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Well, my friend, I have reflected.
And does not the poet proceed to say, ‘I do not agree with the word of
Pittacus, albeit the utterance of a wise man: Hardly can a man be good’? Now
you will observe that this is said by the same poet.
I know it.
And do you think, he said, that the two sayings are consistent?
Yes, I said, I think so (at the same time I could not help fearing that there
might be something in what he said). And you think otherwise?
Why, he said, how can he be consistent in both? First of all, premising as
his own thought, ‘Hardly can a man become truly good’; and then a little
further on in the poem, forgetting, and blaming Pittacus and refusing to agree
with him, when he says, ‘Hardly can a man be good,’ which is the very same
thing. And yet when he blames him who says the same with himself, he
blames himself; so that he must be wrong either in his first or his second
assertion.
Many of the audience cheered and applauded this. And I felt at first giddy
and faint, as if I had received a blow from the hand of an expert boxer, when I
heard his words and the sound of the cheering; and to confess the truth, I
wanted to get time to think what the meaning of the poet really was. So I
turned to Prodicus and called him. Prodicus, I said, Simonides is a
countryman of yours, and you ought to come to his aid. I must appeal to you,
like the river Scamander in Homer, who, when beleaguered by Achilles,
summons the Simois to aid him, saying:
‘Brother dear, let us both together stay the force of the hero (Il.).’
And I summon you, for I am afraid that Protagoras will make an end of
Simonides. Now is the time to rehabilitate Simonides, by the application of
your philosophy of synonyms, which enables you to distinguish ‘will’ and
‘wish,’ and make other charming distinctions like those which you drew just
now. And I should like to know whether you would agree with me; for I am of
opinion that there is no contradiction in the words of Simonides. And first of
all I wish that you would say whether, in your opinion, Prodicus, ‘being’ is the
same as ‘becoming.’
Not the same, certainly, replied Prodicus.
Did not Simonides first set forth, as his own view, that ‘Hardly can a man
become truly good’?
Quite right, said Prodicus.
And then he blames Pittacus, not, as Protagoras imagines, for repeating that
274
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Buch The Complete Plato"
The Complete Plato
- Titel
- The Complete Plato
- Autor
- Plato
- Datum
- ~347 B.C.
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- PD
- Abmessungen
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Seiten
- 1612
- Schlagwörter
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Kategorien
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International