8.2 The Sophist’s Pitch
“Young man,” Protagoras says to his prospective student Hippocrates, “if you come to me, your gain will be this. On the same day you join me, you will go home having improved yourself, and the same the next day. Each day you will make progress toward a better state.”[3] Very good, Socrates replies, but that is not what we are asking. What exactly do you propose to teach, and how will that make Hippocrates a better man?
Protagoras replies that he does not teach his students technical subjects such as mathematics and astronomy (with a significant glance at Hippias). “My course of instruction is in the proper care of his personal affairs, so that he may best manage his own household, and also of the state’s affairs, so as to become a real power in the city, both as speaker and man of action.”
“Do I follow you?” asks Socrates. “I take you to be describing the art of politics, and promising to make men good citizens.”
“That, Socrates, is just what I profess to do.”[4]
While the sophists offer a range of studies, their bread and butter is teaching students how to speak in public and how to manage affairs, both in private and in public. Protagoras offers only “practical” subjects, not exotic studies of advanced scientific and theoretical topics. He offers to teach his students politikē technē, political science or how to manage people and cities.
In truth this subject is the key to the sophists’ popularity. In the mid-fifth century political developments, especially in Athens, had had a profound impact on the Greek world. Athens, under the leadership of Pericles, had pushed forward with reforms that gave its citizens not only a voice in government, but an equal voice, at least theoretically. Democracy was flourishing in the city-states of Greece.
Every adult male freeborn of two Athenian parents was a citizen who could find himself holding the highest offices of the state. Most important officers were chosen, not actually by vote, but by the drawing of lots, so that as a citizen you might find yourself serving as a magistrate for a year. Important decisions were made, not by aristocrats, but by a body of six thousand citizens, the Assembly, which met several times each month and made all important laws and decrees.
Suddenly the humblest cobbler could rule alongside an aristocrat. In theory, at any rate. The problem was that to have influence in the state, you had to be able to stand up in a committee or the Assembly itself and confidently and cogently put forth your proposals. It sounded easy, but it was very intimidating to present your ideas to an often rowdy gathering of citizens. In fact the upper classes had a hidden advantage in that they had connections to people with money and power. They placed their sons as assistants to rich and powerful men so they could learn by imitation how to run a plantation or a government. Indeed, it was no accident that the leading democrat was Pericles, himself a member of the landed aristocracy.
What the sophists offered was a shortcut to power and influence. Protagoras was saying to Socrates and Hippocrates what every young citizen of Athens wanted to hear: I can teach you how to give a stirring speech what will launch your career and make your ideas irresistible to anyone who listens. I will teach you, moreover, how to win friends and influence people, how to plan, organize, and win campaigns. I will put you on the fast track to lead your city.
The Athenian constitution gave every young man the opportunity to lead; the sophists promised to give them the skills to take advantage of that opportunity. You didn’t have to have old money; you didn’t have to have connections to the old-boy network. You just needed to have enough money to pay the (admittedly hefty) tuition the sophist charged.
[3].Plato Protagoras 318a.
[4].Plato Protagoras 318d-319a.
