f remark as the process of the
argument. Nothing is more amusing than his complete submission when
he has been once thoroughly beaten. At first he seems to continue the
discussion with reluctance, but soon with apparent good-will, and he
even testifies his interest at a later stage by one or two occasional
remarks. When attacked by Glaucon he is humorously protected by Socrates
'as one who has never been his enemy and is now his friend.' From Cicero
and Quintilian and from Aristotle's Rhetoric we learn that the Sophist
whom Plato has made so ridiculous was a man of note whose writings were
preserved in later ages. The play on his name which was made by his
contemporary Herodicus (Aris. Rhet.), 'thou wast ever bold in
battle,' seems to show that the description of him is not devoid of
verisimilitude.

When Thrasymachus has been silenced, the two principal respondents,
Glaucon and Adeimantus, appear on the scene: here, as in Greek tragedy
(cp. Introd. to Phaedo), three actors are introduced. At first sight
the two sons of Ariston may seem to wear a family likeness, like the two
friends Simmias and Cebes in the Phaedo. But on a nearer examination
of them the similarity vanishes, and they are seen to be distinct
characters. Glaucon is the impetuous youth who can 'just never have
enough of fechting' (cp. the character of him in Xen. Mem. iii. 6);
the man of pleasure who is acquainted with the mysteries of love; the
'juvenis qui gaudet canibus,' and who improves the breed of animals; the
lover of art and music who has all the experiences of youthful life. He
is full of quickness and penetration, piercing easily below the clumsy
platitudes of Thrasymachus to the real difficulty; he turns out to the
light the seamy side of human life, and yet does not lose faith in the
just and true. It is Glaucon who seizes what may be termed the ludicrous
relation of the philosopher to the world, to whom a state of simplicity
is 'a city of pigs,' who is always prepared with a jest when the
argument offers him an opportunity, and who is ever ready to second
the humour of Socrates and to appreciate the ridiculous, whether in
the connoisseurs of music, or in the lovers of theatricals, or in the
fantastic behaviour of the citizens of democracy. His weaknesses are
several times alluded to by Socrates, who, however, will not allow him
to be attacked by his brother Adeimantus. He is a soldier, and, like
Adeimantus, has been distinguished at the batt