he word _nomos_ expresses both
things). Hence it followed in principle that religion came under the
domain of "the law," being consequently the work of man; and hence again
the obvious conclusion, according to sophistic reasoning, was that it was
nothing but human imagination, and that there was no _physis_, no reality,
behind it at all. In the case of the naturalists, it was the positive
foundation of their system, their conception of nature as a whole, that
led them to criticise the popular belief. Hence their criticism was in the
main only directed against those particular ideas in the popular belief
which were at variance with the results of their investigations. To be
sure, the sophists were not above making use of the results of natural
science in their criticism of the popular belief; it was their general aim
to impart the highest education of their time, and of a liberal education
natural science formed a rather important part. But their starting-point
was quite different from that of the naturalists. Their whole interest was
concentrated on man as a member of the community, and it was from
consideration of this relation that they were brought into collision with
the established religion. Hence their attack was far more dangerous than
that of the naturalists; no longer was it directed against details, it
laid bare the psychological basis itself of popular belief and clearly
revealed its unstable character. Their criticism was fundamental and
central, not casual and circumstantial.

From a purely practical point of view also, the criticism of the sophists
was far more dangerous than that of the old philosophers. They were not
theorists themselves, but practitioners; their business was to impart the
higher education to the more mature youth. It was therefore part of their
profession to disseminate their views not by means of learned professional
writings, but by the persuasive eloquence of oral discourse. And in their
criticism of the existing state of things they did not start with special
results which only science could prove, and the correctness of which the
layman need not recognise; they operated with facts and principles known
and acknowledged by everybody. It is not to be wondered at that such
efforts evoked a vigorous reaction on the part of established society, the
more so as in any case the result of sophistic criticism--though not
consciously its object--was to liquefy the moral principles on which the