Prodicus of Ceos 465 BC – 395 BC
Prodicus of Ceos was a Greek sophist and rhetorician of the late fifth century BC, contemporary with Socrates. Coming to Athens as an envoy from his island, he remained as a celebrated and well-paid teacher of rhetoric and the careful analysis of synonyms. His most famous composition, the Choice of Heracles, preserved in Xenophon, presents the young hero choosing between Virtue and Vice, each personified as a woman who tries to win him to her path. He held that the gods were originally human benefactors who had been deified by grateful posterity.
Key facts
- Nationality
- Greek
- Era
- Ancient
- Movements
- Sophism, Ancient Greek
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Prodicus of Ceos:
“Wisdom and virtue must be cultivated through education.”
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Attributed to Prodicus of Ceos:
“Virtue is hard to attain; the gods have placed sweat as her gatekeeper.”
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Attributed to Prodicus of Ceos:
“The careful distinction of words is the foundation of philosophy.”
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Attributed to Prodicus of Ceos:
“Each god, in the beginning, was a mortal benefactor whom gratitude has deified.”
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Attributed to Prodicus of Ceos:
“Choose virtue, even when she shows her difficult face.”