From the book
Hipparchus
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordἈναλίσκειν means to spend or expend; λαμβάνειν means to take, receive or get.
- In HipparchusSocrates proposes two alternative ways of obtaining gain at 231a: acquiring without spending anything, or spending less and getting more.
- In this editionThe translation uses “get” for λαμβάνειν in these examples.
- A place to readἢ μηδὲν ἀναλώσας — The first alternative is acquisition without any expenditure.
Meaning
Ἀναλίσκειν means to spend or expend; λαμβάνειν means to take, receive or get. Μηδέν means nothing, used here for zero expenditure. The repeated aorist participle ἀναλώσας presents spending as the outlay preceding acquisition; λάβῃ and εἴληφεν describe what is received or has been received. These forms belong to one receiving verb, not separate economic terms.
Spending and receiving are not inherently monetary in the initial definition. The object remains “every possession” until the companion later specifies gold or silver. A reader should therefore not insert money into every occurrence of “less” and “more” before the text does.
Use in the book
Socrates proposes two alternative ways of obtaining gain at 231a: acquiring without spending anything, or spending less and getting more. The disjunction matters. A case can meet the first condition without involving any exchange, while the second requires a comparison between outlay and receipt. The proposal has enough structure to be tested branch by branch.
The guest who is entertained and acquires disease meets the no-expenditure condition. The source does not say that the guest paid an admission charge or bought the food; spending nothing is explicit. Yet the companion rejects the outcome as gain. A zero price therefore cannot by itself settle the worth of what one gets. The health alternative makes this judgment positive as well as negative: the same setting can provide gain when its effect is beneficial.
At 231c Socrates returns to less outlay and more acquisition. The companion attempts to specify the relevant sort of object as gold or silver. The exchange question then separates the amount received from its worth. A transaction can increase physical weight while losing value. “Receive more” consequently needs a measure and a basis of comparison; it is incomplete without them.
The examples do not amount to a developed account of commercial profit. They do not discuss labour, opportunity cost, a merchant’s overheads or legal obligations. Their target is the simple sufficiency claim that no outlay or a larger receipt guarantees gain. Reading additional economic concepts into the text would obscure how little is needed for the counterexamples.
There is also a rhetorical shift in who constructs the proposal. Socrates offers the definition and the companion accepts it tentatively. When it fails, the failure belongs to the jointly considered formulation rather than to a detailed economic theory independently expounded by the companion.
Places to read
- 231aἢ μηδὲν ἀναλώσας — The first alternative is acquisition without any expenditure.
- 231aἢ ἔλαττον ἀναλώσας πλέον λάβῃ — The second compares less spent with more received.
- 231bμηδὲν ἀναλώσας ἀλλ’ εὐωχηθείς — The feast retains the condition of zero outlay.
- 231dΚαὶ μὴν πλέον γ’ εἴληφεν — Socrates insists on the physical increase after loss has been acknowledged.
Translation in this edition
The translation uses “get” for λαμβάνειν in these examples. The English heading “receiving” identifies that sense without requiring a change in the edition’s wording. The numerical language of the metal exchange should be quoted and qualified as printed; resolving it by silently changing “half,” “double,” or their units would exceed a lexical explanation.