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νομίζεις κτλ. This is the popular conception of ‘above’ and ‘below’ held also by most of the philosophers, e.g. Heraclitus, the Pythagoreans, Anaxagoras, the Atomists (RP^{7}. §§ 29, 68 A, 124 B notes, 149 B notes), and even Aristotle (Phys. IV 4. 212^{a} 24 ff.), and found also in the Phaedo (109 ff.). In the Timaeus, on the other hand, Plato takes a different and more scientific view: φύσει γὰρ δή τινας τόπους δύο εἶναι διειληφότας διχῇ τὸ πᾶν ἐναντίους τὸν μὲν κάτω,—τὸν δ̓ἄνωοὐκ ὀρθὸν οὐδαμῇ νομίζειν κτλ. (62 C ff.). It is possible (with Solomon Cl. Rev. III p. 418) to construe the divergence as “an incidental proof of the distance separating the Republic from the Timaeus,” especially as the myth in Book X agrees with the view of Above and Below given here: but too much stress should not be laid on the present passage, which is intended only as an illustration and nothing more.

οἴει οὖν ἄν τινα κτλ. Cf. Phaed. 109 C.

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