[1]: i.e. you are no son of Hermes. Hermes was the patron deity of traders, bankers, and the like, and Hermogenes, as is suggested below, was not successful as a moneymaker.
[2]: The doctrine here attributed to Euthydemus is not expressly enunciated by him in the dialogue which bears his name, but it is little more than a comprehensive statement of the several doctrines there proclaimed by him and his brother Dionysodorus.
[3]: Truth was the title of a book written by Protagoras.
[4]: Hom. Il. 21.342-380
[5]: Hom. Il. 20.74
[6]: Hom. Il. 14.291
[7]: Hom. Il. 2.813 f
[8]: Hom. Il. 22.506
[9]: Hom. Il. 22.507
[10]: But the verb is in the second person, addressed by Hecuba to Hector after his death.
[11]: In Plato’s time the names epsilon, ypsilon, omicron, and omega were not yet in vogue. The names used were εἶ, ὖ, οὖ,andὦ.
[12]: Hes. WD 122 ff
[13]: The old Attic alphabet was officially given up in favour of the Ionic alphabet in 404 or 403 B.C. The Attic for of the word hero is ἥρος, that of Eros ἔρως. Plato seems to think there was a change in pronunciation, as well as in spelling, and indeed that is quite possible. Or Plato may simply be confusing pronunciation with spelling, as he seems to do in several passages of this dialogue (cf. especially 410).
[14]: Hom. Il. 14.201, 302
[15]: Orpheus Fr
[16]: Cf. Hom. Il. 5.221, Hom. Il. 8.105.
[17]: The chorus of the primitive performances from which tragedy developed appeared as satyrs, clad in goat-skins. Hence the name τραγῳδία (goat-song). The adjective τραγικός may mean either goat-like or tragic. In this passage it has both meanings.
[18]: A trench was the limit of the leap for the pentathletes.
[19]: Hom. Il. 6.265
[20]: A proverbial expression.
[21]: Hes. WD 359
[22]: Hom. Il. 9.644 f
[23]: Hom. Il. 1.343; 3.109
[24]: This seems to refer to some story unknown to us.