1 Anticipates the proclamtion of the prophet in the final myth, 617 E:αἰτία ἑλομένου: θεὸς ἀναίτιος. The idea, elaborated in Cleanthes' hymn to Zeus, may be traced back to the speech of the Homeric Zeus in Odyssey i. 33ἐξ ἡμεῶν γάπ φασι κάκ᾽ ἔμμεναι. St. Thomas distinguishes: “Deus est auctor mali quod est poena, non autem mali quod est culpa.”
2 A pessimistic commoplace more emphasized in the Laws than in the Republic. Cf. Laws 896 E, where the Manichean hypothesis of an evil world-soul is suggested.
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