James Adam, The Republic of Plato

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σκόπει κτλ. This τεκμήριον turns on the judicial sense of δικαιοσύνη: cf. I 331 E ff. The judicial functions of the rulers follow naturally from 428 D, where it is said that σοφία βουλεύεται—ὅντιν᾽ ἂν τρόπον αὐτή τε (sc. ἡ πόλις) πρὸς αὑτὴν—ἄριστα ὁμιλοῖ κτλ. It is clear that no class except the rulers can be judges in the State, and judges are necessary: see III 408 D ff.

ἑαυτοῦ κτλ. ἑαυτοῦ is a possessive genitive depending on τοῦ. It should be noted that although ἕξις τοῦ οἰκείου is not the same thing as πρᾶξις τοῦ οἰκείου, the latter involves the former. Plato is looking for a point of contact between his own view of Justice and the popular judicial meaning of the word, and finds it in ἕξις τοῦ οἰκείου. Krohn (Pl. St. p. 49) appears to me to attach too much weight to ἕξις τοῦ οἰκείου when he calls it a new “Begriffselement,” and complains that it is “weder sachlich erläutert, noch logisch streng abgeleitet.” Cf. 442 E. It should be mentioned that the poet Gray (with less than his usual critical acumen) conjectured τοῦ <ποιεῖν> τὸ οἰκεῖόν τε καὶ <τὸ> ἑαυτοῦ, comparing οἰκειοπραγία in 434 C.