Page - 276 - in The Complete Plato
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And therefore, I said, Prodicus, he blames Pittacus for saying, ‘Hard is the
good,’ just as if that were equivalent to saying, Evil is the good.
Yes, he said, that was certainly his meaning; and he is twitting Pittacus with
ignorance of the use of terms, which in a Lesbian, who has been accustomed
to speak a barbarous language, is natural.
Do you hear, Protagoras, I asked, what our friend Prodicus is saying? And
have you an answer for him?
You are entirely mistaken, Prodicus, said Protagoras; and I know very well
that Simonides in using the word ‘hard’ meant what all of us mean, not evil,
but that which is not easy—that which takes a great deal of trouble: of this I
am positive.
I said: I also incline to believe, Protagoras, that this was the meaning of
Simonides, of which our friend Prodicus was very well aware, but he thought
that he would make fun, and try if you could maintain your thesis; for that
Simonides could never have meant the other is clearly proved by the context,
in which he says that God only has this gift. Now he cannot surely mean to
say that to be good is evil, when he afterwards proceeds to say that God only
has this gift, and that this is the attribute of him and of no other. For if this be
his meaning, Prodicus would impute to Simonides a character of recklessness
which is very unlike his countrymen. And I should like to tell you, I said,
what I imagine to be the real meaning of Simonides in this poem, if you will
test what, in your way of speaking, would be called my skill in poetry; or if
you would rather, I will be the listener.
To this proposal Protagoras replied: As you please;—and Hippias,
Prodicus, and the others told me by all means to do as I proposed.
Then now, I said, I will endeavour to explain to you my opinion about this
poem of Simonides. There is a very ancient philosophy which is more
cultivated in Crete and Lacedaemon than in any other part of Hellas, and there
are more philosophers in those countries than anywhere else in the world.
This, however, is a secret which the Lacedaemonians deny; and they pretend
to be ignorant, just because they do not wish to have it thought that they rule
the world by wisdom, like the Sophists of whom Protagoras was speaking,
and not by valour of arms; considering that if the reason of their superiority
were disclosed, all men would be practising their wisdom. And this secret of
theirs has never been discovered by the imitators of Lacedaemonian fashions
in other cities, who go about with their ears bruised in imitation of them, and
have the caestus bound on their arms, and are always in training, and wear
short cloaks; for they imagine that these are the practices which have enabled
the Lacedaemonians to conquer the other Hellenes. Now when the
276
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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