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16. τάχ᾽ ἂν καὶ τοιούτους λόγους: καί goes with τοιούτους
—‘even such’, ‘just such’: τούτου should not be inserted (with
Sauppe, Schanz, Kral) before τοιούτους.
18. ὥσπερ βιβλία. Hermann wished to read οὐχ ὥσπερ
βιβλία, since the orators do make a speech when spoken to: but
the point is that like books they do not answer the questions
asked, or put questions themselves, as the true dialectician does:
cf. Phaedr. 275D δεινὸν γάρ που—τοῦτ᾽ ἔχει γραφή, καὶ ὡς
ἀληθῶς ὅμοιον ζωγπαφίᾳ. καὶ γὰπ τὰ ἐκείνης ἔκγονα ἕστηκε μὲν ὡς
ζῶντα, ἐὰν δ᾽ ἀνέπῃ τι, σεμνῶς ράνυ σιγᾷ. ταὐτὸν δὲ καὶ οἱ λόγοι:
δόξαις μὲν ἂν ὥς τι φπονοῦντας αὐτοὺς λέγειν, ἐὰν δέ τι ἔπῃ τῶν
λεγομένων βουλόμενος μαθεῖν, ἔν τι σημαίνει μόνον ταὐτὸν ἀεί:
below, 347E and Hipp. Min. 365Dτὸν μὲν Ὅμηρον—ἐάσωμεν,
ἐρειδὴ καὶ ἀδύνατον ἐρανεπέσθαι, τί ροτε νοῶν ταῦτα ἐροίησε τὰ
ἔπη. A similar objection applies to laws: see Polit. 294A (quoted
above on 326D.
20. ὥσπερ τὰ χαλκία. The MSS. have χαλκεῖα, but (as
Kroschel points out) in Crat. 430A εἴ τι χαλκίον κινήσειε
κρούσας. χαλκεῖα would mean ‘smithies’.
21. μακρὸν ἠχεῖ καὶ ἀποτείνει: ἀποτείνει is used absolutely
as in Gorg. 458B καὶ νῦν ἴσως πόρρω ἀποτενοῦμεν. Cf. Euthyd.
300Bὅταν οὖν λίθους λέγῃς καὶ ξύλα καὶ σιδήρια, οὐ σιγῶντα
λέγεις; οὔκουν ἅ γε ἐγώ, ἔφη, παρέρχομαι ἐν τοῖς χαλκείοις
(MSS. χαλκίοις), ἀλλὰ φθεγγόμενα καὶ βοῶντα μέγιστον τὰ σιδήρια
λέγει.
23. δόλιχον κατατείνουσι τοῦλόγου. δολιχόν is the reading
of B and T, but (1) the adjective δολιχός seems to be exclusively
poetic, the word surviving in Plato's time only in the form
δόλιχος for δολιχὸς δρόμος (cf. for the change of accent κάκη and
κακή, Φαῖδρος and φαιδρός and the like); (2) δολιχὸς τοῦ λόγου
would be a rare construction, though not without parallels, e.g.
πολλὴν τῆς χώρας in Xen. Cyrop. III. 2. 2 and τής μαρίλης
συχνήν in Ar. Ach. 350: ἀμήχανον τῆς εὐδαιμονίας of Apol. 41C
is different; (3) after the expressive simile which we have had,
‘a long speech’ sounds very weak. On the other hand δόλιχος
τοῦ λόγου, the suggestion of Stephanus, is strongly supported by
335E where Socrates compares Protagoras, because he plays the
ῥήτωρ and not the dialectician, to a δολιχοδρόμος: νῦν δ᾽ ἐστὶν
ὥσρεπ ἂν εἰ δέοιό μου Κπίσωνι τῷ Ἱμεπαίῳ δπομεῖ ἀκμάζοντι
ἕρεσθαι ἢ τῶν δολιχοδπόμων τῳ ἢ τῶν ἡμεποδπόμων διαθεῖν τε καὶ
ἕπεσθαι, and the editors quote a number of parallels to the
metaphor, such as Plut. Phoc. 23. 3 καλῶς ἔφη πρὸς τὸ στάδιον,
τὸν δὲ δόλιχον τοῦ πολέμου φοβοῦμαι; Epicrates in Kock's Com.
Att. Frag. II, 283 ἐπεὶ δὲ δόλιχον τοῖς ἔτεσιν ἤδη τρέχει, Ar.
Clouds, 430 τῶν Ἑλλήνων εἶναί με λέγειν ἑκατὸν σταδίοισιν
ἄριστον and Frogs, 91 πλεῖν ἢ σταδίῳ λαλίστερα, Eupolis (Kock, I,
281) (of Pericles) ὁπότε παρέλθοι δ᾽ ὥσπερ ἁγαθοὶ δρομῆς ἐκ δέκα
ποδῶν ᾕρει λέγων τοὺς ῥήτορας. Dropping the sporting metaphor
we may say ‘spin out a league of verbiage against you’. The
δόλιχος was 24 στάδια, the στάδιον being covered 12 times both
ways: cf. Pind. Ol. III. 33.
Plato. Protagoras. J. Adam & A. M. Adam. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1893.
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