Protagoras

In the bustling house of Callias, Socrates arrives with the eager Hippocrates and a colorful circle that includes the sophist Hippias, the grammarian Prodicus, and the young aristocrats Alcibiades and Critias. He asks the celebrated teacher Protagoras what he can make of Hippocrates, hoping to discover whether the art of virtue can be taught like any other craft. The conversation quickly turns to a classic Athenian dilemma: are political and moral skills the province of natural talent or of systematic instruction?

Protagoras replies with a mythic allegory, sending Hermes bearing Justice and Reverence to humanity, and claims that civic virtues belong to everyone, not just a privileged few. He argues that the state already begins the education of virtue from childhood, suggesting that the ability to act justly is a skill that can be cultivated. Socrates then presses further, asking whether virtues are distinct parts of a whole or merely different names for the same good, setting the stage for a subtle exploration of relativism and wisdom.