R. G. Bury, The Symposium of Plato

τὸ τοῦ Ὁμήρου. See Od. XI. 632 ἐμὲ δὲ χλωρὸν δέος ᾕρει | μή μοι γοργείην κεφαλὴν δεινοῖο πελώρου | ἐξ Ἀίδεω πέμψειεν ἀγαυὴ Περσεφόνεια. Miss Harrison (Proleg. p. 191) renders γοργείην by “grizzly,” with the note “Homer does not commit himself to a definite Gorgon”: his Gorgoneion is “an underworld bogey, an ἀποτρόπαιον.” That “the Gorgon was regarded as a sort of incarnate evil eye” (ibid. p. 196) appears from Athen. V. 64. 221 κτείνει τὸν ὑπ᾽ αὐτῆς θεωρηθέντα, οὐ τῷ πνεύματι ἀλλὰ τῇ γιγνομένῃ ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν ὀμμάτων φύσεως φορᾷ καὶ νεκρὸν ποιεῖ. Rohde (Psyche II. 407) points out that “Hekate selbst wird angerufen als Γοργὼ καὶ Μορμὼ καὶ Μήνη καὶ πολύμορφε: hymn bei Hippol. ref. haer. 4. 35 p. 73 Mill”; and that Γοργώ appears to be a shorter form for Γοργύρα (Ἀχέροντος γυνή, Apollod.). For the pun on Gorgias-Gorgon, cp. that on ἀγαθῶν (174 B n.). As against Dümmler's inference that Gorgias' previous death is here implied, see Vahlen op. Acad. I. 482 ff.

ἐν τῷ λόγῳ. Cp. 201 A, Gorg. 457 D, Theaet. 169 B. To eject these words with Hug, or to substitute πελώρου with Badham, would (as Voegelin and Rettig contend) destroy the antithesis ἐν τῷ λ. )( ἐπὶ τὸν ἐμὸν λ., and spoil the “Gorgianische Wortspiel.” Further, the phrase serves as a parallel to the Homeric ἐξ Ἀίδεω. Observe, as a feature of the parody, the different sense in which Socr. uses δεινός: also, how the sentence as a whole forms a playful retort to Agathon's remark in 194 A (φαρμάττειν βούλει με κτλ.). For the adverbial use of τελευτῶν, cp. Phaedrus 228 B, C; Gorg. 457 D. (See also Vahlen, l.c. for a discussion and defence of the text.)

τότε...ἡνίκα. The τότε goes with ὤν which is imperf. partic.: the ref. is to 177 D.