The means to success emphasized by the Sophists constituted a training in formal oratory and in popular discussion. These were the most assured means to success in that period. This training led to a much greater attention than had ever been paid before to the form and structure of language, both in its oral and written forms, and, in consequence, higher education became almost exclusively literary.

Literary Education.- Ability to speak in public, in defence of one's own rights and in advocacy of personal views on public questions, was expected of all Athenian citizens. The Sophists deliberately proposed to create this ability through instruction. While they devoted most of their time to personal instruction, many of them wrote grammatical and rhetorical treatises, and from them date both these sciences. The efforts of the minor Sophists were largely directed toward clarifying the meaning of words and making more definite the structure of the language. In general their work had the same purpose as the teaching of rhetoric and composition at the present time. For this they were criticised, as were Socrates, Isocrates, Aristotle, Quintilian, and others whose reputations have survived the criticism. Sophistic instruction meant, however, an emphasis on the form of expression rather than on the thought. This distinction coincided with a further general one that arose under the influence of Socrates. The rhetorical education was largely a preparation for practical life, and was dominated chiefly by the hope of success or gain on the part of the individual. As opposed to this there was the tendency to investigate for the sake of truth itself, and in so doing to pursue a life that had little direct connection with the activities of the

public, and that offered little opportunity for achieving success with, or reward from, the public. The method best adapted to such pursuits was the dialectic or conversational method of Socrates. Hence the general tendency popularly represented by the Sophists, divided by the opening of the fourth century into two distinct branches. One was the rhetorical education, that aimed to prepare for practical life, that was chiefly grammatical and rhetorical in its subject-matter, and that depended upon formal instruction of the lecture type for its method; the other was the philosophical, that had little or no connection with practical life, that devoted itself to speculation, to a search for truth in the subjective or thought world, and that was dialectic in its method. Therein lay the first broad distinction between the practical and the liberal education. Both dialectician and rhetorician had been included at first under the term "Sophist." But through the influence of such criticisms as those of Plato, the term "Sophists was limited for the most part to the rhetoricians, while the other group assumed the term "philosophers." To' the former group the philosophers were visionaries, lacking" in public spirit, patriotism, and wisdom in the practical affairs of life. To the latter the rhetoricians, or the Sophists as they prefer to call them, were selfish, incapable of seeing or appreciating the truth, and concerned in seeking their own advancement at the expense of the public welfare. Each appeared to the other as the corrupters of youth; to the conservative public both appeared in this light. The work of the two groups was largely responsible for that versatility of mind that gave to the Greek the intellectual and literary leadership of all times. To the influence of both was due as well the culmination of the

F

The occa

sion for

resort to

Sophists' teachings.

political decline and the rejection of the old religious and social ideals. On the other hand, it cannot be doubted that the germs of moral decay were inherent in classical society, and that they are discoverable long before the time of the Sophists. Education in Greece now became almost wholly literary and soon took the form it retained through the Græco-Roman period.

(SCENE

Selections from The Clouds of Aristophanes

the interior of a sleeping apartment; STREPSIADES, PHIDIPPIDES, and two servants are seen in their beds; a small house is seen at a distance. Time - midnight.)

Strepsiades, formerly a wealthy country gentleman, without culture, has married out of his station to a luxury-loving Athenian woman. Their son, Phidippides, has squandered much of his father's fortune in horse racing and other extravagances. Anxiety concerning some of these debts, now due, causes the father a sleepless night. The son dreams of his racing and in his sleep talks of his sporting friends. The comedy opens with the lamentations of the father and the broken mutterings of the son.

(75-152.)

STREP. I have discovered one path for my course extraordinarily excellent; to which if I persuade this youth, I shall be saved. But first I wish to awake him. How then can I awake him in the most agreeable manner? How? Phidippides, my little Phidippides?

PHID. What, father?

STREP. Kiss me, and give me your right hand!

PHID. There. What's the matter?

STREP. Tell me, do you love me?

PHID. Yes, by this Equestrian Neptune.1

STREP. Nay, do not by any means mention this Equestrian to me, for this god is the author of my misfortunes. But, if you really love me from your heart, my son, obey me.

1 Patron god of his favorite sport. Probably represented in the bedchamber by a statue.

PHID. In what, then, pray, shall I obey you?

STREP. Reform your habits as quickly as possible; and go and learn what I advise.

PHID. Tell me now, what do you prescribe?

STREP. And will you obey me at all?

PHID. By Bacchus, I will obey you.

STREP. Look this way, then! Do you see this little door and little house?

PHID. I see it.

STREP. This is dwell men who in

What then, pray, is this, father?

a thinking-shop 1 of wise spirits. There speaking of the heavens persuade peo

ple that it is an oven, and that it encompasses us, and that we are the embers. These men teach, if one give them

money, to conquer in speaking, right or wrong.

PHID. Who are they?

STREP. I do not know the name accurately. They are minute-philosophers, noble and excellent.

PHID. Bah! they are rogues; I know them. You mean the quacks, the pale-faced wretches, the bare-footed fellows, of whose number are the miserable Socrates and Chærephon.2

STREP. Hold! hold! be silent! Do not say anything foolish. But, if you have any concern for your father's patrimony, become one of them, having given up your horsemanship.

PHID. I would not, by Bacchus, if even you were to give me the pheasants which Leogoras rears!

STREP. Go, I entreat you, dearest of men, go and be taught.

PHID. Why, what shall I learn?

STREP. They say, that among them are both the two causes, the better cause, whichever that is, and the worse: they say, that the one of these two causes, the worse, prevails, though it speaks on the unjust side. If therefore you learn for me this unjust cause, I would not pay to any

1 Or subtlety-shop.

2 "A hanger-on of the philosopher, and appears to have been laughed at even by his fellow-scholars for the mad extremes to which he carried his reverential attachment.”

-WALSH.

* Reference to another extravagant taste of wealthy Athenians. Leogoras was noted for the luxury and dissipation in which he wasted his property.

The

Sophists' school

one, not even an obolous of these debts, which I owe at present on your account.

PHID. I cannot comply; for I should not dare to look upon the Knights, having lost all my colour.

STREP. Then, by Ceres, you shall not eat any of my goods! neither you, nor your draught-horse, nor your blood-horse; but I will drive you out of my house to the crows.

PHID. My uncle Megacles will not permit me to be without a horse. But I'll go in, and pay no heed to you. [Exit PHIDIPPIDES. STREP. Though fallen, still I will not lie prostrate: but having prayed to the gods, I will go myself to the thinkingcaricatured. shop and get taught. How then, being an old man, and having a bad memory, and dull of comprehension, shall I learn the subtleties of refined disquisitions?—I must go. Why thus do I loiter and not knock at the door? [Knocks at the door.] Boy! little boy!

DIS. [from within]. Go to the devil! Who is it that knocked at the door?

STREP. Strepsiades, the son of Phidon, of Cicynna.1

Dis. You are a stupid fellow, by Jove! who have kicked against the door so very carelessly, and have caused the mis-carriage 2 of an idea which I had conceived.

STREP. Pardon me; for I dwell afar in the country. But tell me the thing which has been made to miscarry. Dis. It is not lawful to mention it, except to disciples. STREP. Tell it, then, to me without fear; for I here am come as a disciple to the thinking-shop.

Dis. I will tell you; but you must regard these as mysteries. Socrates lately asked Chærephon about a flea, how many of its own feet it jumped; for after having bit the eyebrow of Chærephon, it leapt away on to the head of Socrates.

STREP. How, then, did he measure this?

DIS. Most cleverly. He melted some wax, and then took the flea and dipped its feet in the wax; and then a

1 Strepsiades gives name, paternity, and deme (native place), as was required in judicial proceedings, thus adding to the serio-comic aspect.

2 Referring to Socrates' characterization of himself as an intellectual midwife.