χαμεύνια. ταπεινὰ
κλινίδια (Schol.); τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς
στρωννύμενα (Tim.): cp. (Eros) χαμαιπετής,
203 D: Hipponax 67 ἐν
σταθμίῳ τε καὶ χαμευνίῳ γυμνόν.
προσευξάμενος τῷ ἡλίῳ. Hesiod
(Op. 339) prescribes prayer at sunrise and sunset; cp. Laws 887 E, 966 D; Soph. O. C. 477; Ar. Plut. 771 καὶ προσκυνῶ γε πρῶτα μὲν τὸν ἥλιον. The suggestion
here may be that the Sun-god (Phoebus, the revealer, “the
light of the world”) brings mental illumination, and that Socr.'s εὐχή was in part a thanksgiving therefor. As a parallel to
Socr., we may refer to “the devotion of Orpheus to Helios” as
pointed out in Harrison Proleg. p. 462. Moreover, Socr. regarded Apollo
as his special patron-god, see Apol. 39
D ff., Phaedo 85 B, Tim. 40 A (Adam, R. T. G.
pp. 325, 434 ff.): and the sun is the symbol of ideal Good, see Rep. 530 A, Phileb. 28 D. For the content of a Socratic prayer, see
Phaedrus 279 B—C; Xen.
Mem. I. 3. 2 ηὔχετο δὲ πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς
ἁπλῶς τἀγαθὰ διδόναι. Of prayers to Helios we have exx. in Soph. Aj. 845 ff.; id.
fr. 772 Ἠέλιος οἰκτείρειέ με |
ὃν σοφοὶ λέγουσι γεννητὴν θεῶν |
καὶ πατέρα πάντων.
Εἰ δὲ βούλεσθε. Sc.
ἀκοῦσαι οἷος ἦν, or the like; cp. 177 B. Alcib. here passes on to treat of the ἀνδρεία of Socr.
ἀποδοῦναι. “Tanquam debitum
persolvere” (Stallb.).
ἡ μάχη. “Illa pugna (omnibus
nota)” (Rückert); i.e. the fight (in 432 B.C.) which preceded the
blockade of Potidaea, cp. 219 E
n., Thuc. I. 62 ff., II. 2.
ἔσωσεν. With this, and συνδιέσωσεν below, cp. Eros as σωτὴρ
ἄριστος, 197 E.
This text is part of:
The Symposium of Plato. R. G. Bury. 1909. Cambridge. W. Heffer and Sons.
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