§311ΣΩ.
ἀλλὰ γάρ, ὦ Σώκρατες, πάντες τὸν ἄνδρα ἐπαινοῦσιν καί φασιν σοφώτατον εἶναι λέγειν·
SOCRATES: "But indeed, Socrates, everyone praises the man and says he is the wisest at speaking; but why do we not go to him, so that we may catch him inside?
ἀλλὰ τί οὐ βαδίζομεν παρʼ αὐτόν, ἵνα ἔνδον καταλάβωμεν; καταλύει δʼ, ὡς ἐγὼ ἤκουσα, παρὰ Καλλίᾳ τῷ Ἱππονίκου· ἀλλʼ ἴωμεν. καὶ ἐγὼ εἶπον· μήπω, ἀγαθέ, ἐκεῖσε ἴωμεν—πρῲ γάρ ἐστιν—ἀλλὰ δεῦρο ἐξαναστῶμεν εἰς τὴν αὐλήν, καὶ περιιόντες αὐτοῦ διατρίψωμεν ἕως ἂν φῶς γένηται·
He is staying, as I heard, with Callias, the son of Hipponicus; so let us go." And I said: "Not yet, my good friend, let us not go there yet—for it is early—but let us get up and go here into the courtyard, and spend time walking about here until it becomes light; then let us go.
εἶτα ἴωμεν. καὶ γὰρ τὰ πολλὰ Πρωταγόρας ἔνδον διατρίβει, ὥστε, θάρρει, καταληψόμεθα αὐτόν, ὡς τὸ εἰκός, ἔνδον. μετὰ ταῦτα ἀναστάντες εἰς τὴν αὐλὴν περιῇμεν· καὶ ἐγὼ ἀποπειρώμενος τοῦ Ἱπποκράτους τῆς ῥώμης διεσκόπουν αὐτὸν καὶ ἠρώτων, εἰπέ μοι, ἔφην ἐγώ, ὦ Ἱππόκρατες, παρὰ Πρωταγόραν νῦν ἐπιχειρεῖς ἰέναι, ἀργύριον τελῶν ἐκείνῳ μισθὸν ὑπὲρ σεαυτοῦ, ὡς παρὰ τίνα ἀφιξόμενος καὶ τίς γενησόμενος;
For indeed, Protagoras spends most of his time inside, so, have courage, we shall catch him, as is likely, inside." After this, getting up, we walked about the courtyard; and I, trying to test Hippocrates' strength of mind, began to examine and question him: "Tell me," I said, "Hippocrates, you are now undertaking to go to Protagoras, to pay him money as a fee on your own behalf, as to whom are you going and who do you intend to become?
ὥσπερ ἂν εἰ ἐπενόεις παρὰ τὸν σαυτοῦ ὁμώνυμον ἐλθὼν Ἱπποκράτη τὸν Κῷον, τὸν τῶν Ἀσκληπιαδῶν, ἀργύριον τελεῖν ὑπὲρ σαυτοῦ μισθὸν ἐκείνῳ, εἴ τίς σε ἤρετο· εἰπέ μοι, μέλλεις τελεῖν, ὦ Ἱππόκρατες, Ἱπποκράτει μισθὸν ὡς τίνι ὄντι; τί ἂν ἀπεκρίνω; —
εἶπον ἄν,
ἔφη,
ὅτι ὡς ἰατρῷ. —
ὡς τίς γενησόμενος; —
ὡς ἰατρός,
ἔφη.
Just as if you were intending to go to your namesake, Hippocrates of Cos, the Asclepiad, to pay him money as a fee on your own behalf, if someone asked you: 'Tell me, Hippocrates, are you intending to pay a fee to Hippocrates as being who?' What would you have answered?" "I would have said," he said, "that it is as to a physician." "To become who yourself?" "A physician," he said.
—εἰ δὲ παρὰ Πολύκλειτον τὸν Ἀργεῖον ἢ Φειδίαν τὸν Ἀθηναῖον ἐπενόεις ἀφικόμενος μισθὸν ὑπὲρ σαυτοῦ τελεῖν ἐκείνοις, εἴ τίς σε ἤρετο· τελεῖν τοῦτο τὸ ἀργύριον ὡς τίνι ὄντι ἐν νῷ ἔχεις Πολυκλείτῳ τε καὶ Φειδίᾳ; τί ἂν ἀπεκρίνω; —
εἶπον ἂν ὡς ἀγαλματοποιοῖς. —
ὡς τίς δὲ γενησόμενος αὐτός; —
δῆλον ὅτι ἀγαλματοποιός. —εἶεν, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ· παρὰ δὲ δὴ Πρωταγόραν νῦν ἀφικόμενοι ἐγώ τε καὶ σὺ ἀργύριον ἐκείνῳ μισθὸν ἕτοιμοι ἐσόμεθα τελεῖν ὑπὲρ σοῦ, ἂν μὲν ἐξικνῆται τὰ ἡμέτερα χρήματα καὶ τούτοις πείθωμεν αὐτόν, εἰ δὲ μή, καὶ τὰ τῶν φίλων προσαναλίσκοντες.
"But if you were intending to go to Polyclitus the Argive or Phidias the Athenian, to pay them a fee on your own behalf, if someone asked you: 'In paying this money to Polyclitus and Phidias, as being who do you have it in mind to pay them?' What would you have answered?" "I would have said as to sculptors." "And to become who yourself?" "Clearly, a sculptor." "Very well," I said; "but now, you and I, coming to Protagoras, will be ready to pay him money as a fee on your behalf, if our resources are sufficient and we can persuade him with them, and if not, spending also those of our friends.
εἰ οὖν τις ἡμᾶς περὶ ταῦτα οὕτω σφόδρα σπουδάζοντας ἔροιτο· εἰπέ μοι, ὦ Σώκρατές τε καὶ Ἱππόκρατες, ὡς τίνι ὄντι τῷ Πρωταγόρᾳ ἐν νῷ ἔχετε χρήματα τελεῖν;
If then someone should ask us, who are so very earnest about this: 'Tell me, Socrates and Hippocrates, as being who do you have it in mind to pay money to Protagoras?' What should we answer him?
τί ἂν αὐτῷ ἀποκριναίμεθα; τί ὄνομα ἄλλο γε λεγόμενον περὶ Πρωταγόρου ἀκούομεν;
What other name do we hear spoken about Protagoras?
ὥσπερ περὶ Φειδίου ἀγαλματοποιὸν καὶ περὶ Ὁμήρου ποιητήν, τί τοιοῦτον περὶ Πρωταγόρου ἀκούομεν; —
σοφιστὴν δή τοι ὀνομάζουσί γε, ὦ Σώκρατες, τὸν ἄνδρα εἶναι,
ἔφη.
Just as we hear of Phidias as a sculptor, and of Homer as a poet, what such thing do we hear about Protagoras?" "They certainly call the man a sophist, Socrates," he said.
—ὡς σοφιστῇ ἄρα ἐρχόμεθα τελοῦντες τὰ χρήματα; —
μάλιστα. — §312ΣΩ. εἰ οὖν καὶ τοῦτό τίς σε προσέροιτο· αὐτὸς δὲ δὴ ὡς τίς γενησόμενος ἔρχῃ παρὰ τὸν Πρωταγόραν; —καὶ ὃς εἶπεν ἐρυθριάσας—ἤδη γὰρ ὑπέφαινέν τι ἡμέρας, ὥστε καταφανῆ αὐτὸν γενέσθαι—
εἰ μέν τι τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἔοικεν, δῆλον ὅτι σοφιστὴς γενησόμενος. —σὺ δέ, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, πρὸς θεῶν, οὐκ ἂν αἰσχύνοιο εἰς τοὺς Ἕλληνας σαυτὸν σοφιστὴν παρέχων; —
νὴ τὸν Δία, ὦ Σώκρατες, εἴπερ γε ἃ διανοοῦμαι χρὴ λέγειν.
"Is it as to a sophist, then, that we are going to pay the money?" "Most certainly." SOCRATES: "If then someone should also ask you this: 'And you yourself, indeed, as who to become are you going to Protagoras?'" And he said, blushing—for already some daylight was beginning to appear, so that he became visible: "If it is at all like the previous cases, clearly to become a sophist." "But you," I said, "by the gods, would you not be ashamed to present yourself as a sophist to the Greeks?" "By Zeus, yes, Socrates, if indeed I must say what I think." "But then, Hippocrates, do you suppose your learning from Protagoras will not be like this, but rather such as that from the grammatistes, the citharist, and the trainer?
—ἀλλʼ ἄρα, ὦ Ἱππόκρατες, μὴ οὐ τοιαύτην ὑπολαμβάνεις σου τὴν παρὰ Πρωταγόρου μάθησιν ἔσεσθαι, ἀλλʼ οἵαπερ ἡ παρὰ τοῦ γραμματιστοῦ ἐγένετο καὶ κιθαριστοῦ καὶ παιδοτρίβου; τούτων γὰρ σὺ ἑκάστην οὐκ ἐπὶ τέχνῃ ἔμαθες, ὡς δημιουργὸς ἐσόμενος, ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ παιδείᾳ, ὡς τὸν ἰδιώτην καὶ τὸν ἐλεύθερον πρέπει. —
πάνυ μὲν οὖν μοι δοκεῖ,
ἔφη,
τοιαύτη μᾶλλον εἶναι ἡ παρὰ Πρωταγόρου μάθησις. οἶσθα οὖν ὃ μέλλεις νῦν πράττειν, ἤ σε λανθάνει; ἦν δʼ ἐγώ.
For you learned each of these not for the sake of a trade, as one who would become a practitioner, but for education, as is fitting for a private citizen and a free man." "Indeed," he said, "it seems to me much more that the learning from Protagoras is of this kind." "Do you know then what you are now about to do, or does it escape you?" I said.
—
τοῦ πέρι; —ὅτι μέλλεις τὴν ψυχὴν τὴν σαυτοῦ παρασχεῖν θεραπεῦσαι ἀνδρί, ὡς φῄς, σοφιστῇ· ὅτι δέ ποτε ὁ σοφιστής ἐστιν, θαυμάζοιμʼ ἂν εἰ οἶσθα.
"About what?" "That you are about to present your own soul to be cared for by a man who is, as you say, a sophist; but what on earth a sophist is, I should be surprised if you know.
καίτοι εἰ τοῦτʼ ἀγνοεῖς, οὐδὲ ὅτῳ παραδίδως τὴν ψυχὴν οἶσθα, οὔτʼ εἰ ἀγαθῷ οὔτʼ εἰ κακῷ πράγματι. —
οἶμαί γʼ,
ἔφη,
εἰδέναι. —λέγε δή, τί ἡγῇ εἶναι τὸν σοφιστήν; —
ἐγὼ μέν,
ἦ δʼ ὅς,
ὥσπερ τοὔνομα λέγει, τοῦτον εἶναι τὸν τῶν σοφῶν ἐπιστήμονα. —οὐκοῦν, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, τοῦτο μὲν ἔξεστι λέγειν καὶ περὶ ζωγράφων καὶ περὶ τεκτόνων, ὅτι οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ τῶν σοφῶν ἐπιστήμονες· ἀλλʼ εἴ τις ἔροιτο ἡμᾶς,
τῶν τί σοφῶν εἰσιν οἱ ζωγράφοι ἐπιστήμονες,
εἴποιμεν ἄν που αὐτῷ ὅτι τῶν πρὸς τὴν ἀπεργασίαν τὴν τῶν εἰκόνων, καὶ τἆλλα οὕτως.
And yet, if you are ignorant of this, you do not even know to whom you are handing over your soul, nor whether it is to a good or a bad thing." "I think," he said, "that I know." "Tell me then, what do you think a sophist is?" "I," he said, "just as the name says, think he is a knower of wise things." "Well," I said, "this indeed can be said also of painters and carpenters, that they are knowers of wise things; but if someone should ask us, 'Of what wise things are painters knowers?' we would surely say to him, of those pertaining to the production of images, and so on for the others.
εἰ δέ τις ἐκεῖνο ἔροιτο,
ὁ δὲ σοφιστὴς τῶν τί σοφῶν ἐστιν; τί ἂν ἀποκρινοίμεθα αὐτῷ;
But if someone should ask this, 'But of what wise things is the sophist a knower?' what should we answer him?
ποίας ἐργασίας ἐπιστάτης; —
τί ἂν εἴποιμεν αὐτὸν εἶναι, ὦ Σώκρατες, ἢ ἐπιστάτην τοῦ ποιῆσαι δεινὸν λέγειν; —ἴσως ἄν, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, ἀληθῆ λέγοιμεν, οὐ μέντοι ἱκανῶς γε· ἐρωτήσεως γὰρ ἔτι ἡ ἀπόκρισις ἡμῖν δεῖται, περὶ ὅτου ὁ σοφιστὴς δεινὸν ποιεῖ λέγειν· ὥσπερ ὁ κιθαριστὴς δεινὸν δήπου ποιεῖ λέγειν περὶ οὗπερ καὶ ἐπιστήμονα, περὶ κιθαρίσεως· ἦ γάρ; —
ναί. —εἶεν· ὁ δὲ δὴ σοφιστὴς περὶ τίνος δεινὸν ποιεῖ λέγειν; —
δῆλον ὅτι περὶ οὗπερ καὶ ἐπίστασθαι; —εἰκός γε.
Of what production is he the director?" "What else should we say he is, Socrates, than a director of making one clever at speaking?" "Perhaps," I said, "we should speak the truth, yet not sufficiently; for our answer still needs a question, as to what it is about which the sophist makes one clever at speaking; just as the citharist makes one clever at speaking about that very thing of which he is also a knower, about cithara-playing; is it not so?" "Yes." "Very well; about what does the sophist make one clever at speaking?" "Clearly about that which he also knows?" "Probably.
τί δή ἐστιν τοῦτο περὶ οὗ αὐτός τε ἐπιστήμων ἐστὶν ὁ σοφιστὴς καὶ τὸν μαθητὴν ποιεῖ; —
μὰ Δίʼ,
ἔφη,
οὐκέτι ἔχω σοι λέγειν.
What then is this about which the sophist is both himself a knower and makes his pupil so?" "By Zeus," he said, "I can no longer tell you."