ὠδῖνος ἀπολύειν. This is the office of
Καλλονὴ as Εἰλείθυια: cp. Theaet. 151 A
ταύτην...τὴν ὠδῖνα ἐγείρειν τε καὶ ἀποπαύειν ἡ ἐμὴ
τέχνη (sc. ἡ μαιευτικὴ) δύναται: Rep. 490 B
ᾧ πλησιάσας καὶ μιγεὶς τῷ ὄντως ὄντι, γεννήσας
νοῦν καὶ ἀλήθειαν...καὶ οὕτω λήγοι ὠδῖνος: Max. Tyr. diss. XVI. 4, p. 179 λόγος μαιεύεται
ψυχὴν κυοῦσαν καὶ ὠδίνων μεστήν.
τὸν ἔχοντα. “Sc.
ταύτην τὴν ὠδῖνα” (Wolf): but Hommel and
Stallb. supply αὐτό, i.e. τὸ
καλόν. Cp. Phaedrus 252 A
τὸν τὸ κάλλος ἔχοντα ἰατρὸν εὕρηκε μόνον τῶν
μεγίστων πόνων,—which settles the question.
τί...γεννήσεως
; τί, answered by ὅτι, means “why” or “wherein”
rather than “what” (as in 204 D),
and the genitive, like those preceding, is objective. Supply ἐστὶν ὁ ἔρως.
ἀειγενές. This is practically a
re-assertion of the statement in 206 C (θεῶν τὸ πρᾶγμα κτλ.). Cp. Laws 773 E
ὡς χρὴ τῆς ἀειγενοῦς φύσεως ἀντέχεσθαι τῷ παῖδας
παίδων καταλείποντα κτλ.
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