Thus the Sophists came to teach such doctrines as these: Laws are made by the strongest, represent their will, and must be obeyed if they cannot be disobeyed; it takes a strong man to make a law, but a stronger to break it; the laws are only conventions invented either by the many to restrain the powerful few, or by the few to enslave the many. Even religions are devices of the crafty to enchain the people. Obedience to law is therefore a matter of personal interest. Happiness is the most important consideration of the individual. Sometimes personal interest conflicts with law and law does not then bring happiness, for criminals are often the most happy. It is not obedience to law that brings happiness but (Polus) a shrewd calculation of ends with no regard to right or law. The Sophists made no attempt to put their theories into execution. They expressed the sentiments of the Greek people, and Greek public opinion then pointed to segregation and individualism. Plato said that, after all, the Greek public was the great Sophist. It was thus that the distinction arose between positive law and natural law. Reflecting upon the differences among the constitutions of the Greek states and upon the constant alterations in these constitutions, the Sophist concluded that the greater part of them were of human invention. They were positive laws and were to be contrasted with natural law, which was such law as is binding on all men equally. Natural law is therefore of greater worth than positive law, and is set in antithesis to it. Sir Henry Maine says in his _Ancient Law_ that the Greeks did not found any system of jurisprudence, because natural law was always referred to by them in arguing any question. The only way to find natural law is to strip it of the mass of conventional laws. The word “nature” has been in its history one of the most ambiguous of words; and Protagoras’ teaching that “nature” consists of primary ethical feelings is hardly a complete and satisfactory definition. The more the theory of the Sophists limited “nature” to human nature, and to human nature in its capricious and individual aspects, so much the more did statute laws appear antagonistic to natural law and seem to be detrimental to it. Summary. 1. Although a skepticism and a criticism, Sophistry was a relative advance over the traditionalism and dogmatism of the Cosmologists. 2. Sophistry turned the attention to man and his interests as the principal object of inquiry. 3. The Sophists stood for freedom of thought by pointing to individual consciousness as the final court of appeal. 4. Although the Sophists differed very much in their teaching, they had a mutual dependence and common presuppositions. 5. The Sophists disregarded the likenesses and emphasized the differences among men. 6. The Sophists built up their doctrines upon the basis of a sensationalist psychology. CHAPTER V