The Greek Sophists by John Dillon

Author:John Dillon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Philosophy, History & Surveys, Ancient & Classical, Literary Collections
Publisher: Penguin UK
Published: 2003-07-31T05:23:38+00:00

FRAGMENTS AND REFERENCES TO KNOWN WORKS

It is Dionysius of Halicarnassus, in his essay On the Style of Demosthenes, who preserves for us the only substantial fragment that survives of Thrasymachus’ prose. It is the beginning of a political speech, apparently composed for delivery by a young upper-class Athenian of conservative sympathies. The speaker is sentimental about the good old days and the ‘ancestral constitution’, and critical of the current war. Dionysius, however, is primarily concerned, not with the content, but with the style, which for him is an excellent example of the ‘middle’ style, a mixture of the ‘grand’ and the ‘simple’. The speech was probably composed in the early 420s, as the war does not seem to be long in progress. It does not necessarily express the views of Thrasymachus himself.

13. <Reflections on the Present Situation?>

The third type of style was a mixed one, which was a combination of the other two. Whether the first to unite them and establish the product in its present form was Thrasymachus of Calchedon,24 as is the view of Theophrastus,25 or someone else, I cannot say. But those who took this style over from him, developed it and pretty well perfected it were, among the orators, Isocrates the Athenian, and, among the philosophers, Plato the Socratic; it is impossible to find any other writers, except Demosthenes, who practised the essential and practical virtues of this style to greater effect, or who gave a better demonstration of beautiful language and adorned it more skilfully with additional artistic touches. The style of Thrasymachus, if it is really the source of the middle type, appears to possess an admirable grasp of the theory26 of it: for it contains a well-tempered blend of the merits of the other two. But it does not exhibit a power equal to its purpose, as is exemplified by the following passage from one of his political speeches:

‘I would have preferred, men of Athens, to have shared in the political life of olden times, when it was proper for young men to keep quiet, since the political situation made their participation in debate unnecessary, and their elders managed the affairs of state correctly. But since fortune has assigned us to an age in which we witness <the rule of the city by others>,27 while we ourselves suffer the consequences (for the worst of these are not the work of gods or of chance, but of human agents), I am compelled to speak.28 For that man is either quite devoid of wit or greatly forbearing who will permit himself to be continually exploited by anyone who wishes to, and will himself take the blame for the treachery and cowardice of others.

‘We have had enough of the immediate past and the change from peace to the dangers of war; in the times we are in, we hanker after the day that is gone and live in dread of the day that is to come. Enough also of the change from concord (homonoia)29 to mutual hostility and turbulence.

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