Gonzalez Lodge, Commentary on Plato: Gorgias

οὐκοῦν οὕτω πάντα: these words would seem to indicate the conclusion of the induction and the transition to its application to the question under discussion. Meanwhile, however, Socrates cites another example which is still closer to his idea. Hence τά τε ἄλλα καί, which at the same time sums up and emphasizes.

κἄν: is to be resolved into καὶ ἄν, the καί being correlative with τέ, and not going with εἰ in the sense “even.” For the repetition of the ἄν, two lines below, see 465 c, d, and on 475 e.

δημοσιεύειν: the general word to denote the public practice of any profession or business which is for the benefit of the community. See on 452 a δημιουργός. In the case of physicians, are included not merely those who are in the service of the government, but also private practitioners. See on 455 b.

ὡς . . . ὄντες: expresses in a different form what is found above, a, in the phrase ἐπὶ τὰ οἰκοδομικά, viz. the department of activity to which attention is drawn.

φέρε κτἑ.: change to direct quotation occurs frequently as here, without the employment of a definite verb of saying.

δέ: often employed in lively questions which are closely connected with the words of another. So here. Socrates offers himself to the state as a physician, but in what state of health is his own body? Cf. Xen. Mem. ii. I. 26 (in the myth of Prodicus, after Κακία had praised her gifts) καὶ ὁ Ἡρακλῆς ἀκούσας ταῦτα, Ὦ γύναι, ἔφη, ὄνομα δέ σοι τί ἐστι;

ἢ δοῦλος ἢ ἐλεύθερος: cf. 502 d and 515 a. The distinction between slaves and freemen, which was always present to the mind of a Greek, is emphasized here because it was common for slaves to be treated by less skilled physicians, who might themselves be slaves, as we learn from Legg. iv. 720 c ἆρ᾽ οὖν καὶ ξυννοεῖς ὅτι δούλων καὶ ἐλευθέρων ὄντων τῶν καμνόντων ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι τοὺς μὲν δούλους σχεδόν τι οἱ δοῦλοι τὰ πολλὰ ἰατρεύουσι. Cf. Herm. Gr. Alt. iv.^{3} § 38.