R. G. Bury, The Symposium of Plato

τῷ τοῦ σώματος ἄνθει λ. Youth “is like the flower of the field, so soon passeth it away, and it is gone.” Cp. Mimn. 2. 7 μίνυνθα δὲ γίγνεται ἥβης καρπός: Theogn. 1305 παιδείας πολυηράτου ἄνθος | ὠκύτερον σταδίου: Ségur's refrain “Ah! le Temps fait passer l'Amour”: Spenser (H. to Beautie) “For that same goodly hew of white and red, With which the cheeks are sprinckled, shal decay, And those sweete rosy leaves, so fairely spred Upon the lips, shall fade and fall away” etc.: Rep. 601 B οὐκοῦν ἔοικεν τοῖς τῶν ὡραίων προσώποις... ὅταν αὐτὰ τὸ ἄνθος προλίπῃ: Xen. Symp. VIII. 14 τὸ μὲν τῆς ὥρας ἄνθος ταχὺ δήπου παρακμάζει, κτλ.: Tyrt. 10. 28 ὄφρ᾽ ἐρατῆς ἥβης ἀγλαὸν ἄνθος ἔχῃ: Mimnerm. 1. 4. So Emerson (On Beauty) “The radiance of the human form...is only a burst of beauty for a few years or a few months, at the perfection of youth, and in most rapidly declines. But we remain lovers of it, only transferring our interest to interior excellence.”

οἴχεται ἀποπτάμενος. A reminiscence of Il. II. 71. For the thought, cp. 181 D above: Xen. Symp. l.c. ἀπολείποντος δὲ τούτου (sc. τοῦ τῆς ὥρας ἄνθους), ἀνάγκη καὶ τὴν φιλίαν συναπομαραίνεσθαι. Cp. also Phaedrus 232 E, 234 A.

συντακείς. “Fused into one” by the flame of love. Cp. 192 D, Eur. fr. 964 πᾶσα γὰρ ἀγαθὴ γυνὴ | ἥτις ἀνδρὶ συντέτηκε σωφρονεῖν ἐπίσταται: id. Supp. 1029.

τούτους δὴ. With the text as it stands in the MSS., τούτους refers to the ἐρασταί only, who are divided into two classes, the good (τοῖς μὲν) and the bad (τοὺς δὲ). But in the next clause τοῖς μὲν refers to the ἐρασταί en bloc, and τοῖς δὲ to the ἐρώμενοι. This is extremely awkward; and it is a further objection to the clause that the statement it contains is premature, and would fit in better below (184 D—E). I therefore follow Voegelin and Hug in obelizing. For the language, cp. Theogn. 1299 ff. ὦ παῖ, μέχρι τίνος με προφεύξεαι; ὥς σε διώκων | δίζημ᾽ ...ἀλλ᾽ ἐπίμεινον, ἐμοὶ δὲ δίδου χάριν.