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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. τιἀποβήσεταιπυθέσθαι. 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, 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 ἧσσονἀπεδέξαντο τοὺς λόγους, ἐν δὲ τῇ ὑστεραίᾳ μετέγνωσαν κτλ. and add below 321C εἱμαρμένη ἡμέρα παρῆν, ἐν ἔδει καὶ ἄνθρωπον ἐξιέναι ἐκ γῆς.

17. 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 δέοιδιαγωνίζεσθαιπότερος 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 τι βελτίων is here used rather than 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, 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 τέχναςἐμβάλλουσιν 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 γὰρπάλαι λέγει πρός με ὅτι ἐπιθυμεῖ ταύτης τῆς σοφίας καὶ ἀπετῆς 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 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 ἐπαγγέλλομαι. ἐπαγγέλλομαι and its derivatives are often used of sophistic ‘professions’.

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hide References (24 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (24):
    • Aristophanes, Clouds, 62
    • Aristophanes, Clouds, 929
    • Aristophanes, Knights, 1304
    • Plato, Republic, 495d
    • Plato, Republic, 532c
    • Plato, Apology, 20e
    • Plato, Euthyphro, 3a
    • Plato, Phaedo, 72c
    • Plato, Cratylus, 384b
    • Plato, Theaetetus, 161c
    • Plato, Meno, 74d
    • Plato, Meno, 90a
    • Plato, Euthydemus, 273d
    • Plato, Gorgias, 453c
    • Plato, Gorgias, 455c
    • Plato, Gorgias, 464d
    • Plato, Gorgias, 469d
    • Plato, Meno, 91c
    • Plato, Protagoras, 310d
    • Plato, Protagoras, 314b
    • Plato, Protagoras, 321c
    • Plato, Protagoras, 328a
    • Plato, Protagoras, 331c
    • Plato, Protagoras, 335a
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