"protagoras" - читать интересную книгу автора (Plato)

I should have answered, that they were statuaries.

And what will they make of you?

A statuary, of course.

Well now, I said, you and I are going to Protagoras, and we are
ready to pay him money on your behalf. If our own means are
sufficient, and we can gain him with these, we shall be only too glad;
but if not, then we are to spend the money of your friends as well.
Now suppose, that while we are thus enthusiastically pursuing our
object some one were to say to us: Tell me, Socrates, and you
Hippocrates, what is Protagoras, and why are you going to pay him
money,-how should we answer? I know that Pheidias is a sculptor, and
that Homer is a poet; but what appellation is given to Protagoras? how
is he designated?

They call him a Sophist, Socrates, he replied.

Then we are going to pay our money to him in the character of a
Sophist?

Certainly.

But suppose a person were to ask this further question: And how
about yourself? What will Protagoras make of you, if you go to see
him?

He answered, with a blush upon his face (for the day was just
beginning to dawn, so that I could see him): Unless this differs in
some way from the former instances, I suppose that he will make a
Sophist of me.

By the gods, I said, and are you not ashamed at having to appear
before the Hellenes in the character of a Sophist?

Indeed, Socrates, to confess the truth, I am.

But you should not assume, Hippocrates, that the instruction of
Protagoras is of this nature: may you not learn of him in the same way
that you learned the arts of the grammarian, musician, or trainer, not
with the view of making any of them a profession, but only as a part
of education, and because a private gentleman and freeman ought to
know them?

Just so, he said; and that, in my opinion, is a far truer account of
the teaching of Protagoras.

I said: I wonder whether you know what you are doing?