Among the sophists whom Isokratês severely criticizes, he evidently seems to include Plato, as may be seen by the contrast between δόξα and ἐπιστήμη, which he particularly notes, and which is so conspicuously set forth in the Platonic writings (Isokratês cont. Sophistas, Or. xiii, p. 293; also p. 295). We know also that Lysias called both Plato and Æschinês the disciple of Sokratês, by the name of sophists (Aristeidês, Orat. Platonic. xlvi, Ὑπὲρ τῶν τεττάρων, p. 407, vol. ii, ed. Dindorf). Aristeidês remarks justly that the name sophist was a general name, including all the philosophers, teachers, and lettered men.
The general name, sophists, in fact, included good, bad, and indifferent; like “the philosophers, the political economists, the metaphysicians,” etc. I shall take a future opportunity of examining the indiscriminate censures against them as a class, which most modern writers have copied implicitly from the polemics of ancient times.
[722] Xenoph. Memor. i, 2, 31. λόγων τέχνην μὴ διδάσκειν. Xenophon ascribes the passing of this law to a personal hatred of Kritias against Sokratês, and connects it with an anecdote exceedingly puerile, when considered as the alleged cause of that hatred, as well as of the consequent law. But it is evident that the law had a far deeper meaning, and was aimed directly at one of the prominent democratical habits.
[723] Thucyd. viii, 67. Compare a curious passage, even in reference to the time of Demosthenês, in the speech of that orator contra Bœotum de Nomine, c. 5. καὶ εἰ μισθὸς ἐπορίσθη τοῖς δικαστηρίοις, εἰσῆγον ἂν με δῆλον ὅτι, etc.
Transcriber's note
- The book cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
- Footnotes have been renumbered and moved to the end of the book.
- Blank pages have been skipped.
- Obvious printer errors have been silently corrected, after comparison with a later edition of this work. Greek text has also been corrected after checking with this later edition and with Perseus, when the reference was found.
- Original spelling, hyphenation and punctuation have been kept, but variant spellings were made consistent when a predominant usage was found.
- Nevetherless, no attempt has been made at normalizing proper names (i.e. Ægæan and Ægean, Æschines and Æschinês, Alkibiades and Alkibiadês, Andokides and Andokidês, Aristeides and Aristeidês, Boedromion and Boëdromion, Chalkiœkos and Chalkiœkus, Deinomenes and Deinomenês, Deïphonus and Dêiphonus, Demosthenes and Demosthenês, Inaros and Inarôs, Isokrates and Isokratês, Kephallenia and Kephallênia, Miltiades and Miltiadês, Mykenæ and Mykênæ, Pegæ and Pêgæ, Sestus and Sestos, Thucydides and Thucydidês, Xenophon and Xenophôn, etc.). The author established at the beginning of the first volume of this work some rules of transcription for proper names, but neither he nor his publisher follow them consistently.