James Adam, The Republic of Plato

μακρὰν has less authority than μικράν (see cr. n.), but is probably right. The contrast with the immediate remedies just described seems to require an allusion to the duration of the regimen: cf. also μακρὸν—τὸν θάνατον in B above. μικράν is not sufficiently defended by a reference to κατὰ σμικρόν in 407 D, nor by the allusion to πιλίδια καὶ τὰ τούτοις ἑπόμενα. Moreover σμικρός, and not μικρός, is the prevailing form throughout the Republic. μικρός appears to occur only in V 453 D and VI 498 D. On the inscriptional usage see Meisterhans^{3} p. 89.

πιλίδια. Felt caps were worn by the sick and delicate (see the references in Blümner l.c. p. 180 note 5); but as artisans and sailors usually wore felt caps too (Dict. Ant. II p. 427), Plato perhaps alludes to some special coverings for the head prescribed by doctors from time to time in a course of medical treatment. The plural also points to this. If not, he uses the expression quite generally, as an example of the treatment he condemns. Well-to-do Greeks generally went bareheaded.

εἶπεν. The ‘momentary’ aorist well expresses the carpenter's decided businesslike tone. His view of life resembles that of the ‘meditative skipper’ in Gorg. 511 D ff.