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ἕκαστον: with ἕνα, not of course with ἔργον, as Hartman seems to suppose. With what follows cf. Laws 847 B ἀναγκαζόντων ἕνα μόνον ἀλλὰ μὴ πολλοὺς εἶναι and infra 443 E. μία -- ἀλλὰ μὴ πολλαί. Aristotle's criticism (Pol. B 2. 1261^{a} 17—^{b} 15) is interesting, but captious. Plato would entirely agree with him that τὸ ἴσον τὸ ἀντιπεπονθὸς σῴζει τὰς πολιτείας. ‘The reciprocity of services and functions’ between the three classes is the very foundation of Plato's city, which is far from being an undifferentiated unity. It is rather a ἓν ἐκ πολλῶν, the πολλά being the three divisions of the State. See Susemihl and Hicks l.c. I p. 215. φύηται should be noted; unity of this kind is κατὰ φύσιν. σμικρότερον is still ironical. In what follows Plato speaks his real mind: cf. Laws 813 D.
The Republic of Plato. James Adam. 1902. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
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