HIPPIAS OF PLATO’S CONSTELLATIONS

The title jokingly alludes to the names of two Plato’s dialogues: Hippias Major and Hippias Minor. While the title and its allusion are original, the rest of this entry is not, but, rather, it represents nothing more than stock reference, and the sole reason why it is being posted is not to break the PreSocratica continuity, but to offer the reader a fuller picture on this important subject, as originally intended by the nature of this section.

Hippias of Ellis was known in antiquity as a prodigious polymath and the proud (literally) owner of one of the greatest memories on record. Born circa 460 BC, in Athens, he is known to have survived Socrates (399 BC), but this is really all that could be said about him, chronologically speaking. The following résumé of him is provided here for an important reference. Hopefully, it will be supplemented, and probably supplanted, later on with my original comment, but now is not the time to do it.

A Greek sophist of Elis and a contemporary of Socrates. He taught in the towns of Greece, and especially at Athens. He had the advantage of a prodigious memory, and was deeply versed in all the learning of his day. He attempted literature in every form such as was then extant. He also made the first attempt in the composition of dialogues. In the two Platonic dialogues, Hippias Major and Hippias Minor, named after him, Hippias is represented as excessively vain and arrogant. (However, as always in such cases, Plato is extremely unreliable as a character witness!)

He is chiefly memorable for his efforts in the direction of universality. He was an enemy of specialization, and appeared at Olympia gorgeously attired in a costume entirely of his own making, down to the ring on his finger. (He is known to have boasted that everything he was wearing was made by his own hand!) He was always prepared to lecture anyone on anything, from astronomy to ancient history. Such a man had a need of good memory, and we do know that he invented a system of mnemonics. There was a more serious side to his character, however. This was the age when people were still optimistic of squaring the circle by a geometrical construction. The lunules of Hippocrates of Chios belong to such, and Hippias the universal genius could not be left behind either. He invented the curve still known as the “quadratix,” which would solve the problem if it could be mechanically described. Hippias also appears to have originated the idea of natural law as the foundation of morality, distinguishing nature from arbitrary conventions or fashions differing according to the different times or regions where they arise and are imposed by arbitrary human enactment, and often unwillingly obeyed. He held that there is an element of “right” common to the laws of all countries and constituting their essential basis. He held also that the good and wise of all countries are naturally akin, and they should therefore regard one another as citizens of a single state. This idea was to be subsequently developed by the Cynic and still more by the Stoic schools, passing from the latter to the jurists, in whose hands it became the great instrument for converting Roman law into a legislation for an entire people.

The bottom line for Hippias’ life and his contribution to Western Culture is that, although far lesser known than quite a few others, he was still a major force in shaping the culture of the future, and, as such, ought to be remembered and honored accordingly.