James Adam, The Republic of Plato

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χρὴ δ᾽ αὐτὰ ἀκοῦσαι κτλ. The Νέκυια of the Republic is one of the earliest extant Apocalypses, and many of its features reappear in later apocalyptic literature, including that of the early Christian era. See James Apocrypha Anecdota in Robinson's Texts and Studies. A careful comparison of the myth in the Republic with those of the Phaedrus, Gorgias, and Phaedo shews that in spite of discrepancies in detail, the four dialogues conspire to produce what is on the whole a tolerably consistent picture of the destiny of the human soul—a kind of ancient ‘Divina Commedia,’ as Döring points out (Archiv f. Gesch. d. Philos. VI pp. 475—490). The sources and affinities of Plato's eschatological myths have been much discussed. Besides the article by Döring on Die eschatologischen Mythen d. Plato (Archiv l.c.) the student should consult Ettig Acheruntica (Leipziger Stud. XIII 1891, pp. 251—402, especially 284 ff.), Norden Vergilstudien (Hermes XXVIII 1893, pp. 360—406), and especially Dieterich Nekyia (Leipzig 1893), where the common features in ancient representations of the underworld are clearly exhibited. There are traces of Νέκυιαι before the time of Plato, and the investigations of Dieterich and others have made it clear that the materials of Plato's picture are derived in large measure from Orphic or Pythagorean traditions (Dieterich l.c. pp. 128 ff.: cf. also Norden l.c. p. 374, Rohde Psyche^{2} II pp. 91 ff., and Zeller^{5} I 1. p. 450. Dieterich may be wrong in some of his conjectures, as F. Weber tries to shew in his inaugural dissertation, Platonische Notizen über Orpheus München 1899 p. 20 note, but the broad outlines of his theory are in my opinion established beyond reasonable doubt). Evidence of Pythagorean and Orphic affinities will be cited in the notes. Cf. Proclus in remp. II p. 110 Kroll εἴτε δὲ ἔχει τὰ τῆς ἱστορίας οὕτως εἴτε καὶ μή, ζητεῖν ἄτοπον, τοῦ Πλάτωνος τὰ τοιαῦτα πλάττοντος μὲν οὐδαμῶς, κατὰ δὲ τὴν χρείαν τῶν προκειμένων ἀεὶ παραλαμβάνοντος καὶ χρωμένου πᾶσι μετὰ τῆς πρεπούσης περιβολῆς καὶ οἰκονομίας, ὡς καὶ τῇ Μαντινικῇ ξένῃ καὶ τῷ κατὰ τὸν Γύγου πρόγονον διηγήματι καὶ τῷ κατὰ τοὺς Ἀτλαντικοὺς λόγῳ καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ὁμοίοις. We may well suppose, however, that the imagination of Plato dealt freely with his materials, and the myth of the Republic bears the unmistakeable impress of Plato's own genius in its artistic finish no less than in its religious and moral teaching.

ἑκάτερος. See cr. n. The accusative appears to be in all MSS except v K and Ξ^{2}.

ἀκοῦσαι is doubted by Stephanus, and bracketed by Ast, Stallbaum, and Baiter. There is nothing offensive in the repetition ἀκοῦσαι—ἀκοῦσαι (cf. VI 511 E note), and the second ἀκοῦσαι is welcome, if not necessary, as defining the exact nature of the debt (‘due to hear,’ i.e. ‘due to be heard,’ like καλὸς ἰδεῖν and the like). “The debt which has been incurred in words” (ἃ ἐδανείσασθε ἐν τῷ λόγῳ 612 C) “has to be paid in words” (J. and C.). ὑπὸ depends on ὀφειλόμενα rather than on ἀκοῦσαι. J. and C. take ἀκοῦσαι as=‘to have related concerning them,’ comparing ἀκοῦσαι σοφίσματα VI 496 A and Lys. 207 A; but it is more natural to give the word the same meaning as it bears just before.