nd what were the Sophists? In the first place, they were not a
school of philosophers. They are not to be compared, for example, with
the Pythagoreans or {109} Eleatics. They had not, as a school has, any
system of philosophy held in common by them all. None of them
constructed systems of thought. They had in common only certain loose
tendencies of thought. Nor were they, as we understand the members of
a school to be, in any close personal association with one another.
They were a professional class rather than a school, and as such they
were scattered over Greece, and nourished among themselves the usual
professional rivalries. They were professional teachers and educators.
The rise of the Sophists was due to the growing demand for popular
education, which was partly a genuine demand for light and knowledge,
but was mostly a desire for such spurious learning as would lead to
worldly, and especially political, success. The triumph of democracy
had brought it about that political careers were now open to the
masses who had hitherto been wholly shut out from them. Any man could
rise to the highest positions in the State, if he were endowed with
cleverness, ready speech, whereby to sway the passions of the mob, and
a sufficient equipment in the way of education. Hence the demand arose
for such an education as would enable the ordinary man to carve out a
political career for himself. It was this demand which the Sophists
undertook to satisfy. They wandered about Greece from place to place,
they gave lectures, they took pupils, they entered into disputations.
For these services they exacted large fees. They were the first in
Greece to take fees for the teaching of wisdom. There was nothing
disgraceful in this in itself, but it had never been customary. The
wise men of Greece had never accepted any payment for their wisdom.
Socrates, who never accepted any payment, {110} but gave his wisdom
freely to all who sought it, somewhat proudly contrasted himself with
the Sophists in this respect.

The Sophists were not, technically speaking, philosophers. They did
not specialise in the problems of philosophy. Their tendencies were
purely practical. They taught any subject whatever for the teaching of
which there was a popular demand. For example, Protagoras undertook to
impart to his pupils the principles of success as a politician or as a
private citizen. Gorgias taught rhetoric and politics, Prodicus
grammar and etymology, Hippias