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The Political Mission of Gorgias to Athens in 427 B. C.

Author(s): B. H. Garnons WilliamsSource: The Classical Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 1 (Jan., 1931), pp. 52-56Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/637101

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THE POLITICAL MISSION OF GORGIAS TO ATHENSIN 427 B.C.1THE history of Athenian relations with Sicily in the fifth century is beset withdifficulties; and no part of it, perhaps, is more obscure than the story of what iscommonly known as the First Sicilian Expedition, which set sail from Athens in thelate summer of 427 under Laches, and was reinforced under Pythodorus, Sophoclesand Eurymedon in the winter of 426.Thucydides gives an account of the doings of this expedition,2 which, if notsatisfactory, is at any rate presumably complete. Laches accomplished very little;but that need not surprise us, as he was only given twenty ships. The question thatdoes call for discussion is, why was he only given twenty ships ? It must have beenclear that he could do very little with them, so little that it was hardly worth sendingthem. They could have been better employed elsewhere; in the summer of 427 thePeloponnesian fleet was active in the Aegean. By sending twenty ships to Sicily theAthenians annoyed both parties, the Syracusans and their allies because they weresending an expedition against them, the Leontinans and their allies because it wassuch an inadequate expedition.3 An explanation of their action is plainly calledfor; and it is the purpose of this paper to show how it can be found in the politicalsituation in Athens at the time.It is true that Thucydides4 tells us the motives which, in his opinion, inspired

the Athenians to send the expedition: Ka 'E7rqEJLav ot 'AOlvaiot rvijs pv OlKEtLOT7TOS7rpo()o'-EL(because of their treaty with Leontini), f1ovX6ILevot6S /tjTrE TZTrovES T'VHIEXo7rovv7rlcov ayerTa-OarTOOEv7rpdorEpdavE7roLoVLEVOLl tcrL 't vvard et'r rTaev rT ZLKEXla'pay/Lara v7roXElpLa yevEo-Oat. This is no doubt true as far as it goes; but it fails toexplain the smallness of the force sent. The student of political history-a subjectin which Thucydides was not particularly interested-would like to know somethingabout the discussions and intrigues which lay behind this decision of the Athenians.War had broken out in Sicily. On the one side were ranged Syracuse and allthe Dorian states except Camarina; on the other, Leontini, Camarina and theChalcidian cities. The latter appealed to Athens for help, by sending a mission

under Gorgias,5 the celebrated sophist; and the Athenians responded by sending theexpedition described above.Now a reference to this mission is very generally supposed to be made in theparabasis of the Acharnians6 where Aristophanes wrote:

r41o-cvS' ELEvat oXXwv ayaOo,v atos V/LtvOrroLrqTj,7ravoaasv/las EVLwKOLoAyotL Iv Xiav E;arracro-Oat,/,L7' 'S0OaOL o6rrevo)7EvovslOV ' eLva' Xavvo7oA'as.7rpoTrpov o' v/aS 7rO TWV7r6OeWv oL 7rPE(or3EiSE araT(VTEs7Tp(OTO V ILV loTE/a'VOVES EKaXOVVV Kat e EWt7 TOVTO TLS E'7TOL,evOvS 8La Tov cTErcaYvoV ET7r'aKpv TWv7IVTryi)ov EKaOrIo'Oe.el 3e TtS v/ogs v7roOo7revo-ag XtrPapa& KahcEoELEV 'AOrva',The writer, whilst accepting full responsi- sent to Athens to complain of the inadequacy ofbility for the opinions expressed in this article, the expedition.wishes to express his gratitude to Mr. H. T. 4 Thuc. III. 86.Wade-Gery for his very valuable help and 5 Plat. Hipp. mai. 282B; Diod. XII. 53;advice. Timaeus fr. 95, apud Dion. Hal. de Lys. 3. Cf.2 Thuc. III. 86, 88, 90, 99, 103, 115; IV. I, Ed. Meyer, Geschichtedes Alterthums, Vol. IV.,24, 25, 58. p. 359-3 Thuc. III. II5, sect. 3: oit v ZLKeXita 6Xtuaxo 6 Ar. Ach. 633 sqq.


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B. H. GARNONS WILLIAMSrivpETro IraV iv tLa T-rs Xiarapas, acLfvwv rTLipv 7reptaLas.TraVa lrotcras ooXXAv )dya0iv ia0tos v^ yeyev!rTa.

On this passage van Leeuwen remarks: ' Nostro autem loco prae ceteris rideturGorgias.' He does not go into the passage any more closely, but appears merely tothink that in writing the passage Aristophanes had Gorgias more or less vaguelyin mind.

Rogers1 is more definite, but, for reasons which will be given below, he cannotbe held to have explained the passage completely. Writing of the embassy ofGorgias he says: ' It is impossible to believe that in the BabyloniansAristophanesignored this notable instance of the effect of oratory, $EVLKWVoywv, upon theAthenian assembly.' That is to say,;he thinks that the referencein this passage is tocertain scenes or passages in the Babylonianswhich ridiculed the Athenians for beinggulled by Gorgias into sending twenty ships to Sicily.Let us examine the passage more closely. In line 634 Aristophanes states thathe actually stopped the people from being too much deceived $EVLKOZOC&oyoLt. Thatis, he is referring to scenes or passages in a previous play of his which had, in hisopinion, a definite effect on public policy on a particular occasion or occasions; forthe next time the Athenians had to reply to the proposals of a foreign embassy theywere not ' too much deceived.' This is quite definitely said, and in a parabasisthereis generally to be found an element of truth. That the play had any effect on theAthenian decision cannot be legitimately argued from this passage-though it isquite possible; that there was, however, a decision to be made, and that the playbore on the subject of the decision, and could be represented as influencing it, is afair inference.If we consider this, it becomes plain that Rogers's explanation is unsatisfactory.He may be right in saying that Gorgias' mission was mentioned in the Babylonians;but the present passage cannot refer to that. For the Babylonians as producedafterthe sending out of the expedition under Laches, and therefore cannot have had anyinfluence on the success or failure of Gorgias' mission. We are faced, therefore,withtwo alternatives: either some other political mission was affected by a passage in theBabylonians;or else it was a passage or passages not in the Babylonians, but in theBanqueters, which affectedthe result of the mission of Gorgias.Now the Babylonianswas produced in March 426, the Acharnians in February 425.We have no record of any important embassy to Athens during the time between,except the one mentioned above, by which the Sicilian allies asked for more help;further, there are no indications of any kind that there were other embassies toAthens at this time. One possibility, then, would seem to be that Aristophanes inthis passage is maintainingthat the Babylonians ad an adverse effect on the secondmission from Sicily. But there is an obvious and conclusive objection to this view:the second mission was singularly successful, for by its agency the Athenian fleet inSicilian waters was actually trebled.We are forced,therefore, to the alternative conclusion that the play to whichAristophanes is referring is the Banqueters,which was produced in February 427.How strong the case for this view is will appear from an examination of theobjections which are likely to be raised to it.Firstly, it will be said that the fragments of the Banqueters ontain no trace ofany reference to Sicilian affairs2 or to any embassy from a foreign state. But we1 The Acharniansof Aristophanes,Introd., p. xxi. 6pTvyoK6iov (which is certainly corrupt; Fritzsche2 As a matter of fact there are two fragments reads OpTV-yK6irov,'ex pravo scribendi usu,of the Banqueterswhich might be held to point OprviTUoK6btrov,rtum esse monens'; but possiblyto an interest in western affairs. In fr. 2I6 there 6pTrvyOK6grov,boasting of quails,' is right) mayare references to western luxuries, ZvpaKoo-iav possibly refer to Ortygia. But it would be worse-rpdire'av ZvgapLrTLisr' cVwxtas: and in fr. 242 rbv than imprudent to base anything on this.

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B. H. GARNONS WILLIAMSmust remember that the extant fragments of the Banqueters are exceedingly scanty,and we cannot draw arguments from their silence. None of the fragments can beassigned with any certainty to the parabasis,' in which references to Gorgias' missionwould be most likely to occur. Besides, there are no signs of any such reference inthe extant fragments of the Babylonians. The reference must have occurred in oneor other of the two plays: the fragments give us no direct information as to whichit was.But it will be maintained that such a reference would be more in keeping withthe general subject of the Babylonians than with that of the Banqueters. But if weexamine the accepted view about the subject of the Babylonians we find that itdepends on the very passage in the Acharnians which we are discussing;2 the extantfragments give us no help at all. To argue that a reference to Gorgias' missionwould be in keeping with the general subject would be merely begging the question.On the other hand it is possible to get some idea of what was the subject of theBanqueters. The scholiast on Aristophanes, Clouds 529, commenting on the wordso cropov Xxi Kararrvywv, ays that the reference is to the Banqueters, Iv ot oJepov

,EtpaK0ov eldTCayE Kat ETEpov axp71qrTov. Obviously good play could be made of thedifference between these two characters.But in the most considerable of the extant fragments of the play we find analtercation, not between the two young men, but between the KaTarvrywvand an oldman, probably his father, on the subject of the new-fangled words which were in useamong the smart young men of the day. The clash between old and new fashionsis also probably reflected in frs. 216 and 2I9. It is at least a plausible theory thatthe real subject of the play was this clash; and that in it Aristophanes supported theold fashions and ways of thought. Being a young man himself he would naturallynot represent all the young men as supporting the new fashions. The ro-iqpovLLEtLpaKtov represented the type he wished to see more common in Athens; and nodoubt in the end he was made to triumph over his extravagant brother.Now one issue which was likely to divide the smart young men of the day bothfrom their less spectacular contemporaries and from the older men was the questionof intervention in Sicily. The appeal of Sicily was a romantic one, likely to enticethe enthusiastic youth of any period; and just as it appealed to the young menof 4I5,3 so it is probable that it appealed to their predecessors of 427, who had,however, by 415 grown out of it. Probably the youth of 427 were less of anorganized party than the youth of 4I5 seem to have been, but it is likely that thefirst Sicilian expedition found its most ardent supporters among the young menof the day.And it is more than probable that to the young men Gorgias addressed a specialpersonal appeal: ropytaS 6 AeoVTrvo0 o0co-rSg oe&^po [tKEro 8rU1oo-r'a O'tKOOEV7rpEo(-pEV'J)VUS$ 6KavWTaTos Wv AEOVT-VOVTiaO KoIva TrpaLTTetv, KaL EV TE r q CP ('SO$EV aptTTa eltrelVKat ta a E(L7rO?ELtSTOLOVtOLEVOEaL o 'VV'V TOtg.OS XprarTao0,a XpydcParo K T,S roeS.4

1 Frs. 222-227 could, metrically, be assigned Norwood, in a recent number of Classical Philo.to the parabasis. But, of these, frs. 222, 223, 225 logy, has put forward quite another view of theand 226 are fairly obviously fragments of dia- contents of the Babylonians.logue; and frs. 224 and 227, even if they do 3 Thuc. VI. I3, sect. i (speech of Nicias), Kalbelong to the parabasis, give no clue to its Tro?s rpe^0v3repotsdvrt7rapaKEXeeo,aLA'7 Karatoxvv-contents. O 'vai, et r7q r a KcpaKcaO7ra r7.Ve&, 6Sow r 86~e?,2 Cf. Kock, Corn.Att. Fragm. I., pp. 407 sq., edv , A ?,v0bqora 7'roXe\e?vv,aXaKosetlva. And'de argumento cf. Ach. 630-642. Inridebat Thuc. VI. i8, sect. 6 (speech of Alcibiades), K.alAtheniensium credulitatem, qui peregrinorum AX7V&i NTKcdoVv \X6Oywv&7rpay/,Loa6ZV')aQllegatorum mendaciis facillime deciperentur, 8daro-racs oZsveots Ces os TrpeafivrepovscTrorpl?p,criminabatur populi in socios potissimum insu- K.T.X.lanos iniurias, homines populares qui tum 4 Plato, Hipp. Mai., I.c.valebant vehementissime accusabat.' Professor

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POLITICAL MISSION OF GORGIAS TO ATHENS IN 427 B.C. 55That is to say, Gorgias supplemented his public speeches by giving lessons insophistry to the young men, and there can be little doubt that he used the influencehe gained as a teacher to further the public object of his mission.

If this theory is correct, it is easy to see how Aristophanes managedto insert anattack on the Sicilian projectinto the play. The projectwas one of the new fashionswhich he was attacking, and therefore could not well be kept out of it. Anotherobject of attack, as we can see from fr. I98, was the use of the new-fangled words-oopEXXr/, KaraT7rXtcylcrEL,Topvfco-rTap reviously mentioned, and it is probable thatthese and other such are the $EVLKOoXo'yoto which Aristophanes is referring inAcharnians 34. The play was a vigorous attack on Gorgias and all he stood for:sophistry, preciosity, and the lure of Sicily.It will be noted that it is assumed above that Gorgias was already in Athenswhen the Banqueterswas produced,whereas the common supposition is that he didnot come until the summer. But this latter supposition has nothing to warrantit. Thucydides, indeed, tells us that the Athenian expedition set sail rov OEpovSTreXVTWrVTO,1ut he gives us no indication of the date of Gorgias' arrival. Workingback from the date of the dispatch of the expedition, we must allow some time forthe preparationof it after the decision to send it had been reached; and before thatwe must allow a considerable time for the negotiations to be carried on and forGorgias cavvetvaL Troi vOs.2 For Plato's words, quoted above, show that Gorgiaswas in Athens for quite a long time; and considering the importance and thenovelty of his request, and the opposition with which it must have met, we cannotbe surprised. It is not unreasonable, therefore, to suppose that Gorgias had arrivedin Athens early in February,3if not before, in time for Aristophanes to insert anattack upon the object of his mission into the Banqueters.Finally, it may be objected to the theory here put forward that after all theAthenians were deceived by Gorgias, and therefore that Aristophanes, in claimingthat he persuaded them EVWKOt-crX6yoLt U)XItav EaracLTaroOaL,annot be referringto their reception of Gorgias' mission, which was in point of fact successful. Theanswer to this is that it was not successful. As a result of his appeal the Athenianssent twenty ships under a half-hearted leader; it is impossible to believe thatGorgias did not ask for more than that. The Athenians were deceived, but ov Xtav.As a result of a 'conservative' campaign against intervention in Sicily-a campaignof which the Banqueterswas, in a sense, part-an acceptable compromise wasreached,by which the radicals had the satisfactionof seeinga fleet of some sort sent toSicily, and the conservatives of seeing that it was a small fleet, commandedby anunambitious general.We have seen that Thucydides gives a twofold motive for the sending of thisexpedition: KaL r'efL/av o tAO tvaZoL .. 3ovXO6/EvoL /JL)TEoZov S -'fv IlEXor6vv?r)rovayEorOaL avroTOev, 7rpo7-repav Tre rotOV/LEvot el o-(r4tTL wVVaTaeLr) T'a EV T' ZKEXeAta7rpay/jcaraTv7roXetpLa yeve-oOaL. Perhaps it is not fanciful to suggest that these were the phraseswith which each party comforted itself after it had been compelled to accept thecompromise: that the conservatives, much as they disliked the sending of a fleetto Sicily, consoled themselves by saying that it might have a bad effect on thePeloponnesian supply system; whilst the radicals, profoundlydissatisfied with thesize of the fleet sent, gave out that it was only intended as an advance force, to give

1 Thuc. III. 86, sect. i. dorus (XII. 53, sect. 5).2 It is clear that the teaching of Gorgias took 3 The earliest possible date for the Banqueters:place before the decision to send the expedition: it may have been produced in March at theboth from the probability that he would return Great Dionysia. Vide Geissler, Chronologiederto announce the result of his mission directly it altattischen Komodie,p. 32.was apparent, and also from the words of Dio-


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56 POLITICAL MISSION OF GORGIAS TO ATHENS IN 427 B.C.the Sicilians a foretaste of what was to come. When in politics a compromise hasbeen reached, it is not uncommon for both sides to claim a victory.lB. H. GARNONSWILLIAMS.

SEDBERGH SCHOOL, YORKSHIRE.1 It is probable that history repeated itself in O&a-ov rov eKCe 7r6Xefov, KaraXvO-'rfeaal, dilMa&the following year, when discussion must have [ov\X6/evoL JtLeX&rVv ro vavnTKOOrote?oacu. Thetaken place over the sending of reinforcements second reason sounds like an excuse made byto Sicily. Thucydides (III. II5, sect. 4) tells us the conservatives to cover up their defeat in thethat the Athenians sent them /ucAav j/yoiFtevot Ecclesia.

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