Gonzalez Lodge, Commentary on Plato: Gorgias

ἢ μὴ σαφῶς: an afterthought. Had it been present originally in Socrates' mind, he would have said μὴ ὀρθῶς ἢ κτἑ.; but not being present, the negative was attracted to the verb of saying, by the regular Greek rule. Looking at it in this light, it is not necessary (with Cron) to supply a second φῇ from the preceding μὴ φῇ, which would hardly come under the head of the simple following the compound.

χαλεπαίνουσι: the pl. occurs here as it did with ἀμφισβητήσωσιν above, because from ὁ ἕτερος τὸν ἕτερον we naturally draw the idea “both.” Cf. in Latin, Cic. de Fin. iii. 2. 8 quod cum accidisset, ut alter alterum necopinato videremus, etc., and the expression for ‘both’ in the Romance languages.— The use of the pronouns throughout this long sentence is both interesting and instructive; ἀλλήλους, ἑαυτούς, ἕτερος, ἕτερον, ἑαυτῶν, σφῶν αὐτῶν (bis). The distinction between reciprocal and reflexive is sometimes very narrow.

φιλονικοῦντας κτἑ.: when both reproach each other thus, they place themselves on the same level as participants in a disputatious contest, where each seeks his own honor, not the truth, as Socrates shows in Phaedo 91 a, where he contrasts the φιλοσόφως and φιλονίκως ἔχοντες, and says of the latter, ὅταν περί του ἀμφισβητῶσιν, ὅπῃ μὲν ἔχει περὶ ὧν ἂν ὁ λόγος ᾖ, οὐ φροντίζουσιν, ὅπως δὲ ἃ αὐτοὶ ἔθεντο ταῦτα δόξει τοῖς παροῦσιν τοῦτο προθυμοῦνται. Cf. e, below, on πρὸς τὸ πρᾶγμα. They bear it hardly, and think that out of envy, envy of themselves, the opponent said it, actuated by a factious spirit, and not by a desire to search into the matter before them in the discussion.

λοιδορηθέντες κτἑ.: the two following participles, though logically co-ordinate with λοιδορηθέντες, really give its two sides.

11 f.

οἷα . . . ἄχθεσθαι ὑπέρ: the use of the acc. with the infin. after forms of οἷος is very rare, and seems to be an extension of the personal use of the infin. with οἷος. See GMT. 759; Madv. 166 c, and note on 452 e. Cf. Apol. 23 e Μέλητος μὲν ὑπὲρ τῶν ποιητῶν ἀχθόμενος, Ἄνυτος δὲ ὑπὲρ τῶν δημιουργῶν κτἑ. We soon feel anger and indignation for one whom we consider abused.