[430c]
“That is most true,” said I. “Well
then,” he said, “I accept this as bravery.”
“Do so,” said I, “and you will be right with
the reservation1 that it
is the courage of a citizen. Some other time,2 if it please you, we will
discuss it more fully. At present we were not seeking this but justice; and
for the purpose of that inquiry I believe we have done enough.”
“You are quite right,” he said.
1 γε marks a reservation as 415 Eστρατιωτικάς γε, Politicus 30 E, Laws 710 Aτὴν δημώδη γε. Plotinus, unlike some modern commentators, perceived this. Cf. Enn. i. 2. 3. In Phaedo 82 Aπολιτικήν is used disparagingly of ordinary bourgeois virtue. In Xenophon Rep. Lac. 10. 7 and Aristotle Eth. NIc. iii. 8. 1 (1116 a 17) there is no disparagement. The word is often used of citizen soldiery as opposed to professional mercenaries.
2 This dismissal of the subject is sometimes fancifully taken as a promise of the Laches. Cf. Unity of Plato's Thought, nn. 77 and 603.
Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969.
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