first to break the silence. "We have been celebrating the battle of
Salamis, the day of our deliverance from the barbarians and the King
of Persia, and I see we are tired."

"Not too tired," answered Pericles, "to forget the birthday of our
friend Euripides, for, as we all know, he first saw the daylight
when the sun shone on the battle of Salamis."

"He shall have a libation," answered Alcibiades, "when we sit at
table with our cups in front of us."

The Sophist, sitting by the fountain, had now collected enough yarn
to commence spinning with.

"How do you know," he began, "that our deliverance from the King of
Persia was really a piece of good fortune? How do you know that
Salamis was a happy day for Hellas? Has not our great Aeschylus
lamented and sympathetically described the defeat of the Persians?

"'Hateful to me is thy name, Salamis,
And with a sigh I think of thee, Athens!'"

"For shame, Sophist!" Alcibiades broke in.

But Protagoras whetted his beak and continued, "It is not I who say
that the name of Salamis is hateful, but Aeschylus, and I, as
everyone knows, am not Aeschylus. Neither have I maintained that it
was a good thing to serve the Persian King. I have only questioned,
and a questioner asserts nothing. Is it not so, Socrates?"