The phrase ἓν ἢ (one or?) is a textual crux. The manuscript tradition offers no clear reading here; editors have proposed various conjectures to resolve the sense. The most widely accepted emendation, following the logic of the dialogue (where the character Dicaeopolis is being taunted about his age and diplomatic failures), is to read ἓν ἢν (one, was it?) or to supply a verb like ἦν, interpreting the particle ἢ as introducing an alternative question or a rhetorical hesitation. Alternatively, some editors suggest the text should read ἓν ἢν (one thing, or?) implying a specific count of embassies. The absence of a verb in the received text creates a syntactic gap that requires editorial intervention to make the sentence coherent as a question about the number of times he has served as an envoy.