Hippias (5th cn. BCE.)
A Greek sophist of Elis and a contemporary of Socrates. He taught in the towns
of Greece, 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 which was then extant. He also made the first attempt in the
composition of dialogues. In the two Platonic dialogues named after him (Hippias
Major and Hippias Minor), he is represented as excessively vain and
arrogant.
- Hippias is chiefly memorable for his efforts in the direction of
universality. He was the enemy of all specialization, and appeared at Olmpia
gorgeously attired in a costume entirely of his own making down to the ring
on his finger. He was prepared to lecture to anyone on anything, from
astronomy to ancient history. Such a man had need of a good memory, and we
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 it, and Hippias, the universal genius,
could not be left behind here. He invented the curve still known as the
quadratix, which would solve the problem if it could be mechanically
described. Hippias appears to have originated the idea of natural law as the
foundation of morality, distinguishing nature from the arbitrary conventions
or fashions, differing according to the different times or regions in which
they arise, 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 should regard one another
as citizens of a single state. This idea was 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 fro converting roman
law into a legislation for a people.