The occasion was a horse-race (5) at the great Panathenaic festival. (6) Callias, (7) the son of Hipponicus, being a friend and lover of the boy Autolycus, (8) had brought the lad, himself the winner of the pankration, (9) to see the spectacle. (5) See "Hipparch," ii. 1. (6) "Held towards the end of July (Hecatombaeon) every year, and with greater pomp every four years (the third of each Olympiad)."--Gow, 84, 129, n. (7) Callias. Cobet, "Pros. X." p. 67 foll.; Boeckh, "P. E. A." p. 481. (8) See Cobet, op. cit. p. 54; Plut. "Lysand." 15 (Clough, iii. 120); Grote, "H. G." ix. 261. (9) 420 B.C., al. 421. The date is fixed by the "Autolycus" of Eupolis. See Athen. v. 216. For the pankration, which comprised wrestling and boxing, see Aristot. "Rhet." i. S. 14. As soon as the horse race was over, (10) Callias proceeded to escort Autolycus and his father, Lycon, to his house in the Piraeus, being attended also by Niceratus. (11) But catching sight of Socrates along with certain others (Critobulus, (12) Hermogenes, Antisthenes, and Charmides), he bade an attendant conduct the party with Autolycus, whilst he himself approached the group, exclaiming: (10) See A. Martin, op. cit. p. 265. (11) Niceratus. See Cobet, op. cit. 71; Boeckh, "P. E. A." 480; Plat. "Lach." 200 C; "Hell." II. iii. 39; Lys. xviii.; Diod. xiv. 5. (12) Critobulus, Hermogenes, Antisthenes, Charmides. See "Mem." A happy chance brings me across your path, just when I am about to entertain Autolycus and his father at a feast. The splendour of the entertainment shall be much enhanced, I need not tell you, if my hall (13) should happily be graced by worthies like yourselves, who have attained to purity of soul, (14) rather than by generals and cavalry commanders (15) and a crowd of place-hunters. (16) (13) Or, "dining-room." See Becker, "Charicles," 265. (14) See Grote, "H. G." viii. 619 foll. Cf. Plat. "Rep." 527 D; "Soph." 230 E. (15) Lit. Strategoi, Hipparchs. (16) Or, "petitioners for offices of state." Reading {spoudarkhiais}. Whereat Socrates: When will you have done with your gibes, Callias? Why, because you have yourself spent sums of money on Protagoras, (17) and Gorgias, and Prodicus, and a host of others, to learn wisdom, must you pour contempt on us poor fellows, who are but self-taught tinkers (18) in philosophy compared with you? (17) As to Protagoras of Abdera, Gorgias of Leontini, Prodicus of Ceos, see Plat. "Prot." 314 C, "Rep." x. 600 C, "Apol." 19 E; "Anab." II. vi. 17; "Mem." II. i. 21; "Encyc. Brit." "Sophists," H. Jackson. (18) Or, "hand-to-mouth cultivators of philosophy," "roturiers." Cf. Plat. "Rep." 565 A: "A third class who work for themselves"; Thuc. i. 141: "The Peloponnesians cultivate their own soil, and they have no wealth either public or private." Cf. "Econ." v. 4.