30 GREEK PHILOSOPHY. 



fifty drachms ; while he himself had only paid one drachm. Prodicus 

 first made his appearance at Athens, as an ambassador from his native 

 island, and gained great applause by his eloquence. Most of our 

 readers are acquainted with his celebrated apologue, of the ' Choice of 

 Hercules,' which Socrates quotes at length in the ' Memorabilia,' of 

 Xenophon, and says that it was very popular. 1 Prodicus was accused, 

 as Socrates afterwards was, of corrupting the youth of Athens by in- 

 culcating irreligious opinions, and was condemned to drink " the cold 

 Socratic draught." 2 



Hippias. Another celebrated sophist was HIPPIAS, of Elis, who boasted at 



the Olympic games, that there was nothing, in the whole range of the 

 arts and sciences, which he did not know ; and that he was not only a 

 perfect master of the liberal arts, geometry, music, poetry, &c., but 

 that the ring which he then wore, his robe, and his buskins, were all 

 manufactured by his own hand. Plato has introduced him as a speaker 

 in the two dialogues which are entitled ' Hippias Major,' arid ' Hippias 

 Minor;' the first of which throws so much light upon the character 

 and practices of the sophists, that we shall here present our readers 

 with such parts of it as may serve to place in the clearest point of view 

 the mode of philosophising, against which Socrates waged unceasing 

 war. The two persons of the dialogue are Socrates and Hippias. 



So. Why Hippias, worthy 3 and wise sir, what a long time it is 

 since you visited us at Athens! 



Hi. Very true ; for I have had no leisure, Socrates. For the state 

 of Elis, when it wants to negotiate anything with another city, always 

 comes first to me, to choose me for its ambassador, thinking me to be 

 the most competent judge and interpreter of the proposals made on the 

 part of the respective cities. I have therefore frequently gone as am- 

 bassador to other cities, but most frequently, and upon affairs of the 

 greatest moment, to Lacedsemon ; for which reason, that I may answer 

 your inquiry, I don't come very often into these parts. 



So. Such a fine thing it is, Hippias, to be a truly wise and perfectly 

 accomplished man. You, for instance, are able, in your private ca- 



: " Gorgias, a little before you came, gave us a fine lecture." 

 Aristophanes describes Euripides as making a rhetorical display of this sort to the 

 rogues in hell. "OTS^TJ xa<r5X#' Etw$r<5jj, iTft^tinvvTo Tot; Z.UWO&U'TUI;, xui <ro~; 

 fiaXuvrwroftoi; xa,} roiffi vrxrgKXoietitri xa.} rM%*rPMf, "Ovtg 'itr<r iv K& 

 S' Kxgoov/tivoi Tuv a.vrtXoytuv, XKI Xwyiffftuv, xeit trr^uv^ 'Tvrtitiftoivvff 

 ffatpuretrov. Here is a good description of the ivi$tiZ,ns of the sophists. 



1 Ka/ Upobixo; %t o ffolfioi tv <r&> ffvyyodft/AKTi <rcy vrtpi TOV 'HpaxXiov; (o?T % xa,} 

 <jr*.ii<rroi$ If^iixvuTxi), " and Prodicus the wise also, in his work about Hercules, 

 which he recites to everybody." No commentator has understood the precise mean- 

 ing of this parenthesis. See the preceding note. Philostratus says, that Gorgias 

 ridiculed Prodicus for repeating the same discourse or lecture over and over again, 

 and professed himself to speak extemporaneously. 



2 2uxga<rtxov -^v^ov VOTOV. Timon Phliasius ap. Sext. Emp. p. 319. 



3 C O xXoj TS XKI ffoty'os. Heindorf has shown that xa,\os does not refer to the 

 personal appearance of Hippias, as Sydenham, the translator of Plato, supposes. It 

 answers perhaps most nearly to the bellus of the Latins, and to our fine. 



