James Adam, The Republic of Plato

διὰ μακροῦ -- λόγου: ‘through the conclusion of a somewhat lengthy argument.’ διεξελθόντος is intransitive, as Schneider saw: cf. Laws 805 B ἀλλὰ γὰρ εἶπον τὸν μὲν λόγον ἐᾶσαι διεξελθεῖν, εὖ διελθόντος δὲ οὕτω τὸ δοκοῦν αἱρεῖσθαι δεῖν. (The reference in εἶπον is to 799 E κἂν ἡ διέξοδος αὕτη ὅλη σχοῦσα τέλος ἱκανῶς ἂν μηνύσειε κτλ.) Cf. also Dem. in Mid. 84. The word διεξελθόντος is not otiose, because it is not till the very end of the argument that the φιλόσοφος is discovered (V 480 A). The mistaken notion (held by Stallbaum) that the word must be transitive induced Herwerden (Mnem. N. S. XIX p. 333) to propose διεξελθοῦσι, a conjecture repeated also by Richards. Baiter (after Hermann and Ast) reads διεξελθόντες with three inferior MSS, as if the philosophers had “run the gauntlet of the argument through which their nature is revealed” (J. and C.). τοῦ λόγου (found in a few MSS) is favoured by Stallbaum, and suggested as an alternative also by Herwerden, as if διὰ μακροῦ τινὸς could mean ‘at some length.’ The first hand in Ξ omits διά, but it occurs in all the other MSS. None of these expedients is nearly so good as the reading of the best MSS, if Schneider's explanation be adopted. μακροῦ has also caused difficulty, since the investigation extends over only six pages of Stephanus: see Krohn Pl. St. pp. 105 ff. By Pfleiderer (Zur Lösung etc. p. 54), who maintains (in partial agreement with Spengel) that V 471 C—VII (inclusive) embodies the dialogue Φιλόσοφος announced in the beginning of the Politicus and Sophist, μακροῦ is hailed as a significant lapsus calami, and referred to the investigations of the Sophist, Euthydemus and Politicus. But μακροῦ is qualified by τινός, and surely 474 C—480 A may be described as ‘a somewhat lengthy enquiry.’ There is no allusion to the proverbial μακρὸς λόγος of which Aristotle speaks in Met. N 3. 1091^{a} 7 ff. ὁ Σιμωνίδου μακρὸς λόγος: γίγνεται γὰρ ὁ μακρὸς λόγος ὥσπερ ὁ τῶν δούλων, ὅταν μηδὲν ὑγιὲς λέγωσιν.

οἵ is found only in A and Π^{1}: all the other MSS have οἷοι. For οἵ cf. (with Schneider) 493 B and VIII 559 A.

πολλὰ κτλ. Herwerden conjectures πολλὰ <ἦν>, which would weaken the emphasis on πολλά. For the omission of ἦν see Schanz Nov. Comm. Pl. p. 33. From the standpoint of Books VI and VII it is impossible to say what ‘just life’ means unless we know the ἰδέα τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ etc. (see 506 A): hence πολλὰ τὰ λοιπὰ διελθεῖν.