νὴ τοὺς θεούς: as though he needed to apologize for not coming sooner.
ἑσπέρας: but not ἐχθές γ᾽ ἑσπέρας, for the civil day with the Greeks was reckoned from sunset to sunset, cf. 313 b.
ἐπιψηλαφήσας: for it was dark. Cf. Phaedo 99 b ψηλαφῶντες οἱ πολλοὶ ὥσπερ ἐν σκότει, Ar. Pax 691 ἐψηλαφῶμεν ἐν σκότῳ τὰ πράγματα.—
σκίμποδος: the frame of the low bed upon which Socrates was still lying. Cf. Eust. on Hom. II 612 τὸν παρ᾽ Ἀττικοῖς σκίμποδα, εὐτελῆ κλίνην καὶ χθαμαλήν, πελάζουσαν τῇ γῆ, Ar. Nub. 709 ἐκ τοῦ σκίμποδος | δάκνουσί μ᾽ ἐξέρποντες οἱ Κορίνθιοι.
ἑσπέρας δῆτα: yes, last evening. δῆτα is strengthened from δή, Hippocrates resuming after a pause.
Οἰνόης: one deme of this name lay N.W. from Athens upon Mt. Cithaeron near Eleutherae, another N.E. near Marathon. The former must here be meant, as by this route fugitive slaves sooner reached the limits of Attica.—The frequent wars greatly facilitated the escape of discontented slaves. —
ὁ Σάτυρος: shows that Socrates knows the slave, as also μέλλων σοι φράζειν reveals the intimacy existing between Socrates and Hippocrates.
ὑπὸ . . . ἐπελαθόμην: the freq. Attic usage of a neut. verb. const., like a pass., with ὑπό and the gen. of the cause. Cf. Apol. 17 a ἐγὼ αὐτὸς ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν ὀλίγου ἐμαυτοῦ ἐπελαθόμην, Xen. An. v. 5. 9 ἀξιοῦμεν ὑφ᾽ ὑμῶν ἀγαθὸν μέν τι πάσχειν, κακὸν δὲ μηδέν, Lys. XII. 96, Thuc. iii. 96. 1 Ἡσίοδος ὁ ποιητὴς λέγεται ὑπὸ τῶν ταύτῃ ἀποθανεῖν. See H. 819 d.
ἦλθον: for ἐπανῆλθον. Plato and other Attic writers freq. prefer simple to compound verbs. Cf. 320 a γεγονέναι for διαγεγονέναι, 321 c ἔρχεται for ἐπέρχεται. —
δεδειπνηκότες: among the Attic Greeks the three meals were termed ἀκράτισμα breakfast, ἄριστον lunch, δεῖπνον dinner; in Homer, ἄριστον, δεῖπνον, δόρπον. The δεῖπνον was perhaps unusually late on this occasion, because Hippocrates had been awaited; still, it was often taken after sunset, cf. Lys. I. 22 τούτῳ ἡλίου δεδυκότος ἰόντι ἐξ ἀγροῦ ἀπήντησα . . . ἐκέλευον συνδειπνεῖν.
ἔτι μὲν . . . ἔπειτα: cf. Xen. An. vi. 2. 15 Ξενοφῶν δὲ ἔτι μὲν ἐπεχείρησεν . . . ἐκπλεῦσαι, θυομένῳ δὲ αὐτῷ . . . ἐσήμηνεν ὁ θεὸς . . . συστρατεύεσθαι. Strictly, Xen. still wished to sail away, when, etc.; or, paratactically, Xen. still wished to sail away, but, etc.; i.e. at first Xen. wished to sail away, but then, etc. Hell. ii. 4. 11 οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ Φυλῆς ἔτι μὲν ἐπεχείρησαν μὴ ἀνιέναι αὐτούς, ἐπεὶ δὲ μέγας ὁ κύκλος ὢν πολλῆς φυλακῆς ἐδόκει δεῖσθαι κτἑ. Elsewhere also ἔπειτα, like μέντοι, τοίνυν, ἀτάρ, and other adversative conjs., is correl. with μέν.
