James A. Towle, Commentary on Plato: Protagoras
James A. Towle, Ed.

μηδέ: nor, in general.

ἀλλ᾽ εἶεν: belongs to the rel. clause beginning with οἷς, which it follows in free const. — Pherecrates, one of the masters of the old comedy, had in the year 421-420 B.C. (cf. Ath. v. 218 d ἐδιδάχθησαν δὲ οἱ Ἄγριοι ἐπ᾽ Ἀριστίωνος ἄρχοντος) brought out a comedy, the Ἄγριοι, to the contents of which the surviving fragments (Meineke Frag. Com. Gr. I. 79 f., II. 254 ff., Kock Com. Att. Frag. I. 146) give almost no clue. Our passage would seem to imply that certain misanthropists (like Timon), who had fled from Athens into a wilderness, had encountered absolutely lawless and savage men, like the Cyclopes of the Odyssey, namely the Ἄγριοι, who formed the Chorus. These savages by their rudeness had taught them to prefer an association with even the worst types of common humanity, with Eurybatus and Phrynondas. —

πέρυσι: see Introd. p. 6.

ὁ ποιητής: an Athenian speaker would hardly have added this qualification to an Athenian name. —

ἐδίδαξεν: the technical term for the training of the actors and the chorus by the poet, then in general for the bringing out of the play. —

ἐπὶ Ληναίῳ: means strictly only at the Lenaeon. This was a temple and sacred precinct of Dionysus south of the Acropolis, in and near which were observed the solemnities of the Lenaea, which for this reason were called Διονύσια τὰ ἐπὶ Δηναίῳ in distinction from Διονύσια τὰ ἐν ἄστει, the Great Dionysia (C. I. Att. II. 741 A, a 1. 10, b l. 4, d l. 9 from the years 333-330 B.C.). Between this and the citadel lay the Theatre of Athens, where all tragedies and comedies, on both festivals, were broughtout. Consequently the formula ἐπὶ Ληναίῳ cannot designate those brought out at the Lenaean festival. Protagoras, however, uses the expression ἐδίδαξεν ἐπὶ Ληναίῳ in the wider sense: such as Pherecrates put upon the stage, as contrasted with the class of men which Socrates encountered in real life. —

ἐν γενόμενος: coming among. γίγνεσθαι and εἶναι are often used with advs. of place.

The Ἄγριοι must have formed the Chorus, and ἐν τοῖς το<*>ούτοις ἀνθρώποις refers to them; the μισάνθρωποι then were different persons, and in the words ἀγαπήσαις ἄν, ὥσπερ οἱ κτἑ., Protagoras likens Socrates's condition, if he should ever meet beings like those Ἄγριοι, to that of the μισάνθρωποι in meeting the Chorus. We must therefore from the preceding context supply γενόμενοι with ἐν ἐκείνῳ τῷ χορῷ, even though this is a little difficult.

Eurybatus was a thief notorious for his cunning, or an Ephesian who had betrayed Croesus to Cyrus; Phrynondas, an Athenian, infamous by reason of his trickery and baseness. Both had become proverbial representatives of all wickedness. Cf. Ephorus in Harpocr. καὶ ἐντεῦθεν τοὺς πονηροὺς Εὐρυβάτους καλεῖσθαι, Suid. s.v. φρυνώνδας: ἐκ τούτου τοὺς πονηροὺς φρυνώνδας καλοῦσιν.