As a sophist, Thrasymachus seems to serve as a kind of adversarial “straw-man” to Socrates’ probing philosophy, but a fair analysis does show him to be a typical sophist. When we analyze his argument and his general way of comporting himself in debate, we can appreciate why the ancient Greeks so disdained the sophists. Thrasymachus ends his participation in the conversation by meanly congratulating Socrates on his “victory,” and advising Socrates to “feast on his triumph” as though a supposed mutual effort at defining the philosophical question of justice were some sort of gladiatorial contest.