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πάνυ γενναίαν εὐήθειαν: ‘sublime simplicity.’ Such contempt for εὐήθεια recalls Thucydides' description of contemporary morals: cf. especially III 83. 1 καὶ τὸ εὔηθες, οὖ τὸ γενναῖον πλεῖστον μετέχει, καταγελασθὲν ἠφανίσθη. εὐβουλία was preeminently a political virtue: cf. Alc. I 125 E πολιτείας κοινωνούντων τίνα καλεῖς ἐπιστήμην; Εὐβουλίαν ἔγωγε, Prot. 318 E, and infra IV 428 B. It is therefore fitly used by Thrasymachus to describe his theory, which is a theory of political rather than of private morality: cf. πόλεις τε—ποιεῖσθαι below. ὑφ̓ ἑαυτοὺς ποιεῖσθαι . ἑαυτοῖς is found in some inferior MSS, but the accusative is also admissible. Cf. Thuc. IV 60 (cited by Schneider) εἰκὸς—αὐτοὺς τάδε πάντα πειράσασθαι ὑπὸ σφᾶς ποιεῖσθαι. In τελέως Thrasymachus recalls the τελέαν ἀδικίαν of 348 B. σὺ δὲ οἴει -- λέγειν. Baiter (with Paris A) assigns these words to Socrates; but they come much more naturally from Thrasymachus: cf. 344 B. βαλλάντια and not βαλάντια is the spelling of A here and in VIII 552 D (βαλλαντιοτόμοι): in IX 575 B (βαλλαντιοτομοῦσι) the second λ is due to an early corrector. The double -λλ- has also the best MS authority in Gorg. 508 E, Symp. 190 E. See also Blaydes on Ar. Frogs 772. For ἦ δ᾽ ὅς below after ἔφη cf. Phaed. 78 A and VII 522 A.
The Republic of Plato. James Adam. 1902. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
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