[127] Plato, Protag. p. 360 D. οὐκέτι ἐνταῦθα οὔτ’ ἐπινεῦσαι ἠθέλησεν, ἐσίγα τε.
[128] Plato, Protag. p. 360-361. Οὔτοι ἄλλου ἕνεκα ἐρωτῶ πάντα ταῦτα, ἢ σκέψασθαι βουλόμενος πῶς ποτ’ ἔχει τὰ περὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς, καὶ τί ποτ’ ἐστὶν αὐτὸ ἡ ἀρετή. Οἶδα γὰρ ὅτι τούτου φανεροῦ γενομένου μάλιστ’ ἂν κατάδηλον γένοιτο ἐκεῖνο, περὶ οὖ ἐγώ τε καὶ σὺ μακρὸν λόγον ἑκάτερος ἀπετείναμεν, ἐγὼ μὲν λέγων, ὡς οὐ διδακτὸν ἀρετή, σὺ δ’, ὡς διδακτόν.
[129] Plato, Protag. p. 361 C. ἐγὼ οὖν πάντα ταῦτα καθορῶν ἄνω κάτω ταραττόμενα δεινῶς, πᾶσαν προθυμίαν ἔχω καταφανῆ αὐτὰ γενέσθαι, καὶ βουλοίμην ἂν ταῦτα διεξελθόντας ἡμᾶς ἐξελθεῖν καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρετὴν ὅ τι ἔστιν.
[130] Plato, Protag. p. 361 D. προμηθούμενος ὑπὲρ τοῦ βίου τοῦ ἐμαυτοῦ παντός.
Remarks on the dialogue. It closes without the least allusion to Hippokrates.
Such is the end of this long and interesting dialogue.[131] We remark with some surprise that it closes without any mention of Hippokrates, and without a word addressed to him respecting his anxious request for admission to the society of Protagoras: though such request had been presented at the beginning, with much emphasis, as the sole motive for the intervention of Sokrates. Upon this point[132] the dialogue is open to the same criticism as that which Plato (in the Phædrus) bestows on the discourse of Lysias: requiring that every discourse shall be like a living organism, neither headless nor footless, but having extremities and a middle piece adapted to each other.
[131] Most critics treat the Protagoras as a composition of Plato’s younger years — what they call his first period — before the death of Sokrates. They fix different years, from 407 B.C. (Ast) down to 402 B.C. I do not agree with this view. I can admit no dialogue earlier than 399 B.C.: and I consider the Protagoras to belong to Plato’s full maturity.
[132] Plato, Phædrus, p. 264 C. δεῖν πάντα λόγον ὥσπερ ζῶον συνεστάναι, σῶμά τι ἔχοντα αὐτὸν αὑτοῦ, ὤστε μήτε ἀκέφαλον εἶναι μήτε ἄπουν, &c.
Two distinct aspects of ethics and politics exhibited: one under the name of Protagoras; the other, under that of Sokrates.