Polus

Polos of Akragas ( ancient Greek Πῶλος Polos ) was an ancient Greek sophist and rhetorician of Akragas, today's Agrigento in Sicily. He was active in the second half of the 5th century BC.

Polo was a pupil of the sophist Gorgias, whose traveling companion he was later. In Athens issued the two sophists teaching. Plato in his dialogue Gorgias let Polos act as panel participants. A copy of the Polo's rhetorical technique is lost today.

To be distinguished from the Sophists Polos is the same Pythagoreans from Lucania, handed down from his treatise On the justice of late antiquity scholars John Stobaeus a quote.

Life

Little is known about the life of polos. Presumably he was born after the middle of the 5th century BC. He spent his youth in the well settled by Greeks of Sicily. The writer Flavius ​​Philostratus who turned in his Lives of the Sophists biographical information about many sophists in the 3rd century, reports, polos was rich. Therefore, he can be very costly rhetoric lessons from Gorgias, a famous teacher of rhetoric afford. From Plato's information shows that the sophist Licymnius of Chios, who was also a pupil of Gorgias, has worked with polos. In a scholium to the treatise On the Pythagorean life of the Neoplatonist Iamblichus Gorgias and polos are referred to as a pupil of Empedocles.

Later Polos Gorgias escorted to Greece and stayed temporarily with him in Athens, where the two sophists practiced their teaching. In the Plato ascribed dialogue Theages whose authenticity is disputed, called Socrates Polos among the teaching in Athens successful Sophists, who claimed to be able to provide young people with education, and won with their persuasion the noblest and richest young men for themselves. For their lessons, they demanded a lot of money from this account.

Lucian of Samosata called Polos among the Sophists, who acted as speaker in Olympia. Following a remark of Dionysius of Halicarnassus he had pupils. His name - Polos means " foal ", figuratively " boy " - gave rise to puns, alluded to those on his hastiness.

Works

Of the works that wrote Polos or which have been attributed to him, none has been preserved. Aristotle approvingly quotes his - even in Plato's dialogue Gorgias handed - finding expertise is the fruit of experience and inexperienced was (for lack of clear view ) given up to chance. From a remark in Plato's Gorgias shows that Polo has a work on rhetorical technique, probably a manual written. In Plato's dialogue Phaedrus, a certificate from Polos " collection of words " is ( Mouseía Logon, literally " Temple of the Muses of the words" ) mentioned in the double expressions, sayings and figures of speech were collected. Apparently led Polos in this work new technical terms a, which earned him Plato's scorn. Perhaps the collection was part of the rhetoric manual.

In the Suda, a Byzantine encyclopedia, in which Polos treated entry three ascribed works are called: a representation of the descent of the heroes who took part in the Trojan War, a catalog of ships (meaning probably ships in the Trojan War, a role played ) and a - perhaps identical with the rhetoric manual - Minutes of the art to express themselves correctly ( Peri LexEOS ). However, the encyclopedist out that the attribution of the genealogy work is uncertain, since some are not polos, but the geographers held damask of Sigeion for the author.

Role in literary dialogues

In Plato's dialogue Gorgias Polos occurs as a companion of the Gorgias and interlocutors of Socrates. The two Sicilian speakers will stay in Athens. The Centre can host is the sophist Callicles. Gorgias lectures, holds a lesson and answered any questions from the audience, polos assists him. Socrates mentions that he has read Polos ' treatise on the rhetorical technique. In the Phaedrus dialogue Plato has his Socrates respect ironic take on Polos ' Fachschriftstellerei.

The representation of the Polos in Plato's Gorgias is very unfavorable. Although he is already emerged as a technical writer in the field of oratory, but can not define his subject, failed in the argument turns out to be impatient and rather arrogant. Care in the philosophical investigation is alien to him. The rhetoric he believes to be the most beautiful of the arts. It represents the concept of a value-free, any applicable unconditionally success-oriented rhetoric; as a speaker you do not need to know what is and what is just unfair. On the one hand he admired power and success, even if they are obtained by unfair means, but on the other hand, it also takes into account conventional values ​​such as the disapproval of injustice and gets involved in the ethical reasoning of Socrates. This contrast is not a problem for him because he has his position not overall thought out and checked for consistency. Since he accepts common judgments, it does not enter into an independent attitude. His approach is similar to that of his teacher Gorgias, whom he admires; he exaggerated the view of Gorgias the extreme.

Source collections

• Robert L. Fowler: Polos of Akragas: Testimonia. In: Mnemosyne Vol 50, 1997, pp. 27-34 ( complete compilation of the source texts)
• Ludwig Radermacher (eds.): Artium Scriptores ( remnants of the pre-Aristotelean rhetoric ). Rudolf Rohrer, Vienna 1951, pp. 112-114 ( compilation of source texts; incomplete)