protagoras   

others would say, as Hesiod says,



On the one hand, hardly can a man become good,

For the gods have made virtue the reward of toil,

But on the other hand, when you have climbed the height,

Then, to retain virtue, however difficult the acquisition, is easy.



Prodicus heard and approved; but Protagoras said: Your correction,

Socrates, involves a greater error than is contained in the sentence

which you are correcting.

Alas! I said, Protagoras; then I am a sorry physician, and do but

aggravate a disorder which I am seeking to cure.

Such is the fact, he said.

How so? I asked.

The poet, he replied, could never have made such a mistake as to say

that virtue, which in the opinion of all men is the hardest of all

things, can be easily retained.

Well, I said, and how fortunate are we in having Prodicus among

us, at the right moment; for he has a wisdom, Protagoras, which, as

I imagine, is more than human and of very ancient date, and may be

as old as Simonides or even older. Learned as you are in many

things, you appear to know nothing of this; but I know, for I am a

disciple of his. And now, if I am not mistaken, you do not

understand the word "hard" (chalepon) in the sense which Simonides

intended; and I must correct you, as Prodicus corrects me when I use

the word "awful" (deinon) as a term of praise. If I say that

Protagoras or any one else is an "awfully" wise man, he asks me if I

am not ashamed of calling that which is good "awful"; and then he

explains to me that the term "awful" is always taken in a bad sense,

and that no one speaks of being "awfully" healthy or wealthy, or

"awful" peace, but of "awful" disease, "awful" war, "awful" poverty,

meaning by the term "awful," evil. And I think that Simonides and