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ὁ χρηστός. Antisthenes is perhaps in Plato's mind (Dümmler Antisth. p. 42). Others have thought of Isocrates, but with less reason. λεγέτω μοι, φήσω, καὶ ἀποκρινέσθω certainly sounds like a personal challenge. See also on 476 D and 480 A. ἰδέαν τινά . ἰδέα has not yet been used in the Republic of the Idea; hence τινά. Krohn (Pl. St. pp. 64, 96) has pointed this out, but makes too much of it. In ἰδέα, as Cohen remarks (Platons Ideenlehre u. d. Mathematik p. 12), “das ἰδεῖν pulsirt”: cf. 475 E τοὺς τῆς ἀληθείας —φιλοθεάμονας, VI 486 D and Symp. 211 D. ἀεὶ -- νομίζει . μέν after ἀεί—see cr. n.—is retained by Schneider and others. It is however much harsher than the ordinary cases of μέν without δέ (see on 475 E), and the majority of MSS agree with II in omitting it. Madvig would delete the article before καλά; but its retention provides a better antithesis to ἄν τις ἓν τὸ καλὸν φῇ εἶναι. τὰ καλά is here the plural, not of καλόν τι, but of τὸ καλόν; and Plato means that the φιλοθεάμων has many standards of beauty: cf. 479 D notes ἐκεῖνος -- καί. These words are certainly genuine, though omitted in Ξ, and supposed by Hartman to be a marginal note on ὁ χρηστός. οὐδαμῇ ἀνεχόμενος by itself would be comparatively tame. τούτων γὰρ δή κτλ. The many καλά ‘are’ and ‘are not,’ because they are beautiful and not-beautiful. We may infer, on the other hand, that the αὐτὸ κάλλος always ‘is,’ because (among other reasons) it is always beautiful. In other words, the essence of an Idea consists in its eternal unity and identity with itself. Cf. Symp. 211 A, where the αὐτὸ καλόν is said to be οὐ τῇ μὲν καλόν, τῇ δ᾽ αἰσχρόν, οὐδὲ τότε μέν, τότε δ᾽ οὔ, οὐδὲ πρὸς μὲν τὸ καλόν, πρὸς δὲ τὸ αἰσχρόν, οὐδ᾽ ἔνθα μὲν καλόν, ἔνθα δὲ αἰσχρόν, ὡς τισὶ μὲν ὂν καλόν, τισὶ δὲ αἰσχρόν. This passage will explain what Plato means by saying that there is not one of the πολλὰ καλά which is not also αἰσχρόν. Cf. also Bosanquet Companion pp. 213 f. Krohn (Pl. Fr. p. 73) argues that this passage is inconsistent with the Maxim of Contradiction as laid down in IV 436 B. But Plato does not mean that τὰ πολλὰ καλά are αἰσχρὰ κατὰ ταὐτὸν καὶ πρὸς ταὐτόν, nor should ἅμα in 478 D be interpreted in this sense. A particular καλόν is ἅμα καλὸν καὶ αἰσχρόν, ὡς τισὶ μὲν -ὂν καλόν, τισὶ δὲ αἰσχρόν. Cf. Zeller^{4} II I, p. 627 note 2.
The Republic of Plato. James Adam. 1902. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
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