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CAMBRIDGE GREEK AND LATIN CLASSICS

G eneral E ditors

P. E. E as terl ing

Regius Professor Emeritus of Greek, University of Cambridge

P hil ip H ardie

Senior Research Fellow, Trinity College, Cambridge

R i chard H unter

Regius Professor of Greek, University of Cambridge

E. J. K enney

Kennedy Professor Emeritus of Latin, University of Cambridge

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Cambridge University Press978-0-521-84044-6 - Plato: ProtagorasEdited by Nicholas DenyerFrontmatterMore information

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PLATO

PROTAGORAS

ed ited by

NICHOLAS DENYER

University Senior Lecturer in Classics, University of Cambridge,

and

Fellow and College Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, Trinity College, Cambridge






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Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication dataPlato: Protagoras / edited by Nicholas Denyer.

p. cm.Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

isbn 978-0-521-84044-6 (hardback)1. Plato. Protagoras. 2. Protagoras. 3. Socrates. 4. Sophists (Greek philosophy) 5. Ethics.

I. Denyer, Nicholas. II. Title.b382.p53 2008

170 – dc22 2008015442

isbn 978-0-521-84044-6 hardbackisbn 978-0-521-54969-1 paperback

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CONTENTS

Preface page viiAbbreviations and references ix

Introduction 11 The sophists, Protagoras and the Protagoras 12 Socrates the sophist? 43 Plato and the example of Socrates 74 Evidence for the text 10

Ω 15

Commentary 65

Indexes

General 205Proper names 206Greek words 206

v






PREFACE

The Introduction to this book contains general remarks that could notconveniently be digested into the piecemeal format of the commentary.In spite of its name ‘Introduction’, and its position before the text, thereis no need to have read the Introduction before starting to read the restof the book. If some preliminary orientation to the Protagoras is required,it will be found in the italicised paragraphs of summary that are scatteredthroughout the commentary.

I have incurred many intellectual debts in writing this book: to theEditors of this series; to the unfailingly efficient and helpful staff ofthat marvellous resource, the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae; to those whotook part in the Mayweek 2004 seminars on the Protagoras; to BernardDod, an exact and scrupulous copy-editor; and to Adam Beresford,Lynne Broughton, Myles Burnyeat, Andrea Capra, Giovanni di Pasquale,David Konstan, Geoffrey Lloyd, Catherine Osborne, Philomen Probert,Christopher Rowe, Catherine Steel, Liba Taub, Christopher Taylor,James Warren, Roslyn Weiss, and Jo Willmott.

More important than any intellectual debt is my debt to my father,Ronald Denyer. He died while I was writing this book. I dedicate it to hismemory.

Trinity College, Cambridge N. C. D.29 February 2008

vii






ABBREVIATIONS AND REFERENCES

PLATO

The page numbers of Stephanus’ 1578 edition continue to be printedin the margins of editions and translations, and used for references to thetext of Plato. References to the Protagoras itself are given here simply inthe form 345a6, where ‘345’ is the number of a Stephanus page, ‘a’ theletter of a section within the page, and ‘6’ the number of a line within thesection. References to other works in the Platonic corpus are given here bytitle (sometimes abbreviated), Stephanus page number and section letter.The following abbreviations are used:

Alc. Ma. = Alcibiades Major, Alc. Mi. = Alcibiades Minor, Ap. = Apology,Chrm. = Charmides, Clit. = Clitophon, Cra. = Cratylus, Cri. = Crito, Ep. =Epistles, Euthd. = Euthydemus, Euthphr. = Euthyphro, Grg. = Gorgias, Hp. Ma.

= Hippias Major, Hp. Mi. = Hippias Minor, La. = Laches, Lys. = Lysis,

Mnx. = Menexenus, Phd. = Phaedo, Phdr. = Phaedrus, Phlb. = Philebus,Plt. = Politicus, Prm. = Parmenides, Rep. = Republic, Smp. = Symposium,Sph. = Sophist, Thg. = Theages, Tht. = Theaetetus, Tim. = Timaeus

OTHER ANCIENT AUTHORS AND WORKS

Ael. Aelian Varia Historia

Aesch. Aeschylus; Pr. = Prometheus Bound

Aeschin. AeschinesAmm. Ammonius On expressions that are similar yet different

Anax. AnaxagorasAnd. AndocidesAnon. Iamb. Anonymus IamblichiAnt. AntiphonAntisth. AntisthenesAnth. Pal. Anthologia Palatina

Ar. Aristophanes; Ach. = Acharnians, Ec. = Ecclesiazousae,Lys. = Lysistrata, Pl. = Plutus, Th. = Thesmophoriazousae

Arist. Aristotle; Ath. = Constitution of Athens, EE = Eudemian

Ethics, EN = Nicomachean Ethics, Met. = Metaphysics, PA

= Parts of Animals, Pol. = Politics, Prob. = Problems, Rh.= Rhetoric, SE = Sophistici Elenchi

ix






x ABBREVIATIONS AND REFERENCES

Ath. AthenaeusBacch. BacchylidesCic. CiceroCrt. CritiasCtes. CtesiasDemet. Demetrius On Style

Democ. DemocritusDemos. DemosthenesD.L. Diogenes LaertiusD.S. Diodorus SiculusEmp. EmpedoclesEpich. EpicharmusEup. EupolisEur. Euripides; Alc. = Alcestis, Bac. = Bacchae, Hipp. =

Hippolytus, IA = Iphigeneia in Aulis, Med. = Medea

Eust. EustathiusGrg. GorgiasHarp. Harpocration Lexicon

Hdt. HerodotusHer. HeraclitusHes. Hesiod; Th. = Theogony, WD = Works and Days

Hipp. HippocratesHom. Homer; Il. = Iliad, Od. = Odyssey

Isae. IsaeusIsoc. IsocratesLong. ‘Longinus’ On the sublime

Lys. LysiasMen. Menander; Dys. = Dyscolus, Sam. = Samia

Paus. PausaniasPind. Pindar; O. = Olympians, N. = Nemeans

Plu. Plutarch; Alc. = Alcibiades, Per. = Pericles

Soph. Sophocles; Aj. = Ajax, Ant. = Antigone, OC = Oedipus at

Colonus, OT = Oedipus Tyrannus, Phil. = Philoctetes

Theogn. TheognisThphr. TheophrastusThuc. ThucydidesXen. Xenophon; An. = Anabasis, Ap. = Apology, Ath. Pol. =

Constitution of Athens, Cyr. = Cyropaedia, HG = Historia






ABBREVIATIONS AND REFERENCES xi

Graeca, Hr. = Hiero, Lac. = Constitution of Sparta, Mem. =Memorabilia, Oec. = Oeconomicus, Smp. = Symposium

Xphs. Xenophanes

COMPENDIA AND WORKS OF REFERENCE

DK Hermann Diels and Walther Kranz, Die Fragmente der

Vorsokratiker, 6th edn, Berlin 1964FGH Felix Jacoby, Die Fragmente der greichischen Historiker, Berlin

and Leiden 1923–55GP J. D. Denniston, The Greek particles, 2nd edn revised by K.

J. Dover, Oxford 1954IEG M. L. West, Iambi et elegi Graeci ante Alexandrum cantati,

Oxford 1971–2IG A. Kirchhoff and others, Inscriptiones Graecae, Berlin 1873–LSJ H. G. Liddell and R. Scott, A Greek-English lexicon, 9th edn

revised by H. S. Jones, Oxford 1940PCG R. Kassel and C. Austin, Poetae comici Graeci, Berlin 1983–PHibeh Bernard P. Grenfell and Arthur S. Hunt, The Hibeh papyri,

Part 1, London 1906PMG D. L. Page, Poetae melici Graeci, Oxford 1962SSR G. Giannantoni, Socratis et Socraticorum reliquiae, Naples

1990TrGF B. Snell and others, Tragicorum Graecorum fragmenta,

Gottingen 1971–

OTHER BOOKS ON THE PROTAGORAS

Adam, J. and Adam, A. M. (1893) Platonis Protagoras, Cambridge. Text, withintroduction and commentary in English.

Burnet, J. (1903) Platonis opera, vol. III, Oxford. Text and apparatus criticus. TheOxford Classical Text.

Capra, A. (2001) : il Protagora di Platone tra eristica e commedia, Milan.Universita degli Studi di Milano: Pubblicazioni della Facolta di Lettere eFilosofia, vol. CXCVII. Monograph in Italian, covering more than its titlepromises.

Casertano, G., ed. (2004) Il Protagora di Platone: struttura e problematiche, Naples.Two volumes of essays in Italian, that between them cover almost all aspectsof the dialogue.

Croiset, A. and Bodin, L. (1923) Platon: oeuvres completes, vol. III.i, Paris. Text andapparatus criticus, with translation in French. The Bude edition.






xii ABBREVIATIONS AND REFERENCES

Goldberg, L. (1983) A commentary on Plato’s Protagoras, New York. AmericanUniversity Studies, Series V Philosophy, vol. I. Discursive commentary inEnglish.

Havlıcek, A. and Karfık, F., eds. (2003) Plato’s Protagoras: proceedings of the third

Symposium Platonicum Pragense, Prague. Essays in English and in German.Hubbard, B. A. F. and Karnofsky, E. S. (1982) Plato’s Protagoras: a Socratic commen-

tary (London). Translation and commentary in English. The commentaryconsists of stimulating questions.

Manuwald, B. (1999) Platon: Protagoras, Gottingen. Platon Werke: Ubersetzungund Kommentar, vol. VI.ii. Translation and commentary in German. Muchlonger than Manuwald (2006).

Manuwald, B. (2006) Platon: Protagoras, Gottingen. Sammlung Philosophie,vol. VI. Translation, introduction and commentary in German, with exten-sive bibliographies.

Morel, P.-M. (2002) Platon: Protagoras, Paris. Classiques en Poche, vol. XV. Thetext of Croiset and Bodin (1923), without its apparatus criticus; translation,introduction, and notes in French; bibliography.

Nestle, W. (1931) Platon: Protagoras, Leipzig and Berlin. Platon AusgewahlteSchriften, vol. IV. Text, with introduction and commentary in German.

Taylor, C. C. W. (1976) Plato: Protagoras, Oxford. Translation and commentaryin English, with ‘select’ but still extensive bibliography.

OTHER WORKS

Axelrod, Robert (1990) The evolution of cooperation, HarmondsworthBeresford, Adam (2008) ‘Nobody’s perfect: a new text and interpretation of

Simonides PMG 542’, Classical Philology, 103.Betegh, Gabor (2004) The Derveni papyrus: cosmology, theology, interpretation,

CambridgeBoegehold, Alan L. (1999) When a gesture was expected, PrincetonColinvaux, Paul (1978) Why big fierce animals are rare, PrincetonGuthrie, W. K. C. (1971) The sophists, CambridgeHacking, Ian (1975) The emergence of probability, CambridgeHobbes, Thomas (1651) Leviathan, LondonHogg, Michael A. and Vaughan, Graham M. (2005) Social psychology, 4th edn,

HarlowHutchinson, G. O. (2001) Greek lyric poetry, OxfordKerferd, G. B. (1981) The sophistic movement, CambridgeKeynes, John Maynard (1949) Two memoirs, LondonKnorr, Wilbur (1986) The ancient tradition of geometric problems, BostonMacDowell, Douglas M. (1978) The law in classical Athens, LondonMurray, Oswyn, ed. (1990) Sympotica: a symposium on the symposion, OxfordPage, D. L. (1955) Sappho and Alcaeus, Oxford






ABBREVIATIONS AND REFERENCES xiii

Stanhope, P. D. (1932) The letters of Philip Dormer Stanhope, fourth Earl of Chesterfield,ed. Bonamy Dobree, London

Stewart, A. F. (1990) Greek sculpture: an exploration, New Haven and LondonStoppard, Tom (1972) Jumpers, LondonTulli, Mauro (1999) ‘Protagoras 337b3–357b2’, in Corpus dei papiri filosofici greci e latini,

vol. I.i.***, Florence, 310–34Turner, E. G. (1987) Greek manuscripts of the ancient world, 2nd edn revised by

P. J. Parsons, London






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