This  example  will  prepare  the  reader  to  judge,
without  precipitancy,  the  celebrated  boast  of  the
Sophists,  that  they  could  "  make  the  worse  appear
the  better  reason."  This  was  the  grand  aim  of  their
endeavours.  This  was  their  avowed  object.  To
teach  this  art  they  demanded  enormqus  sums  ;  to
learn  it  enormous  sums  were  readily  given,  and
given  by  many.
Now,  understanding  this  object  as  moderns
have  understood  it,  and  thereby  forming  our  notion
of  the  Sophists,  let  us  ask  :  Is  it  credible  that  such
an  art  should  have  been  avowed,  and,  being  avowed,
should  be  rewarded,  in  a  civilized  state  ?  Let  us
think,  for  an  instant,  of  what  are  its  moral,  or
rather  its  immoral,  consequences.  Let  us  reflect
how  utterly  it  destroys  all  morality ;  how  it  makes
the  very  laws  but  playthings  for  dialectical  subtlety.
Then  let  us  ask  whether,  with  our  opinions  re
specting  its  morality,  any  state  could  have  allowed
such  open  blasphemy — such  defiance  to  the  very
fundamental  principle  of  honesty  and  integrity —
such  demolition  of  the  social  contract  ?


160  THE    SOPHISTS.
