Gonzalez Lodge, Commentary on Plato: Gorgias

ἄρα: “it appears,” “according to your view.”

οἱ μηδενὸς δεόμενοι κτἑ.: the fundamental principle of the Cynic school (of Antisthenes), which also derived its origin from Socrates. Cf. Xen. Mem. i. 6. 10, where to the sophist Antiphon, who maintains similar principles to those of Callicles here, Socrates says ἔοικας τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν οἰομένῳ τρυφὴν καὶ πολυτέλειαν εἶναι: ἐγὼ δὲ νομίζω τὸ μὲν μηδενὸς δεῖσθαι θεῖον εἶναι, τὸ δ᾽ ὡς ἐλάχιστον ἐγγυτάτω τοῦ θείου.

οἱ νεκροὶ κτἑ.: Socrates mentions the prevalence of this view in Phaedo 65 a καὶ δοκεῖ γέ που τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀνθρώποις . . . ἐγγύς τι τείνειν τοῦ τεθνάναι ὁ μηδὲν φροντίζων τῶν ἡδονῶν αἳ διὰ τοῦ σώματός εἰσιν. Sophocles, however, makes the sorely afflicted Ajax say (Ai. 554 f.) ἐν τῷ φρονεῖν γὰρ μηδὲν ἥδιστος βίος, | ἕως τὸ χαίρειν καὶ τὸ λυπεῖσθαι μαθῇς. Now that Callicles has stated exactly the manner in which he looks at life, Socrates proceeds to contrast that view with his own, not directly indeed, but by a series of comparisons and similes, which serve the double purpose of calming the feelings of the listeners and readers after the impassioned speech of Callicles and, by presenting these pictures to the fancy, of preparing their minds for the following dialectical argument.

Εὐριπίδης: the same poet to whom Callicles has several times appealed. Socrates also can quote for his own purpose. The passage is from the Polyidus, and has the second line completed by the words κάτω νομίζεται. Quite similar is a passage which has come down to us from another lost tragedy, the Phrixus, τίς οἶδεν εἰ ζῆν τοῦθ᾽ ὃ κέκληται θανεῖν, | τὸ ζῆν δὲ θνῄσκειν ἐστί. See Nauck, Fr. 639, 830.