R. G. Bury, The Symposium of Plato

εἰ δὲ γένοιο κτλ. Cp. Ter. Andr. II. 1. 9 tu si hic sis, aliter censeas. For μᾶλλον δὲ ἴσως (rashly altered by critics) cp. Rep. 589 D, Ar. Vesp. 1486, and see Vahlen Op. Acad. I. 494 f.

ἐπειδὰν κτλ. Notice the elaborate courtesy, not devoid of irony, with which S. treats Agathon, who evidently is a man with a taste for flattery. Since the combination εὖ καὶ μάλα is open to suspicion, the regular forms being either εὖ μάλα (Gorg. 496 C, etc.) or καὶ μάλα (Phaedrus 265 A, etc.), I adopt the punctuation suggested by Vahlen. Other critics have proposed to eject either the καὶ or the εὖ: it would be equally easy to alter εὖ to σύ, or transpose to καὶ εὖ. The text, punctuated after εἴπῃ, has been construed (1) as “plenius dictum pro εὖ μάλα” (Stallb.), the καὶ connecting μάλα with εὖ (Hommel), or (2) as εὖ μάλα with καὶ, corresponding to the following καὶ, interjected (so Ast); but neither of these explanations is tenable. In favour of construing εὖ with εἴπῃ may be cited εὖ ἐροῦντος three ll. below and εὖ ἐρεῖ 198 A: for the order, cp. Rep. 613 B ὅσοι ἂν θέωσιν εὖ: Laws 805 B, 913 B (see Vahlen Op. Acad. I. 494 ff.): add Thuc. I. 71. 7 πρὸς τάδε βουλεύεσθε εὖ, καὶ κτλ.

ἐν παντὶ εἴης. “You would be at your wits' end,” in summa consilii inopia (Ast). Cp. Euthyd. 301 A ἐν παντὶ ἐγενόμην ὑπὸ ἀπορίας: Rep. 579 B; Xen. Hell. v. 4. 29. Cp. the use of παντοῖος εἶναι (γίγνεσθαι).

Φαρμάττειν β. με. “To cast a spell upon me.” Extravagant praise was liable to cause nemesis and the evil eye: cp. Phaedo 95 B μὴ μέγα λέγε, μή τις ἡμῖν βασκανία περιτρέψῃ τὸν λόγον τὸν μέλλοντα λέγεσθαι (with Stallb. ad loc.): Virg. Ecl. VII. 27, and the Latin terms fascinum, mala lingua. For φαρμάττειν, cp. Meno 80 A γοητεύεις με καὶ φαρμάττεις. Both here and in Meno l. c. the phrase may be reminiscent of Gorg. Hel. 15 οἱ δὲ τῶν λόγων πειθοῖ τινι κακῇ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐφαρμάκευσαν καὶ ἐξεγοήτευσαν.

τὸ θέατρον. “The house,”—rather absurdly applied to the small gathering of banqueters, but A. is still full of his recent triumph in the θέατρον proper and readily takes up the idea that he is again engaged in a literary ἀγών (cp. ἠγωνίσαι, 194 A n.).

Ἐπιλήσμων. Cp. Ar. Nub. 129 γέρων ὢν κἀπιλήσμων καὶ βραδύς. As Hommel notes, the word is “senum decrepitorum constans epitheton.” Socrates applies it to himself also in Prot. 334 C, D.

τὴν σὴν...ἀναβαίνοντος. For the construction, cp. Ar. Ach. 93 (ἐκκόψειε...) τόν γε σὸν (ὀφθαλμὸν) τοῦ πρέσβεως. See Madv. Gr. Syntax § 67.