Abstract
The greatest rhetorical display (έπιδείξις) of Plato's Protagoras is
apparently not Protagoras's famous myth cum démonstration1
about the teachability of excellence (αρετή),2 but rather the dia
logue as a whole. The Protagoras exposes key différences between
the methods and presuppositions of Socrates and those of the
Sophists - thus defending Socrates against the charge of being a
Sophist himself - and in so doing clarifies the conditions and princi
ples of ethical argumentation.3 The display of the Protagoras oc
curs on two levels. In the drama, Socrates puts the Sophists on
exhibit for the benefit of Hippocrates, an Athenian boy who as
pires to a sophistic éducation. In reading the dialogue, however,
we become spectators to Plato's display. The pervading irony is
that Piato uses the Protagoras to critieize the techniques of display
and debate - and to contrast them with dialogue. But the Socratic/
Platonic display in the Protagoras is literally a showing forth, a
manifestation of what a Sophist is and does, whereas a sophistical
display is a showing off, that is not intrinsically related to his beliefs
and aims. In order to see thèse thèmes at work in the Protagoras ,
however, it must first be examined from a rhetorical point of view