CHAPTER IX
Protagoras explains his profession. It is to teach civil virtue and
make men good citizens.
6.
γάρ used like Latin
enim to introduce a speech (introductory
γάρ): see on
Apol. 20E.
7.
ὅ τι—ἀποβήσεται—πυθέσθαι. For the situation cf.
Gorg. 455C-D, where Socrates says
ἴσως γὰρ καὶ τυγχάνει τις τῶν
ἔνδον ὄντων μαθητής σου βουλόμενος γενέσθαι, ὡς ἐγώ τινας σχεδὸν
καὶ συχνοὺς αἰσθάνομαι, οἳ ἴσως αἰσχύνοιντ᾽ ἄν σε ἀνεπέσθαι: ὑρ᾽ ἐμοῦ
οὖν ἀνεπωτώμενος νόμισον καὶ ὑρ᾽ ἐκείνων ἀνεπωτᾶσθαι: τί ἡμῖν, ὦ
Γοπγία, ἔσται, ἐάν σοι συνῶμεν; ρεπὶ τίνων τῇ ρόλει συμβουλεύειν οἶοί
τε ἐσόμεθα;
12.
ἐν τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ ταὐτὰ ταῦτα: sc.
ἔσται σοι. ἐν (bracketed by Schanz after Hirschig) before
τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ means
‘during’: cf. (with Kroschel) Thuc. I. 44. 1
τῇ μὲν προτέρᾳ οὐχ
ἧσσον—ἀπεδέξαντο τοὺς λόγους, ἐν δὲ τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ μετέγνωσαν κτλ.
and add below
321Cἡ εἱμαρμένη ἡμέρα παρῆν, ἐν ᾗ ἔδει καὶ
ἄνθρωπον ἐξιέναι ἐκ γῆς.
17.
ὃ μὴ τυγχάνεις ἐπιστάμενος. τυγχάνοις (suggested by
Bekker) would be the usual periodic structure: but the indicative is looser and more direct: Kroschel compares
Gorg. 464D
εἰ δέοι—διαγωνίζεσθαι—πότερος ἐπαίει. Notice the usual Socratic
implication that virtue is knowledge.
18.
ἀλλὰ μὴ οὕτως. Cf.
Meno, 74D ἀλλὰ μή μοι οὕτως and
below
331C So
μὴ γάρ, μὴ σύ γε, μή τοί γε and the like are often
used without a verb expressed.
ὥσπερ ἄν belongs to
εἴποι ἄν in
ll. 26 and 30: it is answered by
οὕτω δή in l. 31.
αὐτίκα here does
not mean ‘for example’ but goes with
μάλα (which intensifies
it): ‘as if Hippocrates were to change his desire on the spot and
conceive a desire (
ἐπιθυμήσειεν) for etc.’
αὐτίκα μάλα is idiomatic,
cf.
Gorg. 469D αὐτίκα μάλα δεῖν τεθνάναι,
Crat. 384B
αὐτίκα μάλα εἰδέναι.
20.
νῦν νεωστί:
nunc nuper as in
Meno, 90A. The more
general word is followed by the more specific exactly as in
Theaet. 161C βατράχου γυρίνου, where
γυρῖνος according to a
scholiast is
τὸ ἐκ τοῦ βατράχου παιδίον.
21.
Ζευξίππου. An obscure sculptor (not painter) of this
name is mentioned in
Corp Inscr. Gr. No. 1229 (quoted by
Overbeck,
Die Antiken Schriftquellen zur Geschichte der bildenden Künste bei den Griechen, p. 300). The Zeuxippus here mentioned is supposed to be the same as the famous painter Zeuxis
of Heraclea (the Greek colony in Italy, most probably) who is
mentioned by Plato in
Gorg. 453C, and several times by Xenophon (
Mem. I. 4. 3,
Oecon. 10. 1,
Symp. 4. 63
τὸν Ἡρακλεώτην
ξένον): see Overbeck, pp. 311 ff. Zeuxis began to rise into fame
probably about 424 B.C.: he would therefore be still a young
man about the date when this dialogue is supposed to take
place: see Introduction, p. xxxiii. Brunn would read
Ζεύξιδος
for
Ζευξίππου here, but according to Fick (quoted by Sauppe)
Ζεῦξις is nothing but a familiar diminutive of
Ζεύξιππος: for
other similar examples see Fick,
Die Griechischen Personennamen, pp. xxviii ff.
-ιππος in proper names was aristocratic
(
Ar. Clouds, 62 ff.) and could upon occasion be omitted or added
without prejudice to personal identity: cf.
Clouds, 929 οὐχὶ
διδάξεις τοῦτον Κρόνος ὤν with
ibid. 1071
σὺ δ᾽ εἶ κρόνιππος,
where
-ιππος adds mock dignity to
κρόνος.
27.
Ὀρθαγόρᾳ τῷ Θηβαίῳ. Orthagoras is said by Athenaeus (IV. 184E) on the authority of Aristoxenus to have taught
Epaminondas how to play the flute.
29.
αὐτόν but
ἐκείνου in 28 and
ἐκείνω̣ in 30: see on
310D
εἰς ὅ τι βελτίων is here used rather than
ὅ τι or
τί βελτίων (as in
l. 25) to prepare for
εἰς αὔλησιν, where the preposition could
hardly be dispensed with.
31.
οὕτω δή. Heindorf would write
οὕτω δέ, which is frequent after
ὥσπερ, e.g.
328A see his note on
Phaedo, 72C.
32.
Πρωταγόρᾳ συγγενόμενος: ‘gravius hoc quam
σοὶ
συγγενόμενος’ (Kroschel). See also note on
335A
41.
λωβῶνται is here rather
κακῶς ποιεῖν than
κακὸν ποιεῖν,
although (like
κακουργεῖν, λυμαίνομαι and the like) it unites both
meanings: cf.
Rep. I. 335 B ff., and see on
Euthyphr. 3A κακουργεῖν
τὴν πόλιν. With the words of Protagoras compare those of Anytus in
Meno, 91C Ἡράκλεις, εὐφήμει, ὦ Σώκρατες, μηδένα τῶν
συγγενῶν, μήτε οἰκείων μήτε φίλων, μήτε ἀστὸν μήτε ξένον, τοιαύτη
μανία λάβοι, ὥστε ραπὰ τούτους ἐλθόντα λωβηθῆναι, ἐρεὶ οὗτοί γε
φανερά ἐστι λώβη τε καὶ διεφθορὰ τῶν συγγιγνομένων.
τὰς γὰρ τέχνας—ἐμβάλλουσιν εἰς τέχνας. τέχναι is used
of Arithmetic, Geometry, Solid Geometry and Harmonics in
Rep. VII. 532C: elsewhere in Plato
αἱ τέχναι generally means the
mechanical arts, e.g.
Rep. VI. 495D and VII. 522B. Here
τέχναι
can only mean the subjects taught in schools (
γραμματική,
λογιστική, κιθαριστική), as Sauppe remarks, but there seems to
be no precise parallel to such a use of the word.
44.
εἰς τὸν Ἱππίαν ἀπέβλεψεν: see on
314B
47.
εὐβουλία περὶ τῶν οἰκείων. The editors quote
Meno,
91A
οὗτος γὰρ—πάλαι λέγει πρός με ὅτι ἐπιθυμεῖ ταύτης τῆς
σοφίας καὶ ἀπετῆς ᾗ οἱ ἄνθπωροι τάς τε οἰκίας καὶ τὰς ρόλεις καλῶς
διοικοῦσι, καὶ τοὺς γονέας τοὺς αὑτῶν θεπαρεύουσι, καὶ ρολίτας καὶ
ξένους ὑποδέξασθαί τε καὶ ἀποπέμψαι ἐπίστανται ἀξίως ἀνδρὸς ἀγαθοῦ;
Euthyd. 273D ἀρετὴν—ὦ Σώκρατες, οἰόμεθα οἵω τ᾽ εἴναι παραδοῦναι
κάλλιστ᾽ ἀνθρώπων καὶ τάχιστα.
52.
ἄνδρας ἀγαθοὺς πολίτας forms a single expression:
‘good citizens’ are the
ἔργον of
πολιτικὴ τέχνη. So
Ar. Knights,
1304 ἅνδρα μοχθηρὸν πολίτην.
53.
ἐπάγγελμα ὃ ἐπαγγέλλομαι. ἐπαγγέλλομαι and its
derivatives are often used of sophistic ‘professions’.