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which he says himself, but for saying something different from himself.
Pittacus does not say as Simonides says, that hardly can a man become good,
but hardly can a man be good: and our friend Prodicus would maintain that
being, Protagoras, is not the same as becoming; and if they are not the same,
then Simonides is not inconsistent with himself. I dare say that Prodicus and
many others would say, as Hesiod says,
‘On the one hand, hardly can a man become good, For the gods have made
virtue the reward of toil, But on the other hand, when you have climbed the
height, Then, to retain virtue, however difficult the acquisition, is easy (Works
and Days).’
Prodicus heard and approved; but Protagoras said: Your correction,
Socrates, involves a greater error than is contained in the sentence which you
are correcting.
Alas! I said, Protagoras; then I am a sorry physician, and do but aggravate a
disorder which I am seeking to cure.
Such is the fact, he said.
How so? I asked.
The poet, he replied, could never have made such a mistake as to say that
virtue, which in the opinion of all men is the hardest of all things, can be
easily retained.
Well, I said, and how fortunate are we in having Prodicus among us, at the
right moment; for he has a wisdom, Protagoras, which, as I imagine, is more
than human and of very ancient date, and may be as old as Simonides or even
older. Learned as you are in many things, you appear to know nothing of this;
but I know, for I am a disciple of his. And now, if I am not mistaken, you do
not understand the word ‘hard’ (chalepon) in the sense which Simonides
intended; and I must correct you, as Prodicus corrects me when I use the word
‘awful’ (deinon) as a term of praise. If I say that Protagoras or any one else is
an ‘awfully’ wise man, he asks me if I am not ashamed of calling that which
is good ‘awful’; and then he explains to me that the term ‘awful’ is always
taken in a bad sense, and that no one speaks of being ‘awfully’ healthy or
wealthy, or of ‘awful’ peace, but of ‘awful’ disease, ‘awful’ war, ‘awful’
poverty, meaning by the term ‘awful,’ evil. And I think that Simonides and his
countrymen the Ceans, when they spoke of ‘hard’ meant ‘evil,’ or something
which you do not understand. Let us ask Prodicus, for he ought to be able to
answer questions about the dialect of Simonides. What did he mean, Prodicus,
by the term ‘hard’?
Evil, said Prodicus.
275
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book The Complete Plato"
The Complete Plato
- Title
- The Complete Plato
- Author
- Plato
- Date
- ~347 B.C.
- Language
- English
- License
- PD
- Size
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Pages
- 1612
- Keywords
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Categories
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International