46. τούτους ἔτι τίς ἂν διδάξειεν repeats τίς ἂν—διδάξειεν
τοὺς τῶν χειροτεχνῶν υἱεῖς: and οὐ ῥᾴδιον οἶμαι εἶναι—τούτων
διδάσκαλον φανῆναι is a variety on οὐδ᾽ ἂν εἷς φανείη, which the
οὐδέ γ᾽ ἄν of l. 42 might lead us to expect would be repeated—
but the sentence is a slight anacoluthon. This is better than to
take ἄν of οὐδέ γ᾽ ἄν in l. 42 with εἶναι of l. 47.
49. οὕτω δὲ ἀρετῆς. On οὕτω δέ see above, note on
318C
50. κἂν εἰ: this idiom is somewhat rare in Plato, e.g. Meno,
72C κἂν εἰ πολλαὶ καὶ παντοδαπαί εἰσιν, ἕν γέ τι εἶδος ἄπασαι
ἔχουσιν: it is extremely common in Aristotle. The ἄν shows that
the idiom must have arisen from cases where the apodosis contained a verb with which ἄν could go, e.g. κἂν εἰ ἀποθνῄσκοι, εὖ
ἔχοι. Such cases as Symp. 185A κἂν εἴ τις—ἐξαπατηθείη, καλὴ
ἡ ἀπάτη, where the verb after εἰ is in the optative, preserve
traces of the origin of the construction.
Plato. Protagoras. J. Adam & A. M. Adam. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1893.
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