From the book
Alcibiades I
Plato · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordPythodorus, identified by his father Isolochus, is one of the two pupils Socrates attributes to Zeno.
- In Alcibiades IHe is named as an example of becoming wise and distinguished through another person’s company.
- In this editionThe supplied note connects Pythodorus with the setting of Plato’s Parmenides.
- A place to readPythodorus and his father are named in the educational counterexample.
Meaning
Pythodorus, identified by his father Isolochus, is one of the two pupils Socrates attributes to Zeno.
Use in the book
He is named as an example of becoming wise and distinguished through another person’s company. Each of the two pupils, Socrates says, paid a hundred minae. The patronymic distinguishes the individual without providing a biography of either father or son. The point is the availability of a named case: Socrates can answer the question he asks Alcibiades about Pericles. Isolochus has no independent argumentative role beyond identification, and the dialogue says nothing about his occupation, standing or relation to Zeno.
Places to read
- 119aPythodorus and his father are named in the educational counterexample.
Translation in this edition
The supplied note connects Pythodorus with the setting of Plato’s Parmenides. That is a cross-dialogue identification, not a scene or circumstance narrated here.
Ἰσόλοχος
Attested: Ἰσολόχου (isolochou; 119a). Father of Pythodorus, named only as a patronymic. Lexical identification: lemma: Ἰσόλοχος. See Pythodorus and Isolochus.
Πυθόδωρος
Attested: Πυθόδωρον τὸν Ἰσολόχου (pythodōron ton isolochou; 119a). Pythodorus, named with his father Isolochus as one of Zeno’s pupils. Lexical identification: lemma: Πυθόδωρος. See Pythodorus and Isolochus.