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