remain, but the history of Diodorus Siculus (see page 407) contains much material derived from Ephorus. Theopompus, son of Damasistratus, was born at Chios about 380 B. C. When he was a child his father was banished, and Theopompus and his brother CauTheopompus. calus grew up in exile. Their father was rich, however, and gave them a good education. About 360 Theopompus became a pupil of Isocrates, and like Ephorus turned his attention to oratory. This art he practised with great success for many years. His speech in honor of Maussolus won the prize at Halicarnassus. He traveled about, giving lessons in all the chief cities of Greece, and in this way became acquainted with many places, many men, and many political details. He was a friend of the kings of Macedon, and was restored to his native land by Alexander at the age of fifty-five years. After Alexander's death he was expelled from Chios and went first to Ephesus, then to several other cities, and finally to Egypt. The date and place of his death are unknown. Works of The entire works of Theopompus amounted, as he himself said, to seventy thousand lines. About one-eighth of the whole was oratorical, the rest historical. The historical works were an Abridgment of Herodotus, a History of Greece, and the Philippica. The first probably offered little interest; the second, which told in twelve books the history of Greece from 410 to 393 B. C., covering part of the same ground as Xenophon's Hellenica, has left few traces in later literature; the third, which told the history of Greece from 362 B. C. (the year with which Xenophon's Hellenica ends) to the death of Philip in 336, was an important work. The title shows. that Theopompus understood that Philip was the central figure in the history of Greece at this time. Like Ephorus, he inserted many digressions and episodes, descriptions of customs, anecdotes, and even fables. He was interested in the motives of men's actions, and found that they were usually bad. Hence he is criticized for defaming the characters of the kings and statesmen of whom he writes. His political sense seems to have been superior to that of Ephorus, but, like Ephorus, he was deficient in knowledge of military affairs. He was learned and industrious in collecting material, and seems to have been impartial, but his desire for effect in writing interfered somewhat with his trustworthiness. Isocrates said that Ephorus needed the spur and Theopompus the bit. This seems to mean that Theopompus was the more active and vigorous of the two, and what is left of his works shows an energetic and sometimes impassioned style. To this period belong also three writers of Atthides, or works on Attic history and archæology, Clitodemus, Androtion, and Phanodemus. Their works were probably similar to those of Hellanicus but less comprehensive. They were followed by other writers of Atthides in the third century, the most important of whom was Philochorus, about 306 to 260 B. C., a careful investigator, often cited by later writers. Eneas, called Eneas Tacticus, was the author of an extant treatise on the defense of towns, taken from a larger work on strategy written about the middle of the fourth century. The dialect is Attic, and the work contains interesting personal recollections. Perhaps the author is the Æneas of Stymphalus mentioned by Xenophon. CHAPTER XXVI ATTIC PHILOSOPHY-THE SOPHISTS-SOCRATES AND HIS FOLLOWERS The beginnings of oratory-Corax and Tisias, about 460 B. C.-The Sophists-Protagoras, about 485 to about 415 B. c.—Gorgias, about 485 to about 380 B. C.-Prodicus, about 450 B. C.-Hippias, about 430 B. c.— Polus, about 430 B. C.-Stesimbrotus, about 425 B. C.-Antiphon, about 480-411 B. C.-Tendencies of the teaching of the sophists-Socrates, 469– 399 B. C.-His life and character-His view of science-The dialectic method-His religion-Virtue the result of knowledge-Eschines, about 400 B. c.—Euclides, about 400 B. C.-The Megarian SchoolStilpo, about 380–300 в. c. —Phædo, about 400 B. C.-Aristippus, about 410 B. C.-The Cyrenaic School-Antisthenes, about 400 B. C.-The Cynic School. Socrates and the sophists. THE founder of Attic philosophy is Socrates. But Socrates can not be understood without some knowledge of the sophists, the professional teachers of the later fifth century, who combined in their instruction philosophy, rhetoric, and practical oratory. The beginnings of systematic instruction in oratory are therefore inseparable from the other teachings of the sophists to which the philosophy of Socrates is closely related, though the relation is rather one of contrast than of likeness. From the earliest times the Greeks were a race of ready speakers. In the Homeric poems Nestor and Odysseus are honored for their eloquence; and much later Themistocles, and after him Pericles controlled the Athenians by their power of speech. But such oratory, however excellent it The beginnings of oratory. may be, does not belong to literature, for it is not permanent, but passes away with the speaker. Oratory as a branch of literature does not begin until systematic instruction in oratory begins. The first oratorical instruction known among the Greeks was at Syracuse, the great Sicilian city, which for years seemed to be the equal or even the superior of Athens. in wealth, power, and culture. Here the expulsion of the tyrants in 465 B. C. was followed by many lawsuits for the recovery of property, and the practise of speaking in court developed the theory of legal argument. This theory was set forth by Corax and his pupil Tisias, both of Syracuse. They taught that the object of rhetoric is probability; for the purpose of a speaker in court is not to establish the truth, but to make his argument appear probable to the judges. Morality has really nothing to do with this theory, for the same process of argument is needed to make the truth appear probable and to give an air of probability to falsehood. Corax and Tisias laid down rules for the arrangement of ideas so that they could be easily grasped; they distinguished the introduction from the discussion, and probably from the narrative, and taught their pupils to bring forward arguments in proper order. They do not seem to have tried to teach literary style. Their influence might have been slight if they had not coincided in date with the rise of the sophists. The word "sophist," designated originally any one interested in wisdom of any kind. Pindar uses it to denote a poet. In the middle of the fifth century it The sophists. meant a man who pursued wisdom, and especially one who made that pursuit his profession, in other words a teacher. It was not until the fourth century that "sophist" was a term of reproach. The word is now used chiefly to designate a group of men belonging to the fifth century B. C., who taught in various cities of Greece, especially at Athens, receiving pay for their instruction. They thought that the researches of the earlier philosophers into the origin and management of the world were useless, first because we never can know these things, and then because they would do us no good if we did know them. They therefore undertook to teach not the secrets of the universe, but practical efficiency. Now almost everywhere in Greece in the second half of the fifth century, but especially at Athens, practical efficiency was more or less identical with the ability to sway the minds of the courts and the popular assemblies. A large part of the teaching of the sophists was therefore devoted to rhetoric and the art of persuasion, and they claimed to teach their pupils to make, as Protagoras said, "the weaker argument stronger." The number of sophists at the time of the Peloponnesian War was considerable, and they played an important part in the intellectual life of the time. They possess, however, as a class, no great literary importance, and it will be necessary to mention only a few of them. The earliest in date is Protagoras, born at Abdera, about 485 B. C. He studied the philosophy of Heraclitus, but at about the age of thirty years began to travel Protagoras. about as a sophist. His reputation became so great that he received one hundred minæ (about $2,000) for a course of lectures. When about seventy years old, he was obliged to leave Athens, which had been his home for some years, on account of a charge of impiety, and was lost in a shipwreck on his way to Sicily. His writings, composed in the Ionic dialect, were numerous. The most important were a treatise called Truth, in which he set forth his skeptical philosophy, and a rhetorical text-book, the title of which is uncertain. Protagoras declared that man is the measure of all things"; in other words, that there is no real truth, but that the universe is only the sum of men's ideas about it. He said that he did not know whether the gods exist or not, and in general his mental attitude was one of extreme skepticism. But with all that, he was per 66 |