I highlight again the ponoi or ‘labors’ of Socrates, which he equates with his planē or ‘wandering’ all over the world, as it were, in the course of his unending spiritual journey. The wording that Socrates uses here evokes the experiences of heroes like Hēraklēs himself. For example, the canonical Labors of Hēraklēs are described this way in a Homeric Hymn:
|4 He [= Hēraklēs] used to travel all over the boundless earth and all over the sea, |5 veering from his path and wandering off, all because of the missions assigned to him by Eurystheus the king. |6 He [= Hēraklēs] performed many reckless things on his own, and he suffered many such things in return.
Homeric Hymn to Herakles 4-6