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i6o LITERATURE OF ANCIENT GREECE moner ; and the foreign residents, at least in Athens and the progressive towns, were well cared for by law and lightly taxed. Local protective tariffs were practi- cally abolished ; the general Athenian customs at the Pirasus amounted only to i per cent, on imports and exports. Compared with other periods, the time after the battle of Mykale was one of prolonged peace. The nation was possessed by an enthusiastic belief in itself, in progress, and in democracy. One result of this was the economic movement, which gives the key to so much of Athenian history, the struggle of the free work- man to keep up his standard of living by means of his political ascendancy. The other is the demand of the Demos for the things of the intellect, answered by the supply of those things in a shape adapted for popular consumption. At all times the Greeks had keenly felt the value of personal quality in a man (aperi]), and of wisdom or skill {ao(j)La). How could these things be attained ? A 'Hagnistes' could make you pure if you were defiled; an ' Andrapodistes ' could make you a slave ; was there such a thing as a ' Sophistes ' who could make you wise ? They came in answer to the demand, men of diverse characters and seeing ' wisdom ' in very different lights. Some rejected the name of 'Sophistes': it claimed too much. Some held that wisdom might be taught, but not virtue : that could only be ' learned by practice.' Gorgias doubted if he could teach anything ; he only claimed to be 'a good speaker.' Protagoras boldly accepted the name and professed to teach ttoXltlkt} aperi], social virtue ; he preached the characteristic doctrine of periods of ' enlightenment,' that vice comes from ignorance, and that education makes character.