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λέγε γάρ μοι. Other classifications of ‘goods’ in Plato will be found in Laws 631 B ff. and 697 B ff. (with which compare Arist. Eth. Nic. I 8. 1098^{b} 12 ff.). See also Euthyd. 279 A ff., Gorg. 467 E, Phil. 66 A ff. The nearest parallels to the present classification are furnished by Stoicism, in which goods were classified as a τελικά, b ποιητικά, c both τελικά and ποιητικά, and the προηγμένα as a δἰ αὑτά, b δἰ ἕτερα, c καὶ δἰ αὑτὰ καὶ δἰ ἕτερα see D. L. VII 96, 107. χαίρειν -- ἀβλαβεῖς. These ‘innocent pleasures’ are defined in Laws 667 E as those which bring no consequences in their train, good, bad, or otherwise (cf. καὶ μηδὲν εἰς τὸν ἔπειτα χρόνον διὰ ταύτας γίγνεται ἄλλο ἢ χαίρειν ἔχοντα). They are not quite identical with the ‘pure pleasures’ of Phil. 51 B, which are not necessarily devoid of all results, but only of pain. The same conception recurs in Aristotle, who regards the ἀβλαβεῖς ἡδοναί both as conducive to the ethical end and as useful for purposes of recreation (Pol. Θ 5. 1339^{b} 25). καὶ μηδὲν κτλ. The relative passes into a demonstrative (ταύτας) in the second half of the sentence, as in III 412 D, VI 505 D, E, VII 521 B, and elsewhere. The idiom is regular in Greek, but the second pronoun is more usually some case of αὐτός than of οὗτος, e.g. III 395 D, VI 511 C, Gorg. 452 D, Theaet. 192 A. Cobet however (Mnem. XI p. 167) goes too far in maintaining that αὐτός is alone permissible in this idiom. Cf. Engelhardt Anac. Plat. Spec. III pp. 41—43. μηδέν is used in preference to οὐδέν: for “cogitatione circumscriptum genus significatur” (Schneider). With the sentiment Muretus compared Arist. Eth. Nic. X 2. 1172^{b} 22 οὐδένα γὰρ ἐπερωτᾶν τίνος ἕνεκα ἥδεται, ὡς καθ᾽ αὑτὴν οὖσαν αἱρετὴν τὴν ἡδονήν. ἔχοντα: sc. αὐτάς (so also Schneider), not the idiomatic ‘to continue rejoicing’ (as Campbell suggests). The essential mark of these pleasures, viz. that they give pleasure only while they last, is brought out by ἔχοντα, which recalls δεξαίμεθ᾽ ἂν ἔχειν just above, and is used without an expressed object as in 366 E.
The Republic of Plato. James Adam. 1902. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
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