Chapter LXVII

THE DRAMA.—RHETORIC AND DIALECTICS.—THE SOPHISTS.

Athens immediately after Eukleidês—political history
little known.—Extraordinary development of dramatic
genius.—Gradual enlargement of tragedy.—Abundance of new
tragedy at Athens.—Accessibility of the theatre to the
poorest citizens.—Theôrikon, or festival-pay.—Effect of
the tragedies on the public mind of Athens.—Æschylus,
Sophoklês, and Euripidês—modifications of tragedy.—Popularity
arising from expenditure of money on the festivals.—Growth
and development of comedy at Athens.—Comic poets before
Aristophanês—Kratinus, etc.—Exposure of citizens by name
in comedy—forbidden for a time—then renewed—Kratês and the
milder comedy.—Aristophanês.—Comedy in its effect on the
Athenian mind.—Mistaken estimate of the comic writers,
as good witnesses or just critics.—Aversion of Solon to
the drama when nascent.—Dramatic poetry as compared with
the former kinds of poetry.—Ethical sentiment, interest,
and debate, infused into the drama.—The drama formed the
stage of transition to rhetoric, dialectics, and ethical
philosophy.—Practical value and necessity of rhetorical
accomplishments.—Rhetoric and dialectics.—Empedoklês of
Agrigentum—first name in the rhetorical movement.—Zeno
of Elea—first name in the dialectical movement.—Eleatic
school—Parmenidês.—Zeno and Melissus—their dialectic attacks
upon the opponents of Parmenidês.—Zeno at Athens—his
conversation both with Periklês and with Sokratês.—Early
manifestation, and powerful efficacy, of the negative arm
in Grecian philosophy.—Rhetoric and dialectics—men of
active life and men of speculation—two separate lines of
intellectual activity.—Standing antithesis between these
two intellectual classes—vein of ignorance at Athens,
hostile to both.—Gradual enlargement of the field of
education at Athens—increased knowledge and capacity of the
musical teachers.—The sophists—true Greek meaning of that
word—invidious sentiment implied in it.—The name sophist
applied by Plato in a peculiar sense, in his polemics against
the eminent paid teachers.—Misconceptions arising from
Plato’s peculiar use of the word sophist.—Paid teachers or
sophists of the Sokratic age—Protagoras, Gorgias, etc.—Plato
and the sophists—two different points of view—the reformer
and theorist against the practical teacher.—The sophists
were professional teachers for active life, like Isokratês
and Quintilian.—Misinterpretations of the dialogues of
Plato as carrying evidence against the sophists.—The
sophists as paid teachers—no proof that they were greedy
or exorbitant—proceeding of Protagoras.—The sophists as
rhetorical teachers—groundless accusations against them in
that capacity, made also against Sokratês, Isokratês, and
others.—Thrasymachus—his rhetorical precepts.—Prodikus—his
discrimination of words analogous in meaning.—Protagoras—his
treatise on Truth—his opinions about the pagan gods.—His view
of the cognitive process and its relative nature.—Gorgias—his
treatise on physical subjects—misrepresentations of the scope
of it.—Unfounded accusations against the sophists.—They
were not a sect or school, with common doctrines or
method; they were a profession, with strong individual
peculiarities.—The Athenian character was not really
corrupted, between 480 B.C. and 405 B.C.—Prodikus—The
choice of Hercules.—Protagoras—real estimate exhibited of
him by Plato.—Hippias of Elis—how he is represented by
Plato.—Gorgias, Pôlus, and Kalliklês.—Doctrine advanced by
Pôlus.—Doctrine advanced by Kalliklês—anti-social.—Kalliklês
is not a sophist.—The doctrine put into his mouth could
never have been laid down in any public lecture among the
Athenians.—Doctrine of Thrasymachus in the “Republic” of
Plato.—Such doctrine not common to all the sophists—what
is offensive in it is, the manner in which it is put
forward.—Opinion of Thrasymachus afterwards brought out
by Glaukon—with less brutality, and much greater force of
reason.—Plato against the sophists generally. His category
of accusation comprehends all society, with all the poets
and statesmen.—It is unjust to try either the sophists or
the statesmen of Athens, by the standard of Plato.—Plato
distinctly denies that Athenian corruption was to be
imputed to the sophists.—The sophists were not teachers
of mere words, apart from action.—General good effect of
their teaching upon the youth.—Great reputation of the
sophists—evidence of respect for intellect and of a good
state of public sentiment. 317-399