Gonzalez Lodge, Commentary on Plato: Gorgias

ἡδέως ἂν ἐλεγξάντων . . . λέγοι: of these two conditional clauses the first is logical, the second ideal. The present conversation is a practical example of Socrates' view; hence the logical conditional form is used for the practical present case. The rest of the sentence follows naturally in the opt. as being rather theoretical, and applicable to some other time than the present. The participles represent the same tenses of the optatives.

οὐκ ἀηδέστερον κτἑ.: cf. 506 c καί με ἐὰν ἐξελέγχῃς, οὐκ ἀχθεσθήσομαί σοι, ὥσπερ σὺ ἐμοί, ἀλλὰ μέγιστος εὐεργέτης παρ᾽ ἐμοὶ ἀναγεγράψει.

μεῖζον γὰρ αὐτό: the correlative to ὅσῳπερ is wanting, as is often the case. αὐτὸ is always emphatic; the unemphatic pronoun is τοῦτο.

οὐδὲν κτἑ.: Socrates was convinced that correct views determine the will and actions, and that sin and error are due to lack of knowledge. Hence instruction, if it carry conviction with regard to what is good and true, must also bring about moral improvement. Cf. what he says in Apol. 26 a δῆλον γὰρ ὅτι, ἐὰν μάθω, παύ- σομαι ὅ γε ἄκων ποιῶ, and the celebrated phrase ascribed to him, οὐδεὶς ἕκων ἁμαρτάνει.

δόξα ψευδής: the force of οἶμαι extends over the whole sentence, and we should therefore logically expect δόξαν ψευδῆ. But by the use of the nom. Socrates holds the object up to view like an image.