James Adam, The Republic of Plato

μελιχλώρους κτλ.: ‘and honey-pale darlings, with their name—do you suppose they are the creation of anybody but a fond and euphemistic lover, who readily excuses pallor, if appearing on the cheek of youth?’ Plato is ridiculing the idea, as well as the name, μελίχλωρος: there never was a μελίχλωρος except in the lover's brain. The word is not, apparently, earlier than Plato, and does not occur again till Aristotle (Physiog. 6. 812^{a} 19): Theocritus uses it hypocoristically of the silkworm (10. 27). It is difficult, if not impossible, to connect τοὔνομα with μελιχλώρους, as is usually done, translating, ‘and the name honeypale, too,’ etc. Hartman proposes μελίχλωρος, which is ungrammatical, Richards μελιχλώρου. μελιχλώρου (which the poet Gray had already conjectured) is harmless enough: but emendation is unnecessary if καί is ‘and.’ μελιχλώρους—see cr. n.— has less MS authority than μελαγχλώρους, though supported by the Scholiast on VI 485 B, by μελίχλωρος in Aristotle and Theocritus (ll. cc.), and by the suitability of the word in the mouth of an ἐραστὴς ὑποκοριζόμενος. μελίχρους was apparently read by Plutarch (de recta rat. audiendi 45 A) and other ancient authorities: see Schneider's note.