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σοφιστήν: used as in Symp. 203 D δεινὸς γόης καὶ φαρμακεὺς καὶ σοφιστής. Plato may also mean to hint that the Painter and Sophist are birds of a feather: for in Soph. 233 E ff. a definition of the Sophist in the ordinary sense of the term is evolved out of just such an account of painting as we find here. ποιητής. The Greek idea of the Poet as a ‘maker’ lends additional flavour to ποιεῖν and ποιητής throughout this argument. δημιουργούμενος is suggested of course by δημιουργός just before: cf. III 395 B. The combination of this verb with τρόπος has a playful mock-heroic air. κάτοπτρον κτλ. On the view of Painting here involved see 598 A note It is usual to compare Shakespeare's “hold the mirror up to nature,” but (as Bosanquet points out) there is more in Shakespeare's saying than in Plato's.
The Republic of Plato. James Adam. 1902. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
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