A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

PROTAGORAS. PROTAGORAS. 551
Gellius, N. A. v. 3; comp. Athen. viii. 13, p.;54, that year, the laws which had been drawn up at
c.),-appears to have arisen out of the statement an earlier period by Charondas, for the use of the
of Aristotle, that Protagoras invented a sort of Chalcidic colonies (for according to Diod. xii. I1. 3,
porter's knot (TrV'A7) for the more convenient car- and others, these laws were in force at Thurii
rying of burdens (Diog. Lairt. ix. 53; comp. Frei, likewise). Whether he himself removed to Thurii,
1. c. p. 6, &c.). Moreover, whether Protagoras we do not learn, but at the time of the plague we
was, as later ancient authorities assumed (Diog. find him again in Athens, as he could scarcely
Laert. ix. 50; Clem. Alex. Strom. i. p. 301, d., have mentioned the strength of mind displayed by
&c.), a disciple of Democritus, with whom in point Pericles at the death of his sons, in the way he
of doctrine he had absolutely nothing in common, does (in a fragment still extant, Plut. de Consol.
is very doubtful, and Frei (1. c. p. 24, &c.) has ad Apoll. c. 33, p. 118, d.), had he not been an
undertaken to show that Protagoras was some eye-witness. He had also, as it appears, returned
twenty years older than Democritus. If, in fact, to Athens after a long absence (Plat. Prot. p. 301.
Anaxagoras, as is confirmed in various ways, was c.), at a time when the sons of Pericles were still
born about B.C. 500, and was forty years older alive (ibid. p. 314, e., 329,'a.) A somewhat inthan Democritus, according to the latter's own timate relation between Protagoras and Pericles
statement (Diog. Lairt. ix. 41; comp. 34), Pro- is intimated also elsewhere. (Plut. Pericl. c. 36.
tagoras must have been older than Democritus, as p. 172, a.) His activity, however, was by no
it is certain that Protagoras was older than So- means restricted to Athens. He had spent some
crates, who was born B. C. 468 (Plat. Protag. time in Sicily, and acquired fame there (Plat.
p. 317, c., 314, b., 361, e.; comp. Diog. Lad'rt. ix. Hipp. Maj. p. 282, d.), and brought with him
42, 56), and died before him at the age of nearly to Atllens many admirers out of other Greek cities
seventy (Plat. Meno, p. 91, e.; comp. Thweaet. through which he had passed (Plit. Prot. p. 315,
p. 171, d., 164, e., Euthyd. p. 286, c.; the as- a.). The impeachment of Protagoras had been
sumption of others, that he reached the age of founded on his book on the gods, which began
ninety years, Diog. Lai'rt. ix. 55, Schol. in Plat. with the statement: " Respecting the gods, I
de Rep. x. p. 600, is of no weight), after he had am unable to know whether they exist or do
practised the sophistic art for forty years, and had not exist." (Diog. LaUrt. ix. 51, &c.) The imby flight withdrawn himself from the accusation peachment was followed by his banishment (Diog.
of Pythodorus, one of the Four Hundred, who go- Lairt. ix. 52; Cic. de Nat. Deor. i. 23; Euseb.
verned Athens in B. c. 411 (Diog. Ladrt. ix. 54; Praep. Evang. xiv. 19, &c.), or, as others affirm,
comp. Philostratus, 1. c. Aristotle mentioned Eu- only by the burning of his book. (Philost. Vit.
athlus, the disciple of Protagoras, as his accuser, Soph. 1. c.; Joseph. c. Apion. ii. 37; Sext. Emp.
Diog. Laert. 1. c.). Apollodorus, therefore, might adv. Math. ix. 56; Cic. Diog. Laert. 11. cc.)
very well assign the 84th Olympiad (B. C. 444) as From the list of the writings of Protagoras
the period when he flourished (Diog. Lairt. ix. which Diogenes Lahirtius (ix. 55) doubtless bor54, 56). A more accurate determination of the rowed from one of his Alexandrine authorities (he
date of his death, and thence of his birth, cannot describes them as still extant, Eal-'rd ew'Jstuea
be extracted from a fragment of the Silli of Timon at]e'ove 0 a TarOa; comp. Welcker's account of
(in Sext. Emp. adv. Math. ix. 57), and a passage Prodikos, in his Kleine Schriften, ii. p. 447, 465),
of Plato (TlZeaet. p. 171, d.), as the placing -to- and which he gives probably with his accustomed
gether of Protagoras and Socrates in them does negligence, one may see that they comprised very
not presuppose that their deaths were contem- different subjects:-ethics (7repl aperc'Zv and a'rpe
poraneous. Nor are we justified in concluding from Trev OVK 3pO&s'ro7S devpwrolr 7rpao-ero1'vawv, 7repL
the boastful expression of the sophist (Plat. Prot. (lhoNaryfas), politics (sp'l WrohA'reias, 7repl or's Ev
p. 317, c.), that he was twenty years older than dpx.j Karaotdarecos; comp. Frei, p. 182, &c.), rheSocrates. On the other hand, if Euripides alluded toric (dvilAhoyiZv 3io,'TeXv?1 EpioT-Kwcv), and other
to his death in the Ixion (according to Philo- subjects of different kinds (7rporeTaKrrcs, respi /Pachorus in Diog. La'rt. ix..55), he must have died 07utdoTrwv, 7rspl arda'A, arepl revr eiv A3ovU). Tile
before B. c. 406 or 407, i. e. before the death of works which, in all probability, were the most iluEuripides. With preponderating probability, there- portant of those which Protagoras composed, Truth
fore, Frei places the death of Protagoras in B. c. ('AAhNOeia), and On the Gods (rpif 0e4.), are
411, assuming that Pythodorus accused him during omitted in that list, although in another passage
the government of the Four Hundred (Quaest. (ix. 51) Diogenes Lah'rtius refers to them. The
Protaq. p. 64), and accordingly assigns about B. c. first contained the theory refuted by Plato in the
480 as the date of his birth. Theaetetus (Tlheaet. p. 161,c., 162, a., 166, c., 170,
That Protagoras had already acquired fame e.), and was probably identical with the work on
during his residence in Abdera cannot be inferred the Existent (flepi ToO v-TroT), attributed to Profrom the doubtful statement, that he was termed tagoras by Porphyrius (in Euseb. Praep. Evang. x.
by the Abderites Aoyos, and Democritus pilAo(poqia 3, p. 468, Viger). This work was directed against
or ~oipia. (Aelian. Var. Hist. iv. 20; comp. Suid. the Eleatics (IIpo s TOS V TSo or Ayovras), and
s. vv. lpvwra'y. Avms'Krp., &c. Phavorinlus, in Diog was still extant in the time of Porphyrius, who
Laert. ix. 50, gives to Protagoras the designation describes the argumentation of the book as similar
of aolia). He was the first who called himself to that of Plato, though without adding any more
a sophist, and taught for pay (Plnt. i'rotag. p. 349, exact statements. With the doctrine that was pea.; Diog. Laert. ix. 52). He must have come to culiar to Protagoras we obtain the most complete
Athens before B. c. 445, since, according to the acquaintance from the Theaetetus of Plato, which
statement of Heracleides Ponticus (Diog. Laert. was designed to refute it. anid the fidelity of the
ix. 50), he gave laws to the Thurians, or, what is quotations in which is confirmed by the much more
more probable, adapted for the use of the new scanty notices of Sextus Empiricas and others.
colonists, who left Athens for the first time in The sophist started from the fundamental presupNN 4