Section Eighteen

Background
v6poc/^vaic; 8.32 Sophists and civilization 8.28 Myths 3.11-12; 8.6 Greek speculation 8.8-9
Grammar
Deliberative in secondary sequence
are + participle
Duals
CD
Section 18A-B is recorded on CD 2 tracks 50-1.
Section Eighteen A
Commentary
p. 216 line
1 Note the fairy-tale opening: ‘Once upon a time ...’
0vnra /evn, as becomes clear, include animals as well as mankind.
2 Turcowiv: from rvnoc, a blow - perhaps ‘shaped’, as the process is vague.
1- 3 Note the double chiasmus here and in the next line (y^c evSov, ek y^c Kai nup6c ... nupi Kai ya).
The whole section is full of poetic turns of phrase, unlike Plato’s normal style. This may be an effort to imitate Protagoras’ style.
3 TMV 5oa ... rapavvurai: ‘whatever of things are mixed with fire and earth ...’, viz. air and water. Fire is the most rarefied, earth the most dense - air and water must be a mixture of them in different proportions. Most of Plato’s contemporary physicists believed there were four elements, from which every¬thing else was composed.
5 A reversal of roles; Epimetheus (Aftersight) is to distribute qualities, Prometheus (Foresight) is to inspect.
6-7 Note the changing patterns of construction in these four clauses - the rov; pev ... rov; Se ... rov; Se ... rov; Se - the two outer clauses containing abstract expressions (iaxuv, aonlov ^vaiv), the two inner, more concrete ones.
8- 10 Once again note the word-balancing - the inverted relative clauses, the former abstract, the latter directly descriptive; the usage of rraSe avrra (for the more usual avrra row®) to make the juxtaposition avrra avra.
Section Eighteen B
p. 218 line
1 ‘devised means of escape from mutual destruction’ - another very poetic phrase. 6pa<;: as on 184.19.
2 oT€p€oi^: cf. stereophonic; stereophonic sound is ‘solid’ in the sense that it appears to surround the listener rather than be directed at him from one source. Seppa is used by biologists: cf. also hypodermic, pachyderm, dermatitis etc. Note the variation again (ixavov; ... Suvarov;); apvvai needs to be supplied in the second clause, and two different verbs found in English to translate its meanings ‘protect against (cold)’ and ‘withstand (heat)’.
5 NB: onl^ - nothing to do with onlov -a.
6-7 Variations again: rov; pev... alloi; Se, rov; Se ... eari S’ ov;.
6 {^nOpi^s: the basic root is the -nop- as in a^op^a, familiar from Section 2 onwards. Many biological terms here (botany, dendro- compounds including rhododendron). Plato's distinctions are now designated by the terms herbivorous and carnivorous.
7 6Zlyoyov^av: may be elicited from the roots oliYo- and -yov- (from -Yev-). The same ‘balance in nature’ argument is presented by Herodotus (iii.108) pointing out that animals preyed upon reproduce quickly and in large numbers.
Section Eighteen C
Commentary
p. 219 line
1 ov navu: litotes or meiosis.
2 a/oya: ‘brute beasts that have no understanding’ (The Book of Common Prayer: Form of the Solemnization of Matrimony); ‘a beast that wants discourse of reason’ (Hamlet 1.2.150).
3 xp^oaixo: an indirect deliberative - explain only if it is necessary.
3 Athene possessed ‘the gift of skill in the arts’, Hephaistos had fire. Athene does not figure in the traditional version, e.g. Aeschylus, Prometheus Vinctus 252-4; she is necessary to Protagoras' argument here, since skill is central to his thesis.
8- 9 y€v£oOai must be taken both absolutely and with %pnmpnv: ‘it was impos¬sible without fire for anyone (T® = Tivi) to have this skill or for it to be useful’.
8 napa ... Au: for the purposes of his argument, Protagoras treats ‘political skill’ as though it were a concrete object.
p. 220 line
9 aKpono^iv: the gods’ Olympian, mountain-top dwelling envisaged as a citadel of a Greek city.
OVK£TI £v€xrap€i €io€^0€iv: OVKETI here not ‘not yet’ but ‘not now’ - Prometheus had not yet been punished, so presumably here the reason Protagoras is giving is that there was no time for him to find a way into the Acropolis to steal political skill for men.
10 ^u^aKau Prometheus Vinctus names these as Kratos and Bia. This ends the ‘digression’ begun at 219.9, and si; Ss ktA. reverts to the narrative of the theft - this needs mentioning as students sometimes see two sets of theft involved here.
11 f^i^o^^vrnv: the one dual ending in this section. If noun/adjective end-ings in dual have already been mentioned (see on p. 188.19), it can here be explained that -tov/-t^v, -a0ov/-a0nv indicate active, middle and passive duals.
12 As before, Hephaistos’ specific skill is with fire while Athene is concerned with technical skill generally (see above on p. 219.7).
13 8i’: ‘through’ in the sense of ‘thanks to’.
14 K^orc^; 8ten: the charge is mentioned here, not the punishment; Prometheus Vinctus gives punishment without reference to a ‘trial’, as Zeus is there a new upstart tyrant, actively opposing human progress and survival which is achievable through Forethought. Cf. Sophocles, Hipponous fr 302:
offlTqplac yap ^appax’ ow%i navxaxov PAs^ai rcapsoxiv, Ev Ss xfl npopn0ta.
Section Eighteen D
p. 221 line
1 ^pa;: the skill of fire and the technical skill to use it were divine (0e^ac) prerogatives.
1- 2 8ia ... ouyy£v€iav: rejected by several editors (a) because there was no ‘kinship’ between men and gods in this version (except in so far as men were products of the gods - if this interpretation of the words were adopted, then all the aAoya would be ‘kin’ of the gods); (b) the singular ‘god’ is odd - it cannot be monotheistic, nor has any single god been mentioned as the ‘parent’ of man.
2 Man conceptualizes his gods as human in shape: cf. Xenophanes fr. 15:
aAA’ si %sipa; st%ov POE; ircrcoi TE AEOVTS;
ypa^ai %s(psoai xai epya xsAsiv ansp avSps; ircrcoi psv 0’ innoioi, Poe; Ss TE Povoiv opola; 
Kai KE 0£&v iSsac s/pa^ov Kai orapar’ ercolouv roia60’ oi6v nep Kawroi Sspac et%ov eKaaroi.
Voltaire, Notebooks (c. 1735-50): ‘If God created man in his own image, man has certainly returned the compliment.’ Cf. Wo A 8.6-13.
3 The articulation of speech - fundamental difference between men and aAo/a.
5 onopa8nv: note the vocabulary in Text p. 221 ‘in scattered groups’, i.e. sporadically.
6 Early man was undoubtedly a frequent victim of prehistoric beasts. Cave paintings illustrate the hunts, but casualties must have been high.
7 8n^ioupyiK^: technical skills in various crafts and sciences were regarded as part of Athene’s demesne - cf. Odyssey vi.232-4 (see Text p. 262.232-4).
8 no^ixiK^v: i.e. grouping together into (line 9) n6Aeic, a necessary preliminary to subdividing into groups of armed men for fighting. The whole concept of this early grouping into cities is explored by Thucydides in his opening chapters.
9 5T’: useful to note that ori never elides, so or’ must always be ore.
10 ^8teouv: the ‘freedom of individual’ motif again (see on p. 134.20). Protagoras, like Rousseau later, saw early men as naturally aggressive, selfishly destroying each other until learning to submit to what Rousseau termed a ‘Social Contract’, whereby the individual surrenders his rights to the state, itself to be an embodiment of majority opinion. Cf. also Solon in many fragments - including Text p. 51.49-50.
Section Eighteen E
Commentary
p. 222 line
1 Note the different Zeus here from the veoc; raY6c; of Prometheus Vinctus.
2 aiSrac, S(k^: two crucial concepts, which must be explained. The former (‘respect for others’, Vocabulary p. 223) entails fear (as in Plato, Euthyphro 12c) - men behave well through fear of what others may think of them if they don’t.
S(KT| is a more abstract quality - hence Plato’s quest for an absolute form of Justice. The two terms are comparable with modern ethical theorists’ teleonto- logical (viz. what will happen if you do not conform) and deontological (viz. what you feel you ought to do) approaches to the problem.
2 notewv KOO^OI Kai 8€o^oi 9iMa<;: chiasmus - a poetic turn of phrase again.
5 Note the ^vaic; concept underlying this: some men are born with, for instance, medical skill. The Spartans did have hereditary professions (e.g. heralds - but then so are the Earls Marshal of England, and so were the Constables of France). The
Egyptians had seven classes - priests, warriors, cowherds, swineherds, tradesmen, interpreters and pilots (Herodotus II.164),
4 ^: shows generic nature of the participial phrase.
5 K-rav€iv: poetic again, as arcoKrevveiv is the regular prose usage. If ‘all must have a share in’ Sfan and aiSra;, how is it that there are any left to be killed for not having a share? That is not what Protagoras says - he says that any who are incapable of having that sense must be executed.
13 i£vai: cf. our ‘go the way of’.
15 avxn ...: note the asyndeton, and the QED ending to this part of the argu¬ment - all have the potential for developing political skill. Protagoras goes on to describe how Athenian education was aimed, from earliest childhood, at devel¬oping this potential. Yet he had in his audience two powerful arguments against either hereditary or environmental education in statesmanship - the two sons of Pericles. The introduction to Protagoras is contained in IR.