Plato, Protagoras, ed. John Burnet, 352

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[352] 352 352a

ΣΩ.

ἆρʼ οὖν, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ, τῇδέ πῃ καταφανὲς ἂν ἡμῖν γένοιτο; ὥσπερ εἴ τις ἄνθρωπον σκοπῶν ἐκ τοῦ εἴδους ἢ πρὸς ὑγίειαν ἢ πρὸς ἄλλο τι τῶν τοῦ σώματος ἔργων, ἰδὼν τὸ πρόσωπον καὶ τὰς χεῖρας ἄκρας εἴποι· ἴθι δή μοι ἀποκαλύψας καὶ τὰ στήθη καὶ τὸ μετάφρενον ἐπίδειξον, ἵνα ἐπισκέψωμαι σαφέστερον, καὶ ἐγὼ τοιοῦτόν τι ποθῶ πρὸς τὴν σκέψιν· θεασάμενος ὅτι οὕτως ἔχεις πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὸ ἡδὺ ὡς φῄς, δέομαι τοιοῦτόν τι εἰπεῖν· ἴθι δή μοι, ὦ Πρωταγόρα, 352b καὶ τόδε τῆς διανοίας ἀποκάλυψον· πῶς ἔχεις πρὸς ἐπιστήμην; πότερον καὶ τοῦτό σοι δοκεῖ ὥσπερ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ἢ ἄλλως; δοκεῖ δὲ τοῖς πολλοῖς περὶ ἐπιστήμης τοιοῦτόν τι, οὐκ ἰσχυρὸν οὐδʼ ἡγεμονικὸν οὐδʼ ἀρχικὸν εἶναι· οὐδὲ ὡς περὶ τοιούτου αὐτοῦ ὄντος διανοοῦνται, ἀλλʼ ἐνούσης πολλάκις ἀνθρώπῳ ἐπιστήμης οὐ τὴν ἐπιστήμην αὐτοῦ ἄρχειν ἀλλʼ ἄλλο τι, τοτὲ μὲν θυμόν, τοτὲ δὲ ἡδονήν, τοτὲ δὲ λύπην, ἐνίοτε δὲ ἔρωτα, πολλάκις δὲ φόβον, ἀτεχνῶς 352c διανοούμενοι περὶ τῆς ἐπιστήμης ὥσπερ περὶ ἀνδραπόδου, περιελκομένης ὑπὸ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων. ἆρʼ οὖν καὶ σοὶ τοιοῦτόν τι περὶ αὐτῆς δοκεῖ, ἢ καλόν τε εἶναι ἡ ἐπιστήμη καὶ οἷον ἄρχειν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, καὶ ἐάνπερ γιγνώσκῃ τις τἀγαθὰ καὶ τὰ κακά, μὴ ἂν κρατηθῆναι ὑπὸ μηδενὸς ὥστε ἄλλʼ ἄττα πράττειν ἢ ἃν ἐπιστήμη κελεύῃ, ἀλλʼ ἱκανὴν εἶναι τὴν φρόνησιν βοηθεῖν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ;
καὶ δοκεῖ, ἔφη, ὥσπερ σὺ λέγεις, ὦ Σώκρατες, καὶ ἅμα, 352d εἴπερ τῳ ἄλλῳ, αἰσχρόν ἐστι καὶ ἐμοὶ σοφίαν καὶ ἐπιστήμην μὴ οὐχὶ πάντων κράτιστον φάναι εἶναι τῶν ἀνθρωπείων πραγμάτων.
καλῶς γε, ἔφην ἐγώ, σὺ λέγων καὶ ἀληθῆ. οἶσθα οὖν ὅτι οἱ πολλοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐμοί τε καὶ σοὶ οὐ πείθονται, ἀλλὰ πολλούς φασι γιγνώσκοντας τὰ βέλτιστα οὐκ ἐθέλειν πράττειν, ἐξὸν αὐτοῖς, ἀλλὰ ἄλλα πράττειν· καὶ ὅσους δὴ ἐγὼ ἠρόμην ὅτι ποτε αἴτιόν ἐστι τούτου, ὑπὸ ἡδονῆς φασιν 352e ἡττωμένους ἢ λύπης ἢ ὧν νυνδὴ ἐγὼ ἔλεγον ὑπό τινος τούτων κρατουμένους ταῦτα ποιεῖν τοὺς ποιοῦντας.
πολλὰ γὰρ οἶμαι, ἔφη, ὦ Σώκρατες, καὶ ἄλλα οὐκ ὀρθῶς λέγουσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι.

Protagoras. Plato. ed. John Burnet. Oxford. 1903.

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Current edition Perseus

Πρωταγόρας (Greek) (Platonis Opera, Tomus III: Tetralogia V-VII. Burnet, John, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903.)

Translations (1)

Protagoras Perseus (Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 2. Lamb, W.R.M., translator. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1924 (printing).) — 352 focus

Soc.

Well then, 352a I proceeded, will the following example give us the light we need? Just as, in estimating a man’s health or bodily efficiency by his appearance, one might look at his face and the lower part of his arms and say: Come now, uncover your chest too and your back and show them, that I may examine you thoroughly—so the same sort of desire comes over me in regard to our inquiry. Observing your condition to be as you describe in respect of the good and the pleasant, I am fain to say something like this: Come, my good Protagoras, uncover some more of your thoughts: 352b how are you in regard to knowledge? Do you share the view that most people take of this, or have you some other? The opinion generally held of knowledge is something of this sort—that it is no strong or guiding or governing thing; it is not regarded as anything of that kind, but people think that, while a man often has knowledge in him, he is not governed by it, but by something else—now by passion, now by pleasure, now by pain, at times by love, and often by fear; their feeling about knowledge 352c is just what they have about a slave, that it may be dragged about by any other force. Now do you agree with this view of it, or do you consider that knowledge is something noble and able to govern man, and that whoever learns what is good and what is bad will never be swayed by anything to act otherwise than as knowledge bids, and that intelligence is a sufficient succor for mankind?
My view, Socrates, he replied, is precisely that which you express, 352d and what is more, it would be a disgrace for me above all men to assert that wisdom and knowledge were aught but the highest of all human things.
Well and truly spoken, I said. Now you know that most people will not listen to you and me, but say that many, while knowing what is best, refuse to perform it, though they have the power, and do other things instead. And whenever I have asked them to tell me what can be the reason of this, they say that those who act so are acting under the influence of pleasure or pain, 352e or under the control of one of the things I have just mentioned.
Yes, Socrates, he replied, I regard this as but one of the many erroneous sayings of mankind.

Commentary

Commentary on Plato, Protagoras (Plato. Platonis Protagoras. Adam, James; Adam, Adela Marion, editors. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1921.) focus

ἢ πρὸς ἄλλο τι . It is not of course implied that ὑγίεια is an ἔργον σώματος , i.e. something ὃ σῶμα ἐργάζεται . Examples of σώματος ἔργα would be different kinds of bodily labour. ἢ πρὸς ὑγίειαν κτλ. is equivalent to πῶς ἔχει ἢ πρὸς ὑγίειαν κτλ. : cf. below 352B πῶς ἔχεις πρὸς ἐπιστήμην ;

τὸ πρόσωπον καὶ τὰς χεῖρας ἄκρας : the rest being covered by clothes. χείρ is not hand here (otherwise χεῖρας ἄκρας would be the tips of the fingers), but the arm, as in Homer's φίλας περὶ χεῖρε βαλόντε ( Od. XI. 211 ).

ἐπισκέψωμαι . The word is apt here, as it is often used of a medical inspection: cf. Phaedo, 117E ἐπεσκόπει τοὺς πόδας καὶ τὰ σκέλη. With the whole passage cf. Theaet. 162A ἆρα κἂν εἰς Λακεδαίμονα ἐλθὼν—πρὸς τὰς παλαίστρας ἀξιοῖς ἂν ἄλλους θεώμενος γυμνούς, ἐνίους φαύλους, αὐτὸς μὴ ἀντεπιδεικνύναι τὸ εἶδος παραποδυόμενος ;

θεασάμενος : with the usual asyndeton; see on 330A

καὶ τοῦτο· καίrefers to 351C D.

ἡγεμονικόν : this word was afterwards selected by the Stoics to denote τὸ κυριώτατον τῆς ψυχῆς, ἐν ᾧ αἱ φαντασίαι καὶ αἱ ὁρμαὶ γίνονται (Diog. Laert. VII. 159).

ὡς περὶ τοιούτου αὐτοῦ ὄντος : see on 337E

περὶ τῆς ἐπιστήμης ὥσπερ περί : see the reference in the last note. Aristotle alludes to this passage in Eth. Nic. VII. 2. 1145 b . 23 δεινὸν γὰρ ἐπιστήμης ἐνούσης, ὡς ᾤετο Σωκράτης, ἄλλο τι κρατεῖν καὶ περιέλκειν αὐτὴν ὥσπερ ἀνδράποδον .

ἐάνπερ γιγνώσκῃ—μὴ ἂν κρατηθῆναι : a frequent theme in Plato, e.g. Meno, 77B ff., Gorg. 466D ff., two passages which contain much in common with the discussion in this and the next chapter.

ἢ ἃ ἂν ἡ : the reading of Stephanus; B has ἢ ἃ ἡ , T ἢ ἂν ἡ .

αἰσχρὸν—μὴ οὐχί . Goodwin, M.T. p. 327, § 817. As a σοφιστής himself Protagoras must exalt σοφία .

καλῶς γε σὺ λέγων : sc. φὴ|ς τοῦτο , to be supplied from φάναι .

γιγνώσκοντας τὰ βέλτιστα οὐκ ἐθέλειν πράττειν : ‘video meliora proboque: deteriora sequor.’

ὑπὸ τῶν ἡδονῶν ἡττᾶσθαι is virtually within inverted commas. With καὶ οὐ the sentence which started as a relative clause becomes independent: see note on 313A

Plato Protagoras 352

ed. John Burnet

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