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Self-control is the foundation of every virtue recommended and practiced by Socrates.
εἰ δή: si iam, introduces a settled and recognized fact. εἰ προὐβίβαζε: whether he led (his friends) forward. For εἰ with indir. question, cf. i.4.18. εἰς ταύτην (sc. ἐγκράτειαν): connect with προὐβίβαζε. For the dislocation of the usual order (‘hyperbaton’), see H. 1062. ὦ ἄνδρες: there was evidently a circle of hearers. So in 6. 1, παρόντων αὐτῶν. ὅντινα: equivalent to εἴ τινα. αἰσθανοίμεθα: for the assimilation of the cond. rel. clause, see G. 1439; H. 919 a. ἥττω (sc. ὄντα): “one who is not master of.” For Socrates's self-control in these matters, cf. 3. σῶσαι, κρατῆσαι: save, conquer. The aor. shows that the actions are conceived without reference to a def. time or duration. GMT. 127, Kr. Spr. 53. 6. 9. κρατεῖν (τινα) is equivalent to conquer, κρατεῖν (τινος) to have control.
παιδεῦσαι: for the inf. expressing a purpose, see G. 1532; H. 951. διαφυλάξαι, διασῶσαι: obs. the force of διά in composition, thoroughly, to the end. ἡγησόμεθα: the fut. ind. in apod. breaks the monotony of the repeated opts. with ἄν. τὸν ἀκρατῆ: the man without self-control. ἔργων ἐπιστασίαν: supervision of works. ἀγοραστήν: the terim for the slave who went to market. For the formation of nouns denoting the agent, see G. 833; H. 550. τοιοῦτον: i.e. τὸν ἀκρατῆ.
ἀλλὰ μὴν εἰ: atqui si, and yet εἰ δεξαίμεθ᾽ ἄν: for the potential opt. (with ἄν) in a cond., see G. 1421, 3; H. 900 a. αὐτόν: a man himself, subj. of φυλάξασθαι. Not in the pl., although δεξαίμεθα precedes, as αὐτός indicates the master, in contrast with δοῦλον in the previous clauses. γενέσθαι: for the inf. with verbs of caution, see GMT. 374; H. 948. κακοῦργος, κακουργότερος, κακουργότατος: obs. the climax, heightened in rhetorical effect by the chiastic order of the first two clauses. τὸν οἶκον τὸν ἑαυτοῦ: one's own house.
ὃν εἰδείη: for the assimilation of the mode, see on αἰσθανοίμεθα in 1. ἆρα γε οὔ: nonne certe. ἡγησάμενον: for the participle of cond., see on πιστεύων i. 1. 5.
οὐκ αἰσχρῶς διατεθείη: would not be put into a shameful condition. So διακεῖσθαι in i. 1. 13. νὴ τὴν Ἥραν: an expression used by women, and, among men, apparently used by Socrates only. Cf. iii.10.9, 11. 5, iv. 2. 9, 4. 8. δουλεύοντα: sc. τινά. The dat. is the usual case for the agent with verbals in -τέος. When the acc. was used, it was perhaps because the verbal was regarded as equivalent to δεῖ with the infinitive. G. 1188; H. 991 a. δεσποτῶν ἀγαθῶν: i.e. masters who set their servants a good example (Kühner). Cf. Oec. i. 23.
τοιαῦτα δὲ λέγων κτλ.: “his practice was even better than his preaching.” τῶν διὰ τοῦ σώματος ἡδέων: cf. τῶν διὰ στόματος ἡδέων i. 4. 5. παρὰ τοῦ τυχόντος: from any one who happened along. Cf. i. 2. 6, and see on i.1.14.—δεσπότην ἑαυτοῦ κτλ.: was establishing a master over himself; and entering upon a slavery than which none is more shameful. For the special form of ‘litotes’ involved in οὐδεμιᾶς ἧττον αἰσχρόν, cf. iv.2.12. Cf. also οὐδαμῶν εἰσι κακίονες ἀνδρῶν Hdt. vii. 104. Kr. Spr. 47. 27. 3.
Xenophon: Memorabilia. Josiah Renick Smith. Boston. Ginn and Company. 1903.
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