R. G. Bury, The Symposium of Plato

μηκέτι τῷ παρ᾽ ἑνί κτλ. τῷ, sc. καλῷ, is governed by δουλεύων, and the phrase contains a clear reference to the language of Pausanias in 183 A ff. ὥσπερ οἰκέτης, “like a lackey,” is of course contemptuous, as in Theaet. 172 D κινδυνεύουσιν...ὡς οἰκέται πρὸς ἐλευθέρους τεθράφθαι. For ἀγαπῶν, “contented with,” cp. Menex. 240 C. If we retain the MSS.' τὸ παρ᾽ ἑνί the construction is awkward, as Stallb.^{2} admits—“quod olim accusativum defendendum suscepimus, videtur nunc interpretatio loci quam proposuimus, quamvis Rückerto et Hommelio probata, nimis contorta nec satis simplex esse.” I am inclined to suspect the phrase ἢ ἀνθρώπου τινὸς. Schirlitz proposed to excise ἢ ἀνθρώπου: I suggest παιδαρίου κάλλος [ἢ] ἄνου τινὸς, “of some witless urchin,” and suppose a reference to what Pausanias said in 181 B ἐρῶσι...ὡς ἂν δύνωνται ἀνοητοτάτων: 181 D οὐ γὰρ ἐρῶσι παίδων, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπειδὰν ἤδη ἄρχωνται νοῦν ἴσχειν (cp. next n.).

φαῦλος...σμικρολόγος. Cp. 181 B, where those who follow Aphrodite Pandemos (loving women and boys) are described as οἱ φαῦλοι τῶν ἀνθρώπων.

ἐπὶ τὸ πολὺ πέλαγος . πέλαγος of itself connotes vastness; cp. Rep. 453 D εἰς τὸ μέγιστον πέλαγος μέσον (ἄν τις ἐμπέσῃ): Prot. 338 A φεύγειν εἰς τὸ πέλαγος τῶν λόγων. The phrase is alluded to in Clem. Al. protrept. 69 A; Plut. quaest. Plat. 1001 E; Themist. or. XIII. p. 177 C.

θεωρῶν. This should be taken closely (supplying αὐτό) with what precedes, not with πολλοὺς...λόγους (as Ast's Dict. s.v. implies). The parable suggests that the spectator, having reached the hill-top, turns himself about and gazes, wonder-struck, at the mighty ocean of beauty which lies spread before him, till the spectacle quickens his soul and moves it to deliver itself of many a deep-lying thought.

καλοὺς...μεγαλοπρεπεῖς. Cp. Menex. 247 B: ib. 234 C: Rep. 503 C νεανικοί τε καὶ μ. τὰς διανοίας: ib. 486 A, 496 A γεννᾶν διανοήματά τε καὶ δόξας. Cp. for the sense Plotin. de pulcr. 8 C (Cr.).

ἀφθόνῳ . ἄφθονος is used alike of fruits (Polit. 272 A) and of soils (Soph. 222 A), thus meaning both “abundant” and “bountiful”—“unstinted” and “unstinting.”

ῥωσθεὶς. Cp. Phaedrus 238 C; 176 B supra.

ἐπιστήμην μίαν. This unitary science—ἐπιστήμη in the strict Platonic sense, called also (211 C) μάθημα—is dialectic: cp. Phaedrus 247 B τὴν ἐν τῷ ὅ ἐστιν ὂν ὄντως ἔπιστήμην οὖσαν. See parallels in Plotin. de pulcr. 2 A (Cr.); Procl. in I. Alc. p. 246.