τούτων: i.e. εὐκοσμίας. So freq. the neut. pl. of dem. prons. is used for the sing., as τάδε, ταῦτα, θάτερα, as is also freq. the case with pred. adjs. Cf. 327 b, 353 a διὰ ταῦτα, Crito 52 a ἐφιέντων (permit) ἡμῶν δυοῖν θάτερα, ἢ πείθειν ἡμᾶς ἢ ποιεῖν, τούτων οὐδέτερα ποιεῖ, Thuc. iv. 1 ἀδύνατα ἦν ἐν τῷ παρόντι τοὺς Αοκροὺς ἀμύνεσθαι. See H. 635.
τότε: previously; cf. c above, Gorg. 488 c οἷόν μοι δοκεῖς καὶ τότε ἐνδείκνυσθαι, ὡς κτἑ. So often.
ποιητῶν: Homer before all others. In Xen. Symp. 3. 5 Niceratus says ὁ πατὴρ ἐπιμελούμενος ὅπως ἀνὴρ ἀγαθὸς γενοίμην, ἠνάγκασέ με πάντα τὰ Ὁμήρου ἔπη μαθεῖν. Prominently after Homer come Hesiod, Theognis, Phocylides; καὶ γὰρ τούτους φασὶ μὲν ἀρίστους γεγενῆσθαι συμβούλους τῷ βίῳ τῷ τῶν ἀνθρώπων Isocr. II. 43. In part the teachers dictated passages merely, which were to be committed to memory; cf. Euthyd. 276 c ὁπότε ἀποστοματίζοι (dictated) ὑμῖν ὁ γραμματιστής, πότεροι ἐμάνθανον τῶν παίδων τὰ ἀποστοματιζόμενα;
ἀναγκάζουσιν: cf. Arist. Pol. viii. 4 οὐ γὰρ παίζουσι μανθάνοντες (οἱ νέοι) : μετὰ λύπης γὰρ ἡ μάθησις.
