ἢ εἰ μὲν κτἑ.: the sent. εἰ μὲν . . ., πολλὰ ἂν περιεσκέψω is in its thought subord., as a concessive (while), to the following sent. ὃ δὲ κτἑ., as is often the case in sents. with μέν. In such cases the former member properly does not belong to the main argument, but is introduced to emphasize the latter by contrast. Cf. Dem. de Cor. 160 αἰσχρόν ἐστιν εἰ ἐγὼ μὲν τὰ ἔργα τῶν ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν πόνων ὑπέμεινα, ὑμεῖς δὲ μηδὲ τοὺς λόγους αὐτῶν ἀνέξεσθε it is shameful if (while) I bore the burden of the toils in your behalf, but you will not tolerate even the recital; where only the latter fact is shameful. Rarely the clause with μέν is the main, and that with δέ the subord. clause, cf. Xen. Mem. i. 2. 9. Similar in Latin are paratactic interr. clauses, as Cic. Tusc. 5. 90 an Scythes Anacharsis potuit pro nihilo pecuniam ducere, nostrates philosophi facere non poterunt. This whole period, with its repetitions, its pleasing, free, conversational style, doubtless vividly recalled the manner of Socrates.
διακινδυνεύοντα: const. here with acc. and inf.; in Thuc. vii. I, with the simple inf. εἴτε διακινδυνεύσωσιν ἐσπλεῦσαι, as freq. κινδυνεύειν.—There were no qualifications legally prescribed for physicians, and the patient in ancient times ‘ran a considerable risk.’ Cf. Gorg. 514d; Pliny N. H. xxix. 1 discunt (medici) periculis nostris, et experimenta per mortes agunt.
περιεσκέψω, παρεκάλεις: the ideas of saying, answering, considering, in such hypothetical sents., Plato very often puts into the aor. (cf. 311
β ξ), prob. to indicate the momentary occurrence or beginning of the action. Cf. Theaet. 144e εἰ νῷν ἐχόντοιν ἑκατέρου λύραν ἔφη αὐτὰς ἡρμόσθαι ὁμοίως (if each of us held a lyre, and he said they were tuned alike), πότερον εὐθὺς ἂν ἐπιστεύομεν ἢ ἐπεσκεψάμεθ᾽ ἄν, εἰ μουσικὸς ὢν λέγοι; See GMT. 49, 2, N. 5.
τὴν ψυχήν: explanatory of ὃ κτἑ. Cf. 339 a, 351 a, 354 c, Rep. ix. 583 e ὃ μεταξὺ ἄρα νῦν δὴ ἀμφοτέρων ἔφαμεν εἶναι, τὴν ἡσυχίαν, τοῦτό ποτε ἀμφότερα ἔσται, λύπη τε καὶ ἡδονή so then that which we termed the intermediate state, namely, rest, will be both pain and pleasure.
περὶ δὲ τούτου: cf. 325 b f. ἐφ᾽ ὧν δὲ . . . ταῦτα δ̓ ἄρα. So when two periods consisting of prot. and apod. are united in a larger period by μὲν . . . δέ, the μέν and δέ of the protases are freq. repeated in the apodoses. Cf. Apol. 28
