X	RELIGION    AND    EDUCATION	273
set human reason and wisdom on the throne of Zeus ^l The
comic poet had to be very careful in reproducing such views,
as we see from the solemn invocations of the great Olympian
gods by the very chorus which represents the new order, the
chorus of the 'holy' and 'august* clouds.^2 Aristophanes, of
course_3 is not likely to be simply a detached observer of his
time, objectively describing that process of 'enlightenment^5.
The strength and power of this movement, however, can easily
be seen in comedy and its attacks. They prove that an impor-
tant change was going on and that moralistic scepticism was
gaining influence, although the traditions of religious life
survived and still dominated the many
Clearly, we do not find sufficient evidence in comedy to
understand  the  social   and   intellectual   importance   of the
sophistic movement, which in fact was for several decades the
most stirring element in Greek thought and life    Neither is
the method usually adopted by historians of philosophy suffi-
cient for our purpose, the method which simply explains the
sophistic doctrines and compares them with those of earlier
and  later  thinkers.    The  essential  character of the  whole
phenomenon is to be found in the fact that a considerable
proportion of the people was affected by it m that they either
came under its sway or were roused to protective resistance
The doctrines of the sophists were no esoteric science.  Many
of their ideas, well fitted to be treated superficially and thus
to be popularized, infiltrated the minds of the people almost
without their becoming aware of it.  The impact of economic
aims and values would not have become so strong, had not
the sophists taught the Athenians an essentially practical and
opportunist outlook and caused them to doubt many of the
traditional values.   Instances of one reaction or the other to
the teaching of the sophists are found in various authors of
the  time,   in  Herodotos  and  Thucydides,   Sophokles  and
Euripides. But its greatest and most tragic effect has nothing
to do with literature; I refer, of course, to the condemnation
of Sokrates    No other source makes it quite so clear as the
^1 Cf.Eur Her 6$$ff,dsQHipp 120, Tro. 203,80 1348,^.1018
_9i -56_3ff, 5955"