the towns of Greece, especially at Athens. He had the advantage of a
prodigious memory, and was deeply versed in all the learning of his
day. He attempted literature in every form which was then extant. He
also made the first attempt in the composition of dialogues. In the
two Platonic dialogues named after him (Hippias Major and Hippias
Minor), he is represented as excessively vain and arrogant.
Hippias is chiefly memorable for his efforts in the direction of
universality. He was the enemy of all specialization, and appeared at
Olympia gorgeously attired in a costume entirely of his own making
down to the ring on his finger. He was prepared to lecture to anyone
on anything, from astronomy to ancient history. Such a man had need of
a good memory, and we know that he invented a system of mnemonics.
There was a more serious side to his character, however. This was the
age when people were still optimistic of squaring the circle by a
geometrical construction. The lunules of Hippocrates of Chios belong
to it, and Hippias, the universal genius, could not be left behind
here. He invented the curve still known as the quadratix, which would
solve the problem if it could be mechanically described. Hippias
appears to have originated the idea of natural law as the foundation
of morality, distinguishing nature from the arbitrary conventions or
fashions, differing according to the different times or regions in
which they arise, imposed by arbitrary human enactment, and often
unwillingly obeyed. He held that there is an element of right common
to the laws of all countries and constituting their essential basis.
He held also that the good and wise of all countries are naturally
akin and should regard one another as citizens of a single state. This
idea was subsequently developed by the Cynic and still more by the
Stoic schools, passing from the latter to the jurists, in whose hands
it became the great instrument for converting Roman law into a
legislation for a people.
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