James Adam, Commentary on Plato, Protagoras, ed. James Adam, ed. Adela Marion Adam, I.309C

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[309C] 19. καὶ πολύ γε , i.e. καλλίονι ἐνέτυχον .

23. Ἀβδηρίτῃ . Abdera, on the coast of Thrace, was the birthplace of Democritus and of Protagoras. The reputation of the city for heaviness and stupidity seems not to be earlier than the age of Demosthenes: see pseudo-Dem. περὶ τῶν πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον , 23 ὥσπερ ἐν Ἀβδηρίταις ἢ Μαρωνείταις ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐν Ἀθηναίοις πολιτευόμενοι and Cic. ad Atticum, VII. 7. 4.

25. υἱέος . Schanz writes ὑέος in conformity with the general usage of inscriptions about Plato's time, but MSS. upon the whole favour υἱέος : see the Editor's note on Crito, 45C .

26. τὸ σοφώτατον . So the MSS.: Schanz and others read σοφώτερον , apparently the reading of Ficinus, who translates the word by sapientius. Socrates, however, is thinking of Protagoras, who is not σοφός , but σοφώτατος (l. 31): the effect of the neuter τὸ σοφώτατον is to generalise the statement into a kind of adage. σοφώτερον would introduce a somewhat frigid comparison between Alcibiades and Protagoras in respect of wisdom; and it should also be noted that the MSS. reading σοφώτατον was more likely to be changed to σοφώτερον by mistake than vice versa. There may be an allusion to some proverbial form of speech resembling that in Theognis, 255 κάλλιστον τὸ δικαιότατον· λῷστον δ’ ὑγιαίνειν κτλ. : cf. also the scolion referred to in Gorg. 451E . The sentiment is an interesting anticipation of the Stoic paradoxes as to the beauty of the wise man.

28. ἀλλ’ ἦ expresses surprise and interest: ‘What! have you just left etc.’ So in Gorg. 447A ἀλλ’ ἦ τὸ λεγόμενον κατόπιν ἑορτῆς ἥκομεν ;Presently μὲν οὖν is as usual corrective: see on Apol. 26B .

Commentary on Plato, Protagoras. James Adam. ed. James Adam, ed. Adela Marion Adam. Cambridge. 1921.

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Current edition Perseus

Commentary on Plato, Protagoras (English) (Plato. Platonis Protagoras. Adam, James; Adam, Adela Marion, editors. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1921.)

Editions (1)

Πρωταγόρας Perseus (Platonis Opera, Tomus III: Tetralogia V-VII. Burnet, John, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903.) — 309 focus

[309] 309 309a

ΕΤ.

πόθεν, ὦ Σώκρατες, φαίνῃ; ἢ δῆλα δὴ ὅτι ἀπὸ κυνηγεσίου τοῦ περὶ τὴν Ἀλκιβιάδου ὥραν; καὶ μήν μοι καὶ πρῴην ἰδόντι καλὸς μὲν ἐφαίνετο ἀνὴρ ἔτι, ἀνὴρ μέντοι, ὦ Σώκρατες, ὥς γʼ ἐν αὐτοῖς ἡμῖν εἰρῆσθαι, καὶ πώγωνος ἤδη ὑποπιμπλάμενος.

ΣΩ.

εἶτα τί τοῦτο; οὐ σὺ μέντοι Ὁμήρου ἐπαινέτης εἶ, 309b ὃς ἔφη χαριεστάτην ἥβην εἶναι τοῦ πρῶτον ὑπηνήτου, ἣν νῦν Ἀλκιβιάδης ἔχει;

ΕΤ.

τί οὖν τὰ νῦν; ἦ παρʼ ἐκείνου φαίνῃ; καὶ πῶς πρός σε ὁ νεανίας διάκειται;

ΣΩ.

εὖ, ἔμοιγε ἔδοξεν, οὐχ ἥκιστα δὲ καὶ τῇ νῦν ἡμέρᾳ· καὶ γὰρ πολλὰ ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ εἶπε βοηθῶν ἐμοί, καὶ οὖν καὶ ἄρτι ἀπʼ ἐκείνου ἔρχομαι. ἄτοπον μέντοι τί σοι ἐθέλω εἰπεῖν· παρόντος γὰρ ἐκείνου, οὔτε προσεῖχον τὸν νοῦν, ἐπελανθανόμην τε αὐτοῦ θαμά. 309c

ΕΤ.

καὶ τί ἂν γεγονὸς εἴη περὶ σὲ κἀκεῖνον τοσοῦτον πρᾶγμα; οὐ γὰρ δήπου τινὶ καλλίονι ἐνέτυχες ἄλλῳ ἔν γε τῇδε τῇ πόλει.

ΣΩ.

καὶ πολύ γε.

ΕΤ.

τί φῄς; ἀστῷ ἢ ξένῳ;

ΣΩ.

ξένῳ.

ΕΤ.

ποδαπῷ;

ΣΩ.

Ἀβδηρίτῃ.

ΕΤ.

καὶ οὕτω καλός τις ὁ ξένος ἔδοξέν σοι εἶναι, ὥστε τοῦ Κλεινίου ὑέος καλλίων σοι φανῆναι;

ΣΩ.

πῶς δʼ οὐ μέλλει, ὦ μακάριε, τὸ σοφώτατον κάλλιον φαίνεσθαι;

ΕΤ.

ἀλλʼ ἦ σοφῷ τινι ἡμῖν, ὦ Σώκρατες, ἐντυχὼν πάρει; 309d

ΣΩ.

σοφωτάτῳ μὲν οὖν δήπου τῶν γε νῦν, εἴ σοι δοκεῖ σοφώτατος εἶναι Πρωταγόρας.

ΕΤ.

ὢ τί λέγεις; Πρωταγόρας ἐπιδεδήμηκεν;

ΣΩ.

τρίτην γε ἤδη ἡμέραν.

ΕΤ.

καὶ ἄρτι ἄρα ἐκείνῳ συγγεγονὼς ἥκεις;

Translations (1)

Protagoras Perseus (Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 2. Lamb, W.R.M., translator. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1924 (printing).) — 309 focus

309a

Fr.

Where have you been now, Socrates? Ah, but of course you have been in chase of Alcibiades and his youthful beauty! Well, only the other day, as I looked at him, I thought him still handsome as a man—for a man he is, Socrates, between you and me, and with quite a growth of beard.

Soc.

And what of that? Do you mean to say you do not approve of Homer,¹ 309b who said that youth has highest grace in him whose beard is appearing, as now in the case of Alcibiades?

Fr.

Then how is the affair at present? Have you been with him just now? And how is the young man treating you?

Soc.

Quite well, I considered, and especially so today: for he spoke a good deal on my side, supporting me in a discussion—in fact I have only just left him. However, there is a strange thing I have to tell you: although he was present, I not merely paid him no attention, but at times forgot him altogether.

309c

Fr.

Why, what can have happened between you and him? Something serious! For surely you did not find anyone else of greater beauty there,—no, not in our city.

Soc.

Yes, of far greater.

Fr.

What do you say? One of our people, or a foreigner?

Soc.

A foreigner.

Fr.

Of what city?

Soc.

Abdera.

Fr.

And you found this foreigner so beautiful that he appeared to you of greater beauty than the son of Cleinias?

Soc.

Why, my good sir, must not the wisest appear more beautiful?

Fr.

Do you mean it was some wise man that you met just now?

309d

Soc.

Nay, rather the wisest of our generation, I may tell you, if wisest is what you agree to call Protagoras.

Fr.

Ah, what a piece of news! Protagoras come to town!

Soc.

Yes, two days ago.

Fr.

And it was his company that you left just now?

James Adam Commentary on Plato, Protagoras I.309C

ed. James Adam, ed. Adela Marion Adam

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