Editing Prodicus (section)

==Teachings==
Prodicus was part of the first generation of [[Sophist]]s. "He was a Sophist in the full sense of a professional freelance educator."<ref name="guthrie275">Guthrie, William. ''The Sophists''. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1971. {{ISBN|0-521-09666-9}}. p. 275.</ref> As he taught both [[philosophy]] and [[politics]],<ref>Plato, ''Euthyd.'' 305c</ref> so Plato represents his instructions as chiefly [[ethical]],<ref>Plato, ''Meno'', 96d; comp. ''de Rep.'' x. 600e</ref> and gives preference to his distinction of ideas, such as courage, rashness, boldness, over similar attempts of other sophists.<ref>Plato, ''Lach.'' 197c</ref> He sometimes gave individual show-orations, and though known to [[Callimachus]], they do not appear to have been long preserved. 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,<ref>Plato, ''Phaed.'' 267a; comp. ''Gorg.'' 449c, ''Prot.'' 334e, 335b, 338d; Aristotle, ''Rhet.'' iii. 17</ref> and it is only as associated with other sophists that he is charged with endeavouring to make the weaker cause appear strong by means of his rhetoric (thereby inspiring, ''e.g.'', Milton's description of Belial).<ref>Cicero, ''Brut.'' c. 8.</ref>

===Linguistics===
Several of [[Plato]]'s dialogues focus upon Prodicus' linguistic theory, and his insistence upon the correct use of names. He paid special attention to the correct use of words,<ref>Plato, ''Euthyd.'' 187e, ''Cratyl.'' 384b, comp. Galen, ''in Hippocr. de Articul.'' iv. p. 461. 1</ref> and the distinction of expressions related in sense.<ref>Plato, ''Lach.'' 197d, ''Prot.'' 340a, 341a, ''Charmid.'' 163d; comp. [[Themistius]], ''Orat.'' iv. p. 113</ref> In ''Meno'', Plato has Socrates observe that Prodicus might more tightly distinguish certain words which Socrates was happy to treat as sharing broadly the same meaning.<ref>Plato, ''Meno'', 75e</ref> [[Thucydides]] is said to have gained from him his accuracy in the use of words.<ref>Marcell. ''Vit. Thuc.''; comp. Scholium ap. Hemsterhus. ''Annot. in Lucian.'', App. 3; Maxim. Tyr. ''Dissert.'' vii.</ref> In the ''[[Cratylus (dialogue)|Cratylus]]'',<ref>Plato, ''Cratylus'', 384b</ref> [[Socrates]] jokes that if he could have afforded the fifty drachma lectures he would now be an expert on "the correctness of names". In several of the Platonic dialogues Socrates appears as the friend and companion of Prodicus, which reveals at least that the two did have close personal relations, and that Socrates did attend at least a few of his lectures. "For Socrates, correct language was the prerequisite for correct living (including an efficient government). But Prodicus, though his linguistic teaching undoubtedly included semantic distinctions between ethical terms, had stopped at the threshold. The complete art of ''logoi'' embraced nothing less than the whole of philosophy."<ref name="guthrie276">Guthrie, William., ''The Sophists''. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1971. {{ISBN|0-521-09666-9}}. p. 276.</ref>

===Ethics===
{{Commons category|Hercules at the crossroads}}
The speech on the [[Hercules at the crossroads|choice of Hercules]]<ref>Philostratus, p. 496; Xenophon, ''Mem.'' ii. 1. § 21</ref> was entitled ''Horai'' ({{langx|grc|Ὧραι}}).<ref>Suda, ''Horai'', ''Prodicus''; Scholium ad Aristoph. ''Nub.'' 1. 360. The meaning of the title is obscure.</ref> Hercules, as he was entering manhood, had to choose one of the two paths of life, that of [[virtue]] and that of [[Hedonism|vice]]. There appeared two women, the one of dignified beauty, adorned with purity, modesty, and discretion, the other of a voluptuous form, and meretricious look and dress. The latter promises to lead him by the shortest road, without any toil, to the enjoyment of every pleasure. The other, while she reminds him of his progenitors and his noble nature, does not conceal from him that the gods have not granted what is really beautiful and good apart from trouble and careful striving. While one seeks to deter him from the path of virtue by urging the difficulty of it; the other calls attention to the unnatural character of enjoyment which anticipates the need of it, its want of the highest joy, that arising from noble deeds, and the consequences of a life of voluptuousness, and how she herself, honoured by gods and men, leads to all noble works, and to true well-being in all circumstances of life. Hercules decides for virtue. This outline in Xenophon probably represents, in a very abbreviated form, the leading ideas of the original, of which no fragments remain.

Another speech, apparently by Prodicus, is mentioned in the spurious Platonic dialogue ''[[Eryxias (dialogue)|Eryxias]]''. Prodicus undertakes to show that the value of external goods depends simply upon the use which is made of them, and that virtue must be learnt. Similar sentiments were expressed in Prodicus's ''Praise of Agriculture''.<ref>Themistius, ''Orat.'' 30</ref> The spurious dialogue ''[[Axiochus (dialogue)|Axiochus]]'' attributes to him views respecting the worthlessness of earthly life in different ages and callings, and how we must long after freedom from connection with the body in the heavenly and cognate [[aether (classical element)|aether]]. Also found here is a doctrine that death is not to be feared, as it affects neither the living nor the departed.<ref>comp. Stobaeus, ''Serm.'' xx. 35</ref>

===Naturalism===
Prodicus, like some of his fellow Sophists, interpreted religion through the framework of [[Naturalism (philosophy)|naturalism]]. The gods he regarded as personifications of the sun, moon, rivers, fountains, and whatever else contributes to the comfort of our life,<ref>Sextus Empiricus, ''adv. Math.'' i. 52; Cicero, ''de Nat. Deor.'' i. 42</ref> and he was sometimes charged with [[atheism]].<ref>Cicero, ''de Nat. Deor.'' i. 55</ref> "His theory was that primitive man was so impressed with the gifts nature provided him for the furtherance of his life that he believed them to be the discovery of gods or themselves to embody the godhead. This theory was not only remarkable for its naturalism but for its discernment of a close connection between religion and agriculture."<ref name="guthrie179">Guthrie, William. ''The Sophists''. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1971. {{ISBN|0-521-09666-9}}. p. 279.</ref>