Lesser Hippias | Page 7

which others would
make upon him (compare Protagoras). He does not wonder that he
should be in a difficulty, but he wonders at Hippias, and he becomes
sensible of the gravity of the situation, when ordinary men like himself
can no longer go to the wise and be taught by them.
It may be remarked as bearing on the genuineness of this dialogue: (1)
that the manners of the speakers are less subtle and refined than in the
other dialogues of Plato; (2) that the sophistry of Socrates is more
palpable and unblushing, and also more unmeaning; (3) that many turns
of thought and style are found in it which appear also in the other
dialogues:--whether resemblances of this kind tell in favour of or
against the genuineness of an ancient writing, is an important question
which will have to be answered differently in different cases. For that a
writer may repeat himself is as true as that a forger may imitate; and
Plato elsewhere, either of set purpose or from forgetfulness, is full of
repetitions. The parallelisms of the Lesser Hippias, as already remarked,
are not of the kind which necessarily imply that the dialogue is the
work of a forger. The parallelisms of the Greater Hippias with the other
dialogues, and the allusion to the Lesser (where Hippias sketches the
programme of his next lecture, and invites Socrates to attend and bring
any friends with him who may be competent judges), are more than
suspicious:-- they are of a very poor sort, such as we cannot suppose to
have been due to Plato himself. The Greater Hippias more resembles
the Euthydemus than any other dialogue; but is immeasurably inferior
to it. The Lesser Hippias seems to have more merit than the Greater,
and to be more Platonic in spirit. The character of Hippias is the same
in both dialogues, but his vanity and boasting are even more

exaggerated in the Greater Hippias. His art of memory is specially
mentioned in both. He is an inferior type of the same species as
Hippodamus of Miletus (Arist. Pol.). Some passages in which the
Lesser Hippias may be advantageously compared with the undoubtedly
genuine dialogues of Plato are the following:--Less. Hipp.: compare
Republic (Socrates' cunning in argument): compare Laches (Socrates'
feeling about arguments): compare Republic (Socrates not unthankful):
compare Republic (Socrates dishonest in argument).
The Lesser Hippias, though inferior to the other dialogues, may be
reasonably believed to have been written by Plato, on the ground (1) of
considerable excellence; (2) of uniform tradition beginning with
Aristotle and his school. That the dialogue falls below the standard of
Plato's other works, or that he has attributed to Socrates an unmeaning
paradox (perhaps with the view of showing that he could beat the
Sophists at their own weapons; or that he could 'make the worse appear
the better cause'; or merely as a dialectical experiment)--are not
sufficient reasons for doubting the genuineness of the work.
LESSER HIPPIAS
by
Plato (see Appendix I above)
Translated by Benjamin Jowett.
PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: Eudicus, Socrates, Hippias.
EUDICUS: Why are you silent, Socrates, after the magnificent display
which Hippias has been making? Why do you not either refute his
words, if he seems to you to have been wrong in any point, or join with
us in commending him? There is the more reason why you should
speak, because we are now alone, and the audience is confined to those
who may fairly claim to take part in a philosophical discussion.
SOCRATES: I should greatly like, Eudicus, to ask Hippias the meaning
of what he was saying just now about Homer. I have heard your father,
Apemantus, declare that the Iliad of Homer is a finer poem than the
Odyssey in the same degree that Achilles was a better man than
Odysseus; Odysseus, he would say, is the central figure of the one
poem and Achilles of the other. Now, I should like to know, if Hippias
has no objection to tell me, what he thinks about these two heroes, and
which of them he maintains to be the better; he has already told us in
the course of his exhibition many things of various kinds about Homer

and divers other poets.
EUDICUS: I am sure that Hippias will be delighted to answer anything
which you would like to ask; tell me, Hippias, if Socrates asks you a
question, will you answer him?
HIPPIAS: Indeed, Eudicus, I should be strangely inconsistent if I
refused to answer Socrates, when at each Olympic festival, as I went up
from my house at Elis to the temple of Olympia, where all the Hellenes
were assembled, I continually professed my willingness to perform any
of the exhibitions which I had prepared, and to answer any questions
which any one had to