It is now clear that Thrasymachus has engaged in intellectual dishonesty as well as hubristic argumentation. Thrasymachus is demonstrably a sophist because he is motivated purely by self-interest. Plato portrays the clear self-interest of Thrasymachus a few paragraphs above his, Thrasymachus’, first definition of Justice. After claiming to Glaucon and his fellow interlocutors that he is “one who does know,” Thrasymachus says, “You amuse me, but in addition to learning, you must pay a fine.” (337D) Nothing could more resolutely confirm one as a sophist than the need of compensation in exchange for wisdom. In asking for money before he is willing to engage in the dialogue Thrasymachus is more that Plato’s symbol of a sophist in a quite literal
