Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/416

Rh 404 PLATO. other virtues. Ability of the emotive element (i&t/MoetSe's), when penetrated with wisdom to govern the whole sensuous nature, is Courage. If the sensuous or appetitive (^Trj^UjurjTi/cov) element is brought into unity with the ends of wisdom, moderation or prudence {(rwcppoavpr]), as an inward harmony, is the result. If the inward harmony of the activities shows itself active in giving an harmonious form to our outward relations in the world. Virtue exerts itself in the form of Justice {(.ie Rep. iv. p. 428, b. &c.). That happiness coincides with the inward harmony of virtue, is inferred from this deduction of the virtues, as also from the discussions respecting pleasure (tZe Rep. viii. p. 547, &c. ix. p. 580, &c.). If it be true that the etliico-rational nature of the individual can only develope itself completely in a well-ordered state (de Rep. vi. 496, b.), then the object and constitution of the state must per- fectly answer to the moral nature of the individual, and politics must be an essential, inseparable part of ethics. While, therefore, Plato considers the state as the copy of a well-regulated individual life (de Rep. ii. p. 368, e. viii. p. 544, e, &c.), he de- mands of it that it should exhibit a perfect har- mony, in which everything is common to all, and the individual in all his relations only an organ of the state. The entire merging of the individual life in the life of the state might have appeared to him as the only effectual means of stemming that selfishness and licence of the citizens, which in his time was becoming more and more predominant. Plato de- duces the three main elements of the state from the three different activities of the soul ; and just as the appetitive element should be absolutely under control, so also the working class, which answers to it ; and the military order, which answers to the emotive element, should develope itself in thorough dependence upon the reason, by means of gymnastics and music ; and from that the go- verning order, answering to the rational faculty, must proceed. The right of passing from the rank of a guard (4>uA.aKes, rd eiriKOvpiKov) to that of a ruler, must be established by the capacity for rais- ing oneself from becoming to being, from notion to knowledge ; for the ruler ought to be in a condition to extend and confirm the government of the reason in the state more and more, and especially to direct and watch over training and education. Without admitting altogether the impracticability of his state, yet Plato confesses that no realisation of it in the phenomenal world can fully express his idea, but that an approximation to it must be aimed at by a limitation of unconditional unity and community, adapted to circumstances. On this account, with the view of approximating to the given circum- stances, he renounces, in his book on the Laws, that absolute separation of ranks ; limits the power of the governors, attempts to reconcile freedom with reason and unity, to mingle monarchy with demo- cracy ; distinguishes several classes of rulers, and will only commit to their organically constructed body the highest power under the guarantee of the laws. [Ch. A. B.] There are numerous editions both of the entire text of Plato, and of separate dialogues. The first wsvs that published by Aldus at. Venice, in A. D. 1513. In this edition the dialogues are arranged in nine tetralogies, according to the division of Tfirasyllus (see above). The next edition was that published at Basle, in 1534. It was edited PLATO. chiefly by Johannes Oporinus, who was afterwards professor of Greek in that university. It does not appear that he made use of any manuscripts, but he succeeded in correcting many of the mistakes to be found in the edition of Aldus, though some of his alterations were corruptions of sound passages. The edition was, however, enriched by having in- corporated with it the commentaries of Proclus on the Timaeus and the State, which had shortly before been discovered by Simon Grynaeus in the library of the university at Oxford, and a triple Greek index, — one of words and phrases, another of proper names, and a third of proverbs to be found in Plato. The next edition, published at Basle in 1556, was superintended by Marcus Hopperus, who availed himself of a collation of some manu- scripts of Plato made in Italy by Arnoldus Arle- nius, and so corrected several of the errors of the previous Basle edition, and gave a large number of various readings ; the edition of H. Stephanus (1578, in three volumes) is equally remarkable for the careful preparation of the text, by correcting the mistakes of copyists and typographers, and introducing in several instances very felicitous im- provements, and for the dishonesty with which the editor appropriated to himself the labours of others without any acknowledgment, and with various tricks strove to conceal the source from which they were derived. His various readings are taken chiefly, if not entirely, from the second Basle edition, from the Latin version of Ficinus, and from the notes of Cornarius. It is question- ble whether he himself collated a single manu- script. The Latin version of Serranus, which is printed in this edition, is very bad. The occasional translations of Stephanus himself are far better. The Bipont edition ( 1 1 vols. 8vo. A. D. 1781 — 1786) contains a reprint of the text of that of Stephanus, with the Latin version of Marsilius Ficinus. Some fresh various readings, collected by Mitscherlich, are added. It was, how- ever, by Immanuel Bekker that the text of Plato was first brought into a satisfactory condition in his edition, published in 1816 — 18, accompanied by the Latin version of Ficinus (here restored, generally speaking, to its original form, the reprints of it in other previous editions of Plato containing numerous alterations and corruptions), a critical commentary, an extensive comparison of various readings, and the Greek scholia, previously edited by Ruhnken, with some additions, together with. copious indexes. The dialogues are arranged ac- cording to the scheme of Schleiermacher. The Latiaj version in this edition has sometimes been erro-j neously described as that of Wolf. A joint editioaj by Bekker and Wolf was projected and com-] menced, but not completed. The reprint of Bek- ker's edition, accompanied by the notesof Stephanus, j Heindorf, Wyttenbach, &c., published by Priestley! (Lond. 1826), is a useful edition. Ast's editioaj (Lips. 1819—1827, 9 vols. 8vo., to which two volumes of notes on the four dialogues, Protagoras,] Phaedrus, Georgias, and Phaedo, have since been! added) contains many ingenious and excellent emendations of the text, which the editor's pro-| found acquaintance with the phraseology of Plato] enabled him to effect. G. Stallbaum, who edited i critical edition of the text of Plato (Lips. 18 1825, 8 vols. 8vo.*, and 1826, 8 vols. 12mo.
 * This edition was completed by four additiona