Gonzalez Lodge, Commentary on Plato: Gorgias

XXXVII. On the role assigned to Callicles here, see Introd. § 15. After Polus has shown himself in capable of maintaining his views of rhetoric against the superior dialectical skill of Socrates, Callicles enters the discussion with a thought quite similar to the one with which Polus had entered it in 461 b. The view of life on which all of Socrates' deductions rest is so abhorrent to his innermost nature and all his hitherto cherished ideas that he cannot be brought to look upon the principles here advocated as the earnest convictions of a reasonable man. He does not, however, rush into the lists so roughly as Polus, but, being a more polished man of the world, turns first to Chaerephon, who is thoroughly acquainted with Socrates' views. He, however, wittily refers him to the master, in the same words with which Callicles himself had in 447 c referred Socrates to Gorgias.