οὖν οὕτω καὶ τὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς μόρια οὐκ ἔστιν τὸ
ἕτερον οἷον τὸ ἕτερον. For
τὰ τοῦ προσώπου followed by its parts
in the same case cf. below
349Aἐκεῖνα—τὰ μέν—τὰ δέ and
Theaet. 151A οἷς ὅταν πάλιν ἔλθωσι—ἐνίοις μὲν—ἀποκωλύει
συνεῖναι, ἐνίοις δὲ ἐᾷ. For the asyndeton regular in explanatory
and ampliative clauses see note on
Apol. 22A.
25.
ἀλλ᾽ οὕτως, ἔφη, ἔχει, ὦ Σώκρατες. So T: B has only
ἀλλ᾽ οὕτως, ἔφη. The longer form of answer is more suited to
Protagoras' style.
31.
ἡ δικαιοσύνη πρᾶγμά τί ἐστιν. Cf. below
332Aἀφροσύνην τι καλεῖς; 332C 358D Plato frequently begins a train of
reasoning in this way.
32.
καὶ ἐμοί: so T: B has
καί μοι. καὶ ἐμοί seems slightly
better than
κἀμοί, as forming a more effective balance to
ἐμοὶ μέν
in the same line.
33.
ὦ Πρωταγόρα τε καὶ Σώκρατες: but
ἐμέ τε καὶ σέ as
Greek usage requires. Protagoras is addressed first on the
principle
seniores priores and
honoris causa; contrast
311D and
cf.
353A(Kroschel).
34.
εἴπετον: contrast
311Dεἰπέ μοι, ὦ Σώκρατές τε καὶ Ἱππόκρατες, where see note. The dual gives prominence to the notion
in
κοινῇ σκεψώμεθα (l. 29). The connection of this part of the
argument with the rest is this: in
330A330Bit is said that no
one part of virtue is
οἷον τὸ ἕτερον, e.g. that
δικαιοσύνη is not
οἷον ὁσιότης (major premise); here it is said that
δικαιοσύνη is
δίκαιον, ὁσιότης ὅσιον (minor premise): from which the conclusion (in the next chapter) is drawn that
δικαιοσύνη is not
ὅσιον,
nor
ὁσιότης δίκαιον. This stage of the argument is therefore
neither ‘tautological nor unmeaning’, as Grote (quoted by
Turner) asserts.
45.
οἷον ἀνόσιον εἷναι ἢ οἷον ὅσιον. Notice the identification of the ‘not
ὅσιον’ with
ἀνόσιον: see below on
331A
47.
εὐφήμει, ὦ ἄνθρωπε. ὦ ἄνθρωπε is somewhat brusque:
so
ὦ ἄνθρωποι in
314Dabove.
ἄνθρωπε without
ὦ would border
on rudeness: e.g.
Gorg. 518C ἴσως ἂν οὖν ἠγανάκτεις, εἴ σοι
ἔλεγον, ἄνθρωπε, οὐδὲν ἐπαΐεις περὶ γυμναστικῆς. εὐφήμει is
frequent to express shocked surprise, real or feigned: e.g.
Rep.
I.
329C Meno, 91B (
Ἡράκλεις, εὐφήμει, ὦ Σώκρατες),
Gorg.
469A,
Euthyd. 301A.
