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ξυνθήκας αὑτῶν: ‘covenants between one another,’ ‘mutual covenants.’ Reading αὐτῶν, Tucker suggests that the meaning is, ‘they established laws and covenants concerning them,’ i.e. concerning matters connected with ἀδικεῖν and ἀδικεῖσθαι—a very improbable view. νόμιμόν τε καὶ δίκαιον : φημὶ γὰρ ἐγὼ τὸ νόμιμον δίκαιον εἶναι, said Socrates (Mem. IV 4. 12). τοῦ μὲν ἀρίστου κτλ. Cf. the reasoning of Philus (whose position in Cicero's work corresponds to that of Glauco here) in Cic. de Rep. III 23 “nam cum de tribus unum esset optandum, aut facere iniuriam nec accipere, aut et facere et accipere, aut neutrum, optimum est facere, impune si possis, secundum nec facere nec pati, miserrimum digladiari semper tum faciendis tum accipiendis iniuriis.” Cicero is following Carneades (ibid. 8), who may have been thinking of the present passage. ἀγαπᾶσθαι below (as J. and C. observe) “implies acquiescence rather than decided preference.”
The Republic of Plato. James Adam. 1902. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
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