R. G. Bury, The Symposium of Plato

πολλάκις κελεύειν. This is an ex. of the pres. infin. representing an impf. indic.: “He said, ἐδειπνοῦμεν, ὁ δὲ Σ. οὐκ εἰσῄει: ὁ οὖν Ἀ. ἐκέλευεν: ἐγὼ δὲ οὐκ εἴων” (Goodwin G. M. T. § 119, where see parallels). The accus. ἕ, of the speaker, is here used in preference to the more regular nomin. (αὐτός) in order to balance the accus. τὸν Ἀγάθωνα: cp. Gorg. 474 B ἐγὼ οἶμαι καὶ ἐμὲ καὶ δὲ...ἡγεῖσθαι, and below 175 E.

ὡς εἰώθει. To be taken closely with οὐ π. χρ.: we should rather say “contrary to his usual custom,” the sense being “he arrived unusually soon for him.” For a striking instance of Socrates' ἔθος see 220 C, where πολὺν χρόνον διέτριψεν.

μάλιστα...δειπνοῦντας. For μάλιστα of approximate measurement, cp. Parm. 127 B περὶ ἔτη μάλιστα πέντε καὶ ἑξήκοντα: Tim. 21 B, Crito 43 A. Nowhere else in Plato is μεσοῦν joined with a participle, nor does L. and S. supply any parallel.

ἔσχατον...μόνον. Agathon occupied the last κλίνη on the right: this was the “lowest seat” at the table, and commonly taken, in politeness, by the host. The seat of honour (προνομή) was the left-hand place on the κλίνη furthest to the left. Thus if four κλῖναι are placed in a row, numbered A—D, and each seating two persons, the person who occupies A^{1} is termed πρῶτος, and the occupant of D^{2} ἔσχατος: as thus

At this “Banquet” Phaedrus as occupying A^{1} is described as πρῶτος in 177 D: see also the discussion between Socrates and Alcibiades in 222 E. Cp. Theophr. Char. 21 ὁ δὲ μικροφιλότιμος τοιοῦτός τις οἷος σπουδάσαι ἐπὶ δεῖπνον κληθεὶς παρ᾽ αὐτὸν τὸν καλέσαντα δειπνῆσαι: Stob. Flor. XIII. 36 Διονύσιος...ἀτιμάζων αὐτὸν... κατέκλινεν αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ χώρᾳ.