James Adam, Commentary on Plato, Protagoras, ed. James Adam, ed. Adela Marion Adam, VII.315E

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[315E] 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 Παιανιεύςand 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 314E above. 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.

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.) — 315 focus

[315]

ΣΩ.

ἐπειδὴ δὲ εἰσήλθομεν, κατελάβομεν Πρωταγόραν ἐν τῷ προστῴῳ περιπατοῦντα, ἑξῆς δʼ αὐτῷ συμπεριεπάτουν ἐκ μὲν τοῦ ἐπὶ θάτερα Καλλίας ὁ Ἱππονίκου καὶ ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ 315 315a ὁ ὁμομήτριος, Πάραλος ὁ Περικλέους, καὶ Χαρμίδης ὁ Γλαύκωνος, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ ἐπὶ θάτερα ὁ ἕτερος τῶν Περικλέους Ξάνθιππος, καὶ Φιλιππίδης ὁ Φιλομήλου καὶ Ἀντίμοιρος ὁ Μενδαῖος, ὅσπερ εὐδοκιμεῖ μάλιστα τῶν Πρωταγόρου μαθητῶν καὶ ἐπὶ τέχνῃ μανθάνει, ὡς σοφιστὴς ἐσόμενος. τούτων δὲ οἳ ὄπισθεν ἠκολούθουν ἐπακούοντες τῶν λεγομένων τὸ μὲν πολὺ ξένοι ἐφαίνοντο—οὓς ἄγει ἐξ ἑκάστων τῶν πόλεων ὁ Πρωταγόρας, διʼ ὧν διεξέρχεται, κηλῶν τῇ φωνῇ ὥσπερ 315b Ὀρφεύς, οἱ δὲ κατὰ τὴν φωνὴν ἕπονται κεκηλημένοι— ἦσαν δέ τινες καὶ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων ἐν τῷ χορῷ. τοῦτον τὸν χορὸν μάλιστα ἔγωγε ἰδὼν ἥσθην, ὡς καλῶς ηὐλαβοῦντο μηδέποτε ἐμποδὼν ἐν τῷ πρόσθεν εἶναι Πρωταγόρου, ἀλλʼ ἐπειδὴ αὐτὸς ἀναστρέφοι καὶ οἱ μετʼ ἐκείνου, εὖ πως καὶ ἐν κόσμῳ περιεσχίζοντο οὗτοι οἱ ἐπήκοοι ἔνθεν καὶ ἔνθεν, καὶ ἐν κύκλῳ περιιόντες ἀεὶ εἰς τὸ ὄπισθεν καθίσταντο κάλλιστα.

τὸν δὲ μετʼ εἰσενόησα,

ηομ. οδ. 11.601 ἔφη Ὅμηρος, Ἱππίαν τὸν 315c Ἠλεῖον, καθήμενον ἐν τῷ κατʼ ἀντικρὺ προστῴῳ ἐν θρόνῳ· περὶ αὐτὸν δʼ ἐκάθηντο ἐπὶ βάθρων Ἐρυξίμαχός τε ὁ Ἀκουμενοῦ καὶ Φαῖδρος ὁ Μυρρινούσιος καὶ Ἄνδρων ὁ Ἀνδροτίωνος καὶ τῶν ξένων πολῖταί τε αὐτοῦ καὶ ἄλλοι τινές. ἐφαίνοντο δὲ περὶ φύσεώς τε καὶ τῶν μετεώρων ἀστρονομικὰ ἄττα διερωτᾶν τὸν Ἱππίαν, ὁ δʼ ἐν θρόνῳ καθήμενος ἑκάστοις αὐτῶν διέκρινεν καὶ διεξῄει τὰ ἐρωτώμενα.
καὶ μὲν δὴ

καὶ Τάνταλόν

ηομ. οδ. 11.582 γε

εἰσεῖδον

ηομ. οδ. 11.582 —ἐπεδήμει 315d γὰρ ἄρα καὶ Πρόδικος ὁ Κεῖος—ἦν δὲ ἐν οἰκήματί τινι, ᾧ πρὸ τοῦ μὲν ὡς ταμιείῳ ἐχρῆτο Ἱππόνικος, νῦν δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν καταλυόντων ὁ Καλλίας καὶ τοῦτο ἐκκενώσας ξένοις κατάλυσιν πεποίηκεν. ὁ μὲν οὖν Πρόδικος ἔτι κατέκειτο, ἐγκεκαλυμμένος ἐν κῳδίοις τισὶν καὶ στρώμασιν καὶ μάλα πολλοῖς, ὡς ἐφαίνετο· παρεκάθηντο δὲ αὐτῷ ἐπὶ ταῖς πλησίον κλίναις Παυσανίας τε ὁ ἐκ Κεραμέων καὶ μετὰ Παυσανίου νέον τι ἔτι μειράκιον, ὡς μὲν ἐγᾦμαι καλόν τε 315e κἀγαθὸν τὴν φύσιν, τὴν δʼ οὖν ἰδέαν πάνυ καλός. ἔδοξα ἀκοῦσαι ὄνομα αὐτῷ εἶναι Ἀγάθωνα, καὶ οὐκ ἂν θαυμάζοιμι εἰ παιδικὰ Παυσανίου τυγχάνει ὤν.

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).) — 315 focus

Soc.

and when we had entered, we came upon Protagoras as he was walking round in the cloister,¹ and close behind him two companies were walking round also; on the one side Callias, son of Hipponicus and his brother on the mother’s side, 315a Paralus, son of Pericles, and Charmides, son of Glaucon, while the other troop consisted of Pericles’ other son Xanthippus, Philippides, son of Philomelus, and Antimoerus of Mende, who is the most highly reputed of Protagoras’ disciples and is taking the course professionally with a view to becoming a sophist. The persons who followed in their rear, listening to what they could of the talk, seemed to be mostly strangers, brought by the great Protagoras from the several cities which he traverses, enchanting them with his voice like Orpheus, while they follow 315b where the voice sounds, enchanted; and some of our own inhabitants were also dancing attendance. As for me, when I saw their evolutions I was delighted with the admirable care they took not to hinder Protagoras at any moment by getting in front; but whenever the master turned about and those with him, it was fine to see the orderly manner in which his train of listeners split up into two parties on this side and on that, and wheeling round formed up again each time in his rear most admirably.

And next did I mark,

Hom. Od. 11.601 as Homer says, Hippias of Elis, 315c seated high on a chair in the doorway opposite; and sitting around him on benches were Eryximachus, son of Acumenus, Phaedrus of Myrrhinous, Andron son of Androtion and a number of strangers,—fellow-citizens of Hippias and some others. They seemed to be asking him a series of astronomical questions on nature and the heavenly bodies, while he, seated in his chair, was distinguishing and expounding to each in turn the subjects of their questions.

Nay more, Tantalus also did I there behold.

Hom. Od. 11.582 ²—for you know Prodicus of Ceos is in Athens too: 315d he was in a certain apartment formerly used by Hipponieus as a strong-room, but now cleared out by Callias to make more space for his numerous visitors, and turned into a guest-chamber. Well, Prodicus was still abed, wrapped up in sundry fleeces and rugs, and plenty of them too, it seemed; and near him on the beds hard by lay Pausanias from Cerames, and with Pausanias a lad who was still quite young, of good birth and breeding, I should say, 315e and at all events a very good-looking person. I fancied I heard his name was Agathon, and I should not be surprised to find he is Pausanias’ favorite.

James Adam Commentary on Plato, Protagoras VII.315E

ed. James Adam, ed. Adela Marion Adam

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