(Protag. p. 316d.; Suid. s. v.), whom he is described as having
imitated (Plat. Prot. pp. 339, c., 340, e., 341, b.), and with whom he
was without doubt acquainted, as the poet did not die till the 79th, or the beginning of the
80th Olympiad. Prodicus came 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 (Plat. Hipp. Maj. p. 282, comp. Philos. Vit. Soph. 1.12),
although his voice was deep and apt to fall (Plat. Protag. p. 316a. ;
Philost. l.c.). Plutarch describes him as slender and weak (Plut. an seni ger. sit Resp. 100.15); and Plato also alludes to his weakliness,
and a degree of effeminacy which resulted therefrom (Prot. p. 315d.).
Philostratus is the first who taxes him with luxury and avarice (l.c.,
comp. Welcker, Kleine Schriften, ii. p. 513, &c.). In the
Like Protagoras and others, Prodicus delivered lectures in return for the payment of
contributions (Prot. 314, b.) of from half a drachma to 50 drachmae, probably according as the hearers
limited them-selves to a single lecture, or entered into an agreement for a more complete
course (Axioch. 6 ; Cratyl. p. 384b.; Arist. Rhet.
3.14.9; Suid. s. v.; comp. Welcker, p. 414). Prodicus is said to have amassed a great amount
of money (Hipp. Maj. p. 282d.; Xen. Symp. 4.62, 1.5;
on the practice of paying for instruction and lectures, comp. again Welcker, l.c. p. 412, &c.). The assertion that he hunted after rich young men, is only found
in Philostratus (p. 496). As Prodicus and others maintained with regard to themselves, that
they stood equally on the confines of philosophy and politics (Euthyd. p.
305c.), so Plato represents his instructions as chiefly ethical (Meno, p.
96d.; comp. de Rep. x. p. 600e.), and gives the preference to his
distinction of ideas, as of those of courage, rashness, boldness, over similar attempts of
other sophists (Lach. p. 197c.). What pertained to this point was
probably only contained in individual show-orations (Diog. Laert., Philost. ll. 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, &c.) 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 (Plot. Plated. p. 267a.; comp. Gory. p. 449c., Prot.
p. 334e., 335, b., 338, d.; Arist. Rhet. 3.17), and it is only as
associated with other sophists that he is charged with endeavouring to make the weaker cause
strong by means of his rhetoric. (Euthyd. p. 187e.,
Cratyl. p. 384b., comp. Galen. in Hippoer de
Articul. iv. p. 461. 1), and the distinction of expressions related in sense (Lach. p. 197d., Prot. p. 340a., 341, a., Charmid. p. 163d., Meno, p. 7.5, c., comp. Themist. Orat. iv. p. 1 ]3). As disciples of Prodicus in oratory, we find mentioned
the orators Theramenes (Aeschin. in Athen. p. 220b.; Schol. ad Aristoph. Nub. p. 360), and Isocrates (Dionys. Isocr. 1; Phot. cod. 260; comp. Welcker, p. 463, &c.).
Thucydides is said to have appropriated from him his accuracy in the use of words (Marcell.
Vit. Thuc. p. xiii., Bekk.; comp. Schol. ap. Hemsterhus. Annot. in Lucian., App. 3; Maxim. Tyr. Dissert. vii. p. 72,
Davis.)
The speech on the choice of Hercules (Philost. p. 496; Xenophon,
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 virtue 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 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.
The
This outline in Xenophon probably represents, in a very abbreviated form, and with the
omission of all collateral references, the leading ideas of the original, of which no
fragments remain (comp. Welcker, p. 469, &c., who also shows that the amplifications in
Dio Chysostomus and Themistius belong to these rhetoricians, and are not derived from the
florae of Prodicus, p. 488, &c. Respecting the numerous imitations
of this narrative in poets, phlosophers, rhetoricians, and in works of art, see, in like
manner, Welcker, p. 467, &c.).
In another speech, which treated of riches, and the substance of which is reproduced in the dialogue
Similar sentiments were expressed in Prodicus's Praise of Agriculture
(Themist. Orat. 30, p. 349; comp. Welcker, p. 496, &c.).
His 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, are found represented in the dialogue Axiochus, from a lecture
by Prodicus; as also his doctrine that death is not to be feared, as it affects neither the
living nor the departed (comp. Stob. Serm. 20.35). Whether the appended
arguments for immortality are borrowed from him, as Welcker (p. 500) endeavours to show, is
doubtful The gods he regarded as personifications of the sun, moon, rivers, fountains, and
whatever else contributes to the comfort of our life (Sext. Emp. ad v.
Math. 1.52; Cic. de Nat. Deor. 1.42), and he is therefore, though
hastily, charged with atheism (ib. 55).