αὐχμηρὸς. This is evidently intended as
the contrary of Agathon's epithet ὑγρός, 196 A. Cp. Ar. Plut. 80 ff. (Πλοῦτος) ἀθλίως
διακείμενος...αὐχμῶν βαδίζεις; and the echoes in Plut. de fort. p. 98 D, in amat. 759 A.
ἀνυπόδητος...ἄστρωτος. These, too, are
characteristics of the Socratic (and Cynic) way of life. For ἀνυπόδητος, see 173 B, 220 B; for χαμαιπετὴς καὶ
ἄστρωτος the account given by Alcibiades in 220 B, C. Compare also the description of the Σελλοί (“fakirs”) in Il. XVI. 234 ff.
Σελλοί, ἀνιπτόποδες, χαμαιεῦναι κτλ. (see
Welcker Kl. Schr. 3. 90 f.; Rohde, Psyche I. 122).
ἐπὶ θύραις
κτλ. For the θυραυλίαι of ἐρασταί, see 183 A, Anthol. V. 5; and for this phrase
as applicable to Socrates, 175 A, 220 C, Ar. Nub. 169 ff. So too Penia was
described in 203 B as (οὖσα) περὶ τὰς θύρας. ὑπαίθριος and
σύνοικος are words of a poetical flavour: cp. Xen.
Symp. VIII. 24 ὁ ἀεὶ σύνοικος ἐμοὶ
ἔρως.
ἴτης. “Energetic”
(“go-ahead”): Schol. ἴτης: ἴστωρ,
ἐπιστήμων, ὡς ἐνταῦθα. λαμβάνεται δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἰταμοῦ καὶ
θρασέος. The Scholiast's ὡς ἐνταῦθα is
clearly wrong, and that Plato connected the word with ἰέναι is shown by Protag. 349
E
πότερον τοὺς ἀνδρείους θαρραλέους λέγεις ἢ ἄλλο τι; καὶ ἴτας γ̓, ἔφη, ἐφ̓ ἃ οἱ πολλοὶ φοβοῦνται
ἰέναι. Cp. Prot. 359 C:
Callinus I. 9—10 ἀλλά τις ἰθὺς ἴτω
| ἔγχος ἀνασχόμενος κτλ. Here, however,
the special sense of intellectual progress (μέθοδος,
ἄνοδος) may be implied, cp. 210 Λ
(μετίῃ, ἰόντα, ἰέναι), and my note on ἀνδρείαν 212 B (also
205 D).
θηρευτὴς δεινός. “A mighty
hunter,” a very Nimrod. For the notion of the chase in erotics, cp. the use
of ἑλεῖν and διώκειν in 182 E, etc., and of θήρα in Soph. 222
D
τῇ τῶν ἐρώντων θήρᾳ (cp. θηρῶμαι in Isocr. Hel. 219
D): for the same notion applied to philosophical enquiry, cp. Phaedo 66 C
τὴν τοῦ ὄντος θήραν: Gorg. 500 D, Theaet. 198 A ff. So Emerson (On Beauty),
“The sharpestsighted hunter in the world is Love, for finding what he seeks
and only that.”
πλέκων μηχανάς. “Weaving
plots,” “intriguing”: cp. Eur. Androm. 66
ποίας μηχανὰς πλέκουσιν αὖ;
Orph. H. 55. 3 (Ἀφροδίτη) δολοπλόκε: Aelian H. A. III. 30 σοφώτατος ὁ κόκκυξ, καὶ πλέκειν εὐπόρους ἐξ ἀπόρων μηχανὰς
δεινότατος.
πόριμος. As son of Πόρος. Agathon, too, had described Eros as (πρᾳότητα) πορίζων, 197 D.
δεινὸς γόης
κτλ. For γόης, see
203 A
n.; and for Socrates as wizard or charmer, 215 C ff., Meno
80 A ff., Xen. Mem. III. 11. 17—18. For σοφιστής, cp. 177 B, 208 C; Rep. 596
D; Xen. Cyrop. VI. 1. 41 νῦν τοῦτο
πεφιλοσόφηκα μετὰ τοῦ ἀδίκου σοφιστοῦ τοῦ Ἔρωτος: Maxim. Tyr.
XXIV. 9 (=Sappho fr. 125) τὸν Ἔρωτα Σωκράτης σοφιστὴν
λέγει, Σαπφὼ μυθοπλόκον. The esoteric meaning of these epithets is
thus explained by Hermias in Plat. Phaedr. p. 97: (εἶπε τὸν Ἔρωτα) φιλόσοφον μὲν
ὡς τὸ λογικὸν ἡμῶν διεγείροντα ἐπὶ τὰ καλά: γόητα δὲ ὡς τὸν θυμὸν
καταστέλλοντα: φαρμακέα <δὲ> ὡς τὸ ἐπιθυμητικὸν κηλοῦντα:
σοφιστὴν δὲ ὡς τὴν φύσιν ἀπατῶντα καὶ δελεάζοντα—this
however must be taken “with a grain of salt.” Cp. also Procl.
in Cratyl. p. 94, 158 ὅτι οἶδεν ὁ Πλάτων
τὸ ὄνομα τὸν σοφιστὴν ἐπὶ σεμνῷ τάττειν πράγματι: τὸν γὰρ πρὸς
ἑαυτὸν τὰ ἄλλα δυνάμενον ἐπιστρέφειν οὕτως καλεῖ, οἷον τὸν
Δία (Min. 319 C), τὸν Ἅιδην (Crat. 403 E), τὸν Ἔρωτα.
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