О философах и плащах: к интерпретации Tht. 175e

Индоевропейское языкознание и классическая филология. 2026. Т. 30. № 1. С. 61–76.

Alieva O.

This article proposes a novel interpretation of a difficult passage in the famous Digression in the Theaetetus (175e). The disputed expression ἀναβάλλεσθαι ἐπιδέξια is traditionally understood either as “to wear one’s coat as a gentleman” (McDowell) or as “to strike up an elegant tune like a free man” (Rowe). However, these readings are problematic both philosophically and linguistically. The first reduces philosophy to a matter of fashion, contradicting the critique of worldly concerns. The second relies on a meaning of ἀναβάλλεσθαι unattested elsewhere in Plato.

Through a close analysis of Plato’s language and the overarching contrast between the philosopher and the orator in the Digression, an alternative reading is advanced: the verb ἀναβάλλεσθαι retains its common Platonic meaning “to delay” or “to postpone,” while ἐπιδέξια functions as an adverb meaning “properly” and retains its connections to the sympotiatic context. The core contrast, there­fore, is not about attire or musical skill, but about mastery of time. The orator is a slave to the water-clock and immediate necessity, unable to pause or reflect. The philosopher, endowed with leisure (σχολή), possesses the freedom to defer speech — to deliberate, to follow an argument wherever it leads, and to structure thought according to its own intrinsic rhythm.

This interpretation resolves the philological difficulties and reveals the philosophical core of the passage: the opposition is not only between theory and practice, but also between two modes of temporality. The philosopher’s ability ἀναβάλλεσθαι ἐπιδέξια embodies the temporal freedom essential for the pursuit of wisdom and the assimilation to the divine (ὁμοίωσις θεῷ), a central theme of the Digression.

Keywords: Платон, Platonism, платонизм, Theaetetus, Теэтет, Plato, античные схолии, Platonic scholia

Publication based on the results of: Linguistic and cognitive diversity in formal models, computer tools, and educational resources (2025)