Hippias Minor

These considerations lead us to adopt the following criteria of genuineness.

1. that is most certainly plato's which aristotle attributes to him by name which two is of considerable length of three great excellence and also for in harmony with the general spirit of the platonic writings but the testimony of aristotle cannot always be distinguished from that of a latter age see above the and has various degrees of importance, those writings which he cites without mentioning Plato, under their own names, e.g. the Hippias, the Funeral Oration, the Phaedo, etc., have an inferior degree of evidence in their favour.

They may have been supposed by him to be the writings of another, although in the case of really great works, e.g. the Phaedo, this is not credible.

those again which are quoted but not named are still more defective in their external credentials there may be also a possibility that aristotle was mistaken or may have confused the master and his scholars in the case of a short writing but this is inconceivable about a more important work e g the laws especially when we remember that he was living at Athens and a frequenter of the groves of the Academy during the last twenty years of Plato's life.

Not that on grounds either of language or philosophy we should lightly reject them.

Some difference of style, or inferiority of execution, or inconsistency of thought can hardly be considered decisive, of their spurious character for who always does justice to himself or who writes with equal care at all times certainly not plato who exhibits the greatest differences in dramatic power in the formation of sentences and in the use of words if his earlier writings are compared with his later ones say the protagoras or phaedrus with the laws or who can be expected to think in the same manner during a period of authorship extending over above fifty years, in an age of great intellectual activity, as well as of political and literary transition, certainly not Plato, whose earlier writings are separated from his later ones by as wide an interval of philosophical speculation as that which separates his later writings from Aristotle.

The dialogues which have been translated in the first appendix, and which appear to have the next claim to genuineness among the Platonic writings, are the Lesser Hippias, the Menexenus or Funeral Oration, the First Alcibiades.

Of these, the Lesser Hippias and the Funeral Oration are cited by Aristotle, the first in the Metaphysics, the latter in the Rhetoric.

Some difference of style, or inferiority of execution, or inconsistency of thought, can hardly be considered decisive of their spurious character, for who always does justice to himself? or who writes with equal care at all times certainly not plato who exhibits the greatest differences in dramatic power in the formation of sentences and in the use of words if his earlier writings are compared with his later ones say the protagoras or phaedrus with the laws or who can be expected to think in the same manner during a period of authorship extending over above fifty years in an age of great intellectual activity, as well as of political and literary transition, certainly not Plato, whose earlier writings are separated from his later ones by as wide an interval of philosophical speculation as that which separates his later writings from Aristotle.

The dialogues which have been translated in the first appendix and which appear to have the next claim to genuineness among the Platonic writings, are the Lesser Hippias, the Menexenus or Funeral Oration, the First Alcibiades.

Of these, the Lesser Hippias and the Funeral Oration are cited by Aristotle, the first in the metaphysics, the latter in the rhetoric.

Neither of them are expressly attributed to Plato, but in his citation of both of them he seems to be referring to passages in the extant dialogues.

From the mention of Hippias, in the singular by Aristotle, we may perhaps infer that he was unacquainted with the second dialogue bearing the same name.

Moreover, the mere existence of a greater and lesser Hippias, and of a first and second Alcibiades, does, to a certain extent, throw a doubt upon both of them.

Though a very clever and ingenious work, the lesser hippias does not appear to contain anything beyond the power of an imitator, who was also a careful student of the earlier Platonic writings, to invent.

The motive or leading thought of the dialogue may be detected in Xenophon Memorabilia, and there is no similar instance of a motive which is taken from Xenophon in an undoubted dialogue of Plato.

Certainly not Plato, whose earlier writings are separated from his later ones by as wide an interval of philosophical speculation as that which separates his later writings from Aristotle.

The dialogues which have been translated in the first appendix, and which appear to have the next claim to genuineness among the Platonic writings, are the Lesser Hippias, the Menexenus or Funeral Oration, the First Alcibiades.

Of these, the Lesser Hippias and the Funeral Oration are cited by Aristotle, the first in the Metaphysics, the latter in the Rhetoric.

Neither of them are expressly attributed to Plato, but in his citation of both of them he seems to be referring to passages in the extant dialogues.

From the mention of Hippias, in the singular by Aristotle, we may perhaps infer that he was unacquainted with the second dialogue bearing the same name.

Moreover, the mere existence of a Greater and Lesser Hippias, and of a First and Second Alcibiades, does to a certain extent throw a doubt upon both of them.

Though a very clever and ingenious work, the Lesser Hippias does not appear to contain anything beyond the power of an imitator, who was also a careful student of the earlier Platonic writings, to invent.

The motive or leading thought of the dialogue may be detected in Xenophon memorabilia, and there is no similar instance of a motive which is taken from Xenophon in an undoubted dialogue of Plato.

Certainly not Plato, whose earlier writings are separated from his later ones by as wide an interval of philosophical speculation as that which separates his later writings from Aristotle.

The dialogues which have been translated in the first appendix, and which appear to have the next claim to genuineness among the Platonic writings, are the Lesser Hippias, the Menexenus or Funeral Oration, the First Alcibiades.

Of these, the Lesser Hippias and the Funeral Oration are cited by Aristotle, the first in the Metaphysics, the latter in the Rhetoric.

Neither of them are expressly attributed to Plato, but in his citation of both of them he seems to be referring to passages in the extant dialogues.

From the mention of Hippias, in the singular by Aristotle, we may perhaps infer that he was unacquainted with the second dialogue bearing the same name.

Moreover, the mere existence of a Greater and Lesser Hippias, and of a First and Second Alcibiades, does to a certain extent throw a doubt upon both of them.

Though a very clever and ingenious work, the Lesser Hippias does not appear to contain anything beyond the power of an imitator, who was also a careful student of the earlier Platonic writings, to invent.

The motive or leading thought of the dialogue may be detected in Xenophon memorabilia, and there is no similar instance of a motive which is taken from Xenophon in an undoubted dialogue of Plato.

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Some difference of style, or inferiority of execution, or inconsistency of thought can hardly be considered decisive of their spurious character for who always does justice to himself or who writes with equal care at all times certainly not plato who exhibits the greatest differences in dramatic power in the formation of sentences and in the use of words if his earlier writings are compared with his later ones say the protagoras or phaedrus with the laws or who can be expected to think in the same manner during a period of authorship extending over above fifty years, in an age of great intellectual activity, as well as of political and literary transition, certainly not Plato, whose earlier writings are separated from his later ones by as wide an interval of philosophical speculation as that which separates his later writings from Aristotle.

The dialogues which have been translated in the first appendix, and which appear to have the next claim to genuineness among the Platonic writings, are the Lesser Hippias, the Menexenus or Funeral Oration, the First Alcibiades.

Of these, the Lesser Hippias and the Funeral Oration are cited by Aristotle, the first in the Metaphysics, the latter in the Rhetoric.

Neither of them are expressly attributed to Plato, but in his citation of both of them he seems to be referring to passages in the extant dialogues.

From the mention of Hippias, in the singular by Aristotle, we may perhaps infer that he was unacquainted with the second dialogue bearing the same name.

Moreover, the mere existence of a greater and lesser Hippias, and of a first and second Alcibiades, does, to a certain extent, throw a doubt upon both of them.

Though a very clever and ingenious work, the lesser hippias does not appear to contain anything beyond the power of an imitator, who was also a careful student of the earlier Platonic writings, to invent.

The motive or leading thought of the dialogue may be detected in Xenophon Memorabilia, and there is no similar instance of a motive which is taken from Xenophon in an undoubted dialogue of Plato.

Today on Ascend, the Great Books podcast, we continue our journey through the short, strange, and somewhat forgotten dialogues of Plato as we discuss today Hippias Minor or Lesser Hippias.

It's a dialogue on lying.

It's a very intriguing little dialogue on the lie that takes up as its primary example Achilles and Odysseus.

Honestly, it's really humbling.

And I just want to say thank you to all of you.

So today, as we continue our journey through the great books, join us for a wonderful conversation on Hippias Minor, or On the Lie, with a great group of individuals.

Welcome to Ascend, the Great Books Podcast.

My name is Deacon Harrison Garlick.