R. G. Bury, The Symposium of Plato

οὔτε τι ᾁδομεν. This lection is preferable to B.'s οὔτ᾽ ἐπᾴδομεν which is accepted by most later editors. Eryx. would not propose to “chant spells,” the only sense in which the compound word is used by Plato. For the idea of trolling a catch over one's cups, cp. Gouffé (Couplets) “On boit chez eux, on boit beaucoup Et de bourgogne et de champagne; Mais rien ne vaut un petit coup Qu'un petit couplet accompagne.”

For λόγοι ἐπικυλίκειοι, cp. Athen. 2 A; Lucian Timon, c. 55.

Ὦ Ἐρυξίμαχε κτλ. Alcibiades—as if to show how ready he is ᾁδειν τι— replies with an iambic trimeter—“A noble sire's most noble, sober son!” The superlatives are not without irony, cp. 177 B, Xen. Mem. III. 13. 2.

χαῖρε. “All hail!” Alcibiades pretends not to have noticed the doctor before.

ἰητρὸς γὰρ...ἄλλων. From Il. XI. 514: “Surely one learnèd leech is a match for an army of laymen.” Pope's rendering—“the wise physician skilled our wounds to heal”—hardly deserves the name, although Jowett paid it the compliment of borrowing it.

ἐπίταττε. “Prescribe”: the techn. term for a medical prescription, cp. Rep. 347 A κατὰ τὴν τέχνην ἐπιτάττων: Polit. 294 D, Laws 722 E.

ἔδοξε κτλ. See 177 D.