,I~OTES, BOOK rr. 6. 6,
There remain, however, some difficulties in reconciling the test
of the Politics with the statements of Plato.
IVhat Plato says in the Laws (756) may be shortly stated as
fo]lo!vs: ‘For those who are to be elected out of the 1st and 2nd
classes, all are compelled to vote and are liable to penalties if they
abstain from voting : for those ivho are to be elected out of the 3rd
tiass, only the three first classes are compelled to vote and are liable
to penalties ; for those who are to be elected out of the 4th class
only the tTvo first classes.
The text of the Politics as given by Bekker (which is that of a11
tilt XSS.) does not agree with the correspontling passage of Plaio
.md in one place at least is corrupt.
I) The words & roc rsrdprou riu rcrdprov can hardly be right if
we are to get any sense out of the passage at all. Either ro;
rrrdprou or rSv rcrdprov must be omitted. Probably we should
omit the latter, for ro; rfrdprou agrees best with roi rphrou rtprj-
puror’ and TO; Gcuripou antea, and riv rcrdprov may have crept into
the text from the preceding rcrdprov. Either alternative is simpler
than reading rcrrdpov (for rrrdprov) as in 2nd .41d. edition.
But 2) if we are to make the passage agree with Plato, me
should further omit rpirou 4 before rcrdprov. Cp. Laws, 756 D,
where nothing is said about the third class.
Finally, we must allow that Aristotle may not have remembered
or may have misunderstood the words of Plato. Such a sup-
position cannot be thought far-fetched, when we consider the
numerous passages in which he has done unintentional injustice
to his master, Pol. i. 13. 8 IO; ii. 4. 8 2 ; ii. 5. 0 27 ; ii. 6. 8 j, etc.
The words 06 rciu~v &dVayKfS, sc. aipriu8a1, do not imply that some of
the class were compelled to vote. They are used as they are in
Anal. Pr. ii. 15, 63, b 26 for the particular negative proposition,
which is called by Aristotle indifferently rl, 06 ravr‘r and rd oi, rd,
from which of course we can logically infer nothing as to the par-
ticular affirmative.
wang
(Wang)
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