989 



PEOTAGORAS. 



PROTOdENES. 



990 



134). In Rome he soon attracted the attention and gained the friend- 

 ship of contemporary poets, such as Ovid, who always speaks of him 

 with fondness (' Trist.,' ii. 465; iv. 10, 53; v. 1, 17; 'Ars Amat.' 

 lit. 334 ; and in other places). He also enjoyed the patronage of 

 Maecenas, and lived on the Esquiline, perhaps in the gardens of his 

 patron himself. His property seems to have been very small, for no 

 estate or villa of his is mentioned. Maecenas tried to induce him to 

 write an epic poem, in which he was to celebrate the achievements of 

 Augustus (ii. 1), but Propertius refused to comply with the wish of 

 his patron, at least partly; and seems purposely to have described 

 himself as a man given to eensual enjoyments, in order that no such 

 lofty claims might be made upon him. The fourth book of his 

 'Elegies' however contains a series of poems on Roman legends, 

 especially those of a religious nature. Now, as Augustus restored 

 many old religious forms, it does not seem improbable that the poet 

 here at least partially intended to fulfil the wish of Maecenas. It has 

 been supposed that Propertius died at a very early age, but Nobbe 

 (' Observationes in Propertii Carmina,' 1817) has shown that the first 

 book of his ' Elegies ' was not written before the year B.C. 33 ; the 

 second not before B.C. 24 ; the third not before B.C. 21 ; and the fourth 

 not before B.C. 16 ; and according to these dates he must at least have 

 lived until the year B.c. 16, to the age of forty. An accurate Life of 

 Propertius is Btill a desideratum in the history of Roman literature. 

 His connections of friendship, to which allusions are made in his 

 poems, as well as those of his contemporaries, might furnish some 

 materials towards it. 



Propertius, in his poetry, took Callimachus and Philetas as his 

 models, and his ambition was to be considered the Roman Callimachus 

 to which a sneering allusion is made by Horace (' Epist.,' ii. 2, 100.) 

 We possess four books of Elegies of Propertius ; whether he wrote 

 more is uncertain. In the first three books he sings of his beloved 

 Cynthia, whose real name is said to have been Hostia ; the fourth, 

 which by some editors has been subdivided into two, is chiefly occupied 

 with heroic and religions legends, in which the poet seems to have 

 possessed considerable learning; and he delights in showing it, though 

 be thereby weakens the effect of his poetry. The Elegies addressed 

 to Cynthia, who herself was a woman of eminent talents, form a kind 

 of romance, and, considering the character of the age, evince an almost 

 unparalleled faithfulness and constancy between the lovers. But 

 Propertius has nothing of the effeminate sentimentality of Tibullus, 

 and, notwithstanding his passionate love, he always retains his manly 

 character, and shows great energy and independence of mind. The 

 agreeable effect which this kind of poetry might produce is impaired 

 by the artificial character of his style, in which he followed the Greek 

 poets of the Alexandrian period. The ancients however looked upon 

 him as a great poet. (Plin., ' Epist.,' iz. 22 ; Quintil.,' x. 1.) 



Propertius used formerly to be edited together with Catullus and 

 Tibullua, as in the editio princeps, Rome, 1472, and in that of 

 Scaliger, Paris, 1577, reprinted in 1582 and 1600. A separate edition 

 of Propertius appeared in 1702, 4to, at Amsterdam, with a commen- 

 tary by Broukhusius. A very complete edition is that of P. Burmann, 

 which was published after his death, in 1780, by Santen. For the 

 establishment of a correct text much has been done in the editions of 

 Lachmann, Leipzig, 1816, Paldamus, Halle, 1 827, Jacob, Leipzig, 1827, 

 and Hertzberg, Halle, 1844-45. 



Propertius was translated into French prose, in 1655, by De Marolles; 

 and in 1821 appeared the second edition of a translation into French 

 verse, by Mollevant. Among the numerous German translations,- it is 

 BufEcient to mention that of J. H. Voss (Braunschweig, 1830), and 

 another by Gruppe (Leipzig, 1838), with critical notes on the Roman 

 Elegy. Some of the Elegies of Propertius were translated into 

 English in the 'Miscellaneous Poems by Oxford Hands,' London, 

 1685; in 1782 was published, in London, 'The Book of the Elegies 

 of Propertius, entitled Cynthia, translated into English verse, with 

 classical notes,' &c. 



PKOTA'GORAS was born at Abdera in Thrace, and is said to have 

 been originally a porter, and to have received instruction from Demo- 

 critua, who was so pleased with the skilful manner in which Protagoras 

 arranged his load, that he afforded him the means of prosecuting tlie 

 Btudy of philosophy. Some modern writers have disbelieved the whole 

 account, but it seems certain, from the unanimous testimony of the 

 ancients, that Protagoras was of an inferior condition in life, and owed 

 his education to Democritus. (Aul. Gell , v. 3 ; Diog. Laert., ix. 50, 

 63 ; Athenseus, viii. 534, c. ; Suidas, &c.) The principal circumstance 

 which has led some writers to doubt whether Protagoras ever received 

 instruction from Democritus arises from the fact that the former was 

 in all probability older than the latter. Democritus was born B.C. 460. 

 [DEMOCRITUB.] Plato represents Socrates in the 'Meno' (c. 29, p. 91) 

 speaking of Protagoras as already dead, and also states that he lived 

 nearly seventy years. Now as Socrates died B.C. 399, Protagoras, 

 according to this account, must have been born at least as early as 

 B.c. 470, though the carelessness of Plato on such subjects renders this 

 by no means certain. Philochorus however, according to Diogenes 

 Laertius (ix. 65), said that the death of Protagoras was alluded to in 

 the ' Ixion ' of Euripides, which must consequently have happened 

 before that of Euripides, that is, before the end of B.O. 406. If how- 

 ever both these statements can be depended upon, there is still no 

 reason for disbelieving that Protagoras received instruction from 



Democritus; for, as Mr. Clinton has remarked, Democritus, who 

 belonged to one of the most eminent families at Abdera in rank and 

 station, might discern the merit and encourage the genius of Protago- 

 ra*, although younger himself than Protagoras. 



None of the writings of Protagoras have come down to us ; but it is 

 evident that he was a man of great powers of mind. Some of his 

 doctrines are discussed in the ' Thesetetus ' of Plato. [PLATO.] He 

 travelled through Greece for the purpose of giving instruction in phi- 

 losophy and eloquence, and is said to have been the first person who 

 adopted the name of Sophist, to distinguish more decidedly one who 

 made others wise, especially one who taught eloquence and the politi- 

 cal art. He is also said to have been the first among the Greek 

 philosophers who received money for the instruction which he gave. 

 Wherever he went he was sure to obtain numbers of pupils ; and 

 Plato, in the dialogue entitled 'Protagoras,' has given an amusing 

 account of the enthusiasm with which he was received by the young 

 men at Athens on his visit to that city. Diogenes Laertius says (ix. 52) 

 that his instruction was so much in demand that he sometimes received 

 a hundred mime ; and Plato informs us (' Meno,' c. 29, p. 91) that 

 during the forty years in which Protagoras taught he made more 

 money than Phidias and ten other sculptors. 



Protagoras visited Afliens at least twice. Two of his visits are 

 spoken of by Athenreus and Plato (Athen., v., p. 218, b. ; xi., p. 506, a.; 

 ' Protag.,' c. 5), and the date of his second visit is determined by the 

 former writer, who says (v., p. 218, c) that it took place after the 

 Kiwos of Ameipsias and before the KifAcutes of Eupolis, that is, between 

 B.C. 423 and 421. During one of his visits to Athens, probably subse- 

 quent to those which have been mentioned, he was banished from the 

 state, and his books burned in the market-place, because he had stated 

 at the beginniug of one of his works that he did not know whether the 

 gods existed or not. (Diog. Laert., ix. 51, 52 ; Cic., ' De Nat. Deor.,' i. 23.) 

 According to some accounts, he was drowned in his passage to Sicily, 

 and according to others, died on the voyage. (Diog. Laert., ix. 55.) 



Protagoras appears to have been the first who taught oratory as an 

 art. He possessed, if we may judge from the specimen given by Plato 

 in the 'Protagoras,' a lively imagination and great copiousness of 

 words. He was well acquainted with the literature of his own country, 

 especially the works of the ancient poets, whom he frequently quoted 

 in his speeches, which appear to have been very popular. He is said 

 to have taught Isocrates, and his oratorical exercises are referred to by 

 Cicero, who says that they were called in his time ' communes loci' 

 ('Brut.,' c. 12). Protagoras was the first who introduced artificial 

 divisions into discourses. (Diog. Laert., ix. 53, 54.) He also appears 

 to have written works on language and oratory ; his 'OpSoeirfia, which 

 is referred to by Plato (' Phsedr.,' c. 114, p. 267), is supposed by Spengel 

 (S,vva.yu-fii rex''" 1 ', P- 40, Stuttgardt, 1828) to have been a work of this 

 description. A list of the writings of Protagoras is given by Diogenes 

 Laertius (ix. 66) and Fabricius (' Bibl. Graec.,' vol. ii., p. 668, ed. Harles). 

 Cicero refers to his work 'On the Nature of Things' ('De Orat.,' 

 iii. 32). 



For further information on the life of Protagoras, the reader is 

 referred to Herbst, 'Des Protagoras Leben und Sophistik aus den 

 Quellen zusammengestellt,' in Petersen's ' Phil.-Histor. Studien auf dem 

 Akad. Gymnasium in Hamburg,' Hamburg, 1832, heft i., p. 88. 



PROTO'GENES, one of the most celebrated of the Greek painters, 

 was born at Caunus in Caria, a town subject to the Rhodians. Suidas 

 says that Protogenes was a native of Xanthus in Lycia; but this appears 

 to be a mistake, since he is called a Caunian by Pausanias (i. 3, 4), 

 and is expressly said by Pliny (' Hist. Nat.,' xxxv. 36, 20) to have 

 been born at Caunus. He was a contemporary of Apelles, and was at 

 the height of his reputation in the 1 1 2th Olympiad, that is, about 

 B.C. 332. (Pliny, ' Hist. Nat.,' xxxv. 36, 10.) He lived at Rhodes 

 during the greater part of his life. 



Pliny says that Protogenes was originally in very poor circumstances, 

 and that it was not known from whom he received instruction. He 

 did not produce many paintings, in consequence of the long time and 

 great labour which he devoted to each. Quintilian ('Inst. Orat.,' 

 xii. 10, p. 369, Bipont) says that 'cura' was the distinguishing charac- 

 teristic of his paintings ; and Apelles is said to have remarked that 

 Protogenes did not know when to take his hand from his pictures. 

 (Pliny, 'Hist. Nat.,' xxxv. 36, 10.) Of all the paintings of Protogenes 

 the most celebrated was the one called lalysus, upon which he is said 

 to have been engaged seven years. (^Elian, 'Var. Hist.,' xii. 41.) 

 Pliny says that he lived, during the time he was painting it, upou 

 moistened lupines, and also informs us that each colour was laid on 

 four times. A dog in this painting, which was represented panting 

 and foaming at the mouth, was greatly admired. It is related that 

 Protogenes was for a long time unable to represent the foam in the 

 manner which he wished, till at length, disheartened by repeated 

 failures, he threw his sponge at the mouth of the dog, which accidentally 

 produced the effect he had been endeavouring to obtain. The fame 

 of this painting was so great, that Demetrius Poliorcetes, when besieging 

 Rhodes, did not set fire to that part of the city where Protogenes lived, 

 lest he should destroy the picture. (Pliny, ' Hist. Nat.,' vii. 39 ; xxxv. 

 36, 20.) Aulus Gellius, in relating the same circumstance, says 

 (xv. 81) that Protogeucs was dead, and that the painting was preserved 

 in a public library outside the walls of the town. In the time of Pliny 

 it was preserved in the temple of Peace at Rome. Among the other 



