Prodicus ( 1 ), an Athenian philosopher of the school of the Sophists, was a contemporary of Socrates, ami forerunner of the latter in the domain of philosophy, inasmuch as he prepared the way for the logical and ethical efforts of Socrates. Prodicus was a native of Sulis, in the island of Ceos. lie went frequently to Athens for the purpose of transacting business on behalf of his native city, and even attracted admiration in the senate as an orator (Plato, Hipp. Maj. p. 282; comp. Philost Vit. Soph. i. 12), although his voice was deep and apl to fall (Plato, Protag. p. 316, a; Philost I c), Plutarch describes him as slender and weak (Plut an sent ger. sit Resp. c. 15) : and Plato speaks of a degree of effeminacy which resulted therefrom (Protag. p. 315, d). Philostratus is the tirst who taxes him with luxury and avarice (/.'■..- comp.Welcker, Klein* Schrtf- ten, ii. 513, etc). In the Protagoras ol Plato, which points to the eighty-seventh Olympiad (any more ex- act determination is disputable) as the time at which the dialogue is supposed to take place, Prodicus is men- tioned as having previously arrived in Aliens, still later, when Isocrates (bom 01. 86, 1 i is mentioned as his disciple (see Welcker, Prodikos von A 1 des Socrates, published tirst in the Rheinisckes Museum der Philologie, von Welcker and Nake, i. 1 39, 533 545, afterwards in Wdcker's Kleim Schrijten, ii, 392 541), and in the year of the death ol Socrates, Prodicus was still living (Plato, Apol p. 19, c). The dates of his birth and death cannot be determined. I he statement of Suidas i s. v. : comp. Schol, on Plato D< Rep. \. 600, ci thai he was condemned to the hemlock cup as a corrupter of the youth in Athens Bounds very suspi- cious i comp. We Icker, p. 582). Ai rding to t he state- ment of Philostratus (p. 183 comp. p. 196, ed. Olea- r'nisi. <>n which little more reliance can !"■ placed, he
delivered his lecture- on virtue and vice in Thebes and Sparta also. The Apology of Plato unites him with Gorgiasand Hippias in the statement that into w hat ever city they mighl come, they were competenl to instruct
PRODICUS
625
PROEDRI
the youth. Lucian (Vit. Herod, c. 3) mentions him among those who had held lectures at Olympia. In the dialogues of Plato he is mentioned or introduced, not indeed without iron}', though, as compared with the other Sophists, with a certain degree of esteem [Hipp. Maj. p. 282; Thecet. p. 151, b; Phmdo, 60; Pro- lag, p. 341, a ; Charmid. p. 163, d ; Meno, p. 96 ; Cratyt. p. 384, b; Symp. p. 177; Euthyd. p. 305). Aristopha- nes, in the Clouds (1. 360), deals more indulgently with him than with Socrates ; and the Xenophontic Socrates, for the purpose of combating the voluptuousness of Ar- istippus, borrows from the book of the wise Prodicus (Ylpud. 6 ootyoe) the story of the choice of Hercules (Memor. ii, 1, § 21, etc.). This separation of Prodicus from the other Sophists has been pointed out by Welcker in the above-quoted treatise (p. 400, etc.). Like Protag- oras and others, Prodicus delivered lectures in return for the payment of contributions (tTriCuKwrai — Xenoph. Mem. ii, 1, § 21 ; comp. Philost. p. 482 ; Diog. Laert. ix, 50; ripavt^ovTO — ri/xi], Plato, Prot. 314, b) of from half a drachma to fifty drachma?, probably according as the hearers limited themselves to a single lecture, or entered into an agreement for a more complete course (Axioch. 6; Cratyl. p. 384, b; Aristot. Rhet. iii, 14, § 9; Suid. s. v.; comp. Welcker, p. 414). Prodicus is said to have amassed a great amount of money {Hipp. Maj. p. 282, d ; Xenoph. Symp. iv, 62 ; i, 5 ; on the practice of paving for instruction and lectures, comp. again Welcker, I. c. p. 412, etc.).
As Prodicus and others maintained with regard to themselves that they stood equally on the confines of philosophy and politics (Euthyd. p. 305, c), so Plato represents his instructions as chiefly ethical {Meno, p. 96, d; comp. De Rep. x, p. 600, e), and gives the preference to his distinction of ideas — as of those of courage, rashness, boldness — over similar attempts of other Sophists {Lack. p. 197, c). What pertained to this point was probably only contained in individual show-orations (Diog. Laert, Philost. II. cc), which he usually declined (Philost. p. 482). Though known to Callimachus, they do not appear to have been much longer preserved (Welcker, p. 465, etc.). In contrast with Gorgias and others, who boasted of possessing the art of making the small appear great, the great small, and of expatiating in long or short speeches, Prodicus required that the speech should be neither long nor short, but of the proper measure (Plato, Pkced. p. 267, a; comp. Gory. p. 449, c; Prot. p. 334, e, 335, b, 338, d ; Aristot. Rhet. iii, 17), and it is only as associated with other Sophists that he is charged with endeavoring to make the weaker cause strong by means of his rhet- oric (Cieero, Bi lit. c. 8). He paid especial attention to the correct use of words (Plato, Euthyd. p. 187, e ; Cra- tyl. p. 384, b ; comp. Galen, In Hippocr. de A rticul. iv, p. 461, 1), and the distinction of expressions related in sense (Lach. p. 197, d ; Prot. p. 340, a. 341, a ; Charmid. p. 163, d ; Meno, p. 75, c ; comp. Themist. Orat. iv, p. 113). But he deserves greater remembrance for his parenetical discourses on moral subjects, among which one of the best known is Hercules at the Cross Roads (Philost. p. 496 ; Xenophon, Mem. ii, 1, § 21, only quotes the ovyypapj.ia rrtpi tov HpaicXioiiQ). It was entitled 'Qpai (Suid. s. v. 'Qpai and Up6c. ; Schol. ad Aris- toph. Nub. 1. 360. Respecting the different explanations of this title, see Welcker, p. 466, etc., who refers it to the youthful bloom of Hercules). To Hercules, as he was on the point, at his entrance on the age of youth, of deciding for one of the two paths of life — that of vir- tue and that of vice — there appear two women, the one of dignified beauty, adorned with purity, modesty, and discretion, the other of a voluptuous form and mere- tricious look and dress. The latter promises to lead him by the shortest road, without any toil, to the en- joyment of every pleasure. The other, while she re- minds him of his progenitors and his noble nature, does not conceal from him that the gods have not granted what is reallv beautiful and good apart from trouble VIII.— R R