J. Adam, A. M. Adam, Commentary on Plato, Protagoras
J. Adam & A. M. Adam, Ed.

FRAGMENTS

1. πάντων χρημάτων μέτρον ἄνθρωπος: τῶν μὲν ὄντων ὡς ἔστι, τῶν δὲ οὐκ ὄντων ὡς οὐκ ἔστι (from Ἀλήθεια ἢ περὶ τοῦ ὄντος s. Καταβάλλοντες: see Pl. Theaet. 152A).

2. περὶ μὲν θεῶν οὐκ ἔχω εἰδέναι οὔθ᾽ ὡς εἰσὶν οὔθ᾽ ὡς οὐκ εἰσίν: ρολλὰ γὰπ τὰ κωλύοντα εἰδέναι: ἥ τε ἀδηλότης καὶ βπαχὺς ὢν ὁ βίος τοῦ ἀνθρώπου (from περὶ θεῶν ap. Diog. Laert. IX. 51).

From Protagoras' περὶ τῶν ἐν Αἵδου no fragments seem to survive.

B. Ethical

Of the περὶ ἀρετῶν there seem to be no fragments.

3. τῶν γὰρ υἱέων νεηνιῶν ὄντων καὶ καλῶν, ἐν ὀκτὼ δὲ ταῖς ράσῃσι ἡμέπῃσι ἀροθανόντων νηρενθέως ἀνέτλη. εὐδίης γὰπ εἴχετο, ἐξ ἧς ρολλὸν ὤνητο κατὰ ρᾶσαν ἡμέπην εἰς εὐροτμίην καὶ ἀνωδυνίην καὶ τὴν ἐν τοῖσι ρολλοῖσι δόξαν. ρᾶς γάπ τίς μιν ὁπῶν τὰ ἑωυτοῦ ρένθεα ἐππωμένως φέποντα μεγαλόφπονά τε καὶ ἀνδπεῖον ἐδόκει εἶναι καὶ ἑωυτοῦ κρείσσω, κάρτα εἰδὼς τὴν ἑωυτοῦ ἐν τοιοῖσδε πράγμασι ἀμηχανίην¹ (from (?) περὶ τῶν οὐκ ὀρθῶς τοῖς ἀνθρώποις πρασσομένων ap. Plut. Consol. ad Apoll. 33. 118E-F. The subject is the fortitude of Pericles on hearing of the death of his two sons, Paralus and Xanthippus).

The περὶ φιλοτιμίας is known only from Diogenes' catalogue (IX. 55).

C. Political

Of the περὶ πολιτείας nothing (so far as is known) survives.

4. ἦν γάρ ποτε χρόνος—κτείνειν ὡς ϝόσον πόλεως (from (?) περὶ τῆς ἐν ἀρχῆ̣ καταστάσεως ap. Pl. Prot. 320C322D.

D. Grammatical

Of the περὶ ὀρθοεπείας (mentioned in Pl. Phaedr. 267C) nothing remains.

E. Rhetorical

5. (?) δύο λόγοι εἰσὶ περὶ παντὸς πράγματος ἀντικείμενοι ἀλλήλοις (from the ἀντιλογιῶν δύο ap. Diog. Laert. IX. 51).

6. τὸν ἥττω λόγον κρείττω ποιεῖν (from the τέχνη ἐριστικῶν ap. Ar. Rhet. 11. 24, p. 1402^a. 23).

The δίκη ὑπὲρ μισθοῦ (Diog. Laert. IX. 55) and the ‘rerum illustrium disputationes, quae nunc communes appellantur loci’ (Cic. Brut. 46) have apparently left no trace.

F. Various

7. φύσεως καὶ ἀσκήσεως διδασκαλία δεῖται, καὶ ἀπὸ ϝεότητος δὲ ἀρξαμένους δεῖ μανθάνειν (from the μέγας λόγος—probably identical with the Προστακτικός: see Cramer, Anecdot. Paris, 1, 171).

8. [Πρωταγόρας ἔλεγε] μηδὲν εἶναι μήτε τέχνην ἄνευ μελέτης μήτε μελέτην ἄνευ τέχνης² (perhaps from the same, ap. Stob. Flor. 29. 80).

Another fragment, probably from the same work, is quoted by J. Gildermeister and F. Bücheler from a Syriac translation of Plutarch's περὶ ἀσκήσεως (Rhein. Mus. XXVII, 1872, 526). The original perhaps ran:

9. οὐ βλαστάνει παιδεία ἐν τῆ̣ ψυχῆ̣, ἐὰν μή τις εἰς βυθὸν ἔλθη̣.

Of the περὶ μαθημάτων, and the περὶ τεχνῶν (of which perhaps the περὶ πάλης was a part) nothing (so far as is certainly known) survives. Gomperz's ingenious and learned attempt³ to prove that the ‘Defence of Medicine’ which under the title of περὶ τέχνης appears in the collection of Hippocratean works⁴ was written by Protagoras and belongs to the treatise περὶ τεχνῶν has not, as yet, commended itself to critics.⁵