Greater Hippias

Recommended translations:

  • "Greater Hippias," trans. D. R. Sweet in The Roots of Political Philosophy, ed. Thomas L. Pangle (Cornell, 1987).
  • "Greater Hippias," trans. P. Woodruff  in Plato: Complete Works, ed. J. M. Cooper (Hackett, 1997).

Excerpt:

Socrates
Hippias, beautiful and wise, what a long time it is since you have put in at the port of Athens!

Hippias
I am too busy, Socrates. For whenever Elis needs to have any business transacted with any of the states, she always comes to me first of her citizens and chooses me as envoy, thinking that I am the ablest judge and messenger of the words that are spoken by the several states. So I have often gone as envoy to other states, but most often and concerning the most numerous and important matters to Lacedaemon. For that reason, then, since you ask me, I do not often come to this neighborhood.

Socrates
That’s what it is, Hippias, to be a truly wise and perfect man! For you are both in your private capacity able to earn much money from the young and to confer upon them still greater benefits than you receive, and in public affairs you are able to benefit your own state, as a man must who is to be not despised but held in high repute among the many.

Online:
Amazon (Recommended Translation: Sweet)
Amazon (Recommended Translation: Woodruff)
Project Perseus (English, Free Access)
Project Perseus (Greek, Free Access)