56. δολιχοδρόμων: δολιχοδρόμοι εἰσὶν οἱ τὸν δόλιχον τρέχοντες, says the scholiast: see on 329A
ἡμεροδρόμων. Heindorf quotes Livy, XXXI. 24. 4 ‘Hemerodromos vocant Graeci ingens die uno cursu emetientes spatium.’ Such was Phidippides; see Hdt. VI. 105 ἡμεροδρόμην τε καὶ τοῦτο μελετῶντα.
57. διαθεῖν τε καὶ ἕπεσθαι. δια- in compounds frequently denotes competition: for διαθεῖν cf. Theaet. 148C εἶτα διαθέων τοῦ ἀκμάζοντος καὶ ταχίστου ἡττήθης. As the emphasis is on ἕπεσθαι (‘keep up with’), διαθεῖν τε καὶ ἕπεσθαι is equivalent to διαθέοντα ἕπεσθαι: cf. note on 317Cἐνδείξασθαι καὶ καλλωπίσασθαι, where καὶ καλλωπίσασθαι is (so to speak) enclitic as διαθεῖν τε καί is proclitic (cf. the English ‘Some—must be talked over by the hour before they could reach the humblest decision, which they only left the office to return again (ten minutes later) and rescind’).