J. Adam, A. M. Adam, Commentary on Plato, Protagoras
J. Adam & A. M. Adam, Ed.

CHAPTER VII

1. τὸν δὲ μετ᾽ εἰσενόησα, ἔφη Ὅμηρος. Homer, Od. XI. 601 τὸν δὲ μετ᾽ εἰσενόησα βίην Ἡρακληείην. The reference is not to be pressed beyond the words quoted: for there is no special likeness between Homer's Heracles (δεινὸν παπταίνων, αἰεὶ βαλέοντι ἐοικώς 608) and Plato's Hippias, whose situation as here described is more like that of Minos in Homer, ibid. 569 ff. χρύσεον σκῆπτρον ἔχοντα θεμιστεύοντα νέκυσσιν, ἥμενον: οἱ δέ μιν ἀμφὶ δίκας εἴποντο ἄνακτα ἥμενοι ἑσταότες τε κατ᾽ εὐπυρυλὲς Ἄιδος δῶ. With ἔφη Ὅμηρος (‘as Homer said’) cf. Meno, 76D σύνες ὅ τοι λέγω, ἔφη Πίνδαρος.

3. ἐν θρόνῳ—ἐπὶ βάθρων. Hippias is depicted as a schoolmaster among his pupils.

Ἐρυξίμαχός τε—Ἄνδρων ὁ Ἀνδροτίωνος. Eryximachus and his father Acumenus were doctors. The former delivers one of the speeches in the Symposium, defining his art as ἐπιστήμη τῶν τοῦ σώματος ἐρωτικῶν πρὸς πλησμονὴν καὶ κένωσιν (Symp. 186C). Phaedrus, son of Pythocles, of the deme of Μυρρινοῦς in the tribe Πανδιονίς, also appears in the Symposium, and gives his name to the dialogue Phaedrus. Andron, son of Androtion (so T here, and both B and T in Gorg. 487C—the Ἀριστίωνος of B is therefore a mistake), is in the Gorgias described as one of those who shared the view of Callicles, that too much φιλοσοφία ruined men. His son is believed to have been the orator Androtion.

6. περὶ φύσεως. The primary substance which early Greek philosophy sought to discover was called by them φύσις: see Aristotle, Met. IV. 4, p. 1014^b. 32 ff. τοῦτον γὰρ τὸν τρόπον καὶ τῶν φύσει ὄντων τὰ στοιχεῖά φασιν εἶναι φύσιν, οἱ μὲν ρῦπ, οἱ δὲ γῆν, οἱ δ᾽ ἀέπα, οἱ δ᾽ ὕδωπ, οἱ δ᾽ ἄλλο τι τοιοῦτον λέγοντες, οἱ δ᾽ ἔνια τούτων, οἱ δὲ πάντα ταῦτα. Thus (among others) Heraclitus, Anaxagoras, and Empedocles called their books περὶ φύσεως, i.e. on the substance which gives birth (φύει) to all else. By Plato's time the word had acquired a wider meaning equivalent to ‘de rerum natura’, our ‘Nature’, and it is in this sense that the word is here used.

7. ἀστρονομικὰ ἄττα. Schanz brackets ἀστρονομικά, but the word is meant to be taken rather with μετεώρων than with φύσεως. On Hippias' skill in astronomy cf. Hipp. Minor, 367Eἦς (sc. ἀστρονομικῆς) αὖ σὺ τέχνης ἔτι μᾶλλον ἐπιστήμων οἴει εἶναι ἢ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν.

10. Τάνταλόν γε. Od. XI. 582 καὶ μὴν Τάνταλον εἰσεῖδον κρατέρ᾽ ἄλγε᾽ ἔχοντα. Prodicus is compared to Tantalus because of his physical wretchedness: see Crat. 395E καὶ ἀτεχνῶς ἔοικεν ὥσρεπ ἂν εἴ τις βουλόμενος ταλάντατον ὀνομάσαι, ἀροκπυρτόμενος ὀνομάσειε καὶ εἴροι ἀντ᾽ ἐκείνου Τάνταλον: τοιοῦτόν τι καὶ τούτῳ τὸ ὄνομα ἔοικεν ἐκπορίσαι ἡ τύχη τῆς φήμης.

ἐπιδημεῖ γὰρ ἄρα. Heindorf's correction ἐπιδημεῖ for ἐπεδήμει seems to be necessary, as Prodicus is still in Athens. Just so the presential tenses are used in 314Dκινδυνεύει δὲ— ἄχθεσθαι and below, l. 14 κατάλυσιν πεποίηκεν. If the clause is taken as a parenthetical clause of explanation, there is nothing harsh in the construction: ἦν δὲ ἐν οἰκήματί τινι naturally enough follows on εἰσεῖδον. For γὰρ ἄρα (a somewhat rare combination) Heindorf quotes Rep. IV. 438A πάντες γὰρ ἄρα τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐπιθυμοῦσιν, Symp. 205B ἀφελόντες γὰρ ἄρα (so T: B has only γάρ) τοῦ ἔρωτός τι εἶδος ὀνομάζομεν, Laws, III. 698D συνάψαντες γὰρ ἄρα τὰς χεῖρας σαγηνεύσαιεν πᾶσαν τὴν Ἐρετρικήν. γὰρ ἄρα always introduces something supposed to be known to the person addressed: see 314Bοἶμαι δὲ καὶ Πρόδικον τὸν Κεῖον.

17. Παυσανιας is known from the Symposium 180C ff. The deme Κεραμῆς was in the tribe Acamantis. ὡς μὲν ἐγᾦμαι is to be taken closely with καλόν τε κἀγαθὸν τὴν φύσιν.

20. τὴν δ᾽ οὖν ἰδέαν πάνυ καλός. Cf. Symp. 174A ταῦτα δὴ ἐκαλλωπισάμην ἵνα καλὸς παρὰ καλὸν (i.e. Ἀγάθωνα) ἴω. There is no ground for reading καλόν for καλός with Stephanus: cf. Lach. 180E τὰ γὰρ μειράκια τάδε—διαλενόμενοι.

21. Ἀγάθωνα. It is at the poet Agathon's house that the scene of the Symposium is laid. From his speech in that dialogue 194D ff. we should infer that he had studied under Prodicus to some purpose. Born about 447 B.C., Agathon was first successful on the tragic stage at an early age: cf. Symp. 175E ἡ δὲ σὴ (sc. Ἀγάθωνος σοφία) λαμπρά τε καὶ πολλὴν ἐπίδοσιν ἔχουσα, ἥ γε παρὰ σοῦ νέου ὄντος οὕτω σφόδπα ἐξέλαμψε καὶ ἐκφανὴς ἐγένετο ρπώην ἐν μάρτυσι τῶν Ἑλλήνων πλέον ἢ τρισμυρίοις. He visited the court of Archelaus about 407 B.C. and died probably about 400. That he was held in esteem by the Athenians appears from Ar. Frogs, 83 ff. Ἀγάθων δὲ ποῦ 'σθ᾽; ὅπου 'στ᾽; ἀπολιπών μ᾽ οἴχεται ἀγαθὸς ποιητὴς καὶ ποθεινὸς τοῖς φίλοις. For παιδικὰ Παυσανίου cf. Symp. 193B.

22. τοῦτ᾽ ἦν τὸ μειράκιον. So BT: the idiom is like our ‘There was this young man’. The nearest parallels seem to be Phaedo, 59B ἦν δὲ καὶ Κτήσιππος ὁ Παιανιεύς and Rep. X. 615D ἦσαν δὲ καὶ ἰδιῶταί τινες. τοῦτό τε δή (Ast), τοῦτό τ᾽ οὖν (Heindorf), τοῦτ᾽ ἔνδον ἦν (Schirlitz), have been suggested, while Kroschel rejects the words, but the text is probably sound.

23. τὼ Ἀδειμάντω. Adimantus son of Cepis is not elsewhere named. The son of Leucolophidas was afterwards στρατηγός under Alcibiades, whose policy he supported (Xen. Hell. I. 4. 21): he was taken prisoner at the battle of Aegospotami, but spared by the Spartans. He was afterwards put on his trial by Conon on the charge, not improbably a true one, of having betrayed the Athenian fleet at this battle: see Kock on Ar. Frogs, 1512.

26. πάσσοφος—ἁνήρ—καὶ θεῖος. For ἁνήρ BT read ἀνήρ, but see on 314Eabove. πάσσοφος is often ironical: e.g. Euthyd. 271C ὃ δὲ σὺ ἐρωτᾷς τὴν σοφίαν αὐτοῖν, θαυμασία, ὦ Κρίτων: πάσσοφοι ἀτεχνῶς τώ γε, οὐδ᾽ ᾔδη πρὸ τοῦ ὅ τι εἶεν οἱ παγκρατιασταί. For the meaning of θεῖος cf. Meno, 99C οὐκοῦν—ἄξιον τούτους θείους καλεῖν τοὺς ἄνδρας, οἵτινες νοῦν μὴ ἔχοντες πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα κατορθοῦσιν ὧν πράττουσιν καὶ λέγουσι; θεῖος (in the form σεῖος) was the favourite Spartan word of praise and was much affected by the Socratic circle in Athens.