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ἐθέλει -- ἐρωτῶντος. The difference between ἐθέλει, ‘is willing,’ and βούλεται, ‘wishes,’ is well brought out by the contrast between the more active process described in προσάγεσθαι and the passive assent which ἐπινεύειν expresses. The point is missed by translating (with J. and C.) ‘beckons this with a nod towards herself’: it is merely ‘nods assent to this in reply to herself.’ One part of the soul asks, and the other answers, the psychological process being compared to a kind of dialectic or question and answer inside the soul: see III 400 D note and cf. Isocr. Antid. 256. For the confusion of ἐρῶντος and ἐρωτῶντος—ἐρῶντος is found in several MSS— cf. [Erast.] 132 D, and Euthyphr. 14 C. With the analysis of desire in this passage cf. Phil. 34 E ff. ἀπ̓ αὐτῆς . ἀφ̓ αὑτῆς Hartman (with Vind. E only), but ἀπελαύνειν is active, not middle. The actions are described as though by a spectator ab externo.
The Republic of Plato. James Adam. 1902. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
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