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βίᾳ δὴ κτλ. The description is interrupted by the digression on Desire: hence the anacoluthon.

οὐκ ἀναγκαῖαι. See 554 A note

ἵνα μὴ σκοτεινῶς κτλ. It becomes important at this stage to investigate the subject of the Desires, because τὸ <*>πιθυμητικόν in the widest sense is the psychological basis of the democratical as well as of the oligarchical character. Plato's complete classification distinguishes between (1) necessary desires, (2) not-necessary, (3) not-necessary and παράνομοι (IX 571 B). The ὀλιγαρχικός is the embodiment of (1): the δημοκρατικός of (1) and (2) equally (561 A ff.): the τυραννικός of (3). Cf. IX 571 A note If we translate παράνομοι by ‘unnatural’ (as in view of IX 571 C ff. we are justified in doing: cf. IX 571 B note), Plato's account becomes almost identical with that of Epicurus, who classified Desires as (1) natural and necessary, (2) natural and not-necessary, (3) neither natural nor necessary. For the authorities see Usener Epicurea pp. 78, 294. Cf. also Athen. XII 511 E.

ἄν. See cr. n., and for the loss of ἄν before ἀναγκαῖαι IV 437 B note

ὅσαι -- ἡμᾶς. As Aristotle would say, those also are ἀναγκαῖαι <*>ν ἄνευ τὸ ἀγαθὸν μὴ ἐνδέχεται εἶναι γενέσθαι (Met. Δ 5. 1015^{a} 22).

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