οὐ μέλλω
κτλ. Notice the change of tense in ἀπορεῖν...λέξειν: Plato uses pres., fut., and aor.
infinitives after μέλλω, of which the last is the
rarest construction. For the sense, cp. Soph. 231 B.
παντοδαπὸν λόγον. There is irony in the
epithet. Socr. implies that he regards it as a motley λόγος, “a thing of shreds and patches.” Cp. 193 E, and 198 E
(πάντα λόγον κινοῦντες κτλ.).
οὐχ ὁμοίως μὲν θαυμαστά. The
antithesis must be mentally supplied: “the earlier parts were not equally
marvellous (although they were marvellous).” Stallb. explains differently,
“τὰ μὲν ἄλλα accipi potest absolute
pro et quod cetera quidem attinet; quo facto non inepte
pergitur sic: οὐχ ὁμοίως μὲν θαυμαστά, particula
μὲν denuo iterata.” But the former
explanation (adopted by Rettig and Hug, after Zeller) is the simpler and better.
τὸ δὲ ἐπὶ τελευτῆς
κτλ. τὸ is accus. of respect, going closely with
ἐπὶ τελευτῆς, not with τοῦ
κάλλους (as Rückert): “quod autem exitum orationis
tuae attinet” (Stallb., and so Hommel). τοῦ
κάλλους is governed by ἐξεπλάγη, as gen.
of causative object (cp. Madv. Gr. Synt. § 61 b). ἀκούων, “as he
heard.”
τῶν ὀνομάτων καὶ ῥημάτων. Cp. 199 B
ὀνόμασι δὲ καὶ θέσει ῥημάτων. Properly,
ὄνομα and ῥῆμα
are distinguished as, in logic, the subject and predicate and, in grammar, the noun
and verb respectively. But commonly ὄνομα is used of
any single word, and ῥῆμα of a clause, or
proposition (e.g. Protag. 341 E); cp. Apol. 17 B; Crat.
399 A, 431 B. Both here and below, as Athenaeus observes (V. 187 C), Πλάτων χλευάζει τε τὰ
ἰσόκωλα τὰ Ἀγάθωνος καὶ τὰ ἀντίθετα. Cp. the criticism of the
Sophistic style in Alcid. de Soph. 12 οἱ
τοῖς ὀνόμασιν ἀκριβῶς ἐξειργασμένοι καὶ μᾶλλον ποιήμασιν ἢ λόγοις
ἐοικότες καὶ τὸ μὲν αὐτόματον καὶ πλέων ἀληθείας
ἀποβεβληκότες: Isocr. c. Soph. 294 D τοῖς ἐνθυμήμασι πρεπόντως ὅλον τὸν λόγον καταποικῖλαι καὶ
τοῖς ὀνόμασι εὐρύθμως καὶ μουσικῶς εἰπεῖν.
οὐδ᾽ ἐγγὺς τούτων. Cp. 221 D below; Rep. 378 D
τοὺς ποιητὰς ἐγγὺς τούτων ἀναγκαστέον
λογοποιεῖν.
ὀλίγου. I.e.
ὀλίγου δεῖν. Cp. Theaet. 180 D; Euthyd. 279 D.
This text is part of:
The Symposium of Plato. R. G. Bury. 1909. Cambridge. W. Heffer and Sons.
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