"And you also said that, man being the measure of all things, truth is what he thinks true; good, what he thinks good. There is no truth external to the individual. Did you not?"
"Yes, Socrates; but I am afraid you are giving a sense to my words which they were not intended to convey."
"That is not my object. I wish merely to examine your thought. You incline to cloak it in myths, but you should learn to send truth from you clean and naked, as a trainer sends an athlete into the palæstra. If I offend you, Protagoras, you must forgive me; but I cannot follow an argument which is not direct. Do your words contain my meaning?"
"Yes, Socrates."
"Then you deny all truth except what a man draws out of himself?"
"Yes."
"And a man should not say it is cold. He should say I am cold?"
"Yes; all external things are only what we imagine them to be."
"The same, of course, holds good with regard to truth, virtue, and justice; these things are equally external to the individual. I think that you have said this before, Protagoras, have you not?"
"Yes," said Protagoras.