40. τὴν ἔντεχνον σοφίαν σὺν πυρί. Aesch. Prom. 252-4
πρὸς τοῖσδε μέντοι πῦρ ἐγώ σφιν ὤπασα. καὶ νῦν φλογωπὸν πῦρ
ἔχουσ᾽ ἐφήμεροι, ἀφ᾽ οὗ γε πολλὰς ἐκμαθήσονται τέχνας—which is
the usual form of the story. In Polit. 274C Plato attributes fire to
Prometheus, and the arts to Hephaestus and Athena. σύν denotes
a much closer connection than μετά: it is seldom used by Plato
except in a few adverbial phrases, or in religious uses (like ξύν
τισι Χάρισι καὶ Μούσαις Laws, III. 682A), or in semi-poetic
passages like the present: see on οὐδενὶ ξὺν νῷ in Crito, 48C.
44. ἔσχεν is ‘obtained’: see on ἔσχετε in Apol. 19A. ἦν γὰρ
παρὰ τῷ Διί reminds one of Sophocles' Δίκη ξύνεδρος Ζηνός,
O.C. 1382.
46. οὐκέτι means that Prometheus had to draw the line
there; he had been able to steal the fire, but farther he could not
go—no doubt because time pressed. The same idiomatic use of
οὐκέτι)(ἤδη occurs above in 312Eμὰ Δί᾽, ἔφη, οὐκέτι ἔχω σοι
λέγειν: it is extremely common in Plato and in Greek generally:
see note on Euthyphr. 3E and Cope on Arist. Rhet. A, 1. 1354b. 7
referred to there.
Plato. Protagoras. J. Adam & A. M. Adam. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1893.
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