ἀνέθεσαν κτἑ.: upon pillars of the pronaos of the Delphic temple were engraved sayings (Paus. X. 24. 1) ascribed by Grecian legend to the seven Sages, and the same spirit pervaded the teaching of Apollo and the wisdom of the Seven (Zeller Philosophie der Griechen i. 82 f.). According to Plutarch Mor. 385
φ, five of them dedicated to Apollo an E (i.e. εἶ, thou art). Diodorus (ix. 9, Ddf.) relates of Chilon, καθάπερ ἀπαρχὰς ποιούμενος τῷ θεῷ τῆς ἰδίας συνέσεως ἐπέγραψεν ἐπί τινα κίονα τρία ταῦτα: ‘γνῶθι σεαυτόν,’ καὶ ‘μηδὲν ἄγαν,’ καὶ τρίτον ‘ἐγγύα, πάρα δ᾽ ἄτα.’
τοῦ δὴ . . . λέγω; Plato likes to enliven his discourse by such questions. Cf. Gorg. 457 e for this same phrase; Meno 97 e πρὸς τί οὖν δὴ λέγω ταῦτα; Phaedr. 235 c πόθεν δὴ τεκμαιρόμενος λέγω; Symp. 178 d λέγω δὲ δὴ τί τοῦτο; Apol. 40 b τί οὖν αἴτιον εἶναι ὑπολαμβάνω. So frequently in Demosthenes.
ὅτι: not because, but “in order to show that.”
ὁ τρόπος τῆς φιλοσοφίας: these words form together a single conception, upon which τῶν παλαιῶν, emphasized by its position, depends. Similarly 345 a ἡ τῆς θεραπείας μάθησις. On the other hand, Rep. i. 329 b ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ τὰς τῶν οἰκείων προπηλακίσεις (contumelious treatment) τοῦ γήρως ὀδύρονται, the words τὰς προπηλακίσεις τοῦ γήρως are to be connected, and τῶν οἰκείων depends upon them.
ἰδίᾳ: in particular.
ἅτε φιλότιμος ὤν: this, as well as ὥσπερ . . . ἀθλήτην below, contains a hit at Protagoras. Cf. 335 a.
καθέλοι: cf. 344 c. So Theocritus xxii. 115 says of Polydeuces, who has vanquished Amycus in a boxing match, πῶς δ᾽ ἂρ δὴ Διὸς υἱὸς ἀδηφάγον (gluttonous) ἄνδρα καθεῖλεν;
