impelled from above, the barbed hooks are jerked into the head and lips of
the fish, which are then drawn from below upwards. Thus, by a series of
divisions, we have arrived at the definition of the angler's art.

And now by the help of this example we may proceed to bring to light the
nature of the Sophist. Like the angler, he is an artist, and the
resemblance does not end here. For they are both hunters, and hunters of
animals; the one of water, and the other of land animals. But at this
point they diverge, the one going to the sea and the rivers, and the other
to the rivers of wealth and rich meadow-lands, in which generous youth
abide. On land you may hunt tame animals, or you may hunt wild animals.
And man is a tame animal, and he may be hunted either by force or
persuasion;--either by the pirate, man-stealer, soldier, or by the lawyer,
orator, talker. The latter use persuasion, and persuasion is either
private or public. Of the private practitioners of the art, some bring
gifts to those whom they hunt: these are lovers. And others take hire;
and some of these flatter, and in return are fed; others profess to teach
virtue and receive a round sum. And who are these last? Tell me who?
Have we not unearthed the Sophist?

But he is a many-sided creature, and may still be traced in another line of
descent. The acquisitive art had a branch of exchange as well as of
hunting, and exchange is either giving or selling; and the seller is either
a manufacturer or a merchant; and the merchant either retails or exports;
and the exporter may export either food for the body or food for the mind.
And of this trading in food for the mind, one kind may be termed the art of
display, and another the art of selling learning; and learning may be a
learning of the arts or of virtue. The seller of the arts may be called an
art-seller; the seller of virtue, a Sophist.