32. τίς οὖν εἰς γράμματα κτλ. In order to read into
Simonides the doctrine that virtue is knowledge and vice
ignorance, Socrates assigns to πράξας εὖ in the poem the meaning
of acting well, rather than faring well.
36. κακὸς δὲ κακῶς, sc. πράξας: a free rendering of κακὸς δ᾽
εἰ κακῶς of the poem, which Kral (following Ast) reads here
against the MSS.
40. κακῶς πράξαντες, i.e. εἰ κακῶς πράξαιμεν, as the words
of the poem show. Socrates' reasoning is: to become a bad
doctor by practising badly, you must first have been a good
doctor: for if you cannot become a doctor by practising badly,
obviously you cannot become a bad doctor. The argument is as
fallacious as it is ingenious: it assumes that κακὸς ἰατρός is a
twofold notion, and more than ἰατρός, whereas it is a single
notion and less. It would be more in conformity with experience to say that the ἰδιώτης does become by practising
badly a κακὸς ἰατρός.
Plato. Protagoras. J. Adam & A. M. Adam. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1893.
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