2.17

The narrator now names many of the famous souls he saw there: heroes, barbarians, Greeks, and finally philosophers.

ἐπισήμων (sc. ἀνθρώπων): “the famous men”

οὕστινας: acc. pl. relative pronoun, “whom”

πλήν γε δὴ: “except, of course…”

τοῦ Λοκροῦ Αἴαντος: the Locrian Aias (vs. Telamonion Aias) was guilty of an outrage against Athena and punished by her on his way home from the Trojan War.

ἐκεῖνον ἔφασκον κολάζεσθαι: ind. st. “that he was being punished”

βαρβάρων: gen. pl. “of the Barbarians”

Κύρους ἀμφοτέρους: “both Cyruses.”  i.e. Cyrus the Great d. 535 and Cyrus the Younger d. 401.  

τὸν Σκύθην Ἀνάχαρσιν: Anacharsis, a 6th century Scythian who visited Athens.  Lucian wrote a dialogue about him.

τὸν Θρᾷκα Ζάμολξιν: Zalmoxis the Thracian was a legendary social and religious reformer, whose story is told in Herodotus, Histories 4.95-6

Νομᾶν τὸν Ἰταλιώτην: Numa was the legendary second king of Rome from 715-673, famous as a law-giver.  Plutarch wrote a biography of him.

Λυκοῦργον τὸν Λακεδαιμόνιον:  Lycurgus the Spartan (ca. 800–730), was the famous law-giver who established the Spartan military regime.  One of Plutarch's parallel lives compared Lycurgus and Numa.

Φωκίωνα καὶ Τέλλον τοὺς Ἀθηναίους: Phocion was a 4th C. Athenian statesman about whom Plutarch wrote a biography; Tellus the Athenian was identified by Solon as the most fortunate man he knew in a famous encounter with Croesus (Herodotus, Histories 1.30-1).

Περιάνδρου: Periander of Corinth, one of the traditional “wise men” of Greece, but here is excluded, because of his reputation as a tyrant.  His story is told in Herodotus, Histories 4.91-3.

Σωκράτη τὸν Σωφρονίσκου: Socrates the son of Sophron, the famous Athenian philosopher, known to us from the dialogues of Plato; he was famous for his “irony” and also for his delight in beautiful young men.

Νέστορος: Nestor was famous for his wisdom in the Iliad.

Παλαμήδους: Palamedes earned the hatred of Odysseus who contrived to have him killed at Troy.  He is cited by Socrates in the Apology as a victim of injustice.

Ὑάκινθός ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος: Hyacinthus, beloved of Apollo who accidentally killed him by a discus throw.

ὁ Θεσπιεὺς Νάρκισσος:  Narcissus fell in love with his own beautiful image and was turned into a flower.

Ὕλας: Hylas was beloved of Heracles and lost to him in the course of the voyage of the Argonauts.

(sc. Σωκράτης) ἐδόκει ἐρᾶν: “seemed to love.”

χαλεπαίνειν: infinitives with ἐλέγετο, “R. was said to be angry...”

ἠπειληκέναι: inf. perf. of ἀπειλέω after ἐλέγετο, “was said to have threatened”

ἐκβαλεῖν: ao. inf. of ἐκβάλλω complementing ἠπειληκέναι, “to evict him”

ἢν φλυαρῇ καὶ μὴ ἐθέλῃ: subj. in pres. general condition, “if he kept playing the fool and kept refusing (didn't wish to) ...”

ἀφεὶς: ao. part. nom. s. of ἀφίημι, “giving up”

τὴν εἰρωνείαν: “his famous irony”

εὐωχεῖσθαι: pr. inf. mid., complementing ἐθέλῃ, “to be merry”

Πλάτων: Plato, the great philosopher of Athens, whose political works include the Laws and the Republic.  In the latter work an ideal government is imagined as an exercise for understanding the concept of justice.

Πλάτων...ἐλέγετο...οἰκεῖν: ind. st., “Plato was said to live”

ἀναπλασθείσῃ: ao. part. pas. dat. s. οf ἀναπλάττω, modifying πόλει, “made up”

τῇ πολιτείᾳ καὶ τοῖς νόμοις: Plato᾽s dialogues, the Republic and the Laws