This text is part of:
ἐκτός: i.e. outside the στόμιον. It seems to me quite clear from this passage that the δαιμόνιος τόπος is not in the aether, as Proclus appears to suppose (l.c. pp. 128 ff.), but somewhere on the true surface of the earth as described in Phaed. 109 E ff. ἐπ̓ ἀσπαλάθων κνάπτοντες . ἐπὶ κνάφου ἕλκων=διαφθείρων: τὸ γὰρ πρότερον οἱ γναφεῖς ἀκανθῶν σωρὸν συστρέψαντες, τὰ ἱμάτια ἐπὶ τοῦ σωροῦ ἔκναπτον: ὁ δὲ σωρὸς ἐλέγετο γνάφος. ὁ οὖν Κροῖσος τὸν ἐχθρὸν περιέξαινε ταῖς ἀκάνθαις καὶ οὕτως ἔφθειρεν (Hesychius, with reference to Hdt. I 92). In the Apocalypse of Peter v. 30 we read of χάλικες ὀξύτεροι ξιφῶν καὶ παντὸς ὀβελίσκου, πεπυρωμένοι, καὶ γυναῖκες καὶ ἄνδρες ῥάκη ῥυπαρὰ ἐνδεδυμένοι ἐκυλίοντο ἐπ᾽ αὐτῶν κολαζόμενοι. The form κνάμπτοντες appears in A (see cr. n.) and several MSS, but κνάμπτω is a bye-form of γνάμπτω and means not ‘card’ but ‘bend’ (Stephanus-Hase s.v.). τοῖς ἀεὶ παριοῦσι κτλ. According to Norden l.c. p. 393 the idea that incurable sinners serve as παραδείγματα in Hades is probably Orphic or Pythagorean. It meets us also in Pindar (Pyth. 2. 21 ff., of Ixion) and in Virg. Aen. VI 618 ff. Phlegyasque miserrimus omnes Admonet, et magna testatur voce per umbras ‘Discite iustitiam moniti, et non temnere divos.’ The fullest exposition of the theory is to be found in Gorg. 525 B—D. ὧν ἕνεκά τε κτλ. The words ταῦτα ὑπομένοιεν, which Schneider still retains after ἕνεκά τε, have scarcely any MS support and are an obvious gloss. The construction is ὧν ἕνεκά τε ἄγοιντο καὶ ὅτι εἰς τὸν Τάρταρον ἐμπεσούμενοι ἄγοιντο. ὅτι εἰς. See cr. n. I formerly, with Hermann and Baiter, read εἰς ὅ τι, regarding τὸν Τάρταρον as a gloss. But there is reason in Richards' remark that οἷ or ὅποι would be more natural than εἰς ὅ τι: and in any case it is hardly likely that Plato would have omitted to specify the destination of these sinners by its name. Cf. Phaed. 113 E (quoted above on 615 E) and (for Plato's conception of Tartarus) ib. 112 A ff. ἔφη: sc. ὁ ἐρωτώμενος (615 D), as before. σφίσιν: i.e. to ὁ ἐρωτώμενος and his comrades. τοῦτον ὑπερβάλλειν. The words τὸν φόβον, which Ξ and other MSS add after ὑπερβάλλειν, may be genuine, but as they are absent from A, q and several MSS besides, it is perhaps safer to omit them. καὶ τὰς μὲν κτλ. At this point Er's own narrative is resumed.
The Republic of Plato. James Adam. 1902. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.