James Adam, The Republic of Plato

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δριμὺ μὲν κτλ. δριμύ is ‘shrewdly.’ ‘astutely,’ like a quick-sighted lawyer: cf. (with J. and C.) Theaet. 175 D τὸν σμικρὸν ἐκεῖνον τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ δριμὺν καὶ δικανικόν. For ταῦτα Cobet needlessly proposes τά: cf. 519 B note Instead of ὥστε (which three MSS omit) Ast conjectured καί, and E. S. Thompson (Camb. Phil. Soc. Proceed. XXI p. 13) ὥς τε: but the clause ὅσῳ—ἐργαζόμενον is a logical inference from οὐ φαύλην—ὑπηρετεῖν and should not therefore be introduced by καί, still less by ὥς τε. I formerly printed ἐργάζεται (Ξ and the three MSS already referred to reading ἐργάσεται), but the finite verb is not likely to have been corrupted into a participle, and exactly the same ungrammatical assimilation appears with ὥστε in Andoc. 4. 20, Isaeus 9. 16 and Isocr. Paneg. 64, 65 (quoted by Kühner Gr. Gr. II p. 1015 note 3). The instances cited by Schneider (Addit. p. 52) viz. Tim. 56 B, [Eryx.] 404 A and Thuc. I 25 are not strictly parallel to this.

, B 7 τὰς τῆς γενέσεως κτλ.: ‘as it were the leaden weights, which are of the family of Becoming, and which, through indulgences in eating and through pleasures and gluttonous desires connected with such like indulgences, adhere to it’ (i.e. to such a nature, τὸ τῆς τοιαύτης φύσεως) ‘and turn the soul's vision round below.’ The eye of the soul ought to be turned round ἐκ τοῦ γιγνομένου (518 C): and it is our duty to shake the soul clear of τὰς τῆς γενέσεως ξυγγενεῖς μολυβδίδας. For γενέσεως see on VI 485 B, and cf. μεταστροφῆς ἀπὸ γενέσεως ἐπ᾽ ἀλήθειάν τε καὶ οὐσίαν infra 525 C and 525 B, 526 E, 534 A al. With ξυγγενεῖς cf. VIII 554 D where τὰς τοῦ κηφῆνος ξυγγενεῖς ἐπιθυμίας =τὰς κηφηνώδεις ἐπιθυμίας. The μολυβδίδες are the accumulated products of sensual indulgence and desire: see X 611 C ff., especially ἃ νῦν αὐτῇ, ἅτε γῆν ἑστιωμένῃ, γεηρὰ καὶ πετρώδη πολλὰ καὶ ἄγρια περιπέφυκεν ὑπὸ τῶν εὐδαιμόνων λεγομένων ἑστιάσεων 611 E—612 A, and Phaed. 81 C together with Ep. VII 326 B. Cf. also Clement Strom. IV 4 p. 1228 C Migne ὥσπερ μολυβδίδας τὰς ἐπιθυμίας. These μολυβδίδες are akin to the world of γένεσις because they are σωματοειδῆ, γεώδη, γεηρά (Plato ll. cc.), of the earth earthy. They become incorporate with the soul (προσφυεῖς γιγνόμεναι, cf. προσπεφυκέναι X 611 D), making it, as Plato does not hesitate to say, σωματοειδῆ, δοξάζουσαν ταῦτα ἀληθῆ εἶναι, ἅπερ ἃν καὶ τὸ σῶμα φῇ (Phaed. 83 D, cf. ib. 82 E, 83 C). Milton is platonizing when he tells how the soul “grows clotted by con tagion, Imbodies and imbrutes, till she quite lose The divine property of her first being” (Comus 464 ff.). Through the weight of these encumbrances the eye of the soul is turned down (cf. IX 586 A κάτω ἀεὶ βλέποντες καὶ κεκυφότες εἰς γῆν καὶ εἰς τραπέζας κτλ.), nor can the soul look upwards until they are knocked away (περιεκόπη: cf. περικρουσθεῖσα in X 611 E). We may again compare the lines of Milton “Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell From Heaven; for e'en in Heaven his looks and thoughts Were always downward bent” (Par. Lost I 679 ff.). For περικάτω cf. Photius περικάτω τραπήσεται: ἀντὶ τοῦ περιτραπήσεται κάτω. The περι- balances περι- in περιεστρέφετο just below. Instead of ἐδωδαῖς, Jackson suggests ἐδωδῆς, comparing III 389 E τῶν περὶ πότους καὶ ἀφροδίσια καὶ περὶ ἐδωδὰς ἡδονῶν. The proposal is attractive and may be right; but I think there is hardly sufficient reason for departing from the MSS. See also on περικάτω and the whole of this difficult and highly important sentence, App. V.