James Adam, The Republic of Plato

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μὴ μίαν κτλ. Aristotle (Pol. Ε 12. 1316^{b} 6 ff.) urges that this is equally true of all States where inequality of property prevails: but Plato would not allow that it is true of his ideal city, or even of timarchy except in so far as timarchy is itself oligarchical (548 A).

ἀνάγκῃ. See cr. n. The word could be dispensed with here, and, as all those MSS which are in the habit of writing the iota subscript at all regularly appear to have the nominative and not the dative, it is possible, and even perhaps probable, that this is the ἀνάγκη which Richards desiderated in 551 C: see note ad loc.

τὸ ἀδυνάτους κτλ. The sense of course is ‘to be—probably—unable’ i.e. ‘that they are in all probability unable.’ Richard says ἴσως is ‘feeble’: to me it seems exactly the right word in the right place. The conjectures σῶς (Badham) and ἰσχυρῶς (Richards) are each of them for different reasons very unpleasing, and even if the passage were corrupt ἰσχυρῶς is far too violent a change to deserve consideration.

χρωμένους κτλ. In illustration the Oxford editors cite Thuc. III 27. The Spartans in particular had regularly to arm and employ the πλῆθος, both Perioeci and Helots, in their wars (see e.g. Thuc. VII 19. 3), and were consequently sometimes exposed to grave dangers (Thuc. IV 80).