CHAPTER XXV
Socrates protests against appointing an umpire, and in order
that the conversation may go on is willing that Protagoras should
become the interrogator. The others assent, Protagoras
reluctantly.
2.
ἐμέ γε. The MSS. read
τε not
γε; γε is due to Heindorf.
The position of
τε is usually explained as due to displacement
(see on
316D, e.g. by Kroschel ‘nam haec dicit Socrates;
omnes laudabant meque et Callias retinebat et (omnes) orabant
ut praesidem deligerem’: but
Καλλίας can hardly be coupled in
this way with an
unexpressed πάντες. If
τε is right it must be
taken (with Turner) as coupling the whole clause
ἐμὲ ὁ Καλλίας
οὐκ ἔφη ἀφήσειν with
καὶ ἑλέσθαι ἐδέοντο ἐπιστάτην: this is
possible, but strikes us as harsh.
8.
ἀλλὰ δή like
at enim introduces a possible objection: see
on
Crito, 54A. The fuller form of the comparative (
βελτίονα and
the like) is less common in Plato than the contracted.
10.
ὥστε. Heindorf cites (
inter alia)
Phaedr. 269D τὸ μὲν δύνασθαι, ὦ Φαῖδρε, ὥστε ἀγωνιστὴν τέλεον γενέσθαι. The insertion of
ὥστε with the usual infinitive after
ἀδύνατον increases the emphasis
of
ἀδύνατον by making it appear more than a mere auxiliary notion.
Badham's conjecture
ἀδύνατον ὂν ὑμῖν ἴστε deserves mention for
its ingenuity. For
Πρωταγόρου see above, note on
318D
13.
τό γ᾽ ἐμὸν οὐδὲν διαφέρει.
Gorg. 458D τό γ᾽ ἐμὸν οὐδὲν
κωλύει. τό γ᾽ ἐμόν is frequent in Plato for
quantum ad me attinet.
16.
εἰ μὴ βούλεται. For the asyndeton see above on
330A
27.
πάνυ μὲν οὐκ ἤθελεν:
οὐκ ἤθελεν is virtually one word:
‘was very reluctant’. The phrase is quite different from
οὐ πάνυ:
see on
οὐ πάνυ τι in
321Babove.
