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μελιττουργόν is the reading of Ξ q Μ as well as Π (see cr. n.), and is elsewhere better attested than μελιτουργόν, which “api magis quam homini convenit” (Schneider). ξύν has been suspected by W. H. Thompson and Herwerden; but the preposition is occasionally found with this idiom both in poetry and prose (Kühner Gr. Gr. II p. 356 and Lina de praep. usu Plat. p. 33). The half-poetic ξύν (see on IV 424 E and VII 518 C) suits well with the archaic form αὐτοῖσι (I 330 B note). τριχῇ διαστησώμεθα. With what follows cf. Eur. Suppl. 238—245 τρεῖς γὰρ πολιτῶν μερίδες: οἱ μὲν ὄλβιοι | ἀνωφελεῖς τε πλειόνων τ᾽ ἐρῶσ᾽ ἀεί: | οἱ δ᾽ οὐκ ἔχοντες καὶ σπανίζοντες βίου | δεινοί, νέμοντες τῷ φθόνῳ πλέον μέρος, | ἐς τοὺς ἔχοντας κέντρ᾽ ἀφιᾶσιν κακά, | γλώσσαις πονηρῶν προστατῶν φηλούμενοι: τριῶν δὲ μοιρῶν ἡ ᾿ν μέσῳ σῴζει πόλεις κόσμον φυλάσσουσ᾽ ὅντιν᾽ ἂν τάξῃ πόλις. Plato is thinking primarily of course of Athens. See also Arist. Pol. Δ 11. 1295^{b} 1 ff. and (on the whole subject) Whibley Pol. Parties in Athens pp. 35 ff. and Beloch Att. Pol. pp. 1—19. τὸ τοιοῦτον γένος: viz. the drones.
The Republic of Plato. James Adam. 1902. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
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