The Works of Plato

to me, Hippocrates—you are now preparing to go to Protagoras, to pay him money on your own behalf; so in what capacity do you need him here, and who exactly do you want to become through his instruction? original: "ὡς παρὰ τίνα ἀφιξόμενος καὶ τίς γενεσόμενος."

C. It is as if, for example, you decided to go to your namesake, Hippocrates of Cos, of the line of Asclepius, to pay him money on your own behalf, and someone asked you: "Tell me, Hippocrates, you are about to pay that Hippocrates—in what capacity?" What would you answer?
— I would say, he says, that it is as a physician.
— And to become what?
— A physician, he says.
— And if you intended to go to Polyclitus of Argos, or Phidias the Athenian, to pay them, and someone asked you: "This money you have in mind to pay Polyclitus and Phidias—in what capacity do you consider them?" What would you answer?
— I would say that it is as sculptors.
— And to become what yourself?
— Clearly, a sculptor.

D. — Very well, I said. And now, you and I are going to Protagoras and will be ready to pay him money on your behalf if our property is sufficient to persuade him; if not, we will take more from our friends. So, if someone asked us, in view of our great effort, "Tell me, Socrates and Hippocrates, in what capacity do you intend to use Protagoras that you should pay him money?" What E. would we answer him? What other name do we hear for Protagoras, just as we hear "sculptor" for Phidias, or "poet" for Homer? What do we hear in this vein regarding Protagoras?
— Well, people call this man a sophist wise person/teacher of rhetoric, he says.
— So we are going to pay him money as a sophist.
— Certainly.

312 — And if they asked you this as well: "Going to Protagoras yourself, to become what?"
And he says, having blushed—because it was al-