[186] Dio Cassius, 71. 35. 2, παμπληθεῖς φιλοσοφεῖν ἐπλάττοντο ἵν’ ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ πλουτίζωνται.
[187] For example, the father of Herodes Atticus gave Scopelianus a fee of twenty-five talents, to which Atticus himself added another twenty-five: Philostr. V. S. 1. 21. 7, p. 222.
[188] Dio Chrysost. Orat. xxxii. p. 403: so Seneca, Epist. 29, says of them, “philosophiam honestius neglexissent quam vendunt:” Maximus of Tyre, Diss. 33. 8, ἀγορὰ πρόκειται ἀρετῆς, ὤνιον τὸ πρᾶγμα.
[189] Orat. xxiii. p. 351. The whole speech is a plea against the disrepute into which the profession had fallen.
[190] ap. Aul. Gell. 5. 1. 1.
[191] De audiendo, 12, p. 43.
[192] It is clear that the word “sophist” had under the Early Empire, as in both earlier and later times, two separate streams of meaning. It was used as a title of honour, e.g. Lucian, Rhet. Præc. 1, τὸ σεμνότατον τοῦτο καὶ πάντιμον ὄνομα σοφιστής; Philostr. V. S. 2. 31. 1, when Ælian was addressed as σοφιστής, he was not elated ὑπὸ τοῦ ὀνόματος οὕτω μεγάλου ὄντος; Eunap. Vit. Liban. p. 100, when emperors offered Libanius great titles and dignities, he refused them, φήσας τὸν σοφιστὴν εἶναι μείζονα. But the disparagement of the class to whom the word was applied runs through a large number of writers, e.g. Dio Chrys. Orat. iv. vol. i. 70, ἀγνοοῦντι καὶ ἀλαζόνι σοφιστῇ; ib. viii. vol. i 151, they croak like frogs in a marsh; ib. x. vol. i. 166, they are the wretchedest of men, because, though ignorant, they think themselves wise; ib. xii. vol. i. 214, they are like peacocks, showing off their reputation and the number of their disciples as peacocks do their tails. Epict. Diss. 2. 20. 23; M. Aurel. 1. 16; 6. 30. Lucian, Fugitiv. 10, compares them to hippocentaurs, σύνθετόν τι καὶ μικτὸν ἐν μέσῳ ἀλαζονείας καὶ φιλοσοφίας πλαζόμενον. Maximus Tyr. Diss. 33. 8, τὸ τῶν σοφιστῶν γένος, τὸ πολυμαθὲς τοῦτο καὶ πολυλόγον καὶ πολλῶν μεστὸν μαθημάτων, καπηλεῦον ταῦτα καὶ ἀπεμπολοῦν τοῖς δεομένοις. Among the Christian Fathers, especial reference may be made to Clem. Alex. Strom. 1, chapters 3 and 8, pp. 328, 343.
[193] Epict. Diss. 3. 23.
[194] The functions are clearly separable in the Teaching of the Apostles, 15, αὐτοὶ [sc. ἐπίσκοποι καὶ διάκονοι] γάρ εἰσιν οἱ τετιμημένοι ὑμῶν μετὰ τῶν προφητῶν καὶ διδασκάλων; but they are combined in the second book of the Apostolical Constitutions, pp. 16, 49, 51, 58, 84, ed. Lagarde.
[195] Euseb. H. E. 6. 36. 1.