James Adam, The Republic of Plato

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ἄλλοτ̓ -- ἀτρυγέτοιο. The picture of Achilles sorrowing for Patroclus in Iliad XXIV 10—12. Plato accommodates the Homeric narrative to his own ποιεῖν, and reads πλωΐζοντ᾽ — ἀτρυγέτοιο instead of δινεύεσκ᾽ ἀλύων παρὰ θῖν᾽ ἁλός, which appears in our Homer. πλωίζω elsewhere is always used of sail ing in the literal sense (yet ἐκ τοῦ νοῦ ἐκπλώειν in Hdt. VI 12), but it cannot bear such a meaning here. If the MSS are right, πλωΐζοντ̓ must be regarded (with Schneider) as a metaphor, the agitated movements of Achilles being compared to the unsteady motion of a ship upon the sea. Achilles is so to speak ‘at sea’ and shews it in his gait; cf. the metaphorical sense of χειμάζομαι. The picture savours of the burlesque, and Howes suggests that πλωίζων may be a deliberate parody on Plato's part (Harvard Studies etc. VI p. 202). As no other example of such a use of πλωίζω has been adduced, the word is perhaps corrupt. Heyne's πρωΐζοντ̓ “matutinum se agentem” (οὐδέ μιν ἠὼς | φαινομένη λήθεσκεν ὑπεὶρ ἅλα, says Homer) will never command a wide assent: still less πλώϊσοντ̓ (Benedictus), πρῲ ἴοντ̓ (Ast), whose quantity is not above suspicion, or πρῲ ἰύζοντ̓ (Liebhold Fl. Jahrb. 1888, p. 108). αἰάζοντ̓ (Herwerden and Naber) is better in point of sense, but the alteration is too great. I have thought of πόλλ᾽ ᾤζοντ̓ (ᾤζεις ‘cry ὤ’ and not ὤζεις is the spelling of the Codex Mediceus in Aesch. Eum. 124), or ἀφλοίζοντ̓ (cf. ἀφλοισμός in Il. XV 607). Perhaps, however, πλωΐζοντ̓ conceals some word meaning ‘to rush wildly from his tent,’ ἐπὶ θῖν̓ being probably for ἐπὶ θῖνα, not for ἐπὶ θινί. There is apparently a contrast between Achilles' anguish within his tent and without, and some word is needed to mark his exit. Nothing can be made of the variant πλάζοντ̓ (in a few inferior MSS). In default of anything better we must (I suppose) provisionally acquiesce in Schneider's interpretation.