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ἔχεις γὰρ -- λέγω: not “now I have given you an outline of my meaning” (D. and V.), but ‘you understand the general type of the things I mean,’ that is, the general character of things which φθείρει καὶ ἀποσπᾷ, though in themselves advantages or even virtues. Adimantus assents, but would like to have them specified more precisely. In reply, Socrates bids him grasp the notion of them correctly as a whole (αὐτοῦ is neuter and ὅλου αὐτοῦ is practically equivalent to τύπου), and it will become clear to him, and τὰ προειρημένα περὶ αὐτῶν (viz. that they ἀπόλλυσι καὶ ἀποσπᾷ —φθείρει καὶ ἀποσπᾷ B, C) will not appear ἄτοπα as before (ἄτοπον—ἀκοῦσαι in B). The passage is somewhat loosely written; but αὐτῶν is certainly neuter and not ‘the philosophic natures,’ as J. and C. suppose.
The Republic of Plato. James Adam. 1902. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
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