previous next

οὐ μέντοι γε. The collocation μέντοι γε, which rarely occurs in good Greek, is condemned by Porson (on Eur. Med. 675) and others. In Plato it is found only here and in Crat. 424 C, [Sisyph.] 388 A. Here some inferior MSS omit γε. It would be easy (with Hoefer de particulis Plat. p. 38, Cobet, and Blaydes) to write οὐ μέντοι ὅσον γε, but “notanda talia potius quam mutanda.” The idiom, though exceptional, is (in my judgment) sufficiently supported (see the instances cited by Blaydes on Ar. Thesm. 709). It should also perhaps be remembered that the speaker, Cephalus, was not a native Athenian. Cf. 331 B E notes

τὸ τοῦ Θεμιστοκλέους. The story as told by Herodotus VIII 125 is probably more true, if less pointed: ὡς δὲ ἐκ τῆς Λακεδαίμονος ἀπίκετο (sc. Θεμιστοκλῆς) ἐς τὰς Ἀθήνας, ἐνθαῦτα Τιμόδημος Ἀφι<*>ναῖοςφθόνῳ καταμαργέων ἐνείκεε τὸν Θεμιστοκλέαὡς διὰ τὰς Ἀθήνας ἔχοι τὰ γέρεα τὰ παρὰ Λακεδαιμονίων, ἀλλ̓ οὐ δἰ ἑωυτόν. δὲεἶπε: οὕτω ἔχει τοι: οὔτ̓ ἂν ἐγὼ ἐὼν Βελβινίτης (Belbina was a small island about 2 miles south of Sunium) ἐτιμήθην οὕτω πρὸς Σπαρτιητέων, οὔτ᾽ ἂν σὺ ὤνθρωπε ἐὼν Ἀθηναῖος. The changes are not due to Plato: for τῷ in τῷ Σεριφίῳ—for which Heindorf on Charm. 155 D wrongly suggests τῳ, like Cicero's Seriphio cuidam (Cato Mai. 8)—shews that Plato's form of the story was also familiar. The Platonic version, in which Belbina has become Seriphus, and Themistocles' detractor a Seriphian, afterwards held the field.

Creative Commons License
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.

hide References (4 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (4):
    • Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae, 709
    • Euripides, Medea, 675
    • Plato, Cratylus, 424c
    • Plato, Charmides, 155d
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: