Phaedo 59e

[C. S. Bartholomew]

Having to slow down to read this, idioms that I am not familiar with for example:

οὐ πολὺν δ' οὖν χρόνον
ἐπισχὼν ἧκεν καὶ ἐκέλευεν ἡμᾶς εἰσιέναι.

LSJ

ἐπέχω IV.2
abs., stay, pause, “Ἀντίνοος δ᾽ ἔτ᾽ ἐπεῖχε” Od.21.186; refrain, Hdt.1.32, 5.51, 7.139; εἰ δ᾽ ἐφέξετον if you tarry, S.El.1369, etc.: folld. by a Conj., esp. in imper., ἐπίσχες ἢν . . wait and see whether . ., E.Supp.397; “ἐπίσχες ἔστ᾽ ἂν . . προσμάθῃς” A.Pr.697; “ἐ. ἕως . .” D.4.1; “μέχρι τοσούτου ἔως . .” Th.1.90; ἐπίσχες, abs., hold! stop! A.Ch.896, S.OC856, etc.; “ἐπίσχετε, μηδὲ συρίξητε” Timocl.2.6D.; “ἐπίσχετον, μάθωμεν” S.Ph.539, cf. E. Hipp.567; in part., “ἐπισχὼν ὀλίγον χρόνον” Hdt.1.132, al.; τὸ
ἐπισχεῖν, opp. τὸ παραχρῆμα, Antipho 5.73; οὐ πολὺν χρόνον ἐπισχὼν ἧκεν came after a short interval, Pl.Phd.59e; μικρὸν ἐπισχόντα διεφθείροντο they very shortly died, Thphr.HP4.4.13, cf. Diocl.Fr.43; in Th.2.81 οὐκ ἐπέσχον τὸ στρατόπεδον καταλαβεῖν did not halt for the purpose of occupying a camp (unless it, = 'had no intention of occupying').

The participle constituent πολὺν … χρόνον ἐπισχὼν "after a short interval" is a contextualizer for ἧκεν "he arrived" or "he came". "after a short interval" is not very literal.

[mwh]

Not very literal, no, but it gives the meaning, and the other exx. cited in this LSJ section should make it clear how the phrase works. Makes you realize what a great dictionary LSJ is.