Phaedrus — Plato

PROTAGORAS /I are suflScient, and we can gain him with these, we shall be too glad ; but if not, then we are to spend your friends' money as well. Now suppose, that while we are in this intense state of excitement, some one were to say to us : Tell me, Socrates, and you Hippocrates, as being what, are you going to pay money to Protagoras ? how should we answer him ?

I know that Phidias is a sculptor, and Homer is a poet ; but what appellation is given to Protagoras? how is he designated? They call him a Sophist, Socrates, he replied. Then we are going to pay our money to him in the character of a Sophist ? Certainly. But suppose a person were to ask this further question ; And how about yourself? what will Protagoras make you if you go to see him ?

He answered, with a blush upon his face (for the day ^ was just beginning to dawn, so that I could see him) : Unless this differs in some way from the former instances, I suppose that he will make a Sophist of me. And are you not in sober earnest ashamed, I said, at having to appear before the Hellenes'^ in the character of a Sophist ? Indeed, Socrates, if I am to confess the truth, I am.

But why do you assume, Hippocrates, that the instruction of Protagoras is of this nature ? and (why may you not learn of him in the same way that you learned the arts of the grammarian, or musician, or trainer, '^ not with the view of making any of them a profession, but only as a part of education, and because a private gentleman and freeman ought to know them ?

I Just so, he said ; and that, in my opinion, is a far truer account of the teaching of Protagoras. I said : I wonder whether you know what you are doing ? And what am I doing ? You are going to commit your soul to the care of a man whom you call a Sophist.

And yet I hardly think that you " Hellenes (hSl-le'nez) : In very ancient times the name Hellas (h^Has) was applied to a small district in northern Greece and the name Hellenes to the people of that district In the course of time the application of these terms was gradually extended until in Plato's day all Greek people were called Hellenes and all countries inhabited by them were included under the name Hellas. " Teacher of gymnastics.

^2 PLATO THE TEACHER know what a Sophist is, and if not, then you do not even know whether you are committing your soul to good or evil. I certainly think that I do know, he replied. Then tell me, what do you imagine that he is ? I take him to be one who is wise and knowing, he replied, as his name implies. ^^ And might you not, I said, affirm this of the painter and the carpenter also ; are not they, too, wise and knowing ?

But suppose a person were to ask us : In what are the painters wise ? We should answer : In what relates to the making of likenessess, and similarly of other things. And if he were further to ask : What is the wisdom of the Sophist, and what is the manufacture over which he presides ? how should we answer him ? How should we answer him, Socrates ? What other answer could there be but that he presides over the art which makes men eloquent?

Yes, I replied, that is very likely a true, but not a sufficient answer ; for a further question is involved : About what does the Sophist make a man eloquent ? The player on the lyre may be supposed to make a man eloquent about that which he makes him understand, that is about playing the lyre. Is not that true ? Yes. Then about what does the Sophist make him eloquent ? must not he make him eloquent in that which he understands ?

Yes, that may be assumed. And what is that which the Sophist knows and makes his disciple know ? Indeed, he said, that I cannot tell. Then I proceeded to say : Well, but are you aware of the danger which you are incurring?

If you were going to commit the body to some one, and there was a risk of your getting good or harm from him, would you not carefully consider and ask the opinion of your friends and kindred, and deliberate many days as to whether you should give him the care of your body ?

But when the soul is in question, which you hold to be of far more value than the body, and upon the well or ill-being of which depends your all, — ^about this you never consulted either with your father or with your " The term Sophist is derived from the Greek word sophos^ wise.

p. 73brother or with any one of us who are your companions. But no sooner does this foreigner appear, than you instantly commit your soul to his keeping.

In the evening, as you say, you hear of him, and in the morning you go to him, never deliberating, or taking the opinion of any one as to whether you ought to intrust yourself to him or not ; you have quite made up your mind that you will be a pupil of Protagoras, and are prepared to expend all the property of yourself and of your friends in carrying out at any price this determination, although, as you admit, you do not know him, and have never spoken with him : and you call him a Sophist, but are manifestly ignorant of what a Sophist is ; and yet you are going to commit yourself to his keeping.

When he heard me say this he replied : That I suppose, Socrates, is the conclusion which I must draw from your words. I proceeded : Is not a Sophist, Hippocrates, one who deals wholesale or retail in the food of the soul ? To me that appears to be the sort of man. And what, Socrates, is the food of the soul ?

Surely, I said, knowledge is the food of the soul ; and we must take care, my friend, that the Sophist does not deceive us when he praises what he sells, like the dealers wholesale or retail who sell the food of the body ; for they praise indiscriminately all their goods, without knowing what are really beneficial or hurtful : neither do their customers know, with the exception of any trainer or physician who may happen to buy of them.

In like -manner those who carry about the wares of knowledge, and make the round of the cities, and sell or retail them to any customer who is in want of them, praise them all alike ; and I should not wonder, O my friend, if many of them were really ignorant of their effect upon the soul ; and their customers equally ignorant, unless he who buys of them happens to be a physician of the soul.

If therefore you have understanding of what is good and evil, you may safely buy knowledge of Protagoras or of any one ; but if not, then, O my friend, pause, and do not hazard your dearest interests at a game of chance.

For there is "* far greater peril in buying knowledge than in buying meat and drink : the one you purchase of the wholesale or retail dealer, and carry them away in other vessels, and before you receive them into the body as food, you may deposit them at home