Gorgias

Gorgias (Ancient Greek: Γοργίας, Gorgías; c. 483 BC – c. 375 BC) was an ancient Greek sophist, pre-Socratic philosopher, and rhetorician.

Quotes

Greek text cited from A. Laks, G. W. Most, Early Greek Philosophy, vol. IX Sophists, Part 1 (Cambridge-London, 2016).
Fragments numbered according to H. Diels, W. Kranz, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (Hildesheim, ⁶1952).

Encomium of Helen

• ἄνδρα δὲ καὶ γυναῖκα καὶ λόγον καὶ ἔργον καὶ πόλιν καὶ πρᾶγμα χρὴ τὸ μὲν ἄξιον ἐπαίνου ἐπαίνῳ τιμᾶν, τῷ δὲ ἀναξίῳ μῶμον ἐπιθεῖναι· ἴση γὰρ ἁμαρτία καὶ ἀμαθία μέμφεσθαί τε τὰ ἐπαινετὰ καὶ ἐπαινεῖν τὰ μωμητά.
  • Man and woman and speech and deed and city and object should be honored with praise if praiseworthy and incur blame if unworthy, for it is an equal error and mistake to blame the praisable and to praise the blamable. (tr. G. Kennedy, 1972)
  • Encomium of Helen, 1

• λόγος δυνάστης μέγας ἐστίν, ὃς σμικροτάτῳ σώματι καὶ ἀφανεστάτῳ θειότατα ἔργα ἀποτελεῖ· δύναται γὰρ καὶ φόβον παῦσαι καὶ λύπην ἀφελεῖν καὶ χαρὰν ἐνεργάσασθαι καὶ ἔλεον ἐπαυξῆσαι.
  • Speech is a powerful master and achieves the most divine feats with the smallest and least evident body. It can stop fear, relieve pain, create joy, and increase pity. (tr. M. Gagarin, P. Woodruff, 1995)
  • Encomium of Helen, 8

• τὸν αὐτὸν δὲ λόγον ἔχει ἥ τε τοῦ λόγου δύναμις πρὸς τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς τάξιν ἥ τε τῶν φαρμάκων τάξις πρὸς τὴν τῶν σωμάτων φύσιν. ὥσπερ γὰρ τῶν φαρμάκων ἄλλους ἄλλα χυμοὺς ἐκ τοῦ σώματος ἐξάγει, καὶ τὰ μὲν νόσου τὰ δὲ βίου παύει, οὕτω καὶ τῶν λόγων οἱ μὲν ἐλύπησαν, οἱ δὲ ἔτερψαν, οἱ δὲ ἐφόβησαν, οἱ δὲ εἰς θάρσος κατέστησαν τοὺς ἀκούοντας, οἱ δὲ πειθοῖ τινι κακῇ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐφαρμάκευσαν καὶ ἐξεγοήτευσαν.
  • The effect of speech upon the condition of the soul is comparable to the power of drugs over the nature of bodies. For just as different drugs dispel different secretions from the body, and some bring an end to disease and others to life, so also in the case of speeches, some distress, others delight, some cause fear, others make the hearers bold, and some drug and bewitch the soul with a kind of evil persuasion. (tr. G. Kennedy, 1972)
  • Encomium of Helen, 14

Defense of Palamedes

• δισσῶν γὰρ τούτων ἕνεκα πάντες πάντα πράττουσιν, ἢ κέρδος τι μετιόντες ἢ ζημίαν φεύγοντες.
  • For all men do all things for two reasons, either to pursue some gain or to avoid some penalty. (tr. A. Laks, G. W. Most, 2016)
  • Defense of Palamedes, 19

Fragments

• ἀπάτην, [. . .] ἣν ὅ τ᾿ ἀπατήσας δικαιότερος τοῦ μὴ ἀπατήσαντος καὶ ὁ ἀπατηθεὶς σοφώτερος τοῦ μὴ ἀπατηθέντος.
  • A deception, [. . .] in which the one who deceives is more just than the one who does not deceive, and the one who is deceived is more intelligent than the one who is not deceived. (tr. A. Laks, G. W. Most, 2016)
  • B 23 Diels-Kranz = D 35 Laks-Most (on the conceit of tragedy)

• τὸ μὲν εἶναι ἀφανὲς μὴ τυχὸν τοῦ δοκεῖν, τὸ δὲ δοκεῖν ἀσθενὲς μὴ τυχὸν τοῦ εἶναι.
  • Being is unrecognizable unless it manages to seem, and seeming is feeble unless it manages to be. (tr. P. E. Wheelwright, 1966)
  • B 26 Diels-Kranz = D 34 Laks-Most

• Οὐκ εἶναί φησιν οὐδέν· εἰ δ᾿ ἔστιν, ἄγνωστον εἶναι· εἰ δὲ καὶ ἔστι καὶ γνωστόν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ δηλωτὸν ἄλλοις.
  • Gorgias maintains first, that nothing exists; secondly, that if anything exists it is unknowable; and thirdly, that if anything exists and is knowable, it cannot be demonstrated to others. (tr. W. S. Hett, 1936)
  • D 26a.1 Laks-Most (argument of his work On Non-Existence, a parody of Parmenidean doctrine)

Attributed

• Γοργίας ὁ ῥήτωρ ἔλεγε τοὺς φιλοσοφίας μὲν ἀμελοῦντας, περὶ δὲ τὰ ἐγκύκλια μαθήματα γινομένους, ὁμοίους εἶναι τοῖς μνηστῆρσιν, οἳ Πηνελόπην θέλοντες ταῖς θεραπαίναις αὐτῆς ἐμίγνυντο.
  • Gorgias the orator said that those who neglect philosophy but dedicate themselves to the ordinary disciplines are similar to the suitors, who desired Penelope but slept with her maidservants. (tr. A. Laks, G. W. Most, 2016)
  • B 29 Diels-Kranz = P 22 Laks-Most
    • Alternate translation (P. E. Wheelwright, 1966):
    • Men who neglect philosophy while busying themselves with ordinary affairs are like the Suitors who desired Penelope but went to bed with her maids.