The attribute [Greek: ei)rônei/a], which Plato here declares as one of the main characteristics of the Sophists, is applied to Sokrates in a very special manner, not merely in the Platonic dialogues, but also by Timon in the fragments of his Silli remaining--[Greek: Au)tê\ e)kei/nê ê( eiôthui=a _ei)rônei/a Sôkra/tous_] (Plato, Repub. i. p. 337 A); and again--[Greek: prou)/legon o(/ti su\ a)pokri/nasthai me\n ou)k e)thelêsois, _ei)rôneu/soio_ de\ kai\ pa/nta ma=llon poiê/sois ê)\ a)pokri/noio, ei)/ tis ti/ se e)rôta=|.] So also in the Symposion, p. 216 E, Alkibiades says about Sokrates [Greek: _ei)rôneuo/menos_ de\ kai\ pai/zôn pa/nta to\n bi/on pro\s tou\s a)nthrô/pous diatelei=.] And Gorgias, p. 489 E. In another part of the Gorgias (p. 481 B), Kallikles says, "Tell me, Chærephon, does Sokrates mean seriously what he says, or is he bantering?" [Greek: spouda/zei tau=ta Sôkra/tês ê)\ pai/zei?] Protagoras, Prodikus, Hippias, &c., do not seem to have been [Greek: ei)/rônes] at all, as far as our scanty knowledge goes. The words [Greek: ei)/rôn, ei)rôniko/s, ei)rônei/a] seem to include more than is implied in our words _irony_, _ironical_. Schleiermacher translates the words [Greek: a(plou=n mimê/tên, ei)rôniko\n mimê/tên], at the end of the Sophistês, by "den ehrlichen, den Schlauen, Nachahmer"; which seems to me near the truth,--meaning one who either speaks what he does not think, or evades speaking what he does think, in order to serve some special purpose.] [Side-note: The conditions enumerated in the dialogue (except the taking of a fee) fit Sokrates better than any other known person.]