protagoras   

discussion which had arisen between us as we were going along; and

we stood talking in the vestibule until we had finished and come to an

understanding. And I think that the doorkeeper, who was a eunuch,

and who was probably annoyed at the great inroad of the Sophists, must

have heard us talking. At any rate, when we knocked at the door, and

he opened and saw us, he grumbled: They are Sophists -he is not at

home; and instantly gave the door a hearty bang with both his hands.

Again we knocked, and he answered without opening: Did you not hear me

say that he is not at home, fellows? But, my friend, I said, you

need not be alarmed; for we are not Sophists, and we are not come to

see Callias, but we want to see Protagoras; and I must request you

to announce us. At last, after a good deal of difficulty, the man

was persuaded to open the door.

When we entered, we found Protagoras taking a walk in the

cloister; and next to him, on one side, were walking Callias, the

son of Hipponicus, and Paralus, the son of Pericles, who, by the

mother's side, is his half-brother, and Charmides, the son of Glaucon.

On the other side of him were Xanthippus, the other son of Pericles,

Philippides, the son of Philomelus; also Antimoerus of Mende, who of

all the disciples of Protagoras is the most famous, and intends to

make sophistry his profession. A train of listeners followed him;

the greater part of them appeared to be foreigners, whom Protagoras

had brought with him out of the various cities visited by him in his

journeys, he, like Orpheus, attracting them his voice, and they

following. I should mention also that there were some Athenians in the

company. Nothing delighted me more than the precision of their

movements: they never got into his way at all; but when he and those

who were with him turned back, then the band of listeners parted

regularly on either side; he was always in front, and they wheeled

round and took their places behind him in perfect order.

After him, as Homer says, "I lifted up my eyes and saw" Hippias

the Elean sitting in the opposite cloister on a chair of state, and