J. Adam, A. M. Adam, Commentary on Plato, Protagoras
J. Adam & A. M. Adam, Ed.

21. Ἀγάθωνα. It is at the poet Agathon's house that the scene of the Symposium is laid. From his speech in that dialogue 194D ff. we should infer that he had studied under Prodicus to some purpose. Born about 447 B.C., Agathon was first successful on the tragic stage at an early age: cf. Symp. 175E ἡ δὲ σὴ (sc. Ἀγάθωνος σοφία) λαμπρά τε καὶ πολλὴν ἐπίδοσιν ἔχουσα, ἥ γε παρὰ σοῦ νέου ὄντος οὕτω σφόδπα ἐξέλαμψε καὶ ἐκφανὴς ἐγένετο ρπώην ἐν μάρτυσι τῶν Ἑλλήνων πλέον ἢ τρισμυρίοις. He visited the court of Archelaus about 407 B.C. and died probably about 400. That he was held in esteem by the Athenians appears from Ar. Frogs, 83 ff. Ἀγάθων δὲ ποῦ 'σθ᾽; ὅπου 'στ᾽; ἀπολιπών μ᾽ οἴχεται ἀγαθὸς ποιητὴς καὶ ποθεινὸς τοῖς φίλοις. For παιδικὰ Παυσανίου cf. Symp. 193B.

22. τοῦτ᾽ ἦν τὸ μειράκιον. So BT: the idiom is like our ‘There was this young man’. The nearest parallels seem to be Phaedo, 59B ἦν δὲ καὶ Κτήσιππος ὁ Παιανιεύς and Rep. X. 615D ἦσαν δὲ καὶ ἰδιῶταί τινες. τοῦτό τε δή (Ast), τοῦτό τ᾽ οὖν (Heindorf), τοῦτ᾽ ἔνδον ἦν (Schirlitz), have been suggested, while Kroschel rejects the words, but the text is probably sound.

23. τὼ Ἀδειμάντω. Adimantus son of Cepis is not elsewhere named. The son of Leucolophidas was afterwards στρατηγός under Alcibiades, whose policy he supported (Xen. Hell. I. 4. 21): he was taken prisoner at the battle of Aegospotami, but spared by the Spartans. He was afterwards put on his trial by Conon on the charge, not improbably a true one, of having betrayed the Athenian fleet at this battle: see Kock on Ar. Frogs, 1512.

26. πάσσοφος—ἁνήρ—καὶ θεῖος. For ἁνήρ BT read ἀνήρ, but see on 314Eabove. πάσσοφος is often ironical: e.g. Euthyd. 271C ὃ δὲ σὺ ἐρωτᾷς τὴν σοφίαν αὐτοῖν, θαυμασία, ὦ Κρίτων: πάσσοφοι ἀτεχνῶς τώ γε, οὐδ᾽ ᾔδη πρὸ τοῦ ὅ τι εἶεν οἱ παγκρατιασταί. For the meaning of θεῖος cf. Meno, 99C οὐκοῦν—ἄξιον τούτους θείους καλεῖν τοὺς ἄνδρας, οἵτινες νοῦν μὴ ἔχοντες πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα κατορθοῦσιν ὧν πράττουσιν καὶ λέγουσι; θεῖος (in the form σεῖος) was the favourite Spartan word of praise and was much affected by the Socratic circle in Athens.