ταὐτόν τι: the πάθος experienced by each one, is first roughly characterized as “about the same thing,” and later clearly defined by the explanatory ἐρῶντε κτἑ. The variation from the pl. to the dual is interesting. The lack of a first person dual compels the first pl., with its accompanying partic. πεπονθότες, while the following dual emphasizes the exact similarity of the two experiences.
Ἀλκιβιάδου: the mental and moral training of the rising youth was largely directed by prominent older men with whom they associated, usually according to individual preference. One of these prominent teachers, and one who made it the business of his life, was Socrates, and among the young men who clustered around him and followed his conversations was Alcibiades, whom Socrates greatly loved for his mental gifts. Owing to his great beauty he was jestingly called Socrates' sweetheart (τὰ παιδικά). Cf. Prot. init. Πόθεν, ὦ Σώκρατες, φαίνει; ἢ δῆλα δὴ ὅτι ἀπὸ κυνηγεσίου τοῦ περὶ τὴν Ἀλκιβιάδου ὥραν. This is the point of the allusion here.
δήμου: has two allusions. The son of Pyrilampes, a rich Athenian and friend of Pericles, was called Demus. Like his father, he is reported to have been especially beau tiful, and is also mentioned by Ar. Vesp. 97 ff. as a much admired sweetheart. This fact Socrates skilfully uses to characterize Callicles' relation to the Athenian demus. This people needed, like a boy, a leader and guide; but the orators, instead of governing it, regulated their actions according to its whims.
τοῦ Πυριλάμπους: is of course to be understood in the usual way, like τοῦ Κλεινίου. Cf. τὸν Πυριλάμπους below, and 513 b.
18 f.
αἰσθάνομαι . . . οὐ δυναμένου: on the gen. partic. construction see GMT. 884-6; H. 742, 982.
δεινοῦ: is often joined with λέγειν, in order to describe a skilful orator, but can also be used without this addition, in the sense of “skilful,” “clever.”
20 f.