protagoras   

Many of the audience cheered and applauded this. And I felt at first

giddy and faint, as if I had received a blow from the hand of an

expert boxer, when I heard his words and the sound of the cheering;

and to confess the truth, I wanted to get time to think what the

meaning of the poet really was. So I turned to Prodicus and called

him. Prodicus, I said, Simonides is a countryman of yours, and you

ought to come to his aid. I must appeal to you, like the river

Scamander in Homer, who, when beleaguered by Achilles, summons the

Simois to aid him, saying:



Brother dear, let us both together stay the force of the hero.



And I summon you, for I am afraid that Protagoras will make an end

of Simonides. Now is the time to rehabilitate Simonides, by the

application of your philosophy of synonyms, which enables you to

distinguish "will" and "wish," and make other charming distinctions

like those which you drew just now. And I should like to know

whether you would agree with me; for I am of opinion that there is

no contradiction in the words of Simonides. And first of all I wish

that you would say whether, in your opinion, Prodicus, "being" is

the same as "becoming."

Not the same, certainly, replied Prodicus.

Did not Simonides first set forth, as his own view, that "Hardly can

a man become truly good"?

Quite right, said Prodicus.

And then he blames Pittacus, not, as Protagoras imagines, for

repeating that 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