Gonzalez Lodge, Commentary on Plato: Gorgias

πολέμου καὶ μάχης: Socrates and Chaerephon come just after Gorgias has finished his lecture. Callicles receives them with a jest, the point of which lies in the οὕτω. In the double expression, the more general precedes, as is natural, the more definite.

μεταλαγχάνειν: occurs also in Rep. 429 a with ἐπιστήμης, and Leg. 873 c with αἰσχύνης. It is rare.

τὸ λεγόμενον: in appos. with the sentence. See G. 137, 3; H. 626 b.

κατόπιν ἑορτῆς: proverbial, like post festum. This would call up to the Greek mind their public exhibitions, and the banquets with which they closed. Here is probably also an allusion to the extravagant enthusiasm which led the Athenians to designate as festivals those days on which Gorgias lectured. See Introd. § 4 end

καὶ μάλα γ᾽ ἀστείας: Hirschig remarks the frequency of such answers as these, which avoid the repetition of the last word of the preceding question. Cf. Theaet. 168 e ἀλλ᾽ οὔ τοι σοῦ γε, ὦ Θεόδωρε, ἄμεινον, Crat. 391 b.

ἀττείας: properly belonging to a city. It became an adj. of quality inasmuch as city festivals and celebrations are naturally superior to those of the country. It is used here in a good sense, though it may also mean “citified.”

ἐπεδείξατο: the aor. is necessitated by the time-limit (ὀλίγον πρότερον).

ὀλίγον πρότερον: the first word is an acc. of extent; the second is adverbial.

τούτων: the pl. refers to the fact and its consequences.

ὅδε: is deictic.

ἐν ἀγορᾷ: the omission of the art. shows that this was a phrase like ‘in town,’ ‘on change.’ By this time, ἀγορά had come in Athens to mean simply the exchange, or marketplace, where people assembled not for public debate (that was in the Pnyx), but for business. It was a favorite resort of Socrates, since there the concourse of people offered him the best opportunity for prosecuting his god-given vocation (cf. Introd. to Apol. § 25, and Apol. 33 a ff.). Cf. Xen. Mem. i. I. 10 ἀλλὰ μὴν ἐκεῖνός γε ἀεὶ μὲν ἦν ἐν τῷ φανερῷ: πρωί τε γὰρ εἰς τοὺς περιπάτους καὶ τὰ γυμνάσια ᾔει καὶ πληθούσης ἀγορᾶς ἐκεῖ φανερὸς ἦν, κτἑ.

ἀναγκάσας: the literal meaning is not to be pressed. Chaerephon as the constant companion of Socrates took the liveliest interest in all his actions.