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Greek thinkers; a history of ancient phil
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http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924019527419
GREEK THINKERS
A HISTORY OF ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
\.\
By THEODOR GOMPERZ
PROFESSOR EMERITUS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA, AND MEMBER OF
THE IMPERIAL ACADEMY ; HON. LL.D., DUBLIN AND CAMBRIDGE; HON. PH.D., KONIGSBERG
CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY FOE THE PROMOTION OF
^OSOPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES
AUTHORIZED EDITION
Volume III
TRANSLATED BY
G. G. BERRY, .B.A.
BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
153-157 'fifth avenue
1905
''I'Hc
los-
A. \^%4A-o
Printed in Great Britain
PElNtED tY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
LONDON AND BECCLES.
€a t^e Mematrs
OF MY SISTER
JOSEPHINE VON WERTHEIMSTEIN
NOV. 19, 1820 : JULY 16, 1894
I DEDICATE
THIS VOLUME
GREEK THINKERS
CONTENTS.
BOOK V. — {continued).
PLA TO.
§1
§2
CHAPTER VIII.
PLATO'S DOCTRINE OF THE SOUL AND OF IDEAS.
PAGE
•• 1 I §3
5 I §4
PAGE
lO
II
§1
§2
CHAPTER IX.
PLATO'S "PH^DRUS."
i6 I §3
20 I §4
22
27
CHAPTER X.
THE '.'PHyEDO," AND PLATO'S PROOFS OF IMMORTALITY.
§1
30
§4
40
S2
32
§5
44
53
35
CHAPTER XI.
PLATO'S "REPUBLIC."
I
48
§6
64
i 2
SI
§7
66
' 3
S4
§8
69
\A
56
§9
72
§15
61
§ 10
74
VI
CONTENTS.
§2
§3
§4
CHAPTER XII.
PLATO'S " REPUBLIC."— (f»«;/««^(0.
PAGE
77
79
8S
§5
§6
§7
PAGE
90
98
102
CHAPTER XIII.
PLATO'S ETHICAL, SOCIAL, AND POLITICAL IDEAL.
§1
§2
§3
§4
§5
106
109
III
"3
"S
§6
§7
§8
§9
... 118
... 121
... 124
... 128
CHAPTER XIV.
PLATO'S SECOND AND THIRD RESIDENCES IN SICILY.
139
§2
- 133 I §3
... 136 I
§2
CHAPTER XV.
PLATO'S "EUTHYDEMUS" AND " PARMENIDES."
144 I §3
148 I
151
§1
§2
CHAPTER XVI.
THE "THE^TETUS" AND THE "CRATYLUS."
ISS I §3
IS7 I §4
160
164.
§1
§2
CHAPTER XVII.
THE "SOPHIST" AND THE "STATESMAN."
167 I §3
170 i §4
ir6
179
CONTENTS.
Vll
§1
§2
CHAPTER XVIII.
PLATO'S "PHILEBUS."
PAGE I
. ... i86 §3
... 191 1 §4
PAGE
•95
'97
§1
§2
§3
§4
(I
i2
i3
(4
CHAPTER XIX.
THE "TIM^EUS" AND THE "CRITIAS.'
... 200
... 203
... 206
§5
§6
§7
... 211
CHAPTER XX.
PLATO'S "LAWS."
... 227
••• 233
... 241
... 248
§S
§6
§7
217
220
223
251
2SS
2S9
CHAPTER XXI.
RETROSPECTS AND ANTICIPATIONS.
264
265
266
§4
§S
269
271
NOTES AND ADDITIONS
INDEX TO VOLS. II. AND III.
273
379
GREEK THINKERS.
BOOK v.— {continued).
PLATO.
CHAPTER VIII.
PLATO'S DOCTRINE OF THE SOUL AND OF IDEAS.
I. The learned Spanish Jesuit, Jos^ d'Acosta,* closes his
account of a certain belief held by the Indians of Peru, with
the remark that it approximates " in some measure " to the
Platonic doctrine of ideas. The belief to which he refers
has also been met with among the Indians of North
America ; here, again, the Abbe Laffiteau f detected points
of agreement with Plato. The inhabitants of the Samoan
Islands, and lastly, the Finns, present us with additional
examples of the same mode of thought, the essence of
which may be stated as follows : The occurrence in nature
of numberless groups of similar objects, particularly animal
and vegetable species, requires an explanation ; this is
afforded by the assumption of a primary entity or arche-
type, whose relation to the corresponding objects is variously
conceived. Sometimes it appears as a kind of elder and
bigger brother ; sometimes it is a pattern, residing in the
world of spirit ; or, again, it may be a god or a genius
dwelling on some distant star, to whose influence par-
ticular objects owe their origin and their continuance.
This tendency of the human mind to refer the perpetual
* Born 1540, died 1599. t Died 1755.
VOL. in. I!
2 GREEK THINKERS.
recurrence of similar qualities to a real type or model, must
be allowed no inconsiderable share in the genesis of the
Platonic doctrine.
But the definite shape which this theory took in the
mind of Plato must be explained from the previous history
of Greek thought. " Divide the Becoming of Heraclitus
by the Being of Parmenides, and you will obtain the
Ideas of Plato "—such is the formula into which Herbart
compressed his view of the course of philosophic develop-
ment. The authentic account of the matter, which we
owe to Aristotle,* is not very different : " Plato had been
early familiar with Cratylus and the Heraclitean doctrines
touching the perpetual flux of the world of sense, and
the impossibility of that world being the object-matter of
science. To these doctrines he adhered in later life.
Moreover, Socrates, confining himself as he did to ethical
speculations, and making no attempt to study nature
as a whole, had sought the universal within the limits
of his own subject, and had given his chief attention
to the construction of definitions. Plato, who followed
him, was thus led to the opinion that the realities corre-
sponding to definitions are other than the objects given
in sense. . . . This something else he called ideas of
entities ; the objects of sense were for him additions to
the ideas, and named after them, for it was by participa-
tion in the ideas (here Aristotle recalls the precedent of
the Pythagoreans) that their material namesakes existed."
This explanation may be summarized by saying that
matter was volatilized into an abstraction, while con-
cepts, to make the balance even, became concrete and
almost material. The place of nature, with its perpetual
flux, was usurped by the world of concepts, which laid
claim to the fixity denied to the world of Becoming.
This denial, it must be remembered, had not been made
by Heraclitus alone, but also by the Eleatics, who tended
more and more to relegate the things of 'sense to the
realm of appearances. Additional support was derived by
this view from certain difficulties of thought which we
* " Met.," i. 6.
GENESIS OF THE DOCTRINE. 3
have mentioned in a previons section — ^the problems of
Inherence and Predication, in which we recognize the old
enigma, formerly known as the problem of chsmge, and
concerned with the relations of the One to the Many,
reappearing in a new guise, due to the Socratic study of con-
cepts (cf. Vol. II. p. 1 75, sgq.). Reality — so we may formulate
the conclusion to which this train of thought naturally led
— is to be found only in that of which the self-identity
is interrupted by no change and impaired by no incon-
sistency : in the content of concepts, not in individual things,
each of which, in its relations of space and time, is subject
to manifold variation and contradiction.
It is true that the difficulties of thought to which we
have alluded were not removed by the new teaching, but
only clothed in a different garb. They reappeared in the
form of questions such as — How are the fleeting individual
things connected with their eternal archetypes ? Do they
" participate " in them, or are they " copied " from them ?
And what is the precise nature of this participation or
process of copying ? To these questions Plato never
succeeded in returning a satisfactory answer ; but, as
Aristotle remarks in the above-quoted passage, "he left
them to be investigated by others."
But this is not the place to discuss the consequences
of a doctrine whose origin we have not yet completely
accounted for. We must once more draw the reader's
attention to a fundamental tendency of the human mind,
and to its far-reaching effects. Abstractions are clothed
by language in the same dress as objects of perception.
Both are designated by substantives, and perhaps could not
be designated in any other way. In the untrained mind,
the Real and the Thing are so closely associated, that in
ordinary language the two terms are synonymous. The
very word " real " is derived from res, " a thing." Forces,
qualities, states, relations, are regarded as entities having
the nature of things, and, when they produce lasting
impressions upon the mind, as living beings endowed with
will — as gods and daemons. After the mythological comes
an ontological stage, a nafve realism (in the mediaeval sense) ,
4 GREEK THINKERS.
of which we find traces in the earlier history even of Greek
thought. Plague and fever cease to be demons, but the art
of healing is still a species of thing. As illustrations, take
the following expressions used by the author of the treatise
" On the Art." He meets doubters in the reality of the
healing art by the question — " How could we have ever
come to speak of the art of medicine as a reality if it were
not so in truth ? " In other words : The long series of
judgments touching the laws of nature and man's ability
to perceive them and turn them to account in the care of
health — this series of judgments, with its true or false
conclusion : " The art of healing exists," is put on a level
with the perception of an external object, and regarded as
an act of mental vision. The bare fact of a name having
been given to the art of healing is taken to be a sufficient
reason for ascribing objective existence to it, just as in the
case of actual things. In a very similar strain the comic
poet Epicharmus (cf. Vol. II. p. 265), whom we shall presently
have occasion to mention as a precursor of Plato in another
respect, had already drawn the inference: "The good is
a thing-in-itself," after previously calling flute-playing a
" thing." He goes on to prove that as it is the acquisition
of skill in flute-playing, dancing, or weaving that -makes
the weaver, the dancer, or the flute-player, so it is the
possession of the good that makes the good man. Not
that there was any lack of protests against this objectifying
of concepts, even before Plato's time ; such a protest is
contained in an expression of the sophist Antiphon, which
has already been quoted (cf. Vol. I. p. 437, also 195).
We have thus two tendencies of thought ; the one
leading to the assumption of real types, the other to the
objectifying of abstractions, the two together resulting in
the promotion of concepts to the status of objective types.
With these there were associated in the mind of Plato
two subsidiary tendencies. The first, which went to
strengthen the objectifying impulse, had its origin in the
special nature of Plato's favourite studies. These were, in
the words of Hermann Bonitz, "concepts belonging to the
sphere of ethics ; " and again, " Mathematical concepts ;
THE A PRIORI TENDENCY. 5
in the case of the former it is the unconditional acceptance
claimed by the ethical judgment, in the case of the latter,
the universal validity and independence of individual
caprice, which produces the appearance of objective reality."
On the other hand, the tendency towards the assumption
of types was reinforced by the artistic and visionary
element in Plato. Nature's types became for him ideals,
that is, aesthetic patterns and standards. The disposition
to see in that harmonious union of perfected excellences
which we call an ideal, no mere synthesis of a mind fired
with the creative impulse, but a real existence, of which the
correlative object is a dim reflexion — this disposition, so
congenial to artistic and imaginative natures, had certainly
some share, though not, as John Stuart Mill assumed, the
chief share, in the genesis of Plato's theory.
2. Closer consideration is demanded by a tendency of
thought on which we have already briefly touched, and
which may be summarily described as a leaning towards
the a priori. It is concerned with questions respecting the
origin of concepts and judgments which do not seem to be
derived from experience. Whence, it is asked, comes the
concept of a line as length without breadth, or that of pure
surface destitute of thickness ? Whence comes the idea
of a circle or a sphere, forms which do, indeed, occur in
the world of sense, but never in that ideal perfection which
their definitions imply? With these mathematical con-
cepts are joined others — concepts of relations, such as
identity or equality — ^whose origin in experience Plato
contests on grounds exemplified in the " Phaedo : " when-
ever we speak of two things as equal, we really deny the
absolute equality which our words appear to affirm ; for
when this is present, the two things are no longer two,
but one and indistinguishable.
To all such questions the empiricist returns one and
the same answer. Whatever stock of ideas we possess is
ours to deal with as we like ; we may at pleasure join
what is divided and divide what is joined. Length without
breadth is no doubt something which experience has never
presented to us. But we may disregard or overlook breadth
VOL. III. C
6 GREEK THINKERS.
(and thickness too, in the case of a surface), and so, by an
act of abstraction, contemplate space of one or of two
dimensions. On the other hand, neither nature nor the
hand of man has ever fashioned a sphere in which the
exactest possible measurement would not discover im-
perfection ; and absolute equality is similarly unrepresented
by any concrete instance. But, along with that faculty of
abstraction, we possess another, a combining faculty, by
the aid of which we are enabled to construct complete
equality out of partial equalities, and absolute perfection
out of the different degrees of imperfection. Thinkers,
however, to whom this way out of the difficulty has either
not occurred or has seemed inadequate, have been obliged
to seek a solution elsewhere— in the assumption that the
concepts in question are gained by immediate intuition,
and that the objects of these intuitions, being alien to the
world of sense, are of a supersensual order. Thus yet
another motive impelled Plato towards the hypothesis that
there exist real archetypes of concepts, which the soul has
beheld in a former life. The remembrance of these visions,
so Plato held, slumbers in the soul, and is awakened to fresh
life by the sight of those imperfect copies of them which
experience furnishes.
Next to concepts come their combinations — ^judgments.
It is in this quarter that the a priori philosophy, and in
particular that form of it known as the doctrine of ideas,
finds its strongest support. A wide chsism, we are told,
yawns between the knowledge which we derive from
experience, and that which claims another and a higher
origin. Knowledge of the first kind may rest on the
guarantee of an experience hitherto without exception, and
yet we do not feel compelled to believe in its unconditional
truth ; it lacks the character of universality and necessity
which distinguishes the second kind of knowledge. In all
times and in all places water has quenched thirst ; we have
not the slightest reason to suppose it will ever cease to do
so. Still, there is nothing to prevent us from thinking of
a draught of water which moistens the throat but brings no
feeling of refreshment. More generally, however firmly
TRUTHS OF REASON AND OF EXPERIENCE. 7
we may be convinced that the relations of succession and
coexistence, the sum of which constitutes for us the present
order of things, will continue to prevail, there is nothing
inconceivable in the contrary supposition. On the other
hand, it is inconceivable and unthinkable that the whole
should ever be less than the part, that twice two should
be other than four, that two straight lines should enclose
a space. Nothing could be more natural than that this
distinction between the truths of experience and the so-
called truths of reason should have made the deepest im-
pression on those who first perceived it, and should have
led them to ascribe totally different origins to the two
species of knowledge. For Plato, those parts of knowledge
which are anterior,, both in time and rank, to all experience,
have their source in the world of ideas, and exhibit the
relations which obtain there. Similarly, a later age speaks
of " innate ideas ; " and the same mode of thought has in
the course of time received a great variety of expression.
Our own day has witnessed an attempted reconciliation
between the two points of view — a compromise which is at
once empirical in respect of the race, and a priori in
respect of the individual. It appeals, not to the personal
pre-existence assumed by Plato, but to the real pre-existence
of a line of ancestors. For aeons, it is assumed, our fore-
fathers have been collecting experiences, the effect of
which, increasing by accumulation, has been to modify the
structure of our organ of thought, and to give the corre-
sponding beliefs an irresistible power over our minds.
The empirical school gratefully takes note of the
attempt to utilize agelong habituation and transmission
by heredity in the explanation both of intellectual and
moral dispositions ; at the same time, it claims that the
problem now before us can be satisfactorily treated without
the aid of such hypotheses. It points out that many a so-
called truth of reason rests on a mere analytical or ex-
planatory judgment ; it is so, for instance, in the case of
the proposition, "The whole is greater than its part."
The proposition has unconditional validity, but it does no
more than unfold the thought already contained in the
8 GREEK THINKERS.
words "whole " and "part." By a "part " we only mean
one of two or more quantities which together form a total :
A = a + 3, etc. To say that « + ^ is greater than b, that
a increased by b is more than b, is merely to express
differently the relations implied by the use of the words
" whole " and " part." All true necessity of thought is (as
John Stuart Mill has aptly remarked) necessity of inference.
The inconceivability of the contrary means the impossibility
of at once affirming and denying the same proposition ;
and the necessary validity of a conclusion is confirmed by
closing up to the denier of it every other means of escape.
" All men are mortal ; Caius is a man : therefore Caius is
mortal " — he who has admitted the two premisses can
reject the conclusion only by simultaneously affirming and
denying the mortality of mankind (which includes Caius)
or the humanity of Caius. But the incompatibility of an
affirmation and its correlative negative (commonly called
the principle of contradiction) is, in our opinion, not
so much a canon of reason as a fundamental property
attaching to all perception, and, indeed, to all processes of
consciousness. The very expression " incompatibility " is
not, strictly speaking, appropriate. The fundamental fact
is rather this — that we are acquainted with absence as well
as presence, deficiency as well as provision, omission as well
as action. In these negative states the exclusion of the
corresponding positives is already contained.
Nor (in spite of the hints scattered in the " Meno ") is
the case essentially different with mathematical knowledge.
Here, too, necessary truth is necessary inference from
hypotheses. As far as relates to geometry, with its
deductions from definitions only approximately applicable
to real objects, the truth of this statement is obvious
enough. Next to the definitions come certain propositions
which are sometimes called " general notions," and some-
times " axioms," such as that equals added to equals give
equal totals, or that two straight lines cannot enclose a space.
The first of these asserts that if to a square yard on my
right hand I join a second square yard, the sum, two square
yards, is the same as when I perform a similar operation
MATHEMATICAL TRUTH. 9
on my left. But this depends on the fact that the two
square yards as such, that is, abstraction being made of
the matter to which they belong, and of the adjacent
space, are identical, both they and their equal increments
or decrements. And it is the same with other quantities-
weights, forces, periods of time. Thus what the proposition
amounts to is that there are certain relations — cognizable by
experience — which we term "quantitative," and which remain
the same whatever may be the particular objects, or classes
of objects, in which they occur. As for the axiom of the
two straight lines, its significance is the following : Given
that idea in the mind (nowhere completely realized) which
we call a straight line, a moment's contemplation of it is
enough to teach us that where two such lines meet they
must cross, and therefore diverge — a truth whose universal
validity is at once placed beyond doubt by an experiment
embracing all possible angles of intersection. But in order
to enclose a space, two lines would need to meet at least in
two points.
In arithmetic the proofs are not drawn in the same
explicit manner from hypotheses ; but the reason of the
omission is that one single hypothesis governs the whole
subject. When we say 2 + 2 = 4, the meaning is not that
two pairs of houses, men, or horses always give four times
the accommodation, or do four times the work, of one.
For this is in part not true at all, and in part only true of
averages. We rather regard objects as items capable of
being counted, ignoring their other attributes, and of the
abstract units thus obtained we assert that in combination
they remain the same as they were in isolation, thus
giving expression to a second empirical truth, namely, that
we are able to group these units and their combinations as
we please. It is never any part of knowledge, so says the
empiricist, that is given us a priori, but only the faculty
of performing certain operations, in particular, those of
separating and combining, of inference and comparison.
Plato, however, who even as an a priori philosopher is
something of an empiricist, appeals to experiences which
the soul gained before it was united to the body.
lO GREEK THINKERS.
3. To the chasm thus opened between the world of
ideas and the world of sense, there corresponded a growing
separation of the psychical from the corporeal. Plato here
continued a process of development which had begun long
before his time. Besides the Orphics and the Pythagoreans,
Xenophanes may be named in this connexion. He it was,
so we read, who gave to the psychic principle a new name,
TTVEvjua (breath, spirit), of which later ages made much use.
Such a change of name generally goes hand in hand with,
and helps forward, a change of thought on the matters
concerned. We have reason to suppose that in this subject,
as in his religious innovations, Xenophanes reverted to old
Aryan notions which had never been completely eradicated
from the national consciousness. Such a notion is that
according to which the soul, or breath of life, returns to
celestial space and the ether which fills it. This is a con-
ception to which we have been able to point as having been
current in Athens during the last third of the fifth century,
one to which Euripides gave literary expression (see Vol. II.
p. 84). He had been anticipated by Epicharmus, in verses
which were apparently intended to console a mourner —
' ' What was joined is no w dissevered ; every part hath sought its own :
Dust to dust and breath to heaven. Is this more than thou
canst bear ? "
It may be conjectured that the philosophic comedy-
writer here followed in the footsteps of Xenophanes, whom
he had met at the court of Hiero, on whom he bestowed
the significant praise (as we gather from an allusion of
Aristotle) that his doctrine was "not probable, but true,"
and with whom he exhibits,, a far-reaching agreement on
other matters. Thus he regarded the great factors of
nature as gods — a primitive Aryan belief clearly traceable
among the Persians, which we could only inferentially
ascribe to Xenophanes (Vol. I. p. 161), but for which,
in the case of Epicharmus, we have the testimony of
the comic poet Menander —
" The gods of Epicharmus are the sun,
The moon, the stars, fire, water, earth, and air."
PLATO'S DUALISM. II
And just as Xenophanes represented his supreme Deity as
possessing knowledge gained by the medium of no bodily
organs, so we find Epicharmus saying —
" Mind is ear and eye together, blind and deaf is all beside."
At this point the attentive reader of these volumes may
perhaps feel a difficulty. Is it to be supposed that from the
author of the doctrine of the All-One, in whose supreme
Godhead we recognized a species of universal soul, there
proceeded influences which smoothed the way for psychic
dualism ? It may seem strange that it should be so, but
there is no contradiction. There are points of close
contact between psychic and cosmic dualism, but neither
of the two necessarily implies the other. Each has a
tendency to lead to the other ; but the road is often
long, and opposing forces may check or destroy the
tendency. It was so with Orphicism ; we have alreadjl
spoken "(Vol. I. p. 138) of the dualism which "was im-
plicit in the fundamental principles of Orphicism, though
the Orphics never deduced it themselves." This was first
done by Plato. To the splendour of the ideas he opposed
the pettiness of individual things, to the reality of the
supraterrene the unreality of nature, to the perfect goodness
of the Deity the dull power which thwarts the divine rule.
Similarly, he represents the soul as exiled from its first
home among the gods to a body which darkens its know-
ledge and clouds its happiness, in which it is enclosed as
a prisoner in his cell or a dead man in his grave. The
premisses of Orphic Pythagoreanism are here followed to
their ultimate consequences. Expression is given to a
strain of thought and feeling which exerted a persistent
influence upon late antiquity, and produced long-enduring
after-effects perceptible down to our own day. The
speculative tendency antagonistic to old Hellenic thought
owed principally to Plato a victory which, if not immediate,
was none the Ifess assured. Let us dwell for a moment on
this contrast between two modes of conceiving the world.
4. Dualism is not necessarily hostile to nature. Its line
of division may be drawn vertically as well as horizontally.
12 GREEK THINKERS.
Instead of opposing the Deity to the world, mind to matter,
soul to body, it is possible to seek, and when found to
utilize, antitheses within each of the great divisions of
existence, contrasted pairs and series of entities, within
the world of gods as well as in the whole animate
and inanimate creation. This is what was done by
Zoroastrianism, a religion which falls short of its more
fortunate sisters in local and temporal extent, but hardly
in intensity of immediate efficacy. It teaches that the
most fundamental of all distinctions, the one which per-
vades all the provinces of Being, is that between good
and evil. It arrays the universe in two opposing hosts,
and summons man to take his part in the never-resting
conflict. Thus it has been, in a greater degree than most
others, a religion of strenuous effort and struggle, leaving,
it is true, to the artistic imagination little more scope than
did nature-hating asceticism. The disciples of Zoroaster
fulfilled their religious duty by begetting numerous children,
tilling waste land, exterminating noxious beasts, subduing
barbarous peoples — in a word, by extending the realm of
light and order and curtailing that of darkness and death.
Throughout the Avesta we seem to hear the murmurings
of fountains gushing forth youth, strength, and health.
It is again to a conflict that the Orphic-Platonic
dualism incites men ; but it is against himself rather than
the external world that he is now bidden fight. To
deepen the inner life and to make consciences more
tender was the historical mission of this phase of thought.
The movement begun by the Orphics and continued by
Plato here joins hands with the cult of Apollo, which from
its central seat exerted an influence upon the whole Greek
world in the direction of a higher morality. It is not by
chance that the earliest indications of a refined moral
sense— a refinement which sometimes strikes us as a
strange product of the ancient world— are found in the
Delphic oracles. Take for an instance the story told
by Herodotus of Glaucus the Spartan, who desired to
appropriate illegally a sum of money entrusted to his
care, and who went to the Delphic oracle for advice.
THE GREEK NATURE-RELIGION. 1 3
He asked whether he should retain the money and
commit the necessary perjury. The Pythia replied in
vigorous verse, which has been preserved —
"Swear, for the truth-loving man must die one death with the
perjured :
Yet hath the oath which thou swearest a son ; he is nameless
and handless,
Feet hath he none; yet swiftly he follows, nor rests from
pursuing
Till thy whole race be consumed, and cut off from the earth
without remnant."
Glaucus, in a fright, gives up his plan, and asks the god
for pardon. But the Pythia answers, "To tempt the god
and to do the deed is all one." And in truth, so the pious
historian makes his authority finish the tale, " Of this
Glaucus there is nowhere any posterity left ; no house or
hearth bears his name ; he has been blotted out of Sparta."
In spite of this admixture of strongly marked ethical
sentiment, in spite of that moral progress of the gods which
was necessitated by the advance of culture and promoted
by the works of the great poets (cf. p. 5, seq^, the Hellenic
religion always remained, principally, a worship of the
powers of nature. As such it may be compared to a
garment which covers every part of the body with
rich and graceful folds. With generous inclusiveness it
acknowledges the claims of every aspect and every im-
pulse of human nature ; it provided growing-space and
nutriment for every power of thought and feeling ; coupled
as it was with the peculiarly Greek sense of proportion, it
ennobled every kind of energetic action and passive enjoy-
ment. Free and serene is the life of one who is guided
and inspired by such a religion, who sees or surmises a
divine element in every manifestation of nature. If with
Aristotle, herein the organ and exponent of the Greek
national mind, we understand by the hygiene of the soul
the avoidance of all extremes, the equilibrium of the
powers, the harmonious development of aptitudes, none of
which is allowed to starve or paralyze the others, — then
we shall comprehend that species of individual morality
14 GREEK THINKERS.
to the requirements of which the Greek religion was so
exceptionally adequate. It was in the domain of social
morality that this religion proved insufficient. Self-
assertion and self-seeking were in almost every age of
antiquity far too predominant features of Hellenic life.
Characters of spotless purity in this respect were among
the greatest of rarities. All the disciplinary resources of the
State, both political and military, were always necessary,
and barely sufficient, to keep anti-social impulses in check.
Thus, at Sparta, the Lycurgean system proved ineffective
outside the limits of its most stringent application and its
most direct control. In those small states, which were not
unlike enlarged families, love of the fatherland no doubt
acquired passionate intensity. But it was insufficient to
restrain the citizen from treason, whenever any exceptional
temptation was put in his way. A like tale is told by the
paucity of incorruptible judges, and by those outbreaks of
partisan fury which shrank from no excess. In honesty
and truthfulness, above all, the Hellenic nation was woefully
lacking.
Such a society had much to gain from the Orphic-
Pythagorean movement, whose final triumph was due to
the mighty influence of Plato. The inward breach and
schism within the soul, the hostility to nature and con-
sequent extravagances of asceticism, — all these fruits of the
movement may be called evils, but certainly not unmixed
evils. They led to a deepening of the emotional life
which greatly extended the domain of art and speculation,
and which, in course of time, proved especially helpful by
strengthening the sense of duty and reinforcing social
morality (cf. Vol. I. p. 133, sqq?^. To allow the individual
his fullest and freest development, and yet to curb
effectually those impulses in him which menace the well-
being of his fellows, — here we have two ideals which human
nature seems incapable of realizing simultaneously. When
the one bucket rises from the well, the other must sink. In
describing the Italy of the Renaissance, the home of Raphael
and Michelangelo, as " a den of murderers and a place of
evil resort," Ernest Renan doubtless exaggerated, but the
PLATO'S " PHJSDRUS." 1 5
expression is not altogether without historical warrant. It
is for the late heirs of an evolution occupying thousands
of years to attempt a reconciliation by fusing into one
new and harmonious whole the most precious among those
elements of culture which their forerunners possessed
separately.
GREEK THINKERS.
CHAPTER IX.
PLATO'S "PH^DRUS."
1. In the "Symposium" the doctrine of ideas only appears
for the purpose of introducing the idea of the beautiful, and
so illustrating the nature of love. But in the " Phsedrus "
this doctrine occupies a far larger space ; it here takes up
an almost central position, both in the theory of knowledge
and in ethics, while it is most intimately connected with
teaching upon the destinies of the soul. This alone
would not prove that the " Phsedrus " was written after
the " Symposium." But the order which we have adopted
is thereby rendered necessary, at any rate for the purposes
of exposition.
" If any one will write a noble style, let him have a
noble character." These words of Goethe might fitly serve
as a motto to the present dialogue. More exactly, the
purport of this great creation, which with all its wonderful
wealth has not the slightest lack of unity, may be thus
stated : Without a noble disposition and noble love there
can be no genuine philosophy ; without genuine philosophy,
no true eloquence or artistic use of language.
The scenery of the dialogue, in which Socrates and the
cultured Phaedrus are the only interlocutors, is not new to
the reader (cf. Vol. II. p. 269). Here we propose to give the
briefest possible account of its progress. The starting-point
is a speech, highly admired by Phaedrus, which he has just
heard from Lysias, the " most eminent writer of speeches "
of the day, and which he repeats to Socrates. This little
piece of declamation, as we have every reason to suppose,
is authentic, and no mere fiction. It would be absurd for
an author to apply to a phantom of his own invention such
REVOLT AGAINST SOCRATIC AUSTERITY. I 7
searching criticism as Plato here devotes to this effusion.
It is not so much a work of art as a triumph of artifice, and
belongs to a class of which there were many examples in
that age. We may instance the speech of Polycrates in
praise of mice ; his defence of the cruel tyrant Busiris ; his
encomia on Clytsemnestra, Helen, and Paris. These were
exhibitions of wit and cleverness by which a high degree of
plausibility was sought to be given to paradoxical theses.
The subject of this particular specimen is the praise of
self-surrender to a suitor who neither loves nor is loved.
Socrates offers to treat the same theme in a still more
effective manner, but in the speech which he actually
delivers he only fulfils the first part of his task, by
denouncing surrender to a lover and describing the evils
of passion. He speaks with his head veiled, as a symbol
of inward dissent, and breaks off at the point where the
negative part of his argument should have been followed
by its more objectionable positive counterpart.
So far his aim has been merely to outbid Lysias. Now,
however, impelled by a sense of religious duty towards Eros
and Aphrodite, he addresses himself to the recital of a
palinode, in which he at the same time endeavours to
outbid himself. The great speech now begins which
occupies the main portion of the dialogue. With the
worldly prudence which shuns all passion he contrasts
the divine madness, frenzy, or ecstasy, which he paints
in the most glowing colours — the passion of the poet and
the prophet, of him who thirsts after beauty and truth,
of the philosopher and lover. We need have no hesitation
in describing this speech as Plato's abjuration of pure
Socratism, of the exclusive cult of cold and sober reason.
We are here far removed from what we might term the
rationalism of Socrates. The magnitude of the interval
by which, in this work, Plato is separated from the other
Socratics, appears plainly if we call to mind Antisthenes'
way of thinking. His exclamation, "If I could but lay
hands on Aphrodite, I would shoot her" (Vol. II. p. 143),
would now seem to Plato doubly blasphemous. He would
be equally out of sympathy with that other view of love,
1 8 GREEK THINKERS.
which regards it as a desire to satisfy sensual needs in
the most harmless possible way. Passion is at once
Justified and ennobled. For this purpose a myth is
employed, a magnificent creation, which is clothed in
language of the utmost elevation and brilliance.
First, however, comes an assertion of the immortality of
the soul, supported by arguments which we shall consider
later on, in connexion with others of a different kind. The
nature of the soul is illustrated by a figure, in which it is
compared by Socrates to a yoke of horses, one a thorough-
bred, the other an inferior animal (the noble and the ignoble
desires), driven by a charioteer (Reason). Next, he describes
the life of souls in heaven, how they take part in the pro-
cession of the gods, each soul attaching itself to a kindred
divinity, and how they desire to mount to the " supra-
celestial space, of which no poet has yet sung, nor ever
will sing worthily. . . . The nature of it, however, may be
thus set forth. . . . Real truth, which is colourless, formless
and intangible, can be perceived only by the charioteer of
the soul. ... In the procession he beholds Justice itself,
he beholds Temperance and Knowledge, not that which
begins to be, not that which is different in different
manifestations of what we now call existence, but the
knowledge of that which has true and real existence."
Complete success in this survey is only for the divine
souls ; the weaker souls see little in the throng of struggling
horses ; they lose their wings and sink to earth, but not
till each one has beheld some part of that which is. They
are not sent to inhabit animal bodies at their first birth
but those souls which have seen the most go to the making
of a human being, one who will be a friend of wisdom or
beauty, inclined towards the Muses or to love ; the others
are disposed of according to a scale of merit, which descends
from the lawful king and commander, the statesman the
ruler of a house or estate, the physician and the gymnast
the poet and imitative artist, the soothsayer and the priest'
the artisan and the husbandman, down to the sophist the
popular orator and the tyrant. « He who leads justly'any
one of the lives here named receives a better lot ; he who
LOVE, THE MEDIATOR. 1 9
lives unjustly, a worse. No soul lives the same life twice
within ten thousand years, the soul of him only excepted
who has pursued philosophy with sincerity, or who has been
a lover of youths and of philosophy together. These, in
course of time, regain their wings ; the others, after the
completion of their first life, are brought to judgment,"
the result of which is that some are sent to the places of
punishment beneath the earth and others ascend to a
region of heaven where they lead an existence corre-
sponding to their mode of life on earth. After a thousand
years they come to the choice of their second life, at which
a human soul may be transferred to an animal body, or be
retransferred to a human body after a life in an animal.
In this myth the chief mediator between the earthly
life and the divine is love. For justice, temperance, and
wisdom are without a visible copy, the sight of which
would assuredly awake ineffable transports in us. " But
now beauty alone has this lot assigned to it, that it should
be at once most bright to behold and most worthy of love."
The effluxes of beauty pour through the eyes into the soul
of the beholder, which is thereby filled with warmth and
relieved of the rigidity which had kept its wings from
growing. And again the stream of beauty returns like
an echo from the eyes of the admirer back to the fair one,
moistens the roots of his wings, and causes them to shoot
forth. The beloved loves in return ; though at the first he
does not know whom, nor how it all befell. (No feature in
the description is without its meaning. There is deliberate
purpose in the mention of rigidity and its relaxation in the
case of the elder, while in that of the younger only growth
and its promotion are referred to.) The different gradations
of the love-bond are delineated with great fulness and wealth
of imagery. Lowest of all stands the brutish craving for
unnatural pleasure, unattended by any respect or reverence
for the object of desire. The highest stage, and with it
speedy release from the earthly prison in which the exiled
soul is held as a shell-fish in its shell, is attained by those
in whom " the better part of the soul is victorious, leading
them to an ordered life and to philosophy." The acquisition
20 GREEK THINKERS.
of wings comes later for those who " lead a coarser life, full
of ambition and without philosophy." They oppose less
resistance to the pull of the unruly horses, which bring them
together at an unguarded moment ; afterwards the same
thing will happen again, " but not often, for they do that to
which their whole soul has not consented." But they, too,
" reap no little reward from the love-madness ; " to them
also it is granted " to receive wings together, when the time
comes, thanks to their love."
2. The second part of the dialogue is as closely packed
with thought as the first is with images and passages of
highly wrought feeling. Phaedrus intimates his approval,
and at the same time expresses a doubt whether Lysias
could produce anything as good ; very likely he would
rather retire from the contest, or even give up altogether
the writing of speeches, a practice for which he has been
lately reproached in scornful tones by a public orator.
Thus the way is opened for a discussion of the question
Under what circumstances does the practice of rhetoric, or
authorship in general, deserve praise or blame } In other
words, we have a reconsideration of the same question
which, in the " Gorgias," was summarily disposed of by a
passionately hostile verdict. This time, the wholesale
condemnation of rhetoric is not repeated. What the
judicious critic of the earlier dialogue says to himself
to-day, Plato said to himself in the interval between the
composition of the two works. He is now fully aware that
the art of communicating thought is the same, whether it
be used by the orator or the author, the private citizen
or the legislator, whether prose or verse be the vehicle
employed. As before, the older teachers of rhetoric are
treated with scornful depreciation. Even the less important
among them are mentioned by name, but Gorgias the
greatest of them, is only glanced at in passing, obviously
because a special work has already been devoted to hini
several references to which occur in thq, present dialogue'
But those masters of language and their "work are not now
dismissed with a simple censure ; they are only relegated
to what Plato conceives to be their proper position, much
A REVISED VERDICT ON RHETORIC. 21
as the statesmen were dealt with in the "Meno." The
rhetoricians, in their turn, are granted partial rehabilitation.
It is not admitted that they taught real rhetoric ; they only
provided a training preliminary to it. The art itself is
placed on new foundations. Special knowledge is neces-
sary, even for the man who wishes to deceive effectively,
and not less so for the man who would guard himself from
being deceived. It is by similarities that we are deceived
and misled — a thought which is here developed with a
suggestiveness only found in Plato's maturest work. The
knowledge of similarities and differences is again condi-
tioned by the knowledge of the relations between genera
and species, by the capacity of analyzing concepts, of
recognizing unity in multiplicity, of combining the many
into one, of breaking up classes into their subdivisions,
without injuring any portion of them in the process after
the manner of a bad cook. And if authorship depends for
the one part upon the dialectic which is thus described
and thus lauded as an outgrowth of the vision of the
ideas, it also depends on psychology. Effectiveness in
speech is conditioned by knowledge of the souls of those
whom the speaker addresses. Again, the form of a speech
must resemble that of a living being; it must possess
organic unity. The thoughts and the sentences must be
inwardly connected, and not merely " poured out at
random," as (according to Socrates) they are in the speech
of Lysias. This speech, indeed, as Plato adds, not without
a touch of complacent self-approval, has been put in their
way by a " fortunate chance," to serve as an illustration of
the requirements just formulated.
At this point the dialogue takes an extraordinary course.
Plato now turns his back on that art of authorship which he
has set upon such deep foundations and supported by the
two pillars of dialectic and psychology. Himself one of
the greatest among authors, if not the greatest of all, he
mounts here to a height from which he looks down upon
all authorship and all rhetoric, recognizes and sets forth
all their weaknesses and drawbacks with incomparable
depth of insight. Writing, as he makes the Egyptian
VOL. III. D
22 GREEK THINKERS.
god Ammon reproach Theuth, the inventor of it, weakens
the memory. Further, the written page flies about and
addresses, without distinction, the prepared and the un-
prepared, the intelligent and the unintelligent alike. It
cannot answer questions or solve doubts, and it is defence-
less against every attack. Thus the instruction imparted
by it is like a hothouse plant, which grows up rapidly
but strikes no deep roots. Such is the harvest, and not
fruit of real value, which springs from the seed scattered
by the writer's pen. Instruction should be inscribed, not
in books, but on the soul. But this is a task beyond
writings and those speeches in which words are reeled off in
" rhapsodist fashion," without question and answer, with no
purpose beyond that of persuasion. They merely provide
aids towards the recollection of what has already been
communicated, by the living utterance of one who carefully
chooses his auditor, takes account of his stage of prepared-
ness, answers his objections, and thus produces truly
unassailable convictions. Other speeches and writings are
mere " shadows ; " the composition of them is at the best a
" noble pastime," and not a really serious business. It is
the Socratic cross-questioning that is here glorified. Second
in rank, though at a long interval — thus we may read
between the lines — comes the literary imitation of oral
teaching, the dialogue as manipulated by Plato. This, too,
makes no slight demand on the intellectual co-operation of
the reader, and, to the extent of what is possible, restrains
him from the merely passive or verbal reception of instruc-
tion. This passage has been regarded, not without justice,
as giving the key to the chief characteristics of the Platonic
dialogues, which so often leave the final result unpro-
nounced, which weave riddles " out of contradictions," and
scatter hints " which can be perceived and understood only
by those who really search for themselves." The dialogue
closes with a greeting to the philosophically minded young
orator Isocrates, and with a prayer to the divinities of the
place, in which the only boon craved is the inward beauty
of the soul.
3. That which most arouses our admiration in this work
WHAT MAKES A GREAT AUTHOR. 23
is the depth of the perspective which it opens out to us.
The philosopher, or lover of wisdom — and this at once
proud and modest title is claimed for himself by Plato,
speaking by the mouth of Socrates, at the close of the
work — is able to assign everything to its right place. He
does not particularly value the instrument of the orator
and author, but neither does he entirely despise it ; he does
not load it with abuse and obloquy, as he had done in the
" Gorgias." Behind the master of rhetorical artifices there
now stands the dialectician and psychologist, behind whom
again is the man, filled with enthusiasm, disdainful of all
that is ignoble, aiming at the highest ends. Plato knows
that no collection of writers' tricks or mere routine makes
the great author ; he knows that the richest development
of intelligence, a wide survey of things, and a deep insight
into the nature of the human soul, are additional requisites,
and that all this again is valueless unless a strong per-
sonality, raised in every way above the common level,
possesses both the means of style and ability to wield those
weighty weapons of the intellect. It is in the expression
given to this knowledge — as we have already hinted at the
beginning of the chapter — that the true kernel and im-
perishable value of the dialogue consists. Thus conceived,
its value is incalculable, even for him who no longer
believes in the existence of metaphysical entities, and to
whom the philosophic love of youths appears as a grotesque
garment in which an ideal sense of beauty and an imagi-
native enthusiasm were once enclosed. In one respect only
is the " Phsedrus " open to the charge of injustice, and that
is in its treatment of Lysias. With an unerring eye Plato
picks out a rhetorical exercise which at once bears a famous
name on its front, and exhibits all the defects which he
would proscribe — frivolity instead of highmindedness, shal-
lowness instead of deep thought, irregular though not
purposeless jumbling instead of orderly arrangement of
ideas. To the objection — had it been urged against him —
that he was applying to a piece of mental gymnastics a
standard of judgment inappropriate to such productions,
Plato would probably have answered that intellectual and
24 GREEK THINKERS.
moral habits should not be cultivated in sport which may-
do harm in earnest.
The fact remains not a little singular that the philosopher
should have deemed it desirable to pillory the little practice-
speech of a great master and with it the author himself The
explanation is probably to be found in Plato's antipathy to
Lysias — a feeling which sprang from several sources. The
near kinsman of Critias and Charmides could hardly be ex-
pected to regard with sympathy the energetic democrat who
displayed the utmost zeal in the contest with those oligarchs.
Nor were the peculiar artistic excellences of the Lysianic
oratory of a kind to win Plato's approval. Lysias was a
virtuoso whose skill lay in the subtle and the minute.
Grandeur, pathos, fervour, and all that savours of elevation,
were foreign to his nature. On the other hand, he pos-
sessed an unrivalled faculty of adapting the tone and style
of a forensic speech to the idios5Ticrasies of his client.
Now he appears wearing a mask of nafve, uncultured bon-
homie in the character of a deceived husband belonging to
the lower middle class ; now he plays the part of a needy old
pensioner who makes a jest of his poverty while pleading for
an increase of his meagre allowance from the State. This
art of character-drawing, for which Lysias was deservedly
famous among the ancients, was by no means to Plato's
taste. We are not here dependent on inference. The
author of the " Republic " specifically proscribes the faculty
of assuming any and every form at will, of reproducing the
ignoble and the trivial in perfect imitations ; in which con-
nexion he expressly bans the orator as well as the poet
Nor was his antipathy towards all that is "banausic" and
illiberal greater in any epoch of his life than in that when
he wrote the " Symposium " and " Phaedrus," and in these
works unfurled the banner at once of exalted passion and
of transcendental philosophy. The gates of heaven are
opened, and before the splendour which pours out from
them not only the petty art of Lysias pales, but the whole
species of rhetoric which the ancients named "meagre " or
"slender." There remains a possibility, not worthy of more
than passing mention, that personal friction may have
PLATO, LYSIAS, AND ISOCRATES. 25
accentuated an antagonism the roots of which lay deep in
the natures of the two men. The democratically minded
Lysias, even when writing in defence of Socrates, may
have drawn a distinction between the philosopher and his
aristocratic friends, say Critias or Alcibiades, to the dis-
advantage of the latter. Another pupil of Socrates,
iEschines, was attacked by him in a forensic speech with
no less wit than refined malice — a fact to which the fellow-
disciples could not be indifferent. Lastly, we have the
attack upon Alcibiades contained in the two speeches
against his son. But we prefer to lay no stress on the
virulent abuse here poured out on the man who in Plato's
works appears among the most intimate associates of
Socrates, seeing that the Lysianic authorship of the
speeches in question is not yet definitively established.
Much of that which, in Lysias, repelled Plato was likely
to attract him, at least temporarily, to Isocrates. The
latter, as we learn more especially from his " Areopagiticus,"
was an opponent of pure democracy. In his speech " On
the Pair of Horses" he casts a halo over the figure of
Alcibiades. He had been familiar with Socrates, and some
of his works are illuminated by the reflexion of this com-
panionship. Lastly, he must have been brought near to
Plato by their common antagonism to Antisthenes. We
need not, therefore, be surprised to find the philosopher
using him in his contest with Lysias as a kind of foil. We
should not, indeed, make too much of the prophecy which
Plato puts into Socrates' mouth at the end of the dialogue :
Isocrates will leave all other orators far behind him ; as
there is something of the philosopher in him already, and
as he is of a far nobler disposition than Lysias, it would
not be surprising if he were to go over to philosophy alto-
gether. Those who agree with us in not regarding the
" Phaedrus " as a work of early youth — a supposition which
is sufficiently negatived by the Orphic-Pythagorean con-
ception of the destiny of the soul — will not imagine that
Plato seriously anticipated the fulfilment of this prophecy.
He wrote in mature manhood (as Cicero pointed out long
ago with perfect justice), and he could not expect the
26 GREEK THINKERS.
development of Isocrates, who was his senior by nearly a
decade, to take an entirely new direction. To this extent
the prediction contains an expression of regret ; it is a
compliment not without a touch of condescension.
In truth Isocrates (436-338) was a particularly typical
example of what has been called " a great man with limi-
tations." Moreover, his limitations were bound up most
intimately with his greatness. Without much wealth of
ideas, he was an artist in language of the first rank. He
freed Greek prose from the hampered gait and measured
stiffness of its earlier representatives. He created the great
smoothly rolling period— the monotonous symmetry of
which, it must be admitted, has at times a soporific effect
upon the reader. Now, of all one-sided talents, virtuosity
of style is perhaps the one which leads the most easily to
the over-appreciation of its possessor, both by himself and
others. He who can express thoughts with more than
common skill, and shape them with more than common
smoothness and dignity, will hardly escape sharing with the
great public the delusion that he is a wholesale producer of
thoughts. And if such an artist in style rises, in his capacity
of original thinker, high enough above the average level to
impress, but not high enough to shock his contemporaries,
his success is likely to be complete and permanent. But the
strong feeling of self-satisfaction thus aroused, combined with
a not wholly repressible consciousness of an inward void,
moves the stylist to look with an eye of disfavour on those
who equal him in mastery over speech, and far surpass him
in power of thought. Such, in later years, was the relation
of Isocrates to Plato. The quondam advocate, who had
abandoned his old calling and wished it to be forgotten,
had become the head of a distinguished school of rhetoric.
In this position he believed himself to have rendered signal
service to Athens and the whole of Greece, not only as the
educator of numerous statesmen and authors, but also — a
less well-founded claim — by his many-sided activity as a
publicist. Of Plato's genius and its far-reaching influence
he had no conception. Sarcastic phrases were bandied about
between the two, but it is more particularly in the works
DATE OF THE " PH^DRUS:' 1']
of Isocrates that we find unfriendly allusions to the greater
of the two rivals. Sometimes, true " philosopher " as he
imagines himself to be, and fully conscious of his own
immediate success, he looks down from the height of his
superiority on the inventor of barren theories. Elsewhere
he extends to the " princes of the contentious art " the same
condescending patronage as to the mathematicians and
astronomers ; he reluctantly admits that these men, who
keep youths to their school-tasks longer than other teachers,
do contribute, at least indirectly, towards the preparation of
their pupils for life, by sharpening their wits and exercising
their faculties. The bitterest expressions of his antipathy
were posterior to the death of Plato, whose " Republic " and
" Laws " were branded by him as "sophistical " humbug.
4. The final compliment to Isocrates does not stand
quite alone. Long ago certain instances have been noticed
of almost verbal agreement between the " Phsedrus " and
Isocrates' " Speech against the Sophists." With the majority
of specialists, we hold that Plato is here the borrower, and
that he desires to show his friendliness to Isocrates by
this reminiscence of his writings. There is a no less striking
resemblance between several passages of the " Phsedrus "
and certain expressions of Alcidamas, a pupil of Gorgias,
in his speech "against the Sophists,'' where the subject
is the praise of improvisation as against written speeches.
Here, again, chance is hardly to be thought of, and this
time the borrower, if there is one, is most certainly Alci-
damas. It is most probably to his attacks that a reply is
made in the " Panegyric " of Isocrates. These circum-
stances, if we have represented them correctly, enable us
to circumscribe the date of our dialogue within fairly narrow
bounds. It would follow that the " Phasdrus " was written
a few years after 390 and before 380. For the speech of
Isocrates " against the Sophists " was composed not ' long
after 390, and his " Panegyric " in 380.
A much more difficult question to decide is that whether
the " Phaedrus " preceded or followed the " Symposium,"
a work which was written later than 384, and which may
be rightly inferred, from the close relationship of its
28 GREEK THINKERS.
contents, to be of approximately the same date. That
the " Symposium " is the later of the two, is a conclusion
readily suggested by the greater advance which we find in
this dialogue towards the refining and purifying of erotic
sentiment. The argument, however, is not convincing, for
the difference might very well have its cause in a 'change
of mood. But it is the following consideration that leads
us entirely to distrust this traditional reasoning : In a
passage of the "Symposium" which we have already
mentioned Plato looks up, with as yet unabated admiration,
to the great poets and lawgivers, a Homer and a Hesiod, a
Solon and a Lycurgus, to emulate whom is the philosopher's
endeavour, and to equal whom is the highest goal of his
ambition. Near the end of the " Phsedrus," on the other
hand, where he declares war upon authorship in general, he
looks down from his height of attainment upon the authors
of poems and of legislations, among whom he expressly
names Homer and Solon. He thus not only removes him-
self to a considerably greater distance from the current
Greek estimate, — an estimate not foreign to his own youthful
works ; he not only displays a stronger feeling of self-
assurance ; he also gives expression to a mode of thinking
which is essentially retained in his chief work, the " Re-
public," where he banishes the poets and strikes out entirely
new paths in legislation.
Still more serious difficulties await us when we seek to
establish the chronological relationship of the " Phaedrus "
to the dialogue which is to occupy us next — the " Phaedo."
That the last-named is the later of the two is a conclusion
for which there is internal evidence of a most convincing
kind. It is not merely that in the " Phsedo " the doctrine
of ideas is treated as one which has already been the sub-
ject of much discussion, and has long been familiar, almost
to the point of becoming a commonplace, to the wide circle
of readers to which the work is addressed. More than this,
the demonstrations which make up the whole content of
the dialogue rest throughout on that doctrine. In the
" PhEdrus," on the other hand, the main feature of Plato's
system is introduced, almost shyly, as though it were a
THE " PHjEDRUS " AND THE " PHjEDO," 29
perfect novelty, or nearly so, with the words, " For one
really ought to venture to speak the truth, especially in
speaking about truths."
But the priority of date thus indicated for the " Phaedrus "
is contradicted by the criteria derived from language and
style. A riddle is presented to us, the final solution of
which has not yet been obtained. Still, to renounce, on
this account, all faith in the linguistic criteria, is more than
any sensible investigator would easily consent to do. The
agreement of these criteria with those arising out of the
subject-matter is all but complete, in respect both of
the purely Socratic dialogues and of the numerous works
of Plato's old age. The theory of gravitation was not
abandoned because in the first instance it explained only the
main facts of the planetary motions, and did not account
for all the perturbations. Similarly, the present problem
would appear to be partly one of perturbations ; here, too,
it may well be that the direct action of the dominant causes
is masked and modified by subsidiary influences. Who
would ever expect, in the case of any writings whatever,
that the operation of arranging them chronologically, by the
test of the author's stylistic development, would yield a
perfectly definite and consistent result ; that the sum would
work out without remainder } There are two possibilities
which should not be lost sight of in such cases. A work
may be long brooded over in the mind, and yet receive its
clothing of language some time after another work much
later in conception. Secondly, a work which is the earlier
of two in composition and publication may, especially if its
reception has been particularly favourable, have been
subjected by the author to a process of revision, and may
reach posterity only in its later garb. That precisely this
latter was the fate of the " Phsedrus " is a view the
probability of which the present author has already main-
tained elsewhere.
30 GREEK THINKERS.
CHAPTER X.
THE "PH^DO," AND PLATO'S PROOFS OF IMMORTALITY.
I. In the "Symposium" the doctrine of ideas finds only a
limited application ; in the " Phaedrus " it has entered into
relations with psychology, the theory of knowledge, and
ethics ; in the " Phsedo " it completely dominates Plato's
thought. Here, too, we meet for the first time the technical
term (aSoe) by which these supernatural entities are to be
henceforth designated ; they now include not only concepts
of values, ethical and aesthetic, but universals of every
character and rank ; lastly, some attention is now given to
the relations of the ideas to each other, their compatibilities
and incompatibilities, as well as to the mode in which
individual things participate in them. With all this the
circumstance well agrees that the doctrine of ideas is here
spoken of as one which has already been much debated,
and which is trite and familiar to the interlocutors — there-
fore also to the readers. In a word, Plato's mind has
become thoroughly imbued with the doctrine of ideas, which
now, if we may use the expression, not only fills the main
arteries of his philosophical system, but has penetrated into
its finest capillaries.
Accordingly, the exposition of this doctrine is now freed
from the last remnant of mythical disguise ; it lies plain and
naked before us. As long as we confine ourselves to the
" Symposium " and the " Phaedrus," it remains possible, if
we are put to it, to explain the substantial existence of the
ideas as a mere figure of speech ; when we come to the
"Phaedo," all such expedients or evasions become in-
admissible. The future life of the soul is made an inference
from its previous existence, and this again is inferred from
A DISCUSSION ON IMMORTALITY. 3 1
that vision of the archetypes which was vouchsafed to it in
such previous existence. This brings us to the true kernel
of the dialogue — a mighty structure, lavishly adorned with
all the resources of art, the form of which excites our
highest admiration in spite of the objections to which its
argumentative content gives occasion.
The dialogue, of which the scene is laid in the prison
of Socrates, is enclosed, as in a frame, by a subsidiary
dialogue, which occupies the beginning, the middle, and the
end of the work. At Phlius in the Peloponnese, a remote
and little-visited town, Echecrates requests Phaedo, the
loved disciple of Socrates (cf. Vol. II. p. 205), to give him an
account of the master's last hours, and of the conversation
which, according to report, he then held with his pupils.
Plato is named as not having been present among the
latter — a clear hint that the narrative lays no claim to
historical accuracy in every particular. From early morning
till close upon sunset, the moment when he drains the cup
of hemlock, Socrates discourses with the company of friends
around him, displaying as he does so the utmost calm and
composure, the most untroubled confidence — that temper,
in short, which has made the " Phsedo " a book of edifica-
tion for mankind. It is precisely this cheerfulness in the
face of death and of separation from friends and kin which
moves the disciples to pained surprise. They ask Socrates
to justify his demeanour. In response, he enters upon a
series of disquisitions, in which the whole of life is repre-
sented as a preparation for death, corporeal existence as an
imprisonment of the soul, all the desires of the body as so
many hindrances to pure knowledge, and yearning for death
as a state of mind both natural and becoming to the wise
man.
The dialogue thus centres in the question as to the con-
tinued existence of the soul after separation from the body.
The task of proof is one which Plato is far from taking
lightly. Simmias and Cebes, two young Thebans who had|
formerly been pupils of the Pythagorean Philo laus. are cast
for the opposition, and they play their part with such per-
sistent thoroughness, with such ample resources of ingenious
32 GREEK THINKERS.
and penetrating criticism, that Socrates is compelled to
ascend from weaker proofs to stronger, and from these again
to the strongest of all, those which Plato himself deems
irresistible. These arguments pro and con, the examination
and illustration of them, will occupy us later. But it may
be observed at once that the alternate exposition of them,
the unwearied energy with which the tournament of
demonstrations is fought to a finish, fulfils a double purpose.
The conclusions finally reached are offered as the fruit of a
conflict of opinions which the contestants have waged with-
out fear or favour, unrestrained even by the wish to spare
the feelings of the master so soon to be taken from them.
Conclusions so arrived at appear invested with the highest
possible degree of objective certainty. In the second place,
Plato represents Socrates as lending a ready ear to all
possible objections against a doctrine which at the moment
must lie nearest his heart, as even pressing his friends to
urge their doubts without concealment, as declaring im-
placable war upon all " misology," that is, hatred of dis-
course, or better, distaste for the critical examination of
beliefs. Plato could not have paid more magnificent
homage to the true philosophic spirit, or raised a nobler
monument to the beloved master whom he thus depicts.
Many readers of the " Phado " may be inclined to think the
proofs of immortality unconvincing. Many of us may be
repelled by the ascetic aloofness from life which is its funda-
mental note. But no enemy of intellectual obscurantism,
no one who is filled with the genuine spirit of truth-seeking,
can hear this gospel of the unlimited liberty of thought
without bowing the knee in reverence.
2. The "Phaedo" is thus first and foremost an ex-
pression of fearless and tireless striving for the attainment
of reasoned convictions. But the emotions and the imagina-
tion are by no means sent empty away. When the first
two proofs have been dealt with, and an end made of the
religious and ethical exhortations connected with them, a
solemn silence ensues, and Socrates himself sinks into mute
reverie. At this culminating point of the dialogue we seem
to hear Plato's heart beating with an unwonted throb. He
A WKALTH OF BRILLIANT IMAGES. 33
is deeply moved, and his emotion betrays itself in the
manner customary with truly great authors. Image on
image, thought on thought, rises from the perturbed depths
of his soul as from an inexhaustible spring.
The case of those whose souls are no longer "nailed
and glued " to their bodies, but who yet continue to cling
to the pleasures by which they are entangled afresh in
corporeal existence — the case of such is illustrated by
Penelope's endless and fruitless labour at the loom. When
the other participants in the debate delay the expression
of their remaining doubts, out of consideration for Socrates,
the latter reminds them of the swans, whose song rises
clear and jubilant in the hour of death ; they are the
servants of Apollo the god of prophecy, and, being them-
selves prescient, they anticipate no evil at that time. The
possibility that the soul may be long-lived, and yet not
immortal, is illustrated by an ingenious comparison. Per-
haps the soul, with its long series of incarnations, may
resemble a weaver who makes and wears a number of
garments in succession. Many of these he will wear out
and survive, but at last one of them, which he has woven
in his old age, will survive him. If we cannot find some
•'divine word" which will carry us through the ocean of
life like a trusty vessel, then, we are told, it behoves us to
take the best and most tenable of human proofs, and let
them be our raft — a comparison which would certainly
suggest to the Greek mind the image of Ulysses escaping
from shipwreck. Seeing his friends flag in their efforts,
Socrates addresses them, as a general might his " defeated
and fleeing troops," and rallies them for. a new attempt.
He strokes caressingly the fair locks of Phaedo, who is
sitting on a stool by his side, and remarks that to-morrow
those locks must be shorn. " But do not mourn for me,"
so we may paraphrase his next words, " Rather let the hair
of both of us be shorn to-day, if our argument dies, and we
cannot call it back to life." The chief obstacle to success
in such an endeavour, unwillingness to test beliefs, or
" hatred of discourse," is compared to hatred of mankind ;
the cause of both is blind confidence, the disillusions which
34 GREEK THINKERS.
inevitably follow that state of mind, and the resulting
embitterment. Thus the discussion flows on with a continual
variety of graceful turns and profound thoughts, till at last
out of the conflict of arguments, as from the "eddies
and surge of the Euripus," there emerges the last and
strongest proof, that with which Plato is satisfied.
A firm foundation having been found for the belief that
the soul is indestructible, inferences are drawn relating to
the care of it during life. For if death were the end of all,
it would indeed be a " windfall for the wicked," who would
be rid of their soul and their wickedness along with their
body. But the soul is immortal, and takes with it to Hades
its "education and nutriment," on which its weal or woe
depends. The account of the world below is prefaced by
a description of the earth as a sphere freely suspended in
space (this Pythagorean doctrine was first promulgated by
Parmenides ; cf. Vol. I. p. 182), and this state of suspension
is explained by a theory due to Anaximander, as caused
by the equilibrium of the earth and the homogeneity of
the heavens (cf Vol. I. p. 51). The dwellings of men are
not, as commonly supposed, on the surface of the earth, but
in depressions, where the waters gather together, where the
air is less clear and pure, where the very rocks are corrupted
and corroded. We dwell round the Mediterranean "like
frogs round a marsh, and many others dwell elsewhere in
many similar places. . . . But the earth itself lies pure in
the pure heaven, which is commonly called the ether." The
illusion we experience is compared to that of imaginary
beings dwelling at the bottom of the sea, and thinking the
sea heaven because they see the sun and other celestial
bodies through it. If we could grow wings and rise to the
boundary of the grosser air, then, "like fishes which leap
from the water," we should see our portion of the earth, as
well as the true heaven, the true light, and the true earth.
And that which the sea-bottom, with its fissures and sand and
infinite slime, is, compared with the earth and its loveliness,
such is the world we know compared with that upper part.
There all colours are far more brilliant, all plants more
glorious, and the mountains are composed of precious stones.
THE " PHJSDO" AS A WORK OF ART. 35
This imaginative picture, to which Plato himself assigns
only the value of a conjecture, probably made a stronger
impression on his first readers than on us, who are to some
extent reminded of the tales of the Thousand and One
Nights. It is an outcome of Plato's thirst for beauty, which,
in this work so remote from all passion and sensuality, could
only find satisfaction in the execution of a brilliant picture
of the world. Such a picture, too, forms an effective foil to
the terrors of Tartarus, which are here described shortly
but with great vigour. With the penalties of the evil-doers
is contrasted the reward of the good, who pass from the
lower world to the earth, and finally attain a purely incor-
poreal existence. This latter is spent by them in dwelling-
places the description of which is not attempted. The
dialogue closes with the equally simple and noble account of
Socrates' last moments, with which the educated world is
familiar (cf. Vol. II. p. no).
3. The first observation we have to make relates to the
emotional effectiveness of the " Phasdo." This would have
been greater if the confidence displayed by Socrates in the
attainment of future blessedness had been somewhat less.
At any rate, we are more deeply moved by the equally
cheerful courage in face of death depicted in the " Apology,"
where Socrates knows nothing of any such hope, and is even
unwilling to decide the question whether a dreamless sleep
awaits him, to be followed by no waking, or a residence in the
realm of shadows. But the value of the " Phaedo " as a philo-
sophic work of art is incomparable. Indeed, it may be said
to bear the impress of all Plato's excellences ; in it we find
united all that adorns his other writings, with none of the
excrescences by which some of them are disfigured. The
dialogue marks a stage of adjustment in Plato's develop-
ment. The acute dialectician and the imaginative poet,
the fervid votary of free intellectual inquiry, and the enthu-
siast glowing with intense religious emotion, — all these
characters appear side by side, and none finds room at the
expense of another ; their voices combine in a harmony
which is marred by no false note, not even that of harshness
and injustice. The " Phsedo " is free from manifestations of
36 GREEK THINKERS.
that Platonic hate which, though less celebrated than Pla-
tonic love, is hardly less important. Such an equilibrium of
qualities and powers occurs but once or twice in the career
of even the most highly gifted. Nor was it permanent with
Plato. When he wrote the " Phaedo " he still cherished a
firm belief that the utmost acuteness and boldness in argu-
ment could only strengthen, and not shake, his ethical and
religious convictions. A time came when he perceived his
error. That spirit of doubt which, in the " Phaedo," did no
more than dig deep the foundations for a mighty edifice of
thought, was destined, in its later activity, to undermine the
stability of the whole fabric. The sceptical utterances of
the " Parmenides " are followed, in the " Sophist " and the
"Statesman," by attempts at revision and adaptation.
Finally, Plato rescues his dearest possessions from the
storms of dialectic, which latter he abandons together
with toleration and freedom of thought ; the " misology "
proscribed in the " Phsedo " is enthroned in the " Laws,"
and Socrates, the embodiment of cross-questioning, dis-
appears from the stage.
Such an epoch of reconciliation and harmonious adjust-
ment naturally occurs midway in the course of a thinker's
development. We have just had occasion to notice how far
the " Phaedo " is removed from the " Laws," the terminal
point of Plato's philosophic activity. But it is also separated
from his starting-point, that is, from the " Protagoras "
group, by a considerable interval of time. It contains
unmistakable retrospective references to the " Meno " which
are universally recognized. And it may be regarded as
established that the " Meno " presupposes the " Protagoras "
(cf Vol. II. p. 374). The same result may also be obtained
by direct comparison. That prudential theory of ethics
which is expounded, though not without reservation, in the
closing portion of the " Protagoras," recurs in the " Phsedo,"
but the virtue to which it leads is here pronounced a
" shadowy image " of the true virtue which rests on inward
purification ; it is a " slavish disposition of mind," a chastity
born of inchastity, a courage springing from cowardice.
Plato now regards such virtues as a mere substitute, which
RELATION TO EARLIER AND LATER WORKS. 2,7
may suit the great mass, but is unworthy of the wise. This
violent tone will be softened again in course of time. The
excursions of the pendulum to right and left will be followed
by a halt midway ; in the " Laws " the morality which
rests on Hedonism is accorded an honourable, if sub-
ordinate, position, by the side of that which has an idealistic
basis (cf. Vol. II. p. 323). We may observe, in passing, that
the " Euthyphro " must also have preceded the " Phaedo,"
for in the latter, exactly as in the " Republic," piety is not
numbered among the chief virtues — a feature which is
doubly striking in view of the predominantly religious tone
of the dialogue, and cannot possibly be due to chance
(cf. Vol. II. p. 363). The posterior limit of date is determined
by those passages in the sixth and seventh books of the
" Republic " in which we can hardly avoid seeing an example
of self-correction on Plato's part. The reference is to the
principle of method set forth in the " Phaedo," according to
which we rise from one hypothesis to another more com-
prehensive than the first, and, in the case of each hypothesis,
examine its consequences as to their agreement or disagree-
ment. The above-mentioned books of the " Republic," on
the contrary, warn us not to rest satisfied with hypotheses,
but rather to use them as instruments, as finger-posts meant
to indicate to us the way towards higher principles which are
no longer hypothetical.
How completely the Orphic-Pythagorean mode of
thought had taken possession of Plato when he wrote the
" Phaedo," is clearly shown, even by our short sketch of the .
dialogue. The " pool of slime " of the Orphics is expressly
mentioned ; so is the Pythagorean transference of human
souls to brute bodies, and that in accordance with the
inward relationship of the souls to the different animal
species, so that, for example, robbers and tyrants become
wolves, hawks, and vultures, with more transformations of
a similar order (compare our account of the " Phaedrus,"
p. 19).
The attitude adopted in the "Phaedo" towards the
question of the soul is altogether peculiar. In one of
the proofs of immortality the soul is termed an absolutely
VOL. III. E
38 GREEK THINKERS.
simple substance, and is identified with the principle of
knowledge. There results a contrast with the " Phaedrus,"
as well as with the " Republic " and the " Timaeus," all of
which know the soul as tripartite. One is tempted, on this
account, to assume an earlier phase of the Platonic
psychology, and to assign to the " Phaedo " a position
nearer in this respect to the purely Socratic dialogues and
the intellectualism represented by them. But to develop
this thought fully is to reject it. True Socratism knows
nothing of the bad will, but only errors of the understand-
ing. Every one wills the good ; the many who do not
attain it are hindered by nothing but lack of knowledge.
It is quite otherwise in the " Phaedo." Here the " irrational
parts of the soul," to use Aristotle's expression, are so far
from being ignored, that the life of the wise man rather
appears as a perpetual conflict with desires, bom of the
body, which stain the soul and seduce it to wrong-doing.
How, then, we ask, could Plato yet pronounce the soul a
simple entity, having pure reason for its essejjce ? We
may answer this question somewhat as follows, f Plato has
fallen into a very natural error, one by which popular
phraseology is largely affected. He regards those functions
of the soul which are obviously conditioned by the body as
being really " affections of the body," and he so describes
them. Even such active emotions as anger or ambition are
here viewed in that light. Plato will allow nothing to be of
the nature of soul, except what he deems immortal, and
immortality, for him, belongs only to the rational principle
in man, which is intended to bear rule in him. The main
idea recurs, with greater clearness of conception, in the
" Republic," and in its continuation, the " Timaeus," which
distinguishes between three souls— the intellectual, residing
in the head, and the lower souls of passion and desire,
seated in the breast and the belly, while immortality is
conceded only to the first and most excellent of them.
Thus, in spite of the apparent cpQ.txadkt.iDiy the " Phaedo "
stands nearer to the " Republic " and " Timaeus," in respect
of the question of immortality, than it does to the " Phae-
drus," which, by its image of the charioteer and the two
THE RA TIONAL AND OTHER PARTS OF THE SOUL. 39
horses, acknowledges the tripartite nature of the soul in its
prenatal existence as well as, indirectly, in its future life,
and does not ascribe immortality solely to the rational
element.
How, then, are we to interpret the fact that in the
description of the under-world, which forms the closing
portion of the " Phaedo," souls appear which " by the magni-
tude of their transgressions, by accumulated murders, by
repeated and grievous sacrilege," have become " incurably "
corrupt, and have therefore been banished to Tartarus for
all eternity ? Can it really be that Plato is here thinking
merely of an intellect which has been shattered beyond
repair by a series of misdeeds and by the bodily desires
which led to them ? This is not very probable, though it is
not altogether impossible. But what are we to say of those
other souls, also deeply corrupt yet not irremediably so,
which are subjected to purifying punishments, which long
for release, which cry for help and implore the pardon of
those against whom they have sinned ? Much in this
description may be mere mythical embellishment, but the
souls represented as suffering torments from which they
flee cannot, from the nature of the case, have been regarded
by Plato as beings endowed only with thought ; he must
have ascribed feeling and action to them as well. rWe are
justified, therefore, in asserting that while Plato does indeed
teach, in general terms, the exclusive immortality of the
single-natured rational soul, he departs from this doctrine
in the details of his exposition ; overpowered by the anthro-
pomorphic instinct, which craves for these beings also the
full attributes of personality, he endows and complicates the
intellectual principle with elements of emotion and de sire, f
Perhaps, if questioned on the point, he would have replied
that those souls still had a remnant of corporeality clinging
to them ; just as he really asserts, in respect of the souls
which wander, ghost-like, about graveyards; that they are
not sufficiently detached from materiality, by which they
are permeated, and thus, having still some share in visi-
bility, have been seen by men. In that case, those as yet
incompletely purified souls of the under-world would, though
40 GREEK THINKERS.
in a less degree than the souls upon earth, bear some
resemblance to the sea-god Glaucus (to quote a fine simile
from the " Republic "), parts of whose body were broken
off or worn off, and the defect supplied by incrustations of
shellfish, stones, and seaweed.
4. The proofs of immortality offered in the "Phsedo"
are three in number, as Hermann Bonitz has shown in a
I masterly analysis of the work, and all are based on the
doctrine of ideas. Here, however, we have to note an im-
portant difference. The two first proofs, which are sent, as
it were, to bear the brunt of the attack, borrow their
premisses only in part from the doctrine of ideas. For the
rest, Plato supports them, deliberately and consciously, by
principles belonging to his predecessors, the nature-philo-
sophers. For this reason those proofs are not regarded by
him as unconditionally valid, and for the same reason the
third argument, conceived by him as possessing irresistible
cogency, is made to follow the first two at a considerable
interval and clearly separated from them. Plato's manner
of effecting this separation is highly artistic and ingenious.
The barrier of division is not formed solely by the controversy
on the objections raised by Simmias and Cebes. |The real
transition is supplied by an account of Socrates' intellectual
development, the aim and object of which is to justify his
abandonment of nature-study for the investigation of con-
cepts, and thus to indicate that the third proof depends
exclusively on the latter, without owing anything to physical
speculation. The turning-point in this mental history is
placed at the time when Socrates first made the acquaint-
ance of the Anaxagorean doctrine of mind — a doctrine which
at first inspired him with enthusiasm, but soon left him dis-
illusioned, because the sage of Clazomense, though placing
in the forefront the rational principle that promised so
much, made only an inadequate use of it in his explanations.
He, too, had been chiefly at pains to discover physical or
{mechanical, not final causes (cf. Vol. I. p. 216).
The main question, for Socrates, is not the agency
Ifthrough which anything happens, but the reason why it
ijhappens ; the true cause of everything is purpose, directed
THE FIRST PROOF OF IMMORTALITY. 4 1
towards the best. But the traditional mode of viewing
nature does not lead to a knowledge of such true causes,
rather to a knowledge of that "without which the cause
could not be a cause." It is much as if some one, instead
of explaining the fact of Socrates being seated here in
prison by his condemnation and his conviction that flight
would be wrong, were to attribute it to his possession of
bones and sinews and other parts which enable him to sit ;
or as if the causes of the dialogue now in progress were
stated to be sound, air, hearing, and so forth. A certain
amount of biographical fact may be interwoven with
this narrative, but its main purpose is to exhibit the
exclusive validity of the Socratic and Platonic method of
inquiry. As the story proceeds it is associated with an
exposition of certain speculati,ve difficulties, which points in
the same direction.
At this point Socrates' abandonment of natural for
mental philosophy is illustrated by a brilliant simile. The
contemplation of the universe, he remarks, produced upon
him a blinding effect, such as is experienced by one who
fixes his gaze upon the sun, say for the purpose of observing
a solar eclipse. Just as that observer would look away from
the great luminary to its " reflexion in water or some similar
substance," so Socrates turned from things to concepts.
Not that he is for a moment ready to admit — as Plato im-
mediately adds, to correct the injustice of the comparison —
that concepts are a paler copy of true reality than the things
of sense.
Reduced to its tersest expression, the first proof of
immortality runs as follows : The world-process consists
of an alternation of contraries (the doctrine of HeracHtus) ;
the earthly existence of the human soul was preceded by a
life of an opposite character, which included the vision of
the ideas ; it must therefore be followed by another such
life in the future.
This cyclic character of all processes is brought out in a
highly ingenious manner. Without cease or intermission, it
is urged, there goes on an alternation of heat and cold, of
sleep and waking, of the mixture and the separation of
42 GREEK THINKERS.
substances. If the course of nature followed only one
direction, it would lead in the end to an eternal sameness
and stagnation ; the universe would sink into a sleep of
Endymion. The argument reminds us of the modern
doctrine of entropy, which teaches the final extinction of all
sensible motion by its conversion into molecular motion in
the form of heat— a process which cannot be completely
reversed. One might, indeed, be inclined to suppose that
the circulation of matter was sufficient to prevent such a
" lameness " of nature in respect of the organic and the
inorganic world, while the alternating conditions of the soul,
now parted from the body, now reattached to it, present no
accurate counterpart to the above-mentioned processes of
change. But though the analogy may be inexact and the
reasoning based on it inconclusive, the fact remains that
this argument appeals, in its first part, to real features of the
order of nature, and that it is only the second premiss
which is borrowed from the specifically Platonic theory of
knowledge.
The second proof has the following form : All decay
is a dissolution of the composite ; all that is simple, on
the contrary, is indissoluble, and therefore imperishable ;
the ideas, which have their existence in themselves, are
absolutely simple ; the knowing subject and the object of
knowledge are essentially similar to each other (a doctrine
taught by Empedocles and others) ; therefore the soul,
which knows the ideas, is also simple — that is to say,
indissoluble and likewise imperishable. The relations to
the doctrines of the nature-philosophers extend further
than we have here indicated. For the proposition that all
perishing is dissolution, or division of the compounded, was
asserted, as the reader will remember, by Anaxagoras and
Empedocles, and by them emphatically contrasted with the
popular view that things really perish (cf. Vol. I. pp. 210,
232), while the denial of all true genesis and annihilation
was a common doctrine of the physicists in general. Plato
himself, as we have already remarked, was not perseveringly
consistent on the soul's simplicity. Such simplicity was hard
to harmonize with psychological facts, and the difficulty
THE SOUL A HARMONY OF THE BODY? 43
is nowhere more manifest than in that passage of the
" RepubHc " in which the threefold division of the soul is
maintained in respect of its life on earth while linked with
the body, and denied in respect of its independent existence.
Still, the doctrine of simplicity won the upper hand later
on, and its predominance has lasted down to our day. It
is only in recent times that it has been seriously impugned,
and that cases of "double consciousness" and kindred
phenomena have been invoked against the supposed un-
compounded nature of the soul.
Before Plato develops his third, and, in his own
view, conclusive argument, he presents us with a dis-
cussion, ending in a refutation, of a rival theory — one
which was afterwards championed by Peripatetics such as
Aristoxenus and Dicaearchus, and which was possibly due
to Philolaus. According to this theory, the soul is a
harmony of the body, or, as it is expressed elsewhere, of
the four elements composing the body. The comparison
here shadowed forth between the soul and the concordant
sounds elicited from a musical instrument appears to
rest on the following considerations : As the immaterial
harmonies take their rise from the material strings of
the lyre, so the operations of the soul have their origin
in the bodily organs. In either case the invisible and
intangible proceeds from the visible and tangible, the fine
from the coarse, the highly valuable from the comparatively
valueless. With equal right the psychical element in man
might be compared to the delightful fragrance wafted from
an uncomely plant. The principal purpose which the analogy
served was doubtless that of breaking down the assumption
that psychical processes are of higher than merely corporeal
origin, and the essential part of the doctrine was clearly
the thesis that the workings of the soul are the effects of
bodily causes ; that no special entity need be assumed
as the vehicle and generator of those operations. It is,
in a word, what is usually called the materialistic theory
of the soul, except that it is free from the confusion of
thought which regards the psychical functions as them-
selves corporeal, and not merely as a product of the
44 GREEK THINKERS.
corporeal. It is thus not the heart of the theory, but only
its outward vesture, which is touched by Plato's chief
objection, namely, that virtue is a concord or harmony of
the soul's functions, and would therefore be, by the theory
in question, a "harmony of harmony," which is absurd.
The materialistic view does not lose its right to existence
till we come to a higher stage of thought, one for which
the Cyrenaic school prepared the way, but on which no
ancient thinker ever fully entered. That which really puts
materialism out of court is the consideration that we know
absolutely nothing of any matter which exists in and for
itself; our analysis of facts cannot carry us further or
dewier than to the phenomena of consciousness.
The third argument rests on the principle of contra-
diction : contradictory opposites exclude each other.
Applied in the world of ideas, this is as much as to say
that an idea cannot take up into itself the idea of its
contrary. Indirect contradiction is treated similarly. The
individual thing which has part in an idea (that is, a thing
of which the idea is an essential attribute) is declared
incapable of receiving into itself either the contrary idea or
a thing which participates in the contrary idea. In such a
case the choice lies between two possibilities : the thing will
cease to be what it was, will perish as such ; otherwise it
will turn aside and escape unharmed. If, for example, fire,
which participates in the idea of heat, is brought near to
snow, which participates in the idea of cold, then, either
the fire will destroy the snow, or the snow the fire. With
the soul, Plato argues, it is otherwise. The soul has part ,
in the idea of life ; the opposite of life is death ; the soul is
therefore alien to death ; if, then, annihilation is brought
near the soul, as it is to snow by fire or to fire by snow, the
result is not that the soul perishes, but that it withdraws
uninjured ; it is indestructible.
5. The irony of fate has ordained that the proof prized
most highly by its author should be the one in which an
impartial critic finds the greatest weaknesses. The applica-
tion made of the principle of contradiction to the world of
ideas belongs to the mythology of concepts. The illustration
THE THIRD PROOF. 45
of fire and snow is by no means a happy one. Heat
and cold are not absolute, but relative determinations.
Indeed, the snow formed from water, as a modern physicist
might object, is hot in comparison with the snow of carbonic
acid which is prepared in our laboratories. Nor can it be
regarded as irrevocably established what is the essential
attribute of a concrete thing. As regards the concluding
portion of the argument, the choice lies between two inter-
pretations which are equally fatal to its validity. I^ither,
on the one hand, the soul, as the principle of life, is regarded
from the first as immortal ; in which case the question is
evaded, and the argument reduced to 3,_.jieii^w_Jj:i3id^iii;
while appearing to advance, it merely changes its linguistie
dress. Or else, if we adopt the not improbable view of a
recent interpreter, Plato is guilty of a " fallacy." He starts
from the assumption that the soul, being the vehicle of life,
excludes " death, the opposite of life." From this, however,
the only direct and legitimate inference is that the soul
" in so far as, and as long as it exists, can only be alive
and never dead." But Plato illegitimately infers the im-i
mortality of the soul, in the sense of indestructibilityJ
Criticism apart, it is worthy of remark that in the secona
argument the soul signifies the principle of knowledge, but
in the third the principle of life. Thus the last proof of
immortality, as was perceived long ago, has an extensive
range of application ; for it includes not human souls alone,
nor even the souls of animals, but also the vital energy of
plants, to which the ancients gave likewise the name of
"soul." The comprehensive nature of the proof is not
explicitly noticed in the " Phaedo," but the " Timseus " con-
tains the doctrine that there is only a limited number of
souls, and that these serve to animate and inform, succes-
sively, organisms of the most diverse kinds.
Plato sometimes regarded the soul, not only as the
principle of life, but also as the principle of all motion, and
he thence deduced its immortality. In this he followed in
the footsteps of Alcmaeon (cf. Vol. I. p. 151, sqq.). The
same idea is to be found in the " Phsedrus," and it recurs
in a passage of the " Laws." The soul is regarded as the
46 GREEK THINKERS.
•' source and spring of all movement," as the " only self-
moving thing," whereas everything else receives its motion
from without. But that which has the source of its motion
in itself, Plato contends, can neither begin nor cease to
exist. In this proof, which is contained in the " Phsdrus,"
we also note the first clear manifestation of Plato's com-
plete breach with the hylozoism (ascription of life to matter)
of the old nature -philosophers, his degradation of matter to
a lower plane (cf. Vol. I. p. 344)-
As the doctrine of ideas is not mentioned in the " Laws,"
it is natural to suppose that the aged Plato had ceased to
be satisfied with the demonstration, wholly built on that
doctrine, which he had given in the " Phaedo." In the
" Phaedrus," on the other hand, where the doctrine of ideas
is a comparative novelty and the preaching of it a bold
venture (cf. p. 28, seg.), he had not yet travelled so far as to
make it the foundation of his most cherished religious con-
victions. One stage of the journey from the " Phaedo " to
the " Laws " is marked by a proof noticed in the tenth
book of the " Republic," which also evidently failed to
satisfy Plato permanently. Everything — this is the gist of
the argument — is destroyed by badness, both of itself and
of other things, not by what is good or indifferent ; but
the soul survives its own deepest corruption ; no one dies
of injustice, though this is the greatest malady of the soul ;
how, then, can external causes of destruction have any power
over it .■' For this reason it must be regarded as absolutely
imperishable. It is hardly necessary to point out that the
words " goodness " and " badness " are here employed partly
in the moral sense, partly in the sense of fitness and un-
fitness for the battle of existence. We shall be brought
back to the subject when we come to consider the position
occupied in Plato's system by the " idea of the good."
We take our leave of the " Phaedo." But first we must
call attention to a real . discovery — one proof against all
contradiction — which appears within the limits of this
dialogue. Plato is speaking of the recollection which the
soul has of the impressions received by it during its pre-
existence, and he takes occasion to formulate for the first
THE LAWS OF ASSOCIATION. 47
time and to elucidate with unsurpassable clearness the two
fundamental laws governing the association of ideas — the
law of similarity and the law of contiguity. Similar images,
and images which have been perceived side by side or in
immediate succession, tend to reproduce each other in the
mind. Our recollections of a lyre may be aroused either
by its own painted semblance or by the person of the
musician who played upon it. The service thus rendered
by Plato can be justly appreciated only by those who
know the full extent of the help which the psychology of
association has given towards the unravelling of the most
difficult problems in mental science, in the theory of morals
as well as in the theory of knowledge. The architect of
many a thought-fabric not destined to endure has here
erected two mighty gate-towers at the entrance of the
Temple of Truth.
48 GREEK THINKERS.
CHAPTER XL
PLATO'S "REPUBLIC."
I. Guided by the progress of the doctrine of ideas, we have
followed Plato to the meridian height of his productivity.
Here there awaits us his most powerful creation, the
" Republic." But before we enter upon the study of it, a
few subsidiary works must be mentioned which certainly
did not follow the " Republic," though one or two of them
may not be earlier in date than the first out of the ten
books of the longer work. It was perhaps in an interval
of that long and tedious literary labour that the " Phsedo "
saw the light — a possibility to which we shall have occa-
sion to recur. One of these subsidiary works, the
" Euthydemus," we only mention now in order to reserve
the discussion of it, which can hardly be separated from
that of the " Thesetetus," for a later chapter. But there are
two others, curiously contrasted with each other, which
invite our attention for the moment — the " Menexenus "
and the " Crito."
The " Menexenus " exhibits a strangely discordant cha-
racter. In it Plato, as his manner is (see Vol. II. p. 309),
desires at once to ridicule and to outbid the rhetoricians.
But the theme which he chooses for this purpose, the
glorification of Athens, hardly admitted of a purely bur-
lesque mode of treatment, and the mocker found himself
at times overpowered by his subject and carried away into
genuine emotion. " It is easier to blame than to do
better ; " " Let him try for once to equal the rhetoricians he
despises ; " — phrases such as these may well have been
heard more than once by the author of the " Gorgias," and
in them, possibly, we may see the impulse out of which
THE " MENEXENUSy 49
this parodistic show-piece grew. Plato indicates clearly
enough that it is not meant seriously by making Socrates
express a doubt whether such amusements befit his old
age. There is bitter sarcasm in the confession of Socrates:
" After hearing such a speech, I seem to myself a nobler
and better man than I was before, and the impression lasts
quite three or four days." On the other hand, there is
humour in the idea of making Socrates call Aspasia his
teacher. He professes to do no more than reproduce the
crumbs of eloquence which were left over at the prepara-
tion of the great funeral-speech — that speech which Pericles
delivered, and the highly gifted companion of his life is
here said to have composed. For Socrates also devotes a
speech to the honour of Athenians fallen in battle — by a
wilful anachronism, the peace of Antalcidas, B.C. 387, is
made the occasion of it — his effort is adorned with all the
rhetorical tinsel usual in such circumstances, while historical
and political truth is treated with the popular orator's
customary disregard for accuracy. The worst reproach, it
is said, that can be brought against Athens is that she has
always been too soft-hearted, and has always been ready
to serve the cause of the weaker. Scorn of the bitterest
kind is to be found in what is said about the Athenian
constitution of the day, namely, that whether it is called
a democracy, or whatever other name may be given to it,
it is really an aristocracy, a government by the best. A
thought which Pericles, as reported by Thucydides, ex-
presses in full earnest, that no Athenian is prevented from
serving the State by poverty or obscurity of origin (cf.
Vol. II. p. 41), is here given a purely ironical turn. Reading
these and similar passages, one is inclined to see in Plato
an associate of the oligarchical revolutionaries.
Such an impression is corrected by the " Crito." This
work gives the other side of the picture, and thus presents
a sharp contrast to the " Apology '"'' and the " Gorgias " as
well as to the " Menexenus.'' We do not know what was
the occasion out of which the little dialogue grew ; but we
can hardly resist the impression that in writing it Plato was
particularly concerned to defend himself and his friends
50 GREEK THINKERS.
against the suspicion of sympathy with revolution. " Much
as we regret and condemn the imperfections and the per-
versities of our national institutions, we have not the
remotest desire to overturn the constitution by violence
and substitute our own ideals at a stroke " — such is the
message we read between the lines of the dialogue, the
contents of which may be summarized as follows,
Crito, an old and tried friend of Socrates, has made
every preparation for his master's flight ; now that the
return of the Delian ship is imminent (cf. Vol. II. p. no),
he is ready to set everything in motion for the rescue. But
Socrates refuses his co-operation, and supports his refusal
by an argument which stands in glaring contradiction to
the defiant audacities of the " Apology." He begins by
reminding Crito of the principles which the discussions
they have had together have done so much to confirm —
that life with a corrupted soul is as little desirable as life
with a corrupted body ; that nothing corrupts the soul like
injustice ; that the foundation of all justice is obedience to
the laws ; that every one who disobeys the existing laws,
whether he thinks them salutary or not, is contributing
his share to the destruction of the community. Not content
with this dialectic proof, Socrates brings the Athenian laws
themselves on the stage, and allows them to deliver a
powerful and rhetorically effective address. The main
thought in it is that every citizen, by remaining a member
of the common body and not leaving his country, as he is
perfectly at liberty to do, has entered into a tacit contract,
which no circumstances can justify him in violating.
The most remarkable feature of the "Crito" is the
ethical refinement displayed in it— a refinement which goes
far beyond that of the " Gorgias," and finds a parallel only
in the earlier books of the "Republic." All doing of
injury, even to an enemy, all retaliation, even of injustice,
is prohibited, and a striking contrast is thus presented, not
only to the teaching of the Xenophontean Socrates, but
also to the " Gorgias," where utterance is given to a wish
that the unjust enemy may be preserved from cure by
impunity, and, if possible, may remain an immortal villain
THE " CJilTO." 5 1
(cf. Vol. II. p. 332). The traditional view, that the " Crito "
is closely related chronologically to the "Apology," is in
contradiction with the different representations given in
the two works of the world below. Faith in future rewards
and punishments is not so entirely alien to the " Crito " as
it is to the "Apology." Lastly, the relatively late date
of the dialogue, as has been recently pointed out, is attested
by the fact of its not being presupposed in the intro-
duction to the " Phaedo." The purpose of the " Crito " is,
perhaps, most easily intelligible if we suppose it to have
appeared at a time when several books of the " Republic "
were already composed, and perhaps even published. It is
as if Plato said to his countrymen, " You know that I have
devised and submitted to the public judgment certain
social and political innovations, such as would revolutionize
the present order of things. But do not therefore suppose
that I and my pupils are plotting the violent overthrow of
national institutions. We set a great value on fidelity to
the laws, no less than our master did ' when he appeared
before the judges, though it was in his power not to appear,'
and again when he submitted to the penalty of death you
decreed against him, though, if he had wished to evade it,
there was nothing to prevent his purchasing liberty and
life by an illegal flight."
2. The composition of the " Republic " has, during the
last few decades, been made the subject of conjectures
which we see the less occasion to discuss fully, as we feel
bound to reject them in toto. Critics have credited them-
selves with such profound insight into Plato's literary
methods as to imagine they had discovered the true order
in which the books of the " Republic " were written — an
order differing from that in which they appear — and to
represent the work as a conglomerate of disparate frag-
ments. Now, the " Republic " is no posthumous work ;
there can be no doubt that it was published by Plato as a
whole. The sequence of its parts, as we have it, is that
which was finally settled upon by one of the greatest
of artists in style ; and it would be truly wonderful if we
could go behind that sequence and find evidences of
52 GREEK THINKERS.
another and more primitive distribution. The audacity,
not to say presumption, of the attempt to do so is height-
ened by an admission which the critics in question were
compelled to make. Their hypotheses could not be main-
tained erect without the support of auxiliary hypotheses.
They were obliged to assume that before the publication
of his work Plato set about making alterations in it for the
purpose of fusing the discordant elements and obliterating
the traces of the original arrangement. In fact, the more
deeply the structure of the " Republic " was studied, the
more imperative became the need of having constant
recourse to this subsidiary assumption. Thus the fabric
of hypothesis, the foundations of which were insecure from
the beginning, became more and more unstable. There
are instances where Plato clamps together neighbouring
portions of his work as with iron bands, by anticipatory
statement, by retrospective reference, by continued de-
velopment of the same image. Here, however, we are
invited to believe that what now comes second once came
first, and that the contrary appearance has been produced
by Plato's subsequent additions and modifications. Enough,
we think, has been said to convince the reader that while
such complicated manipulations are in themselves possible,
certitude, or any near approach to certitude, in the detection
of them is out of the question.
That which the minute investigation of the " Republic "
has really brought to light is, apart from a few memory-slips
of the author, nothing more than what one might have taken
for granted, namely, that the writing of so comprehensive a
work, one teeming with so great a variety of matter, must
have occupied a very considerable time, and that during the
interval the restless mind of Plato was not content to stand
still.
One remark here in anticipation. Like every judicious
writer who seeks to convince rather than to dazzle, the
author of the " Republic " took serious counsel with himself
as to how, when, and in what order he should treat the
points on which the greatest opposition and most deter-
mmed resistance was to be expected on the part of his
THE COMPOSITION OF THE "REPUBLIC." 53
readers. The economy of paradox which he thus observes
may be reduced to three main principles. Firstly, he
reserves the thorny questions for a relatively advanced
stage of the inquiry, at which the reader's mind and heart
have been already captured and won over. Secondly, he
allows the reader time to overcome one difficulty before he
presents him with another, and he is at pains to interrupti
by literary artifices, the direct sequence of the corresponding
discussions. Thirdly, he treats these most difficult and
most delicate parts of his subject in ascending order of
difficulty or repellency. Moreover, he not only adopts this
procedure ; he announces his adoption of it in unmistakable
terms. This is an observation to which we shall recur at
a suitable place, and it will prove, we hope, one of our
strongest weapons in the fight against the theory of
rearrangement.
The "Republic" belongs to the family of reported
dialogues. The discussion is continued, to the length of a
good-sized octavo volume, by practically the same persons
throughout, and Socrates reproduces the long colloquy in
one continuous narrative. One may, perhaps, feel some
surprise that a great literary artist should have set so little
store by the illusion of reality as to admit so gross an
improbability into his fiction. There must be some definite
reason for the incongruity ; the composition of the work
is, in all other respects, governed by the most purposeful
calculation, and we cannot, as in many similar instances in
the works of Plato's old age, lay the responsibility on a
growing indifference to external form. We are inclined to
assume that Plato wished this, his principal work, to be the
acknowledged presentment of his fundamental doctrines as
a connected whole, and that he was therefore unwilling to
dispense with unity in the framework of it. If, in the
end, he recognized the necessity of reserving a portion of
his system for special treatment, and of expanding the
"Republic" into a trilogy, or even — as was his intention
for a time — into a tetralogy, this must be set down as an
after-thought which did not arise in his mind till a consider-
ably later date.
VOL. III. F
54 GREEK THINKERS.
3. The picture which meets us at the threshold of the
great work is one to warm the heart. Socrates, accom-
panied by Plato's brother Glaucon, is on his way home
from the Piraeus, where he has been attending a religious
festival. He is perceived from afar by Polemarchus (the
philosophically -minded brother of the unphilosophical
orator Lysias), who at once sends a slave in pursuit of
him, and by playful threats of force compels him to retrace
his steps. He conducts him to the hospitable house of his
father Cephalus. The latter also greets Socrates with the
most winning cordiality. It is a long time since the friends
last met. The advanced age of the host supplies material
for the opening portion of the dialogue. Cephalus rejoices
to have escaped from the stormy passions of youth ; he
rejoices, too, in his possession of ample means, chiefly
because he has thereby been preserved from many a
temptation to injustice. He finds his true happiness in
the consciousness of lifelong integrity. Thus the key-note
of the whole work is struck. The naive instinct of the
worthy old man grasps at once the solution which the
dialogue is destined to pursue by devious paths and wide
circuits. As soon as the discussion on the nature of justice
assumes the true dialectical character, Cephalus disappears
from the numerous auditory, called away by a religious
duty, and Polemarchus his son and heir inherits, as is
jestingly remarked, his father's share in the debate.
The inquiry begins exactly as in the "Laches," the
"Charmides," the " Euthyphro.'' Starting from what is
crudest and most external, it ever strives towards increased
refinement and more intimate comprehension. Is justice
to be identified with straightforwardness in conduct, and
the restoration of that which has been borrowed from
another ? Certainly not ; the weapon, for example, which
has been borrowed from a man in sound health must not
be restored to him when he is afflicted with mania. For
this reason a saying of the poet Simonides, who deemed
justice to consist in the "payment of debts," is reinterpreted
to mean that a debt is that which is due— good to friends
and evil to enemies.
WHAT IS JUSTICE? 55
Here the discussion leaves the straight path, to return to
it presently. The objection now raised involves a strange
confusion — one that will often recur — between character
and capacity. The physician and the cook must be added
to those who render what is due — the medicine, food, and
drink, which is the due of the body whether in health or
in disease. These men, then, have the power of benefiting
their friends and injuring their enemies ; and so has the
pilot in the case of a voyage at sea. It appears, therefore,
that justice, so understood, ranks after special skill in nearly
every department of life ; for it is profitable, not when things
are to be used, but at most when they are to lie idle. It is
of service so long as a shield or a lyre needs nothing but
safe custody, but if either of these must be used, the soldier's
or the musician's art is required. Nor is this the worst that
can be said of such a justice. That of which any man is
the best keeper is also that, as many examples show, of
which he is the best taker. Justice, then, which is a most
effectual preserver of gold and goods, turns out to be an art
of stealing and overreaching.
But, to be sure — here Plato returns from his playful
digression to the serious consideration of his subject — the
object aimed at, whether in keeping or taking, must always
be that of benefiting friends or injuring enemies. This
limitation is now examined closely. Whom do we consider
friends ? Those only who appear to us to be good. The
reverse holds of enemies. But is not the appearance,
both of goodness and badness, often deceptive .' And does
it not follow from our rule that the just man will often
desire to injure the good and benefit the bad ? But this
cannot possibly be just ; the maxim must be revised, and
will now run : It is just to injure the bad, that is, unjust
man, and to benefit the good, or just man, no matter whether
friends or enemies.
But the inquirers are not yet satisfied. The definition
just arrived at is assailed with the help of a principle which
we have already met with in the " Crito," the principle .
namely, that the just man must injure no one, not even
an enemy, not even a bad enemy. For by injury all beings
56 GREEK THINKERS.
are made worse, men no less than horses or dogs. Each,
too, is made worse in its own peculiar virtue or excellence,
such as justice is for men. (Here, without doubt, there is
introduced a confusion between "to injure" in the sense
of making unserviceable, and in that of causing pain or
unhappiness.) The paradoxical character of this result
and its contradiction of what poets and sages have hitherto
taught, are fully present to Plato's mind.
4. He is therefore anxious to try conclusions with the
prevailing view. Taking full advantage of his liberty as
artist, he employs an unsympathetic personality, whose
entry upon the scene is marked by violent abruptness, to
embody popular opinion. Thrasymachus of Chalcedon,
the rhetorician, who has already several times endeavoured
to interfere in the discussion, and has been restrained with
difficulty by the others present, now avails himself of a
pause in the dialogue. He can no longer contain himself,
and, " like a wild beast on the spring," leaps upon Socrates
and Polemarchus. In contrast with the " childish " idealism
of Socrates, which nauseates him, he comes forward in the
character of a case-hardened realist. Pressed to formulate
a definition of his own, he declares that the just is nothing
else than " the interest of the stronger," meaning by the
" stronger " the supreme authority in the State, whether the
government be monarchical, aristocratic, or democratic. We
cannot here forbear remarking that this definition, as long
as we confine ourselves to positive law, harmonizes ex-
cellently with the facts, and still more with the theories
on which in ancient and modern times representative
government, and its ancient equivalent, direct government
by the people, have been supported. Words quite similar
to those of Thrasymachus are used by an author almost
contemporary with him, who set a great value on fidelity
to the laws and on the rule of the people. He speaks of
" the laws which benefit the many," and brands the usurper
as the man who " overthrows right and the law which is
the common interest of all." And much the same language
is used to-day by those advocates of universal suffrage who
maintain that this institution is the only one capable of
THRASYMACHUS INTERVENES. 57
giving full effect to the demands of the general interest.
He who entertains this conviction, be it well or ill founded,
cannot doubt that rulers are guided by their own interests
in the exercise of their powers, and he must therefore
recognize the soundness of the above formula, provided
it be understood as merely asserting that the laws in
force at any time and place are the expression of the
interests of that factor whose influence is paramount in the
government.
The polemic against this thesis starts from the obser-
vation that this factor may misunderstand its own interest,
that, in short, it is not infallible. Thrasymachus is perfectly
willing to admit this, and amends his proposed definition
accordingly. In the revised form of it the fallibility which
attaches to all human effort is taken account of, and a
distinction is drawn, not without subtlety, between the ruler
as such and the ruler as man. When the physician or the
calculator commits an error, he is, to that extent, no longer
a physician or calculator, and a similar remark applies to
rulers and persons in authority. Plato does not entangle
him in a real contradiction until he represents him as
making concessions which he might very well have avoided.
The art of rule is compared with other arts, and the analogy
invoked as proving that the ruler, like the physician or
pilot, does not regard his own interest, but the interest of
those to whose service he devotes his art. Nor does this
conclusion appear in the guise of an ethical postulate, but
as a truth implicit in the conceptions employed.
To meet the obvious objection that the physician does,
after all, derive personal advantages from his labours, he,
too, is split into two halves, the " true physician " who is a
" tender of the sick," and the " man of business " intent on
gain. We have here a distinction of uncommon significance,
and one which may well remind us of the recent demand
that the higher callings should fully supply the material
needs of those who follow them, but should not serve as
sources of great wealth ; Socrates, to be sure, does not
distinguish between what is socially or ethically desirable
and what is actual fact. As against this confusion of ideas.
58 GREEK THINKERS.
Thrasymachus' reference to the art of a shepherd, who by
no means seeks the welfare of his flock as his ultimate end,
is very much to the purpose. It shows, at the least, that
in the concept of " art," or practice governed by rules, no
ethical element whatever is contained, and that if the
opposite view seemed to follow from the consideration of
a few arts, the exercise of which benefits their object, the
conclusion was surreptitiously imported into the premisses.
This, of course, is not Plato's opinion ; it is precisely at
this point that he represents the vehemence of the
rhetorician as degenerating into brutality, and puts one or
two really offensive expressions in his mouth. As the
shepherd exploits his sheep, says Thrasymachus, so the
ruler exploits the ruled for his own advantage ; herein lies
his happiness, and the highest degree of it is attained by
the tyrant or usurper who appropriates, not piecemeal, but
at a blow, the possessions of others, private as well as
public, secular as well as sacred, who robs his subjects of
their freedom along with their property, and who, by the
very thoroughness with which he goes to work, secures
himself against the scorn and infamy which overtake
plunderers on a smaller scale ; is he not rather lauded and
congratulated, at home as well as abroad .? Thrasymachus
wishes to withdraw after administering this douche to the
other speakers ; but they detain him and compel him to
continue the discussion.
At this point we feel constrained to ask — How much
in this description of the man and his teaching is historical
truth and how much fiction ? The scanty remnants of his
writings prove useless for the decision of this question.
We have no guidance beyond general probabilities. In a
picture drawn by so great a master of characterization it is
not to be doubted that many a feature has been taken from
life. The rhetorician of Chalcedon, who rendered uncom-
mon service to the progress of his art, cannot have been
a model of meekness and patience. If he had, Plato's
caricature would have missed fire altogether. Possibly he
may have propounded somewhere or other that definition
of justice or law here attributed to him, though not even
PERSONALITY OF THRASYMACHUS. 59
the titles of his works, which were either addresses to the
people or treatises on rhetoric, give us any handle for
conjecture. It must, on the other hand, be regarded as
impossible that a man who followed the calling of an
orator in a democratically ordered commonwealth, and who
depended on the favour of public opinion, should ever have
spoken in such a tone about tyranny or the overthrow of the
rule of law. It is not clear why Plato should have painted
him in such repulsive colours. For while he indicates at
one point that what he charges against him is rather a
wrangling and disputatious character than real badness,
there are other passages where he does not shrink from
using such expressions as, " Do you think me mad enough
to try to shave a lion or cheat Thrasymachus .■" " And
again, "Then I saw something quite new — Thrasymachus
blushing." The causes of this bitterness are a secret we
cannot penetrate. The chief point is this : Plato needed
a foil for the doctrine enounced by Socrates, and thought
himself at liberty to put forward the rhetorician in question
to combat the main thesis of the "Republic" — Justice
makes the just man happy.
For Plato is now completely under the spell of this
thesis, which is the original and fundamental doctrine of
Socrates (cf. Vol. II. p. 71, sqq.). The eudaemonistic basis of
morals is for him so certainly the right one, the decisive
question is so certainly that as to the coincidence of virtue
and happiness, that it never occurs to him to suppose that any
one could dispute this thesis and yet prefer the just to the
unjust life. With an unmistakable backward reference to
the " Gorgias," he resists the temptation to make use of such
admissions as that justice is nobler, though not more useful,
than its opposite, in order to draw inferences similar to those
of the earlier dialogue (cf. Vol. II. pp. 332 and 345, sqq.). The
objection drawn from the art of the shepherd is assigned to
Thrasymachus merely in order to be refuted, and that by
means of the same distinction which has been drawn
between the " true physician " and the " man of business."
The shepherd, too, in so far as he is a shepherd, will only
aim at the welfare of his flock. The same, it is contended,
6o GREEK THINKERS.
holds of every kind of rule or government without exception.
For men never undertake these duties — such is the argu-
ment adduced in proof — unless they are to be remunerated,
thus clearly showing that rule, in itself, is profitable not to
the rulers, but to the ruled. In every department the
individual art, which is what it is by reason of its specific
performance, is distinguished from the art of pay, which is
the common accompaniment of all the arts.
Now, in the sphere of political activity, there are two
kinds of reward, " money and honour," and besides these
there is a penalty, the fear of which induces men to accept
positions of authority. It is this last motive alone — such is
the somewhat surprising assertion made at this point —
which makes the " best " men willing to rule ; the punish-
ment of refusal is to be governed by their inferiors. Public
spirit is here left out of the reckoning, and so is the craving
to exercise an inborn gift ; while the two kinds of reward
just mentioned are excluded as being "disgraceful," and
therefore unworthy of the " best," who are free from avarice
and ambition. This valuation of ambition is in striking
contrast with the common Greek feeling, which is repre-
sented by Aristotle, among others, when he calls the desire
of honour the fundamental motive of political life ; it also
contradicts the utterances, already known to the reader, of
Plato himself in the " Symposium " (cf. Vol. II. p. 390). But
the less justified the generalization, the more deeply it allows
us to penetrate into Plato's mind. To be ruled by the
"worse," that is, by the demagogues of decadent Athens,
was evidently felt by him as a galling humiliation, and the
overflowing bitterness of his heart left its mark on his
theory.
In the closing section of the book the discussion moves
in much the same direction as hitherto. An admission is
wrung from Thrasymachus that the good man is wise, that
justice is a kind of wisdom. As such it is stated to be a
faculty, a capacity for performance. On such foundations
the assertion is based that justice is the necessary condition
of vigorous action, in international relations as in home
affairs, in private life, and, lastly, in the individual soul.
ARE THE JUST HAPPY f 6 1
An appeal to experience goes hand-in-hand with the
dialectic. No State and no army, no band of robbers even,
or gang of thieves, can entirely dispense with justice in its
unjust proceedings without damage to its internal coherence.
So great is the disorganizing effect of the absence of justice
from the relations of private persons, as well as of public
bodies, even though no more than two men are concerned.
Indeed, the discord and mutiny produced by injustice are
in the end fatal, so it is urged, to the efficiency of even the
individual who falls out with, and becomes hateful to,
himself, no less than to the just and the gods. The
demonstration reaches its culminating point in the com-
parison of justice as an excellence of the soul to the
faculties of hearing and sight as excellences of the ear
and eye.
5. At this point the reader may possibly find himself
somewhat taken aback, and inclined to think that the argu-
ment has lightly leaped over many a chasm, that it has
neglected the distinction between character and knowledge
as well as that between the requirements of the general
weal and those of private interests, or at least that the
connexion here asserted to exist between them needs to be
supported on much deeper foundations. If so, he is not
straying too far from Plato's path. The latter proceeds to
compare the participants in the dialogue to gluttons who
cannot forbear tasting each dish as soon as it is brought
to table, without waiting to do justice to what has gone
before. The nature of justice, says Socrates, has not yet
been ascertained ; not till that has been done will it be time
to deduce the consequences at which they have been too
precipitately grasping. In other words, the dialogue has so
far been only a " prelude," as it is called at the beginning
of the second book, intended partly for practice in dialectic,
partly as preparation for the results to be obtained later.
The nature of these is indicated beforehand, and by the
alluring prospect held out the desire is awakened and stimu-
lated for the safe acquisition and the irrefragable establish-
ment of them.
Nor does this desire remain long unsatisfied. There
62 GREEK THINKERS.
follows a passage which, in its acuteness, its clearness, its
genuinely scientific spirit, is truly marvellous. Plato's
brothers, Glaucon and Adeimantus, come forward, full of
fervour and earnestness, anxious to state the question in its
purest possible form and to free the kernel of it from every
enveloping husk. The manner in which they reject and
frustrate in advance all superficial solutions reminds us
to some extent of the part played in the " Phaedo " by
Simmias and Cebes. In spite of the promise contained
in the closing portion of the first book, it is not the
definition of justice, but its power to make the just man
happy, which first engages their attention. The mode in
which they approach the subject reminds us of the modem
rigidly experimental method of research. But this pro-
cedure is not here applied towards the solving of the
ethical problem — which would be folly — but merely to its
exact formulation. Two instances are to be constructed
in the mind, differing in no respect whatever, except the
presence or absence of the factor (here justice) whose effects
are to be examined. For this purpose the " perfectly just
man " is first of all contrasted with the " perfectly unjust
man." Justice and injustice are then "stripped" of all
their usual accompaniments (good and bad reputation,
rewards and punishments, and so forth), indeed, the inci-
dence of these is completely transposed. Two diametri-
cally opposite cases are thus brought together for comparison.
In the one (A) justice is present, but all its accessories absent.
In the other (B) all the accessories of justice are present,
but justice itself is absent. In order to help the imagination
in realizing this hypothesis, the ring of Gyges, which made
its wearer invisible, is pressed into service. We are to
conceive the unjust man as able, by some such means, to
perpetrate whatever wrong he chooses, and yet suffer no
penalty nor even any loss of honour or repute. He is to
tread the path of injustice without hindrance, to its farthest
limit, and be blessed all the while with abundance of
worldly goods. In contrast to him we are to set his
complementary opposite, the just man, who derives no
profit or precedence from his virtuous acts ; who is rather,
THE METHOD OF DIFFERENCE IN ETHICS. 63
for the whole of his life, misjudged, persecuted, maltreated,
tormented to the uttermost. If, and only if, it may be
shown that, even on such a supposition, the just man is
happier than the unjust, will the brothers consent to
regard Socrates' thesis as proven.
The place of Gyges' ring, or the helmet of Pluto
mentioned by Plato elsewhere, is taken in ordinary life,
they go on to say, by successful hypocrisy, by the " fox-
like " tricks and devices of " dissembling respectability."
" Appearance " may be substituted for " reality." And with
appearance the majority of men are very well content.
Their aim is to garner in all the advantages which the
appearance of justice brings, and to pay for them the
least possible price. Nor need the threatened retribution
of the gods inspire any fear where there is faith in the
atoning power of holy works, and the maxim prevails,
" Steal, but offer sacrifice of thy stealings."
But the object now in view is not to praise appearance,
nor yet " opinions about justice and the rewards of it,"
but rather to ascertain and demonstrate its own intrinsic
power and efficacy. Nor is it enough to say merely that
it is a good and the opposite of evil ; it is required to
discover what " effect each of the two produces, even when
unknown to gods and men, in the soul of its possessor."
To this thought, which he repeats with the greatest
emphasis, Plato gives expression in a manner which recalls,
perhaps not by accident, an utterance of Hippocrates (cf.
Vol. I. p. 301).
We now come to that turning-point at which the
dialogue passes over to the study of society from that of
the individual. Here, too, that conception of the State as
an organism, which has now become a commonplace,
appears for the first time. Socrates professes his inability
to find a direct solution of the problem as presented to
him. It can only be reached by a circuitous route.
Supposing our sight not strong enough to read a piece of
small writing at a great distance, we should hail it as a
happy chance if the same matter were to be found else-
where written in larger characters and occupying a greater
64 GREEK THINKERS.
space. The work which justice performs, in virtue of its
own essential nature, in the individual soul, will best
appear if we seek first for the same quality where it is
displayed on a magnified scale. It will appear most
clearly of all if we endeavour to discern the " beginnings
of justice and injustice " in the " beginnings of the common-
wealth." Thus the way is opened for the genetic study of
the State.
6. If no part of Plato's writings had been preserved
except the hypothetical sketch, which now follows, of the
origin of a State, the materialistic conception of history
might well have claimed the great idealist for an adherent.
He derives the State entirely from economic necessities.
To begin with, there are the " manifold wants " of the
individual, who is unable by himself to provide his food,
clothing, housing, and so on, whence arises the need for
co-operation and the division of labour. Then we see the
circle of producers gradually widening, as indirect require-
ments are added to the direct, and new operations become
necessary for their satisfaction. Thus the husbandman,
for example, has need of a plough, and the maker of
ploughs must labour to supply his need. But not even the
community is a self-contained economic unit ; it cannot
entirely dispense with foreign products ; 1:he imports thus
rendered necessary must be paid for by a corresponding
exportation, which is impossible without a production of
commodities in excess of the home consumption. The
need of "traders, wholesale and retail, to act as interme-
diaries, is not forgotten, nor that of the employment of
hired labour.
After an idyllic description of this as yet simple
commonwealth — in which the justice and injustice sought
for are to be found in their first beginnings — there follows
an account of the changes wrought by increasing luxury.
As bread is supplemented by " relish," so in every depart-
ment the refined enjoyment of life is added to the satis-
faction of natural wants. The city soon swarms with the
ministers of luxury — with makers of artistic furniture
and costly adornments, with painters, rhapsodists, actors.
A COMMUNITY IN THE MAKE. 65
dancers, courtezans, bakers, cooks, nurses, tutors, and so
on, not to mention the doctors whom such a mode of life
renders very necessary. The increase of population makes
the bounds of the State appear too narrow. Hence the
origin of war, the successful prosecution of which, accord-
ing to the often and emphatically repeated principle of
the division of labour, necessitates a professional army.
Prominence is given to the difficulty of making the
warriors or "guardians" resemble good watch-dogs in being
fierce towards what is outside, and gentle towards what
is inside their community. This can only be done by
education.
With the question : " How shall we educate the
guardians ? " we ent^r upon entirely different ground.
At the same time, the earlier transition from the individual
to society is followed by 'a second transition, of more far-
reaching consequence, .fifom the real to the ideal. This
procedure of Plato's is.%ot to be understood without some
trouble.
The first im^ession is one of violent arbitrariness. He
had undertaken to 'write what we might call the natural
history of the State and society, in order to discover in its
growth and being the growth and being of justice and
injustice. Now, at a stroke, he abandons the description of
actual processes, or what might pass with him for such, and
begins to design a pattern State, utterly different from any-
thing ever realized in history. The genetic method yields
place to an ideal construction ; instead of the " So it was,"
there meets us a " So ought it to be." Was Plato conscious
of this abrupt reversal ? Or how did he think it might be
justified .'
To these questions the following is probably the right
answer. Plato does not believe himself to be setting forth
a purely subjective ideal, one out of many others equally
possible. The fundamental features of it, though perhaps
not every detail, are on his view, which is repeatedly and
prominently expressed, capable of realization ; they are no
mere pious " dreams," but the perfectings, demanded by
human nature, of what already exists. They appeared to
66 GREEK THINKERS.
him, so we may not unreasonably suppose, as a further
stage in the process of natural development. And the
greater the progress, the higher the perfection attained by
State and society, the sooner he expects justice to appear,
distinct in all its features, in the commonwealth so
ordered, and similarly injustice in the opposite type. He
tells us so much himself at the beginning of the fourth
book.
No doubt it was impossible to attain perfect smooth-
ness and continuity in the composition of a work whose
purpose, apart from its numerous subsidiary subjects,
was to weld together into a single whole three main
themes whose internal connexion was but slight — moral
philosophy, political philosophy, and the philosophy of
history. In spite of the prodigious literary art which
Plato brought to bear on his task — an art which is
probably without parallel in the whole of prose literature,
and was certainly too great to be understood and ap-
preciated by all his interpreters — some harshnesses of
transition were not entirely to be avoided, especially at
the junction of the two last-named themes. Plato there
proceeds with even greater boldness than here ; in making
the return journey from the ideal to the real, he represents
all other forms of State as arising from the corruption of
his own model commonwealth! But this is not till the
beginning of the eighth book ; at present we are still in
the second, at the opening of the discussion upon the right
education of the upper or warrior class.
7. In this section an extraordinary depth is reached.
It is, indeed, a peculiarity of the work that the progress of
the debate is continually supplying Plato with an occasion
to treat, almost exhaustively, some great department of
thought. At the threshold of education comes the nar-
ration of myths. The mythical story of the gods is
therefore subjected to a thorough-going examination
and the process of criticism, begun by Xenophanes and
continued by Euripides, which was mainly directed against
the popular notions embodied in the Homeric poems
(cf. Vol. II. p. 13 and Vol. I. p. 156), is continued with
MYTHOLOGY AND THEOLOGY. 67
incisive effect. Nor does he merely prune away those
excrescences of myth which are condemned by his own
or the general standard of morality ; he introduces far-
reaching modifications into genuinely theological doctrines.
The Deity is unconditionally "good," and for that very
reason is " not the cause of everything ; " evil springs from
other sources, particularly from the faults of men for which
they are themselves to blame (cf. Vol. II. p. 364). This is one
of the fundamental principles here insisted upon. A second,
which is proclaimed with equal earnestness, appears to be
directed against anthropomorphism in general : the gods
are no jugglers ; they do not manifest themselves in a
variety of forms. For there is no power, superior to their
own, which could compel them to such performances ; and
just as little can beings, to whose nature all manner of
lying and deceit is foreign, do such things of their own
motion.
The chapter on religion — for so we may term these
discussions, which are closely knit together and sharply
divided by the author from what precedes and what
follows — the chapter on religion contains two more points
of great importance. All descriptions of the supposed
terrors of the under-world, indeed all expressions likely
to bring them to mind, are prohibited on account of their
enervating effect, their hostility to manliness of character.
The prohibition, moreover, is so emphatic and so un-
conditional, that we seem to have lighted upon a stage
in Plato's development at which the "Phaedo," at least,
has been left far behind (cf. p. 48). In any case, the
mind of Plato underwent several changes in this respect ;
thus, in the last book of the "Republic," he dwells at
exhaustive length on those very terrors. Lastly, he com-
bats with great earnestness the belief, suggested by the
poets, that the sons of the gods, or heroes, stood on a low
moral level.
After the matter of the stories comes their form. In
the first place, a distinction is drawn between the truly
narrative and the imitative, or dramatic, mode of treat-
ment ; and the second, which is not limited to the drama
68 GREEK THINKERS.
in the narrower sense of the word, but also characterizes
the Homeric Epos, is decisively rejected. Two reasons
are given, one general, the other of a more special order.
Firstly, all the members of society are to be brought up to
the strictest division of labour. " Our State," we are told,
" has no need of double, still less of multiform men. Each
must follow only one business: the farmer must be a
farmer only, and not a judge at the same time ; the soldier
must be a soldier, and not also a merchant." But the
type of character thus aimed at harmonizes ill with the
capacity of assuming all manner of forms ; and therefore
even the greatest master of this art is to be bowed out of
the ideal State. In the second place, however, that which is
imitated leaves some tinge of itself upon the imitator ; and
it is of importance to avoid all that might diminish nobility
of soul in the ruling class, all that might degrade them to
a mean and vulgar level. A similar spirit animates the
prescriptions, which now follow, relating to lyric poetry, to
rhythm, melody, and music in general. All of these, it is
claimed, exercise a most enduring influence on the growth
of character ; for all that a man does, all that he hears and
sees, down to the shape of household furniture, produces
an effect upon him for good or bad, and must therefore be
enrolled in the service of morality. All that tends towards
effeminacy is banished from music, indeed, all the restless
and passionate elements in it ; and for this reason the very
fabrication of certain instruments, such as the flute, is
prohibited.
After music comes gymnastic, the second main element
in Greek education. The exclusive practice of it, we are
told in effect, is brutalizing, just as that of music is
enervating. As this latter name is used here in its widest
sense, to designate the whole of the musical arts, so
" gymnastic " comprises all that relates to the care of the
body, including the whole of dietetics ; even the art of
healing has significant side-lights thrown upon it, which
will occupy us later. That sobriety and moderation are
preached, that the keeping of measure is required in
respect of bodily exercises as well as other things, is only
A PROVISIONAL SOLUTION. 69
what we might expect. This branch of education, equally
with the other, is treated as extending through all the
stages of life, and both are carefully guarded against every
innovation. Of the general regulation of the guardians'
lives we learn here only the fundamental features ; they
are to possess no private property, so far as this can
possibly be avoided ; they are in no respect to live separate
lives ; all are to think of each other as brothers — an end
which is to be promoted by useful lies about the different
origin of the different classes in the State. Gold and silver
— so the authorities are to teach — are mingled with the
bodies of those called to rule and of the warriors (now
termed " helpers ") in general ; iron and copper with those
of husbandmen and mechanics. Provision, however, is
made against a caste-like separation of classes ; for ex-
ceptional ability or incapacity is to entail a rise to a
higher or a descent to a lower class. But as to how
the authorities are to be appointed — how those who shall
rule the destinies of the State are to be selected from the
general body of guardians, — on all this we receive at this
stage of the work only indications, which relate exclusively
to the ethical side of the subject. Those are to govern
who are distinguished by the highest degree of public
spirit, who display the greatest power of resistance to
every species of temptation. That the problem is hereby
solved only "in the rough," is what Plato himself tells us,
in a passage of the third book ; and at the same time he
holds out, clearly enough, a prospect of a " more accurate "
treatment later on.
8. This, and more than this, the thoughtful reader would
have already said for himself. For the regulation of
property is by its nature most intimately bound up with
the regulation of the family, and yet the description of
the latter, the rules governing " the possession of women,
marriage, and the procreation of children," are expressly
reserved in the fourth book for subsequent discussion. But
the decisive proof that the delineation of the ideal State
which closes with this book was never intended by Plato
as a real conclusion, though many eminent scholars have
VOL. III. G
70 GREEK THINKERS.
been of the contrary opinion — the decisive proof is as
follows : In the whole of this section (as also in that part
of the fifth book which several critics also assign to this
"stratum ") there is not a single word on the subject of
intellectual culture. " Practice and habituation, not know-
ledge,"— such are the designations which are retrospectively
applied to the means of education here passed in review.
It may be set down as absolutely impossible that the
former disciple of Socrates, the thinker who in so many
works has asserted and demonstrated the unconditional
primacy of knowledge, should ever have entirely forgotten
philosophy, science, intellect. Nor did he, in fact, forget
them. In the course of these books he alludes more than
once to philosophy and the philosophic temper ; indeed, he
names the latter as indispensable for the guardians. But
on the education of the intellect he lets fall not a syllable.
And with this he was to rest content — the philosopher who
knew better than any one else, and who himself affirmed
in the " Republic," that " only he attains to the possession
of wisdom who has earned it " ! Since, however, the
selection of men to direct the State, and, indeed, the
differentiation of the upper class in general, is made to
depend on their grades of scientific training and the
progress accomplished by them, all this could only appear,
at this early stage of the work, in dim outlines.
We have treated the point at some length because it is
of importance to understand the structure of this great
work, and to protect the right comprehension of it against
errors which are equally dangerous and widespread. Plato
went about his task with the most cautious calculation and
with perfect artistic tact. It was necessary, if he was
to produce anything but confusion, that his complicated
subject-matter should be most carefully co-ordinated. The
manifold themes, each of which he desired to treat ex-
haustively, needed to be kept apart with the utmost
strictness. Those anticipatory hints, too, which a prentice
hand would have scattered lavishly, weakening in advance
the effect of his work— with these the master was bound to
observe a wise economy. Some thoughts there were which
ART IN ARRANGEMENT OF THE " REPUBLIC." 7 1
he had resolved not to impart to his readers till they were
attuned to confidence and ready to lend a willing ear ; all
reference to these had to be avoided by every possible
means, and indeed there is a part of his system over which
at the outset (as he himself says) he purposely drew a veil.
Of the ground-plan of the ideal State only so much might
immediately be revealed as was absolutely necessary for
the first stage of the inquiry, that, namely, in which the
nature of justice is ascertained.
But if Plato thus allows some of the threads which he
has started to run on in concealment, he gathers together
with a powerful hand those which lead to his proximate
goal. The nearer he approaches to this, the more vivid
becomes the colouring of his exposition. Justice, which
was to be found in the State, is now to be sought for in
the pattern commonwealth. The manner of the search
reminds us of the modern method of residues. First of all,
the searchers fix their gaze on wisdom. This virtue is
distinguished from all special branches of knowledge, and
identified with well-advisedness ; its seat is discovered in
that small group of citizens to whom the direction of the
State is entrusted. Next comes the turn of courage, the
essence of which consists in the right knowledge of what to
fear ; its source is stated to be the education prescribed by
law, and its seat the whole soldier-class. Temperance is
next considered, and a difference at once appears between
it and the first two virtues, inasmuch as it resides not in a
part but in the whole of the community. Its essence,
whether in the individual or in society, consists in the fact
that the better and the worse elements are in harmony,
that kind of harmony, too, which rests on the predomi-
nance of the higher and the subordination of the lower.
One virtue, the last of the four, still remains to be detected,
and that is justice. Socrates compares himself and the
other speakers to a party of hunters who have surrounded
a thicket. Every trail must be followed up, in order that
the noble quarry may not escape. But the ground is
difficult and the place dark ; the searchers are on the point
of giving up their task. Suddenly Socrates breaks out into
72 GREEK THINKERS.
a cry of joy ; he thinks he is on the right track. What
need to search for that which is within their grasp ? It is
a principle which they have noted long ago in connexion
with the genesis of society ; one, too, of which they have
made frequent use in constructing the ideal State — the
principle of the division of labour, the specialization of
activities. When each one has and does his rightful share,
then will justice be realized. In the State, it will manifest
itself in right relationships between all the citizens, in the
" peculiar or special activities of each of the classes : " for
a reason which we shall shortly see, Plato now enumerates
three of these classes — craftsmen, helpers, and guardians.
But this result, we are told, is by no means a final solution
of the problem. What has now been read in the larger
characters should next become legible in the smaller
as well (cf. p. 63) ; we must turn from the State to the
individual, and then from him once more to the State.
Only from such continued comparisons will the full truth
appear, as when two sticks rubbed together burst into
bright flame. The investigation accordingly now centres
primarily in the individual human being and the dififerent
parts of each separate soul.
9. That this latter does in truth consist of parts is main-
tained on the strength of an unusually laborious demonstra-
tion, in which not a few objections are met in anticipation.
It is urged that one and the same thing cannot do or suffer
contraries simultaneously. The various appearances which
conflict with this principle — the principle of contradiction —
vanish on closer investigation. If a man stands still, and
at the same time his hands move, rest is an attribute of his
body as a whole, motion of a part of it. If a top spins,
remaining stationary in one spot, it is at rest relatively to
the vertical direction, but in motion horizontally. But that
one and the same entity should simultaneously desire and
loathe one and the same object, should will and not will
the same thing,— that, we are told, is an absolute impossi-
bility. And yet it sometimes happens that a man feels
thirsty, that is, desires to drink, and at the same time (for
some reason or other, we may add, e.g., out of regard for his
THE THREE PARTS OF THE SOUL. J^
health) he refrains from drinking. We must assume here
two elements in the soul, one of which bids the man
drink, while the other bids him disobey the command of
the first. But besides such conflicts between reason and
desire, there are others between desire and the " spirited
impulses " (of the nature of anger, ambition, and so forth).
Thus it befell once with that Leontius whose way lay past
the place of execution. He struggled hard with the desire
which awoke in him to view the corpses exposed there,
and in the end, overmastered by his craving, he granted
his eyes what they wanted, crying out to them as he did
so, "Take your fill, miserable creatures, of the glorious
spectacle." Continuing to build on this foundation, Plato
distinguishes three parts of the soul — the rational, the appe-
titive, and the spirited, or emotional. This last element,
so long as it remains uncorrupted, takes the side of reason
in any conflicts that may arise. It then attacks the refrac-
tory desires, and battles with them till reason bids it cease,
as a shepherd calls off his dog. It is to just such pugnacious
dogs that the soldiers, or helpers, are compared ; they are
kept in check by the rulers, or shepherds of the people.
Thus the three orders are found for a second time in the
soul of man ; for the lowest class, that of the craftsmen, is
taken to represent the element of desire.
The reader may possibly find cause for astonishment
in the parallel thus carried out with the boldness of genius,
in which profound insight and the influence of subjective
taste are curiously niingled. We refer particularly to the
analogy assumed between the class of craftsmen and the
appetitive part of the soul. It rests in some degree on
the real kinship between the task performed by the
stratum of society which is its economic foundation, and
that fulfilled by the desires which subserve the nutrition
and the reproduction of the individual. But the force of
this comparison is increased for Plato by the aristocratic
contempt which he entertains as much for the "base
men and mechanics," who are dominated by the "love of
gain," as for the desires which drag the soul down to earth
from its ideal kingdom. Against the doctrine as a whole
74 GREEK THINKERS.
it may be objected that the assumption of different parts of
the soul by no means removes the difficulty it is intended
to meet. For the conflicts, which this theory claims to
make intelligible, occur not only between the different
parts here distinguished, but also within one and the
same part. Such, for example, will be the case with the
appetitive element, if the craving for food and the craving
for sleep strive for precedence within the soul of a child.
The really valuable element in this rudimentary psychology
is the recognition that we have no right to attribute the
functions of the soul to a simple substance. But just as
little as we can arrive at any satisfactory result by assuming
three such substances, or any other number we please — so
little has the principle of contradiction any bearing on
the problem. This principle could be legitimately invoked
only against some such assertion as the following : A wills
and at the same time does not will — it being understood
that by his volition no mere desire is meant, but a real
resolve, such as is admittedly an indivisible psychic act
and implies an at least temporary truce, whether arising
from the unanimity of the different elements in the soul
or forcibly imposed on a recalcitrant minority. On the
other hand, it is not violating the principle of contradiction
in the slightest degree to represent conscious life as a
seething tumult of mutually hostile tendencies, which, like
mechanical impulses acting simultaneously, sometimes
cancel each other and again blend into a resultant The
one impossibility, in either case, is that such a resultant
should both exist and not exist at the same moment.
lo. Plato, to be sure, marches towards his goal with
vigorous strides, untroubled by any of these difficulties.
" So our dream has been fulfilled," he makes Socrates
exclaim. " The division of labour has shown us the right
way to the knowledge of justice." As the callings within
the State, so must the several " ranks within the soul " be
kept apart. Its salvation lies in the avoidance of every
encroachment, in the harmonious co-operation of all the
parts. Such is the nature of justice, while its antithesis,
" the revolt of a part against the whole soul," the resulting
VIRTUE THE HEALTH OF THE SOUL. 75
" jangle and tangle," is nothing else than " injustice,
incontinence, cowardice, ignorance — badness, in a word, of
every kind." As the health of the body depends on its
parts being in their natural relations, some ruling, others
serving, while its disease follows from the reversal of this
order, so is it also in the ethical sphere. Virtue appears
as the " health, beauty, and fair nurture of the soul ; "
vice, as its "disease, ugliness, and weakness." Thus the
investigation reaches an at least temporary conclusion
For henceforth "it would be ridiculous" to raise the
question whether justice is really profitable to the just
man or injustice harmful to the unjust, let the virtue of
the one or the vice of the other be manifest to the world
or not.
If this great project of establishing ethics on its natural
basis and making an end for ever of the fatal discord
between human standards — if this brilliant attempt, the
splendour of which shines undimmed through the centuries,
was not crowned with complete success, who can wonder ?
With the poet-philosopher's genius for discovering resem-
blances there went a companion faculty of discrimination,
which, though highly developed, was not of quite the same
quality. And the magic of numbers (three parts of the
soul — three classes in the State) found him an almost
defenceless victim.
That the boundary between temperance and justice is
blurred almost beyond recognition, that the latter virtue,
indeed, tends to be confused with virtue in general, is a
defect of logical rigour plain for all to see. It is closely
bound up with a still deeper fault of the whole investigation,
the insufficient severance of individual from social ethics.
It is in consequence of this defect that the true content of
justice — the sum of the demands which society makes upon
us, a concept which has nothing in common with that of
individual psychic hygiene, intimately as the two may be
connected by action and reaction — is sometimes passed
over in silence, sometimes introduced without justification.
Such are some of the objections which force themselves
on the modern reader ; but it is from no deference to any
76 GREEK THINKERS.
of them that Plato here subdues his tone and defers the
full expression of his triumphant joy. He is saving up his
more powerful notes for a much later passage, at which the
final goal of the whole investigation has been reached. We
may here shortly indicate what still remains to be done.
The ideal State lacks as yet both its true foundation and
its crowning glory— the former in the organization of the
family, the latter in the government of philosophers. Not
till the constitutional edifice has been completed by these •
additions can it be brought into comparison with its anti-
thesis — the imperfect State in its many hues, its forms more
and more widely diverging from the ideal : the State as
presented to us in historic reality. Even then, by the side
of these ideal and real types of constitutions must be placed
the corresponding human types ; and the latter must be
exhaustively described before the whole of the materials
will have been collected for the final solution of the original
problem. What comes after that is of a supplementary
character: additional confirmations of the result already won,
new treatments of subjects which have already been dis-
cussed, but which could not be fully worked out with the
materials originally available ; finally, there is one of those
magnificent pictures of the universe and the future life with
which Plato, as the " Phaedo " and the " Gorgias " have
already taught us, loved to round off his greater works.
THE EMANCIPATION OF WOMEN. 77
CHAPTER XII.
PLATO'S " REPUBLIC." — {continued).
I. From these anticipations we return to the beginning of
the fifth book. The immediate prospect here held out is
a passing in review of the "vitiated" forms of the State.
At this point a diversion is introduced, by means of an
artifice, of which this is not the only example in Plato's
works. Two persons in the dialogue, brothers of Plato,
have been talking in subdued tones, but loud enough for
Socrates to catch the question: "Shall we let him off.'"
The reference is to the previously reserved question of
women and the family, for the immediate solution of
which Glaucon and Adeimantus now press. Socrates
reluctantly complies. He sees a "swarm of speeches"
rise up before him. He is seized with "trembling" at
the thought of the peculiar and wonderful proposals he has
to make, the practicability of which will seem to his hearers
as controvertible as their salutary character. Encouraged,
however, by the kind assurances of his friends, he ventures
upon his exposition of things " ridiculous because unusual,"
and congratulates himself (an important hint on the com-
position of the work) that he did not take the plunge at
what was really the more appropriate moment.
He goes on to proclaim what we generally call the
emancipation of women, the placing of them on a complete
equality with the male guardians, even to the extent of
permitting them access to the highest offices in the State.
This doctrine, which includes the participation of women
in war, is defended by analogies drawn from animal life,
78 GREEK THINKERS.
and by the assertion that between the sexes there are only
quantitative, and not qualitative, differences of capacity.
The same maxim furnishes an answer to the objection
derived from the principle of the division of labour. One
might as well argue that because some shoemakers are
bald, men possessed of hair should be excluded from that
trade, or vice versA. The average woman is declared to be
not different in nature, but only weaker, and weaker in
every respect, than the average man ; not but what we
find exceptions, and considerable superiority in "many a
woman over many a man." Education, too, should be
the same for both sexes, and received in common ; Plato
does not even shrink from the exposure of the female
form in gymnastic exercises, seeing that "they will be
clothed with virtue instead of garments." The section
concludes, in a tone of solemn earnestness, with an appro-
priate quotation from Pindar, and an emphatic assertion
of utility and its opposite as the only true standards for the
measurement of values.
Hardly has Socrates escaped from the first "wave"
which threatened to engulf him, when he sees a second
and still more dangerous one approaching. That which
is in question is the regulation, more accurately the
abolition, of the family. Plato speaks here of the com-
munity of women ; the expression, however, is somewhat
too pointed and not exactly appropriate. For it is not
promiscuity that he has in view, but temporary marriages,
arranged with the principal aim of securing the healthiest
possible offspring, and regulated by the authorities on
strict principles, similar to those observed by breeders of
animals.
But the designation " community of women and
children" is not chosen without considerable reason. It
is intended to place the sharpest and strongest emphasis
on the contrast with the usual division of the State into
isolated families which are strange to each other and often
hostile. Children are procreated " for the State ; " only the
well-favoured offspring of the " best " parents is reared ;
the age of generation is fixed inviolably at between twenty
ORGANIC UNITY OF SOCIETY. 79
and forty for women, between thirty and fifty-five for men.
At greater ages than these liberty of sexual intercourse is
allowed, but there is an express prohibition against rearing
any fruit of such unions. In all circumstances infants are
taken away from their mothers immediately after birth, and
entrusted to the fostering care of the State. Thus every
bond of union between parent and child is broken ; they
do not know each other as such. On the other hand, it is
hailed as a great gain that all persons of about the same
age will regard each other as brothers and sisters, that,
in general, a widely comprehensive though hypothetical
kinship takes the place of the ordinary certain but narrow
ties of family. By this means it is intended to secure the
highest possible degree of organic unity for the State, or
rather for the class of guardians who are alone in question.
The best type of community is that in which the "mine
and thine" divides men least, the society whose members
are no less closely bound together than the members of a
physical body. Doubts are admitted by Plato only on the
possibility, not on the salutary effect, of this sweeping
innovation. The study of historical parallels, which are
not wholly wanting, and an unprejudiced comparison of
the order of life here proposed with that to which we are
accustomed, will justify us, I believe, in exactly reversing
this judgment.
2. As soon as Socrates has left the second of the
dreaded "waves" behind him, he begins to lead up im-
perceptibly to the passage in which he is finally to breast
the " triple surge." Doubts have been expressed touching
the possibility of the transformation whose happy con-
sequences have been painted in such glowing colours, and
it is by the discussion of this possibility that the way is
bridged to the greatest and most delicate of the problems.
After a disquisition on international law, introduced at this
stage, we may suppose, chiefly for the purpose of allowing
the reader to gather fresh strength, search is made for the
best possible starting-point of reform, such a starting-point
as may enable the transition to be made from the old
bad political system to the new salvation with the least
8o GREEK THINKERS.
expenditure of force. As before, and, indeed, much more
than before, Socrates expects to be overwhelmed by a
storm of contempt and obloquy ; yet shall the saving word
not remain unspoken : " There can be no cure for the ills
of a State, or, as I think, of the whole human race, until
political power and philosophy are united, until either philo-
sophers become kings, or those who are now called kings
and potentates begin to pursue philosophy, not super-
ficially, but in the true spirit. Not till then can our State
arise and see the light." This passage has been rightly
called the key-stone of the whole work.
That Plato should have placed knowledge — the highest
knowledge, scientifically trained — at the head of his
commonwealth, is no more than what was to be ex-
pected. But why does he fulfil this expectation so late .?
why has he held up his best trump for so long .? Plato
has himself answered the question plainly enough, partly
in his simile of the three waves with their ascending
degrees of menace, partly in the further course of the
dialogue. After proclaiming the sovereignty of the philo-
sophers, he goes on to discuss the .training of the men
thus called to rule, and he seizes the opportunity — we
might, perhaps, more correctly say the pretext — to ex-
pound his whole theory of knowledge. Similarly, in the
earlier books, where the elementary education of the
guardians was under discussion, he took occasion to
treat exhaustively of mythology, religion, music, poetry,
gymnastic, all to an extent far exceeding the require-
ments of his immediate purpose. It is evident that his
present theme, the most subtle and difficult of all, could
only be dealt with at an advanced stage of the work.
He begins by emphasizing, with the help of frequently
repeated references to the anticipatory hints of earlier
chapters, the enhanced refinement and rigour of the ex-
position now in prospect as compared with the rougher
and more summary methods of the first books. Much
help, too, is promised towards the " more exact " under-
standing of the theory of the tripartite soul, and of the
ethics based on it, from the " longer way " which was
PHILOSOPHERS MUST RULE. 8 1
referred to in the fourth book and is now entered upon
near the end of the sixth. Nothing forbids us, and every-
thing invites us, to see herein the execution of a design
cherished by the author from the first and gradually
revealed by him with the wisest calculation.
Not many will ever attain the highest goals. The
way is barred by a natural antagonism, the operation of
which Plato deplores here, and not here only. That solid
thoroughness of character which is needed for sustained
work in science as in other fields, is not seldom accom-
panied by intellectual sluggishness ; while facility and
brilliance in apprehension and creation are often found
without the ballast requisite for the right ordering of life.
The selection of the rare natures which unite these opposed
excellences is only possible by means of that comprehen-
sive intellectual training which was " passed over before."
To describe this training, and to lay for the describing of
it the deepest and broadest foundation conceivable, is the
task to which a part of the sixth and the whole of the
seventh book are devoted.
As a preliminary, however, it is desirable to prove the
fitness of Philosophy for the high office assigned to her,
and to explain the misesteem under which she now
labours. In itself, the philosophic nature is inwardly akin
to all that is good. It is filled with the love of truth and
the craving for knowledge. A deep channel is thus pro-
vided, into which the whole stream of its desires may be
poured. For this reason the philosopher is not covetous ;
of the things he prizes there are few that gold can buy.
Meanness and pettiness, too, are foreign to a spirit which
is at home in all existence and in all ages. Cowardice
finds no room in a soul too lofty to regard life as some-
thing great. Thus all the forces of his being carry him
away from injustice and towards justice. But these
fortunate tendencies are opposed by others, the effect of
which is partly to bring discredit on philosophy, partly to
diminish the value of the philosopher.
His manifold excellences, wonderful as it sounds, are
themselves of a nature to estrange him from philosophy.
82 GREEK THINKERS.
From his early youth he is beset by friends and kinsmen,
later on by his fellow-citizens as well, all urging him to
devote his rich gifts, from which they hope to draw great
profit, to the acquisition of political power. Philosophy,
too, thrives as little in the soil of a bad political consti-
tution, as a plant transferred to a new and strange region.
It is dwarfed or degenerates. And the better the original
germ, the worse is its degenerate state. A weak nature
can produce nothing great, whether good or evil. The
source of corruption, however, is not to be found, as many
maintain, in the sophists, but in public opinion ; that
mighty being which calls good that which pleases it, and
bad that which displeases it — that monster which compels
even the sophists to mould themselves to its caprices and
hide from its outbursts of wrath. When the multitude is
assembled, and the rocks — Plato has in mind the terraces
of the Pnyx — ring to their shouts and the clapping of their
hands, as they now praise this, now blame that, and both
in over-measure : how can the youth listen unmoved, or
any ordinary education save him from being carried away
by the all-conquering flood ? Thus is Philosophy left
" desolate ; " but there is no lack of aspirants to the vacant
place at her side. Hither press, for the most part, all
those who have brought their "artlets" (we might say,
their little virtuosities) to the highest pitch of polish.
Foremost among them is the rhetorician, or artist in style
— Isocrates seems specially aimed at — with whom the
well-rounded harmony of a perfect period counts for every-
thing, the inward harmony and perfection of human
character for nothing. Left in isolation, the true philo-
sopher feels himself as powerless against the " madness of
the many " as against the might of the whirlwind. He
steps timidly aside. Just as at the onset of a dust-storm
(no rare experience in Athens) a man will take shelter
behind the nearest wall, so the philosopher is content
if he can keep himself free from all share in the crimes
with which he cannot prevent his fellow-citizens staining
themselves.
If, however, potentates, or the sons of such, should ever
THE HIERARCHY OF SCIENCES. 83
be won over to the projected transformation — a prospect
which cannot but remind us of Plato's Sicilian hopes,
largely built on Dion — then it will be necessary to make
a clean sweep of existing laws and customs, and let the
State come into their hands a tabula rasa. The graduated
intellectual training is next treated of, by which the
" saviours " of the State are to be fitted for the execution
of their task. The curriculum follows the order of the
sciences themselves, of whose scale of precedence, or
hierarchy (to use a phrase coined by Auguste Comte) a
rudimentary account is now given.
After the science of number comes that of space, and
then that of the stars. This first arrangement is forthwith
corrected by the interposition between geometry, as under-
stood at that day, and astronomy, of a new branch — the
measurement of solids. Astronomy is thus relegated to
the fourth place, being preceded by arithmetic, plane
geometry, and solid geometry. The more abstract sciences
are followed by those with a more concrete subject-matter,
in such wise that with each step towards concreteness
a new set of attributes is introduced. Thus the realm
of the numerable is more comprehensive than that of the
extended ; and the conception of a solid body is generated
by the addition, to the two plane dimensions, of thickness,
which is the third. From pure figures in space Plato
advances to bodies endowed with qualities, by taking
account of the motions of sohds, or " transference of depth "
as he calls it. In reality, however, he only treats of
celestial mechanics or astronomy. Why has he made no
mention of terrestrial mechanics .' Why does he not, at the
least, recognize the void waiting to be filled, as he did in
the case of solid geometry .' This question demands an
answer.
Even in the case of astronomy, he does not seek the
causes of motion, but types of motion, the most perfect, con-
tinuous, and orderly possible, and bound up with numerical
relationships such as best satisfy mathematical thought
(cf. Vol. I. p. 118). That terrestrial mechanics is in reality
governed by the same laws as celestial, and that this wider
84 GREEK THINKERS.
field of knowledge amply fulfils the most exacting demands
in point of simplicity and regularity, — all this was beyond
the dreams of Plato's pre-eminently deductive genius.
These uniformities lie hid at a depth from which specu-
lative thought cannot avail to drag them, but only the
analysis of concrete processes. Such was the method
pursued by Archimedes in statics, by Galilei in dynamics.
The impression of order and law which the mind receives
from the mere observation of the celestial phenomena, on
barely correcting the immediate message of the senses, is
produced in comparatively small measure by the movements
of terrestrial objects. The theories, too, which were gleaned
from the unanalytical observation of appearances were of a
superficial order, and gave a false picture of the mode in
which nature's forces work. As an instance, we may take
the belief — rejected only by the atomists — that light objects,
as such, tend to rise, or again, that heavy objects fall with*
greater rapidity the heavier they are. Some of these views
were not unacceptable to Plato, and he gathered them
together in his doctrine of " natural places " (cf. Vol. I.
p. 364). That which is light, as fire, tends to move
upwards ; while that which is heavy, as earth and water,
passes downwards — each, that is to say, towards the region
where the matter of like nature with itself is accumulated.
To correct these inadequate interpretations, and thereby
to advance towards a statement of the laws of motion which
should combine truth with simplicity, was impossible with-
out an artificial isolation of the superposed natural factors
which in any given case mask each other's action : in a
word, without experiment. The beginnings of disentangle-
ment, moreover, were due to manipulations serving practical
ends, and performed not in any spirit of scientific research..
Mechanics meant originally nothing more than the theory
of machines ; and it was one of the simplest of them, the
lever, which gave Aristotle the first handle for an inquiry
into the fundamentals of statics. His answer to the
question was no doubt pitiable enough. But to raise it
at all he had to observe operations which Plato despised as
manual and "banausic." To make such doings the subject
PLATO AND KEPLER. 85
of scientific study would have been impossible for a man
who shrugs his shoulders at experiments even when con-
ducted with a purely speculative purpose, and who makes
merry over musicians pricking up their ears and emulously
striving to determine the smallest perceptible interval. He
would have this part of physics, almost the only one which
had as yet begun to be cultivated, based not on " sounds
which are heard," but on properties of pure numbers.
Similarly, he would prefer to treat astronomy as an
exclusively mathematical science, just as Kepler did before
Tycho Brahe's observations supplied him with a solid basis
of fact. It is for him, moreover, a science whose pure and
stringent laws are only approximately realized by those
bodies, material after all, which we see in the sky. It is
no practical utility that makes this knowledge valuable,
nor yet the lifting up of the mind before the mysteries of
the heavens. This last way of thinking, indeed, arouses
his bitter scorn. It is " simpleness of mind," he thinks, to
prize " ceiling ornaments " more highly than the beautiful
things which perhaps lie in the depths ; it makes no differ-
ence whether the beholder is swimming on his back or on his
breast. For the " invisible and really existent," the one
mode of contemplation is as little suited as the other.
The aim of these sciences is solely the " purification and
revival " of that organ within the soul, more precious " than
ten thousand bodily eyes," which has been blunted and
dimmed by attention to the things of sense. All our
efforts must be directed to the task of raising ourselves
above the " realm of Becoming " to true existence, that
is, to the realm of the archetypes and, as the culmination
and crown of them, to the " idea of the good."
3. This last is compared with the sun, considered as
the source not only of light and vision, but of the genera-
tion and growth of visible things. The idea of the good
is for Plato the highest cause at once of all knowledge and
of all being. It is the central entity which at this phase of
his development almost occupies the place of the supreme
personal Deity. For us it is difficult, if not impossible, to
grasp this thought with full clearness. A stepping-stone
VOL. III. H
86 GREEK THINKERS.
towards it, as has been rightly remarked, is to be found
in the " pure and divine beauty " of the " Symposium ; "
a later dialogue, the " Philebus," will present us with a
different conception of the good. The craving, seen in the
"Phaedo," for a teleological treatment of natural science
receives light from this part of the " Republic." Goodness,
in the sense of benevolence and beneficence, is not foreign
to the concept in question, but by no means forms the
principal part of its content. Permanence, stability, well-
being, order, subordination to purpose, — these are the chief
ingredients in it, while Anaxagoras and the Pythagorean
philosophy have been laid under contribution.' It is not free
from the contradictions which beset the Existing or Real of
Euclides, by him identified with the good (cf. Vol. II. p. 174).
To the idea of the good the other ideas owe their existence.
But whence arise, we vainly ask, those archetypes or ideas
which preside over the realm of the mean and the trivial,
the evil and the noxious .? Such ideas are necessary to the
consistency of Plato's thought, and are partially recognized,
though with reluctance, by Socrates in the " Parmenides."
The doctrine of ideas is introduced by a brilliant
metaphor, in which earthly existence is compared to a
sojourn in a subterranean dwelling. In this cavern men
pass their whole life, prevented by chains from moving
their necks or legs. Behind them there are persons passing
to and fro on a raised platform, holding up all kinds of
objects, wooden and stone images of animals, plants, and
so on, above a breastwork or screen. Over and behind
them a flame burns. Thus the shadows thrown by the
images are all that the cave-dwellers can see. For them
this world of shadows is the only reality. If one of them
were to have his chains loosed, and be allowed to turn his
head and see the light, or walk towards it, he would suffer
pain ; he would hardly be able to bear the brightness of
the flame, and he would think the scene before his eyes
less real than that to which he had been accustomed. But
suppose him dragged forcibly up the steep path which
leads out of the cave into the sunlight. He would be
indignant, and the dazzling glare would prevent him from
THE ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE. 87
seeing anything of what would now be offered him as truth.
Only by degrees would his eye become accustomed to the
light of the upper world. At first he would be able to see
shadows, then reflexions in water, afterwards things them-
selves ; in time he would learn to look upon the moon and
stars, last of all upon the light of the Sun himself Should
he ever return to the cave, and attempt to free the others
from their imprisonment and lead them up to the light,
they would be furious with him, and, if they could, put
him to death.
The allegory hardly needs any word of explanation.
No one will need to be told that the things of earth
illuminated by the real sun, the images of these things
carried in the cave, and the shadows seen by the prisoners
mean nothing else than the archetypes, illuminated by the
ideal sun or idea of the good, the earthly copies of them,
and the impressions, whose being is more that of a shadow
than of a substance, produced by these copies on the
senses of man. Following on this parable we have a dis-
tinction drawn between four stages of knowledge and four
corresponding species of the knowable. Two of them
belong to the world of experience, two to the sphere of
concepts. The rising scale is formed by sensible images
and sensible things, by mathematical forms and archetypes
or ideas. The two first compose the realm of " opinion,"
or empiricism estranged from the strict knowledge of con-
cepts. Within this realm, " conjecture " is separated from
" belief," or " conviction." The objects of the uncertain, or
conjectural, stage of knowledge are no doubt to be found
in those kinds of sense-perception which are frequent
sources of illusion ; probably, too, in the empirical laws
which are valid only for a majority of cases. The objects
of belief will be the more trustworthy kinds of perception
and the more certain inferences which can be drawn from
them. This whole world of " Becoming " has for its
antithesis the world of " Being." The knowledge of it is
made possible by two factors which in combination are
termed " science " — cognition by the understanding and
the reason. To the latter we can only attain under the
88 GREEK THINKERS.
guidance of dialectic, which alone, so it is claimed, can
reach its high goal without help from sense-perception,
solely by the investigation of concepts. The "under-
standing " is at home in the various branches of mathe-
matics, the relative inferiority of which betrays itself in
their incapacity to dispense entirely with the data of sense.
It is true that they rise, to quote Plato's instance, from
the particular quadrilateral and the particular diagonal to
the " quadrilateral and the diagonal in themselves ; " and
as this is in his language an equivalent expression for the
" idea " of these forms, one does not at first see why a
science occupying itself with these ideas should be inferior
to any other. The difference in Plato's eyes seems to be
that the mathematician manipulates concepts which he does
not reduce to their elements, while dialectic has precisely
this reduction for its principal task. Rudimentary essays
in this species of analysis are to be met with in Plato's
later works, especially where he refers to the fundamental
concepts of limit and the unlimited. It has been remarked
with some justice that such a creation as modern analytical
geometry, which translates spatial concepts into numerical
concepts, and represents the circle and the ellipse, for
example, by slightly differing modifications of the same
formula, or again, the general theory of numbers, would
have in a measure satisfied the demands of Plato.
In a measure, but not wholly. For beyond a doubt he
would always have reserved the first place for the science
of concepts, which alone "dispenses with all hypotheses,"
which gradually lifts up to the light " the eye of the soul
buried in slime," and to which the other sciences render
service only as " fellow-helpers " and " fellow-guides."
The preference for dialectic expressed here and else-
where in Plato bespeaks an intellectual attitude which is
almost the opposite of that of modern science. For him
all that is given in experience counts as a hindrance and
a barrier to be broken through; we, on the other hand,
while legitimately striving for greater simplicity in our
conception of the universe, are learning to content our-
selves more and more with what is so given, and to regard
THE EDUCATION OF THE GUARDIANS. 89
the final aim of knowledge as nothing else than the faithful
reproduction of the actual, the cataloguing of primal facts
which in the last resort must ever remain for us as
dark and impenetrable as they are now. We know that
progress in the interpretation of nature sets at best one
incomprehensibility in the place of several, and with Royer
CoUard we exclaim, " Science will be complete when it is
able to trace back ignorance to its ultimate fount." Plato's
mind, fed on dialectic and mathematics, is in the grip of
that intoxication which commonly attends the exclusive or
predominant study of the deductive sciences, and which
may be experienced by any one who will immerse himself
completely for a time in the theory of functions or some
other branch of higher mathematics. The highest ab-
stractions possess for our sobered thought no more than
the widest sphere of validity ; Plato, with the fever of
altitudes upon him, overlooks the poverty of their content,
and invests them with supreme worth and supreme reality.
4. The intellectual education of the guardians — for that
is the point on which all this discussion bears — begins with
arithmetic and ends with theology, as we may term the
studies centring in the idea of the good. The first-named
subject and the branches of mathematics which follow it are
to be taught to members of the upper class, aged from
sixteen to eighteen. After another period of two years,
devoted to military training, a first selection is made, by
which those qualified for higher tasks are separated from
the general body of warriors. For the next ten years
those who have been thus selected go through a course,
of instruction comparable with that given in modern
universities. No change is made in the subjects of study,
but the mode of treatment is more fundamental, and help
is given towards understanding the inner connexions of
what has already been taught in detail. A second selection
follows. The less highly gifted become subordinate officers
of State ; those whose power of comprehensive survey has
marked them out as apt students of dialectic devote five
years to this subject, after which they occupy positions of
authority up to the age of fifty. Then, but not before.
go GREEK THINKERS.
they reach the topmost rung of philosophy. What remains
of their life they devote principally to philosophical con-
templation ; but in addition, as men not desirous of bearing
rule, and for that very reason the most called to rule, they
take part, as their turn comes round, in the real govern-
ment of the State.
Although this scheme may strike us as being conceived
in a somewhat mandarin-like spirit, two points about
it should not be forgotten which distinguish it, to its
advantage, from modern systems of State education. All
constraint, everything that makes learning a task and a
burden rather than a delightful exercise of natural powers,
is repugnant to Plato ; he would knock at the door, as it
were, of every slumbering faculty of every individual, in
order to rouse it to action. Nor does the idealist ever
forget the body and its demands. Besides the continual
alternation of practical and theoretical, or military and civil
occupations, the uninterrupted practice of gymnastic is
designed to keep the body no less fresh and efficient than
the soul, and guard against the one kind of " limping "
one-sidedness as much as against the other. The sallow-
cheeked, narrow-chested bookworm was as little to Plato's
taste as to Goethe's.
5. The eighth book takes up again the thread which
had been dropped at the beginning of the fifth. The
digression there begun is brought to a close. The edifice
of the perfect constitution no longer lacks foundation and
coping (cf. p. "jG) ; there is now nothing to prevent the
imperfect types, whether of constitutions or of men, from
being compared and contrasted with it. Nor till they have
been passed in review will a final answer be possible to the
question whether "the best man is also the happiest, and
the worst man the most miserable." Four forms of the
State are distinguished — timocracy, oligarchy, democracy,
tyranny. By timarchy or timocracy is meant not, as in
Aristotle, the rule of the wealthy, which is by preference
termed oligarchy, but the type of constitution realized in
Crete and Sparta, the vital principle of which is the pursuit
of riya{, or honour. The descending series indicate at once
THE DEGENERATE FORMS OF POLITY. 91
the order in rank and the order in time of the constitutions.
Two points are therefore prominent in the exposition —
the scale of merit and the historical sequence (the " transi-
tions ") of these forms of government. This combination
of two points of view is not always possible without some
violence. Thus the " most laudable " of all historical con-
stitutions has to be represented as a product of decay, as
a pseudo-aristocracy which is a degenerate form of the real
thing. But as this latter is the Platonic ideal, as yet no-
where realized on earth, it is tacitly replaced first by
patriarchal monarchy, then by the corresponding type of
aristocracy, and the hoary past is thus credited with a
political perfection which it never really possessed. In
the "Timaeus" and the "Critias" the vague indications
here given are worked out, as far as regards the primitive
age of Athens, with poetic freedom. Two motives seem
to underlie this procedure of Plato's : the striving we have
already noted towards a systematic philosophy of history,
and the need, felt also by Antisthenes, for supporting
facts, even half-fictitious facts, by which his ideal picture
might be redeemed from the character of a pure Utopia,
and the doubts laid to rest which even he felt as to the
possibility of realization.
There are other matters, too, in connexion with which the
philosopher appears in the guise of an imaginative writer.
It is clearly repugnant to him to maintain a dry didactic
tone throughout his historical and political expositions.
He prefers to clothe them, as one may say, in parables,
in which a characteristic instance takes the place of a
general process. By this means he also succeeds in giving
immediate expression to the analogy, partly real, partly
artificial, between forms of the State and types of individual
character.
All earthly things are subject to decay, and that
according to a cyclic law by which the end is connected
with the beginning. An attempt is made to embody this
law in a mathematical expression which is famous under
the name of the "Platonic number," and has been the
despair of commentators. It is with human generation
92 GREEK THINKERS.
as with the fruits of the field— ill growths will appear
occasionally. Our ignorance of these mysterious processes
adds to the difficulty of taking timely precautions. The
crossing of superior with inferior stocks causes the race
to degenerate. Silver (Plato returns to a former image,
see p. 69) receives an admixture of iron, gold of bronze.
Inequality and irregularity ensue, which are everywhere
the causes of enmity and war. Peace is at last made on
terms which involve two consequences : the denationaliza-
tion, or conversion into private property, of land, and the
enslavement of the "protected," or lower, classes. Thus a
mixed form comes into being, intermediate between the
ideal State and the first stage of corruption, exhibiting,
therefore, some characteristics of both. The abstinence
of the upper class from all pursuit of gain, the common
meals of the men, the assiduous practice of gymnastic, are
features which it shares with the higher type ; with the
lower it agrees in the meaner value set on science, in
the preference of warlike above peaceful occupations, in the
increased desire for wealth. Crete, and more particularly
Sparta, have here served as Plato's models, and by trans-
ferring their features to his page he himself gives us the
key to some of the "historical elements" in his pattern
State. The agreement extends to quite subordinate details,
such as the evading of the law by accumulating treasure
abroad. The chief characteristic of timarchy, however, is
the predominance of the middle, or " spirited " part of
the soul.
The next stage on the downward path is marked by the
increased power of private interest, which has been kept
in restraint by external checks rather than by internal
subjugation. With the "money-chest" decadence invades
the State. Wealth turns the balance, and virtue kicks
the beam. Oligarchy, or the rule of the rich, comes into
existence. Those of slender means — by whom are always
meant the less well-to-do among the upper class — lose all
their share of political privileges. The State is thus more
poorly supplied with talent. It is much as if the more
competent but poorer pilot were compelled to yield place
THE RULE OF THE MONEY-CHEST. 93
to a less competent but richer. Further, the inward unity
of the commonwealth is lost, for it has become divided into
two hostile cities. But the greatest evil is the appearance
of a proletariate, due to the fact that one man may now sell
all his property and another buy it. Thus side by side
with the " unduly rich " there live a number of " utterly
poor." The two classes resemble each other in being
" mere consumers," for which reason they are compared to
drones. Lastly, where there are beggars there will also be
a multitude of evil-doers.
And now for the corresponding type of individual
character and the particular instance in which the opera-
tion of general tendenciesreceives concrete illustration. A
statesman or commander meets with failure ; informers
procure his condemnation ; his lot is exile or death and the
confiscation of his goods. His son, to whom the father has
hitherto been an example, is terrified by the catastrophe,
and makes it his aim to escape from the poverty by which
he feels himself humiliated. The instinct of acquisition
gains the upper hand in him. " He enthrones the appe-
titive element in his soul," and prostrates himself before
it "as before the great king." He condemns to slavery
the elements of reason and courage ; his mind is wholly
occupied with the question how he may " make little
money into more." Thus is accomplished the transforma-
tion " of the honour-loving into the money-loving youth."
He becomes miserly and small-minded, loses every noble
ambition, and turns his back on intellectual culture ;
"drone-like" instincts also awake in him; he develops
tendencies to crime, which he will not indulge, however,
unless he is certain of impunity. Otherwise, he is careful
to lead a respectable life, and enjoys a reputation for
integrity. In fact, " the better desires in him will for the
most part triumph over the worse." But this is due to the
stress of fear, not to the might of reason. His is a divided
nature ; the true virtue of a harmonious soul at one with
itself is unknown to him.
The third stage of decay is called democracy. It
springs from the increased activity of the same causes
94 GREEK THINKERS.
which produced oligarchy. The rich ever desire to become
richer ; and they sit in the seat of authority. Accordingly,
all the barriers are torn down which might prevent ex-
travagance and financial ruin on the one side, and the
enrichment of money-lenders and buyers-up of land on the
other. (These very evils had been experienced at Thebes
in the olden days, and Philolaus of Corinth had sought to
meet them by his adoption laws, the object of which was
to " maintain the lots of land undiminished in number.")
Impoverished and indebted members of the ruling class,
who are yet in many cases men of high gifts and high aims,
become, in their embitterment and their desire for inno-
vation, a danger to the State^ — a danger to which the
leading politicians keep their eyes carefully closed. For
these possessors of power are too covetous to adopt the
appropriate remedies, to confine business transactions
within narrower bounds, or to withdraw the protection of
the law from modes of acquiring excessive wealth. In the
long run, it is true, the rulers themselves do not escape
unharmed. Good living enervates them ; anxiety for gain
drives all other interests into the background ; they cease
from the exertions necessary to keep them efficient and
superior to the unmoneyed class. So it comes about that
the sunburnt, sinewy, and stalwart son of the people learns
to despise the bloated, short-winded, helpless plutocrat who
may stand beside him in the ranks. By such comparisons
the masses become aware of their superiority, and feel the
continuance of their exclusion from power and property as
a disgrace. Only a slight impulse is then needed, say an
alliance with a similar faction in a neighbouring State, to
kindle a contest, which, if the poorer side wins, will lead to
democracy.
Plato's attitude towards democracy will occupy us in
the sequel. This was the form of government under which
he lived and worked, the one which, according to a law
formulated by himself — the law of reaction — produced the
most powerful effect upon his mind. The evils which he
has himself experienced affect him so strongly that little
room remains for other impressions. Not one gleam of
THE EVILS OF DEMOCRACY. 95
light relieves the monotonous blackness of his picture.
Democracy is for him not one constitution, but a " mart of
constitutions." So great is its inconstancy, so confusing
the motley multiformity which composes its being. That
he should be the " friend of the people " is the one demand
made on the politician, his all-in-all that stands for every
excellence and compensates every defect. The laws of
democracy remain a dead letter, its freedom is anarchy, its
equality the " equality of the unequal."
It is much the same in the breast of the individual.
For the democratic man all desires are on a level. That
he should respect some and discipline others is teaching to
which he will not listen. All ethical conceptions are
turned inside out. As libertinage becomes freedom and
shamelessness manly independence, so moderation becomes
weakness and pious awe imbecility. All noble qualities of
character are placed under ban and driven with contumely
out of the city, just as were the best men when democracy
was founded. In this description there are two points of
particular interest : a unique but unmistakable reference to
a passage in Thucydides, and the parallel, which we have
not pursued into its finest details, between the processes
within the democratic soul and the corresponding political
phenomena — a parallel which is often forced and over-
loaded with imagery. It provokes a smile to compare this
misuse of the imagination with the wholesale condemna-
tion of that faculty which Plato pronounces in his attack
on poetry and poets.
Democracy is followed by tyranny — the maximum of
liberty by the maximum of servitude. It is, indeed, a
fundamental law, the operation of which includes both
nature and human life, that extremes generate each other
reciprocally. Just as oligarchy was destroyed by that
which under it was prized as the highest good and made
the object of exclusive pursuit — by the lust of riches — so
also is it with democracy, the downfall of which is brought
about by its excessive and one-sided devotion to liberty.
The same insatiability marks the two cases. And when
evil cup-bearers give the State, which thirsts for freedom,
96 GREEK THINKERS.
too strong a draught, it loses its senses. It reviles the
moderate politicians as "abominable oligarchs," and re-
proaches their adherents for plunging wilfully into slavery.
The citizens soon find themselves living in a topsy-turvy
world, out of which all authority has vanished. Fathers
fear their sons ; metics, foreigners, and even slaves are put
on a level with citizens ; the very animals parade the
streets with a proud air of independence and jostle who-
ever will not stand out of their path. But the deciding
voice in the State is that of the " drones," of the powerful
ones with stings as well as the weak and stingless, the first
of which can lead the second only by offering them much
honey. " A little honey," too, must be paid to the mass of
wage-earners, here for the first time mentioned. What is
thus given must first be taken from the possessors. If
these, however, defend themselves in their extremity, they
are accused of oligarchical designs, and the people cry for
a protector. This protectorship is the root from which
tyranny springs. The protector, or agent of the people,
threatens the life no less than the property of the wealthy.
His decoy-calls are promises involving the extinction of
debts and the division of land. He goes to the length of
utilizing the law-courts and procuring capital sentences.
Once having tasted blood, however, he must soon face the
choice between falling a victim to his enemies and seizing
absolute power. His next step is the request for a body-
guard, which is to secure the friend and protector of the
people against hostile machinations. If this request is
granted, it is not long before he stands in the State-
chariot, erect and sublime in all his glory : the tribune has
become the tyrant.
His career is divided into several phases. At first he
is " all smiles " and affability ; he satisfies his own faction
by fulfilling his promises. But all the while the moment
is approaching when he must make himself indispensable
to the people. For this purpose he contrives foreign wars,
by which he gains yet other advantages. The property of
his opponents is eaten up by extraordinary taxation ; the
conduct of a campaign provides favourable opportunities
THE TYRANT. 97
for getting rid of their persons. By this means, however,
he creates an accumulation of hatred against himself, and
even those to whom he owes his elevation are not sparing
in criticism and censure. He is thus compelled to search
out " with far-seeing eye " the brave, the high-minded, the
wise, to attack them, and in the end to purge the State
of them. A rare purgation — the exact opposite of that
accomplished by the physician when he removes noxious
matter from the body and leaves what is best behind. He
is thus constrained by an unblest destiny to live only with
the bad or not live at all. The more hateful he becomes
to the citizens, the more must he depend for support upon
hirelings. These he obtains partly from abroad, but he
also finds some at home by robbing the citizens of their
slaves and giving the latter their freedom. But how will
he feed the motley horde .' First by confiscating temple-
property, then by grinding the people. The latter per-
ceives too late that it has run out of the smoke into the
fire, that its once immoderate liberty has been exchanged
for the most galling servitude of all, now that it is the
slave of its own slaves. But the tyrant, the offspring of
the Demos, is now under the necessity of raising his hand
against his own parent.
The tragedy of the tyrant is no mere invention of Plato.
This sketch owes less to the philosopher's constructive
imagination than those by which it is preceded. It
borrows, indeed, from that source little more than the
occasioning cause of tyranny ; in reality, this should cer-
tainly be sought for less in the free rein given to the
desires of the many than in a deeply seated divergence of
interests, and in a passionateness of temperament from
which the aristocrats were no freer than the Demos. We
refer particularly to the origin of the Sicilian tyranny (cf.
Vol. II. p. 262, seq.), which Plato also has more especially
before his mind. He has fulfilled that condition which he
can only allow Socrates to refer to as an imaginary hypo-
thesis ; he has " lived in the tyrant's palace, and witnessed
his daily doings." And here we should note a transi-
tion characteristic of Plato's adaptability. He begins as a
98 GREEK THINKERS.
dispassionate observer, and describes the gradual transfor-
mation of the people's advocate, his tyrant's progress, as
an inevitable necessity accomplishing itself step by step. So
far his account is not without a touch of compassion. But
suddenly he becomes a fierce accuser, for whom the tyrant
is the quintessence of all that is despicable and hateful,
destitute from the beginning of every germ of noble
feeling. Plato has been roused to strong emotion ;
memories of his own experiences lend bitterness to his
language ; at the same time, he is bent on demonstrating
the main thesis of the " Republic : " The most unjust of
men is also the most miserable.
6. As if to lay still deeper foundations for this momen-
tous decision, Plato (at the beginning of the ninth book)
seeks the tyrannical nature in process of manufacture.
Two generations are required for its production. Its
growth is caused by the more and more luxuriant develop-
ment of passions for which democracy (here looked at
with a more lenient eye, as the foil of tyanny) had prepared
the ground. The wild beast which sleeps in every man,
and at times, especially by night, awakes to rage and roar,
is freed from every restraining curb ; the herd of " wild
and mutinous desires" is let loose. Out of the many
passions one comes forward as master, as the "tyrant
within the soul," and the other desires form its body-guard.
Here, too, are soon enrolled the baser tendencies, once
repressed, but now emancipated ; the good impulses which
resist them are killed or banished ; the man's soul is
purged of temperance ! The reader will note the minute
detail of the parallel, which for Plato is no mere rhetorical
ornament, but has real convincing force. The criminal
nature thus produced procures the means for the satisfac-
tion of its desires, at first by robbery and fraud practised
on parents ; its next step is unfilial violence, just as the
demagogue become tyrant will employ force against his
fatherland or his mother-city. For it is out of the ranks
of the common criminals, of the tyrannical natures, that
here and there a tyrant in the full sense emerges, sent
forth by some ordinance of destiny. A lurid description
THE BEST MAN THE HAPPIEST. 99
is now given of his vices, his faithlessness, his godlessness,
and, with it all, of his misery, in spite of the envy he
inspires ; he is full of suspicion and fear, he has no peace
or rest, he is deserted and poor, for of his measureless
desires he can satisfy but the smallest fraction. In reality,
too, he is no ruler, but a slave, and a slave of the vilest,
whom he must continually flatter that he may have them
on his side. Plato has reached his goal. The cry of
triumph will no longer be restrained. Let the son of
Ariston make it known by herald's cry that the best and
justest man is also the happiest, the worst and most unjust
the most wretched, whether the one and the other remain
hidden from God and men or not (cf. pp. 62 and 74).
Just as the tyrannic type of character stands at once
for the worst and most miserable, so the other types agree
in point of goodness and happiness with the corresponding
forms of constitution. At their head is the royal or truly
aristocratic nature. After this comes the timocratic, then
the oligarchic, which again is followed by the democratic.
The never-tiring author of the " Republic " proceeds to
supplement this first proof by additional corroborations
of the disputed thesis. Probably he himself feels that his
last argument, derived from the order of merit of the
constitutions, sadly needs strengthening. A reference to
his theory of the soul has already been introduced by his
assertion that in the tyrant's soul the noblest impulses are
enslaved, the lowest promoted to exclusive dominion.
Corresponding to the three parts of the soul he now
enumerates three kinds of pleasure : for the highest there
is the pleasure of knowledge, for the middle part the
pleasure of victory and honour, for the lowest, the multi-
formity and vague delimitation of which is expressly recog-
nized, the pleasure of gain. That this order of enumeration
corresponds to the position of these pleasures in the scale
of value, is inferred from experience. The philosopher or
lover of truth prefers his species of pleasure to the other
two, and also the second to the third. But this valuation
of his is final and incontrovertible, because his experience
is the most comprehensive. From childhood upwards he
lOO GREEK THINKERS.
has been familiar with the other two kinds of pleasure,
while the joy of knowledge is as unknown to the mere
lover of honour as it is to the mere lover of gain, the
latter of whom rises at best to the love of honour, seeing
that honour is paid also to riches. (Plato, like J. S. Mill
in a cognate argument, overlooks the fact that greater
susceptibility to one kind of pleasure is usually coupled
with a smaller capacity for enjoying other kinds.) To
this must be added that the instrument of comparison and
valuation, the intellect, is more highly developed in the
philosopher than in the other two classes of men ; hence
from his verdict there can be no appeal. Thus the just
man, here identified with the philosopher, has for the second
time gained a victory over the unjust.
A third argument rests on the " truth and purity " of
pleasures of the reason, whereas all other pleasure is but a
shadow. This applies equally to the pleasures which are shot
through with pain (desires, wants, cf Vol. II. pp. 336 and
350), and to those neutral states which are felt as pleasurable
or painful or neither, according to the state by which they
are preceded. In the same way — it is somewhat after this
fashion that Plato expresses himself — a point situated at a
middle level will seem low to one who approaches it from
above, high to one who comes up from below. Thus
quiescence of the soul is felt as painful after keen pleasure,
as pleasurable after the cessation of violent pain. " How
can that which in itself is neither pleasure nor pain be in
truth both ? " It is not here, therefore, in the sphere of the
relative, as we should say, that the home of true pleasure
is to be sought. True pleasure is unknown to the mass
of mankind, and they are under the same illusion as a man
who, not knowing white, should see grey by the side of
black, and think it white. A further development of these
thoughts will meet us in the "Philebus," and give us an
occasion for the criticism of them. Plato next places the
acquisition of knowledge above the nutrition of the body,
on the ground that the object of knowledge is the imperish-
able and the immutable, endowed with true being, as
opposed to the things of sense by which the body is fed.
THE SCALE OF PLEASURES. lOI
The mass of mankind, truly, who after the manner of beasts
look only downwards, struggle like them for what alone
gives them pleasure, "thrusting and trampling each other
with iron horns and hoofs." Their struggle, however,
resembles the Trojan war, if Stesichorus is right, and
Helen herself never lived at Troy, but only her shadow.
Lastly, Plato essays the strange feat of obtaining an
arithmetical expression for the relative values of the
pleasures proper to the "king," here hardly to be dis-
tinguished from the philosopher, and to the lower types,
down to the tyrant. His calculation starts from the as-
sumption that the happiness of the highest-placed member
of the series (the king) stands in the same ratio to that
of the next but one (the oligarch) as this does to the happi-
ness of the tyrant two more places lower down. For this
last quantity, which is the measure of a " shadow " without
substance, the "superficial number," 9 (3 X 3), is chosen,
and thus the proportion obtained: 9 : 81 =81 : 729, so that
to the five stages of worth and happiness there correspond
five successive powers of 3 (9, 27, 81, 243, 729). Plato here
shows himself a true disciple of the Pythagoreans. That
which is bizarre and arbitrary in such attempts should not
blind us to the depth of insight which divines the uni-
versal sway of law, rightly refusing to make the world of
soul an exception to the general order of nature. Internal
consistency, or even the mere appearance of such, was
necessarily substituted for the investigation of facts (cf.
Vol. I. p. 120), and the very possibility of the former became
a secondary question. Exact psychology has abated its
pretensions since that day ; the place of the ambitious
scale of happiness and virtue is taken by the modest
"personal equation."
The numerical mystic now leaves the scene and makes
way for the poet. Plato wishes to knit once more into a
compact unity his doctrine of the tripartite soul and the
system of ethics which rests on that doctrine. For this
purpose he employs an image which, though grotesque to
the verge of absurdity, is yet highly impressive. We are
to construct in thought— and thought is "more plastic
VOL. III. I
I02 GREEK THINKERS.
than wax—" a little man, a larger lion, and a polymorphous
monster. This last is to have a chaplet of heads, some of
them pertaining to tame and others to wild beasts, but
capable of transformation and renewal. All three — man,
lion, monster — are to be supposed joined together, and
enclosed in an outer husk of human form. The advocates
of injustice, who would have this quality avoided merely
on account of its external consequences, virtually demand
that the " man within man " shall be starved, weakened,
and placed at the mercy of the inferior creature at his side-
But that which is really befitting is that we should utilize
the help of the lion within us to discipline yet more
strictly the tame part of the many-headed monster, and
nourish this part to greater strength, while checking the
growth of the wild part. Thus these creatures may be
kept at peace with each other and with ourselves. No
price would tempt us to sell our sons and daughters into
slavery, still less to a savage and wicked master ; just as
little is it to our profit, for the sake of whatever advantage,
to place that which is best in us under bondage to
that which is worst, that which is most godlike to that
which is most godless and most foul. So doing, we
should be guilty of worse treason than Eriphyle, who sold
her husband's life for a golden necklace. With the elabora-
tion of these thoughts and a repeated exhortation to set up
the ideal kingdom in the " inner city " of the soul, whether
the "heavenly pattern" is ever realized on earth or not,
the book is brought to a close. What remains is of a
supplementary character.
7. The tenth and last book begins with a transition,
the abruptness of which receives immediate justification.
The fight is resumed against poetry as the arch-enemy of
an order of life based on reason. It can now be carried
on " more effectually," because the division of the soul and
— as we may add — the doctrine of ideas have been ex-
pounded in the interval. Poetry is treated as one of the
imitative arts. They all offer imperfect semblances of
reality. Their products are not truth, but appearance, and
indeed, an appearance not only one but two degrees
THE FIGHT AGAINST POETRY. I03
removed from the truth. When, for example, the cabinet-
maker fashions tables and beds, that which he copies is
the archetype or idea of the table or bed, which exists but
once, and which may be said to have been made by the
gods. Thus the painter who counterfeits these objects
produces in reality only the copy of a copy, and a false
one at that, for the table or bed seen sideways is not the
same as when viewed from the front. The discussion on
pleasure and pain, in the ninth book, where shadows of
shadows have already been brought to view, would seem to
be still echoing in Plato's mind. The present argument,
which inadequately separates the problems of art from
those of science, and which unduly narrows the sphere of
art by regarding it as pure imitation, derives its main
interest from the predominance given to the ethical stand-
point. Plato's quarrel with the fine arts turns chiefly on
their effects— their antagonism to his ethical ideal, their
glorification of the senses, their enervating appeal to the
emotions. Poetry is here the worst offender, tragic poetry
— of which Homer was the real founder — the worst of all,
for it " waters and feeds " those elements in the soul which
ought to be " dried up."
This attack is bitter beyond the proverbial bitterness
of civil war. Plato is at feud, not with his fellow-country-
men only, but with himself. He offers a spectacle never
seen before his day, one of which the first astonishing
repetition has been reserved for our own time — a prince
among artists violently rooting up the love of art from his
own soul. He acknowledges, in his pain, that he finds it
difficult to fight down the admiration for Homer which he
has cherished from his youth. But truth demands the
sacrifice. We note with astonishment the adaptability of
Plato's mind. In order to humble the poets he elevates
the sophists. The slighting tone in which he generally
speaks of this class is forgotten for the moment. If Homer
or Hesiod — so runs one of these arguments — had benefited
his neighbours by his wisdom as much as, say, Protagoras
or Prodicus, he would have been as highly honoured as
these men, and not allowed to end his life as a beggar and
I04 GREEK THINKERS.
rhapsodist. The great poets, however, had only " shadows
of virtue " to offer ; the most they could do in reality was
to delight. But where the conduct of life is concerned
there is something which stands higher than all delights:
the " great question " of whether we are becoming good or
bad (cf. Vol. II. p. 337, § 5), the struggle to maintain the
" polity within the soul " — for the image already employed
in the ninth book is retained in this continuation. He
therefore finally congratulates himself on having banished
the poets from his republic. If " pleasure and pain " are
not to rule instead of reason and law, only religious poetry
may be tolerated, nothing will be admitted but hymns to
the god and songs in praise of great men.
Religious thoughts and their expression by the aid of
myth form also the conclusion of the work. Before Plato
reaches that bourne, he turns the tables in a remarkable
manner. Socrates requests " repayment of the loan " which
he had made to the other speakers — the concession, that is
to say, by which both the just man and the unjust were
treated as though they remained hidden from gods and
men. The hypothesis was necessary in order to determine
the intrinsic value or happiness-yielding quality of virtue
and its opposite — stripped of all external additions — and to
institute a strict and searching comparison between justice
and injustice taken each by itself. But the dialogue must
not end before the just man has the " prizes of victory "
awarded to him, which at first were withheld. For by what
possible means could our actions really remain hidden from
the gods .' Nor will the just man, as a rule, be more than
temporarily misjudged by his fellows ; in the end both he
and the unjust man will be known for what they are, and
receive the reward or punishment which they have earned.
A mythical narrative follows, resting on the supposed
testimony of Er the Pamphylian, son of Armenius, a
person otherwise entirely unknown. This man fell on the
field of battle, and his soul, we are told, witnessed the
judgment of the dead, but after twelve days returned to
his body, which was still uncorrupted, for Er had been
chosen by the gods to bring men tidings of the fortunes
THE MYTH OF ER THE ARMENIAN. 105
which await them. He saw the meadow where the ways
cross of those who come down from Heaven and of those
who ascend from the lower world ; he rested Ijy Jthe foun-
tain whence souls drink the draught of forgenulness ; and
he saw them fly thence, like shooting stars, amid thunder,
lightning, and earthquake. He beheld the mouth of the
under-world close with a mighty roar when the greatest
criminals sought to pass out into the light. Above all, he
witnessed the " choice of life " made by those who after " a
thousand years of wandering " stood on the threshold of a
new incarnation. It is not the daemon, or tutelary genius,
that chooses the man ; but each man chooses his own
daemon. His choice is free, and if evil follow he must bear
the blame, not God. Quaint and humorous touches are not
wanting to relieve the sombre recital of the pains of hell
by which the guilty are visited, and tyrants, as before,
more than the rest. Thus Ulysses, the highly renowned
but also the man of many travels and many troubles,
chooses for himself a modest middle-class existence. The
whole narrative is a mixture of Orphic and Pythagorean
myths. To the latter category belongs the transference of
human souls to animal bodies, and vice versd (of, Vol. II.
p. 364 and Vol. III. p. 6y). Swans and other musical birds
become men. The soul of the demagogue Thersites, on
the other hand, takes the form of an ape. Ajax and
Agamemnon, who have suffered so grievously, desire to
flee the society of men ; the gloomy Ajax chooses the
body of a lion, the kingly Agamemnon that of an eagle.
But the teaching to which all these visions bear witness is
genuinely Platonic : We should " hold with a grip of iron
the belief " that the worse lot is that which causes the soul
to become unjust. For all else we need take no thought.
This conviction must be held unswervingly in the lower
world also, where we must beware of being dazzled "by
riches and similar evil things," lest we " fall into tyrannies
and other like wickedness, whereby we shall do great
and irreparable wrongs to others and suffer yet worse
ourselves."
I06 GREEK THINKERS.
CHAPTER XIIL
PLATO'S ETHICAL, POLITICAL, AND SOCIAL IDEAL.
I. Of the two titles borne by this great work— "On
Justice," and "The Constitution" or " Republic "—the
second has obtained the preference. The social and
political content of Plato's creation has made a deeper
impression than the ethical. In treating of the former
before the latter, we shall, indirectly at least, comply with
the author's purpose : we shall proceed from the outer
husk of his ideal to its kernel.
A question frequently put to experts at the present day
is this — Was Plato a forerunner of the modem socialists
and communists .' The answer must be both Yes and No.
By the side of the obvious points of agreement there are
differences of the most far-reaching kind. What these
modern movements strive to obtain for the community as
a whole, Plato proposed to enact merely for his upper or
ruling classes of warriors and guardians. For the great
mass, for the classes engaged in agriculture and handi-
crafts, the traditional form of the family and the old
economic order were to be retained. Indeed, he is so far
from advocating any emancipation of these classes that he
requires them to provide the means of living for the upper
classes, towards whom he places them in a relation of the
strictest dependence. In describing this relation he does
not even shrink from using the word " slavery," though he
means by it no more than a state of wardship salutary to
the masses themselves. No clear picture is vouchsafed us
of these classes. Plato is silent, and his silence is eloquent.
PLATO'S CONTEMPT FOR THE MASSES. 107
In the course of his exposition, it has been rightly re-
marked, he lets the lower orders fall completely out of
sight. He will have them well and justly ruled, but he
takes so little interest in them that he forgets to give us
any details of the manner of ruling them. All we can
gather casually is that for them, too, the division of labour
is to be strictly enforced, and that " wealth " no less than
" poverty " is to be kept far from them, in order that they
may lack neither the desire nor the power to work. For
the rest, he contents himself with comparing them to the
lowest elements in the soul, with pronouncing it an
impossibility for them to order their own lives inde-
pendently and successfully, with discussing the question,
not whether, but %vhy, they should be held in inferior
regard.
For this attitude of depreciation several causes may be
assigned. Mere pride of birth and rank had something
to do with it. Such feelings were present in Plato's mind,
if only as an under-current, yet not without effect. The
reader will remember many instances, especially in the
" Charmides," where he uses expressions tending to exalt
his own family. The impiety of Euthyphro, who accused
his own father of murder (cf. Vol. II. p. 359), appears to him
in darker colours because the murdered man was only a
" day-labourer." Still stranger in our eyes is a passage of the
" Gorgias," where a " mechanic," who had saved his country
from' destruction by inventing an engine of war, is, never-
theless, spoken of in a tone of contempt, just because he
laboured with his hands. In a passage of the " Republic "
Plato condemns the brutal treatment of slaves, on the
ground that the truly educated man despises them too
much to be angry with them. For the rest, a class of
slaves is not explicitly mentioned as existing in the ideal
State. ; but the prohibition against enslaving Greek prisoners
of war indicates that in the case of barbarians Plato would
have raised no objection. The prohibition in question
occurs, it may be remarked, in a section devoted to inter-
national law, and is one of a series of precepts which all
agree in restricting to wars against barbarians certain
Io8 GREEK THINKERS.
severities which at that time were customary as between
Hellenes — devastation of territory, burning of houses, and
so on. A war between Hellenes, Plato says, should never
bear the character of perpetual hostility, but rather that of
a temporary chastisement, an enforcing of the law which
only affects the guilty and not the general mass of the
population.
The chief logical ground, however, on which Plato
justifies his contempt for the lower classes as well as slaves,
is their lack of leisure and consequently of the higher
culture which leisure alone makes possible. It is this
culture — the assiduous pursuit of music, gymnastics, and
the sciences — which forms the true charter of the ruling
class, hereby assimilated in some measure to the Pytha-
gorean order. Their life is regulated on the communistic
plan for the purpose of completing their education. No
private ownership is allowed among them which exceeds
the indispensable minimum. Their income is to provide
them with a sufficient maintenance, but no superfluities.
Gold and silver may not be used even for adornment or
in the form of plate. The possession of private land or
houses might make the members of the ruling class
successful "householders and farmers," but not good
" guardians."
In all this Plato is not entirely independent of historical
models. A ruling class which kept aloof not only from
trade and manual work, but even from agriculture, was
not unknown either at Sparta or in Crete. Rudiments,
too, of a communistic order of life might be observed at
Sparta, where hunters, for example, were allowed to help
themselves to provisions from other men's stores — a custom
which has an echo in Plato's injunction not to lock up the
storehouses. Need we remind the reader of the Lacedae-
monian and Cretan syssitia, or common meals of men,
by which camp life was continued in time of peace .'
Plato modifies the institution in a manner which makes a
clean sweep of all family life. Even during the continu-
ance of the temporary marriages already spoken of, no
common home life is possible for the couples. It is not
THE MOTIVES OF PLATO'S SCHEME. 109
merely that the children are lost to the parents' abode from
an early date ; the women, too, share in the public meals ;
they fill posts in the army and government departments,
and cannot be even temporary helpmates to their husbands.
What were the reasons, we may ask, which impelled Plato
towards these subversive innovations ?
2. Part of the answer he has himself supplied. He is
afraid that the ruling class may misuse the unlimited power
with which it is endowed, that its members may resemble
dogs that attack the herds committed to their care, that
they may become wolves instead of dogs. In reality, all
the parts of the scheme are most closely connected. If the
highest intellectual training is to reign supreme, restrained
by no checks on the part of the subject classes, who are
deemed unqualified to exercise any control, and are yet to
be preserved from every kind of exploitation, then security
for the right use of power must be had in some other way.
The absence of constitutional checks must be compensated
by the absence of those impulses for the curbing of which
constitutional forms exist. For the moderation of these
impulses provision is made by an education specially
designed for the purpose — a means whose efficacy Plato
rates almost as highly as does Helvetius. To the credit,
however, of his good sense, he did not carry his over-appre-
ciation to unlimited lengths. He did not believe in the
omnipotence of education. Accordingly, he found pro-
tection from the abuse of power only in the absence of all
separate interests on the side of the rulers, in the suppression
of the family and of private property.
In this explanation there is no doubt contained a con-
siderable portion of truth. That it is not the whole truth,
we have cogent reasons for affirming. In the " Laws "
Plato renounces the absolute character of the philosophers'
rule ; he accepts a compromise which introduces constitu-
tional checks and even gives the mass of the people a share
of political power. Nevertheless, he holds with unswerving
fidelity to the communistic ideal, though he abandons the
project of realizing it. " Community of women, of children,
of goods," he still pronounces to be the best. His
no GREEK THINKERS.
endeavours do not cease to be directed towards " the rooting
out of the so-called private or particular element from every
department of life. ... So far as is by any means possible,
all should praise or blame the same thing together, all
should rejoice or grieve for the same cause." The
greatest possible emphasis is bestowed on the glorifica-
tion of " life in common," and on the injunction to destroy
from among men, even from among the domestic animals,
that " lack of a master " which makes for division. This
endeavour after the "unification" of the commonwealth
goes far beyond the design of drying up the sources of
discord in public life. Plato's quarrel is with individuality
as such, and as much with the diversity of different indi-
viduals as with the inward multiformity within the single
soul. This latter point appears most clearly in the picture
he gives of the " democrat," that is, of his Athenian con-
temporaries. " Motley variety " and " multiplicity of forms "
are the worst reproaches which he levels against this type
of man — a type which, according to him, contains in itself
patterns of all possible constitutions (cf. p. 95).
Such a man is, so Plato tells us in effect, the plaything
of every fleeting mood. To-day he revels in wine and
banquet-music ; to-morrow he will fast on bread and water.
To-day he works in the gymnasium till the sweat runs
down his brow ; to-morrow he will dedicate to dolce far
niente. At one time he will play the philosopher, at
another the politician ; he will spring to his feet from his
place in the assembly, and do and say what comes into his
head. If a general's fame catches his fancy he is off
soldiering ; if a speculator's gains rouse his envy, he tries
his luck in business. In short, there is no order and no
discipline in his doings, and this is precisely the reason why
in his own eyes his life is " so free, so sweet, so blessed."
Who can fail to perceive herein the caricature of just that
brilliant type which Thucydides has painted in imperishable
colours (cf. Vol. II. p. 41) ? The subject of the two pictures
is the same ; Athens has, perhaps, in the mean time lapsed
somewhat from the height to which she had attained ; but
what has changed more fundamentally is the standpoint of
CONTRAST WITH MODERN IDEALS. 1 1 1
the beholder. The versatile exercise of many-sided talents,
individual character and genius, — all this is non-existent
for Plato ; in all that we admire he can see nothing but
anarchic irregularity, bungling half-knowledge, and ama-
teurish incompetence. He is free, on the other hand, from
an anxiety which has troubled some of the best men of the
nineteenth century — from the fear of an ever-widening
divergence from the Periclean ideal, of an approach to " the
Chinese ideal of making all people alike." The shadows
alone are visible to him in the picture of his age ; all the
energy and fire of his nature are directed towards the
realization of a new pattern, of whose latent dangers he
has not the slightest suspicion.
Nor must we forget the connexion between Plato's
ethico-political ideal and his doctrine of ideas. Every
separate thing or being is for him the inadequate copy of a
more perfect universal. How, then, could he have laid any
store on the maintenance of the " particular," on the multi-
plication of varieties of imperfection, on individuality .■"
Again, we moderns regard the diversity of individuals as
salutary, for the additional reason that by the multiplicity
of paths entered upon the prospect is increased of progress,
of the attainment of a perfection as yet unknown to us.
Plato, on the other hand, could see in individual differences
only impediments preventing the realization of an ideal
which for him was final and complete, the sharp and certain
outline of which was graven in his soul.
3. It is not to no purpose that the " guardians " are
half philosophers and half aristocratic soldiers. Each of
these elements has left its traces on the Platonic ideal.
The Athenian oligarchs, to which circle Plato and his family
belonged, were " friends of the Lacedaemonians." Among
such modes of ordering life as were put in practice in his
own age and country, that followed at Sparta stood nearest
his heart. Reverence for age, strict discipline of youth, a
high valuation of musical, gymnastic, and military education,
contempt for the " banausic," — all these are features common
to the Platonic and the Spartan ideal. A Critias and a
Charmides probably thought and felt on these matters
112 GREEK THINKERS.
much as did their young kinsman the philosopher. Of
aristocratic origin, too, is the strong accent which Plato lays
on " magnificence," a quality which he more than once sets
in the company of the cardinal virtues, without justifying
this position on any principle. Similarly, the opposite of
" magnificence," stinginess, meanness, illiberality, is among
the attributes which Plato most despises. A conviction
that the pursuit of trades cannot but engender this vice
strengthens what we may term an innate repugnance. In
this connexion a passage in the " Laws " is highly instruc-
tive. It shows some advance towards a juster appreciation
of trade and its beneficial operation in levelling down
economic contrasts. The hypothesis is there allowed to
stand for a moment that the " best men of all," or women
of similar quality, might be compelled by some stroke of
fate to do the work of innkeepers, to offer the longed-for
refreshment or shelter to one wearied by long travel or lost
in an inhospitable region. Trade would then appear in
the most favourable light possible. But the thought is
dropped immediately. The belief that such occupations
foster an ignoble love of gain, a tendency to fraud and
over-reaching, is too deeply rooted to allow the above
hypothesis to appear other than ridiculous. Schiller's distich,
" The Merchant," would have been unintelligible to Plato.
With the demand for "discipline and order" there is
coupled another for "symmetry and beauty" (cf. Vol. II.
P- 353)' This latter is the soul's cry of one who is at once
an artist devoted to the cult of beauty and a philosopher
with Pythagorean leanings, one who has learnt to see and
admire the reign of rule, of symmetry, of harmony and
rhythm in mathematics, acoustics, and, above all, in
astronomy. The Socratic moralist, too, insists no less
imperatively that unquestioning obedience be paid to the
commands of reason, more exactly, of utility established by
reason. From the fusion of these elements there arose in
Plato that ideal which is peculiar to him of inward order
coupled with devotion to science, of self-mastery, of con-
stancy, calmness, equanimity, and moderation. Temper-
ance, in reality, takes the highest position with him, though
PLATO AND UTILITARIANISM. 1 13
justice is the particular virtue which he employs most
frequently as a representative of virtue in general. The
definition which he gives of justice is in truth more
accurately applicable to temperance. " Each one of us is
just " — so runs a passage of the " Republic " — " in whose
soul every part does its allotted work." How closely this
resembles one of the definitions of temperance adduced
in the " Charmides " (cf. Vol. II. pp. 303 and 307) ! That
which is presented to us as justice is, taken strictly,
a condition implied by justice. But for Plato this con-
dition is more valuable than that which depends upon it.
The manifestation of the ideal in the personality of each
individual meant still more to him than did the service
rendered by the individual to the community.
4. The utilitarians proudly reckon Plato as one of them-
selves, and they have a good right to do so. There are
decisive passages in which he lays an emphasis which could
not be exceeded on the principle of utility. It was with
deep satisfaction that Grote, the pupil of Bentham, was
able to place at the head of his work on Plato this citation
from the " Republic : " " For this is and will ever remain
the best of sayings, that the useful is the noble, and the
hurtful is the base." But in order to avoid a one-sided
interpretation of this sentence, it must be supplemented
by the fundamental Socratic and Platonic doctrine of the
utility, or power to make men happy, inherent in the good
or noble. The study of this principle creates a momentary
impression that Plato's thoughts moved in a circle : The
useful is noble ; and then again, the noble is useful. But
it is not so in reality. So long as his mind moves in the
region of means, he is perfectly in earnest with the doctrine
of utility. His supreme standard is here that of conformity
to ends ; and any objection which has its source in feeling
touches him, as we shall shortly have abundant occasion to
observe, only in the very slightest degree. But in the
sphere of ends (or, to be quite correct, of ends and the
highest means which are directly subordinated to them)
Plato is constrained to listen to the voice of his own feelings.
In this he is not different from other thinkers, and it
114 GREEK THINKERS.
signifies but little if one proclaims an ideal while another
adopts individual or collective happiness as his supreme
standard. What it is that makes us happy can only in
the smallest measure be determined by objective criteria ;
the decision must for by far the greater part rest with
feeling, beyond the possibility of appeal.
At the beginning of the fourth book of the " Republic"
expression is given to a doubt whether the lives of the
guardians are likely to be happy, deprived as they are of
the good things commonly prized most highly. This
doubt is admitted, though not without a reservation ("I
should not be surprised if their lives were really the happiest
after all "), but the objection founded upon it is dismissed
with the remark that the object aimed at is not the greatest
possible happiness of any one class, but of the State as a
whole. This argument has been criticized on good grounds
by Aristotle. And it would be indeed strange if Plato had
really proposed to sacrifice the guardians to the interests
of the many— if the class raised above the others, not
merely by the possession of power, but by its inner worth,
the class, too, which lay nearest his own heart, had been
subordinated to the class which he compares with the
lowest element in the soul, and which he therefore refuses
to regard as capable of true well-being. Plato has himself
left no room for doubt ; as early as the middle of the fifth
book he resumes the subject, reaffirms the reservation we
have alluded to, and defends it with the utmost emphasis.
Life in common, such as he proposes for the guardians,
is, he says, free from the dissensions, the animosities, the
jealousies, the acts of violence, and the strife at law which
spring from the Mine and Thine ; flattery has no place in
it, nor the minor evils which attend inequality. The life of
the guardians, so concludes his enthusiastic eulogy, is the
happiest which it is possible for man to live.
A comparison of the two passages will furnish us with
an instructive clue. In the first Plato does homage, quite
sincerely, to the principle of utility ; in the second he over-
flows with fervent devotion to his ideal. For the decisive
factor is here the satisfaction which life in common gives
THE UNIFYING TENDENCY. II5
him. He possessed no balance in which he might weigh,
one against the other, the merits and the disadvantages of
this mode of life and its opposite. That which in his soul
turned the scale in favour of the former was an impulse
cognate to his preference for universals in the theory of
knowledge, an ardent longing for the abolition of all that
divides and isolates men, for a state in which they " call
nothing their own but their body"— a last barrier before
which one is inclined to say that the unifying tendency
comes to a reluctant halt. May we not infer that the
rationalistic utilitarian basis of argument is often merely an
after-thought, aesthetic and ethical preferences supplying
the real motive-power of hiis reforming zeal .' This will
apply with particular force to the question in connexion
with which the aphorism quoted at the beginning of this
section is enounced — the question of women.
Plato desired the full and many-sided development of
women's talents, the field for which, especially in the
Athens of that day, was very greatly cramped ; he dreamt
of their elevation from profound ignorance and subjection
bordering on servitude to the power of knowledge and
proud independence. He felt the charm of the ideal type
of woman which he had in his mind's eye, and of which
some rudiment at least was exhibited by the Spartan
women, with their fine physical development, due to
gymnastic, and their celebrated beauty. The proverbial
boldness which had been engendered by Spartan semi-
emancipation might, he hoped, be ennobled by a completer
education and transfigured into self-conscious dignity. All
this, we may imagine, outweighed in his soul the rationalistic
considerations by which he supports his innovation : the
analogies from animal life, employed also by Antisthenes,
and the argument of the " Laws " that the prevailing order
of society allows half of its available forces to lie fallow,
and withdraws them from the service of the community.
5. The picture of Plato as moralist would be incomplete
without those features of sternness and severity which seem
so surprising to us and which are so characteristic of his
individuality. He would have the healing art restricted
Il6 GREEK THINKERS.
to surgery and the treatment of acute diseases. The
dietetic medicine which was then a novelty of the day,
and which served to prolong artificially the lives of sickly
persons, appears to him as a " fosterer of diseases," and is
condemned accordingly. But he looks with full approval
on the son of the people who seeks speedy death or speedy
cure, who " has no time to be ill." A cautiously regulated
life, anxiously avoiding all risks and shielding, for example,
such parts of the body as the head and feet from the
exposure which should harden them, is an abomination to
Plato.
Moral hardening goes side by side with physical. He
condemns tragedy, principally on the ground that it supplies
abundant nutriment to the feeling of pity, and thereby
relaxes the emotional fibre. He who pays the tribute of
tears to a stage-hero's misfortunes diminishes his power
of bearing his own sorrows unmoved. A quietness of soul
bordering on rigidity is the temper which Plato would have
men preserve under every stroke of fate — an injunction in
giving which he is clearly combating his own nature as
much as in his polemic against poetry. Far from him is
the thought that on such occasions as the loss of friends or
kin it is possible to mourn too little as well as too much.
There is something that reminds us of the Cynics in the
way in which he treats such questions with a sole eye to
the protection of will-power against the dangers which
threaten it on this side. It has been rightly remarked that
an attempt, like that of Schopenhauer, to base ethics on
compassion, would have been incomprehensible to Plato.
And he would have utterly despised all the delights of
sensibility as depicted by a Rousseau.
We have here a union of the Socratic and Cynic " self-
sufficiency " (avTapKiia) with such a view of life as grows out
of the environment of a military aristocracy. If Aristotle,
on the other hand, allows a wider scope to the softer
feelings, and by his theory of " Catharsis " or emotional
discharge pleads for a compromise with this part of human
nature in life and art, his middle-class origin would seem
to have something to do with this notable divergence from
THE QUESTION OF POPULATION. W]
his master's teaching. The same difference continued to
divide the two schools. As much as two generations later
a man who left the Academy for the Lyceum received the
impression that he had come from demigods or heroes to
human beings.
There was one point, however, on which Plato and
Aristotle were in entire agreement — the vigorous control
which they would have the State exercise over the increase
of population, in respect of quality no less than quantity.
For the small and narrowly circumscribed republics of
Greece, impoverishment through over-population, with result-
ing political disorders, was a danger of no small magni-
tude, and therefore at an early date engaged the serious
attention even of practical legislators, such as Pheido the
Corinthian. The danger was aggravated for the ruling
class by the circumstance that its income was exclusively
derived from the possession of land incapable of increase.
The same class was faced by the momentous problem of
preserving its physical and mental superiority. The
ancient mind admitted expedients in this connexion, which
to the feelings of a modern man are highly revolting.
Thus Plato, when he recommends the exposure of weakly
or crippled infants, is in the main merely following the
example of Sparta. If he and Aristotle go somewhat
beyond this precedent, it is only in so far as they devote to
extinction, whether before or after birth, the presumed
weakly offspring of elderly parents. " To procreate for the
State" is an often-recurring formula in which the Platonic
attitude finds its strongest expression. It is necessary here
to distinguish most strictly between the ends aimed at and
the means employed to gain them. No one in our day
would ever think of returning to the cruel practices
approved by Greek lawgivers. But the great importance
to the community of questions relating to the propagation
of the species is being more permanently recognized, and
the regard due to the common welfare and to posterity (in
such matters as the hereditary transmission of grave
maladies) is being inculcated with greater and greater
emphasis on the individual conscience.
VOL. III. K
Il8 GREEK THINKERS.
6. Aristotle subjected his master's projects of reform t
a thorough critical examination. We shall select some c
his chief points and use them as pegs on which to hang ou
final comments. Not a little surprising is the initic
attitude of Aristotle towards the Platonic social orde
which he finally condemns. " Legislation of this type," h
says, " makes an excellent show, and has every appearanc
of being a boon to humanity ; it therefore commends itse]
to those who hear of it, and creates the impression that i
would do wonders in the way of introducing a high degre
of mutual sympathy among men." The principal referenc
is to the community of goods, but the community of womer
of which he has spoken immediately before, is doubtles
included. The object aimed at in these reforms, name!}!
the "unification" of society, is disapproved of on thj
ground that not every degree of unity is desirable for th]
State. It is the nature of the State to be composed o
heterogeneous elements, and unity going beyond a certaii
measure would destroy its essence. The family mus
have more unity than the State, and the individual humai
being more still. With this objection, which we may call !
logical one, goes the discussion of not a few difficultie|
incidental to the carrying out of the scheme in detail. Bu
for any rejection of it on strictly fundamental principle;
any expression of repugnance on ethical grounds, we ma;
search Aristotle in vain. This is not a little noteworthy
and requires explanation.
We recur to a fact which has already been mentionec
namely, that Sparta, a State regarded by the philosopher
as all but a pattern, exhibited at least the rudiments of ;
practical communism : the common meals of the men, thi
liberty accorded within certain limits of using other person;
slaves, horses, dogs, and so forth. All this is approved o
by Aristotle ; indeed, he recommends a further advance ii
the same direction. We might add that germs of marita
communism are also to be met with among the Spartans
as in the substitution for an aged husband of a younge
man chosen by him, and "many other such licences," a
Xenophon calls them. Now the so-called Lycurgeai
ARISTOTLE'S CRITICISM. II9
legislation did not so much create novelties as give an
artificial fixity to customs handed down from the earliest
antiquity ; we are thus entitled to draw some inferences as
to the conditions of primitive Greece. Here, too, we may
mention the account, by no means condemnatory, which
Herodotus gives of the community of women among the
Agathyrsi. The object of it, so he tells us, was to " make
brothers" of the tribesmen, and to banish "hatred and
ill will" from the wide circle of kindred. It is hardly an
exaggeration to say that to the common Greek sentiment,
which may be described as tinged with atavism in this
respect, exclusive personal appropriation and the resulting
inequality in ownership was as yet very far from seeming
so much of a law of nature, or meeting with such un-
conditional acceptance as it does in modern times.
There is another particular in which our comprehension
of Plato's reform-projects is greatly assisted by the criticism
of his pupil. The latter, and without doubt his master as
well, was acquainted with genuinely communistic institu-
tions among foreign peoples. So far is he from any
narrowness of horizon in this respect, that he even dis-
tinguishes different kinds of land-collectivism : common
ownership and common tillage on the one hand ; separate
ownership with common usufruct on the other. Community
of women, too, is known to him as existing among the
tribes of the African interior. Herodotus, we may note,
had already reported the prevalence of this institution
among the Agathyrsi, the Libyan Nasamones, and the
Asiatic Massagetes. Thus those ' features of Plato's ideal
which seem the strangest to us, were not altogether out
of touch with the facts of experience, real or believed to
be so.
Still, the combination of these features, together with
the additions peculiar to Plato, especially with regard to
the class of philosophical warriors and rulers, was suffi-
ciently startling to draw from this critic the somewhat
rhetorical exclamation, "Shall length of time go un-
regarded, and the multitude of years that are past 1 " In
other words. The world- is now very old ; and had such
I20 GREEK THINKERS.
a constitution been possible, some realization of it would
have occurred somewhere before now. It is the standing
and staple argument of all conservative minds against sub-
versive innovations — an argument which appeals to us,
with our greatly extended ethnographic and historical
perspective, far less forcibly than to past generations.
"The world is still in its infancy," says Goldsmith, in
the " Vicar of Wakefield," and the cry has been re-echoed
a hundred times since. The truth that "the paradoxes
of to-day are the commonplaces of to-morrow" is as
applicable to practical reforms as to speculative knowledge.
On the other hand, it is true, the complication of all human
concerns, and the consequent untrustworthiness of merely
deductive reasonings upon them, are now realized far more
vividly than ever before ; and we require of deep-reaching
innovations that they shall establish their viability as well
as their usefulness, not by ratiocination merely, but by
actual experiment.
Plato's expectation that the suppression of separate
families would engender a sentiment of universal brother-
hood, and thus extend the power of kindred ties over the
whole of a united people, moves Aristotle to contradiction.
He remarks that by the very width of their extension
those sentiments would lose in power ; he speaks of a
" watered-down " love of kin, and thinks that " a real cousin
is worth more than a son after Plato's model." Grote here
comes to the rescue with the rejoinder that for the objects
aimed at by Plato even a highly diluted sentiment of kin-
ship and solidarity would have been sufficient, while intensity
in such sympathies is exactly one of the elements which
he would have desired to be banished from his common-
wealth.
On the other hand, no answer seems possible to another
objection of the Stagirite, namely, that by the funda-
mentally different education and life of the ruling class
and the ruled so deep a gulf would be fixed between them
that they would in reality "form two states in one, and
indeed two mutually hostile states." In this expression
we note a resemblance, which is no doubt more than an
PHILOSOPHIC ABSOLUTISM. 12 1
innocent coincidence, to the condemnation which Plato
passes on one of his "degenerate" forms of constitution,
the oligarchic (cf. p. 93).
7. Here we reach the most assailable point of the
Platonic project, so far as it is of a political character —
the absence of any constitutional check or practical counter-
poise to the power of the philosophic rulers, although this
penetrates to the most intimate concerns of private life.
That such a rule could not possibly last, that from the
very beginning it would of necessity militate against the
welfare of those entrusted to it, is no doubt more than
can be proved. The theocratic despotism of the Incas is
one of several instances which should teach us caution.
Only so much may be definitely affirmed, that in the
immense majority of cases of political and social prosperity
some play of antagonistic forces has existed and has been
the chief condition of success, while the sole sway of any
one class or power in the State, untempered either by law
or circumstance, has seldom or never proved a model
worthy of imitation. Certainly such a rule has never been
a source of progress. Nor indeed was progress among the
advantages which Plato had in view. In this respect his
ideal fell far short of the despised Athenian reality. Plato's
" Republic " could never have come into existence in a
State after Plato's heart, nor any other reform-project of
equal boldness. Nay, even if we suppose him to have
realized his ideal, to have become a member of the new
commonwealth, had he then begun to doubt the supreme
excellence of his institutions, and desired to bring forward
proposals for a more moderate reform, such as is found in
the " Laws," the strict censorship of his " guardians " would
have effectually silenced him. We need not depict at
length the ossification, the intellectual rigidity, which such
a " pedantocracy " would have infallibly produced, in mar-
vellous contrast with the restless, never-ceasing development
of its creator.
We here observe a feature of Plato's mind which was
peculiarly detrimental to his work as reformer. We may
name it shortly : " dread of friction." The pupil of Socrates
122 GREEK THINKERS.
has realized the importance for political life of scientifically-
refined intelligence. This, therefore, must be freed, once
for all, from the leaden resistance of folly and inertia of
thought, by being endowed with absolute power. It is
the same in the social and ethical sphere. He recognizes
the great value of devotion to the common weal, of eleva-
tion above the conflicting interests which divide mankind ;
away, therefore, with all separate life, and with its organs,
private property and the family! Stoutness of heart and
strict conformity to reason in the conduct of life are
threatened by enervating emotions and the supremacy of
imagination ; nine-tenths, therefore, of all poetry, as the
main source of these dangers, must be thrown overboard.
This way of thinking Plato shares with a good many
others. Auguste Comte desired the annihilation of all
bad, indeed of all second-rate compositions, and he would
have had all useless varieties of animals and plants ex-
terminated. That many a species deemed to be useless
or even noxious might in course of time prove to have a
value, is an obvious reflexion, but one which did not arrest
his impatient striving for the abolition of the worthless.
This error seems to us typical of the trend of thought
represented by Plato. It is in the moral world as in the
physical, where with nearly every poison a means of healing
would be lost. The same powers of human nature are
capable of being used with the best results, and of being
misused with the worst. He who will achieve perfect
goodness in any one direction by the eradication of the
opposing instincts runs a risk of tampering with the roots
from which goodness itself springs. The philosopher was
here far behind his elder contemporary Euripides, the
tragedian whom he so heartily despised. It is to the
latter we owe the profound saying —
" The good and evil cannot dwell apart :
The world's a mixture ; "
a thought which Otto Ludwig expresses with still greater
force in the words —
" Excision of my worst
Were loss of what in me is best of all."
HISTORIC PARALLELS. I 23
And while unerring certainty in disentangling the bad
from the good is something far beyond the powers of
human reason, we are not so passing rich in impulses,
capacities, possibilities of happiness, that we can afford to
seek salvation in the maiming and impoverishment of our
nature rather than in its ever-renewed discipline and
culture.
Here, to our thinking, lies the double objection which is
decisive against Plato's social reforms — an objection of far
greater weight than the easy and superficial assumption
that the unusual must also be the impossible. This is
certainly not true of that species of communism in property
which Plato demands for his class of guardians. It is not
necessary, in this connexion, to decide the question whether
collective management is in itself adapted to supersede
private management everywhere. Plato's dream has in any
case been fulfilled more than once. What he demands is
not the socialization of the means of production (which in
our day can no longer be called an unexampled procedure),
for the producing classes are not touched by his reform.
A better parallel to his requirements is supplied by every
monastic community, and on a larger scale by brotherhoods
such as the Knights of the Teutonic Order, the members of
which renounced private property by the vow of poverty,
while a dependent and tributary peasantry, otherwise
treated by the Knights with indulgent kindness, furnished
the means of subsistence for the community.
These analogies belong to Mediaeval Europe. On the
other hand, marital communism has found an exact parallel
in modern America. We refer to the sect of the " Perfec-
tionists," founded by John Humphrey Noyes, who was
bom in New England in 181 1. For a full generation this
sect had its chief seat at Oneida in the state of New York.
We do not know whether Noyes was acquainted with
Plato's scheme of reform. In any case, the form which
" stirpiculture," or hiiman stock-breeding, took among his
adherents (in 1874 they numbered nearly 300) exhibits a
striking resemblance to the Platonic model. The only
marriages allowed were temporary ones for the purpose of
124 GREEK THINKERS.
providing children, and these were all arranged by the
head of the community ; the number and character of them
depended on the economic situation of the society for the
time being, and they were regulated by the endeavour to
secure the greatest possible perfection in the offspring.
Exclusiveness and intensity in the emotion of love was
condemned as " respect of persons," and branded as " sinful
selfishness."
8. In dealing with a genius like Plato it is a great
pleasure to be able to exchange the part of critic for
that of eulogist. We have that pleasure when we turn
from communism in property and marriage to the emanci-
pation of women. Plato here treads in the footsteps of his
great teacher. This is proved, not only by the agreement
with Xenophon and Antisthenes (cf. Vol. II. p. 8i), but by
the additional consentient voice of that disciple who had
the least originality, and who may therefore be taken as
representing most faithfully the peculiarites of the common
master. In his dialogue entitled " Aspasla," .^schines put
in the mouth of that distinguished woman an incisive
criticism of the education and mode of life traditional for
her sex. We hold the opinion that in this matter the author
of the "Republic" has given utterance to the pure and
complete truth, almost without admixture of error, namely,
that the female is the more delicate or weaker sex, but that
this relative weakness only appears on striking an average,
since an arrangement of all men and all women by
order of capacity would yield a highly diversified series.
And, further, that qualitative differences, decisive in the
choice of a calling, do not exist between masculine and
feminine endowment.
It is true that these propositions seem to require a
somewhat more cautious statement. Even in respect of
that average inferiority, it cannot as yet be regarded as
established that, where intellectual gifts are concerned, it
is an ultimate unalterable fact. On the other hand, the
possibility is not excluded that a free field for the develop-
ment of women's talents might bring to light average
differences of even qualitative order. Only so much is
THE CAPACITIES OF WOMEN. 1 25
certain, that these differences could never suffice to justify
the limitation of callings for one half of the human race.
That which is absolutely established is the fact that women
have done good work and achieved notable success in a
great variety of spheres which the accident of birth or the
play of circumstances has opened up to them. On the
other hand, the observation still holds good, that intellectual
creations of the first rank, such as demand exceptionally
sustained concentration, whether in poetry, music, philo-
sophy, or history, have not hitherto been produced by
women. But nothing can be inferred hence touching the
manner of women's education or their freedom in the
choice of vocations. No one was ever educated to be a
Shakespeare or a Dante, a Galilei or a Descartes ; and
every calling employs a great variety of powers by no
means equal in value. To this must be added that the
above empirical rule has merely a provisional validity, and
may at any moment be broken through by a brilliant
exception. In a department closely related to those just
named, that of narrative literature, women have, during the
last few decades, produced works in no respect inferior to
those of their male rivals. The possibility must not be
forgotten that the lower degree of merit hitherto observed
in the productions of women may be due, in those cases
where it is undeniable, more to the pressure of unfavourable
circumstances than to any deficiency of talent.
In the application of these ruling principles there is, it
must be confessed, a difference between our modern ideals
and those of Plato, arising out of the difference between
our way and his of ordering the family. When we insist
on the retention of the separate family, then for a great
number of cases, though by no means for all, there
immediately results that very division of labour which
Plato affirms so energetically as a general principle and
rejects so decidedly in regard to the two sexes. Nothing
can be more natural than that mothers, being kept at
home by the care of their children, especially if these are
numerous and of tender age, should devote themselves to
household duties and to other tasks, such as sick-nursing,
which are suited to their degree of physical strength.
126 GREEK THINKERS.
But though Plato's ideal of womanhood has little prospect
of complete realization, a comparison between the Athens
of the fifth century and the most highly civilized nations of
to-day shows that the course of development is in the
direction which Plato approved, and that a considerable
part of his demands have been actually fulfilled.
Xenophon gives us, in his " CEconomicus," a picture
which is assuredly a faithful one, of the mind and life of
Athenian women. The newly married Ischomachus is
busy with the education of his wife, a girl barely out of
her childhood, whom he is anxious to train into an active
and competent housekeeper and companion of his life,
healthy in body and mind. It is necessary for him, first
of all, to tame her as though she were a wild animal, to
overcome her shyness, and raise her towards his own level.
Hitherto she has learnt almost nothing ; her mother has
merely brought her up to be well-behaved and submissive
to her master's will. She knows, too, how to spin ; but for
the rest is inclined to leave weaving and all other house-
work to her slaves, to idle her time away, and to make
sure of her husband's affection by artificially embellishing
her indoor complexion and by an unsparing use of all the
arts of the toilet. (Marriages for love, we note in passing,
were all but unheard of, since freeborn maidens were
debarred from the society of young men of their own age.
It was by considerations of private interest that marriages
were decided, and Plato is less violent than he seems at
first sight when he proposes to consult the public interest
instead.) ftow great is the diff"erence between this half-
Oriental seclusion and the life of the girls and women — in
the same social class — of to-day ! Their cheeks are bronzed
with sport, they deliver lectures and take part in public
meetings, they paint pictures and write books ; many
professions, in North America almost all, are open to
them ; and they are leaving farther and farther behind them
the stage in which they were banished to the wash-tub and
the needle, the kitchen and the nursery.
There are yet other respects in which Plato's model has
by no means remained a mere Utopia. If the work of State
PLATO JUSTIFIED BY HISTORY. \2']
departments is now largely performed by trained officials,
if standing armies display a far higher degree of efficiency
than was possible to a burgess-militia, if the progressive
division of labour has brought industry to a height of
development undreamt of in antiquity, — Plato, influenced
herein by Socratic intellectualism, by his hatred of the
Athenian democratic amateurism, as well as by Egyptian
and other foreign models, must be regarded as a precursor
of all these changes. It is true that he did not escape
occasional inconsistencies. For example, the strict division
of labour which he postulates is only imperfectly realized
by his " guardians," among whom those at least who attain
the highest goal are in turn civil officials, military com-
manders, and speculative philosophers. It is surprising,
too, that while special training and " experience " are not
wholly neglected in the governors of the state, they occupy
a very subordinate space. History has here pronounced
Plato not altogether in the wrong. Thus many of the
most famous English politicians, though equipped with no
more than a purely general education, have grappled suc-
cessfully with the most difficult problems. And alternation
between civil and military employments has impaired the
efficiency of the great Anglo-Indian statesmen as little as
that of the Roman.
But whatever our judgment on many a detail, even on
many a leading thought, of this social and political scheme,
the author has earned an imperishable distinction. Follow-
ing the hints 'of his teacher Socrates, he was the first to
turn upon human institutions the light of free rational
investigation, and to open in the triple rampart of tradition,
prejudice, and tyrannous force a breach which has since
been often narrowed but never repaired.
Further, in the positive content of Plato's chief work
there were latent germs the development of which was not
to be arrested ; indeed, the beginnings of that development
are in part visible to us in that product of the philosopher's
old age, the " Laws." That harsh severity which we found
so characteristic of the author of the " Republic " will appear
there in greatly diminished strength. Nor can we wonder.
128 GREEK THINKERS.
For the obstacles in the path of what we now call altruism
or solidarism have already been largely overcome in the
'' Republic." An ideal involving the sacrifice by the indi-
vidual of nearly all his separate life, which sweeps away
all the barriers dividing him from his fellows — such an ideal
opens a wide channel for the influx of altruistic feelings, for
the devotion of each one to the interests of others. That
Plato did not immediately enter the path thus traced for
him was due to the high-strung idealism of his late-continued
youth.
A great part of human interests, nearly all, in fact, that we
mean by material welfare and its opposite, had very little
significance for him, whether in his own case or in that of
others ; while his contempt for the lower classes contributed
to the same result from another side. Advancing age
mellowed the austerity of that idealism, and at the same
time diminished that prejudice against the lowly bom, and
even against slaves, chiefly, perhaps, because of his growing
withdrawal from the influence of the aristocratic associations
of his youth. All this will come before us in the " Laws."
But besides the beginnings of an enhanced altruism which
we have just noticed, the " Republic " betrays a tendency
in quite the opposite direction, towards the higher valuation
of the individual. We refer particularly to the comparison
of the man with the State, or ttoXlq, and the injunction to
realize, in the single soul at least, the pattern which has
been exhibited, even should it prove impossible to embody
it in a commonwealth. As contrasted with* the common
Greek view, this injunction and the parallelism on which
it rests bespeak considerable progress in the direction
followed later by the Stoa and finally by Christianity.
In all these respects we observe a close affinity to Cynic
doctrines of which the reader will hardly need to be
reminded (cf. Vol. II. pp. 152, 161 seq., 165 seq^).
9. One word more on the fundamental thesis of the
" Republic," the coincidence of happiness and justice. The
critical comments with which we have accompanied our
accounts of the arguments bearing on this point (cf. pp. 61
and 75) may now be fitly supplemented by a final estimate
THE BASIS OF SOCIAL ETHICS. 1 29
of their value. Earnestly as every well-disposed reader
must desire to find the thesis proven, just as little can an
impartial judge avoid perceiving that the soundness of the
demonstration is not on a level with the greatness of its
purpose. We need hardly mention the palpable ex-
aggeration which reckons all external goods as nothing,
and speaks of happiness even in the case of one persecuted
and tormented to the uttermost. The no less high-minded
but more sober-thinking Aristotle tacitly discarded these
exaggerations. But they form, so we would suggest,
merely the incongruous husk of a central thought which
is both true and of great importance — the thought,
namely, that for every one who possesses an ideal, of
whatever nature, there are some values which may be
termed infinite, not comparable or commensurate with any
other values. Better death, or any extremity of outward
suffering, than inward degradation ! — such words are no
rhetorical hyperbole, but a cry from the heart of every one
who has any share of ethical culture. But the knowledge
of that which alone makes life truly worth living is the
fruit of just that education and training which the indi-
vidual has gained from society. The possibility of that
training is no doubt a gift of nature. Social influences
could do nothing for us if we had not the inborn capacity
to profit by them. But without such influences our
capacities would slumber on undeveloped. And the de-
velopment achieved will be entirely different according to
the surroundings in which destiny places a man. It will
be of one kind, for example, among Plato's countrymen,
the slave-owning Greeks, and of a very different kind with
us, to whom slavery is an abomination. It will be one
thing with the Turcomans or Bedouins, for whom robbery
is permissible and honourable, but quite another with us,
who brand and punish robbery as a hateful crime. Social
virtue, or justice, has a basis in nature, but is not therefore
by any means a product of nature. The wide survey
afforded us by our familiarity with numerous and funda-
mentally different stages of ethical culture— differing, above
all, in the scope and range of moral precepts— leaves no
130 GREEK THINKERS.
room for the shadow of a doubt on this head. But even
Plato's older contemporaries, an Herodotus or a Hippias,
had already perceived this clearly enough (cf. Vol. I. p. 403).
Plato's zeal, inherited from Socrates and springing from
the purest motives, for the establishment of justice or
social virtue on an unassailable foundation, has dimmed
the clearness of his vision, and caused him to overlook
evident facts. Only so can it be explained that Plato
now thought himself justified in identifying justice with
efficiency, and again with the equilibrium of the soul's
powers. We should hesitate to' admit his contention that
no tyrant or slave-hunter, or even that no robber-captain,
has ever existed who was thoroughly capable and efficient,
and at the same time happy. A man of anti-social or
inhuman disposition does not, as an immediate and express
consequence of this disposition, suffer any loss of his
capacity for action and enjoyment. Or, more accurately,
he does not begin to suffer such a loss until he has granted
admission to enough altruistic feeling to impair the unity
and coherence of his character. Then ensues that discord
and confusion, that inward conflict and disturbance of
equilibrium, which destroys his happiness and his power
to act, but which is as foreign to the wholly anti-social
disposition as it is to the character filled and penetrated
with the social spirit.
This thought, one which bridges the gulf between social
ethics and the hygiene of the soul, admits of a much more
general statement. Whenever the predominant element
in a character is temporarily overpowered, it will resume
its rights when the trouble is over, but now accompanied
by painful feelings, which we name regret, repugnance,
remorse, pricks of conscience, according to circumstances.
And well for him who has the courage to drain the bitter
cup and endure to the end the struggle between the
opposing tendencies within him. Otherwise the acute
disorder easily becomes a chronic malady, gradually cor-
roding the powers both of feeling and of will. For in the
continual shock of conflicting impulses these powers be-
come weakened, much as two currents moving in opposite
JUSTICE AND THE HYGIENE OF THE SOUL. 131
directions in the same channel. This enfeebling process
is, moreover, indirectly promoted by the involuntary effort
to escape from the struggle, that is, to banish the con-
flicting ideas from the mind. Such efforts can hardly
remain confined to a narrow region of psychic activity ;
thus the normal flow of ideas is itself impeded, and injury
done to the healthy working of the soul's functions. Per-
haps these results, which have been obtained from observa-
tion and the analogy of natural phenomena, may one day
be established by the strict methods of psycho-physical
experiment. If so, the dream of Plato and Socrates would
be fulfilled, and a natural basis found for social ethics in
the proof of its real indispensability for the happiness of
the individual. It may be objected, certainly, that the
inward breach might also be healed by rooting out not
the anti-social, but the social impulses. In itself, the
objection holds, but it is of no practical importance. A
Cyclops dwelling in lonely seclusion might make the
attempt, but not a member of society in constant inter-
course with his fellows, and, if not a monster or a de-
humanized brute, continually bound more closely to them
by new ties of conscious or unconscious sympathy.
Such a demonstration, however, with its long chain of
intermediate links, seemed to Plato unnecessary. He
escaped the necessity of one by setting the motives
of injustice in the place of injustice itself. For him the
unjust man is the luster after rule, the covetous man,
the man given over to unbridled sensuality. With these
types he contrasts their opposites, and thus frames an
ideal which has wielded enormous influence and won the
highest significance for humanity. But there is one thing
which an impartial judge will not admit, namely, that
Plato has succeeded in proving, as strictly as he thought
he had, the greater worth of those types in respect of
happiness (cf, for example, p. 99). That he who masters
his desires is happier than he who is under their yoke,
may be conceded without demur. But that the contem-
plative or philosophic life, which Plato admits into his
ideal as being the freest from desires, blesses him who
132 GREEK THINKERS.
lives it more than does the life of one born to rule, one
whose energies naturally flow outwards — this is an assertion
which no argument could ever make good. The taste and
the talent of a Plato or an Aristotle here stand opposed
to the taste and the talent of a Pericles or an Epaminondas ;
and where shall we look for an umpire ?
PLATO AT THE COURT OF DIONYSIUS II. 133
CHAPTER XIV.
PLATO'S SECOND AND THIRD RESIDENCES IN SICILY.
I. Plato himself was not always given up to contemplation.
His keen ambition to make the world better did not always
rest content with the long circuit of writing and teaching.
Twice he attempted to take an active part in politics ; on
neither occasion were his efforts crowned with success.
The grievous failure, with its final note of tragedy, darkened
the evening of the philosopher's life, but probably turned
to the advantage of his philosophy. The further develop-
ment of his political theory, as presented to us in the
" Statesman " and the " Laws," must have been influenced
by those bitter experiences. We may even conjecture that
the impulse thus received extended to the other parts of
his system, and forwarded that general revision of all his
fundamental doctrines to which we have already alluded
(cf. Vol. n. pp. 289, 290).
The royal throne of Syracuse was occupied by Diony-
sius n. (367 B.C.). His familiar adviser, bound to him by
a threefold bond of affinity, was Dion, the same high-
minded prince who twenty years earlier had enjoyed the
friendship of Plato, and received from him a stimulus
which affected the whole of his subsequent life. It was
Dion's influence that moved the young prince to invite to
his court the great philosopher, then in the fulness of his
powers and at the zenith of his reputation. At the same
time, possibly, Dionysius thought to enhance the splendour
of his reign by surrounding himself with eminent thinkers
VOL. III. L
1 34 GREEK -THINKERS.
and writers, just as a Polycrates in Samos, a Gelo and
Hiero in Syracuse itself, had made celebrated poets mem-
bers of their royal households. In fact, Plato was not the
only recipient of that invitation ; Aristippus of Cyrene, as
well as iEschines the Socratic, also resided as guests in
the palace of Dionysius II. Plato forgot the wrong done
him by the father ; he obeyed the summons of the son,
backed as it was by Dion's urgent entreaties, and left the
Academy, accompanied by a train of pupils.
A teacher whose powerful eloquence is still mirrored
in his dialogues, whose forceful personality had already
imposed its yoke on so many hearts, may well have thought
it no chimerical undertaking to gain for the service of
philosophy a great Hellenic state, ruled by a young and
susceptible prince, and with the help thus obtained to bring
his political ideal into being. Experiences which might
have checked such hopes were wholly lacking ; and the
example of Sparta, whose peculiar constitution, then held
to be a model of perfection in many of its parts, was
regarded as the well-planned work of a single legislator,
seemed to invite emulation. His first impressions, too,
were in correspondence with these high-pitched expecta-
tions. Plato was received with marks of the highest
distinction ; a royal carriage, adorned as for a great
occasion, conveyed him from the harbour to the palace.
Dionysius soon became a diligent pupil of the great
Athenian master. A course of instruction was begun,
the first stage of which, on Platonic principles, was devoted
to mathematics. The fashion thus introduced in royal
quarters was taken up by the crowd of courtiers with
amusing eagerness, and soon the sand of the courts and
paths round the palace was covered with geometrical
figures.
Not intriguing politicians only, but sincere patriots, and
especially the statesmen who had grown grey in the service
of Dionysius I., may well have shaken their heads. The
foundations of the State seemed in danger. Plutarch tells
a story, which may or may not be true, to the effect that
once, when sacrifice was being offered in the palace, and the
A PHILOSOPHIC INTERLUDE. 1 35
herald was invoking the blessing of heaven on the un-
changed continuance of his master's reign, the prince, then
twenty-five years of age, was so carried away by his zeal for
Plato's teaching, that he interrupted the rite and declared
that blessing a curse. An Athenian sophist — so men
whispered — was attempting to debase and emasculate
Syracuse, had undertaken to win by his power of speech that
triumph in pursuit of which his countrymen, half a century
earlier, had vainly employed their whole armed force ! The
conservative party did what it always does in such a case — it
shortened sail, and waited for a favourable wind. Plato mean-
time continued to discharge his duties as instructor, and to
prepare his royal pupil to play the part of a philosophic
ruler. He has been reproached with allowing the decisive
moment to slip by unused. It is suggested that he ought
to have turned the honeymoon of philosophic enthusiasm to
better account by bringing about a change in the form of
government, and procuring the liberation of the Greek cities
subject to Syracuse. He is censured as an unpractical
politician, who, instead of setting promptly to work, pre-
ferred to dally with his office as a director of education and
conscience. Such, more or less, is the judgment of George
Grote, who involuntarily substitutes his own political ideal
for Plato's. The author of the " Republic " was no believer
in the universal healing power of political constitutions.
His ideal, both then and for some time afterwards, was
philosophic absolutism. The inward reformation of the
ruler was, therefore, for him, no merely ornamental or sub-
sidiary achievement, which might be omitted without much
loss, but the very heart and centre of the reformer's task.
It is not want of consistency that can fairly be charged
against him, but want of knowledge of human nature.
This reproach, however, can be urged with greater justice
against Plato's helper and intermediary, Dion, who failed
to perceive that the sudden enthusiasm of his young kins-
man was but a fire of straw which flames up fiercely and
soon dies out. The mistake was to cost him dear. The
old conservative party, then led by Philistus, an historian
and statesman who had been recalled from exile, watched
136 GREEK THINKERS.
vigilantly for Dion to make a false move. That which is
so earnestly sought is generally found. Material for an
accusation was supplied by intercepted letters of Dion
addressed to the Carthaginian generals — letters whose
object was the conclusion of a treaty of peace, and in which
a prejudiced eye could not fail to discover a treasonable
design. Nothing was easier than to represent to the
occupant of the throne — suspicious as he was by nature and
soon tired of an unaccustomed tutelage — that his own
exclusion from public business and the exaltation of Dion
had been the true motives of the summons sent to Plato.
The resentment thus diligently fostered broke out with full
force, and an abrupt end was made of the philosophic inter-
lude at the royal residence. Not but what a continuation
of it was to be witnessed shortly.
2. Dion was banished ; but it was only after long delays
that Plato himself received his cong^, and then not without
promising Dionysius to return at a more convenient season.
With this promise Plato coupled the condition that at the
same time — after the conclusion of a campaign with which
for the moment the monarch was fully occupied — Dion, too,
should be recalled. But such a breach as had been opened
-between the ruler and his elder kinsman and adviser has
a natural tendency to widen. The confidential position
formerly occupied by the displaced friend is invaded by
others who spare no pains to make themselves secure in it.
Dion, too, was highly honoured in the motherland ; and
every token of esteem paid to the exile, such as the com-
plimentary citizenship granted him by Sparta, was neces-
sarily felt by Dionysius as an affront. Whether he wished
it or not, Dion was sure to seem the living indictment of
his royal brother-in-law. It was inevitable that the dis-
contented in Syracuse, and the enemies of Dionysius every-
where, should see their natural leader in the expelled prince.
Dion himself, however, still hoped for a reconciliation, and
he urged Plato to accept a new invitation which he re-
ceived to the Syracusan court. Archytas, then at the head
of the Tarentine commonwealth, joined his entreaties, and
at length Plato reluctantly gave way. He had received
THE FRIENDS AT OLYMPIA. 1 37
satisfactory reports of the monarch's changed sentiments and
philosophical studies ; he was able, therefore, to embark on
the Syracusan war-ship sent for his conveyance in the hope
of smoothing the way for Dion's return, and thus preparing
the moral and political regeneration of the Sicilian monarchy.
But his expectation was again disappointed. Indeed, the
breach he hoped to heal was the rather widened. The
marked predilection which Plato showed for Dion is said to
have roused the jealousy of the suspectible prince. Hitherto
he had done nothing to curtail the revenue which Dion
received from his vast estates ; he now proceeded to their
confiscation. The disillusioned philosopher perceived the
hopelessness of his efforts, and expressed his wish to return
home. But, though he was overwhelmed with marks of
distinction, his departure was not permitted, and he was
detained in a kind of honourable captivity. His final
release was due to the urgent representations of Archytas.
He landed on the Peloponnese, and met Dion at the
Olympic games (July, 360), where the banished prince and
the renowned teacher formed the centre of interest for the
crowds drawn by the festival from all parts of Greece.
If the two friends sought the banks of the Alpheus to
avoid the gaze of the curious and enjoy the cool of the
evening, there can have been no lack of varied information
for them to exchange as they walked. Let us endeavour
to catch a few morsels of their conversation. Plato has an
attentive listener as he describes the impressions which his
nephew Speusippus has received from all sorts and con-
ditions of men in Syracuse, and has since carefully pre-
served. If Dion speaks regretfully of the new and heavy
sacrifice which has been fruitlessly made for himself and
his native city by the philosopher now on the threshold
of old age, Plato seeks to console him by relating the
successes of his pupils at the palace — successes which
have not a little increased the reputation of the Aca-
demy. He tells of the astonishment which the predic-
tion of a solar eclipse (May 1 2, 360) by his pupil Helicon of
Cyzicus had aroused, and how Xenocrates won universal
admiration when with genuine " Socratic strength " he
138 GREEK THINKERS.
gained the victory in the drinking contest instituted by
Dionysius at the " Pitcher-Feast," but disdained the prize,
a circlet of gold, and laid it upon the statue of a god. He
speaks, too, of the pleasure with which he met Eudoxus the
Cnidian, who more than two decades earlier had visited
Athens and the Academy as a youth of twenty-three, and
had since become the most celebrated astronomer of the
age.
Meanwhile the logic of facts was pressing on to further
and further consequences. Dionysius could not but expect
the worst from the prince whom he had robbed and wronged
so grievously, and he felt he could no longer allow him
to possess, in the royal palace itself, a point of support
which seemed intended for a centre of hostile intrigues.
Dion's wife, Arete, was the daughter of Dionysius I. by
his marriage with Dion's sister Aristomache. Dion had
formerly maintained the claims to the throne of Arete's
brothers, while their sister Sophrosyne was at the same
time the half-sister and wife of Dionysius II., whose mother
was a Locrian named Doris. This Dionysius now dis-
solved Dion's marriage, and compelled Arete to become
the wife of Timocrates, one of his own familiar friends.
Thus the last bond was broken by which the estranged
kinsmen had hitherto been united. An open conflict was
imminent.
Three years were spent in preparations, and then Dion
drew the sword. In August, 357, he left Zante for Sicily,
taking with him, in five merchantmen, a small body of
volunteers, chiefly composed of Peloponnesian mercenaries.
Several members of the Academy accompanied him, among
them Eudemus of Cyprus, who never returned, and whose
untimely end was mourned by his friend Aristotle both in
prose and verse (cf. Vol. II. p. 71). Timonides, too, went
with the expedition ; and his notes, drawn up in the form
of a diary and addressed to Speusippus, are one of the chief
sources for the historical narrative of these events ; lastly,
there was Callippus of evil destiny. The small number of
the adventurers and their rapid triumph remind us of the
thousand of Marsala and Garibaldi's marvellous conquest
CAREER AND CHARACTER OF DION. 1 39
of the kingdom of Naples. In both cases the discontent of
the people was the most powerful ally of the invaders. But
the fickleness of the masses, who now received Dion and
his company with enthusiastic jubilation and now drove
them out of the city, together with the intrigues of Dion's
personal opponent, Heraclides, a returned exile, jeopardized
the successes won until Dion gained the final victory, of
which he was to enjoy the fruits for barely a year. By a
freak of destiny the school of idealism sent forth a politician
whose actions seemed inspired by the most unscrupulous
opportunism. An unworthy member of the Platonic circle,
the Callippus already mentioned, assassinated Dion (in the
year 354), and made himself master, though only for a short
time, of Syracuse. It is foreign to the purpose of the
present work to trace the changing fortunes of that struggle.
All we need ask is whether, and in what way, Dion had
merited his tragic end, and whether Plato was deceived in
him. The affirmative is now often maintained ; some
think that Dion was merely an example of vulgar ambition,
whose only object was to set himself in the place of
Dionysius, while others imagine that he quickly fell a victim
to the intoxication of power, and abandoned the high aims
with which he had set out. Neither of these opinions
seems to us well-founded.
3. Dion and his countrymen were separated from the
first by a grave misunderstanding which it was hardly
possible for them to overcome. The dwellers in the great
Sicilian city were well acquainted with two things : the
ruthless tyranny of their monarchs, the first and the second
Dionysius, and the equally ruthless revolutionary democracy
which sought the welfare of the many by the spoil of the
rich, whose watchwords were "confiscation of property" and
" division of the land." That which was wholly unknown to
them, and could scarcely be made intelligible to them, was
a ruler whose aim was the welfare of the people, but whose
means consisted in a well-considered division of power,
in a strong government, not unreservedly at the mercy
of the immediate influence of the many — a government
whose guiding principle might be expressed by the motto.
HO GREEK THINKERS.
" Everything for the people, little by the people." We can
well understand that the Syracusans were not ready to
extend their confidence to a member of their royal family,
and that they fell an easy prey to the seductive arts of a
demagogue like Heraclides. For such an opponent Dion
was no match. The very qualities which had enabled him |
to represent his country abroad with dignity, which had
effectively impressed the Carthaginians on the occasion of
his different embassies, diminished his fitness for the part
of popular leader. His disposition was proud and reserved,
he had the self-assured address of the prince and the
philosopher. He possessed, moreover, another feature of
the philosopher's and idealist's character — an exaggerated
leniency, a readiness to forgive and forget past injuries,
which in his dealings with Heraclides he carried beyond all
reasonable limits. Nor was he able to persevere in this
course to the end. At the wrong moment, and against the
wish of all his adherents, he had been merciful ; he had
not only spared the perjurer's forfeited life when he might
legitimately have ordered his execution, but had set him
once more at his own side to share his authority. At last,
however, he had no choice but either to yield place to his
unworthy subordinate, or procure his death without a
judicial sentence. He did the latter, and thus entered
upon the path of revolution which was to lead to his own
destruction. In death, at least, Dion received the highest
honours from the Syracusan people ; and their mourning
gave evidence of the deep impression which the
character of the royal philosopher had made upon them
in spite of all misunderstandings and differences of
opinion.
The chief charge brought against Dion by modern
historians we regard as entirely without foundation. He
refused compliance with the popular wish, of which
Heraclides was the spokesman, that he should raze the
fortress into which the royal residence had been trans-
formed. For this refusal he had many and good grounds.
Such a demolition would have been, first and foremost, a
demonstration, in which Dion would have been prevented
DION AND MODERN HISTORIANS. [41
from participating by the mere dictates of decency and
regard to his family. For decades his sister Aristomache,
and afterwards his niece and wife Arete, had reigned in
that stronghold. The destruction of it would have been
the signal for a wild outburst of popular rejoicing, for the
expression of sentiments directed against all the members
of the ruling family. Dion's task was to reconcile the con-
flicting parties, not to increase the forces of revolutionary
radicalism. And, had these considerations not been
decisive, the mere fact that his bitter and crafty opponent
Heraclides was the author of the proposal, was enough to
make it distasteful to him and convert the discussion of it
into a trial of strength between the rivals.
The form of government which Dion intended to intro-
duce was one blended out of monarchical, aristocratic, and
democratic elements — a project whose agreement with
Plato's maturer suggestions can hardly be accidental.
That this statement of Plutarch does not rest on mere
conjecture, or on fictions current in a narrow circle, is
shown by the circumstance that Dion summoned " helpers
and counsellors " from the aristocratically ruled mother-
city, Corinth — a fact which we have no ground for doubting,
and which is in harmony with the action of Dion in copying
his coinage from Corinthian models. Here, too, we have
Dion's point of closest contact with Timoleon. The lat):er
was summoned from Corinth ten years later, after an interval
in which the Syracusans had endured the despotism of
Callippus, of Dion's two sons, of the returned Dionysius,
and finally of Hicetas. Or rather we should say that the
mother-city, having received a request to restore order in
Syracuse, entrusted the task to Timoleon as a man of high
character and proved ability. He succeeded where Dion
had failed. His powerful personality, together with the
well-calculated measures he adopted, triumphed over the
dangerous forces which were ever making for tyranny, and
which, twenty years later, after the death of Timoleon (316),
did in fact gain the upper hand once more, through the
agency of Agathocles. Between the constitutional reform
accomplished by Timoleon and that projected by Dion there
142 GREEK THINKERS.
does not exist that sharp contrast which modern historians
generally claim to discern. The similarity of starting-point,
the dependence upon the aristocratically ruled Corinth
which is common to the two cases, are preliminary
objections to that claim. And this first impression is
strengthened by the little we know with certainty of the
government founded by Timoleon ; by the yearly drawing
of lots which placed at the head of the State some priest
of the Olympian Zeus belonging to one of a limited circle
of families, by the council of six hundred, which formed
part of the same constitutional enactment, and which in
its later development appears as the organ of oligarchic
tendencies. That which principally distinguished the two
high-minded men and their work, apart from the very
unequal duration of their activity, was firstly their tempera-
ments, and secondly — a more important matter, in our
opinion — the difference in their situations. Just as the
glorious and brilliant reign of Louis XIV. did not prevent
the exhaustion and impoverishment of France at its close,
so Syracuse, in spite of the position which it won as a great
power, in spite of the military successes of its monarchs,
was in the end drained of its life-blood by the endless wars
with Carthage and the long-enduring civil conflict. Grass
was growing in the Syracusan market-place when Timoleon
entered the city. Thus the Demos with which Dion had
to deal, and that which awaited Timoleon, were identical
only in name. The people which had met Dion with
mutinous defiance and unbridled greed became a willing
and obedient instrument in the hand of Timoleon. Dion
lost a great part of his popularity when he refused com-
pliance with the wild cry for the division of the land. He
was thus unable, whether willing or not, to trust entirely
to the Demos and dispense with the aid of foreign
mercenaries. Timoleon was the idol of the people,
although, instead of dividing the land among the many,
he brought a great number of colonists with capital into
the country, and sold to the highest bidder the houses
of banished owners which he might have given away. This
far-reaching difference in the social and economic situation
DION AND TIMOLEON. 1 43
at two epochs divided by so short an interval has not
hitherto, we think, received sufficient consideration. The
failure to recognize this important distinction has led to
comparisons in which the head of Timoleon has been
encircled with an undeserved halo, while the figure of Dion
has been shrouded in an equally unmerited gloom.
144 GREEK THINKERS.
CHAPTER XV.
PLATO'S "EUTHYDEMUS" AND " PARMENIDES."
I. Did Dion's enterprise — so many a reader may well ask
— leave no discernible trace in the long series of Plato's
writings ? Such a trace, we think, is to be found in that
passage of the " Statesman " which is concerned with the
right of a ruler, supposed well-intentioned and qualified for
his task, to coerce men for their good by conducting them
from a perverse to a salutary form of polity. This right is
there maintained with a warmth and eagerness such as
only questions of practical politics usually inspire. We
could wish to take this opportunity of bringing our
study of the " Statesman " — which is a link between the
" Republic '' and the " Laws " — into close relation with our
account of the former work. But a full understanding of
the dialogue could not be reached by this path. For the
" Statesman " is a continuation of the " Sophist," which in
its turn takes up the thread of the " Theaetetus." Again,
two parts of this trilogy — the "Theaetetus" and the
" Sophist " — presuppose the " Parmenides," not only by
isolated hints and allusions, but by their explicit mention
of the fictitious conversation, on the doctrine of ideas,
between the youthful Socrates and the aged Parmenides,
which forms the content of the dialogue bearing the
Eleatic thinker's name. Our exposition of this whole
phase of Platonic authorship must therefore start from
the "Parmenides." But first we desire to deal with a
work of slighter importance, which we have hitherto
ignored. This is the " Euthydemus," which both form
and matter assign to an earlier period.
THE " EUTHYDEMUS:' 1 45
This earlier period, however, is not the earliest of all.
For the sophists against whom Socrates now takes the
field are no longer the old sophists known to the " Hip-
pias," the " Protagoras," or the " Gorgias ; " the " Eristics "
(of. Vol. I. p. 421, seq.) and their art are now the enemy.
It is true that insignificant and commonplace characters
are employed to retail those excrescences of dialectic with
which the " Euthydemus " is concerned, two brothers who
have exchanged the arts of armed combat and of rhetoric
for that of refutation and argument. But it is at his fellow-
Socratics, more especially Antisthenes, that Plato strikes
through these bruisers. The buffoonery of the piece
furnishes us with a chronological indication which is not
to be despised. This sportive, almost farcical attack must
have preceded the serious polemic against Antisthenic
doctrines contained in the " Theaetetus " and the " Sophist."
The contrary order would involve an inverted climax which
the artistic sense of even a less consummate master than
Plato would have avoided.
The " Euthydemus " may be described as a piece of
dialectical horseplay. The purpose of it is most clearly
revealed in the epilogue. Socrates' friend Crito has left the
gymnasium known as the Lyceum, in which the two Eristics
have been showing off their tricks. On his way he meets a
rhetorician, who expresses his contempt for Eristic, and, in
the superior tone of a man who regards his own art of
rhetoric as the one true philosophy, includes the philosophers
as a class in his depreciations. Under this artistic disguise,
and by it accommodated to the dialogue form, we have no
doubt that there lies a reference to a current literary event.
Attacks of this nature, in which the philosophers are
censured as vain disputers, in which Plato, Antisthenes,
and the Megarians are lumped together without distinction,
are to be found in several speeches of Isocrates. Since the
character given of the unnamed rhetorician is likewise
appropriate to Isocrates, in details as well as in the main
point — he is a writer of speeches, but yet not accustomed to
appear in public — it was a natural conclusion to suppose
him aimed at here. This conjecture cannot be raised to
146 GREEK THINKERS.
the rank of a certainty. But whether the critic in question
who is relegated without anger to his proper place and for
the rest is not treated altogether without respect, be
Isocrates or some other, the fact remains that in this
epilogue we have the key to the dialogue as a whole. Some
attack of the kind just mentioned supplied Plato with an
occasion for sharply differentiating his own Socratism from
that of his opponents and rivals. Euthydemus and Diony-
sodorus are the representatives, in caricature, of that
dialectic which arose out of the school of Socrates, but at
the same time owed much to impulses first given by Zeno.
Paradoxical reasonings cease in this burlesque to be merely
the instrument of intellectual gymnastic ; as fallacies and
logical pitfalls they become an end in themselves, or, rather,
a means of money-making, and the primary use made of
them is to dazzle and astonish, to win from crowded
audiences laughter and applause that shake the very
columns of the Lyceum. The alleged aim, that of guiding
towards wisdom and virtue, is most glaringly contradicted
by the frivolity with which from the outset all learning is
declared impossible, on the ground that the wise no longer
need to learn, while the ignorant are incapable of learning
anything. On the one hand, the word " learn " is used to
denote the acquisition of knowledge in general ; on the other,
it stands for the turning to account, in that process, of
knowledge already acquired, e.g. of tHe ability to read in
learning by heart. Such playing with the double significance
of words, the tacit omission of restrictive qualifications,
the use of constructions linguistically possible but inadmis-
sible in regard to their matter, the summation of predicates
designating entirely different relations, the interchange of
the various meanings of the possessive pronoun, — all these
and many other devices serve to support a series of para-
doxical fallacies which perhaps culminate in the following
argument : You beat this dog ; he is yours ; he is a father ;
therefore it is your father that you beat. Similarly, we are
told that he who knows anything has knowledge, that he
who has knowledge can never m any circumstances be
ignorant ; consequently that whoever knows anything at all
THE THOUGHT-JUGGLERS AND ANTISTHENES. 1 47
must know everything and have known it always. Or
again : Killing befits the butcher, therefore it is fitting to
kill him ; or : Living beings (animals) belonging to me I
have the right to offer in sacrifice or to sell ; Apollo belongs
to me (being bound to me by an ancestral cult) ; he is a
living being ; therefore I have a right to sacrifice the god
and sell him.
We come to an exquisite piece of trickery on Plato's
part. In the midst of the imbecilities of these word-twisters
and thought-jugglers, he smuggles certain doctrines of
Antisthenes. Thus the brothers are made to assert the
impossibility of other than identical judgments, the im-
possibility of contradiction and false statement. That in
the mind of the man who founded the Cynic school these
were serious and honest difficulties, there cannot be the
slightest doubt. It is one of Plato's controversial artifices
to discredit the, for him, despised doctrines of an opponent
(cf. Vol. II. p. 182, seq) by the company in which he intro-
duces themand the character of thosewhom he selects as their
mouthpiece. Antisthenes, moreover, is brought before our
thoughts by the words in which the Eristic mountebanks are
first presented to our notice. The circumstance that they
have passed over from rhetoric to dialectic, and that late in
life, is a touch which must infallibly have reminded a contem-
porary reader of Antisthenes, who traversed the same path,
and who, in addition, is jeered at by Plato in the " Sophist "
as " an old man gone to school " (cf. Vol. II. p. 143).
As foil to the caricature we have an idealized portrait.
The turns of the dialectical variety-artists are repeatedly
relieved by plain and simple colloquies between Socrates
and one of the young men present. The purport of these
interludes is somewhat as follows : All good things acquire
that character only by right use. Left unused they remain
an inert possession ; misuse transforms them into evils, and
those are the worst which have the greatest power over
men's lives. Now, the condition of right use is wisdom ;
this, then, is the one absolutely good thing. The question
arises — What is the nature of this wisdom ^ It is taken for
granted that in it the capacity for production and that for
148 GREEK THINKERS.
the right employment of what is produced must coincide.
Production alone is not enough. For the masters of even
the most eminent arts are comparable to mere hunters
As the latter hand over the prey they have caught to others
who know how to make use of it, so the general who has
taken a city must pass it on to the statesman, so the
researcher in a special science {e.g. the mathematician or
the astronomer) must entrust his acquisitions to the dialec-
tician to whom he is subordinate. What, then, is that
supreme or " royal art " .-' This question remains un-
answered ; we shall meet it again in the " Statesman.''
The most noteworthy feature of these disquisitions is the
tone in which they are delivered. We are carried far from
the bewildering cross-examination, the benumbing shock of
the Socratic inquisition, which are described in the " Meno "
by the graphic image of the torpedo (cf. Vol. II. pp. 362, 376) ;
mystification and paradox are a heaven's breadth behind
us. These same disquisitions, we may remark in passing,
supply a cogent proof that the " Euthydemus " is later than
the " Meno." For while in the " Meno " much space is
given to a treatment of the question whether virtue can be
taught, the same question is here affirmatively answered by
Socrates in a short phrase of joyous assent. The friendly
tone of his exhortations, the fatherly way in which he
guides and encourages his young hearers to the acquisition
of positive results, stand in violent antithesis to the sterile
and repellent paradoxes of the two eristics. This far-
reaching and nicely calculated contrast-effect may be
regarded as the central feature of the whole dialogue. Its
primary motive, however, was the settling of accounts with
other schools of philosophy, more particularly the Socratic—
a motive which, with heightened earnestness and increasing
maturity, governs a series of subsequent dialogues. This
relationship provides us with an unimpeachable chonological
criterion, which compels us, as we have already remarked,
to date the " Euthydemus " before the " Theaetetus," and
the " Parmenides " before the " Sophist."
2. He who turns from the "Euthydemus" to the
" Parmenides " finds a great surprise awaiting him. The
SCENERY OF THE " PARMENJDES." 1 49
air of superiority and certainty with which Plato pierces
through fallacies of all kinds, the scathing sarcasm with
which he ridicules the thought-jugglers, hardly prepare us
to see him scattering paralogisms broadcast himself And
yet it is precisely such a collection, as even the warmest
admirers of Plato are bound to admit, that occupies the
greater part of the " Parmenides." How this is possible,
and possible without in any way diminishing our respect for
Plato's character as an earnest inquirer, will appear upon
examining the construction of this work, perhaps the most
remarkable of those which Plato wrote.
Our readers are already acquainted with the strong
family feeling of the thinker who in the "Republic"
proposed the abolition of the family ; they know the pains
which the great author took to immortalize the memory of
his nearest kin. Here it is to his half-brother Antiphon
that this honour is extended. Clearly, however, it would
have been impossible to ascribe to him any speculative
tendencies without doing violence to his actual character.
He is presented to us, therefore, at the opening of the
dialogue, as the sportsman that he was, fresh from a
conference with a mechanic on the making of a bridle.
More than once in the past he has heard from Pythodorus,
who was bound by the ties of hospitality to Zeno the
Eleatic, an account of a conversation which Parmenides
and his favourite pupil had, when visiting Athens, with
the then youthful Socrates. As an event is in question
which took place long ago, this artifice of a narrative by
a third person is perfectly legitimate. After some hesita-
tion Antiphon complies with the request of Cephalus—
a visitor from Clazomenae, introduced by Plato's brothers,
Adeimantus and Glaucon— and repeats what he has heard
from Pythodorus. The dialogue thus reported starts from
the Zenonian theses (cf Vol. I. p. 192, seq.), which Socrates
and many others had hastened to hear. Plato at once
indicates the leading thought of the whole dialogue by
making Zeno speak of the retribution he wishes to inflict
on his master's opponents as the motive of his chain of
theses. Soon an easy transition is made to the Platonic
VOL. III. m
150 GREEK THINKERS.
doctrine of ideas, which Socrates, who is at present hardly
out of his boyhood, defends with the confidence and the
impetuosity of youth, so that his dogmatism provolses the
aged head of the Eleatic school to criticism. A series of
objections are urged against the doctrine of ideas, and
remain substantially unanswered. This discussion occupies
the first and much the shorter portion of the dialogue.
With the object of assisting Socrates towards greater
maturity, Parmenides now sets before him, as preliminary
mental exercises, a long series of difficulties or " apories,"
the sting of which is directed against nothing else than the
central Eleatic doctrine of the One ! Thus the self-criticism
of Plato is followed by that of Parmenides. It is here that
Plato's subtlety attains its highest pitch, here where true
and false, admissible and invalid arguments are crowded
together in exuberant variety, where contradictory con-
clusions are deduced from the same premisses, and at
last nothing remains but an impression of bewildering
confusion.
This dialogue has given so much trouble to the critics
and commentators that there has been no lack of violent
interpretations; that its genuineness has been disputed;
that, finally, an hypothesis has been raised according to
which the concluding portion of the work, containing
the much-desired positive solutions, has been lost, and
what remains in our hands is a mere torso. From all
these counsels of desperation we are saved by the view
of the dialogue which we now proceed to expound — a view
in which we are in partial agreement with several previous
writers.
The " Parmenides " is the product of an epoch at which
the author's mind was in a ferment. Objections, proceeding
chiefly from the camp of the Megarians or Neo-Eleatics
and the thinkers influenced by them, together with Plato's
own deepened reflexion, have revealed to him a number
of difficulties attaching to his fundamental metaphysical
doctrine. To overcome these difficulties collectively is, for
the moment at least, a task to which he feels himself
unequal. But it is still harder for him to abandon the
PLATO CRITICIZES PLATO. 151
doctrine of ideas, which has become interwoven with his
whole conception of the universe, or even to clothe it in a
form less susceptible to attack. Whether this will ever be
possible remains an open question. But that the difficulties
under which his own theory labours are matched by equal
or greater difficulties, the means of surmounting which is
provided by his theory alone— of this he is certain. Perhaps,
so he may have thought, an absolutely flawless, perfectly
consistent conception of the highest things is more than
what it is given to man to attain. Animated, therefore, by
the purest zeal for truth, he gathers into a focus everything
that can be urged against the doctrine of ideas, regardless
of the distinction between arguments which seem to him
answerable and those which do not as yet fall within that
category. By thus stringing together the plausible objections
to his own theory,he purchases the right to deal similarly with
the theories of others. He proceeds, therefore, to compile
another exhaustive list of possible objections, neglecting as
before the difference between the tenable and the untenable,
but this time selecting for attack the fundamental meta-
physical doctrine of the very school from a younger branch
of which had come the most violent assaults upon his own
doctrine of ideas, the school, too, which stood pre-eminent
above all others for exactness of thought. In this species
of "retaliation," which after Plato's manner becomes at
the same time a process of outbidding (cf Vol. II. p. 309,
and Vol. III. p. 48), he finds consolation and satisfaction.
Thus the " Parmenides " resembles the proceedings in a
court of justice, where, after the pleadings, the speech for
the prosecution and the speech, taking the form of a
counter-charge, for the defence, the case is adjourned
before a verdict is reached.
3. Let us cast a glance on both portions of the dialogue.
The objections against the doctrine of ideas are six in
number, or, more correctly, five, since two of them are only
variations of the same argument. This is the one which
Aristotle designates by the technical term " the third man ; "
it was due to the sophist Polyxenus, a thinker closly allied
to the Megarian circle. Another allusion to it is contained
152 GREEK THINKERS.
in the tenth book of the " Republic." If two particular
things, a and b, owe their similarity to a form or idea C, in
which they both participate, or from which they are both
copied, whence does the similarity which obtains between
the form C and the two particulars derive its origin ? In
order to account for this similarity, must we not assume a
second, superior form D, that is, a third stage in the scale of
entities ? And what is true of C in relation to a and b is
again true of D in relation to C, and so on ad infinitum.
Another difficulty is contained in the question — How can
the individual things participate in the ideas ? how can an
idea be present in many individuals without loss of its
unity ? The difficulty recurs in the late dialogue " Philebus,"
and, according to Aristotle, Plato never saw his way clear
through it. The alternative assumption — imitation instead
of participation — is also propounded and met by one of the
varieties of the first argument we have noticed. A further
objection is one which may be termed the anti-realistic
argument — How can the ideas exist elsewhere than in our
consciousness .-' Plato here breaks through the artistic form
which he has adopted. Manifestly it is distasteful to him
to allow his hated adversary, Antisthenes, the author of this
objection (cf Vol. II. p. i8i), to be right even for a moment.
He therefore makes Parmenides himself reply that the
notions present in our mind, if there is to be any truth in
them, must be notions ol something ; there must exist objects
corresponding to them. (In the last resort this is an appeal
to the primitive un analyzed thought which underlies
language. In any case the possibility is forgotten that the
universals here in question may be abstracted from the parti-
culars.) The series closes with the two arguments to which
Plato himself assigns the greatest weight. Even granted
the existence of the ideas, how can we — here the reader is
reminded of Gorgias' chain of theses (cf Vol. I. p. 484) —
how can we come to know them .' The two terms of a
relation are always on the same plane. To the master
there corresponds the slave, to the slave the master ; but
to mastership we oppose slaveship, and vice versd. Thus
the real correlate of truth in itself, or the idea of truth.
A COLLECTION OF ANTINOMIES. 1 53
is the idea of knowledge, not knowledge in a human
mind. Similarly in respect of their qualities. That
knowledge which is highest, purest, most perfect, can
only reside in a being of the corresponding type ; not
in man, that is to say, but in God. We here recall
the "Phaedo" and its conception, of corporeality as a
hindrance to unclouded knowledge. We may mention,
lastly, that this whole series of difficulties is preceded by a
question which Socrates propounds with great earnestness
concerning the relations of the ideas among themselves,
whether they can be combined and separated or no. To
this question Plato endeavoured to give an answer in the
" Sophist."
Turning now to the " laborious pastime," as Plato
himself calls it, which occupies the second portion of the
dialogue, we must endeavour to be brief If out of the
Eleatic concept of unity a series of contradictory conclusions
(antinomies) can be deduced, the fault is chiefly with the
self-contradictory nature of that concept itself. Absolute
unity, as we have already had occasion to remark (Vol. I.
p. 200; see also 210), is incompatible with all succession or
coexistence. It is identical with the unextended, in space
as in time. And yet this unity is put forth as real, indeed
as the only real, although reality is by no means strictly
separated from existence in space. So understood. Being
includes in itself a multiplicity of parts, and yet, as absolute
unity, it is both free from all multiplicity and contrary to it.
Zeno had already perceived this inner contradiction, and
with its aid constructed his bewildering antinomies. The
author of the " Parmenides " follows in his footsteps and
outbids him, giving, as he does so, free rein to his dialectical
high spirits, and chiefly rejoicing to rediscover, in the Eleatic
theory, the incompatibility of unity and plurality which
furijished a leading objection against the doctrine of ideas.
The collection of contradictions is summarized in the closing
words of the dialogue, where it is laid down " that whether
the One is or is not, both it and the Other, in relation to
themselves as well as to each other, both are and are not
seem to be and seem not to be." Brilliant subtlety, here
154 GREEK THINKERS.
and there a fallacy deliberately perpetrated, the want of
logical training common to the whole age, are some of the
features combined in these dazzling but fatiguing ratio-
cinations. To the last category belong, as a comparison
with other dialogues will show, the confusion of " to be "
as copula with the same word as denoting existence, the
confusion of identity in respect of a quality with numerical
identity, and certain illegitimate conversions of judg-
ments — three errors of thought which Plato shares with
Gorgias (cf. Vol. I. pp. 482 and 485). We observe, further,
a confusion between the reality of a concept and the
reality of "all the objects or thoughts which can
possibly be subordinated to it," and another "confusion
between judgment and the comparison of concepts." The
two last aberrations have been well illustrated by a con-
temporary. They are arguments such as the following:
" The idea ' bird ' is not imaginary, but has being ; the
griffin is a bird ; therefore it has being." And again :
" Rich is not happy ; that is to say, the idea ' rich ' is different
from the idea ' happy ; ' consequently no rich man can be
happy." No attempt is made to separate the sound from
the unsound in these proofs, and for Plato, as we have
already seen, only a partial success was attainable in this
direction ; such separation, so far as it was possible at the
stage of logical development then reached, is left to readers
and pupils. To return to our metaphor of the law court,
the proceedings are adjourned before a verdict is arrived at ;
but for any one who knows Plato there can be no doubt
that there will be a resumption. This will wear a twofold
character. An earnest, comprehensive, and profound ex-
amination of other men's metaphysical doctrines will aim
at the presentation in stricter form of the indirect argument
for the doctrine of ideas ; and the doubts and difficulties by
which Plato's mind has been racked will impel him to
modify his own fundamental principle. The first of these
expectations is satisfied by the " Theaetetus," and the second
by its continuation, the " Sophist."
THE INTRODUCTION TO THE " THE^TETUS." 1 55
CHAPTER XVI.
THE "THEiETETUS" AND THE " CRATYLUS."
I. The^tetuS, whose name is mentioned with honour in the
annals of mathematics, has been wounded before the walls
of Corinth, and, more than that, he has been stricken by
disease in the camp. He desires to die at home, and has
been conveyed by ship to the port of Megara, where he
has been met by Euclides. The latter, speaking to his
friend Terpsion, who also is a pupil of Socrates, deplores
the impending loss of so excellent a man. Recalling an
interesting conversation in which Socrates once took part
along with the mathematician Theodorus of Cyrene and
the latter's pupil Theaetetus, he takes pleasure in re-
membering how, at that early date, Socrates discerned
with the eye of a connoisseur the eminent gifts of the
youth. Euclides has accompanied his dying friend for a
portion of his journey ; he is tired with the long walk ; and
Terpsion, who has returned from the country, is in like
case. The latter has long desired to become acquainted
with the conversation referred to, and Euclides complies
with his wish by causing his? dwn report of the dialogue to
be read aloud by a slave to himself and his companion,
while they rest. Plato here interposes a remark on the
style of this report, in which he explains, with a direct-
ness unique in the whole series of his works, one of the
motives which guide his art. He makes Euclides say
that he has discarded the narrative form, with its wearisome
repetitions of " said he," " he agreed," and so forth, instead
of which he has introduced the interlocutors as speaking
156 GREEK THINKERS.
in their own persons. This elimination of the epic element
now became a constant feature, if our chronological arrange-
ment is correct, of Plato's works. Indeed, the introductory
dialogue, which sometimes, as here, serves as preface to
the dialogue proper, never occurs again. In his earlier
productions the poet-philosopher had preferred sometimes
the one form, sometimes the other. To the narrative method
we owe the lifelike vividness with which the " Protagoras "
brings before our eyes the doings in that sophists' hostelry,
the house of Callias ; the " Charmides " and " Lsysis," the
demeanour of the youths and boys in the gymnasium ;
the " Symposium," the amusements of a select portion of
Athenian society ; the " Phaedo," the last hours of Socrates'
life ; the " Republic," the graceful figure of the venerable
Cephalus. Probably it was precisely the tedious work of
writing the " Republic " which caused Plato to realize
clearly the inconveniences of strict adherence to the narrative
form. And it may have been the same experience which
decided him to have done for the future with all such
by-play, and henceforth to employ exclusively the form
which hitherto he had employed mainly in his shorter
dialogues (such as " Hippias," " Laches,'" " Euthyphro,"
" Crito," " Meno "), and only exceptionally in long works
such as the " Gorgias " or " Phsedrus." This decision was
made easier for him by the increasing preponderance in
interest of the matter contained in his dialogues, by that
tendency towards merely didactic exposition which the
long-continued practice of teaching must have brought
with it, partly also, perhaps, by a gradual decay of artistic
fertility. The "Thesetetus" is a milestone on this path
of development. We now take our leave, not without
regret, of the poetic and creative genius; henceforth our
business will be almost entirely with the author bent on
giving instruction, for whom the dialogue becomes in the
end a mere treatise varied by short interludes of rarer and
rarer occurrence, while compensation is sought for the
weakness in genuinely artistic construction of his latest
works by an increasingly self-conscious and deliberate
exhibition of mastery over language.
WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE f 157
The " Theaetetus " itself, it must be admitted, is adorned,
in spite of its date, with all the charms of mature com-
position. The stream of conversation flows slowly on, with
no anxious pressing towards a goal. It is marked by a
tone of confident and genial superiority. An early, and
apparently unintentional, warning is given that only negative
results are to be expected. And this negative criticism,
which will be trenchant enough, is freed at the outset from
every appearance of harshness or injustice. It is not as
critic that Socrates is introduced, but as accoucheur, for the
son of the "esteemed and portly" midwife Phsenarete
assists into the world the thoughts of the youthful Theaetetus,
whose portrait is painted in the most sympathetic colours.
It is only because at these intellectual births some dis-
crimination is required between mere phantoms and genuine
offspring, that it becomes incumbent on Socrates to test
the thoughts of which Theaetetus is delivered, and decide
whether they can live or no.
2. The scene of the dialogue is a gymnasium. The-
astetus, who is warmly praised by his teacher, shows that
he possesses the faculty of generalization by his treatment
of a problem in the science of numbers. He is imperceptibly I
led on to answer the question — What is knowledge .' His
first answer is, " Knowledge is perception." Socrates thus
gains an opportunity to weave together, out of this some-
what primitive identification of knowledge and perception,
out of what he claims to be inferences from the tenet
of Protagoras, and out of the epistemology of Aristippus,
a connected whole, which he proceeds to systematize, to
defend against the more superficial of the objections against
it, to acknowledge as partially justified, and yet to reject
as being an inadequate account of the whole process of cog-
nition (cf. Vol. II. p. 238, and Vol. I. p. 458, seq). The assump-
tion that perception is knowledge leads, as it is made to
appear, to the consequence that the same person knows and
does not know the same thing at the same time. Thus, if
any one hears, and therefore knows, words of a foreign
language with whose meaning he is not acquainted, he both
knows and does not know them. Or if he calls to mind a
158 GREEK THINKERS.
perception which he no longer has, he knows it (in one sense)
and does not know it (in another). Now, the identification
of knowledge with perception may mean two things — either
that the perceptive faculty is the sole faculty employed
in knowledge (which woirtd be a gross oversight of so
obvious a faculty as niemory), or that the material of per-
ception is the only material of knowledge. It is the latter
that is meant. For by asserting the fallacious character
and untenability of the above objections, which would
apply with real force to the identification in question if
understood in the first sense, or to a defective discrimination
between different processes involved in knowledge, he tells
us clearly enough that the formula, " Perception is know-
ledge " (probably one of his own coining, by the way)
relates to the material or content of knowledge. All it
affirms is that sense-perception is the sole source of our
knowledge. Before attacking the theory involved in this
formula, he frankly concedes a point contended for by
Aristippus, and perhaps earlier by Protagoras, that the
senses do not deceive and cannot be confuted, that each
impression as it arises has subjective truth. But it does,
not by any means follow, as he points out, that all opinions
are equally true like all sense-impressions ; the distinction
between the wisdom and unwisdom of different subjects
remains intact, and manifests itself most clearly in the
successful prediction of the future.
This negative criticism is now interrupted by an episode
consisting in a comparison between the life of the philo-
sopher and that of the politician, here identified with the
every-day ordinary man. A picture is painted in the
strongest colours of the philosopher as a stranger to the
world. He does not even know the way to the Agora ;
legislation, decrees of the people, electoral campaigns, are
meaningless to him. We can hardly be wrong in saying
that Plato could no longer have written in this tone after
his second Sicilian journey (367). He would have exposed
himself to the scornful reminder, " If only you had re-
mained true to your ideal, how many a bitter and humiliating
experience would you have saved yourself and others ! "
THE SENSUALISM OF HERACLITVS. 159
We notice further an echo of the "Phaedo" ("One must strive
after the speediest possible escape from life on earth "), one
plain allusion to the doctrine of ideas — " the contemplation
of justice and injustice in themselves ; " lastly, the en-
thusiastic preaching of the struggle after likeness with the
absolutely just Deity. All these features afford us glimpses
of the state of Plato's mind and feelings at the time when
he wrote the " Thesetetus." In the midst of this elevated
strain he descends to a somewhat lower level in an attack
upon Antisthenes. It is possible that the latter, irritated
by the " Euthydemus," had in the mean time published
his "Sathon," and thus called forth a rejoinder in the
" Thesetetus" (cf Vol. II. p. 182).
Before Socrates takes his leave of the sensualistic theory
of knowledge, he casts a glance upon the philosophic prin-
ciple from which he believes it to have arisen — Heraclitism.
The latter, he says, is in contradiction with itself For by
its assumption of universal movement, it destroys not only
all real knowledge, but, if the matter be viewed rightly,
all perception as well. Here we may observe that Plato
perpetrates a notable fallacy. He distinguishes two kinds
of motion — change of place and change of quality. He
goes on to affirm, not only, as he might have done with
perfect justice, that Heraclitism exhibits the two as pro-
ceeding hand-in-hand throughout wide provinces of nature
(cf Vol. I. p. 66, seq.) ; he adds the assertion that unceasing
movement in space cannot be allowed to things without also
allowing to them unceasing change of quality ; for otherwise
the contradiction would arise of the same thing being at the
same time at rest and in motion. He thus falls into the
same error which he had satirized so bitterly in the
" Euthydemus : " the omission of a restrictive qualification.
For there is no contradiction in saying that in one sense
a thing is at rest, while in another it has motion. The
variation of colour exhibited by many stars is a movement
in the second or derived sense. Who would think of
asserting on that ground that the stars in which this
change of colour does not occur must remain for ever
stationary in one place .? There is deeper meaning in the
l6o GREEK THINKERS.
distinction between the senses as the instruments through
which we know, and the soul with which we know. As
objects of our knowledge, general notions are specified.
This is a result to which Socrates gives his assent with
unusual warmth. Among those general notions are being,
similarity and difference, unity and multiplicity, beauty and
ugliness, goodness and badness. Sense-perception, which
transfers the affections of the body to the soul, is given
us from birth onwards"; the fact that we acquire only by
degrees the faculty of reading and interpreting sense-
impressions is here overlooked ; the knowledge of those
general categories, on the other hand, is the fruit of long-
continued and painful training.
3. A second attempt at definition runs as follows:!
Right conception (opinion, belief) is- knowledge. Con-'
trasted with right opinion, we have false opinion, or error.
This distinction at once raises the preliminary question —
How is error possible .■' It is a question which we have
already met more than once (cf Vol. I. p. 486, also p. 456) ;
Plato now engages in a thorough discussion of it, a- dis-
cussion, however, which is, perhaps, more ingenious than
fertile. Repeated onslaughts are made upon the problem,
but no solution is arrived at which satisfies Socrates. The
obviously sound suggestion is made that error consists in a
combination of the elements of knowledge which does not
correspond to reality. But this thought, after receiving a
most excellent illustration, is finally dropped. The over-
exacting criticism here employed — a criticism not wholly
free from palpable fallacies — must be explained' hy Plato's
anxiety to achieve the main purpose of the dialogue,- His
object is to establish the truth of the doctrine of ideas byi
an indirect proof; all attempts, therefore, to construct aj
theory of knowledge without the help of that doctrine must
be proved inadequate to account for any psychical facts
whatever that bear on the question, the possibility of error
among them. This portion of the dialogue is "by- no means
poor in subtle distinctions and brilliant comparisons. The
possession of knowledge is carefully distinguished from the
acquisition of knowledge (learning) and its loss (forgetting).
HOW JS ERROR POSSIBLE? i6l
The errors of memory are illustrated by the image of the
wax tablet, which is either not large enough, not soft
enough, or not hard enough to receive clear impressions,
to keep them distinct, and to preserve them securely. The
confusion of different pieces of knowledge already acquired,
that is, the errors of reproduction, he illustrates by the
figure of the aviary, the inmates of which have all been
caught by their possessor — a fact which is no impediment
to his laying hands on a ringdove when he is hunting
among his fluttering prisoners for a wood-pigeon. That
error does not, however, consist in a mere interchange, in
the improper combination of memory-images, or the false
co-ordination of remembered with present impressions,
Plato undertakes to prove from the fact that we also make
mistakes in calculation — in a region, that is to say, in which
our thought is occupied solely with concepts. This long
excursus is followed by a very summary despatch of the
attempted definition w^ich was its starting-point. That
right opinion does not amount to knowledge is proved by
the art of the orator, who; in the short interval allowed him
by the water-clock, often conveys to his audience, by pure
persuasion, without any great depth of instruction, right
opinions on current events.
The way is thus paved for the third attempt at &\
definition : Knowledge is right opinion coupled with
explanation. Thesetetus expressly designates this defini-
tion as the work of another, and the fuller version of it,
which Socrates at once supplies, leaves us in no doubt as to
who this other is. According to the doctrine here alluded
to, there exist primary elements which are not the objects
of true knowledge ; the latter relates on the contrary — and
here we have presented to us the counterpart of the theory
of error discussed above — only to combinations, which are
compared to syllables as distinguished from the elementary
speech-sounds. Our readers will remember this theory as
the work of Antisthenes (cf Vol. II. p. 183) ; they know, too,
that we have not the means of following into further detail
this evidently most important doctrine. Another most
noteworthy fact is that Plato is here clearly combining
1 62 GREEK THINKERS.
self-correction with his polemic against Antisthenes. For,
according to the "Meno," right conception or opinion is
elevated to the rank of knowledge in the full sense by its
association with causal explanation (cf.°Vol. II. p. 373) ; and
in the " Symposium " right opinion is recognized as an inter-
mediate stage between knowledge and ignorance only so
long as it is unaccompanied by the power of explanation
(cf Vol. II. p. 393). The correspondence is here very close,
and extends to the form of expression. This relationship
supplies a new testimony in favour of a point on which
doubt has been cast, namely, the relatively late date at
which the " Theaetetus " was composed. For if Plato had
been engaged upon this dialogue while he still retained
those earlier convictions, he would certainly not have
omitted to draw a clear and precise line of demarcation
between his own doctrine and that of Antisthenes, to which
it bore quite a deceptive likeness.
For the rest, Plato does not take too seriously his task
of controverting this third and last attempt at a definition.
He contends that the Greek word which we have translated
" explanation " Q<6''jo<,) admits of a threefold interpretation.
It may mean, firstly, the expression of thought in language ;
so understood, explanation adds nothing" new to right
opinion. Secondly, we may understand by it the orderly
rehearsal or enumeration of the individual elements in the
object known ; but without this right opinion- would not
be possible at all. Lastly, the word may--stand — here our
" explanation " is no longer adequate — for the statement of
the distinctive character of a thing; but by this no new
qualification is added to right opinion, for the opinion only
becomes right when it includes the attributes by which the
object thought of is distinguished from every other object
Here, we think, an appeal lies from Plato to Plato. " If a
man has right opinion," he makes Diotima say to Socrates,
" but cannot render an account of it, do you not know that
that is neither knowledge . . . nor ignorance ? " Thus the
author of the " Symposium " retognizes a distinction which
the author of the " Thesetetus " denies^^ surely without
warrant. For it is one thing to preserve in the memory
THE GIST OF PLATO'S OBJECTIONS. 1 63
a true copy of two objects, but quite a different thing to
note their distinguishing features, to be clearly and com-
pletely conscious of them, to be able, in consequence, to
give an apposite and exhaustive account of their agreements
and differences.
When we survey the dialogue as a whole, we observe
three main arguments which Plato employs against the
theories of knowledge reviewed by him. The weakest of
these arguments, we are inclined to think, is that contained
in the reference to mistakes made in dealing with mere
numbers — mistakes, according to Plato, which require an
explanation of error different to that contained in the
doctrines he is impugning. The authors of those theories
might have replied to their critic somewhat as follows :
" You overlook the fact that these number-abstractions are
always represented in our minds by symbols taken from
the world of sense, and that the manipulation of these
symbols is the usual, indeed, the only, source of errors in
this field, which would be excluded if we were able to work
with pure abstractions. The unpractised arithmetician
who says 3 x 6 = 16, or confuses 53 with 35, or substitutes
10,000, which he has in his mind from a former column of
numbers, for the 1000 before him, supplies us with ready
examples of such mistakes, none of which can be called
a negative instance disproving the theory of error under
consideration."
Of much greater weight are the other two main objec-
tions : Wisdom or knowledge manifests itself chiefly by
right predictions of the future; and: The "general notions,"
or categories of being, of likeness and unlikeness, of unity
and plurality, of good and bad, of fair and foul, are not
given with sense-perception. The first of these objections
is really a sub-variety of the second. For the power of pre-
diction depends on that of induction ; and inductions rest,
in the last resort, on comparisons. The kernel of truth
contained in the two arguments is simply this : We not
only receive and store up impressions of sense, but we have
the further faculty of separating and combining them, as
also of ascertaining agreements and differences between
1 64 GREEK THINKERS.
them (cf. p. 9). The emotional stimuli which are received
in addition to sense-impressions and in association with
them, and which are the basis of the judgments of worth
brought into the discussion by Plato, are another instance
of what we may call, with approximate accuracy, the active
reactions of the soul. We pass over the notion of Being,
the many meanings of which we shall soon have a fitting
opportunity for considering. To avoid unnecessary
lengthiness, we make use of traditional forms of expression
in handling these subjects. If we desired to abstain strictly
from all metaphor and all hypothesis, we could not, for
example, speak of an ego which compares sensory impres-
sions or reacts upon sensory stimuli ; we should have • to
say instead that out of the succession in time of two
sensory phenomena there emerges a third phenomenon of
consciousness which contains the elements common to the
former two as well as those that divide them.
4. Among the works which, from the standpoint of
epistemology, belong to a stage preliminary to that of the
" Thesetetus," we must reckon, along with the " Meno "
and the " Symposium," the " Cratylus." For in this dialogue
the confusion or interchange theory of error is brought
forward without any qualification and without any hint of
the difficulties which have just been presented to our notice.
The persons of the dialogue are only three in number :
Socrates ; his faithful pupil Hermogenes, who is the im-
poverished brother of the rich Callias ; and Cratylus, the
Heraclitean instructor of Plato's youth (cf Vol. II. p. 252,
and Vol. III. p. 2). This work is one of the most prolific of
controversy in the whole series written by our philosopher.
Its purpose we conceive to be as follows : Antisthenes, as
was only to be expected of a nominalist, had devoted the
most careful study to language, in particular to the meaning
of words, and we still possess a saying of his to the effect
that " the investigation of words stands in the forefront of
education." Now, Plato thus sums up the result of his
inquiry at the close of the dialogue : " Things must not be
learnt from names, but must be studied and investigated in
themselves." It is no longer possible to know what was
THEORIES OF LANGUAGE. 1 65
the direction taken by Antisthenes' study of names, what was
the matter contained in his work of five books " on education
or on words." In any case, Plato's attack upon the claims
put forward in that work supplied him with an opportunity
for reviewing the linguistic theories of the day, and in parti-
cular the theory of the correctness of names championed by
his teacher Cratylus and other Heracliteans. This does
not altogether coincide with the theory of which we have
already treated (Vol. I. p. 394, seq^, and which we described
as asserting the natural origin of language. On the con-
trary, it assumes a name-giver, distinguished by wisdom,
and working according to a set plan. It is not the opposi-
tion of nature and convention, but rather that of purposeful
contrivance and random caprice, that subsists between the
theory of the Heracliteans and its rival. The attitude
which Plato adopts towards it is difficult, but not impos-
sible, to ascertain. Here, as elsewhere, his serious purpose
is overshadowed by a rank growth of humour and irony,
besides being obscured by his tendency, now familiar to
us, to outbid the objects of his satire. But this wild and
wanton sport with fantastic etymologies, begun by others
and now carried by him to extravagant lengths, is a very
different thing from his serious conviction that the con-
nexion presupposed in those theories between sound and
meaning did once really exist. He explains, without a
trace of irony in his manner, the significance of particular
sounds, very much as Leibnitz and Jakob Grimm did ; he
recognizes in the imitative movements of the speech-organs
a main factor in the formation of languages, more potent
than the imitation of sounds or onomatopceia. But there
is no contradiction between these admissions and the con-
tention that the primitive meanings of words, as proceeding
from those sources, are now mostly undiscoverable by us.
For the comparison of Greek dialects had made Plato
acquainted with the phenomena of phonetic change. By
such change, and by the co-operation of an element, which
Plato frankly recognizes, of genuine convention or arbitrary
decision—" the caprice of linguistic usage," as we say now
— the primitive stock of sounds and meanings has been so
VOL. III. N
1 66 GREEK THINKERS.
transformed that between its first and its last state there
yawns a chasm no longer to be bridged.
But even were it otherwise, Plato contends, language
would still be no appropriate key to open up for us the
nature of things. Even then it would be preferable, here
as elsewhere, to view the things themselves rather than
their "copies." And words — which is the main point —
could at best mirror to us only the world of phenomena,
the world of Becoming. But the knowledge of the ideas,
or of entities existing in and for themselves, knowledge in
the most proper sense, would not be furthered in the
slightest degree by even the profound est comprehension of
the most primordial words. Nor can Plato refrain from
pointing out a contradiction inherent in the theory he con-
troverts. It is said, on the one hand (the thought is, in
any case, most probably Antisthenic), that right thinking
is contained in the right use of words ; but, on the other
hand, the makers of language are said to have displayed
right thinking and deep wisdom in the work of assigning
names to things, while as yet language did not exist.
We have now, we believe, given, if not an exhaustive
account, yet a faithful one, and one free from subjective
importations, of this remarkable dialogue, rich in flashes of
genius. The " Cratylus " has many threads connecting it
with the " Thesetetus." In both dialogues Antisthenes is
attacked, and his paradoxes discussed relating to the im-
possibility of contradiction and false statement ; in both we
find the same interpretation of the Protagorean proposition
that man is the measure of things ; in both recognition is
given to the far-reaching consequences of the fundamental
tenet of Heraclitus \ in both, lastly, the procedure of the
Neo-Heracliteans is graphically described and genially
satirized.
SOCRATES AS CHAIRMAN. i^'J
CHAPTER XVII.
THE "SOPHIST" AND THE "STATESMAN."
I. The concluding sentence of the " Theaetetus " promises
a continuation. Socrates invites his fellow-participants in
the dialogue to meet again on the morrow. The meeting
takes place, and with it begins the dialogue entitled " The
Sophist," in which a new character is introduced, a stranger
from Elea. It has hardly got under way before a third
member of the cycle is announced — the " Statesman."
Indeed, a fourth, the "Philosopher," is promised. But
Plato rested satisfied with the trilogy instead of completing
the projected tetralogy. The fact that he did not expunge
the reference to his unfulfilled plan is perhaps to be ex-
plained by the growing indifference to questions of literary
form, which marks the last phase of his authorship.
Another similar trait is his omission to take account, in this
continuation, of the circumstances presupposed in the
introduction to the " Theaetetus ; " nothing is said of any
further reading aloud of a written report. Indeed, Plato's
carelessness in these matters goes so far that in a passage
of the " Statesman " he makes an interlocutor allude to the
" Sophist " as to a dialogue in a book.
It is a peculiar situation in which we find Socrates in
both dialogues. He may, perhaps, be described as the
chairman of the debate. He opens the discussion in the
first dialogue, opens and closes it in the second ; but in
neither does he take any part in its progress. The chief
reason of this, we imagine, lies in the fact that doctrines
are here subjected to criticism which had been preached in
1 68 GREEK THINKERS.
earlier works through the mouth of Socrates. The ad-
vantage which Plato drew from his adoption of the dialogue
form, that of not being bound by any of the doctrines pro-
pounded in his works, is considerably enhanced by this
withdrawal into the background of his chief speaker. On
the other hand, the replacing of Socrates by the Eleatic
stranger, a man who has grown up in the circle of Par-
menides and Zeno, yields Plato an advantage in a new
direction. The criticism of other systems, including the
Eleatic, which it was Plato's main purpose in the " Sophist "
to bestow, is unusually gentle and respectful in tone, being
partly thrown into the form of self-correction on the part of
the Eleatic; this feature not only corresponds to Plato's
personal feeling, but provides him with a welcome foil to
the other polemical matter contained in the dialogue. The
" Sophist " consists of two apparently quite disparate parts
— an enclosing "husk," and an enclosed "kernel." The
link connecting the two can be indicated only to one who
is already familiarized with the course followed by the
dialogue and the matter contained in it.
The ostensible aim of the investigation is a definition
of the sophist. With much apparent ingenuousness, the
great difficulty of the subject is recognized, and a pre-
paratory exercise proposed by way of practice, namely, the
definition of the " angler." The search takes a rather wide
sweep. The whole of art is first divided into the pro-
ductive and the acquisitive arts. Acquisition depending on
voluntary exchange is next contrasted with forcible appro-
priation. Distinctions are next drawn relative to the
objects of pursuit, the means employed, and the time of
day at which the pursuit takes place ; thus the process of
division gradually descends the scale till the angler is
reached. Of a sudden it appears that this merely prepara-
tory exercise, as it was meant to be, has conducted us to
the heart of the main inquiry itself. The angler has to do
with fishes, the sophist with men ; to the seas, rivers, and
lakes in which the angler plies his craft there corresponds
the earth, with its " streams of wealth " and its luxuriant
"pastures of youth," from which the sophist draws his
DEFINITION OF THE SOPHIST. 1 69
sustenance. In pursuance of this hint, the chase on the
dry land is now divided into that of wild and that of tame
animals : among the latter must be counted Man. Human
game is hunted in different ways. Open force is employed
by the highwayman, the kidnapper, the tyrant, the warrior ;
others use persuasion. Different varieties are distinguished
of this persuasion, until at length one particular art — that
which is practised in private, aims at profit, and promises
the acquisition of virtue — is recognized as the art of the
sophist. Can satire go further.? Certainly. Plato does
not rest here \ he returns to the charge, and follows up his
purpose with undiminished acerbity. To the art of acqui-
sition belongs also that of the wholesale trader ; and here,
too, the sophist, who travels from city to city with his food-
stuffs for the soul, has his appropriate place. But he may
also ply the same trade as a retailer with a fixed local
business, or as a producer who vends his own work. Nor
is he excluded from the number of those artists in acqui-
sition who employ the combative method ; his weapon is
the spoken word, and his arena the contentious dialogue.
Attention is further drawn to a series of operations whose
purpose is to sift and effect separations. Where these are
directed towards the elimination of what is evil or foul,
they receive the common name of " purification." This
conception is divided into two species according as the
operation takes place in the corporeal or the spiritual sphere.
With the sweeping, brushing, scouring, washing, to which
even lifeless objects may be subjected, there is associated
the inward cleansing of our bodies which is effected by the
art of medicine and also by gymnastic. The purification
of the soul includes, among other things, the removal of
ignorance, which is achieved not least of all by refutation
(cross-questioning). It is at this point that Plato finds the
greatest difficulty in separating sophistic from philosophy ;
his mode of attempting it is to attribute to the former a
claim to omniscience. This claim of the. sophists appears
both in their contentious disputes, or negative eristic, and
in their positive instruction. Because of its manifest unsub-
stantiality this pretentious instruction is now pronounced
170 GREEK THINKERS.
a mere sport. It can have no reference to things themselves,
but only to their copies. Thus the play or sport spoken
of becomes more exactly defined as a branch of the mi-
metic or imitative art. The latter, again, is subdivided
into two arts, one of which produces likenesses, the otlier
delusive phantoms. The sophist is now recognized as an
adept of this second species ; he is a kind of juggler or
illusionist.
2. Here the second part of the dialogue is joined on to
the first ; the serious investigation succeeds the bitter
jesting of the polemics, the purpose of which at once
becomes clear. The transition is effected by the question
how deception is possible, whether it does not involve that
assumption of a Not-Being against which Parmenides of
old uttered such insistent warnings (cf. Vol. I. p. 170).
The sophistic opponent — Antisthenes is meant — will not
allow us to maintain the existence of " falsehood in pro-
positions and opinions," and thus the knowledge of the
unknowable, of Not-Being. This many-facetted problem
has already presented itself to us more than once (cf. Vol.
I. p. 454; Vol. II. p. 185). It will be necessary for us
now to approach it seriously ourselves before we can
advance further. How does it come about, we have a right
to ask, that we are able to speak or treat of the unreal, the
non-existent ? What is the essence of this notion ? We
answer that it depends, in the last resort, on the idea of
absence, which is only gained from judgments of com-
parison. I draw two circles and mark the centre of one.
I compare the circles and note the difference, the pos-
session by the one circle of a point which the other
lacks. The absence thus detected, the defect or loss thus
ascertained, of a positive already known from another source
— such is the kernel of this notion. Negative phenomena,
negative raw materials of knowledge, do not, in fact, exist ;
each phenomenon in itself, and according to its own
immediate nature, is something positive. The appearance
to the contrary arises out of a confusion which lies close at
hand. Cold, for example, is a positive sensation. Why
does it appear to us as the negative antithesis of heat .' For
THE PROBLEM OF NEGATION. 171
no other reason, surely, than that such antitheses really
occur, on the one hand, in the sphere of the causes by which
these sensations are produced, and, on the other, in that of
their objective as well as their subjective effects {e.g. fire,
no-fire — burning, not-burning — perspiring, not-perspiring).
In any case the author of the " Sophist " comes nearer the
recognition of this truth than Hegel does, in whose dialectic
the pseudo-concept of " Nothing," that "fantastic hypostasy,"
as Trendelenburg calls it, still plays the part of an active
principle, and indeed exerts a wider influence than any
other active principle.
Plato frees himself from the nightmare of the non-
existent by reducing it to the positive notion of difference.
Not-being has always a merely relative significance ; it
always denotes a being-other as opposed to being
determined in some particular way. The non-existent
in the province of beauty is simply the ugly, in that of
goodness the bad, and so forth. The second step of this
reduction is logically more assailable than the first. For,
strictly speaking, the not-beautiful is all else, the beautiful
only excluded. But in reality, neither for practical purposes
nor for the simple conveyance of information are we often
led to treat of the totality of things, or of the elements of
thought, with one sole exception. The negative predicate,
as a rule, and especially in the dialectic articulation or
subdivision of the material of knowledge, serves to exclude
from a higher class one of the sub-classes which compose
it, and thus to delimit indirectly the remainder of the
class.
But when the spectre of absolute negation has been
thus exorcised, new problems at once press for solution,
and in the forefront of them is that which inquires the
nature of the opposite to Not-being, of Being itself. Two
fundamental theories here confront one another in irrecon-
cilable opposition — the materialistic and the idealistic.
For the former, only that is real or existent "which can
be grasped with the hands," and even the soul is regarded
as something corporeal ; by the representatives of this
theoiy the atomistic physicists are no doubt meant. Their
172 GREEK THINKERS.
opponents have very prudently taken refuge in the realm
of the invisible ; from the vantage-ground of the heavens
they wage their warfare against the " earth-born," declaring
nothing else real except incorporeal entities or archetypes.
By these " friends of the ideas " Plato meant none other
than himself and his adherents— a stroke of humour not
intelligible or credible to all Platonic students. We shall
the better understand it the more clearly we perceive that
the " Sophist " introduces far-reaching modifications into the
doctrine of ideas, so that the latter in its earlier form has
acquired a kind of objective and historical character for
its own author. Both theories are subjected to incisive
criticism. Against the materialistic view the reproach is
levelled that it is compelled to pronounce unreal and non-
existent all that belongs to the soul, including the highest
and most valuable of its qualities, such as virtue and
justice. The " reverend and holy " archetypes, on the
other hand, existing as they do in eternal, one might
almost say pedantic, repose, are declared incapable of
explaining either events in the world of phenomena or
the process of knowledge. In this argument Plato falls
into strange errors. Knowledge, he says, is active, to be
known is to be acted upon, which is inconsistent with the
changeless immobility of those highest objects of knowledge.
It is chiefly, if not exclusively, by the forms of language
that he has been here misled. The passive voice sometimes
expresses subjection to an external influence, sometimes
the relation of an action to an object not in the least degree
affected by it. " The lyre is struck," "the child is taught,"
are examples of the first type ; " the sun is seen," " the pic-
ture is admired," of the second. Similarly, the materialist,
though he denies the independent existence of immaterial
entities, is not by any means bound to contest the reality
of psychic phenomena, the subsistence of relations, the
validity of laws. But formal correctness is here, as before,
a matter of subsidiary importance. Moreover, the surplus
of meaning which we have just indicated as having been
imported into the word "being" was not unnoticed by
Plato himself. The necessity of clearing up this notion
BEING IS DOING. I 73
and freeing it from the inadequate concept of substantiality
or existence as a thing certainly had some share in that
attempted definition which makes him a precursor of the
modern "energy" school. "The actual is simply and
solely that which acts " — so we may sum up Plato's
wonderful utterance on the subject ; and the German
language, with the profound philosophy of its wirken and
wirklich, can express the same thought with equal brevity
and greater naturalness. The passage runs as follows : " I
say, then, that whatever possesses any power of any kind,
either to act upon anything else of whatever nature, or to
be acted upon in even the slightest degree by even the
most trivial of things, and even if this happen only once —
every such thing, I say, truly is ; for I lay down as a
definition of all things that are that their being is nothing
else but power (Suvajujc)-"
On the strength of this definition an admission is wrung
from the " friends of the ideas " that agency, and therefore
also movement, cannot be lacking in these supreme entities.
The latter are further recognized as possessing life, soul,
and wisdom — a conclusion reached by an abrupt transition
of thought springing from the increasing tendency of
Plato's late period to regard the primary principles of the
universe as conscious and of the nature of soul. The
doctrine of ideas has thus undergone a transformation
which may not inaptly be described as a reversion to an
earlier type. All ontology, we are justified in affirming, is
watered-down theology (cf. p. i). In their re-endowment
with activity and soul the metaphysical entities return, as
it were, to their origin. The same circle which we have
already noticed has been once more accomplished (cf.
Vol. II. p. 174). At the same time, the rampart which had
divided the worlds of Becoming and of Being has been
broken through. The whole of the positive content of the
" Sophist " may be compressed into a single phrase —
Plato's emancipation from the bonds of Eleaticism. The
emancipation, however, proceeds in several different de-
partments simultaneously. For Plato has before him a
logical as well as an ontological problem, and the solution
174 GREEK THINKERS.
he offers of the latter depends on his treatment of the
former.
The question — How are falsehood, error, and deception
possible ? gives place to a second and wider question — How
is assertion in general possible ? This problem, already
familiar to the reader as that of predication (cf. Vol. H.
p. 17s), is approached by Plato from its linguistic side. A
proposition or sentence presupposes two kinds of words :
names and words implying action (nouns and verbs). He
who repeats however long a list of words such as " walks,"
" runs," " sleeps," will never produce an assertion, any more
than if he strings together terms like "lion," "stag,"
" horse," and so forth. It is only the combination of the
two elements, as in "the man learns," "the stag runs," that
makes assertion possible. The assertion is then true or
false, according as the combination does or does not
correspond to the reality. "Thesetetus is sitting" and
" Theaetetus is flying " are examples in point. This earliest
exposition of a theory of propositions or judgments was by
no means without value in an age which as yet possessed
no logic or fully developed grammar, and in which the
ground had only recently been prepared, chiefly by
Protagoras, for those distinctions between different parts
of speech and different forms of words which even in
Aristotle's time were still imperfectly drawn. We should
be glad to learn the relationship between this theory of
Plato's and that propounded in the " Theaetetus " but
rejected as inadequate — a theory which likewise reduced
all truth and all error to combinations, and which is with
great probability ascribed to Antisthenes. We shall
hardly go wrong if we regard that repudiated theory as
the germ which was carried to its full development by the
labours of Plato. It would not be the first time that the
successor has looked down with contempt upon the fore-
runner by whose shoulders he is supported.
It is true that Plato does not regard the funda-
mental epistemological problem as already solved by this
linguistic analysis. It follows from the presuppositions
by which his whole thought is governed that the true
THE "COMMUNION OF CLASSES." 175
solution can only be obtained in the province of ontology —
by the proof that the combinations or connexions referred
to occur primarily in the real background of all phenomena,
in the world of those entities which exist in and for them-
selves, the objective archetypes or forms. The doctrine of
ideas, as first framed by its author, may be said to wear an
Eleatic aspect. Rigidity of concepts is henceforth replaced
by fluidity. Plato now affirms that it is altogether un-
philosophical to " separate everything from everything
else," that there can be " no more utter annihilation of all
rational discourse than the detachment of each individual
thing from every other." He proclaims his belief in the
" interpenetration of the archetypes " and the " communion
of classes," by a delicate artifice placing this profession of
faith in the mouth of the Eleatic stranger, as if the latter
were thus taken to witness that the abandonment of Eleatic
rigidity in concepts had begun in the mind of Parmenides
himself, that Plato, and not, say, the Neo-Eleatics or
Megarians and their congener Antisthenes, was the true
and rightful heir of the great ontologist. The theory does
not deny that there are mutually exclusive ideas, as in
pairs of opposites like rest and motion ; other ideas, how-
ever, and very many of them, are capable of forming
partnerships among themselves in virtue of which the partici-
pation by one thing in a plurality of ideas is made possible.
It is thus that a solution is conceived to be found for the
old riddle which asks how one thing can have many
attributes, why its essential nature is not exhausted in
the possession of a single attribute, in its acceptance of a
single predicate. Or rather, an answer is returned to the
twofold question — How can one subject possess many
predicates .? How can one predicate belong to many
subjects ? The ground is cut away from the rough-and-
tumble dialectic of the " Euthydemus." No support
remains for such statements as that Socrates sick is an
absolutely different man from Socrates well, or from
Socrates who is white or musically educated — that, further,
two entities which have one quality in common are unable,
for that reason, to differ in any other respect. A wide
176 GREEK THINKERS.
space is obtained for limitations, intermediate states, tran-
sitions of every kind. These take the place of the old,
sharply defined alternatives of thought, such ,as— Whoever
knows anything has knowledge, and must therefore know
everything ; or, There can be no such thing as opinion or con-
jecture, since everything must either be known or not known.
3. Here, we believe, we have touched the vital nerve
of this dialogue, and not of this dialogue alone. The
phase of Plato's later years, the St. Luke's summer of his
philosophic career, is now plainly revealed to us. The
aged thinker shivers in the heaven of his ideas. His
mind and heart gain a stronger hold on particular things,
particular entities, particular processes. He acknowledges
the inadequacy of all absolute theories. Crude one-sidedness
begins to repel him ; he turns away in disgust from mere
bald negation. In every quarter he is on the look out for
compromises. He yearns to reconcile opposites, even such
opposites as those of Being and Not-Being. Just as in the
" Laws " he mixes constitutions, so in the " Timsus " he
mixes primary substances, and in the " Philebus " species
of pleasure and wisdom. The new departure has already
been heralded, if we examine the matter closely, in the
opening portion of the " Parmenides." The relativity of
such notions as unity, plurality, and so on, has already
been set forth there, and a prospect at least held out of
that attempt to solve the difficulties which is made in the
" Sophist." The whole course of the " Parmenides " may
perhaps be regarded as governed by a surmise that all the
hopeless tangle of these vividly delineated antinomies is
due solely to the use of such notions as unity, being, and
so forth, conceived absolutely and as incapable of qualifica-
tion or compromise. All this is closely bound up with the
circumstance that dialectic is employed more and more as
an aid towards the comprehension of the universe. Plato's
aim is to gain mastery over the motley variety of phenomena.
His method is that of progressive subdivision and classifica-
tion proceeding by dichotomy. Nature has here pointed
the way, with her species and varieties of plants, animals,
inorganic formations. To follow in her footsteps, to
DIALECTIC MORE IN TOUCH WITH NATURE. 1 77
arrange all objects and all human activities in groups,
and thus to descend from the most general to the most
particular, or to ascend by a reversal of the process, — such
is the desire of the aged Plato. In the "Sophist" he
practises this method in a manner which is in part
humorously polemical, and not without a touch of self-
directed irony aimed at its own pedantic aspect ; in the
"Statesman" he employs it more seriously and upon
worthier objects. A comic fragment teaches us that this
method, which may be termed the method of natural
history, was put in the Academy to its most appropriate
purpose — the study of plants and animals. This was the
school from which Aristotle went forth, whom we shall
later on learn to know and admire as a natural historian in
all branches of knowledge.
The change we have been considering is closely con-
nected with a second. The inquirer who consents to
occupy himself with particular things, who descends from
the heights of abstract generality to the lowlands of con-
crete fact, cannot possibly continue to lay an all-preponderant
stress on distinctions in respect of value. He has to admit
that the sun of knowledge — to quote Bacon's phrase —
shines on the dunghill as on the palace. Divisions and
arrangements which rest on distinctions of human or even
of national valuation, often clash to a ridiculous extent
with the natural system of classification. We can under-
stand, therefore, that for the author of the " Statesman "
the division of mankind into Greeks and barbarians is as
absurd as would be their division into Phrygians and non-
Phrygians. This advance towards strictly scientific modes
of thought — an advance which leaves its mark in the pro-
gressive development of a technical nomenclature from
the " Thesetetus " onwards — likewise has its prelude in the
" Parmenides." For when, in that dialogue, Socrates
expresses his doubts as to whether there are ideas of even
trivial objects, such as "hairs, mud, or dirt," Parmenides
tells him in reply that he is still young, that in his riper
years he will answer the question affirmatively, and learn
to think less of the opinions of men.
178 GREEK THINKERS.
But we must return to the " Sophist." We have still to
consider a circumstance of no little importance. Plato's
peculiar proneness to the objectifying of concepts has
brought about a truly wonderful result. Absolute negation
had been replaced by the relative notion of difference.
But this, in its turn, has become absolute. That which
had barely been liquefied — we may almost say — has imme-
diately turned solid again. It is no mere figure of speech
in which Plato represents the " other " or " different " into
which " not-being " has been transformed, as an independent
principle pervading all things. In so declaring this non-
existent to be existent or real, he throws down the glove
to the champions of formal strictness of thought, the ancient
Herbartians (cf. Vol. II. p. 177), whom the whole contents
of the dialogue were calculated to provoke. " We shall not
go unpunished " — " We have made ready a feast for grey-
bearded beginners'' — in such phrases as these, the last
of which is unmistakably aimed at Antisthenes, Plato
expresses at once his expectation of being attacked and
his contempt for his assailants. Here we have the key to
the meaning of the dialogue as a whole. We have in our
hands the bond which connects its outer with its inner
part. Plato brands his opponents as sophists, particularly
his personal enemy, Antisthenes, who had reviled him in
his " Sathon ; " hence the definitions proposed by him —
definitions which, while to all appearance strictly scientific
in character, are in reality inspired by the bitterest aversion
— depict the type in the most detestable colours that
can be imagined. The Socratic contentious dialecticians
were present to his mind in a far greater degree than the
so-called sophists of an earlier generation. Plato attempts
to disguise this fact by linking, not without violence, the
new " sophists " to the older possessors of that name. But
the truth is betrayed by the importance assigned in this
description to contentious dialectic, which, on the testi-
mony of Plato's own works, such as the " Hippias," the
" Protagoras," and the " Gorgias," was foreign to the great
sophists of a former epoch. The didactic content of the
dialogue is directed against those "rigid" thinkers, the
AN ATTACK ON THE MEGARIANS. 1 79
Megarians, and their close ally Antisthenes, while Plato
anticipates their reply by his disquisitions on the nature
of the sophists. To the cunning with which this is done
a production of recent years offers an apt parallel. I
refer to Zollner's book on "The Nature of Comets," in
which the scientific treatment of that subject is supple-
mented by certain " studies in the field of psychology and
the theory of knowledge," wherein, under the pretext of
discussing obstacles to the progress of science, violent
personal attacks are made on Tyndall, Hofmann, and
others. In Plato's case, however, it is something more
than a mere polemical artifice that we have to deal with.
His bitterness is fed by the dissatisfaction with which he
looks back upon errors of his own youth. That rigidity of
thought which he lashes in his rivals had not always been
a stranger to his own mind. The fertile dialectic which he
now begins to practise, that instrument by the aid of which
he and the greatest of his pupils after him seek to master
the whole breadth and depth of the phenomenal world, is
sharply divided from the barren dialectic by which all
access to that world is barred. The juster course is no
doubt to recognize, as serious and significant, the difficulties
with which one has one's self wrestled. But it is psycho-
logically intelligible that an inquirer should be angry with
those of whom he knows beforehand that they will reject
the help he is at last able to offer them, and continue to
grope in the old maze ; that he should despise their
persistence as stiff-necked obstinacy ; that a previously
existing antagonism should be enhanced and carried to
the height indicated by the definition of the sophist which
is pieced together at the close of this dialogue.
4. The fruits promised in the " Sophist " are gathered
in the " Statesman." A revulsion from the abstract to
the concrete, a clear insight into the complication of
reality, a consequent repudiation of premature generaliza-
tions and half or imperfect truths — such are some of the
characteristic features of this work. With these signs of
full maturity is associated an increased prolixity symp-
tomatic of advancing age. Plato's wealth of ideas is the
l8o GREEK THINKERS.
same as ever, but his mastery over his thoughts is gradually
losing in strictness. If an example is employed by way
of illustration, an excursus is appended on the essential
nature of examples in general ; a question as to the too-
much or too-little of discussion leads to an investigation of
the idea of measure. The " cult of method," too, does its
part in impairing the unity of the work and its artistic
charm as well ; while the mythical story of cosmic begin-
nings increases the fascination of the dialogue at the
expense of its coherence.
The discussion, in which a part is taken by yet another
new character — the younger Socrates — starts from the
notion of science or knowledge. This is divided into
theoretical and practical. The latter, spoken of also as
manual art, has to do only with the production of material
objects ; so that, to our surprise, the kingly art is sought
for within the first category. By successive divisions the
art of the herdsman is reached ; and it is very remarkable
to see how, in his desire not to be misled by judgments of
value, and in his obedience to his new and severely scientific
method, Plato abstains from defining man by specifically
psychic attributes, such as his reason or his worship of the
gods, and prefers to distinguish him step by step from
all other animals by purely external marks, such as his
possession of two feet and his lack of horns or wings.
Against the identification, due as it would appear to
Antisthenes, of the king with the herdsman, it is urged that
the care of the latter for the members of his flock extends
through their whole life and includes their nutrition,
whereas a king's work lies in a narrower sphere. • It is at
this point that Plato intercalates the strange myth already
alluded to, in which the following thoughts are given
concrete expression : Men are no longer, as in the begin-
ning, under the immediate guardianship of the Deity. In
alternating periods the latter moves the universe and then
again leaves it to its own motion. The human race also—
the thought is worked out in a fanciful and even fantastic
manner — has become independent like its dwelling-place.
At a time when, for lack of divine guidance, it was on the
CLASSIFICATION OF THE ARTS. l8l
brink of destruction, it received, as a gift from the gods, the
arts, from the totality of which the art of the statesman
has now to be isolated. The difficulties of this problem are
to be made easier by a preliminary exercise, by which
we are reminded of the " angler " in the " Sophist." The
subject proposed in the present instance is the "art of
weaving," the somewhat discursive treatment of which
yields manifold profit both in matter and method. We
learn to distinguish the main process from subsidiary and
co-operating processes ; the method of dichotomy which
was exclusively used in the " Sophist " is abandoned as
inadequate ; varieties or sub-classes are strictly separated
from parts which are not classes at all. A question raised
as to whether the discussion is not being unduly lengthened
leads, as we have already mentioned, to an investigation
of the concept of measure. Such words as " much " and
"little," " great" and " small," have a double meaning — a
relative and an absolute. In the one case they express the
result of a comparison — A is great or small relatively to
B or C ; in the other, the standard is found in the object
itself to which these terms are applied. Casually as this
remark seems to be dropped, it is well worthy of note when
we compare it with kindred expositions in the " Phsedo,"
the " Republic," and the " Thesetetus." The epistemological
difficulty as to how the same thing can be at once great and
small, much and little, is now passed over without mention.
Plato has reached a new, and we may be permitted to say
a higher, stage. He has left these old puzzles behind him.
The " participation " of things in the ideas, by which a
solution was formerly provided, is now very significantly
absent ; while the self-existent archetypes pass into the
background in a manner which is very striking after their
exaltation in the " Sophist." We might almost say that in
conferring divine rank upon his ideas Plato has consigned
them to a sphere of dignified repose.
The " co-operating " arts are divided into seven classes,
according as they yield raw material, tools, receptacles, the
means of nutrition, protection, transport, or enjoyment. In
this classification we observe how things externally the
VOL. III. O
1 82 GREEK THINKERS.
most diverse are brought together under the unity of a
common purpose : thus clothes, most sorts of arms, and
again city walls, together form the class of protective
instruments. Nearer to the statesman's art, but still only
related to it as subordinate processes, come the art of the
general and the somewhat ironically handled services of the
soothsayer and the priest. There follows a discussion on
the forms of the State, of which three are mentioned : the
rule of one, the rule of few, and the rule of many, or
democracy. The economic standpoint, which played so
great a part in the corresponding part of the " Republic," is
now abandoned and declared inadequate. The momentous
question is not whether rich or poor men, but whether wise
or ignorant, are to rule the State. That knowledge can ever
be imparted to any considerable number, is roundly denied.
In no Greek city are there to be found as many as fifty good
players at draughts, let alone so many good statesmen.
Nor is it a distinction of great importance that depends on
whether rule is exercised with the free consent of the ruled
or against their will. The one decisive standard is that of
knowledge or wisdom, with which the good will is repre-
sented as inseparably united, just as in the " Republic " the
figure of the philosopher is finally fused into one with that
of the just man.
There now follows the investigation which forms the
kernel of the dialogue, namely, a treatment of the question
whether laws are necessary and salutary. At first it is
denied that they are so. It is urged as a reproach against
laws that they cannot do justice to the diversity of situations
and cases. " It is impossible that what is perfectly simple
can be adapted to that which is never simple." Imagine a
physician setting out on a journey and leaving his patient
written directions to cover the period of his projected
absence ; if he returns earlier than he expected, and finds
a change in the weather or other circumstances affect-
ing health — what a fool he would be if he were to think
himself bound by his former prescriptions, instead of
taking the altered situation into account ! But, to be sure,
when perfect wisdom is absent, then laws, which are " the
PLATO REVISES HIS POLITICAL IDEAS. 1 83
fruit of long experience and the work of estimable
counsellors," present themselves, though still only as a
second best, yet as an acceptable substitute. They are
rules which renounce all finely graded, individual treatment
of particular cases, and resemble those maxims which are
given prize fighters by trainers, and which prescribe, in
broad outlines, a mode of life adapted to the majority of
persons and to average circumstances. Plato speaks here
of a " second journey," of a new quest for the perfect State.
It is a journey that will take him from the philosophic
absolutism of the " Republic," in which nothing is fixed by
rule, to the legislation of the " Laws," in which everything
is fixed by rule. The " Statesman " is a half-way house on
the road. Or perhaps we should say that the mind of the
author has already reached the new haven, while his heart
still clings to the old shore. The myth taught us that we
no longer live in the golden age, that we must renounce
the hope of perfection. Plato, we see, is in the early stages
of pessimism ; but his progress in renunciation is as yet far
short of what it will be in the " Laws." His heart is full of
bitterness ; and through the midst of the apparent calm
and objectivity of his exposition there break forth from
time to time notes of deep feeling, invectives against the
"chorus of satyrs and centaurs," the "jugglers," "the most
sophistic among the sophists." His embitterment, how-
ever, is no longer directed first and foremost against
democracy, for which his feeling is now one of contempt
rather than hatred. He regards it as the most ineffective,
and therefore the worst, of the three forms of government
if these are all exercised according to law ; in the contrary
case, its weakness makes it the best because the least
injurious. Of monarchy, the exact opposite holds on each
supposition ; while the intermediate form, aristocracy,
occupies a middle position both for good and for evil.
This revised estimate of democracy has a manifest con-
nexion with the decadence and enfeeblement of Plato's own
democratic fatherland — that Athens, which the eloquence
of a Demosthenes cannot galvanize into more than an
occasional fit of political activity, that once proud mistress
184 GREEK THINKERS.
of the seas which has been transformed (to use the phrase of
the orator Demades) into a " gruel-sipping old woman that
creeps about in slippers." Plato's most violent invectives
now appear to be directed against other states and other
statesmen. The thought naturally occurs that it is by the
events in Sicily that his keenest interest and his bitterest
antipathy are now aroused (cf. p. 162).
The dialogue does not close without recording a notable
piece of self-correction. The subject to which it relates is
nothing less than the Socratic doctrine of the unity of
virtue to which Plato so long remained faithful. The
occasion for this correction is planned with some care.
One of the chief tasks incumbent on the governor of a
state is maintained to be that of joining together dissimilar
natures in marriage, and so providing for the smoothing
down of opposed extremes of temperament. With this
counsel he joins a statement which he designates as
" strange," " astonishing," and as " a venture ; " within
virtue itself, he says, there is a kind of distinction, or rather
a sharp contrast — that between self-mastery (o-w^poauvT))
and courage. This, moreover, is only a particular case of
a more general antithesis, which is also found in the physical
world, in knowledge, and in music. In all these spheres,
acuteness, vehemence, and quickness on the one hand, are
opposed to gentleness, steadiness, and slowness on the other.
One-sided exaggeration of the first-named qualities leads
to violence, even to madness ; of the second, to slackness
and cowardice. Plato's dread of what may be termed the
" in-breeding of the temperaments " is noteworthy enough ;
more noteworthy still is the Heraclitean breadth of vision,
as we may call it, with which he traces the antithesis
throughout the twofold realm of nature and mind, and
insists on the necessity for the coexistence and reconcili-
ation of the opposed qualities. What is most noteworthy
of all, however, is his breach with Socratic intellectualism —
a breach which has often been foreshadowed, which has never
been carried to its ultimate consequences, but which, in the
present passage, reaches a greater depth than ever before or
afterwards. The self-correction appears in the guise of an
THE UNITY OF VIRTUE ABANDONED. 1 85
attack upon the reactionary Antisthenes, whose love of
" disputing about words," due to the rigidity of his ideas, is
referred to and censured, not here only, but in other parts
of Plato's works. Plato himself, however, is nowhere freer
from such tendencies than here, where he counsels us " not
to take words too seriously," but rather to learn to under-
stand " the difficult language of facts." His liberation from
Eleatic fetters is complete ; a breath of the Baconian, or
modern inductive spirit has passed over his soul.
1 86 GREEK THINKERS.
CHAPTER XVIII.
PLATO'S " PHILEBUS."
I. The " Philebus " is closely related to the " Sophist " and
the " Statesman." We have evidence of this first of all in
a little peculiarity of style, which occurs sparingly in the
general run of Plato's works, more frequently in the
"Theaetetus," but with great profusion in each of the three
dialogues named. I refer to such turns as : " We are now
met by this argument." " Which .? " — " The following
difference results." "Which do you mean.'" The dia-
logue form has become a mere external mechanism, the
aid of which might easily be dispensed with. The long
didactic exercitations of the "Timseus" and the "Laws"
are now in prospect. The personality of the interlocutors
is accordingly almost destitute of pronounced individual
features. It is a significant fact in this connexion that
Philebus, who pleads the cause of Hedonism or the theory
of pleasure, is represented early in the dialogue as being
tired, for which reason he retires into the background to
make way for the colourless Protarchus. To have assigned
him a more active part in the dialogue would have been to
impress upon it the character of a real conflict of opinion,
for which the author lacked the inclination perhaps still
more than the strength. He therefore causes Socrates to
deliver what is practically a monologue, while Protarchus,
like the younger Socrates in the " Statesman," merely
presses him to continue, and asks for explanations.
But it is not merely in point of form that the " Philebus"
approximates to those other two dialogues. Those old
PLEASURE VERSUS WISDOM. 187
difficulties attaching to the problem of predication, the
solution of which had been found in the " Sophist," are
now regarded as done with ; they are even spoken of as
" childish exhibitions " and hindrances to inquiry. Here,
too, as there, the self-existent ideas are not, indeed,
abandoned, but consigned to the background. Plato's sense
of reality is as strong in the " Philebus " as in the other
two dialogues ; and his chief instrument for the acquisition
of truth is again classificatory dialectic — a method which,
after the precedent of the " Statesman," abandons the ex-
clusive use of dichotomy practised in the " Sophist," which
guards against the overleaping of " mediate notions "
(whereby we are reminded of Bacon's axiomata media), and
which is extolled in unambiguous language as the basis of
all scientific discovery. Such, in truth, it was for Plato, as
well as for Aristotle. For the insight of these thinkers
into causes was far in the rear of their hold upon the
ordered coexistences of things. The chief school in which
the knowledge of causes is gained, physical investigation,
was closed to them. Not only was the art of experimenta-
tion but little developed as yet, what there was of it Plato
in particular despised as a mechanical craft, while both
thinkers were parted by wide-reaching differences of opinion
from the foremost physicists of the day, the atomists. In
the "Philebus," as is well worth remarking, the work of
classification is supported by what alone can make it fruitful
and truly valuable — by abundant and acute observation.
Nor is the " Philebus " without its preliminary dialectical
exercise. The place of the "angler" and the "art of
weaving" (cf. pp. 168 and 181) is taken by the elements of
phonetics ; the different speech-sounds are divided into
species, namely, mutes, sonants, and fricatives. The real
subject is the nature of the good, or rather of that which,
in a later age, was termed the "highest good." The
manner of stating the question may well surprise us. As
the two competitors for the highest prize, "pleasure" and
" knowledge " are introduced, just as in a passage of the
"Republic." It is an obvious objection that knowledge,
apart from all its subsidiary services to the cause of pleasure.
l88 GREEK THINKERS.
is itself a source of pleasure (as no one knew better than
Plato himself), and cannot therefore be rightly opposed to
pleasure in general. But the identification of knowledge
with the good was a doctrine that had been actually taught
by the Socratic Euclides, who was followed in this by the
Cynics ; and Plato weakens the effect of the false antithesis
at an early stage by proposing a compromise such as fitted
in with the inclinations of his advancing years. Neither
pleasure nor knowledge, so he suggests, can alone procure
happiness ; this is always the fruit of a " mixture." Here,
at the very outset of the discussion, we note the peculiarity
of the method, which is the same as that adopted in the
second book of the " Republic " (cf p. 62) — the experi-
mental method, or method of difference. In thought
Plato strips from the life of pleasure every admixture of
intelligence, from the life of intelligence every admixture
of pleasure, and then compares the two lives in themselves.
The insufficiency of the mere life of pleasure is proved by
the argument that with the loss of memory and expec-
tation two important sources of pleasure are dried up.
Again, a being of the kind considered would, by reason
of its deficient consciousness of self, be incapable of any
other pleasures than those such as oysters and other similar
sea-creatures enjoy. The other alternative, the purely
intellectual life, touched by no breath of pleasure or pain,
is designated, perhaps with reference to the Cynic ideal, as
apathy ; it is not subjected to any profound analysis, but
simply rejected as unsuited to man.
The necessity for mixture having been admitted, a
question arises as to the proportional value of the two
ingredients. The answer is not found on the surface. The
investigation strikes back to the first principles of things,
and at the outset discovers two of them — the Unlimited
and the Limit. In this Plato is evidently influenced by the
Pythagoreans, and at the same time by Philolaus, a con-
temporary (probably a younger contemporary) of Socrates.
Whatever possesses degrees of intensity is referred to the
Unlimited — obviously because these degrees constitute a
continuum which is capable of infinite division. All measure
"LIMIT" AND ''THE UNLIMITED:' 1 89
and number, as well as ideas implying measure and number,
such as equality, duplication, and so on, belong to the
province of the Limit. From the " mixture " of the two
principles proceeds all beauty and power, all order and
regularity.
Thus it is with bodily health or with music, the case
of which latter is explained by saying that " the high and
the deep, the quick and the slow " (the raw material, so
to speak, of melody and of rhythm), receive their form
or articulation from the measure which limits them.
The mixture itself is now recognized as a third factor ; and
the cause of it (for nothing is without a cause) as a fourth
principle of the universe. A basis has thus been acquired
for the proposed comparison of values ; pleasure and pain,
as varieties of the Unlimited, have assigned to them the
corresponding inferior rank, while knowledge has the
superior dignity resulting from its inclusion in the domain
of the Limit. At this point the strict sequence of thought
is interrupted by a hymn to Intellect, as " King of the
heavens and the earth." As in a kindred passage of the
"Sophist," and again in the tenth book of the "Laws,"
there is an attack upon naturalism, or the theory which
ascribes the cosmic processes to blindly working natural
forces, and claims to dispense with a guiding intelligence
in the universe. This theory is condemned with great
severity, and not without a side-thrust at Leucippus or
Democritus.
What follows is somewhat striking. A moment ago
pleasure and pain, taken in the abstract, as we may say,
have been assigned to the realm of the Unlimited ; they are
now referred to the third fundamental principle, that of
union or combination. Their significance for concrete
existence, and particularly for animal life, is now explained
by an anticipation of Kant, in which pain is regarded as
a phenomenon accompanying the dissolution of union,
pleasure as a concomitant of its restoration. With this
physically conditioned pleasure and pain is next contrasted
the purely psychical pleasure and pain of expectation, while
the state of emotional indifference niust be added as a
I go GREEK THINKERS.
third possibility. This last is identified with the purely-
intellectual life, which may very well be that of the gods,
and which, among men, must have at least the second
prize awarded to it. There follow some subtle psycho-
logical reasonings. The pleasure which is of the soul alone
is conditioned by memory. But the object of memory
cannot be those impressions which affect only the body,
which fade away before they reach the soul. That object
must rather be supplied by those " vibrations " which quiver
through both body and soul, and which are named by us
" sensations." These are stored up in the memory ; as
recollections, they are the source of a purely psychic pleasure
which Plato strictly distinguishes from the pleasure resting
on desires. It is true that a purely psychic element enters
into desire, namely, the expectation, based on memory,
relative to what is desired. With this is coupled pleasure
or pain, according as the fulfilment of desire was hoped
for or doubted ; but, in addition, there is always an element
of pain in desire, corresponding to the physical privation.
At this point the question arises whether there are
" true " and " false " pleasures and pains. The problem
is evidently one which had already been much debated.
This appears not only from the quickness and certainty
with which answer follows upon question, but also from
the circumstance that the youthful Protarchus appeals to
what he has " heard " on the subject. The inapplicability
of the predicates " true " and " false " is first of all proved
by excellent arguments, which we may well assume origi-
nated in hedonistic circles. It is not to the emotions
themselves that those predicates should be applied, but
to the notions or opinions which give rise to the emotions
or are accompanied by them. On this point the scientific
thinker in Plato is at feud with the moral enthusiast,
and is in the end overcome by him. The distinction
under consideration is maintained, not without some
violence, in the teeth of the objections urged against it ;
as "false" pleasures are nominated those experienced in
dreams, as well as that enhancement of pleasure which is
conditioned by a previous pain of some magnitude. We
THE "ENEMIES OF PHILEBUS" CRITICIZED. 191
need not dwell on this fallacy, the source of which is a
tendency of Plato, not noticeable here only, to attempt the
withdrawal of ethical and aesthetic valuations from the
sphere of subjective feeling, and their establishment on
the basis of supposed objective criteria. Just as little need
we trouble ourselves about the confusion, already noted
in the "Gorgias," between the "good" in the ethical sense,
and the " good " in the sense of a good thing or a
valuable possession. We think it preferable to draw into
prominence the most important of the penetrating obser-
vations and well-founded distinctions which are supplied
in profusion. There is hardly any other part of Plato's
works in which the genuinely scientific spirit shows itself
so active and fruitful as in the "Philebus," The mani-
pulator of concepts is here supported by the psycho-
logist ; his nimble and supple dialectic is now exercised
upon a wealth of the material which experience supplies.
This deeply earnest endeavour after unprejudiced objectivity
shows itself, among its other manifestations, by the way in
which Plato turns the shafts of his polemic against certain
"enemies of Philebus," that is, opponents of Hedonism.
These thinkers, for whom he obviously has considerable
sympathy, yet seem to him to have overshot the mark by
denying pleasure altogether, and asserting that what passes
for such is a mere negative, freedom from pain. We have
no means of identifying the men here referred to and
described as the representatives of a "not ignoble fasti-
diousness," and as highly successful students of nature.
But they can hardly have been other than Pythagoreans
personally known to Plato, and our thoughts naturally turn
first to Archytas.
2. We pass on to the main results of the investigation.
With great vividness of detail, and with what we may call
terrible truthfulness to life, a description is given, which is
at the same time a condemnation, of excess in the most
violent pleasures, or those which arise out of the strongest
instincts. Plato expressly guards here against the suppo-
sition that these strictures are intended for Philebus — that
is, the Hedonists represented by him. And, indeed, they
192 GREEK THINKERS.
stood in no need of such instruction. The " exceptionally
austere " Eudoxus and the pleasure-loving Aristippus were
neither of them inclined to commend that blind fury of
desire which Plato paints in such repulsive colours, or to
extol the sway which sensual passion exerts over the mind
and soul of men. The adherents of these thinkers could
not possibly assign any very exalted rank to animal
pleasures, even if they simply measured them by the
rational standards of intensity, duration, and freedom from
admixture or purity, however little they may have cared to
help Plato smooth the way for asceticism by one-sided
delineations of the abnormalities here in question.
A mixture of pleasure and pain is also recognized in the
purely psychic sphere in the emotions of anger, yearning,
pity, and so forth. Attention is drawn to revenge, which,
according to Homer, is " sweeter than honey," and also to
that "tearful joy" which tragedy affords. Even comedy
itself is said to be not free from such mixture ; for the
faults and the weaknesses at which we laugh, sometimes at
the expense of friends, are not perceived altogether without
pain. Lastly, in the theatre of reality itself, " the tragedy
and the comedy of life," these mixed feelings have
yet another source. These mixed products are contrasted
with the pure and unmixed pleasures ; before all, the
elementary aesthetic feelings which are here for the first
time brought to light. It is not partial and relative
beauty, but lasting, complete, and intrinsic beauty, that
attaches to certain lines and forms, to certain colours and
tones, lastly even to odours, which, though standing to
some extent on a lower level, are yet ranged in this
categoiy because of their absolute freedom from pain.
There follow those pleasurable feelings which accompany
scientific knowledge. It is not without a certain boldness
challenging contradiction that the absolute purity or free-
dom from pain of these pleasures is asserted. Plato seems
to forget the difficulties of learning, and that hunger for
positive solutions which he has himself so vividly described
in the "Meno," as well as the discomfort produced by
cross-examination. He goes further; he maintains that
DIFFERENT KINDS OF PLEASURE. 1 93
the smallest amount of absolutely pure pleasure is pre-
ferable to the greatest amount of mixed pleasure. On
what does this assertion rest ? It is supported by the
reintroduction of the category of truth : the unmixed, the
pure, the genuine, is said to be the true. Thus Plato defends
a preference incapable of logical justification by a dis-
tinction alien to the subject. A second path leads to the
same goal. Emphasis is laid on the distinction between
Becoming and Being. " We have heard," that is, from the
Hedonists themselves, " that pleasure is always a Becoming,
never a Being." This clearly meant nothing more than
that pleasure, as feeling, is an event or process in the soul,
just as much as, say, thought or will. But all Becoming —
it is now inferred — is the means to a Being ; therefore
pleasure, too, can only be a means, not an end, and there-
fore no part of the good. To this is joined an ironical
expression of thanks to the "subtle school" for this
suicidal admission of theirs. By Being, in the psychic
sphere, so they might have replied, we are not to under-
stand anything else than permanent states of the soul ;
and thus the argument can only prove, at best, that
these, and not momentary feelings, are objects worth the
striving for. But to the objection understood in this
manner, justice was done by that form of ancient
Hedonism which regarded " pleasurable states " — for
example, a contented frame, of mind — as the object of life.
Further, he who pronounces pleasure a good — so Plato
continues — must wish to be rid of a life in which there
should be neither thirst, nor hunger, nor any of the other
painful feelings by which the corresponding pleasures are
conditioned. The objection holds good only against that
part of Hedonism which comprehends the pleasures
springing from the satisfaction of desire. And against these
it is decisive only under the supposition that the pleasure
of satisfaction is less in quantity than the preceding pain of
privation. Even then, the Hedonists might declare that,
though this pleasure is not a positive good, yet, as a
diminution of an evil which would otherwise exist, it is an
end very well worth the striving for. Besides this, there
194 ■ GREEK THINKERS.
was another answer which they might have given, namely,
that their theory only related to the actual world and
actual human nature, and that it was altogether irrelevant
to appeal to a hypothetical, perhaps not even possible,
existence — an existence which in any case must be unknown
to us and unknowable, such as that life free from hunger,
thirst, and all other needs. Lastly, we notice once more
that old confusion between good and goodness which
culminates in the assertion that, for the Hedonist, even the
best man of all must be regarded as bad when he is in
pain, and even the worst as good when he feels pleasure.
These logical violences are immediately followed by a
wave of strictly scientific reasoning. After the severe
scrutiny to which pleasure has just been subjected, wisdom,
the mind, and knowledge will not be spared ; here, too, it
is of importance to search out and cut away whatever is
rotten ; only what is purest may remain and be compared
with the purest parts of pleasure.
That which comes next is nothing less than the first
clear definition of exact science — as knowledge based on
counting, weighing, and measuring. Our readers will
remember a casual allusion to this notion in Plato's
" Euthyphro " (cf. Vol. II, p. 360), which is paralleled by a
passage in the " Republic ; " they will also remember the
complaint of a reflecting physician that medicine must
renounce " measure, weight, and number," and be content
with " bodily sensation " (cf. Vol. I. p. 299). The three
means of exact knowledge have already appeared together
in a verse of Sophocles, who terms them the invention of
Palamedes, the great hero of civilization, while his pre-
decessor ^schylus had attributed to the friend of man,
the Titan Prometheus, simply the invention of number
as the "most ingenious of all artifices." With exact
or quantitative knowledge there is contrasted, in the
" Philebus," that empiricism which rests upon " the school-
ing of the senses " — a passage in which mere practice or
routine is no longer treated with the same contempt as
in the " Gorgias." After this the practical arts are divided
from each other according as they use or do not use
THE TWO SOURCES OF HAPPINESS. 1 95
instruments of precision, such as the ruler, the compass, the
measuring-line, and so forth. A deeper distinction, one
already found in the " Republic," exists among the exact
sciences themselves. The arithmetic, for example, which
deals with " unequal units " — say, two head of cattle, or two
armies — is one thing, and that which deals with units not
differing in the slightest degree, is quite another. The
same holds of geometry. In this whole province, pure or
abstract science is thus contrasted with the knowledge
which relates to the things of sense ; to the first is attri-
buted the highest degree of strictness and accuracy, and
for the object of it we are referred to the immutable, self-
existent entities.
3. Before the discussion is summarized a glance is cast
backwards upon the course of the dialogue. Philebus,
the champion of the Hedonists, had recognized in pleasure
the appropriate end of the actions of all living creatures,
and had thus identified it with the good. It was Socrates
who had first maintained that the two do not coincide, and
that knowledge, which others (Euclides and the Cynics)
placed in the forefront, had a greater share than pleasure
in the nature of the good. It had further been admitted
that neither mere pleasure nor mere knowledge is sufficient
for happiness, but that a mixture is necessary. This mixture
is now performed. We have, so to speak, two sources, the
one of them flowing "as it were with honey," the other
" with sober and bracing water." And our task is to mix
from them, in the right proportions, the drink we require.
First of all, the different species of knowledge are blended
together, the purest as well as the most clouded ; not
those only which relate to the unchangeable and self-
existent, but those, too, which have for their object the
world of becoming and decay. The necessity of not pro-
ceeding here in too eclectic a fashion is illustrated by a
forcible phrase : " Otherwise not one of us would even
know his way home." It is otherwise in respect of
pleasures ; on these, " intellect and knowledge " must
themselves decide. Their verdict is that only the "true
and pure " species of pleasure are admissible ; not those
196 GREEK THINKERS.
which raise mad mutiny in our souls, which often impede
our growth, and are for the most part ruinous to our
offspring. Thus the mixture is completed to the satis-
faction of the interlocutors. Search is next made for the
principles governing the mixture. First of all, measure and
right proportion are recognized as the principle without
which no appropriate mixture could even be made, without
which, indeed, there could be no real mixture at all, but at
best a confused chaos. But on all hands measure and
proportion are regarded as beauty and virtue, and thus the
nature of the good of which we are in search has escaped
into the province of beauty. With this is joined truth,
which also has gone into the mixture. The good therefore
is apprehended not in one, but in three forms, namely, as
beauty, truth, and proportion.
The question arises once more whether pleasure or
knowledge is the nearer akin to "the best in gods and
men," as the " good " is here termed. We know what the
answer will be. With an emphasis which reminds us of
the most emphatic passage in the " Republic " (cf. p. 99),
Protarchus is invited to proclaim far and wide that pleasure
is not the first of possessions, nor yet the second. The
first place is, on the contrary, occupied by " measure ; " the
second by " the beautiful, the proportionate, the complete,
and sufficient," the third by " intellect and knowledge ; "
the fourth by " science, arts, and right opinions ; " the fifth
by those species of pleasure which are free from all
admixture of pain, that is, pure. (With approximate
accuracy we understand by (i) the objects of mathematics ;
by (2) the realization of them in the world of appearance ;
by (3) the intellectual faculties which apprehend them ; by
(4) their application to the domain of objective facts ; by
(5) the emotional effects which they produce through the
agency of the elementary aesthetic feelings, resting, as they
do in a preponderating degree, on relations of form.) " But
in the sixth generation," as is said in allusion to a line of
Orphic verse, " our song may be mute." Once again the
course of the investigation is summarized, and an injunction
added to put less trust in the testimony "of all cattle
CRITICISM OF THE " PHILEBUS:' 197
and all horses " than in that of discourses inspired by the
philosophic Muse.
4. It is at an opportune moment that we are reminded
of the " Muse." Plato distinguished between three souls.
The truth is that in his breast such a trinity did, in fact,
reign — the soul of the poet, of the ethical teacher, and of
the scientific thinker. Poetic power is not yet wholly
extinct in the author of the " Philebus." Its exercise, how-
ever, is exhausted in the task of strengthening the voice
of the moralist. The latter is here affected by ascetic
tendencies to a degree paralleled, perhaps, only in the
" Phaedo." That Orphic-Pythagorean current of feeling, as
we may call it, is here encountered by another current
tending towards the strictest objectivity and the most
careful accuracy — a current already familiar to us in the
" Sophist " and the " Statesman."
The struggle between the two currents is a moving
sight ; we observe with no little sympathy how Plato's
warm desire not merely to preach and enforce his ideal,
but also to demonstrate its unconditional validity, en-
tangles him in contradictions with the rules of method
which he has himself laid down at the beginning of the
dialogue. We remember his warnings not to overleap
" mediate notions," and thus to guard against false generali-
zations ; this warning he himself seems to forget in the
passage where he paints the extreme of sensual pleasure in
repellent colours, and, at the same time, makes the extreme
special case the type of each and every satisfaction of
natural needs. And if even the less pure, enipiric kinds
of knowledge deserve some respect "because otherwise
no one of us would even know his way home," why — so we
might ask him — why do you despise the instincts which
call us into life, which preserve us in it, and which are
only extinguished when our own dissolution is imminent ?
It will be obvious to every reader how greatly the dithy-
rambic fervour of the concluding speeches destroys the
effect of the strictness in thought which he has so care-
fully endeavoured to observe. There is only one point we
wish to emphasize. " Proportionality " is counted by him
VOL. III. P
198 GREEK THINKERS.
as "beauty;" it is, therefore, either identical with this
quality or else related to it as one species to another
species logically higher or lower than itself. In neither
case is it admissible to co-ordinate it with beauty ; and
yet this is what Plato does when he speaks of the " three
forms of the good."
The dialogue as a whole is not so much " dark and
ponderous " — the current judgment — as contradictory. In
the beginning of it Plato is inspired by the most lively
zeal to do full justice to that theory which starts from
the struggle for pleasure as a primitive phenomenon in
the human and animal will, and uses it as a basis on
which to construct a rule of life. Accordingly, he takes
" pleasure " in the widest sense, and instead of this word
with its narrowing and debasing associations, he uses others,
such as "joy" and "satisfaction." He even mentions the
pleasure " of the moral man in his morality, or of the
reasonable man in the exercise of his reason." With the
strictly scientific investigation he goes on to combine an
attack upon the life of pleasure in the vulgar sense of the
word ; he becomes less and less able to keep the two
questions apart. Only those pleasures which are wholly
without mixture, and thus entirely removed from the
domain of needs, find favour in Plato's eyes ; the natural
instincts, on the other hand, on which rests the continuance
of the individual and of the race, are not merely relegated
by him to their appropriate place ; he rather identifies
them with their extreme manifestations, and thus at last
rises to an invective which does not shrink even from
pouring out scorn on scientific Hedonism regarded as
advocating the life of pleasure.
There is yet another circumstance which detracts both
from the transparency of the results and from the certainty
of the proof. Nothing is more characteristic of the period
of Plato's old age than the enormous widening of his horizon.
We have already had occasion to wonder at the width of
vision which in the concluding section of the " Statesman "
expands human into cosmic tendencies. It is the same in
the " Philebus." The treatment of an ethical problein leads
A FEATURE OF PLATO'S LATE PERIOD. 1 99
to a question touching primordial principles. Even the
"good," to the nature of which the inquiry relates, is no
longer merely the principle of human welfare, but embraces
that of the cosmos as well. The question is accordingly
so extended that the answer can only be found in those
abstractions which, though certainly possessing the highest
degree of comprehensiveness, are for that very reason poor
in content. The vagueness of the solutions, and the false,
or at any rate misleading, analogy are the shadows cast by
that light which may be described as Heraclitean depth and
width of vision. In the last phase of the doctrine of ideas
— that of increasing Pythagoreanism — we shall soon see
this tendency reach its culminating height ; but, before that,
we shall encounter it in the doctrine of the microcosm and
the macrocosm which occupies so great a space in the
" Timaeus."
200 GREEK THINKERS.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE "TIMiEUS" AND THE "CRITIAS."
I. An historical novel and a scientific fairy tale — it is thus
that we may describe the content of these two dialogues,
without breach of the reverence due to Plato. A consider-
able time after the completion of the "Republic," its author
gathered up the threads he had allowed to drop, and set
about increasing by an extension a work which was already
of no mean magnitude. The same endeavour after sys-
tematic completeness, shown in the expansion of a work
originally created without any thought of continuation, is
manifest here as in the continuation of the " Thesetetus."
The analogy goes further. In both cases Plato planned a
tetralogy of which the last member is lacking in the exe-
cution. In the present case the performance has lagged
still further behind the intention, for even the third part
of the trilogy — the " Critias " — remained incomplete ; in
fact, it breaks off in the middle of a sentence.
The " Timteus " and the " Critias " are cemented to the
"Republic" by their matter, but not by their form. New
characters appear in the dialogue : besides Isocrates, there
is the Timaeus who gives his name to the first of these two
dialogues, a citizen and statesman of Locri, in Lower Italy,
a man here praised for his philosophic training, and almost
certainly a personal friend of Plato's. The latter makes
him the mouthpiece of his own theories of nature, possibly
as an expression of gratitude to Timaeus himself and other
representatives of the Pythagorean school. The third
character, who is also the chief speaker in the second
A RECAPITULATION OF THE "REPUBLIC:' 20I
dialogue, which is named after him, is Plato's highlyesteemed
great-uncle, the Critias who is already well known to the
reader (of. Vol. II. pp. 250, 301) ; the fourth is Hermocrates,
who was intended to be the chief speaker in the fourth
dialogue bearing his name, like which he is for us a mere
shadow. With these persons Socrates states that he has
had a conversation on the previous day, and the substance
of this is recapitulated in the opening portion of the
"Timaeus." To a great extent, but by no means com-
pletely, it coincides with the matter contained in the
" Republic." The material differences, as well as the
variation in the persons represented as having taken
part in the dialogue, have roused the astonishment of
interpreters, and led some of them to hypotheses which
we regard as adventurous. The two circumstances, as
we believe, may be satisfactorily explained by reference
to the objects which guided Plato in the composition of
the " Timaeus " and the " Critias."
The author of the " Republic " was not spared the
reproach of having designed a Utopia, an unattainable
ideal of the State and of society. An echo of this complaint,
which for the rest is very intelligible, reaches us in the
criticism to which Aristotle subjected the work of his
master (cf. p. 119). There was another reproach, too, of
which we learn from Grantor, a pupil of one of Plato's
pupils, and the oldest commentator on the " Timaeus : "
Plato was accused of being unfaithful to the traditions of
his native land, and of going to school to the Egyptians — a
criticism which was doubtless made with an eye to the
caste-like organization of Plato's pattern State. To these
accusations coming from without there was certainly added
a feeling of uneasiness in Plato's own breast. A scion of
an ancient and noble house, a descendant of Attic kings,
could not be content with the rdle of subversive innovator
and quibbling sophist, which his projects of political reform
had led Isocrates to attribute to him (cf p. 27). To this
chorus of accusing voices he answered by a narrative which
was intended to turn the edge of these reproaches, and at
the same time offer signal satisfaction to his own feelings
202 GREEK THINKERS.
of affection for a fatherland which he had so often felt
himself compelled to censure. Truth and fiction were
blended in this narrative ; but the fiction was not wholly
arbitrary, and a considerable measure of self-deception
preceded the deception practised on others. Plato believed
that he had discovered some of the essential features of his
political ideal in the dim beginnings of his native city.
We have already had more than one occasion to note the
shiftings of his historical perspective ; and we have seen
how he came, half involuntarily, to find the image of the
future mirrored in the past (cf pp. 91 and 108). Inspired by
this belief, he found in the facts of history, or in what were
commonly accepted as such, a point of support for the
true myth-forming faculty, which colours, supplements, and
elaborates the half-known in accordance with emotional
needs. Plato's " guardians " — that ruling class freed from
all petty cares and ignoble aspirations, extending their
fatherly guidance and protection to the great mass of the
people — were by no means unlike a genuine aristocracy,
especially that transfigured image of it which is cherished
in the traditions of old and noble families. The similarity
was heightened in the mind of one who credited the whole
of primitive Greece with those customs and institutions of
Sparta which inclined towards practical communism, and
transferred them to the soil of prehistoric Athens. Even
the caste-like separation of classes was not quite without
its precedent in this latter quarter. There was at the least
a widespread belief that in former ages such a sharply
marked division had existed. Thus Aristotle, in his " Con-
stitution of the Athenians," speaks of three classes : the
Eupatridse, or nobles ; the agricultural peasants ; and the
artisans — three sections of the people, each with its own
political rights and its proportion of votes in the election
of the ten archons. Even so rash an innovation as the
emancipation of women was not necessarily, for Plato, a
product of the Socratic "thinking-shop," as Aristophanes
called it ; not " Cloud-cuckoo-town," but the Athens of his
ancestors, was, in his belief, the original home of this
practice. The guardian goddess of the city, "Athene the
WHY THE RECAPITULATION IS INCOMPLETE. 203
Defender," who with shield and spear kept watch on the
height of the Acropolis, was in this instance the guarantor
of his faith. She supplied him with a proof that at one
time " the business of war had been the common concern of
men and women ; " and if this were the case with that
most unfeminine of occupations, why not with all others ?
Two inferences follow from what has just been said.
In the recapitulation of his political ideals with which Plato
prefaces his parallels from prehistoric Athens, those features
are necessarily absent of whose existence in the primitive
age he could persuade neither himself nor his readers. He
was thus obliged to break off that recapitulation at the
point where he would otherwise have touched on the
scientific education of the " guardians," their crowning study
of dialectic, the theory of knowledge by which all those
requirements were justified and invested with a deeper
meaning. Secondly, the participants in the present dialogue,
and therefore also in the earlier one, represented as having
preceded it, were necessarily different from those of the
" Republic," and such as were better suited to the purposes
of the continuation. Thus, in particular, Plato's younger
brothers, Glaucon and Adeimantus, are replaced by his
great-uncle Critias, the representative of an earlier genera-
tion, who repeats his tale of prehistoric Athens as having
been told him in his early boyhood by his aged grandfather.
The latter, who was also named Critias, had in his turn
heard it from a close friend of his father Dropides, the far-
travelled and historically learned legislator and poet Solon.
2. The quasi-historical verification is accompanied by
a quasi-experimental one — a strange proceeding, which it is
not too easy for us to understand. Immediately after the
recapitulation to which we have alluded, Socrates lets fall
the remark that he feels like a man looking at a fine
painting ; he is seized, as such a man might be, with a
longing to see the figures on which he has been feasting
his gaze — not only at rest, but in active motion. He would
like to hear of the conflicts sustained by the pattern State,
of its relations with other states, of the famous actions
performed by its citizens. This is the cue for which Critias
204 GREEK THINKERS.
is waiting, in order to regale his audience with the narrative
once told by Solon, on the authority of Egyptian priests
and by them derived from the study of primaeval records.
Here begins the marvellous tale of the citizens of Athens
in the dim prehistoric age. Plato is not content with
attributing to his own and his fellow-citizens' forefathers
institutions resembling in essentials those devised by him-
self in the " Republic ; " nor does he rest satisfied when he
has repelled the charge of " Egypticizing " by making the
Egyptians themselves the borrowers. He goes on to
recount the great deeds of those Athenian forefathers, more
particularly their wonderful victory, gained nine thousand
years ago, over the inhabitants of Atlantis, an island in the
Western sea which had afterwards sunk beneath the surface.
The narrative is begun in the " Timaeus," and continued in
the " Critias," but not concluded. What, we are inclined to
ask, was Plato's purpose in this over-bold fiction .'
No doubt the pleasure of romancing was in itself no
small allurement to the poet-philosopher ; in his later
period he was no longer satisfied, as when he wrote the
" Symposium," the " Phaedrus," the " Gorgias," or the " Pro-
tagoras," with the opportunities afforded him in the con-
struction of the dialogue, in the word-painting of the
scenery, in the richly coloured characterization of the
dramatis persona, in the alternation of highly diversified
styles of discourse. We can well understand that this
particular tendency of Plato's mind has now carved out a
separate channel for itself, and become an independent
element in his work. But while we may have here dis-
covered a predisposing cause, the true ground and motive
of his puzzling procedure is still to seek. Not even in the
days of his old age did Plato become a mere teller of
stories. Behind his romancing we have most certainly to
look for a didactic purpose ; and the nature of it is indicated
to us in no uncertain manner by the wish of Socrates to
see the ideal figures of the " Republic " set, as it were, in
motion. The viability of these figures had been called in
question ; objections had been raised, both by others and
in Plato's mind (cf p. 128), against the practicability and
PLATO AND THE ''EXPERIMENTAL NOVELL 205
salutary operation of the Platonic projects. These doubts
it was necessary to overcome ; and the weapon of fiction
seemed more effective for the purpose than the mere
parallelism with the above-mentioned institutions. The
paradox is not so great as it sounds ; an analogous
case in modern literature will serve as an illustration.
A highly gifted French novelist of the nineteenth
century states very seriously, in his "Experimental
Novel," his conviction that by the long series of his own
fictitious narratives he has done more for the progress
of psychology than is generally accomplished by any one
acute and profound observer of human nature. He believes
that in the rigorously consistent deduction of action from
character, the latter an assumed datum based on " human
documents," he has performed a truly scientific operation,
closely akin to the experiments conducted by the student
of nature. Plato, we imagine, entertained a precisely
similar purpose. Deceiving himself by a process which is
as intelligible in the one case as in the other, he overlooked
the arbitrary element which must necessarily cleave to his
description under the best of circumstances. In his con-
tinuation of the. " Critias " he would certainly have honestly
endeavoured to depict characters and actions such as would
necessarily arise out of the assumed situation, that is, from
the institutions and educational system of the ideal State,
supposed realized. He would have claimed the ideal beauty
of the characters and the excellence of the actions as wit-
nesses to the soundness of the projected institutions, the
worthiness of the ends proposed for pursuit, and the
efficacy of the means recommended for their attainment.
In other words, he would have laid upon the shoulders of
his fiction that task which the student of nature performs
when he verifies experimentally the result of a theoretical
deduction.
Plato abandoned the undertaking when barely begun.
For this we need assign no other reason than that the
genuine scientific spirit was after all too strong in him ;
that though he might project, he could not carry out a plan
founded on so grievous a self-deception without becoming
2o6 GREEK THINKERS.
aware of its illusory character. Thus what we have before
us is not the edifice as the architect designed it, but only
the vestibule by which it was to be approached : the
description of that mighty empire which was founded by
Poseidon and ruled by his posterity, ten allied kings in
each generation — an empire which surpassed all regions of
the earth in the excellence of its climate and the fruitful-
ness of its soil, in its abundance of precious metals, in the
magnificence of its aqueducts and the splendour of its
temples and palaces — an empire whose power extended
over an island larger than Africa and Asia taken together,
over other islands lying beyond it, and over parts of the
Western Continent itself, which by force of arms had
pushed its authority as far as the borders of Egypt in
Africa and those of Italy in Europe.
We should be glad to know how far Plato's fiction is
based on popular legend ; how far the belief in an extensive
country in the West rests on the presupposition of a not
wholly unsymmetrical distribution of land between the
Eastern and Western hemispheres ; how far the fact, now
attested by documentary evidence, of an incursion into
Libya and Egypt made by conquering "sea-nations" coming
from the West. But on all these points we are left to
uncertain conjecture.
3. Be that as it may, the historical romance merely
supplies a framework for Plato's theories of nature. To
give an account of these is not the most delectable of
tasks. Their fruitfulness stands in inverse ratio to their
obscurity. The contents of the " Timaeus " have always
been regarded as enigmatic ; so much so, that the con-
troversy over their interpretation began in the second
generation of the Platonic school, and has lasted down
to the present day. It was not till late in life that the
philosopher approached the investigation of nature ; this
part of his system was therefore subjoined by way of
appendix to the " Republic," a work already complete in
itself, in which all the other divisions of his philosophy
were contained. Even then the study of nature was for
him, as he tells us expressly, a labour of secondary
PLATO AS A NATURE-PHILOSOPHER. 207
importance, a kind of pastime. The limitations of Plato's
endowment are here plainly discernible, and it is still more
evident that by his disdain of the most effective means of
pursuing these inquiries, he has closed against himself the
paths which might have led to valuable results. Indeed,
this antagonism to the experimental method is even more
pronounced in the " Timseus " than in the " Republic ; ''
what he had ridiculed in the earlier dialogue (cf. pp. 84,
85, and 187) he condemns in the later. Alluding to an
experiment, probably conducted by atomists, and bearing
on a question in the theory of colour, he describes such
procedure as a trespassing on the divine domain, as
rebellious presumption of the human intellect. Thus the
most important auxiliary in the investigation of nature is
no longer merely disdained, but proscribed as an impiety.
From the romance of "Atlantis," Plato passes to his
theories of nature by a transition which is external in
character and not a little violent. The narrative must
not proceed, he says, till the origin of man has been
described, and this presupposes the origin of the world.
But the bond by which these two parts of the work were
connected in the author's mind was much closer and
stronger. It was from the nature of justice that the
investigation in the " Republic " had set out ; in the
" Timseus " he returns to the same point by a wide circuit.
He supplies ethics with a cosmic foundation. The whole
of nature is " ethicized," and in the following manner. The
analogy between individual and State is no longer sufficient
for the broadened range of Plato's thought ; it is expanded
into an analogy between man and the universe. Justice,
as the reader will remember, had beeri defined as the right
relation among the different parts of the soul. To this
there corresponded the right relation among the three
classes of the ideal State. But: Plato's survey is now
immeasurably enlarged. The threefold division is now
extended to the world-soul ; and on the due proportion
of its three parts, the continuance of the universe is made
to depend. While justice was previously regarded as the
foundation of human happiness, it is now acknowledged,
208 GREEK THINKERS.
like the " good " of the " Philebus," as essential to the
welfare of the cosmos. The whole organic world, in its
various transformations, is similarly conditioned by the
ascendancy or the decline of justice. These transformations
form a descending scale. Man, who is created first, sinks,
as a result of moral deterioration, first into woman, then
into brute form, and, continuing his downward progress
from the higher through the lower animals, becomes at
last a plant. Such is the kernel of the Platonic theory of
descent — a descent with every right to the name, whereas
our modern doctrine of the derivation of species should
rather be called a theoiy of ascent, as involving a pro-
gress upwards. One rule applies both to the individual
and the race. "By the loss and gain of wisdom and
unreason," the higher sink to the lower, and the lower
again sometimes rise to the higher, in virtue of the trans-
migration of souls. The Orphic doctrine of the " fall of
the soul by sin " is here blended with the Pythagorean
metempsychosis, and the two together expanded into a
theory which embraces the whole universe. Orphic,
Pythagorean, and Socratic elements unite to produce a
conception of the cosmos, the greatness and sublimity of
which is worthy of a thinker and poet, ■ in whom the
ethical impulses were supreme, while at the same time its
lack of foundation in fact moves our astonishment. But
this astonishment may be lessened by the following con-
siderations. Severed as he was from the atomists by the
religious temper of his mind, and thus deprived of the only
school then accessible in which he might have learnt the
true way to understand nature, Plato had no other choice
than to follow Pythagorean teachers, who could very well
teach him to require rigour in deduction and to appreciate
order and harmony, but not to eschew the arbitrary assump-
tion of fundamental premisses. He himself was a deductive
mathematician, not by any means an inductive physicist.
His physics, indeed, as has been rightly observed, were
biology, and his biology a psychology tinged with ethics.
There thus arose in his mind a picture of the world which
fascinates by its consistency within itself, by its numerical
THE TWOFOLD CREATION. 209
symmetry, by its ethical purpose, but which is destitute of
all true foundation in experience. This picture of the
world we have now to examine more closely.
In the "Timseus" Plato states that he can only offer
" probable opinions," not established truth ; Plato's inter-
preter is here in much the same case. He cannot claim
certainty, but only a greater or less degree of plausibility
for his exegesis. Sometimes he must be more modest
still, and leave to the reader the choice among an array
of conflicting explanations.
Timseus begins his exposition with the creative act of
the supreme Deity, to whom, as in the " Sophist " and the
"Statesman," the names are applied of "Artificer," "Father,"
and "Generator." He creates a universal or world-soul,
by the possession of which the universe becomes an
organism. As such, it is sometimes spoken of as a living
being, and again even as a "blessed god." A germ of
this conception, which has already found expression in
the " Philebus," may be recognized in the Orphic myth of
the world-egg, as also in a comparison employed by Ana-
ximenes (cf. Vol. I. pp. 56 and 92) ; and it is similarly
prefigured in the teaching of the Pythagorean Philolaus
as to the respiration of the world (cf Vol. I. p. 139).
Further, the universal mind of Xenophanes bears consider-
able resemblance to the Platonic world-soul. But there is
a noteworthy difference between the two. The pantheism
of Xenophanes excludes the transcendental element. On
the other hand, it was possible for Plato's mind, moving as
it did in the supersensual world of ideas, to conceive the
world as animated, even as a deity, without rejecting on
that account the idea of a supreme Godhead standing above
the world, creating it and directing it.
That act of creation is twofold. The world-soul, with its
endowment of reason, was created in the image of the ideas ;
and its enveloping husk, the world-body or the heavens,
was fashioned after the same model. As the Deity
is good. He desired that all else should be good, and,
as far as possible. He ordered the world accordingly. This
is a phrase of weighty import, this " as far as possible," and
2IO GREEK THINKERS.
implies a limitation of the. divine power. Plato does, in fact,
speak of a principle, named here " Necessity," which is in
conflict with the good, which may be appeased or silenced
by reason, but not overcome. In addition to these two
principles of necessity and reason, he recognizes yet a
third, the "cause of disorded motion," which originally
prevailed in the world of space, and was converted into
order by the Deity. This is the point at which we encounter
the first great difficulty of interpretation. We are told
further on that simultaneously with the heavens, or world-
body, time came into existence — a thought in which we catch
at least a faint echo of the Orphic cosmogonies (cf. Vol. I.
p. 86). How is this dictum to be reconciled with the
assertion of that disorderly motion which preceded the
world, and which must have been a process in time ? This
difficulty was a great stumbling-block to the ancient ex-
positors. One ingenious attempt to solve it is as old as
Aristotle. According to this view, Plato speaks of those
motions much in the same spirit as a teacher of geometry
shows his pupil a figure constructed piece by piece, for
the sake of clearness, and not in order that an origin in
time or relations of succession may be attributed to what
is really coexistent. (Draw such and such a line, draw
another meeting it at a given angle, and so on.) Aristotle
rightly condemned this way out of the difficulty as inade-
quate. There is more plausibility in a second ancient
solution, which may be reproduced, briefly and in modern
terminology, as follows : Plato is not thinking of motions
actually performed before the creation, but a tendency, an
ever-present resistance to orderly motion ; it is merely for
the sake of greater vividness in exposition that he speaks
of this as an independent factor that had once manifested
itself with untrammelled freedom. We should be glad to
rest content with this explanation. It is barred, however,
by the circumstance that exactly the same assertion of a
chaos preceding the cosmos is found in the " Statesman ; "
and it is improbable in the highest degree that an author
should have used the same figurative and misleading form
of expression twice and in two quite diff"erent contexts.
MOTION AND PRIMARY MATTER. 211
Turn and twist the matter as we will, there is no acquitting
Plato of having confused time, if not with the measure of
time — the heavens, with the sun, moon, and stars, are
regarded by him as such a measure — ^yet with the time,
which thereby became measurable.
4. We have been speaking of the disorderly motion
which preceded the beginning of things. What, then, was
it that moved ? This is a point which Plato had not ex-
plained with perfect clearness. Are we therefore to join
the number of those modern interpreters who credit him
with the absurdity of assuming a motion which is a motion
of nothing ? Our view is rather that Plato recognizes, as
substratum of this motion and of all processes of becoming,
a kind of primordial matter, originally without form or
qualities, which he terms sometimes the " nurse," and again
the "womb " or the "mother," of all becoming. But this
" dark and difficult " somewhat, destitute of reality in the
fullest sense of the word, in face of which he confesses
his perplexity with equal candour and emphasis, is in his
mind so far from being identified with its "seat" — mere
space — that, on the contrary, he affirms the assumption of
empty space to be illegitimate, and banishes it entirely
from his picture of the universe.
Thus the creative act does not, for Plato, mean a creation
out of nothing. The cosmos, or well-ordered universe, is
created in the sense that the Demiurge, or artificer, imparts
form to the formless, order and regularity to the disorderly
and irregular. Before we pass on, let us say a word on
the Demiurge himself. Since his being consists solely in
goodness, it is natural to ask whether and how he is to be
distinguished from the idea of the good, to which the fore-
most place was assigned in the " Republic." An answer, a
well-considered answer, to this question is that there is no
distinction at all. The following are the grounds which serve
to justify this conclusion : If the Demiurge were not identical
with the idea of the good, he would necessarily participate
in it, or be copied from it ; he would therefore occupy a
lower position than that idea, which is contrary to his
strongly emphasized rank as Supreme Deity. The complete
212 GREEK THINKERS.
identification of the Demiurge with the idea of the good
thus seems unavoidable. But it is open to an objection
which is worth consideration. It is true that the idea of
the good has already been represented in the " Republic "
as an active principle, not an inert pattern, by an enhance-
ment of its nature which we do not find accorded to the
other ideas till we reach the " Sophist." But it is quite
certain that Plato is fully in earnest when he speaks of the
fabrication of the world by the Demiurge. That the world
has " become," and has not existed from eternity, is a thesis
which he affirms, amid doubts and reservations on other
matters, in a tone of dogmatic certitude. How, then — we
are driven to ask — can this work of creation, which is an
isolated act, not a continuous influence, be ascribed to an
idea, that is, to an hypostasized quality, even though it
were the highest of all qualities 1 We know of no answer
but the following : The enhancement or transfiguration of
the ideas, more accurately their deification, has made further
and further progress in Plato's mind. In the " Timaeus "
he roundly terms the ideas " eternal gods ; " but the names
" author," " generator," " father," are, as we have already
observed, to be found in the " Sophist " and " Statesman,"
and do not meet us in the " Timaeus " for the first time.
These names, we now venture to say, denote in all these
dialogues the same principle which in the " Republic "
appears as " the idea of the good." It is not for the sake
of disguising his thought, or of merely presenting it in a
new dress, that Plato chooses these names ; he does so
because in his own consciousness that supreme and divine
principle has become invested with a greater degree of
personality, and has thereby gained, as we learn from the
" Timaeus " itself and its doctrine of creation, what we have
called in another connexion '' an allowance of free action "
(cf Vol. I. p. 26).
Like the great natural fetishes of the old Hellenic
religion, Plato's ideas have outgrown themselves. It is
thus no conscious accommodation to popular theology that
we have to presuppose. Plato has, indeed, somethingSio
keep back, as is shown by his saying that " to discover the
THE ''EVIL world-soul:' 213
Author and Father of this All is difficult ; to reveal Him to
all, were He once discovered, would be impossible." But
his meaning, we think, is only that, although the embodi-
ment of all good has become for him a divine Person, he
yet rejects all anthropomorphic accretions that can possibly
be dispensed with, so that this primordial principle is very
unlike what passes for deity in the general mind. For the
rest, Plato's inner estrangement from the popular faith is
greater in the " Timaeus " than anywhere else. This is
apparent from his remark, made not without a touch of
irony, that the assertions made touching the gods of
mythology rest on no cogent or even plausible proof ; still,
law and tradition ought to be trustfully followed. But
what repels him in the popular religion is not its poly-
theism. Even his own Supreme Godhead does not stand
alone, but is surrounded by a company of " eternal gods,"
the ideas ; he generates the " blessed deity " known as the
Cosmos, and those souls clad in fiery raiment, the stars.
Further, the god of goodness has not fellows and sub-
ordinates merely, but mighty opponents. With two of
the latter we have already made acquaintance — Necessity,
a dark primaeval force which resists the good — and the
irregularly working or "erratic cause of motion." These
agencies are fused into one and augmented in the " Laws,"
where the " beneficent " world-soul is matched against a
hostile principle with " contrary powers " to its own. We
have here an aspect of Plato's theology on which it is all
the more necessary to lay stress, because it has often been
ignored, and sometimes even denied, by the historians of
philosophy.
" Away, then, with that evil world-soul ! " So exclaims
no less a critic than August Bockh ; and evidently he
believes himself to be doing Plato's reputation a service by
eliminating this highly important element from his theory
of the gods. And yet it redounds not a little to the
honour of the poet-thinker that, with all his artist's delight
in beauty, he is not blind to the evil of the world ; that he
is consistent enough, in face of that evil, not to find the
omnipotence of the deity compatible with his perfect
VOL. in. Q
214 GREEK THINKERS.
goodness. The latter could be supposed absolute only if
there were limits and hindrances to the realization of the
divine purposes. The nmaturer experience of added years
and the gradual loss of the optimism natural to sanguine
youth had doubtless contributed to make the power of evil
loom larger in Plato's outlook. Witness the doubts to
which utterance had already been given in the closing
portion of the " Republic" as to the possibility of realizing
the social ideal portrayed in that dialogue — doubts which
find stronger expression in the "Statesman," and the
strongest of all in the " Laws." Nothing, then, could be
more natural than that, with Plato's view of life darkened
by sad experiences, some tinge of that blackness should
appear in his picture of the universe ; that the powers
hostile to the good, or, the same thing for him, to order
and regularity, should both fill a wider space and tend
to become concentrated in a single principle. In the
" Theaetetus," every good had its companion evil attached
to it like a shadow. But that only applied to life on the
earth, not to cosmic existence. In the " Statesman,"
periods of universal "disorder" alternate with orderly
periods in which the divine goodness reigns without limita-
tion or check. In the " Tim^us " evil appears as a restrained
but ever-active power, still bearing many names, and not
yet comprehended under the unity of a supreme principle.
In accordance with the tendencies of Plato's later phase,
such a principle would necessarily be of the nature of soul,
and it is nothing to be surprised at if in the last of his
works he took the final step, demanded by the whole course
of his development, and provided the good world-soul with
its manifest counterpart. It should be added that Plato's
pessimistic tendency is much more prominent in his treat-
ment of various subordinate matters than in his presentation
of the main theological and metaphysical thesis. For while
the evil world-soul is spoken of as less powerful than the
good, and the corresponding principles appear in the
"Timseus" as disturbing elements, not as predominant
forces by which the good is overpowered, the "Zoogony,"
on the other hand, or theory of descent to which we have
COMPOSITION OF THE WORLD-SOUL. 215
already referred, exhibits mankind as continually sinking to
lower and lower planes of existence, and wears an aspect
of thorough-going pessimism. The gloomy outlook, more-
over, is not relieved (exceptional cases apart) by any
prospect of future restoration such as had been held out in
the Orphic doctrine of the "fall of the soul by sin," of
which the influence is here apparent.
To return to the world-soul, we note that it, too, is not
created out of nothing. It comes into being by a process
which is, strictly speaking, not so much one of creation as
of composition, such as we have already heard of in the
"Philebus." We are here brought into contact with the
most abstract, we may perhaps say the most abstruse, part
of Plato's philosophy. As objects of the mixing process,
we have two primary substances; and these are mixed
first with each other, secondly with the product of the first
mixing. These primary substances are not wholly new to
the reader. In the " Philebus " they appear under the
names of " limit " and " the unlimited." In the " Timseus "
they are renamed, and we now know them as " the same "
and " the other," the second of which appellations reminds
us of the "Sophist." Yet, again, they are termed "the
divisible" and "the indivisible," and Plato's pupils spoke
in this connexion of " unity," of " the great and the small,"
or of " duality." These are Platonic developments of
Pythagorean thoughts, and remind us of the " table of con-
traries." With the substance of the world of ideas is
contrasted the substance of the physical world. On the
one side we have the principle of good, unchangeable,
uniform, regarded at the same time as the limiting, forming,
comprehending- unity. Opposed to it is the principle of
evil, which is likewise the principle of change, of difference,
of division and dismemberment. We should not at this
point lose sight entirely of Plato's political and ethical
teaching. To efface all diversities, to realize unity in a
measure far transcending the bare necessities of civic peace
— such, as we have already seen, was the object pursued
with single-minded earnestness in Plato's social scheme.
Once more we note the boundless extension of the aged
2l6 GREEK THINKERS.
philosopher's intellectual horizon ; the great factors in
human weal and woe have for him become merged in
cosmic principles, and these again are traced to their
source in the domain of the supernatural. The doctrine
prevailed in early antiquity that like is known by like;
and in accordance with this the unitary principle of the
world-soul, as we may shortly term it, becomes the subject
of rational knowledge, the dual principle that of opinion ;
the object of the higher knowledge is the ideas, of the
lower the things perceptible by the senses. Much the
hardest to understand is the entity produced by the mixture
of the two original substances. Such being its origin, it
must necessarily be intermediate in character, a mean
between two extremes. Now, this position of intermediary
between ideas and things was ascribed by Plato in the
" Republic " to mathematical forms. Some of his followers
have accordingly supposed that what is here meant is the
totality of such forms. But the designation of this inter-
mediate something as " substance," or ovaia par excellence
and the nature of the mixing in the " Philebus " (cf p. i88),
incline us rather to describe it, in un-Platonic terminology
it must be admitted, as the realization of form in matter,
or rather, the principle of such realization.
The souls of the heavenly bodies and of the beings
resident on the earth were formed of the same elements as
the world-soul. Man was the first of animals to be created,
or rather compounded out of the material elements ; and
to the immortal soul within him, the first home of which
had been on some fixed star, there were now joined two
other mortal souls. This triad — the rational or head-soul,
the spirited or breast-soul, and the appetitive or abdominal
soul — has already been brought to our notice (cf pp. 38
and 73). What is new is the detailed parallelism between
the microcosm and the macrocosm. One point deserves
special mention as characteristic of Plato's poetically
constructive method. Where we compare he identifies.
We, too, might be inclined to compare the stars, travelling
in their appointed paths with changeless, equable motion,
to well-ordered rational thoughts, untroubled by any
THE THOUGHTS OF THE WORLD-SOUL. 217
current of feeling. For the author of the " Timaeus " the
rational thoughts of man are nothing less than regular
rotations, performed within the human head, which he
regards as copied from the spherical heaven. Similarly,
the rational thoughts of the world-soul are regarded as
dependent upon movements which its element of identity
or unity executes in the plane of the celestial equator,
while the uncertain opinions or notions of its second
element, " the other," are bound up with motions in the
plane of the ecliptic, which is inclined obliquely to the
equatorial plane. What reason is to opinion, such is
the unvarying revolution of the sphere of the fixed stars
to the motions of the planets with their "turnings and
strayings." But we are anticipating ; our present business
is with the body of the world-soul, the material cosmos
and its origin.
5. "Plato mathematicized nature," was the caustic
gibe of an ancient critic. It is quite true that the
natural philosophy of the " Timseus '' proceeds throughout
upon the assumption of mathematical regularities and
corresponding rhythms, even in spheres where modern
science has seldom sought and never found them. It
follows the lead of an aesthetic or quasi-sesthetic sentiment,
backed by the confident hope that nature will everywhere
meet the demand to the full. It is easy enough to expose
the baselessness of this hope and to inveigh against the
arbitrariness of the resulting method ; but it is a harder
matter to recognize the element of legitimacy which it
contains. With Plato, as with his Pythagorean predecessors,
the well-founded divination of a universal reign of law was
balked of its due satisfaction by an insufficient knowledge
of causes ; still, as we have already had occasion to remark,
"it was anyhow better to look for law where it did not
exist than not to look for it at all" (cf. Vol. I. p. 119).
There are modern instances, too, such as that of the great
Johannes Kepler and his "Mysterium Cosmographicum,"
which teach us that the boundary between the almost
sportive quest of merely apparent regularities and the
epoch-making discovery of comprehensive natural laws is
2l8 GREEK THINKERS.
sometimes very unstable. The other canon of Plato's
method in natural philosophy was of more fatal con-
sequence. He adopted in dead earnest the postulate of
the "Phsedo," that all investigation should be conducted
from the standpoint of "the better;" and he employed
this teleological principle not only where the better was
simply the more regular, but where it was the more
preferable, judged by the general human or the speci-
fically Greek standard, or even by his own personal
taste. His instrument, here as before, is deduction a
priori, which, in the best case, takes an arbitrarily selected
piece of experience, and thence spins its far-reaching
threads.
The universal being — such, roughly, is his argument —
if it was to manifest itself, was under the necessity of
becoming visible and tangible. Visibility demanded light,
tangibility earth. But these two elements were not enough.
In order that they might be combined into a unity, there
was need of a proportional relation ; and this implied the
existence of intermediate terms. Moreover, two such
terms were necessary ; for in the domain of cubic or solid
numbers such proportions — the reason of this is a highly
controversial problem in the exposition of the " Timaeus " —
cannot be effected by one middle term, but require two.
The scheme could not he. a : b = b : c, but must be « : ^
= c '. d.
By this deductive path Plato arrives at the Empedo-
clean quaternary of elements, water and air supplying the
required intermediates. As water is related to earth, so is
fire to air ; and the series, earth, water, air, fire, exhibits a
progress from the least to the highest degree of mobility.
The specific nature of the four fundamental substances is
deduced from their primary constituents, and ultimately
the geometrical properties of the latter. In this Plato is
said to have followed Philolaus, who would appear to have
constructed a Pythagorean atomism in rivalry to that of
Abdera. Four of the regular solids were assigned as the
fundamental forms of the four elements : the cube as that
of earth ; the tetrahedron, or pyramid, as that of fire ; the
THE COSMOS A LIVING SPHERE. 219
octahedron as that of air ; the icosahedron as that of water.
The remaining regular soHd, the dodecahedron, had been
associated by Philolaus with the heavenly fire or ether ;
Plato, probably reluctant to overstep the number of four
proportional terms, perhaps, too, with the object of avoiding
the pentagons of the dodecahedron, omitted this element
altogether, though he admitted it again in his latest phase.
It is hardly necessary to say that the tapering tongue of
flame suggested the pyramid as the form of the primary
constituents of fire, while the cube was assigned to the
earth-element, on the ground of its comparative immobility.
Now, each of the six sides of a cube can be divided into
two right-angled isosceles triangles ; on the other hand, the
faces of the other three fundamental solids are compounded
of right-angled scalene triangles, of what was considered
the most perfect form ; hence was explained the trans-
mutability of the corresponding elements (water, air, fire)
into each other, while earth, with its radically different
triangles, occupied a position apart. The enigmatic question
whether Plato conceived the interior of his primary solids
to be empty, or with what he imagined them filled, can
hardly admit any other answer than that those smallest
triangles enclosed formless ultimate matter, the assumption
of which is demanded by several other problems, insoluble
without it, in the physics of the " Timseus." The primary
triangles themselves, however, were regarded as exempt
from all motion, and played the same part in the Platonic
physics which Leucippus and Democritus had reserved for
their atoms. Plato's relation to the atomists, we may
remark, is not a little peculiar. He knows their theories, he
borrows an isolated hypothesis from them here and there,
but on the whole he is uncompromisingly hostile to their
conception of the universe, and he is not above attacking
them with ridicule and plays upon words. Thus in
combating the infinity of the universe he makes frequent
use of the twofold meaning borne by a Greek word which
may signify either " infinite " or " ignorant."
The elements having been constructed a priori, the
cosmos is now constructed out of the elements. Since the
2 20 GREEK THINKERS.
sphere is the most perfect of forms, the universe, the most
perfect of physical existences, must be spherical. Justifi-
cation is thus found for what a glance at the vault of
heaven teaches the eye of the beholder. In this portion of
the dialogue reasoned anthropomorphism and the artificial
return to the naive ideas of nature entertained by primitive
man reach their culminating height. Plato expounds, in
all seriousness, the reasons why the cosmos, though a living
being, is able to dispense with extremities and a mouth :
the first, because of all possible motions only the most
perfect is vouchsafed to it, namely, rotation in itself; the
second, because that which includes everything in itself can
receive no nutriment from without, while its continuance
is ensured by the fact that it is not, like other beings,
threatened with disease and injury by external agents.
Cognate thoughts have been expressed in our own day by
Gustav Theodor Fechner ; but mature science may indulge
in a half-serious sport with hypotheses, which at an earlier
stage is far from profitable.
6. It is not the object of the present work to register all
the erroneous opinions of even great minds. Only so much
need find a place here as serves for the characterization of
an age or illustrates the growth of science. To this category
belongs the rudiment, discernible in Plato's astronomical
teaching, of the theory of the celestial spheres — a theory
which was soon to receive ample development, and which,
thus elaborated, survived for centuries, nay, millennia, and
was not entirely abandoned even by Copernicus. Compared
with the astronomy of Philolaus, this theory may be termed
at once retrograde and progressive. It was retrograde
because it attached the heavenly bodies to solid supports,
and thus departed further from the truth than the doctrine
of those Pythagoreans who had already learnt to regard
the stars as freely suspended in space. At the same time,
the sphere-theory contained an element of progress, since
it provided a means — appropriate in itself and capable of
considerable improvement — for the faithful and accurate
representation of the forces acting upon the heavenly
bodies. This theory and that of Philolaus both set out
BEGINNINGS OF THE SPHERE-THEORY. 221
from what is the starting-point of all scientific astronomy,
the endeavour, namely, to resolve the variable and irregular
movements visible in the heavens into constant and regular
movements out of which they are compounded. The
manner in which this analysis was effected by the
hypothesis of Philolaus is familiar to the reader (cf. Vol. I.
p. 113, seq.). We do not learn how it came about that
Plato, who followed that Pythagorean so closely in his
doctrine of the elements, struck out an entirely different
path in astronomy. In any case, this path led backwards
to an archaic, one might almost say to the primitive fashion
of Hellenic thought. It was possibly a religious prejudice
by which Plato was here guided. The earth, he felt, ought
to rest once more in the centre of the universe. It was
not till the days of his extreme old age, so we learn from
the most trustworthy of all authorities, Theophrastus,
that Plato changed his mind on this subject. He then
" repented " of having assigned to the earth the position
of greatest dignity in the cosmos — a repentance which we
ought perhaps to interpret in the sense that the growing
depreciation of human concerns observable in the " Laws "
was extended to the dwelling-place of the human race.
That retrogression, however, led straight to the "brazen
heaven" of Homer, to a celestial sphere imagined as
material, to which the fixed stars are attached. The
measure of legitimacy possessed by this conception can
hardly be better expressed than in the following words of
an eminent American astronomer of our day : —
" It must be admitted that the idea of the stars being set in a
hollow sphere of crystal, forming the vault of the firmament, was
a very natural one. They seemed to revolve round the earth
every day, for generation after generation, without the slightest
change in their relative positions. If there were no solid con-
nexion between them, it does not seem possible that a thousand
bodies could move around their vast circuit for such long periods
of time without a single one of them varying its distance from
one of the others. It is especially difficult to conceive how they
could all move around the same axis."
It was not in the slightest degree unscientific to search
22 2 GREEK THINKERS.
for a single cause underlying these phenomena ; and if the
quest ended in complete failure, this was the natural
result of ignorance touching the one circumstance which
affords a satisfactory explanation. Instead of the daily
rotation of the earth, a daily rotation of the celestial vault
was assumed. The impulse towards an ampler development
of hypotheses came to Plato from the irregularities, no
doubt very imperfectly known to him, which characterize the
movements of the seven bodies named planets or wandering
stars : the sun, the moon, and the five planets visible to
the naked eye. We call to mind the screw-like windings
of the sun which are exhibited to the eye as the result of
his combined daily and yearly motions (cf. Vol. I. p. 112).
That these motions, too, must be absolutely regular, and
indeed strictly circular, was a presumption founded upon
the daily motions of the stars, which appear to move in
circles, owing to the rotation of our own abode, the earth.
This presumption was further strengthened by a natural
predilection for the circle, which was accorded the same
precedence among curves as the sphere enjoyed among
cognate solids. The attempt to solve the problem thus
presented gave rise to the theory of the celestial spheres.
It was required to devise a combination of circular
motions which should result in motions not strictly circular.
Assistance was here afforded by the analogy of the sphere
of the fixed stars, corresponding to which other spheres,
or else, as in the early, Platonic form of the theory, ring
or hoop-shaped structures were devised, bearing the
planets (in the wider sense) attached to them. This con-
ception, as we at least are inclined to think, is not un-
connected with the sun, moon, and star-wheels invented
by Anaximander (cf. Vol. I. p. 53)— a precedent which may
have influenced either Plato himself or some predecessor
of his unknown to us. The mechanism was thus provided
by which a solution of the aforesaid problem became
possible. The hoop or sphere with the planet attached to
its equator was imagined enclosed in another sphere, fixed
in such a manner that without losing its own proper
motion it partook in that of the enclosing sphere. Assuming
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SPHERE-THEORY. 223
that the two motions were performed round different axes
and with different velocities, it was quite possible, even
though the component motions were circular, that the
resulting orbit of the planet should deviate from the
strict circular type. This is the simplest form of the hypo-
thesis, and the one with which Plato remained content.
The enclosing sphere was that of the fixed stars, the
enclosed rings or hoops carried the planets ; of the two
motions thus compounded, the first took place in the
celestial equator, or in the plane of " the same," the second
in the obliquely inclined plane of the ecliptic, in the circle
of "the other." In extreme old age, when Plato was
engaged upon the " Laws," he became acquainted with
the theory of the earth's rotation round its own axis, a
theory already familiar to Aristotle (cf. Vol. I. p. 120), and
gave it the preference over his own former speculations.
The first step towards a further development of the sphere-
theory was taken by Eudoxus, an investigator who supplies
a model of genius combined with sobriety. How he
elaborated the doctrine, already existent in germ, how his
assumption of three spheres apiece for sun and moon, of
four spheres for each of the true planets, fully met all the
facts of observation then known, we may learn from the
concise exposition of an eminent contemporary, the first
astronomer of modern Italy. We shall return to the
subject in connexion with the theories of Aristotle and
Callippus.
Plato's other thoughts on things celestial exhibit a
purely Pythagorean tinge. The " harmony of the spheres"
recurs in the assumption that the circles described by the
planets are disposed at intervals which ensure the har-
monious concord of the sounds produced by their revolutions.
Like the heaven of Pythagoras, so that of Plato, together
with the world-soul pervading it, is "all number and
harmony" (cf. Vol. I. p. 119). His great, or world-year
(cf. Vol. I. p. 143), comprehends ten thousand ordinary
years.
7. The most salient feature of Plato's physics is its
anthropomorphism. The doctrine of natural places, a
2 24 GREEK THINKERS.
deduction from wrongly interpreted observations (cf. p. 84),
is presented in a manner implying that each element must
feel uncomfortable when not in the region assigned to it,
and yearn after its "natural" place. At the same time,
there are not wanting welcome flashes of illumination.
Among such must be counted the denial of a true above
and below in space ; the above and below in the doctrine
of natural places are not absolute but conditioned by the
stratification of matter round the earth, so that the anti-
podeans may use these terms in the opposite sense to ours.
Here, too, we reckon the consistency with which far-reaching
consequences are drawn from the denial of the void. Though
only a special case is discussed, the principles appealed to
are of much wider scope. Plato represents the two phases
of the respiratory act, expiration and inspiration, as together
forming a single recurrent motion; and in this connexion
he points out that, in the absence of a void space, motion
can only proceed by each moving particle displacing its
neighbour, this again another, till the impulse reaches a last
particle, which takes the place of the first. The image of
the " revolving wheel " is here made use of ; and it may be
conjectured that this most obvious and graphic illustration
of cyclic transference had some share in the genesis of the
ring or hoop-theory of the planetary motions. A remark-
able anticipation of the most modern theories is perhaps
to be found in the denial of real attraction, and thus of the
action at a distance thereby implied, which is made in the
course of a disquisition on electric and magnetic phenomena.
It should not be forgotten, however, that this denial, whether
it be justifiable or not, is one which primitive thought,
dominated by the daily experience of impact and pressure,
is particularly ready to make.
In the biology of the " Timaeus," nothing is so remark-
able as the predominance of specifically human, indeed
of ethical, points of view. The sovereignty of reason, the
restraint of desire, are here invested with supreme import-
ance. Thus the numerous windings of the intestines are
explained as a precaution against gluttony ; by retarding
the passage of digestive residues they prevent too speedy
THE "DESCENT" OF MAN. 225
replenishment. At first we are astonished that Plato seems
to have completely forgotten the structural similarity of
man's congeners among the brutes ; but this feeling dis-
appears in view of what we have called Plato's theory of
descent. If animals are degenerate men, the structure
of their bodies may well bear witness to a purpose which
was originally confined to the human race. At the same
time, we have at least occasional examples of the opposite
relationship. Thus nails, which are of little use to man,
but of much use (in the shape of claws) to many beasts,
are said to have been bestowed on the human race at its
creation with an eye to its future degeneracy.
And now for a last word on this inverted theory of
descent, perhaps the most remarkable of all the theories
devised by Plato's inventive mind. This pessimistic
doctrine is the legitimate offspring of his theological
optimism. The spectacle of the "mutual slaughter," to
use a phrase of the " Protagoras," which seems almost a
fundamental law of the animal kingdom, could not but
raise the question of how all this accumulated mass of
suffering, and injustice was caused. The responsibility for
it could not be allowed to rest on the Deity conceived as
perfectly good, nor yet on the antagonistic principle of
"Necessity," to which too great power would then be
attributed ; man, therefore, must be regarded as having
by his own fault brought about his degeneracy and the
terrible evils resulting from it. We are reminded of the
passage in the " Republic " which describes the voluntary
choice by disembodied souls of the worse life-destinies.
Here, as there, " God is guiltless " of all evil (cf p. 105).
The theory of disease expounded in the " Timaeus "
might be passed over if it were not that the problem of
will, which we have just touched upon, is there treated in a
fashion which invites us to cast a glance backwards and
forwards. The primary Socratic thesis : No one errs of his
own free will, recurs here in connexion with " disorders of
the soul," which Plato describes collectively as "want
of intelligence," and subdivides into " madness '' and
" ignorance." The first of these is explained as the result
226 GREEK THINKERS.
of particular bodily conditions — a remarkable expansion
of the Socratic doctrine. In the works of Plato's earliest
period the above-mentioned thesis occurs in what is
obviously the original Socratic form, as an expression of
absolute confidence in the supremacy of that knowledge
which is the fruit of reflexion and instruction. No one
acts against his better conviction ; he who appears to do
so is demented.
This addition, this restrictive qualification, is now
developed into a theory. Plato enters minutely into the
physical causes of madness, and for us this procedure of
his has a double significance. It shows, firstly, that he no
longer follows Socrates in regarding madness as an isolated
phenomenon, unworthy of more than passing mention ; and,
secondly, that the connexion between mental and bodily
processes has now gained for him an interest commensurate
with that widening of his intellectual horizon, so often
emphasized by us, in which Nature is now included equally
with the world of mind. At the same time, it is not a little
remarkable with what tenacity he clings to the Socratic
formula, not only in the "Timffius" but even in the "Laws,"
although the intellectualism of which it was originally the
expression has been undermined as far back as in the
"Gorgias" and the "Phaedo" (cf. Vol. II. p. 353, and Vol.
III. p. 38), and still more, in the " Republic," by the doctrine
of the tripartite soul and the emphatic recognition of
practice and habitation as indispensable in moral education
(cf. p. 70). Plato's furthest advance in this direction is to
be observed in the obviously self-critical passages on the
all-sufficiency of "wisdom" and "knowledge" which are
scattered up and down the " Laws," that terminal member
in the series of the Platonic writings to which our attention
must now be directed.
A POSTHUMOUS WORK. 227
CHAPTER XX.
PLATO'S "laws."
I. There is a fine poem by Ferdinand von Saar which
begins with an apostrophe to " Autumn, sunny and mild,
that gives the forests new hues." Such is the life's autumn
of which we have the reflex in the " Laws." Not that in
this work of Plato's old age all is pure radiance of intellect
or mild and gentle sentiment. The journey through the
" Laws " lies past many a desert tract, and there are
occasional utterances of almost incomprehensible severity.
Taken all in all, however, it is a work of the richest maturity,
permeated by serene wisdom and a mellow warmth of
feeling to which nothing human is alien. At the same time,
it is in no mean degree the product of a high artistic sense,
obscured, as we must admit, by not a few weaknesses of
execution. Many circumstances conspire to diminish the
power of its appeal. As ancient critics were well aware,
the " Laws " never underwent the last labours of the file.
It is a posthumous work, with the publication of which
Plato entrusted his pupil and amanuensis Philippus of Opus.
The latter discharged his commission in precisely the
manner that was to be expected of the devoted disciple of
a great master. The expectant circle of pupils and readers
was not kept in long suspense. Within a year the voluminous
work was given to the world. This very intelligible haste,
and the still more intelligible feeling of duty towards the
revered head of the school, caused the editor to refrain
with the most scrupulous care from all interference with the
text, and all the marks of imperfection, including certain
manifest contradictions, were left unobliterated.
2 28 GREEK THINKERS.
The contents of the book, which includes no less than
a complete code of constitutional, private, and criminal law,
together with philanthropic and educational institutions,
were out of keeping with the dialogue-form, the artistic
medium which Plato nevertheless retained from lifelong
habituation. Long didactic disquisitions were thus even
less avoidable than in the " Timaeus." For the whole of
one book, the fifth of the twelve, a single person speaks
continuously, uninterrupted by as much as a question. To
this conflict between form and matter were added other
defects of which Plato was well aware, though unable to
remedy them. He is conscious of the tendency to repetition
arising from the loquacity of age, and he excuses it by
remarking that " the truth may well be said twice or thrice
over." He is equally conscious of the old man's leaning
towards digressions, and he palliates it, making a virtue of
necessity, by comparing his mind to a fiery steed which it
is necessary to curb and hold forcibly to the straight path.
There is yet another reproach against which Plato
defends himself in anticipation of his critics. It is in no
spirit of wilfulness, he says, that he has industriously
employed linguistic innovations. The feature to which he
alludes is one that forces itself upon the most cursory
reader of the " Laws." The text of this work is thickly
sown with neologisms, both real and apparent. He borrows
words and forms from the language of the poets as well as
from an older stage of the Attic dialect, and in addition he
employs new inventions of his own in great number. All
this, together with the frequently unusual order of the
words and the delicately adjusted rhythm, evidently serves
the purpose of imparting to the discourse a character of
solemnity and remoteness form everyday commonplace
(cf. Vol. n. pp. 279, 285, and Vol. HI. 156). With regard to
the success of this endeavour, the author is at no pains to con-
ceal his satisfaction. He makes the other personages of the
dialogue praise the " speeches resembling poetry," and hold
them up as models in the manner that betokens a remark-
able and not altogether pleasing degree of self-complacency.
We say " the other personages of the dialogue," because
EXIT SOCRATES. 229
Plato himself takes part in the colloquy behind the trans-
parent mask of a stranger from Athens. The disappearance
of Socrates is an event for which we have been in some
measure prepared by other works of Plato's old age. In
the " Sophist " and the " Statesman " we saw the chief rdle
assigned to the stranger from Elea ; in the " Timaeus," to
the character from whom the dialogue takes its name.
Several motives may be suggested for the dismissal of
Socrates from the scene.
Possibly Plato thought it unfitting to make the chief
character in the "Republic" the spokesman of a new
political and social programme ; perhaps, too, he felt that
the dogmatic tone predominant in these disquisitions was
too far removed from the Socratic spirit of criticism, that
many an expression of rigid intolerant orthodoxy was far
more suited to a Meletus than to his victim. Be that as
it may, Socrates has disappeared, and in his stead we have
a stranger from Athens, a man advanced in years, con-
versing with two other old men, the Spartan Megillus and
the Cretan Cleinias. The three have set out together, on
a day in midsummer, to walk from Cnossus the old-famed
city of Minos, to the grotto of Zeus on Ida, a journey of
several hours. As they traverse the undulating, grassy
meadows, or rest in the shade of cypresses, famous for
their wonderful beauty (the wide-branched variety is meant,
which still grows in the island), they entertain each other
with leisurely discourse.
The high artistic sense of the author shows itself most
clearly at the beginning of the dialogue. Here is a con-
versation, held with a Lacedaemonian and a Cretan in the
native land of the latter, having for its subject questions
of legislation, and opening with the praises of the divine
legislators. What else could its object be, so every reader
was sure to ask, than to glorify the constitutions of those
Dorian pattern-states which aristocrats and philosophers
vied with each other in extolling .' And it is quite true
that features embodied in those constitutions — the aristo-
cratic regime, the stability of the institutions, the strict
discipline and subjugation of the individual will — served
VOL. III. R
230 GREEK THINKERS.
Plato as models. But in one decisive point the case was
otherwise. The policy of war and conquest was one which
Plato detested from his innermost soul, and on this head
he did not wish his readers to be left in doubt for a moment.
Hence, alrtiost at the beginning of the dialogue, the sug-
gestive question is asked : What is the object of your
common meals of men and kindred institutions } The
answer elicited from the other interlocutors is that the
political institutions of their countries are directed towards
war and conquest as the supreme end. Plato at once
signifies his dissent. He sets about proving the irrationality
of war by comparing the strife of city with city to that of
village with village ; then to that between families and
individuals ; lastly, to the inward conflict in the single soul.
From this argument far-reaching consequences ensue. It
has served to build a bridge between politics and ethics.
Whither this bridge is to lead us soon becomes abundantly
clear. If war and conquest are not the supreme end in
politics, how can capacity for war, or courage, claim the
first place in the hierarchy of the virtues ? It is not the
whole of virtue, but the least valuable part of it, towards
which those institutions are directed, so far as their purpose
is educational. This, it may be observed, is also the chief
accusation brought by Aristotle against the Lycurgean
discipline. In bringing it here, Plato strikes the key-note
of the whole work. Towards the end he refers in express
terms to this introduction, and the intervening matter is
all subordinated to the same thought. The whole of state-
craft is represented as a means of education, an instrument
for the attaining of perfection ; and for the author of the
"Laws," if not for that of the "Gorgias" and the
" Theaitetus," the " Phaedo " and the " Philebus," perfection
is the completest and most symmetrical development of
the mind and the body, the evolving of a harmony in
which the whole is set high above the parts.
But we will return from this anticipation, and follow
Plato's more deliberate advance. Even if courage were
the chief of the virtues — it is thus, roughly, that the argu-
ment proceeds— even then, the educational means employed
A COMPLETE EDUCATION. 23 1
would not be the best adapted to their purpose. The
education in question is a one-sided, " limping '' education.
For courage, taken in its highest sense as steadfastness of
the soul, is exercised not only in face of danger and pain,
but also in respect of pleasure (cf. the treatment of the
subject in the " Laches," p. 299, seq., of the second volume).
Against the temptations from this source youth ought to be
armed, not removed from temptation altogether. As an
example, he takes the pleasures of wine, complete ignorance
of which is counted by Megillus among the virtues of the
Spartan youth. The truth is, according to Plato, that wine
is a highly important test of the steadfastness of the soul,
and at the same time a strengthening tonic for it, no less
than the painful ordeals by which the boys of Sparta are
trained into fitness for war. This brings him to an im-
portant generalization, which he illustrates by an ingenious
fiction. His purpose requires a substance contrary in its
effects to wine — predisposing to fear instead of to desire,
diminishing instead of increasing the sense of life and
energy, depressing instead of exalting. The method sug-
gested for the employment of wine in education consists
in first exciting the aggressive and appetitive instincts by
its use, then subjecting them to restraining discipline.
The imagined antithesis to wine would render a similar
service in respect of the depressive emotions. It is much
as if Plato had prescribed the complementary use of alcohol
and the bromides.
Education is the subject on which Plato first dwells at
any length. Its primary object is stated (in the second
book) to be right modes of feeling, the acquisition of which
should precede by a long interval the instruction of the
reason, and should be finally found in agreement with the
substance of such instruction. After the education of
children comes that received by adults on the occasion of
festivals — an education resting in the last resort on rhythm
and harmony. The question arises : What works of plastic
and musical art are to be counted beautiful } The answer
is : That is beautiful which pertains to any excellence of
soul or body or to the copy of such virtue ; ugliness has
232 GREEK THINKERS.
the same relation to vices and defects. The aesthetic
judgment is thus reduced to an ethical one. Prominence
is given to the high importance of habituation, the effect
of which is to produce liking, both for good things and
evil. For we involuntarily come to resemble the things
that please us, even when they are evil, long before we
cease to be shy of praising them. For this reason Egypt
is highly commended as being the only land in which, by
the establishment of fixed and unalterable types in musical
as well as decorative art, legislative wisdom has done its
utmost to familiarize youth with beauty (cf. Vol, II. p. 256).
Since all practice of art is to be subjected to the
strictest control on the part of the State, there can hardly
be a more important question for the politician than that
of the criterion of beauty. According to the principles
here taken for granted, this coincides with the criterion
of goodness. In the course of the. argument the funda-
mental thesis of the "Republic" recurs, the central doctrine
of Socratism touching the inseparability of happiness and
justice (cf. p. 59). It should be observed that Plato
enounces it here with somewhat diminished confidence.
All the proofs which the author of the " Republic " accumu-
lated so insatiably (cf. p. 99), and which he will supplement
by a fresh batch in a later part of the " Laws " (cf. Vol. II.
p. 322, seq) have been insufficient to banish the last remnant
of doubt. It is only thus that we can explain the reservation
with which the great doctrine is here introduced : " Even if
this belief were not true, any not wholly useless legislator
would seek to implant it in the youthful mind by means of
a noble lie, the most profitable of its kind." Art is wholly
enlisted in the service of morality. For the purpose of
" filling the tender souls of the young with the charm of
virtue," songs are to be poured into their ears from every
side. Three choirs are to share the singing of them, one of
children, one of young, and one of elder men, the flagging
spirits of these last raised by the liberal use of wine. In this
connexion we have presented to us the doctrine, so familiar
to Aristotle, that all art rests on imitation ; and occasion is
taken to pass a strikingly depreciatory judgment on purely
THE MIXTURE OF CONSTITUTIONS. 233
instrumental music. The second main branch of Greek
education, which occupies so large a space in the correspond-
ing section of the " Republic," is here almost omitted.
There is, however, no occasion for surprise. Gymnastic is
touched upon in a few words, but the exhaustive treatment
of the subject is expressly reserved for a later stage.
2. In Book III. a fresh start is made. After the
moralist, the historian takes up the tale. Nothing could
be more natural or more reasonable. If the State is
primarily that which Plato represents it to be, an institution
for moral education, the ethical and pedagogic standpoint
claims precedence. But its historico-philosophical com-
plement must follow if the premisses of the legislator's
labours are not to remain inadequate. The new departure
leads, as a matter of fact, to a highly important doctrine,
the main guiding principle in the subsequent task of
constitution-building. We refer to the doctrine of the
necessary mixture of constitutional forms, which makes its
first appearance here, and which, under the name of the
division of powers or equilibrium of authority, plays so large
a part in modern political theory. The path by which
Plato reaches this principle is not a little noteworthy. It
is much as if the author of the " Republic " regretted the
meagre and somewhat arbitrary process of construction
by which he had sought to explain the origin of human
communities (cf. p. 64). Once more he treats of the
primaeval age, but in the mean time his historico-
philosophical horizon has been very greatly extended.
The beginnings of culture now seem to him removed to
an incalculable distance ; vast intervals of time separate us
from them ; mighty floods and other catastrophes have
wiped out whole civilizations, or at best left a few miserable
remnants of them to serve as starting-points for new
developments. These are thoughts, we may note in pass-
ing, that were borrowed by Aristotle from his master,
who for his part would appear to have been guided by
Pythagorean speculations. But in this instance speculation
by itself does not satisfy him. He lays the strongest
emphasis on the teachings of historical experience, and
234 GREEK THINKERS.
finds there the confirmation of the results which he has
obtained from another source. He appeals to the history
of the Dorian states of the Peloponnese, to that of the
Persian monarchy and the Athenian democracy. Amid
much that is legendary, statements occur which may well
seem less improbable to us than they did to the last
generation. Such, for example, is the assumption that
Troy was once within the sphere of Assyrian influence ;
we have now documentary evidence to show that Assyria
exercised a temporary suzerainty over Lydia. But the
important point is Plato's clear perception that political
structures may fall not only by force from without but
by their own inherent defects, and that the chief of these
fatal flaws is the exclusive dominance of a single principle
of government, the one-sided exaggeration, whether of
authority or of liberty. The truth is proclaimed — and
herein lies an indirect criticism of the philosophers' govern-
ment proposed in the "Republic" — that human nature is
not equal to the exercise of absolute or irresponsible power.
Hence arises the necessity, here asserted with the utmost
emphasis, of a tempered or mixed form of constitution.
Need we say how greatly it redounds to Plato's honour
that he should have won his way in his old age to this
fundamental truth, valid for all ages ? And yet it might
never have dawned upon his mind if he had not had before
his eyes an historical example of a mixed constitution,
distinguished by its stability. Sparta, with its double
monarchy, its aristocratic council of elders, and its demo-
cratic Ephorate, served him as a pattern just as the English
constitution did Montesquieu and his followers. It is a
pleasing task to trace the influence of Plato's thoughts
down to the immediate present. The "fathers" of the
United States' constitution received the doctrine of the
division of powers as an inviolable heritage from Montes-
quieu, whose authority meant for them what that of
Aristotle meant for the Middle Ages. But the author of
the "Spirit of the Laws" (1748) championed this funda-
mental doctrine of his with immediate reference to
Polybius, who borrows in unmistakable fashion from Plato,
THE "DIVISION OF POWERS." 235
as well as from the corresponding passages in Aristotle ;
he betrays at the same time an intimate acquaintance with
Plato's " Laws." No doubt it is impossible to appraise the
influence which ancient forerunners exercised upon him. But
that this influence is negligible, that the confidence and the
persistency with which Montesquieu enounced that doctrine
of his, so full of consequences, were in no degree enhanced
by the consciousness of treading in the footsteps of great
predecessors — this, we think, is more than any one will
venture to assert.
The doctrine of the balance of powers has been objected
to on the ground that its strict and unqualified application
in practice would lead to a deadlock. The " division of
powers," on the other hand, may be regarded as a catch-
phrase expressing, not quite satisfactorily, either of two
very different things — the demand that the supreme political
functions, legislative, executive, and judicial, shall be kept
separate ; or, again, that the paramount element in the
community shall be something less than omnipotent. But
Plato and his ancient followers, Aristotle and the historian
Polybius, must be acquitted of all share of responsibility
for these misunderstandings and difficulties. The demand
which Plato makes in the " Laws," and which he repeats
in many varied forms, is one for the " tempering," the
" moderation," the " mixture " of forms of government, for
the reconciliation of the people's liberty with the rulers'
authority, antagonistic to arbitrary despotism as much as
to any democratic degeneracy. The root of this degeneracy,
in his own country, seems to him to be the " delusion of
all that they know all," or else, as this delusion appears to
spring from the presumption of the theatre-going public,
that influence which he names " theatrocracy." Plato
congratulates himself on having prepared the way for this
consideration by his aesthetic disquisitions earlier in the
dialogue ; and there are several other instances in this book,
notably at its close, in which he looks back with some com-
placency on the " random truancy of the discourse" which
has been so well justified by the result. This complacency
reaches its highest limit in the passage where Cleinias
236 GREEK THINKERS.
manifests his anxiety to derive profit from the colloquy, so
far as it has gone, and apply the theory to a purpose of
immediate practical utility. A fortunate chance, he says,
has brought about this conversation precisely at the moment
when he is charged, as member of a committee of ten, with
the duty of framing laws for a proposed new Cretan colony.
The reader may perhaps remember an earlier instance of
this same phrase, "a fortunate chance." The Platonic
Socrates uses it to express his satisfaction that he and
Phsedrus have Lysias's speech so ready to their hand to
illustrate and confirm their newly discovered rhetorical
postulates (cf. p. 21). The literary artifice is one and the
same in both cases. The great artist loves to conceal his
purposes, and prides himself on the skill with which he can
represent as the work of sportive chance what has really
been prepared for long beforehand and led up to with
elaborate calculation.
We see that even the flagging powers of the greatest
of all authors still deserve our entire respect. He knows
his business far better than some of his critics. Certain of
these have seen only faults of workmanship in the "truancy
of the discourse," that is, the unconstrained and apparently
planless flow of talk, which the author of the "Laws"
deliberately chooses and commends. Or rather, merely
because he has not from the very beginning set forth the
whole of his purpose and the order of its fulfilment in clear
and hard outline, they have doubted the Platonic com-
position of the work, and described it as a patchwork
production, more or less arbitrarily and unskilfully pieced
together by the editorial hand out of several original drafts.
These views, which we regard as wholly without foundation,
are very widely held ; we do not, however, feel called upon
to discuss them at length in the present pages, but prefer
to adduce a few instances of literary art in which Plato
appears as his true old self. Note the delicacy of the
passage in which the characterization of the Lacedaemonian
constitution is placed in the mouth of the most credible
of all witnesses, the aged Spartan himself, by a turn after-
wards imitated by Polybius. Interrogated as to the form
EXAMPLES OF ARTISTIC POWER. 237
of polity obtaining in his native land, Megillus replies that
every time he considers the question a new answer forces
itself upon his mind. Sometimes he is moved to speak of
a monarchy, at others of an aristocracy, or again of a
democracy, and on occasion even of a tyranny. Another
part of the dialogue touches on the highly subtle problem
of the different forms of motion. How admirable is the
tact with which Plato here breaks off the colloquy with the
simple old man, trained in politics but not in science, and
substitutes a monologue, just as in the " Symposium " he
was moved by equally good reasons to indite a dialogue
within the dialogue and at the same time preserve the
character of the historical Socrates (cf. Vol. II. pp. 388, 389).
How graceful, too, is the simile with which he embellishes
the artifice! The difficult investigation is compared to a
rapid stream which the three travellers have to cross. The
Athenian stranger, as the youngest of the three and the
one most versed in such hazards, proposes first of all to
test the strength of the current by himself, and then, if all
goes well, to help his older and less experienced comrades
to cross after him. This fine image reminds us of others.
There is, for example, the comparison of all living beings
to marionettes worked by all manner of threads and wires.
Some of these are of great strength, some are even made
of iron, but one, the " delicate golden thread of reason,"
has pre-eminence over the rest. Lastly, we have the signifi-
cant figure which occurs in the defence of the gods against
the charge of being open to bribes. If it were possible for
evil-doers to gain their favour by gifts, then, it is said, they
would be like dogs which can be induced to let the wolves
go in peace, if only the plunderers of the flock will drop
a little of their spoil for their pursuers.
The fourth book is occupied with questions preliminary
to the projected legislation. In the first place attention is
given to the situation and character of the locality selected
for the new colony. The least possible measure of foreign
intercourse is pronounced desirable ; the sea is decribed as
a " sweet " but also a " salt and bitter " neighbour. In
Plato's eyes, as we have already seen, trade is a source of
238 GREEK THINKERS.
ignoble and treacherous sentiments. Here, in addition, we
notice his tendency towards bewildering paradox. When
informed that the district is well provided with harbours,
he exclaims : " What dreadful news ! " There is a similarly
paradoxical turn in a later passage, when Cleinias asks in
some astonishment whether it is really proposed to begin
the gymnastic training of the child immediately after birth,
earlier than that." The question as to the composition of
and the Athenian answers : " Certainly not ; we shall begin
the population is discussed with the caution characteristic
of Plato's late period. There is much, he says, to be urged
both for and against the policy of selecting the colonists
from a single stock. If the citizens are bound together by
identity of dialect and origin, by the possession of common
shrines, the inner coherence and unity of the new State is
so much the greater ; on the other hand, heterogeneity of
population diminishes the opposition to the legislator's
enactments and leaves him a freer hand for new departures.
Much in the same way the pros and cons are discussed of
another question. "Give me a city ruled by a tyrant,"
exclaims the Athenian, greatly to the astonishment of the
Cretan and the Spartan. Presently he makes his meaning
clearer. It is one of the happiest of conjunctures, he says,
that places a highly gifted despot at the head of a State.
The most radical innovations are easy for him ; he can
change the characters of men as with a wave of the hand ;
he can realize the aims of a good legislator, if he is so
fortunate as to have such a one by his side, with an other-
wise impossible rapidity. The Athenian stranger speaks
in this connexion of personal experiences, and it is clear
that he is giving expression to the wishes and hopes once
entertained by Plato at the court of Dionysius. But the
disappointments of those days have their echo too. Of all
fortunate chances the rarest, it is said, is to find a possessor
of absolute power filled with " the divine love of just and
judicious action." The dialogue proceeds to the examina-
tion of the different political forms among which a choice
has to be made. Just as each kind of constitution receives
its name from the element to which it gives predominance.
THE HO MILE TIC PART OF THE "LAWS." 239
so this element, as a rule, strives for no political end other
than its own advantage. It is so with government by
kings, by nobles, by the people ; each such government,
as commonly exercised, should rather be called a dis-
ordering than an ordering of the State. Only then can
the State be said to be truly ordered when the rulers are
the " servants of the law." Such a government deserves
to be named " the rule of God."
In order that the work taken in hand may prosper, it
is well to invoke the Deity, who is in truth (a paradoxical
reversal of the Protagorean thesis) " the measure of all
things.'' But no service is acceptable which is not accom-
panied by a disposition to goodness and holiness. God,
like the good man, will receive no gift from impure hands.
There follows an injunction to honour the gods, whether of
Olympus or the world below, and the daemons and heroes
with them ; filial piety is likewise commended in earnest
and emphatic speeches.
After these preparations for the legislative task, the
formal aspect of the question is considered. Ought the
legislator to compel only, or should he both compel and
persuade ? Should he resemble the slave-physician who
flies from patient to patient in breathless haste, issues his
directions in curt bald terms, like the decree of a poten-
tate, and disappears as quickly as he came 1 Or should
he not rather take for his pattern the more scientific and
humaner physician who converses genially with the patient
and his family, who seeks to enlighten him on the nature
of his malady and to win his assent to the treatment he
thinks necessary } The difference is illustrated by an
example. In dealing with the question of population,
which is the first thing he has to concern himself with, the
legislator has two courses open to him. He may announce,
in set formal terms, that certain penalties (fines and dis-
abilities partly modelled on the Spartan practice) will be
enforced against bachelors ; or he may couple the
announcement of these penalties with a full statement of
the reasons justifying them — adverting to the share in
immortality granted to the human race, and admonishing
240 GREEK THINKERS.
men to secure it by the procreation of children. The
interlocutors agree to give the preference to this " double "
mode of promulgation over the first or " simple " mode.
Just as the dialogue, up to the present stage, has served
as a preamble to legislation as a whole, so each part will
need its own preamble. The highest matters, worship of
the gods and filial piety, have already been dealt with ;
it is now time to discuss the points which come second in
importance— the soul, the body, property, the doings and
dealings of men. There follows a prelude in the grand
style, which occupies a considerable portion of the fifth
book.
In this section the language and the thoughts are of
equal elevation. That which is highest or most divine in
man is the soul ; to it, therefore, the greatest honour
should be paid, and it is only honoured by being made
better. The greatest impediments to the performance of
this duty are conceit, self-indulgence, the tendency which
men have to lay the blame for their greatest misfortunes
not on themselves but others. Not all the gold upon the
earth or beneath it can be weighed against virtue. The
greatest punishment of the vicious man is his flight from
good men and good discourse. The body holds the
second rank. Its excellence consists — here we have the
Aristotelian doctrine of the mean — not in a maximum of
strength, health, beauty, and dexterity, but' in a middle
quality. For the excess of these advantages makes the
soul bold and puffed-up ; the defect dispirited and timorous.
It is the same with the possession of money and honours.
Of all transgressions those against aliens deserve the
severest censure. For the friendless and forsaken are
worthier of pity in the eyes both of gods and men. Slaves,
too, are persons whom we ought to be even less ready to
injure, if possible, than our equals. For the true unfeigned
love of justice is most evident in cases where wrong-doing
is easy. Love of truth stands foremost of all excellences
of character. Every one that does no injustice is worthy
of honour. He, however, who opposes injustice with all
his power deserves double praise ; it is he, and not the
THE ECONOMIC FOUNDATION. 24 1
physician as Homer said, who " outweighs many other
men " (cf. Vol. I. p. 277). The man of high character must
be capable of indignation and at the same time gentle.
For without noble anger, a man cannot fight against wrong
without wearying, repel it without ceasing, punish it without
weakness. But towards those whose vice is curable gentle-
ness should be practised ; for we know that all wrong-
doing is involuntary. The greatest of all evils is excess
of self-love — a quality which the poets have treated too
leniently. This love, like every other, blinds men, and
causes them to think their own unreason wisdom. The
prelude closes with that hedonistic deduction of morality
which we have already dealt with in our study of the
"Protagoras " (Vol. II. pp. 322, seq?).
3. The ground is now clear for the work of legislation,
which, broadly speaking, moulds itself upon the varying
phases of man's life and accompanies him from the cradle
to the grave. Civil and criminal law, however, which
according to the ancient practice Plato does not keep
strictly separate, are preceded by constitutional law, which
for its part is based upon the economic regime as on the
"only enduring foundation." The communism of the
" Republic " once more receives enthusiastic praise as an
ideal ; but the hope of carrying it out in practice is
renounced. Indeed, the class of "guardians," to which
alone it was meant to be applied, does not appear at all in
the present scheme. " No riches and no poverty " is the
economic motto of the " Laws." The inequality of property
is restricted within narrow bounds ; the maximum must
not amount to more than five times the minimum. The
land is divided into twelve districts and into 5040 lots,
corresponding to the number of the citizens. This number
is chosen because of its numerous divisors, and is to be
maintained unchanged. Various means are proposed to this
end : landed property is to be indivisible and inalienable,
dowries are forbidden, the adoption of children is com-
manded in certain cases, and so forth. In order that the
heads of families may always be equal in number to the
lots of land, the increase of population is regulated by
242 GREEK THINKERS.
the prohibition of celibacy, by the dissolution of childless
marriages, by a system of honours and rewards to be con-
ferred on those who fulfil their duty in this respect, by the
same violent measures, it must be added, of which we read
in the " Republic." This time, however, the exposure of
children is at least not explicitly mentioned ; and abortion
is alluded to by the milder phrase "restraint of births."
Such measures, however, would necessarily be in frequent
use ; for only the first ten years of marriage are devoted
to the procreation of children " for the State." In case of
need, the population may be reduced by the emigration of
colonists, while the contrary danger may be met by the
admission of foreigners to citizenship — an expedient, it is
true, which is sanctioned with some reluctance.
The accumulation of movable property by the
citizens is guarded against in every possible way: by
prohibiting the ownership of gold and silver, by interdicting
trade and commerce (these occupations are reserved for
aliens, who are not allowed more than twenty years'
residence in the colony), by a law against usury, and by
the refusal of legal protection — a measure also adopted
by Charondas — to transactions involving credit or the
advancing of money. Any increase of property that may
take place in spite of these precautions, as also every
diminution, must be reported to those authorities whose duty
it is to assess from year to year and register the capital and
the income of the citizens. No more than a third part of
the produce of the soil may be sold, and that only to the
resident foreigners. The remaining two-thirds serve to feed
the colonists and their slaves. The whole economic system
is strongly reminiscent of Spartan and Cretan institutions
designed to create and maintain a purely landed aristo-
cracy. In the firm hand of Plato, however, the tendencies
of these legislations are developed and extended with
greater consistency and precision. One of these extensions
affects the institution of the Syssitia, or common meals of
men, to which women are now to be admitted. The
emancipation of women, for the rest, is by no means
abandoned, but established on a firmer basis of experience
FOUR CLASSES OF CITIZENS. 243
by an appeal to ethnographic parallels. In this work of
Plato's old age " experience," both the word and the
thing, recurs with greater frequency than in all his earlier
works put together.
The truly political institutions present us with a very
different picture. Plato has here taken Athens, more par-
ticularly early Athens, for his model. No section of the
citizens is to be destitute of political rights, or bound to
obey another section as a slave obeys his master (cf. p. 106).
On the other hand, the equality of all is not to be of the
mechanical type, not an "equality of the unequal." In
accordance with the first of these postulates, the distinction
between a ruling and a ruled class is abandoned. Whether
from his own reflexions or from the criticism of others,
Plato has learnt the inadmissibility of the "two states in
one" (cf. p. 120). The rights which he concedes to the
general body of citizens are much the same as those
enjoyed by them under the Solonic constitution — a voice
in electing the officers of State, and a share in the adminis-
tration of justice. Direct government by the people is
practically abandoned. The graduation of political privi-
leges is closely akin to that which had formerly existed in
Athens, where, as we have recently learnt, it was not
entirely the work of Solon, but had been prepared for by
his predecessor Draco's creation of four classes of tax-
payers. Plato, too, introduces a fourfold division of property-
owners in the " Laws." And here we are met by a surprise.
After wealth has been proscribed, one might almost say
branded, participation in public life is still apportioned
according to the different degrees of affiuence. But the
contradiction is not so glaring as it seems. Riches in the
true sense are not to be found in the commonwealth treated
of in the "Laws." Differences of property, as we have
already seen, are confined within comparatively narrow
limits. Nor, on the other hand, is there any yawning
chasm between the privileges of the more and those of the
less propertied. The chief difference is that in certain
circumstances the members of the two upper, or wealthier,
classes are required under a penalty to give their votes in
244 GREEK THINKERS.
the elections, while the two lower classes are free to abstain.
Plato's motive in this may be inferred from his reference
to the greater measure of "education and solidity," to
which a greater measure of influence is due. He probably
assumed a higher level of culture among the more well-
to-do, the fruit of their ampler leisure, and a correspondingly
lower level in the less substantial classes, with which would
be joined less contentment with their lot, and therefore
greater readiness to embark on ill-considered innovations.
This principle of the compulsory vote, by which a penalty
is attached to abstention, seems to have been otherwise
unknown to Greek political institutions ; in the nineteenth
century it was adopted practically by several Swiss cantons
and by Belgium, while in the United States it has been at
least taken into consideration.
Election is not, however, to be the only road to office ;
it is to be supplemented by that drawing of lots which
Plato himself had formerly censured so severely, and his
master Socrates before him. The modes of election pro-
posed exhibit considerable variety ; and even the combi-
nation of election and lot-drawing has its place. Here,
again, Plato is not without precedents taken from his own
country. In Solon's constitution the nine archons^as we
learn from Aristotle's recently discovered " Constitution
of the Athenians" — were chosen by lot from candidates
nominated by the four tribes. The purpose served by
these election-regulations — highly artificial many of them,
and unusually complicated — is evidently as follows. The
mass of the people is not to be excluded from a share
in the appointment of the officials, but this appointment
is to be removed as far as possible from the immediate
influence of the many. Further, personal preferences, the
spirit of clique, and party interests are to be eliminated
as far as may be, and the public choice guided towards
those who enjoy the general confidence. Lastly, the ex-
treme harshnesses of government by the majority are to
be avoided. For these reasons the law of elections is, in
several instances, not the same on the active as on the
passive side, indirect modes of election are given the
VARIETY IN MODES OF ELECTION. 245
preference over direct, the process of election is divided
into stages and sometimes ends in the choice by lot of a
small out of a large number of elected. Or, again, the
sifting and winnowing is performed by subjecting those
who have received the relatively largest number of votes
to a second or even a third ordeal of selection. Thus the
highest officials, the "guardians of the laws," are chosen
in the following manner. The electors are all those who
have fulfilled their military duties either in the cavalry or
the heavy-armed division — a restriction which reminds us
of a cognate provision in the Draconian constitution. By
written votes, which, however, are not secret, these electors
choose 300 persons ; a second election, conducted in a
similar manner, reduces the number to 100, and a third to
37. There follows an application of a principle otherwise
almost unknown in Greece — a minimum age-limit is
common enough, but here we have a maximum as well.
No one may enter the college of " guardians of the law "
below the age of fifty, or remain in it after the age of
seventy. The council, the committee of the council
(prytanes), the wardens of the city, of the land, of the
market, and other officials are, broadly speaking, copied
from Athenian patterns so far as their functions are con-
cerned, though not in respect of their mode of appointment.
Cases present themselves in which the employment of all
the above-mentioned precautions is not judged sufficient,
and in which the line drawn to hold the " mean between
monarchy and democracy" approaches closely to modern
institutions. Popular election and appointment by lot
are here superseded by nomination, which is entrusted
(seeing there is no monarch) to the totality of the
raagistrature. This body, with the sole exception of
members of the council, appoints by secret vote, for a term
of only five years, the holder of what Plato calls " the most
important by far of all the higher offices of State." This
official is the minister of education, or "director of all
education, both male and female." He must have reached
the age of fifty ; like the Athenian strategi, he must be the
father of legitimate children ; and in addition, be must be
VOL. III. S
246 GREEK THINKERS.
one of the thirty-seven guardians of the laws. After
election, his character and qualifications are examined by
a board consisting of the electing body with the omission
of the guardians of the laws, that is, the eligible part of it.
The limitation is not without Attic parallels.
Plato, we observe, cannot have too many or too
elaborate safeguards in this connexion. That which is at
stake is the object he prizes most highly of all — education,
and that not of youth only, for the minister of education
is at the same time the supreme censor of all music and
literature. It is education which must chiefly decide
whether man is to be the "tamest and most god-like"
or "the wildest of all living creatures." The provision
made in the "Laws" for the training of youth extends
beyond the customary Greek curriculum, which embraced
only the elementary branches of knowledge, together
with poetry, music, and gymnastics. Compulsory school-
attendance is proposed for both sexes ; the instruction to
be received by them in common includes a knowledge of
the laws and their preambles, as also the rudiments
of geometry and astronomy — of the last-named chiefly
because in view of the divine nature of the heavenly
bodies erroneous ideas about their motions are regarded
as irreligious. This course of study encroaches to some
extent on the domain which we generally reserve for
secondary education ; there is, however, an absence of
definite statements, not only, as in the "Republic," with
regard to the mode of acquiring knowledge, but also in
respect of the degree of higher education required.
Dialectic is not alluded to by as much as a single word.
Nor need we wonder. Even in the " Republic," in which
the study of dialectic plays the most influential part,
expressions of the keenest distrust towards it are not
wanting. This branch of education is regarded as tending
to promote resistance to authority ; and Plato's dread of
this result — a feeling towards which the contentious
dialectic of the Megarians probably contributed not a
little — has increased more and more. But few traces'
remain in the "Laws" of the spell once cast over Plato
LAST PHASE OF THE IDEAS. 247
by classificatory dialectic, of the rage for division which
was so strong upon him in the " Sophist," the " Statesman,"
and even in the " Philebus."
The doctrine of ideas is not referred to in the " Laws "
by as much as a single syllable. Those problems in the
investigation of concepts which had been a main motive in
its genesis were regarded, after the "Sophist," as solved.
The compass of the ideas was accordingly narrowed in a
manner which, though perhaps not strictly justifiable
logically, is psychologically intelligible. It is pertinent,
in this connexion, to observe that at the time when
Aristotle was a student at the Academy, Plato had already
abandoned the ideas of artificial products which are
recognized in the "Republic" (cf. p. 103). In the end,
both the doctrine of ideas and dialectic became for him
exclusively subservient to the understanding of nature
(cf. p. 176). As his pupil Xenocrates reports, the idea
had been developed into "the typical cause of the
beings whieh are always formed according to nature."
(We note, incidentally, that the theory which made the
ideas types or copies to be imitated had triumphed over
the theory of participation — cf. pp. 3, 30, and 152 — ^just
as was to be expected after the elevation of the
ideas to the rank of gods.) The same rdle, as we
have already seen, is assigned to this doctrine in the
" Timseus," where the Demiurge creates things after the
pattern of the ideas. Plato busied himself, in this phase,
with the deduction of the ideas, as "ideal numbers,"
from mathematical "primary principles." This is a
Pythagoreanizing tendency, of which some traces are
found in the "Philebus," as well as the "Timaeus"
(cf. pp. 188 and 215) ; our account of it, however, cannot
conveniently be separated from that of its further
development by Plato's successors, Speusippus and
Xenocrates. The sound kernel of it lies in the surmise
that the essence of things is circumscribed by mathe-
matical regularities. In the " Laws " this process is carried
forward another step. Only mathematics and its applica-
tion to astronomy are recognized as possessing a truly
248 GREEK THINKERS.
educational value ; with these is joined at most the science
of law, then scarcely in its beginnings.
Just as the Athenian archon became a member of the
Areopagus after his year of office, so the "superintendent
of education," when his five years are over, belongs to what
Plato calls the " nocturnal " council. This body, something
between a scientific academy and a supreme legislative and
controlling authority, is to meet every day in the early
morning to discuss questions of political or scientific
interest. The other members of this supreme council are
those priests who have won prizes for virtue, the ten
oldest " guardians of the laws," and the " superintendent
of education " for the time being. The further recruiting
of this body is provided for by the regulation that each of
these elderly members may, with the consent of the others,
appoint a man aged from thirty to forty as his junior or
assistant-councillor. Although the council is expected to
discuss reforms in the light of foreign experience, its main
function, as is shown by the advanced age of the guardian^
of the laws belonging to it, is conservative. Strange as it
may seem, Plato's express declarations, as well as the
extraordinary severity he brings to bear on innovators,
leave no room for doubt that he regarded the institutions
recommended in the " Laws " as in their essence final and
incapable of improvement.
4. This ultra-conservatism, the darkest blemish of the
" Laws," should not blind us to the brighter aspects of
this work. Taught by a varied and bitter experience of
life, deserted at last by the long-retained sanguine temper
of youth, Plato had learnt to doubt the practicability of his
ideal — the unconditional rule of philosophers — and nothing
else was left him than to choose the " second-best," as he
has called it in the " Statesman," that is, a constitutionally
regulated government. But this same varied experience,
together with his reflexions on history, had made him only
too familiar with the imperfections peculiar to all forms of
constitution, and led him to the conclusion — the ripest fruit
of his political thought — that the mixture of constitutional
forms is necessary to the welfare of the State. This goal
TWO KINDS OF MIXED CONSTITUTIONS. 249
can be attained only by the coexistence and co-operation
of independent political forces, that is, by a mixed consti-
tution in that sense of the phrase which, as we have already
noted, is exemplified by Sparta in antiquity and Great
Britain in modern times. Such a constitution is the result
of historical processes ; it represents a compromise between
different forces, one of which is in the ascending, the other
in the declining phase. But for just this reason such a com-
promise can only be temporary, and, above all, it cannot be
transplanted to a quarter where the historical conditions
presupposed by it are wanting. The type of such a mixed
constitution — limited monarchy — is destined in the course
of time either to revert to its primitive form of absolute or
nearly absolute monarchy, in consequence of some episode
of reaction, or else to be transformed into a strictly par-
liamentary monarchy by the growing power of the people.
So transformed, the institution may work extraordinarily
well ; but a little consideration will show that it carries in
itself the germ of its own destruction. Imagine the strictly
parliamentary government which England now enjoys con-
tinued through a course of centuries : its raison d'etre is
gone. For the prestige of the ruling dynasty, in the long
run an indispensable element in the monarchical system,
has its origin in the unlimited or scarcely limited power
once possessed by the sovereign, and loses lustre in propor-
tion as that plenitude of authority recedes into an ever more
distant past.
The above reflexions seemed indispensable if we were
to point out what appears to us to be the most fruitful
germ of political thought in the " Laws." The thesis, that
a tempered form of government is the best of all, retains its
truth and value even in the absence of that fortunate con-
junction of historical accidents which produces mixed
constitutions in the strict sense. Even when one political
factor gains exclusive domination and ceases to be in
any way limited by competing forces, the tempering of it
is no less possible than advantageous. It is then tempered
by the forms of the constitution, by the restraints which the
sovereign power — be this monarch or people — imposes
250 GREEK THINKERS.
upon itself. This is the form of mixed constitution towards
which Plato strives in the " Laws." All authority is here
derived from the people, but by a wealth of ingenious
artifices the people prevents itself from using its own
plenary powers amiss. Its renunciation of all immediate
rule is almost complete ; a complex and skilfully con-
structed system of elections provides a highly organized
body of officials, who wield a derived but none the less
effectual authority. Taken in its fundamental essence,
and freed from the ultra-conservative tendencies of its
author, this side of the political ideal contained in the
" Laws " supplies, as we think, a model not without its
importance for the present and future generations of
mankind.
Plato's inventive spirit takes its boldest flight in a
section where he deals with the highest political end. A
college of twelve men is entrusted with the supreme control
of the State. These " censors " are authorized to impeach all
the other officials ; they are thus " rulers of the rulers," and
only the very best men of all may be charged with their
responsible task. The mode of election here proposed by
Plato is one which we may term " election by elimination."
The whole body of citizens takes part in it. Votes are
given in writing, but not secretly. Three men are to be
chosen, but each elector may only vote for one; he may
name any man, except himself, who is not under fifty years
of age. This first nomination yields a list of names, which
is arranged according to the number of votes received by
each. A second election follows, limited to the upper half
of the list, and so the process of sifting continues till by
successive halvings the number is reduced to three. The
guiding principles of this system, it will be seen, resemble
those underlying the most modern schemes for the reforma-
tion of electoral technique, proportional election and the
representation of the minority. No vote is lost ; the
elected are the choice not of a majority but of the whole ;
even the detail of the written, but not secret, vote complies
with the requirements laid down by Thomas Hare, the chief
founder of the modern movement. More accurately, this
THE OBJECT OF PUNISHMENT. 25 I
mode of election is a combination of the second ballot *
and the principle of the vote unique (each elector can only
vote for one candidate, even though the same electoral
district may return several representatives). Plato's aim is
directed towards an end which is also sought, though not
as a first end, by the modern reformers — high quality in
the elected. The choice should fall on men "of wonderful
virtue ; " at the worst, with the elections so regulated, it
will fall on the leaders of three equally balanced parties ;
but as such a division of the State is unlikely, the elected
will generally be the most highly respected men in whom
the community has confidence. Such men are at any one
time very few in number ; for this retison not more than
three are ever to be elected. The three men chosen at the
first election of the kind, held after the foundation of the
colony, are to nominate the college of twelve ; afterwards,
yearly elections are to fill the gaps caused by death and
attainment of the upper age-limit — seventy-five years.
5. No feature of equal originality is to be found in
Plato's system of criminal law. It is chiefly distinguished
by its many-sided conception of the end of punishment.
The " Gorgias " had known but one such end, amelioration
or healing of the wrong-doer ; in the " Protagoras," the
sophist of that name is made to discourse on the deterrent
purpose of punishment in a speech which seems half a
travesty. Both these purposes are recognized in the
" Laws," together with a third — that of making the offender
harmless, — and all three are clearly distinguished from
each other. But here, as often elsewhere, there is a
yawning gulf between principles and their application.
Who would expect, after these highly rational expositions
of principle, to meet in the " Laws " with such glaring
examples of unreason as trials of animals, sentences upon
inanimate objects, and kindred concessions to the primitive
* German, Stichnvahl. This name is given to elections where a
candidate needs an absolute majority, that is, more than half the votes
cast, in order to be returned. If no candidate obtains such a majority,
a second election is held between the two candidates with the greatest
number of votes.
252 GREEK THINKERS.
instincts of the popular mind ? Yet this work contains
many such. The power of tradition and old-time custom
often prevails, in matters of detail, over the convictions
which the thinker has gained by his own efforts. It is so
especially in the treatment of the slave-class. That slaves
not seldom surpass the free-born in excellence, that their
fidelity to their masters and their self-sacrificing spirit has
sometimes exceeded that of brothers or sons, is admitted
without difficulty. But this does not prevent the same
offence — for example, omission to inform against the stealer
of buried treasure — being regarded leniently in the case of
the free and visited with excessive severity upon the slave.
And yet it is an obvious reflexion that the dependent
situation of the slave makes the giving of such information,
which after all may prove unfounded, much more dangerous
for him than for the free man, and should therefore ensure
him a more indulgent rather than a severer treatment.
The judge, it is laid down, should really try cases;
procedure like that of the Attic courts, where those " dumb
judges," the jurors, take no active part in investigating the
issues which they decide, is repeatedly and emphatically
condemned. Herein is implicitly contained the demand
that the administration of justice be placed in the hands of
professional judges, and the popular tribunal (in modern
phrase) replaced by a permanent judiciary. In point of fact,
there are many cases in which Plato requires the employ-
ment of " select " judges, in addition to which he stimulates
the sense of individual responsibility by providing for the
public delivery of judgment by each member of the
tribunal, and institutes a court of appeal, following in this
last particular the precedent of Hippodamus. An innova-
tion of Plato's is the introduction of long-term sentences ;
ordinary Greek law only recognized the custody of prisoners
on trial, the imprisonment of defaulting debtors to the State,
and the supplementing of money fines in a few cases by
a brief incarceration. The long sentence is evidently
employed by Plato as a substitute for other penalties which
he rejects. Among these are deprivation of honour,
banishment — a penalty which Plato condemns on principle.
LEGISLATION ON MARRIAGE. 253
but allows in isolated cases, chiefly in compliance with
the principle of expiation — and above all confiscation of
property, a penalty at variance with the social and political
principle which required the number of family land-lots to
be maintained undiminished.
In the forefront of civil law is placed the regulation of
the family. The possibility of any such regulation, in the
true sense of the word, depends on the changed organization
of society. The community of the " Laws " is a unitary
whole, and occupies a position intermediate between the
two social divisions of the " Republic." To that extent it
resembles the diffused aristocracies of Sparta and Crete.
Its level of life and culture is somewhat lower than that of
the " guardians," but considerably higher than that of the
" craftsmen." With the disappearance of the ruling class,
the communism, both as to family and as to property, which
had distinguished it, is now abandoned (cf. p. 241). The
temporary union is abolished and permanent marriage
restored to the rank of universal norm. It is dissoluble, not
only, as we have already remarked, in cases of childlessness
or as a consequence of grave misdemeanour, but also on the
ground of incompatibility of temperament. For the divorced
partner who has not yet contributed his or her share of
children "to family and State," remarriage is not only
permitted but enjoined. Following the precedent of Cha-
rondas, the legislator advises men not to give their children
stepmothers. A divorced woman is also to be remarried
when she is too young to live in the unmarried state with-
out danger to her health. Less regard is paid, in these
matters, to the inclinations of girls and women than we
should have expected from a champion of female emanci-
pation. The marriage of an heiress with the nearest
kinsman is another point on which Plato follows the
ordinary Greek rule as exemplified in the legislations of
Athens and Gortyn, and as adopted by Charondas.
In the treatment of sexual questions in general, the
" Laws " display a tendency towards ever-increasing strict-
ness, not only as compared with the earlier treatise, but
also within the limits of the work itself. In the " Republic,"
2 54 GREEK THINKERS.
we find, among other rewards of eminent courage, a right
to caresses which no fellow-combatant, male or female, is
entitled to reject. The marriageable age of young men is
fixed in the same work as beginning at that period of life
when the natural instinct has already lost its first force,
without any word to indicate that youths under age are to
be kept under strict control. And in the case of those who
have reached the stage when " procreation for the State "
ceases to be a duty, complete liberty is allowed in this
respect. It is quite otherwise in the "Laws." The last-
named privilege is expressly revoked in a passage of the
sixth book ; though irregularities of this nature are still
treated indulgently. In the eighth book, however, sexual
intercourse outside the marriage-tie, under whatever circum-
stances, is severely condemned. " Immense advantages," in
particular an enormous increase of trust and devotion on
the part of wives, are expected to result from the intro-
duction of the stricter code. The objection that what is
demanded exceeds the strength of human nature, is met by
a reference to the power of public opinion, which, when the
public is really of one mind, can hardly be overrated. It
is worthy of note that the author of the " Laws " not merely
preaches abstinence, but names various means by which
its practice is facilitated. The education of the sexes in
common, their co-operation in all walks of life, are clearly
designed in part to blunt the edge of sexual appetite. The
same purpose is still more obviously served by the recom-
mendation that youths and girls should associate together
without constraint, wearing dress which by only slightly
concealing the form should do little to excite desire.
Lastly and chiefly, dietary regulations and the practice of
gymnastics are expressly invoked as means to the same
end, the former by providing against overfeeding in the
critical period of life, and the latter by supplying a vent for
all surplus energy. We note, in conclusion, that the love
of boys, which earlier dialogues had treated so indulgently,
receives the most emphatic condemnation possible in the
"Laws," — a change probably not uninfluenced by Cynic
teaching, resting, as it does, in part on a detestation of the
GROWING STRICTNESS OF THE "LAWS." 255
unnatural and also by a lively sense of the danger of
depopulation. The sentiment in question is now admitted
only in its most purified form, as limited to an "aesthetic
delight" in physical beauty. The "condition of mind
peculiar to the lover alternating between sensual and
spiritual impulses," a condition, that is, which was described
in the " Phaedrus " and the " Symposium " as " the well-
spring of the most salutary emotions, is now, in the ' Laws,'
condemned with the utmost severity." Such is the well-
founded comment of Ivo Bruns, whose untimely death is
so much to be deplored.
We have already referred more than once to the regu-
lations affecting property. Worthy of mention are the
restrictions on the rights of alienation and testamentary
disposition, prompted by Plato's desire to maintain family
properties intact. His commercial code is full of the spirit
of distrust : fixed prices, no haggling, no advertising. His
legislation dilates with affectionate fulness, but without
marked originality, on all that pertains to agriculture, in-
cluding bee-keeping and fruit-culture, water-rights, litigation
arising out of neighbourship.
6. The most remarkable feature of the civil procedure
is the regulation that a party to a suit may not make on
oath any statement tending to procure him any advantage,
or save him from any loss. What is chiefly interesting in
this prohibition is the reason for it, which is given in a
reference to the widespread unbelief of the age, favouring
perjury. It is astonishing to find Plato so faint-hearted.
His legislation, it must be remembered, is meant for a
community brought up on the strictest pedagogic principles,
every member of which is anxiously shielded throughout
life from all noxious influences. And yet Plato is so
terribly afraid of the miasma of infidelity spreading to
his community. This is the dangerous enemy against
which he fights for a whole book (the tenth), taking
religious offences as a starting-point. Three species of
heresy are distinguished : disbelief in the existence of
the gods, disbelief in their providential care, disbelief in
their incorruptibility — by which last is meant the belief that
256 GREEK THINKERS.
the favour and indulgence of divine beings may be won by
the performance of holy works. The author of the " Laws "
employs all the resources of his eloquence, as well as
threats of the severest penalties, for the purpose of
diffusing and protecting the type of religion which he
favours.
The latter by no means coincides entirely with the
popular religion, but the differences, where not important
ethically, are rather cloaked over than emphasized. The
new State religion — it is'certainly such that is proposed, to
the rigid exclusion of all private cults, the Orphic as well as
others — is clothed so far as may be in the garb of the old.
By the side of the supreme Deity there appear numerous
individual gods, foremost among them those connected
with the stars. The main proof for the existence of the
Divine is prefaced by an analysis of this concept by which
it is reduced to the psychic, and rests upon the priority of
all that pertains to soul over all that pertains to body. A
review of all forms of motion leads to the conclusion that
soul is the one self-moving thing, whereas all else receives
its impulse to motion from without. In this doctrine Plato
harks back to the " Phsedrus " (cf. pp. 45, 46), and with it
he believes himself to have made a clean sweep of all
materialism and the whole of the earlier nature-philosophy.
That the soul which moves and guides the world is the
best soul of all, is a thesis which he supports by a reference
to the well-ordered universe. Plato is here in close agree-
ment with Anaxagoras, an agreement, however, which is
soon exchanged for hostility. For it is to this philosopher
and his followers that he alludes in the remark that some
wise men regard the sun, moon, earth, and stars not as gods
but as lifeless " stones," and see in the fore-mentioned
argument nothing more than a "farrago of words concocted
for the mere sake of persuasion." It is, again, to a pupil
of Anaxagoras, Archelaus, that Plato seems to refer when
he speaks of the distinction between " Nature '' and " Con-
vention," and its employment in the critical, or, as he
thinks, sceptical sense (cf Vol. I. p. 402). With a similar
end in view he had already attacked, in an earlier book.
THE THREE HERESIES COMBATED. 257
Pindar's phrase describing " Convention as the mistress of
all men " (cf. Vol. I. p. 404).
The second and third heresies are combated, in the first
instance, by arguments which derive their force from the
moral qualities of the gods. Goodness being once admitted
as the fundamental characteristic of their nature and their
power placed beyond question, failure on their part to
provide for the welfare of created beings could only be
attributed to levity or indolence — qualities which would
place them on a lower level than even second-rate men.
The third heresy, finally, is said to rest on the assumption
that divine beings are prevailed upon by sacrifices to leave
punishable actions unpunished, that is, to neglect their duty
for the sake of profit. If so, a god would be like a pilot,
persuaded by a fat morsel or a drink of wine to compass
the destruction of the ship entrusted to his care with all on
board, or a charioteer bribed by an enemy to betray his
master, or even a dog made forgetful of his duty by a
share of the robber's booty (cf. p. 237).
This series of arguments, or rather of analogies, is no
doubt mainly directed against the popular religion ; the
polemic against the second heresy, however, strikes at the
consequences of a mode of thought which had already
gained the upper hand in the scientific world. To regard
the Deity as the prime source of a world-process, which,
once begun, is not subject to any special intervention of
Divine power — such, it is clear, was the prevalent view of,
let us say, enlightened medical circles. We recall the
comprehensive formula : " All is divine and all is human "
(cf Vol. I. p. 310). Even Plato did not wholly emancipate
himself from this view. His endeavour, it may be said, is to
construct a theory of the universe which does notrob morality
of divine protection, but which at the same time makes
shift with a minimum — if not an entire absence — of divine
intervention. It is thus, as we conceive, that we ought to
understand an exposition, the obscurity of which is probably
not wholly the fault of the textual tradition. To those
who doubt the divine justice, because they see no reflex of
it in a world where injustice so often triumphs, Plato
258 GREEK THINKERS.
answers that their horizon is narrow, that the plan of the
universe, in its coherent completeness, is beyond their ken.
It is to the welfare of the whole, not of the individual part
or particle, that the divine purpose is directed ; the part
exists for the whole, not the whole for the part ; the same
principle guides the action of the physician and every other
skilled artificer. These arguments contain a slight, but
perceptible hint of limits to the divine power (cf. pp. 6j and
213), a hint which receives more definite expression in the
comparison of the Deity to a draughts-player. The latter,
it is urged, can only move his men, not change them. Not
that the human soul is unchangeable — the causes of its
manifold changes, however, are contained in itself and in
the operation of other souls upon it. All that is left for the
Deity to do — and that, too, as Plato seems to suggest, not
by special interventions, but by an order of nature esta-
blished once for all — is to transfer the soul which has become
better to a better place, and that which has become worse
to a worse ; by which phrase is meant the alternating
association with human and animal bodies, as well as the
sojourn in the place of punishment below.
This section touches on the problem of the will, and
there are isolated phrases which might seem to stamp
Plato as an indeterminist. This impression, however, will
not bear scrutiny. The intellectualistic theory of the will
upheld by Socrates, to which Plato remained so long
faithful, and of which he never abandoned the formula
(" No one errs voluntarily "), is not merely determinism,
but determinism of a quite particular kind. For it supposes
the will to be invariably determined, not simply by motives,
but by a special class of motives, having the nature of
knowledge or wisdom. Now, it is quite true that in the
works of his old age Plato travelled a long way from this
his original starting-point, and nowhere further than in the
" Laws," where, in addition to " ignorance " a second cause
of wrong-doing appears in the shape of aKparsia, that very
" paralysis of the will " which Socrates expressly declared
impossible. But, for all that, he never makes uncaused
action an attribute of the soul ; on the contrary, its volitions
PLATO AND FREE WILL. 259
are explained as the effects of its nature, which nature,
though admitted to be changeable, is declared not to
change per saltunt or without sufficient reason. And in
that section of the work (Book IX.) where the conception
of free will is subjected to a searching examination, the
result is merely to identify free action with purposive
action. To the responsibility of the homicide A — so we
venture to paraphrase Plato's thought — it makes the
greatest difference conceivable whether he killed B in-
tentionally or unintentionally. But then, the purpose to
kill, the criminal intention itself, has arisen out of an
already existing corrupt condition of the will. In order
that the deed may be imputed to the doer, it is by no
means requisite that he should have himself wrought or
chosen the condition of will which produced it. In fact, it
is impossible that he should have deliberately chosen it, as
impossible as it is for any one to prefer sickness to health.
It may be admitted that this last comparison is inappro-
priate, resting as it does on an inadequate distinction
between social and individual morality (cf. Vol. II. p. 68, seq).
But it is due to Plato to acknowledge that he kept himself
free from an aberration which has survived down to our own
day, and admitted the justification of punishment in every
case where it can act remedially on the evil-doer's will, no
matter how formed, or deter others from the like fault.
7. After the theological arguments come the penal
sanctions, in regard to which we find ourselves in no small
perplexity. The attentive reader has already noticed how
thin a line of division separates certain opinions held
temporarily or permanently by Plato himself from the
heresies which he combats with so much zeal. The " idea
of the good " is certainly not a personal Deity, and yet, in
the "Republic" it is the crown and summit of all existence
(cf. p. 85). The principle of "Necessity," that of "erratic
motion," the "evil world-soul," all of these are as many
limits to the perfection of the divine power (cf. p. 214).
Between the acknowledgment of these limitations and the
second heresy, which doubts the sufficient providence of
the gods for man, there assuredly yawns no unfathomable
26o GREEK THINKERS.
chasm. Add to this that the third heresy, or belief in
the appeasing power of prayer and sacrifice, does not
conflict with the popular religion ; that Plato is himself a
presumptuous innovator in this respect, as well as in the
rough criticism which accepted mythology receives at his
hands in the " Euthyphro," the " Republic," and even the
"Laws" (cf. Vol. II. p. 364, and Vol. III. p. 67) ; that, finally,
the fate of his master Socrates was still fresh in his memory ;
— all these considerations, one might think, should have
been enough to make him hesitate before spreading an aegis
of ruthless penalties over the late-won religious views of his
final phase. But it was ordained otherwise. Advanced age
exerted a twofold series of influences upon the philosopher.
It is as if two streams, flowing towards opposite points of
the compass, were to issue from neighbouring founts. Old
age made Plato at once more gentle and more severe than
he had ever been before.
Let us consider first the former of these two effects.
The tendencies which we found characteristic of Plato's
latest period as a whole reach their culmination in the
"Laws." " His mind and heart," so we wrote aproposoi
the " Sophist," " gain a stronger hold on particular things,
particular entities, particular processes." This trait is now
exemplified in the sphere of legislation. Nothing is too
trivial for its regulating prevision ; from the nursing and
the playthings of children down to the equal development
of the right and the left hand, from hunting and fishing to
the different kinds of dances, and from these to the minutiae
of building, market, and funeral ordinances. The worth of
man and of human life is not appraised by Plato higher
than formerly, rather the reverse. In regard to both, the
" Laws " contain strikingly pessimistic utterances. But the
lot of the great mass engages his attention far more
persistently than in the '' Republic." He abates something
of the ruthless thoroughness with which he had pressed for
the realization of his social and political principles, but he
no longer limits that realization to a select minority. The
heroic standard of life has in many points made way for a
humaner ideal. Thus the medical treatment of chronic
THE EFFECTS OF OLD AGE. 26 1
diseases is no longer forbidden ; warm baths enjoyed in
beautiful park grounds are to refresh the tired limbs of the
aged. A comprehensive scheme of poor-relief is designed;
no person, whether freeborn or slave, may be allowed to
suffer the extreme of destitution.
The old man's eye, purged of all illusions, the old
man's heart, which is often the more sorely disappointed
the greater have been the objects of its yearnings, — these
are well adapted to perceive clearly, to spy out anxiously,
and to feel deeply the evils that belong to the present and
the future. Old age is consequently often marked by a
faint and timid spirit ; but with Plato these causes had very
different effects. His literary triumphs, his intercourse with
an ever-widening circle of admiring disciples, must have
strengthened his self-confidence, and may well have stifled
all his doubt as to his own infallibility, in spite of the
manifold changes that had been wrought within his mind.
Thus he becomes less and less scrupulous in his choice of
weapons with which to fight against what he deems repre-
hensible and to the common danger, until at last he is
prepared to draw the sword of justice upon irreligion, the
love of innovation, and even upon rhetoric and lawyers,
those old objects of an antipathy which time has only
deepened. But when we survey the field in which this
intolerance disports itself, a circumstance forces itself upon
our notice which may well be not altogether without
significance. It is only the last three books of the "Laws"
(X. — XII.)in which this tendency of Plato's mind is revealed.
We are inclined to conjecture that this is no mere chance.
The triumph of that "misology" which had been so earnestly
and so successfully combated in the " Phaedo " (cf p. 32)
may not have belonged to the period of Plato's old age as
a whole, but only to its terminal phase, the last year or two
of his life. Our information is that he continued writing till
his death at the age of eighty, and that these latest labours
were devoted to the " Laws " is testified by the unfinished
state of the work. There is thus, perhaps, some justification
for taking refuge in the belief that this victory of intoler-
ance was due solely to the fossilizing influence of old
VOL. III. T
262 GREEK THINKERS.
age. One circumstance in particular seems to support this
conjecture.
In close neighbourhood to the bloodthirsty sentences
passed upon irreclaimable freethinkers, upon proposers of
political innovations, who are by no means necessarily
apostles of subversion, even upon contentious advocates who
make, or appear to make, a perverse use of their art, — in
close neighbourhood to all this we meet with a contempt
for individuality, an indifference to every form of personal
initiative, a disposition, as we may even say, to enslave
men's souls, which is absolutely astonishing. The fatal
endeavour after " unity " here reaches a height of develop-
ment which reminds us of the Jesuit-ruled state of
Paraguay. A system which may perhaps have had its
use for the purpose of introducing roving Indian tribes to
settled and civilized ways, is here applied to the highly
cultivated Greeks of the fourth tentury before Christ. We
refer to the passage in the last book, in which military
discipline is held up as a model for the whole of civic life.
A wish is expressed for a state of things in which no one
should ever do anything alone and for himself, in which
every one should everywhere and always look up to a
superior, in which every act, from the greatest to the
smallest, should be performed in obedience to an order,
just as the soldier in camp stands and walks, washes and
feeds, leaves his bed and seeks it, all on the word of com-
mand. Is any proof necessary that this desire to keep
men in lifelong leading-strings is an expression of the
same temper which banishes the freethinker to the re-
formatory ((Twippovumipiov), there to languish in his cell,
deprived of all except spiritual consolation, and in the end
to be delivered up, if the " nocturnal council " fails in its
work of conversion, to the axe of the executioner .'
Let us turn to another and more edifying side of the
picture. It is said that at the hour of death images of
childhood and early youth hover round us. It is of such
thoughts that we are reminded by the concluding portion
of the " Laws." We find there a repetition and emphatic
reassertion of some fundamental thoughts of the book : the
MEMORIES OF AN EARLIER STAGE. 263
little worth of mere courage, the divine nature of the soul,
its precedence over the body, its immortal sovereignty, and
its generation of all motion. But side by side with all this
the Socratic problems and methods with which we are so
familiar come once more into view. The old riddle of the
unity or plurality of virtue is once more discussed and
once more left unsolved. The Socratic induction, with its
time-honoured instances of the pilot, the general, and the
physician, once more parades before our eyes. Dialectic,
too, makes an unexpected entry, and its object is now
declared, in words strikingly like a passage in the
" Phaedrus " (cf. p. 21), to be the "contemplation of the
One in the Many and the Unlike." Such may well have
been the meditations amid which the aged thinker sank
to rest.
264 GREEK THINKERS.
CHAPTER XXI.
RETROSPECTS AND ANTICIPATIONS.
I. A LONG series of creations has defiled before us : we have
passed in review the whole of the works which were un-
doubtedly written by Plato. When we look back from the
end to the beginning, our first feeling is one of intense
astonishment, called forth by an unexampled wealth of
intellect, a never-resting, never-tiring labour of thought.
Our admiration grows when we remember the thinker's
earnest and persevering zeal for the improvement of men
and the perfecting of society. It is still further increased
when we think of the many-sidedness of Plato's mind — a
quality displayed not only in the diversity of subjects
treated, but just as much so in the varying manner of treat-
ing them. This continual process of change follows a very
remarkable course. It may be said, and the assertion is a
paradox only in appearance, that Plato was just as much
one-sided as many-sided. Having once entered upon a
path, he pursues it with the utmost self-confidence, un-
troubled by warning voices and the objections that may
occur to his mind. Like many an epoch-making thinker, he
is not afraid of extreme solutions. Then comes a reaction,
constraining him to acknowledge the elements of truth
which he has hitherto neglected. Such is the case in his
works on political philosophy. First we have the exclusive
and unlimited sovereignty of philosophers, then the model
of a mixed constitution permeated by reciprocal checks
and limitations ; first over-bold deduction, then cautious,
almost timid empiricism. Physiology has lately taught us
PLATO AND NATURAL SCIENCE. 265
that certain poisons can only be resisted by antidotes which
the threatened organism produces for itself. But this
healthful reaction does not set in unless [the poison has
been administered in sufiScient quantity. In such cases it
may be said with truth, though it sounds startling, that he
who drains the poisoned draught to the dregs is nearer
recovery than he who puts it too precipitately from his lips.
It is the same with the great original thinker. When he
has trodden the path of error to the end, he is nearer to
the truth than if he had halted half-way.
2. Plato's successes were not the fruits of that soil which
Greek speculation, prior to the appearance of Socrates, had
cultivated by preference. It must be affirmed without
reserve that Plato's theory of nature as a whole, as also
that held by his greatest pupil Aristotle, in spite of many
an advance on points of detail, stood far behind the achieve-
ments and surmises of the older nature-philosophers. This
was rightly judged by Bacon, and, in more recent times, by
Schopenhauer. Plato was as much wanting in feeling for
nature as Anaxagoras had been — that predecessor whom
he valued above the others. His inverted theory of descent
is as exactly a reversal of the truth as the Clazomenian's
theory of matter had been (cf. Vol. I. p. 210). The teleo-
logical method of investigation which Anaxagoras suggested,
which the " Phaedo " preached, and the " Timaeus " made an
effort to practise, has only evinced a temporary fruitfulness
within the domain of biology as a heuristic expedient.
But, methods apart, in the fundamentals of astronomy,
a science which exerts a far-reaching influence on men's
conception of the universe, the lonians, as well as the
atomists, came much nearer the truth than did Plato and
Aristotle. They had already surmised what the telescope
and the spectroscopic prism have since converted into irre-
fragable certainty, namely, that the stars, too, are under the
dominion of change, which is not to be regarded as a
characteristic peculiar to the sublunary world (cf Vol. I.
p. 366). And even relatively to the Pythagoreans, who were
Plato's chief teachers in natural philosophy, the return to
the geocentric theory is a long step backwards. Turning to
266 GREEK THINKERS.
the two chief instruments in the investigation of nature,
we note that one of them, the experimental method, was
contemned by Plato (the reader is familiar with the point,
cf. pp. 84, 187, and 207) ; the other, mathematics, he
no doubt prized highly and raised in the general esteem
by interweaving it with many of his doctrines. That, in
addition to the stimulus and indirect influence which he
exercised upon this branch of research, he left the world
indebted to him for original contributions to it, we are very
willing to believe ; though the ancient statements to that
effect are lacking in definiteness. Nor can we determine
with certainty whether the rudiment of the sphere-theory
was Plato's own work, or only borrowed by him. The
few obscure sentences in which Plato speaks of this
theory do not in themselves give the impression that a
discoverer is here announcing to his fellow-workers for the
first time the results of his laborious investigations. But
if, in this instance, it is not permitted to do more than
doubt, we regard it as altogether inadmissible to class
Eudoxus, who as a Hedonist in ethics was an opponent
of Plato, among the members of Plato's school, on the
ground that in early youth he attended some of Plato's
lectures.
3. The vast and varied influence which proceeded from
Plato and affected the history of the world, may perhaps be
best summed up in the remark that without Plato we should
have had no Aristotle, no Carneades, no Augustine.
Through the intermediacy of Aristotle. (384-322) Plato
contributed, after all, to the progress of physical research —
much less, it must be admitted, in connexion with the
knowledge of causal successions than with that of the
ordered coexistence of things. The classification of natural
objects grew in the soil of the Platonic dialectic. The inter-
minable divisions of the " Sophist " and tlje " Statesman "
disgust and weary us sometimes by th^r excess of petty
detail ; we should not forget, however, that we are here in
the school which sent forth the great arranger and classifier,
the morphologist par excellence. Both teacher and pupil
transferred this method, the method of natural history, to
PLATO AND CARNEADES. 267
the field of mental science ; the exact differentiation of forms
of inference is wholly, that of political and poetical forms
partly, due to the pupil. But, by the employment of this
method on its native ground, natural history itself, Aristotle
prepared the way for, if he did not himself work out, results
of the highest importance dealing with causal connexions.
For one of his creations, comparative anatomy, was an
indispensable preliminary to the construction of the theory
of descent.
But while Plato's school produced in Aristotle the great
encyclopaedist, the collector and orderer of a vast stock of
knowledge, above all, the arbiter of mediaeval thought both
in East and West, there is another point at which its in-
fluence penetrates into the modern world still more deeply.
The critical spirit of antiquity reached its culmination in
the New Academy. Even the " laborious pastime " of the
" Parmenides " was not labour lost (cf. p. 1 5 3). Plato's
immediate successors, it is true, retained only the quasi-
Pythagoreanism and . the ethical aspirations of his latest
years. But with Arcesilaus (died 241) came the triumph
of the critical and dialectical tendency of the Platonic mind,
which had derived some of its strength from Megarian in-
fluences. The movement reached its apogee in Carneades
(213-129), who surpassed all his predecessors and successors
in subtlety of thought, whose piercing criticism shattered
the confidence of the dogmatic schools, and in particular
drove the Stoa to a comprehensive revision of its doctrines.
His theory of probability at the same time gave an impulse
towards the creation of an inductive logic which was re-
presented in the later Epicureanism as well as in the
medical schools of the Methodics and Empirics. Carneades
has been rightly named the David Hume of antiquity.
But he also reminds us of Michel de Montaigne, the great
questioning spirit of the Renaissance, by his audacious
criticism, which made full use of all the contradictions of
traditions and accepted standards, which respected no
barrier. And though Montaigne's relation to Carneades
may be the same as his relation to Plato (" I was a
Platonist in this respect before I knew that there had ever
268 GREEK THINKERS.
been a Plato "), he was, in any case, accurately acquainted
with his teachings.
Finally, in Augustine (354-43° A-I^.). two streams united
which for several centuries had battled against each other
— Neo-Platonism and Christianity. The first opened at
Athens, Plato's school was also the last to be closed in that
city (in 529, by Justinian). The form of Platonism re-
presented in that school in its last period had been the
philosophy of dying antiquity, just as it afterwards became
the philosophy of the dawning Renaissance. In the Greek
East, indeed, the Platonic tradition was never wholly extinct.
As late as in the eighth century, John of Damascus, the
systematizer of that day's theology and philosophy, drew
from a Neo-Platonist source as well as from the Fathers of the
Church ; and as early as in the eleventh century we find
Constantine Psellus appearing as a fully developed Platonist
in respect both of the form and the substance of his teaching.
That even in the two intervening centuries interest in Plato
had not died out in Byzantium, is shown by the date of
the two chief manuscripts of his works. In the West,
Platonism, after a short hibernation, awoke to new life at
the least as early as the end of the ninth century ; in the
course of the next few centuries the campaign against that
petrified Aristotelianism, known as Scholasticism, is opened
under its banner and carried on with continually increasing
vigour. But though deeply permeated by mystic elements,
finding life's supreme end in the ecstatic contemplation of
the divine, Neo-Platonism did not allow its origin in the
great critical intellect of Plato to be entirely forgotten.
Thus it may be noted in this connexion that the Primordial
Essence or First Cause of Plotinus (204-269 A.D.), the
true systematizer of the school, is regarded neither as self-
knowing nor even as knowable, still less as having life or
personality, but as something transcending all these deter-
minations — a conception in which we recognize without
difficulty the after-effects of the trenchant criticism applied
by Carneades to the current ideas about God.
But the mystical elements are of Platonic origin equally
with the critical. The exalted mysticism'which we meet
PLATO AND MYSTICISM. 269
with in the " Symposium " (cf. Vol. II. p. 396) is a fountain
from which both late antiquity and the Middle Ages drew
copiously. The Sufism of Islam, German mysticism, the
Jewish Kabbalas, are one and all saturated with Platonic
thoughts. Mysticism is alien to the scientific spirit, but by
no means so hostile to it as appears at first sight. It is
with mysticism much as it is with war. There is an in-
finite deal to be said against both, but both have saved
mankind from other and far worse evils than themselves.
Mysticism is the great specific against aridity of heart
and woodenness of intellect. A stream of warm life issues
from its hidden depths, gently dissolving and lightly wash-
ing away the clogging relics of an outlived past. It proves
as fatal to the sham knowledge which wrangles over for-
mulae, burrows among words, clutches at the letter, as it is to
strait-laced conventionality and self-righteous pharisaism.
In the mind of Augustine, that genius in self-observa-
tion and depth of spiritual insight. Christian and Platonic
elements were fused together. His " Confessions," that
precious work, which by its strength of feeling, its vividness
of delineation, the penetrating power of its self-analysis,
has won a place of honour in the world's literature, and
which moves us now as forcibly as it once did Petrarch —
this work has gained for its author the name of the first
modern man. His influence upon later ages has been of
incalculable depth. The Catholic Church numbers him
among the foremost of those who have shaped her destinies.
Yet also that form of Protestantism which has ploughed
most deeply into the souls of men — the faith of Calvin —
has been most permanently influenced by Augustine and
his doctrine of predestination. In taking his stand upon
self-consciousness as the foundation of all knowledge, where-
in he shows himself pre-eminently a powerful thinker partly
inspired by Platonism, he became the predecessor of Des-
cartes, the creator of modern philosophy.
4. Now that we have named the great Christian Platonist,
it will be well, in order to guard against every possible
misunderstanding, to add a word on the specific character
of Plato's ethics. ^ Its central pivot is the concept of justice.
270 GREEK THINKERS.
The relaxed austerity of Plato's old age gave considerable
scope to mere benevolence, without, for all that, encroach-
ing upon the privileged position of justice. After this
virtue, and only imperfectly distinguished from it, comes
(TM^poavvv, that self-discipline supported by a sense of one's
own worth which, in Plato still more than elsewhere, bears
a character of proud and dignified reserve. The incomplete
severance of the two domains is regrettable ; it is excusable
on the ground of their intimate action and reaction upon
each other. For not only is self-discipline the indispensable
condition for the fulfilment of social duty ; the latter reacts
on the former, and so promotes the health of the soul.
The absence of duties to society, the freedom of the will
from all restraints, leads to psychic disintegration (madness
of the Caesars, and so forth). In its exaggeration, temper-
ance becomes asceticism. This principle, the practice of
which is the most effectual hunger-cure for pleasure-sated
epochs, plays in the " Phsedo " a part which, supposing that
only this work and a few kindred to it had been preserved,
would inevitably have produced a fundamentally false im-
pression. These works present to us a thinker for whom
everything corporeal is merely a hindrance to knowledge
and the present of no other account than as a preparation
for the future : who would have guessed that this same
thinker, far from becoming a penitent anchorite, would in
other writings lavish the most devoted thought on the care
of the body in all its branches, as well as on the ordering
of economic and social conditions ; that he woiild one day
glory in the labour and research he had bestowed on these
objects with the emphasis displayed by the "Athenian
stranger " at the close of the " Laws " ? In this, his latest
work, more than in any other, Plato made his peace with
the genius of his people ; he returned in large measure to
the old Hellenic ideal which sought the harmonious develop-
ment of the whole personality.
Flight from the world, asceticism, hostility to nature —
all these visited Plato's soul without taking permanent pos-
session of it. A feature which they resemble, and which
they perhaps strengthened, was the depreciation, common
THE ACADEMICS. 27 1
to all Socratics, of the external goods enjoyed either by
individuals or associations of men. That the happiness
even of a State does not rest on its size or its riches, is a
conviction which the mature old man's wisdom of the
" Laws " held as inviolably as the youthful impetuosity of
the " Gorgias " had done. None the less, those extreme
tendencies, among which must be reckoned the principle
of avoiding all resort to force (cf. pp. 50 and 55), having
once gained the vantage-ground of incorporation in Plato's
works, exerted an equally powerful influence on the world.
The character of this influence was determined in no in-
considerable measure by the defects of that view of nature
which was held by Plato and retained by Aristotle, par-
ticularly by the geocentric hypothesis and the anthropo-
centric ideas based upon it. Had the final fall of this
hypothesis been consummated in the third century before
Christ, when all the intellectual conditions were propitious
for the change (cf. Vol. I. p. 122), instead of being delayed
till the sixteenth after Christ, the whole development of
Western humanity would have taken a different course.
But sometimes the safety of an army's movements demands
the recall of a flying column sent far in advance. Taken
all in all, it may have been better that the dangerous
revision of the theory of the universe was postponed to a
maturer phase of the human mind.
5. These great and distant after-effects were beyond
the ken of the youths who thronged round the admired
teacher in the Academy. They attended the school of
Plato just as they attended that of Isocrates, just as, a few
decades earlier, men had hung on the lips of a Prodicus or
a Protagoras. Philosophy was pursued more in the spirit of
Callicles than in that of Socrates (cf. Vol. II. p. 334). The
object was to gain the means for successful competition in
the field of politics by training and sharpening the intel-
lectual faculties. Thus the most eminent statesmen of the
Athens of that day were temporarily pupils of Plato —
Lycurgus the wise administrator and financier no less than
Hyperides the successful advocate, Demosthenes the leader
of the radical-national party equally with Phocion the head
272 GREEK THINKERS.
of the peace-party. All shades of political sentiment and
activity were represented among Plato's disciples. Clearchus
set himself up as ruler of Heracleia ; Chion and Leonidas
conspired against him ; Leon of Byzantium who snatched
his native city from the claws of Philip, and Python who
beat the recruiter's drum for the same Philip in every corner
of Greece, — all these alike had been Academics. Besides
Dion, the philosopher in the palace, there was Chaeron of
Pellene, a tyrant in the Greek and also in the modern
acceptation of the word, who overthrew the constitution of
his country by the aid of Macedonian lances, and who
shrank from no deed of violence. Hermias, the eunuch
and former slave, who founded a throne in the city of
Atarneus in Northern Asia Minor, and who received the
support of Philip in the struggle against Persia, .was also a
member of the Academy. So, too, was Euphraeus of Oreus
in Eretria, who for a long time enjoyed favour and high
esteem at the court of Perdiccas III., but who ended as a
passionate opponent of Philip, and took his own life in
prison to avoid falling into the hands of his generals. It
was a comparatively meagre band of disciples that chose
the pursuit of science for their life's calling. From this
narrower circle we shall see men proceed who, partly in
the Academy, partly outside it, carried on and developed
the teachings of Plato, foremost among them the man
whose name has so often appeared in these pages — Aristotle
of Stagira.
NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
VOL. II.
Book IV.— Chapter I.
(The citations from vEschylus are taken from the edition of Kirchhoff ;
those from Euripides from that of Nauck. Sophocles and Aristo-
phanes are quoted from Dindorf's Poeta Scenici Grceci; the tragic
fragments from Nauck's collection of fragments, ed. 2.)
Page 3. Theognis : cf. v. 349 [Poetce Lyrici Grceci, ed. Bergk, ii.
150, 4th ed.); also Homer, Iliad, iv. 35 ; similarly //., xxii. 347 ; xxiv.
212. Some other passage, now lost, must have been in the mind of
Philodemus : De Ira, col. viii. 18, seq. (ed. Gomperz).
Page 4. Cf. Tylor, Anthropology (London, 1881), p. 414, seq. The
treatise of Miklosich : Die Blutrache bei den Slaven, Vienna, 1887,
supplies much more than what is promised in the title. On this
point the true appreciation has been greatly hindered by the narrow
outlook of classical learning, and similarly by the view, till lately
prevalent, that the Homeric poems everywhere give a picture of
primitive antiquity. In essentials, the process of development in
Greece cannot have been other than the process elsewhere. In-
dividual revenge was succeeded by family or hereditary revenge,
which on its side constituted an important advance. The Australians
and New Guinea natives remain at this stage to this day ; the remnants
of the custom among Corsicans, Albanians, etc., are well known.
The further stages of the development sometimes take the form, (i)
private blood-requital, (2) public blood-requital ; at other times, (i)
private blood-revenge, (2) private compensation (weregeld), (3) public
regulation of the compensation. Sometimes, in special conditions of
social conformation, bloodless is again replaced by bloody requital.
That in Greece also blood-requital was a primseval custom, ^Eschylus
already knew better than many of his commentators. 'Ayrl S^ irXriT^s
^ovias <l>ovlav irXniy^v TivfTW, SpdiTavn ira^etv, rptyepuv fivBos riSe ifxcvel
(Cho'eph., 304, seq^.
Page 7. iEschylus. The quotations are from i'«;5//.,'5o7-8,£'7^;«.,
2 74 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
553-S, Fragm., 381. A valuable collection in Haigh, The Tragic
Drama of the Greeks (Oxford, i8g6), p. 86, seq.
Page 8. On the Oresteia, now compare also the suggestive
introduction of Wilamowitz in his translation. For the characteristics
of jEschylus and Sophocles generally, above all see Rohde's Psyche,
ii. 224 (ed. 2), and his lecture, Die Religion des Griechen, Heidel-
berg, 1895.
Page 9. Besides Rohde {pp. cit., p. 237), Johannes Hooykaas,
De Sophoclis CEdipode Coioneo (Leyden, 1896), has lately treated the
" moral order of the world " in Sophocles with penetration and
convincing truth. (Below) " One of the most pious : " cf. Schol. on
Soph., Eiectra, S:ii. "One of the honest Athenians:" so his con-
temporary Ion calls him in Athenceus, xiii. 603 C.
Page 10. " Not to be born," etc. : cf. CEd. Col., 1224, seq. (Below)
Cf Herodot., vi. 98. (Below) Euripides : Translation of Fragm., 449.
Page II. " Children who turn out ill," etc. : Fragm., yji. With
the above, cf. on having children, Ale, 882, seq. ; Androm., 418, seq. ;
Med., 1098, seq. ; Suppl., 1089, seq. (Bottom) Cf. Eurip., Fragm.,
285.
Page 12 (Middle). Thucyd., iii. 81, seq. (Middle) Advantage of a
middle station ; cf. Eurip., Suppl., 244, and Fragm., 626. (Bottom)
Grotto in Salamis: ancient Life of Euripides, 1. 61 (p. vi. in
Nauck's ed.).
Page 13. Eurip., Fragm., 9io|and 913. " If gods do evil," etc. :
Fragm., 292, 7. (Below) On the treatment of legendary matter by
Euripides compared with older poets, cf. Welcker, GStterlehre, ii. 90 ;
Leopold Schmidt, Ethik der Griechen, i. 17 ; Christ, Griech. Lit.
Gesch., § 121.
Page 14. Euripides on athletes : cf. Fragm., 201 and 282. (Below)
Cf Troad., 884, seq.
Page 15. Cf. the collection in Nauck's Introduction, Note 67.
Euripides raises his voice against war and conquest, Suppl., 491, seq. ;
Fragm., 286, 10-12.
Page 16. Plato calls the milder treatment of slaves " spoiling "
{epimniv) in Laws, vi. 777 C. But cf 776 D-E.
Page 17. Cf. Eurip., Hipp., 486 ; Med., 582. Of " Sophistic," of
"extreme individualism," Pohlmann speaks in many passages
{Geschichte des antiken Communismus und Socialismus). (Below)
Hesiod, Works and Days, 602, where the! lines (generally recognized
as misplaced) fl^ri^ t' &omov voieltrBai Kal HreKvov Ipifloj/ Sifso-Soi ice'Ao/iioi
admit no other interpretation. (Below) Theognis, especially 53, seq.
(Poetce Lyr. Gr., 124, Bergk, ed. 4).
Page 19. " Let the alien serve the Hellene," etc. Eurip., Iph. in
Aul., 1400, seq.
Page 20. Xenophon, Anai., vii. 6. (Below) Aristotle : cf. Pol., i.
c. 2 and 5. (Below) //., xxii. 371. The tragic poet Moschion (transition
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 275
between the 5th and 4th centuries) ; cf. Fragm., 3. Herodot., ix. 79.
Incidental disapproval of insults to dead bodies even as early as
//., xxii. 395 and xxiii. 176. (Below) The remark that Homer does not
use the name " Hellenes " as a collective term, nor yet oppose bar-
barians to Greeks, is as old as Thucyd., i. 3. The 'n.avi\Ki)ves of //.,
ii. 530, and the description of the Carians as papPapi<i>avoi {ibid., 867),
prove at the utmost, if they prove so much, that that part, the so-
called " Catalogue of Ships," is the work of a later age. The words
of the Amphictyonic oath in ^schines' In Ctesiph., §§ 109, seq.
Page 21 (Bottom). Ernst Curtius, in his Greek History, has
described the services of Delphi to civilization in many passages,
with penetration if not without occasional exaggeration.
Page 22 (Top). Mardonius, in Herodot., vii. 9. The poet of
" enlightenment," i.e. Euripides, Suppl., 491, seq. (Bottom) Armistice.
//., vii. 408, seq.
Page 23, 1. 3. Athene, //., viii. 379 ; Diomedes, //., xi. 395. H.
Weil has excellently treated the matter in his essay, L'lliade et le
droit des gens dans la vieille Grice, Rev. de Philologie, 1885, p. 161
seq., reprinted in Etudes sur Vantiquiti Grecque (Paris, 1900), p.
183, seq. (Below) Life and freedom of the conquered : cf. Calli-
cratidas in Xenoph., Hellen., i. 6, 14, and Plato, Rep., v. 469 c. For
what follows, cf. Thucyd., iii. 68, 2, and Pausan., ix. 15, 2.
Page 24. Cf. Iliad, vi. 62. Against butchery of prisoners:
Thucyd., iii. 58, 2 ; 66, 2 ; 67, 3. (Below) " Flames devour the
city," etc. : Iliad, ix. 593, seq. On the Thebans and the Syracusans,
see Pausan., ix. 15, 2, and Thucyd., vii. 86. For what follows : Torone,
Thucyd., v. 3 ; Scionel, ibid., 32 ; Plataea, iii. 68, 2; Melos, v. 116.
Page 25 (Middle). Cf. Thucyd., ii. 67, seq. Thucyd. : i.e. v. 85,
seq. This dialogue is treated by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, De
Thucyd., c. 47-42 ; Grote, vii. 157 (2nd ed.).
Page 26. " Death-sentence on the inhabitants of Mytilene : " cf.
Thucyd., iii. 35, seq.
Page 27. Support of the disabled : cf. the speech of Lysias (24)
" for the invalid " (fiirep tov iSvudTov). Prosecution by wives : cf. Meier
and Schomann, Der Attische Process, ii. p. 509 (2nd ed.). Provision
for widows and orphans : cf. Girard, D Education AtMnienne, p. 32
seq.; Schomann, Griechische Alterthiimer, i. 563 (4th ed.). Orphans
of fallen soldiers : cf. Gilbert, Griechishe StaatsaltertUmer, i. 328.
Quotation from the Iliad, xxii. 495. Legal protection of the slave :
Meier and Schomann, op. cit., p. 625, seq. Similar laws elsewhere also :
e.g. at Gortyn in Crete ; cf. Neues Stadtrecht von Gortyn (ed.
Bucheler and Zittelmann), p. 95, seq.
Page 28. Cf. the instructive essay of S. Spitzer in the Zeitschr.
f. osterr. Gymn., 1894, p. i, seq., Zur Geschichte der internationalen
Moral bei den Griechen. It is specially remarkable that in Thucyd.,
vii. 18, the Spartans ascribe their failure in the Archidamian war to
276 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
their irafaviiKtiiia, their violation of the terms of the peace, and now
draw;new hope from the same act on the part of the Athenians.
Page 29. " School of Greece." In the funeral oration in Thucyd.,
ii. 41, Pericles calls Athens T^s'EWcSSojirofSeuiro'.
Book IV.— Chapter II.
Page 30. Praise of Athens in Eurip., Med., 824, seq. ; Ale, 452 ;
Troad., 207, seq.; Fragm., 360, 5, ^^^■.,981. In Aristophanes, Athens
is several times called " violet-crowned." (Below) Capture of
Miletus, cf. Herodot., vi. 21.
Page 32 (Middle). " One family of high repute : " i.e. that of
Isagoras; cf. Herodot., v. 66. Nelidse and yEacidse ; the former from
Pylos in Messenia, the latter from ^gina. " Hospitality : " cf. Strabo,
X. 471 ; and Plutarch, Cimon, x. 8. Ernst Curtius : Alterthum und
Gegenwart, ii. 30.
Page 33. On the stability of life of the Athenian constitution, cf.
the author's essay, Aristoteles und seine neuentdeckte Schrift, Deutsche
Rundschau, 1 891, p. 219, seq.
Page 34. " Abundance of light " and " purity of air," praised by
Euripides, Med., 823 ; Aristides, Panathen., §§ 97 and loi (i. 156 and
162, ed. Dindorf). (Below) Aristoph., ''ilpai (Fragm., i. 536, ed. Kock).
The statements about the climate rest on the twelve years' observations
of the astronomer Julius Schmidt. His publication is quoted by
Kurt Wachsmuth, DieStadt Athen ini Alterthum, i. 94, note i. Ernst
Curtius, op. cit., p. 34.
Page 35 (Top). Herodotus, i. 60. (Bottom) Here our exposition
owes much to the work of :6mile Boutmy, equally rich in facts and
thoughts: Le Parthenon et le gdnie grec, Paris, 1897; first sketch,
Philosophie de Varchitecture en Grece, 1870.
Page 38 (Middle). Wilhelm von Humboldt, Ideen su einem Versuch.
die Grdnzen der Wirksamkeit des Staates zu bestimmen, Werke,
vii. p. lo-ii. John Stuart Mill, Liberty (ch. iii. p. 107, Scott Library
ed.). (Below) Herodot., v. 78.
Page 40 (Bottom). Thucydides or Pericles : funeral oration of
Pericles in Thucyd., ii. 37, seq.
Page 42 (Bottom). On the material advance of Athens after the
Persian wars, see Beloch, Griech. Gesch., i. 395.
Page 43 (Middle). Thucyd., iv. 55. (Bottom) On Pericles,
Thucyd., iv. 65, 6.
Book IV.— Chapter III.
Page 46. Birth of Socrates. The date of his death is fixed as
May, 399 (Diog. Laert., ii. 44) ; the length of his life^is given by Plato in
Crito, 52 c, as seventy years, but in Apol., 17 D, as more than seventy
years. In the latter passage the variation of the manuscripts between
fpSo/iiiKovTa and jrMtu liSSojit^Koi'To is to be decided in favour of the
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 277
latter reading, because no motive can be discerned for the interpolation
of ■rXtio), and, on the other hand, the rounding-oflf of the number is
very easily possible on the ground of the rhetorically coloured style
of the Criio. Cf. our remark on Book III. ch. vi. " The Graces : '' on
this, cf. Furtwangler in Roscher's Lexicon der Mythologie, i. 881 ;
also Studniczka, Zdtschr. f. osterr. Gymn., 1886, p. 684. (Middle)
Archelaus. The fragment of Ion in Diog. Laert., ii. 23. Cf. also
Theophrastus in Doxogr. Gr., 479, 17 ; to this belong also 546, 11,
and 567, 1. (Below) Cicero's saying : Tusc, v. 4, 10, and Acad. Post.,
i. 4, 15. Zeller (i. 1037, ed. 5) hesitates to believe this testimony.
Page 47. The narrative is drawn from Plato,' Symposium, 220 C ;
cf. also 174 D. (Below) Aristotle, Anal. Post., ii. 13 (97 b, 21).
Page 48. Zopyrus. The sources of this information are now
most complete in R. Forster, Scriptores Physiogttomonici (Teubner
Coll.) Proleg., vii. seq. The version quoted from Joannes Cassianus,
Collationes, xiii. 5, 3 (Forster, p. x., n. l) seems specially important.
This probably contains the direct words of Phsedo's dialogue (Diog.
Laert., ii. 9), which is generally — and without doubt justly — recognized
as the original source. (Below) " Outbursts of violent rage : " attested
by Spintharus, the father of Aristoxenus, not a too trustworthy autho-
rity for things of this kind (Miiller, Fragm. Hist. Grac, ii. 280).
Page 49. On irony, as peculiar to Socrates and as the opposite of
i\of<i>'em, see Aristotle, Nic. Eth., ii. and iv. 13, also Eud. Eth., iii.
7, and Magn. Mor., i. 33, and further Plato, Rep., i. 337 A, E ; Symp.,
216 C ; Meno, 80 A ; ApoL, 23 C ; also Xenophon, Memor., iv. 4-10. The
fundamental meaning of the word is " pleasure in mystifying." The
narrowing of the meaning given in the text is very easily compre-
hensible, because self-depreciation, contradicting as it does the needs
and interests of life, is unexpected, and therefore much more adapted
to deceive than its opposite, boastfulness. The first Character of
Theophrastus gives the above narrower meaning in its prefixed
definition, but the older and wider meaning in its description.
Page 50 (Middle). " Beggarly prater : " so the comic poet
Eupolis calls Socrates {Fragm., i. 351, Kock). (Below) "Barefoot,
as if to spite the shoemakers : " so the comic poet Ameipsias (i. 672,
Kock). The traits that follow are taken from Aristoph., Clouds, 361,
and Plato, PhcBdo, 1 17 B. (Bottom) ApoUodorus and Chserephon :
cf. Groen van Prinsterer, Prosopographia Plaionica, p. 204, seq. ; also
Eupolis, i. 322, Kock.
Page 51. The order is taken from the Apology, 32 C-E. On the
trial of the Generals, cf. Apology, 32 B, C ; Xenophon, Hellen., i. 714,
seq.\ Memor., i. i. 18, and iv. 4, 2 ; lastly Diodor., xiii. 100, seq. ; of
modern writers Grote, Hist, of Greece, viii. 242, seq. (2nd ed.) ; Max
Frankel, Die Attischen Geschworenengerichte, p. 79, seq. ; Kenyon's
remarks on Aristotle, ' PSi\va!iav TioKnda, c. 34 (beginning), and the
author's pamphlet Die Schrift vom Staatswesen der Athener, p. 1 7, seq.
VOL. III. U
278 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
Page SS, § 3. Aristotle, Metaph., M. c. 4 (1078 b, 27, segr.). (Bottom)
The distinction stated in the text is at least implied in the entry of
Socratic sentences under the head of ir«po)3oA.^. Cf. Aristotle, Rhetoric,
B. 20 (1393 b, 3), with expositions, such as we read in Xenophon,
Memor., iii. 9. 10.
Page 56 (Middle). Xenophon, Memor., iv. 2. 13, seq. Cf. also
Plato, Rep., i. 331 C.
Page 57. Xenophon, Memor., iv. 6, 15, and i. 2, 37 ; similarly
Plato, Gorg., 491 A ; also Symp., 221 E.
Page 58. " Did he propose," etc. : Xenophon, Memor., iii. 6 and 7 ;
then iii. 9, 10.
Page 59. "Misology : " cf. Plato, Phcedo, 89 C. The next quotation,
Apol., 38 A.
Page 60. Aristotle denies the theory of ideas to Socrates, Metaph.,
M. iv. 1078 B, 30, and 1086 B, 4.
Page 61 (Bottom). Xenophon, CEcon., i., and iv. 18.
Page 62. " Pilgrimage to Delphi : " cf. Aristotle in Diog. Laert., ii.
23 ; also Memor., iv. 2, 24, seq. ; and Plutarch, In Colotam, c. 20.
(Below) " Fields and trees : " Phadrus, 230 D. " Mysians and
Pisidians : " Memor., iii. 5, 26 ; Anab., iii. 2, 23.
Page 63. On the pamphlet of Polycrates, cf. Isocrates, Or., xi.
§ 4. We know, on the authority of Favorinus, Diog. Laert., ii. 39,
that it was not composed till several years after the execution of
Socrates. Cobet especially {Nova Lectiones, 662, seq^ has made it
very probable that Xenophon, in the Memorabilia, makes frequent
reference to this pamphlet. (Below) "The turns of phrase, the
formulas :" cf. the definition of <t>S6vos, iii. 9, 8, and of o-xox^, iii. 9, 9,
similarly iii. 8, 6 (on the beautiful dung-basket), and further, iii. 4.
Page 64 (Top). The right method in principle has been shown by
Karl Joel, Der Echte und der Xenophontische Socrates, i. p. 64, seq.
Book IV.— Chapter IV.
Page 66. " No man errs of his own free will " (ofcSels kKitv a/topr&ei).
The numerous Platonic references in C. F. Hermann, Geschichte und
System, der Platonischen Philosophie, p. 330, note 328.
Page 67. On the denial of the irrational part of the soul and the
impossibility of axfaala, cf. Aristotle, Nic. Eth., H. 3, 1 145 b, 23 ;
Ii47b,i4, J«^. ;i20ob,25; Magn.Mor.,K. i (similarly ch. 20, 1190b, 28),
also ch. 10, 1 187 a, 6. " Video meliora" etc. : Ovid, Metamorph., vii. 20,
seq. (Below) " Great ' one-eyed men : '" so Bentham is called by Mill,
Dissertations and Discussions, i. 357.
Page 68. " French writer of comedies : " Sardou, La Famille
Benoiton, p. 118 (Paris, 1889^.
Page 70. Epicharmus, Fragm., 78 {Com. Grcec. Fragm., ed. Kaibel,
i. I, 104. = Ahrens, fr. 56), ouSeis kx^v vovtiphs oiS' Srai' ex"". The two last
words altered to Skoiv ficJKop in Aristot., Nic. Eth., r. i. 7, 1113 b, 15.
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 279
Page 71. Cleanthes. The quotation forms the motto of this book.
Besides Clement, I.e., this sentence also appears in Cicero, De Legibus,
i. 12, 33 (with the addition, Id enim querebaiur caput esse exitiorum
omnium), and in a slightly altered form, De Off., iii. 3, 11. The elegy
of Aristotle in Bergk, Poeta Lyr. Gr., ed. 4, ii. 336, seq. At the beginning
of the last line the tradition has ob vw, which the author ( Wiener
Studien, ii. l) has emended o4 S£x<«- Cf., for example, Dion's Oration, iii.
39 (i. 40, 14, Arnim), o« S^x" *«'* ''^ ''^ ofiroD, k.t.\. The author believes
with Bernays {Ges. Abhandlungen, i. 141, seq. = Rhein. Mus., xxxiii.
232, seq^ that Socrates, not Plato, is here meant (compare, now,
my Platonische Aufsdtze, iii. end). Line 3, 'AvSp^j %v oiS' atvetv Totai
KBKouti fleyais, can be referred precisely to the unworthy representatives (as
Aristotle regarded them) of Socrates, like Aristippus and Antisthenes.
Page 72. " Slavish condition :" cf. Plato, Symp., 215 E, and Xeno-
phon, Memor., iv. 2, 22.
Page 74. Xenophon, Mem., iii. 9, 4 : :So^!av . . . xal <x<i>^po<rivriv oi
StdptCey. The structure of the Socratic moral philosophy has been
nowhere better exhibited than in the forgotten doctoral disserta-
tion of the EngUshman, W. F. Hurndall, De Philosophia Morali
Socratis (Heidelburg, 1853). L. Dissen's programme, De Philosophia
Morali in Xenophontis de Socrate Commentariis Tradita (Gottingen,
1812), also deserves mention. (Below) Here we follow Zeller's
admirable exposition of the eudaemonistic basis of morality in
Xenophon {Phil, der Gr., ii. i, 152, ed. 4).
Page 78. J. S. Mill, System of Logic, bk. v. ch. i, § 33.
Page 79. "That is, and ever will be:" Plato, Rep., v. 457 B,
(Below) Xenophon, Memor., iii. 8. 3, 6, 7 and iv. 6, 9.
Page 80. " The reproach was urged : " cf. Xenophon, Memor.,
i. 2, 49, seq,, and i. 2, 9, seq. (Bottom) Criticism of the appointment of
officers by lot ; e.g. Memor., i. 2, 9 ; iii. 9, 10. Georges Perrot (JEssais
sur le droit public et privi de la Ripublique AtMnienne, Paris, 1867,
p. 10, seq., 54, 71) has excellently indicated the right points of view for
estimating this institution.
Page 81. No depreciation of hand labour : Xenophon, Memor.,
ii. 7, 6, seq., and CEcon., in many places. (Below) Capacity of the
female sex : cf. Xenophon, Symp., ii. 12 (even courage seems teachable,
since this woman has learned to go through such dangerous perform-
ances ; Antisthenes in Diog. Laert., vi. i, 12, " The virtue of man and
woman is the same," and especially Plato in the Republic and the Laws.
Page 82. Confucius. The quotation from the 39th book of the
Li Ki according to Legge's translation {Sacred Books of the East, xxviii.
p. 412). Cf. also Lanessan, La Morale des philosophes Chinois, p. 28,
and G. von der Gabelentz, Confucius und seine Lehre (Leipzig, 1888),
p. 43, seq. " Reproach of eudaemonism : " ibid., p. 22. Altruistic spirit
of the Confucian doctrine, Lt-Kt, Bk. 39, i ; similarly Giles, Gems of
Chinese Literature, p. 3, seq., ibid., p. i ; comparison with Socrates.
28o NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
The Chinese State paper in Giles, p. i6i. Conhicius' doubts of
immortality in von der Gabelentz, op. cit.i^. ii, seq. (Below) Socrates
and the question of immortality : cf. Plato, ApoL, ad fin., and Xenophon,
Cyrop., viii. 7, 19.
Page 84. "Then by the earth his body : " Corpus Inscr. Att, i. 442.
For what follows, cf Rohde, Psyche, ii. 257, ed. 2 ; also Brtickner's
lecture Uber die Entviickelung der Bestattung in Attika, Berliner
Philol. Wochemschr., 1892, Nos. 13 and 14.
Page 85, § 5. Socrates' relation to religion is excellently treated
by K. Joel, Der Echte und der Xenophontische Socrates, i. 69, seq. (a
work of which the second and altogether more comprehensive part
appeared too late to be used below).
Page 86. "The good" simply : Xenophon, Memor., i. 3, 2. (Below)
"Accordingtothelawsofthe State " (yiJ/it^ -nixcasy. Xeno-phon, Memor.,
i. 3, I ; iv. 3, 16 J iv. 6, 3. Also for what follows, cf. Memor., \. 3. 3.
Page 87. Socrates and Delphi : cf note to p. 62, and further Plato,
Phcedrus, 229 E, SiXiAApol. in many places, XenophoTi, Memor., iv. 2, 24,
and Anab., iii. I, 5 seg. On dreams, cf. Plato, Phcedo, 60 E and 61 A ;
.(4^1?/., 33 C ; O'zVo, 44 A-B. Aai/i^viov : cf.Xenoph., Memor., i. i, 4;
decisive on the other side, Plato, ApoL, 31 D. Zeller counts the
" cases of its intervention " (ii. i, 80, note 2, ed. 4).
Page 90 (Top). The two theological sections of the Memorabilia
are i. 4 and iv. 3. On these and the judgment of ancient and modern
times on them, cf. Joel, op. cit., 118, seq. We agree to the verdict {ibid.,
p. 120) that "in any case i. 4 has more claim to belong to the genuine
Socrates than iv. 3." (Below) Desertion of natural philosophy by So-
crates : cf. Aristotle, Metaph., A. 6, 987 B i, and De Anima, A. 1,642 A,
25. His polemic against natural philosophers in Xenophon, Memor., i.
I, 1 1, seq., iv. 7, 6, seq., and (probably more Xenophontic than Socratic)
iii. 7, 1-5.
Book IV.— Chapter V.
Page 92 (Bottom). Eupolis (i. p. 35 1 and 355, Kock). On Protagoras,
ibid., p. 297.
Page 93. Telecleides : ibid., -p. 21S. Ameipsias : p. 672. Aristo-
phanes, Birds, 1281, seq., 1553, seq. ; Frogs, 1491, seq.
Page 94 (Middle). " King Vortex : " in Aristoph., Clouds, 380, seq.,
and 1471. (Bottom) Invitation by King Archelaus : attested by
Aristotle, Phet., B. 23, 1398 a, 24.
Page 95 (Top). " Reads out of yellow rolls : " cf. Xenophon,
Memor., i. 6, 14. Gifts of his friends : principal passage, Quintilian,
Inst., xii. 7, 9 ; indirectly acknowledged by Plato, ApoL, 33 B. The
quotation from the Clouds of Aristophanes, 144, seq.
Page 96. On Critias, see below, p. 302.
Page 97. On Anytus, see Plato, Meno. 90 B ; Isocrates, Or,, xviii.
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 28 1
§ 23 ; Diodor., xiii. 64; Xenoph., Hellen., xii. passim. What Xenophon
{ApoL, § 29, seq.) relates about the relations of Socrates with the son
of Anytus may be regarded as worth little credit. (Below) Lycon :
an unimportant politician, often jeered by the comic poets ; cf. the
Scholia on Plato, Apol., 23 E. Meletus : a mediocre poet, author of
an CEdipodeia, similarly jeered by the comic poets, and also for his
thinness ; cf. Scholia on Apol., 18 B and i. p. 793, Kock. He is called
" young and unknown " by Plato [Euthyphr., 2 B), where also his
appearance is described.
Page 98 (Top). The exact words of the indictment in Diog. Laert.,
ii. 5, 40. On the external details of the procedure which follow, cf.
Meier and Schomann, Att. Process, 160, seq. and 181, seq. (2nd ed,).
Curt Wachsmuth's corrections (Die Stadt A then in. Alterthum, ii.
377, seq^ are again corrected through Aristot., 'AflTji/. HoKit. Col. 32, the
most complete explanation by Sandys, p. 240 of his edition. Cf.
also Daremberg-Saglio, Diction, des Antiq., ii. p. 195. Incense
and prayer certainly attested by Aristoph., Wasps, 860. The number
of the jury is clear from Diog. Laert., ii. 41, combined with Plato, Apol.,
36 a. Only Plato has rounded off the number 31 to 30 ; and Diogenes
by a slight inaccuracy, speaks of a majority of 281 votes, instead of
281 votes which form the majority. It is not necessary to assume a
textual error in Diogenes, like Kochly, Reden und Vortrdge, p. 370.
Observe the large number of the jury, not much less than the tenth
part of the 6000, who were qualified to apply ostracism and similar
legal measures. Such a considerable part of the Athenian people must
have been strongly impressed by the aggressive tone of the defence,
and perceived in it the proof of the reproach against Socrates : imepopav
lirolei Tuv KoSeaTdnuv y6iiuv robs aw6vras (Xenoph., Memor., '\. 2. 9).
Page 99 (Top). On the persons described here, cf. Plato, Apol.,
33 e-34 a, alsoGrcen van Prinsterer, Prosopographia Platonica (Leyden,
1823) ; and further the bust of Antisthenes in Schuster, Portrdts der
Griechiscken Philosophen (Leipzig, 1876), plate I. 6, and similarly the
bust of Plato, now acknowledged as authentic, cf. Benndorf, Jahres-
hefte des ost. arch. Instituts, ii. 250.
Page 100. " Adaptation of the truth to the exigencies of style : "
the author treated this more thoroughly at the Cologne Congress of
Philologists in the autumn of 1895. He still remains far removed from
holding the Apology (with Martin Schanz, Platons Apologie, Leipzig,
1893, Introduction, p. 74), for a "free creation" of Plato, although he
now approaches Schanz's view somewhat nearer than he did.
Page loi (Bottom). When I oppose the view that Socrates desired
death at any price, I do not thereby agree with those who deny to
Xenophon the Apology attributed to him (cf. § 33). Even if Xenophon
had been in Athens, instead of staying in Asia Minor, he would not
have been able to see through the purposes and motives of Socrates
with infallible certainty.
282 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
Page 107 (Middle). "As has recently been remarked:" here I
follow my son, H, Gomperz, Grundlegung der neusokratischen PMlo-
sophie, p. 28.
Page 108. " Useful lie : " cf. Plato, Rep., iii. 389 b.
Page 1 10 (Middle). On Socrates' prison-poems, cf. Plato, Phcedo,
60 C, and further Diog. Laert., ii. 42 : 'A\Ao koI iraima Kurd nvas iwalriirey.
According to the same writer, ii. 62, a doubt about the genuineness of
this paean was expressed in antiquity. But, on the other hand, the
criticism of the versified iEsopian fables, indicated in the words, oi trim
iwtTeTeuyiifvas, should not be taken as expressing a doubt of their
genuineness. Whether the two lines there quoted are genuine or not,
does not admit of decision. The same is true of the small fragment in
Athenaeus, xiv. 628, F (Bergk, Poeta Lyr. Gr., ii. 287, ed. 4). There
seems to me no ground for doubting, like Schanz in Hermes, xxix. 602,
the actual fact stated by Plato.
Page III (Top). In my judgment the best accounts and judgments
of the trial are given by H. Kochly, op. cit., and Grote in the 68th
chapter of the Hist, of Greece. Peter Forchhammer's treatise. Die
Athener und Sokrates. Die GesetzUchen und der Revolutionar
(Berlin, 1837), is not at all worthless, although not completely free from
caprice. (Below) Hegel, Gesammelte Werke, xiv. p. 81 seq. (Bottom)
J. S. Mill, Liberty, ch. iii.
Page 114 (Top). " Alcibiades and Critias." When Isocrates, Dr.,
xi. § s, maintains that before the denunciation of Polycrates no one
had any knowledge of Alcibiades having been a disciple of Socrates,
either (i) although he is a fellow-countryman and a contemporary, he
does not know the truth, or (2) he refuses to know it in the heat of his
polemic against Polycrates, or (3) he plays inadmissibly with the
word " pupil " or " disciple " (/loflTjT^y). For Plato's Symposium allows
no contradiction, any more than the openings of the Protagoras (481 D)
or the Gorgias (519 A). Xenophon, Memor., i. 2, 12, seq. (Below)
" Xenophon quotes the ' accuser ' : " Memor., i. 2-9, seq.
Page IIS (Bottom). Bentham, IVorks, x. p. 583.
Page 1 16 (Top). Epictetus, i. 9, i (ed. H. Schenkl, p. 32, 9).
Page 1 17 (Middle). Cf. Plato, Crito, 45 E, 'as «V^\flcs i^hvut, tinMuv.
52 C, 'AAA' ■fpov i>s e<j>7i(r8a irpi rrjs <t>vyfis BivaTov, and above "Ey ofrrp rp Ukji
Htiv a-oi tl>vyfis Ti/iiia-aa-Sat. Xenoph., Memor., iv. 4. 4, 'AAAtb ^aS/ms %ii
tt^eflcU vjri Ttav 8iKa(rTwy et Koi fierplas Tt to^twv iiroi'fiae. (Bottom) ** Re-
pentance of the Athenians : " cf. Diog. Laert., ii. 43 ; and Diodor., xiv.
37, ad^n.
Page 118. ./Eschines, In Timarckum, § 173.
Book IV.— Chapter VI.
Page 1 19. " Personal beauty : '' Diog. Laert., ii. 6. 48. Except
this section, Xenophon's writings are also the only authority for his
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 283
life, besides incidental statements of ancient) writers. (Below)
" Dilettante, in Goethe's sense of the word." " That is exactly the
nature of dilettanti, that they do not know the difficulties that inhere
in a subject, and that they always want to undertake something for
which they have no powers " (Goethe's Gesprdche, ed. Biedermann,
vi. 35). (Below) " On hunting : " L. Radermacher (Rhein. Mus.,
li. and lii.) has certainly proved that its language shows many
divergences from that of Xenophon's other writings. Yet the
possibility of explaining] these discrepancies by long distance in time
does not seem to the present writer to be quite excluded. The spirit
of the little work certainly shows complete correspondence with the
cognate writings of Xenophon.
Chronology of Xenophon. Since at his first public appearance
after the arrest of the generals he speaks of his youth, which makes
him appear scarcely qualified to take a command (/Lnab., iii. i, 25),
probably he had not then (401) yet reached the age of thirty. So he
was born, in any case, not before 430, probably not till the beginning of
the " twenties " of the fifth century. His death cannot have happened
before the end of the " fifties " of the fourth century. There are two
reasons : (i) Xenophon ends the Hellenica with the battle of Mantineia.
and in the Agesilaus he presupposes the death of that king. That
would not require him to live long after 360. But the statement in
the Hellenica (vi. 4, 37), according to Sauppe's just remark (" Ein
Capitel aus Xenophon^ s 'EWrirmd," Nachr. der Gotting. Ges. der Wiss.,
1882, No. 10), points at least to 357. (2) Kaibel {Hermes, xxv. 597),
though in my view he does not prove that the " Peace-Speech " of
Isocrates is used in the jrepl ■K&fiav, does prove the identity of the
political situation presupposed in both works. But, since this speech
of Isocrates falls in the middle of the "fifties" (Blass, Attische
Beredsamkeit, ii. 299, 2nd ed.), this indication also leads to the same
period as the expression in the Hellenica. The work of E. Schwartz,
FUnf Vortrdge Uber den Griechischen Roman, did not reach me until
this chapter was finished. His treatment of Xenophon corresponds
in many points with mine. We should be glad to know what is the
foundation for his view that Antisthenes died at a time when Xeno-
phon's romance on Cyrus could not yet have been composed. In
modern literature may be mentioned the character of Xenophon in
Gutschmid, Kleine Schriften, iv. 328, also the few pages relating to
Xenophon in Mahaffy, Problems of Greek History, pp. 106, seq., 118,
127.
Page 120 (Middle). On this younger Aspasia, cf. Plut., Artaxerx.,
xxvi. 4 {VitcB, 1221, IS, seq., ed. Dohner).
Page 121 (Top). Xenophon's inquiry at the Delphian oracle,
Anab., iii. i. 4-1 1.
Page 122. The inaccurate statement, which often recurs in
modern times, that Xenophon lead the retreat of the Ten Thousand,
284 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
appears in antiquity, probably for the first time in Pausanias, ix. ij. 3.
(Bottom) "Number of petty anecdotes :" cf. iii. 4. 46, seq,, and iv.
4.12.
Page 123 (Middle). " Themistogenes of Syracuse : " the statement
in Xenophon's Hellenica, iii. i. (Below) The investigation of the
agreements and differences in the narratives of Xenophon and
Diodorus would lead us too far. Diirrbach's attempt to explain these
agreements by the use of a common source {JJApologie de XSnophon
dans I'Anabase, R'ev. des Etudes Grecques, vi. 343, je?.),^very suspicious
in itself, is completely overthrown by the way in which Diodprus
(xiv. 29. 3) makes use of the passage Anab., iv. 7. 21, so important as
a piece of effective writing. Also compare Diod., xiv. 30. 2 with
Anab., iv. 8. 21.
Page 124 (Bottom). On Scillus, cf. Anab., v. 3.
Page 125. Grylus : cf. Aristotle in Diog. Laert., ii. 6. 55, and
Quintil., Inst., ii. 17. 14. See the author's essay. Die Herculanischen
Rollen, Zeitschr. fiir osterr. Gymn., 1866, p. 701, seq. Cf. also Jakob
Bernays, Die Dialoge des Aristoteles, pp. 62 and 157.
Page 126 (Middle). Cf. Cyropadia, iii. 1-22, and CEconomicus, xii.
12 ; similarly xx. 2, 21. With respect to women, cf. on one side the
whole CEconomicus, and on the other the already quoted expressions
on female courage in the Symposium.
Page 127 (Top). The relation of the two Symposia has greatly
occupied scholars. It can now be taken as proved that Xenophon's
work followed its Platonic namesake. Cf Ivo Bruns, Attische Liebes-
theorien, etc., in Neue Jahrbilcherf. d. Class. Alterthum, 1900, I Abt.
p. 17, seq. (Bottom) Striking passages of the Hellenica: iv. 1.29;
iv. I. 3, seq. ; v. 4. 25, seq. ; vi. 4. 36, seq. ; vii. 2. 9.
Page 128 (Middle). Speeches of Theramenes and Critias : Hellen.,
ii. 3 ; of Procles : v. 3. 13.
Page 129, § 3. Plutarch, in his Life of Agesilaus, especially in
ch. v., in init.
Page 132 (Top). Spartan features in the Cyropadia : e.g. syssitia,
ii. I. 25 ; military drill, ii. 3. 21. (Below) Discipline, Cyropadia,
viii. I. 2 ; official hierarchy, viii. I. 15; responsibility, v. 3. 50;
division of labour, ii. i. 21 and viii. 2. 5.
Page 133. " Humour of a blunt guard-room type : " i. 3. 10 ;
ii. 2 ; vii. 5. 40 ; sport, i. 6. 39 ; art of horsemanship, iv. 3. 15, seq.
Page 136 (Top). Hipparch., ix. 8. For what follows, cf. ibid., 9,
ad fin. Cf. also the characteristic passage, Cyropadia, i. 6. 44, seq.
(Bottom) " One critic in particular : " August Krohn, in Sokrates und
Xenophon.
Page 137 (Bottom). " Conversation with Lamprocles :" JI/i?»«or.,ii. 7.
Page 138. "Exhortation to patience:" Memor., ii. 3. (Below)
Aristarchus, Memor., ii. 7 ; Eutherus, ii. 8. For what follows, cf.
iii. 12. On behaviour at table, iii. 14. " But to give a complete
account," etc. : iv. 6. i.
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 285
Book IV. — Chapter VII.
Antisthenes is treated by Diog. Laert., vi. i. The fragments are
collected by A. W. Winckelmann, Antisthenis Fragmenta (Zurich,
1842). The chronological questions are discussed thoroughly, but with
little profit, by Chappuis, Antisthlne (Paris, 1854), p. 171, seq.
Probably the only decisive fact is that Plato {Sophist, 1^,1 B) mocks
him as a " belated learner," which must mean that he was no longer
young when he associated with Socrates. It agrees with this that he
had before that been a pupil of Gorgias ; and accordingly it does not
sound incredible that he urged the youths whom he had instructed (in
rhetoric, we must suppose) to join in his companionship with Socrates
(Diog. Laert., vi. i. i, 2). So he would be consideraly older than
Plato. Every attempt at more exact dating breaks down through the
untrustworthy character of the anecdotes, and the ambiguity and
uncertainty of the chronological data. Ferd. Dummler has done
great service to the understanding of Antisthenes. Cf. his Antisthenica
(Bonn, 1882), now in his Kleine Schriften, i. 10-78 ; De Antisthenis
Logica, ibid., 1-9 ; Akademika (Giessen, 1889). This too early lost
investigator (1859-1896) was learned, acute, wonderfully many-sided,
and untiringly active. Destiny denied him his full maturity. His
attempt to trace back not only the Cynic but the Heraclitean element
in Stoicism to Antisthenes was attractive, but in my judgment
untenable. Dummler did not observe that Antisthenes, who in his
theory of knowledge stood so near to the Megarians or late Eleatics,
could not be also a half-Heraclitean, without becoming a confused
eclectic. But to put him down as that, without strict proof, on the
ground of some combinations very plausible in themselves, would be
the height of caprice, and, in fact, a grievous wrong to a defenceless
thinker, whose works are lost, and whose doctrine we know almost
exclusively through bitter polemical allusions in his opponents, Plato
and Aristotle.
Page 141 (Top). Cf. Xenoph., Memor., iii. 9, 10, seq.
Page 143 (Top). " Blasphemous exclamations : " in Clement Alex.,
Strom., ii. 20, p. 485, ed. Potter. (Below) "Attacks upon Pericles
and Alcibiades : " cf. Athenasus, v. 220, C-D and xiii. 589, E.
Page 144. "On the Nature of Animals :" cf. Diog. Laert., vi.
I. 15. Examples from animal life, e.g., Dion., Or., 40. 174, ii.
(Reiske) = ii. 54. 24 (Arnim) and 68. 364, ii. (Reiske) = ii. 178. 18
(Arnim), ad fin. (Below) " Idealization of uncivilized peoples : "
cf. -Rohde, Griech. Roman, p. 214 (2nd ed.). Much instructive
matter also in Diimmler, Prolegomena zum Platonischen Staat (JCleine
Schrift., i. 150, seq^. The Homeric line, //., xiii. 5, 6.
Page 145. I take this exposition from the sixth oration of Dion.
Chr., tiayivi\t fi TTcpl rvpavviSos, especially p. 206, seq. (Reiske) = i,
88. 14 (Arnim). The oration is certainly what it professes to be — a
286 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
collection of Cynic thoughts and expressions. The polemic against
Plato's Protagoras seems not ,to have been noticed before, but is
unmistakable. Cf. especially Dion., loc. cit., p. 21, seq., with Protagoras^
321 A-C. (Bottom) Rousseau, Discours sur les Sciences eiles Arts,
jnde paitie, note i.
Page 147 (Bottom). Both these quotations from Tolstoi are
brought together and discussed by Melchior de Vogii^, in his work
Le Roman Pusse, pp. 310, 311. He refers" to the "verttge sdculaire
Oriental," whose doctrines are revived " dans la frinhie qui fricipite
une partie de la Russie vers cette abnegation intellectuelle et morale,
parfois stupide de quiMsme, parfois sublime de d^vouement" (p. 313).
Page 150, § 4. Cf. Diog. Laert., vi. 9. 105, and vi. i. 11.
Page IS I (Top). Diog. Laert., vi. i. 3. (Middle) Prometheus and
Heracles. Here we draw from Dion's eighth oration, AioyEvijs % mfl
apsTrjs. (Bottom) " When Julian ascended the throne : " cf. Dion, Or.
ad Alexandrines, 657 (Reiske) = i. 269. 1 1 (Arnim) : TSi' Se Kwucuv
\eyofi4i>uv effTt inhy 4v ry 7r(i\ei TT\ij8os ovk d\lyov ; also Julian's sixth and
seventh Epistles : Eis robs airaiSeirovs Kvvas, and Xlpbs 'HpdK\etoj> kvvm6v
(i. 234-310, ed. Hertlein). The cowardice which the Cynics at
Antioch are said to have displayed during the revolt (January, 387 A.D.),
in contrast with the monks, is emphasized by John Chrysostom, xlix.
p. 173, ed. Migne; cf. Gibbon, Decline and Fall, iii. p. 48, 2nd ed.
(More exact dates in Rauscher, Jahrb. d. Christl. Kirche unter
Theodosius, pp. 512-520.)
Page 152. " Illusion ; " " freedom from illusion : " Tu<()os"and aru^ia.
(Below) On Crates, cf. Diog. Laert, vi. 5. He was living when
Ptolemy Philadelphus ascended the throne (285 B.C.); cf. Hense,
Proleg. ad Telet. Pel., p. 27. The fragments of his poems are
collected in Bergk, Poetce Lyr. Gr., ii. 364 (4th ed.), partly repeated
in Curt Wachsmuth, Corpusculum Po'esis Epicce Gracce Ludibunda,
ii. 192, seq. (2nd ed.). Fragments of his tragedies in Nauck, p. 809,
seq. Add the supplements in Nauck's Tragicce Dictionis Index,
p. xxvii., and the present writer's Nachlese zu den Bruchstiicken der
Griech. Tragiker, p. 48, seq. On Bion, cf. note on pp. 243, 244. On
Teles, cf. notes on § 6. (Below) On the behaviour of the Roman
Cynics, and especially on Peregrinus, cf. Bernays, Lucian und die
Kyniker mit einer Ubersefzung der Schrift Lucian's " Uber das
Lebensende des Peregrinus^' (Berlin, 1879).
Page 153. In spite of the allusion to passages of the Odyssey, I
do not agree with Wachsmuth in counting the fragment among the
alKKoi of Crates. So also his explanation of the last line, " Terra . . .
qucz jacet in medio philosophorum fastu," seems to me much too
narrow. He is speaking not " de dogmaticorum placitis," but of the
common current view of Ufe. (Middle) Here I draw from the thirteenth
joration of Dion, in estimating which I find myself entirely confirmed
by Arnim, Leben und Werke des Dio -von Prusa (1898), p. 256, seq.
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 287
Like him, I took Diimmler's view, that Dion here uses the Archelaus
of Antisthenes, to be wrong. But it may be regarded as extremely
likely that Dion has made spoil of an early Cynic, perhaps Anti-
sthenic, work. Cf. Or., 13. 424 (Reiske) = i. 182. 20, seq. (Arnim).
Page 154. " Heaped unmeasured condemnation." This is stated
by AthenasUS, v. 220 D : 'O S^ iro\i™cbi ovtoS $11^^0701 avivToiv KaraSpoiiiiv
ire(iie'x« ™y ' tLH\vi\<Tiv STjiiayayuy. He is Said also to have reviled his
teacher Gorgias in his Archelaus, as Athenseus states in the same
passage; he similarly inveighed against Isocrates (Diog. Laert.,
vi. I. 15). We agree with most investigators in regarding the
declamations Aias and Odysseus {Orat. Att., ii. 167, seq^, attributed
to Antisthenes, as spurious. (Bottom) Here also I draw from Dio's
thirteenth oration.
Page 155. Diogenes is treated (very fully) by Diog. Laert., vi. 2;
a not very trustworthy monograph in Gottling's Gesammelte Abhand-
lungen, i. 25 1, seq. ; a massive collection of apophthegms in MuUach's
Fragm. Philosophy ii. 295, seq. " Compared his teacher to a trumpet : "
cf. Dion, Or.,y\\\. 275 (Reiske) = i. 96. 3, seq. (Arnim). "Socrates
gone mad." The saying is attributed to Plato by Diog. Laert., vi. 2. 54
(where Cobet has bracketed the words without reason) ; and ^lian,
Var. Hist, xiv. 33.
Page 156. "Coining false money,'' The explanation here given
comes from Diels' Aus dent Leben des Cynikers Diogenes, in the
Festgabe in honour of Zeller, by the editors of the Arch.f. Gesch. der
Philos. (Berlin, 1894), pp. 3-6. I now accept this result as quite
certain. "Two ancient monographs." As authors of these mono-
graphs, the names of Menippus and a certain unknown Eubulus are
mentioned. (According to information kindly supplied by Professor
Bywater, " Eubulides " and " Hermippus " have no manuscript
authority.) We have really before us, apparently, an imaginary
story by the Cynic poet Menippus, a AioyeVous irpaats, which may
have been suggested by the real sale of Plato at Mgma., and in its
own turn have given a model to Lucian's B&i' Tipiaeis. " According to
Dion." The words of Dion are: 'Eir^l Se Inrfeavev i 'ApriaBhris . . ■
jtt6Te;8ij ets KdpivBov, Or., viii. 276 (Reiske) = i. 96. 17, seq. (Arnim).
"Xeniades the Corinthian :" Diog. Laert., vi. 2. 30, seq.
Page 157 (Top). " Health, strength, and cheerfulness : " cf. Julian,
Or., vi. 195 A (= i. 252. 21, Hertlein), and Epictetus, Dissert, iii.
22. 88, and iv. 11. 22 (= p. 277. 4 and 391. 22, Schenkl). (Middle)
"Diogenes and;the Craneion :" cf. Pausanias, ii. 2. 4; Plutarch, De
Exilio, vi.; Alexander, xiv. ; Alciphro, iii. 60; Dion, iv. 147; vi. 199;
ix. 289 (Reiske) = i. 58. 4, i. 84. 4, i. 103. 17 (Arnim) ; Curtius,
Peloponnes., ii. 529. (Bottom) On his death, cf. Diog. Laert.,
vi. 2. 76, seq. If the poet Cercidas was really a contemporary of
Diogenes, as is almost universally believed (cf. Steph. Byz., s.v.
UeyiKr) itihis, and Meineke, Analecta Alexandrina, p. 390), there can
288 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
be no doubt of the suicide. The verses given in Diog. Laert., I.e., are
treated by Bergk, Poetm Lyr. Gr., ii. 513, 4th ed. On the origin
of the name there were already disputes in antiquity. Cf. Elias'
(formerly called "David") Commentary on the Categories, in
Commentaria in Aristof., xviii. pp. iii, 1 12 (Berlin, 1900). The
obviously right view is found in H. Weber, De Dione Chrysostomo
Cynicorum. Sectatore, p. 103, seq. The dog was the type of shameless-
ness, and the Cynics flouted all custom and seemliness. But on
their own side they pointed to all the excellent qualities of the dog
— its fidelity, watchfulness, sharp discrimination, etc. The nickname
seems to have been given already to Antisthenes.
The picture of Diogenes has been greatly distorted by later
exaggerations. The beggar's life, to which many apophthegms and later
stories refer, he can only occasionally have led. His dwelling in the
tub was only a momentary expedient, which he selected certainly not
without the purpose of displaying his freedom from wants (Diog.
Laert., vi. 2. 23). It is difficult to penetrate to the historical truth,
because later times have obviously delighted to transfer the features
of the later Cynicism to its earlier representatives, above all to
Diogenes, who was exalted to a type. But we come near to
original when we fix our eyes on the picture, which can be recognized
in the exhortations of Teles less than a hundred years after his
death. Thus we find in him (p. 31. 4, ed. Hense) the saying which
Diogenes gave as his reason for not pursuing his escaped slave : " If
Manes can live without Diogenes, why not Diogenes without Manes?"
At the time when Teles wrote, therefore, Diogenes was believed to
be the owner of a slave,, which is not compatible with beggary in the
strict sense. And since it can be proved that Teles drew most of such
matter from Bion, the picture gains a further attestation of antiquity.
Page 158. Monimus, Onesicritus, Metrocles, Hipparchia, are
treated in this order by Diog. Laert., vi. C 3, seq. Crates' poems
have been mentioned already (p. 153). His supposed letters are
very barren, sometimes filled with apophthegms elsewhere attributed
to Diogenes and Antisthenes ; sometimes, like No. 24 (Hercher,
Epistolographi Graci, p. 213), bad to the point of absurdity. On
the other hand, the letters attributed to Diogenes {ibid., p. 235, seq^
can be treated as a not quite worthless authority (cf. Weber, op. cit.,
p. 93, note l). Comedy, as might be expected, has bitterly attacked
the Cynics. Thus Menander makes Monimus carry not one, but
three beggars' wallets ; in Philemon it is not enough for Crates to
wear the same garment in summer and winter ; he wears a lighter
robe in winter, and a heavier one in summer. Even Crates' wife,
Hipparchia, is not spared (cf. Kock, Fragm. Com., ii. 523 ; iii. 35 ;
iii. 72). The visit of Onesicritus to the so-called Gymnosophists of
India is narrated in great detail by Strabo, xv. p. 716, probably
following Onesicritus' work on Alexander. (Middle) " Book-dramas
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 289
of Diogenes." The remains of these dramas, which have frequently
been regarded as spurious (but in the present writer's opinion wrongly,
as he tried to prove in Zeitschr. f. osterr. Gymn., 1878, p. 255), are in
Nauck, Trag. Fragm., p. 807, seg. ; cf. his Tragicm Dictionis Index,
p. xxvi., seq. (§ 6) The remains of Teles, preserved chiefly in
Stobaeus, are collected, revised, and provided with an excellent
introduction by Otto Hense, Teletis Reliquias edidit. Prolegomena
scripsit 0. H. (Freiburg, 1889).
Page 160 (Top). The CEdipus of Diogenes certainly treated the
question of incest in the manner which we know from Dion, x., ad fin.,
the Atreus or Thyestes\xe^z.\sA the question of cannibalism, according
to Diog. Laert, vi. 2. 73. The extreme of his contempt for moral
custom is given in Dion, vi. 203, seq. (Reiske) = i. 86, 7 (Arnim).
That he was also occupied with the thought that men should dispense
with the use of fire, and return to the aifw^ayia of the beasts, is clear
from Julian, Or., VI. i. 250. 20, seq. (Hertlein). To this the story was
attached that the eating of raw flesh had brought him to his death.
Plutarch, Aquane an Ignis, etc., ii. 6, and De Esu Camium, i. 6
{Moralia, ed. Dubner, 1170. 40, and 1217. 49) ; cf. also Diog. Laert., vi.
2, 34. (Below) "The 'Republic' of Diogenes." Its genuineness is
discussed by the present writer, op. cit., 254.
Page 161. "Observation, first made by Plutarch." Plutarch (or
rather Eratosthenes in) De Alexandri Fortuna,y2.<j Pi. = Moralia, ip^jt
404, Dubner. Similarly in Strabo, i. p. 66. Here, and for what follows,
cf. the instructive essay of Eduard Schwartz, Hekataos von Teas, Rhein.
Mus., xl. 233, seg. ; and the remarkable excerpts from Suidas, treated
by Ulrich Kohler, Fragm. zur Diadochengeschichte {Berliner Sitzungs-
berichte, Feb. 26, 1891). (Below) "A single flock under a single
shepherd :" cf. Plutarch, I.e. The "bone-money" in Athenasus, iv. 159 C,
and Philodemus, treated by the present writer, loc. cit.
• Page 162 (Top). " Community of children." On this and what
follows, cf. Diog. Laert., vi. 2. 72. (Below) " Free love : " Diog. Laert.,
I.e., Thv irelirapTa r'ff ireia-BfCtrri ffwetvai, compared withvii. 131, according
to Zeno and Chrysippus, "nare rhy ivrvxivra ry ivTVXoiffri xp5°'9ai.
(Below) " Relevant works of Antisthenes : " the titles in Diog. Laert.,
vi. 16, seq.
Page 163. " Kindness and gentleness :" cf. Origen, Contra Celsum,
iii. 50 (p. 142, Spencer) ; Aristides, ii. 400, seq. (Dindorf) ; Epict.,
Dissert., iii. 24. 64 (p. 297, i, Schenld).
Page 164 (Middle). Antisthenes. His confession of monotheism,
previously known only by the imitation by Cicero, De Nat. Deor., i. 10.
26, can now be read in Philodemus, De Pietate, p. 72 of my edition : nap"
'AvTiffflcyet 5* ev fikv tQ ^vffiK^ KeyeraL rh Kar^ v6ftov flvai iroKKois, Karh. 8e
<\>iaiv ha. That the divinity cannot be known from any image is said
by Antisthenes in Clem. Alex., Protrept., vii. 71 (61, Potter), repeated
in Strom., v. 108 (714, Potter). Cf. Jakob Bernays, Lucian und die
290 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
Kyniker, p. 31, seg. The jest of Diogenes in Diog. Laert., vi. 2. 37
and 72. Other versions in Bernays, op. cit, p. 95. In the apophthegm
in Joan. Damasc. (appendix to Stob., Floril., iv. 199. 76, ed. Meineke),
Antisthenes puts himself on the level of the popular religion.
Page 165. "Antisthenes is said." The sayings of Antisthenes
and Diogenes in Clem. Alex., Protrejit., p. 64 (Potter), Diog. Laert., vi.
4; Plutarch, DeAud. Poet, iv. {Moralia, Dubner, 26. 4), watered down
in Diog. Laert., vi. 2. 39. (Bottom) Abundant extracts from the VaiiTav
idpa of CEnomaus in Eusebius, Prccp. Ev., v. 19, seq., and vi. 7. On
his Yivvbs avTo^avia, cf. Crusius Rhein. Mus., xliv. 309, seq. Of his
tragedies, now completely vanished, Julian speaks with horror in Or.,
vii. 210 B (= i. 273. 6, Hertlein) ; while he quotes with approval a
saying of his on the antiquity of Cynicism and its independence of the
teaching of the founders of schools (vi. 187 C = i. 242. 22, Hertlein).
The personal friendship of CEnomaus with the Rabbi Meir is a unique
incident in the history of civilization ; cf. Comptes rendus of the
Academic des Inscriptions, 1883, p. 258.
Page 166. "The physicians also." The retort belongs to Anti-
sthenes (Diog. Laert., vi. 6 ; cf. Bernays, op. cit,, p. 92).
Book IV.— Chapter VIII.
Page 171. " Grey-bearded beginners," "poverty-stricken intellects:"
cf. Plato, Sophist, 251 B, C ; Aristotle, Metaph., A. 1024 B, 32 ; H. 3.
1043 B, 24. (Bottom) " The first impulse." We were thinking of Gustav
Hartenstein's paper, Uber die Bedeutung der megarischen Sckule fur
die Geschichte der metaphysischen Probleme (1847), now included in
Historisch-Philos. Abhandlungen, 127. seq.
Page 173, § 2. On Euclides and his disciples, cf. Diog. Laert., ii.
10, especially § io5. Cf. Ferd. Deycks, De Megaricorum Doctrina
(Bonn, 1827).
Page 175 (Top). This judgment on Abelard belongs to Windel-
band. Hist, of Philos., trans. Tufts (Macmillan, 1893), p. 308, note 2.
Page 177 (Top). "An eminent historian of philosophy : " Windel-
band, op. cit., p. 299, note 2. (Middle) The quotation from Zeller,
Gesch. d. Deutschen Philos., p. 840, seq. " Contaminating judgments :"
cf. H. Gomperz, Zur Psychologie der logischen Grundthatsachen
(1897), chap. 3, especially p. 54, seq.
Page 181 (Bottom). Cf. Diog. Laert., vi. 2, 53 ; Simplicius, In
Aristotelis Categorias, f. 66 B (67 A, Brandis) ; Ammonius, In Porphyrii
Isagogen, 22 B ; Theopomp., Fragm., 335, Fragin. Histor. Grac, i.
331, where C. Miiller's doubts may be regarded as unfounded.
Page 182 (Middle). " An allusion in Plato ... :" Sophist, l.c.
Page 183 (Top). "All propositions but those of the identifying
type : " Aristotle, Met., A. 29, 1024 B, 32 ; and Plato, Sophist, Ic.
(Middle) " Definitions : " cf. Diogenes, vi. i, 3. For what follows, cf.
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 29 1
Aristotle, Met., H. 3, 1043 B, 24, compared with Plato, Theatetus
201 E, seq.
• Whether the solution proposed by us, p. 183, seq., is the right one,
may be contested. But there is absolutely no justice in the accusation
which is often made, that by admitting no propositions but identical
ones Antisthenes made an end of all science. It would be necessary
to go further, and maintain that he had given up his right to speak of
the warmth of the sunshine or the coldness of ice. In reality, all that
he can have declared inadmissible — for reasons which we have
explained repeatedly in the text — must have been the use of the verb
"to be" in such utterances. If this was the case, he must, like
Lycophron (cf. Vol. II. p. 179, and Vol. I. p. 493), have employed other
linguistic forms for this purpose. If he did adopt the course we have
conjectured, he was a predecessor of Thomas Brown (cf. Mill, Logic,
bk. ii. ch. 3, § 6).
Page 185 (Top). "Maintained that all contradiction is im-
possible:" Aristotle, Met, l.c. (for his imufhs xdyos, 1043 b, 26 ; cf. also
N. 3, 1091a, 7 with Schwegler's comments) ; also Topics, A. 11, 104 B,
20. Add Plato, Euthydemtls, 285 D, seq, ; Cratylus, 429 D, seq. Cf. also
the gibe of Isocrates at the beginning of the Helena. The work of
Antisthenes against Plato was named 'S.iiav ^ irepl toS hnixiynv, Diog.
Laert., vii, 16. (Middle) " Investigation of names : " Epictet., Dissert.,
i. 17, 12(17, II) Schenkl), 'Apx4 iraiScifcreius t\ tUv ovoiidrav MoKe^is.
Page 188 (second par.). Timon's satiric verse, Fragm., 41, Poesis
Z»(&'i}««^a,ed.Wachsmuth,ii. I52(ed.2): 048*l()iSi{i/TeiB | EuKXeJSea.Meya-
peSo-iy %s if&aKi \iaffav epur/wS, should not lead US astray. The anecdote
related by Plutarch (Mor., 560, 46, and 593, 14, Diibner), De Cohibenda
Ira, 14, and De Fraterno Amore, 18, shows that he was considered a
model of gentleness. His brother, in a violent rage, ejaculates, " I
shall perish unless I have my revenge on you." To which he answers,
"And I, unless I conciliate you." For what follows, see Diog.
Laert., ii. 10. 107. In that passage the titles of six dialogues by
Euclides are mentioned. Unfortunately, no part of any of them has
been preserved. Panaetius doubted their genuineness, together with
that of Phaedo's dialogues, while he rejected absolutely the remainder
of the Socratic dialogue literature, apart from Plato, Xenophon,
Antisthenes, and jEschines (Diog. Laert., ii. 64). As a critical historian
of literature, this eclectic Stoic seems to us not to possess the slightest
authority. Because he thought highly of Plato, but did not share his
belief in immortality, he rejected the Phmdo ! Similarly, he attributed
the writings of Ariston the Stoic to Ariston the Peripatetic, doubtless
on no other ground than that he disliked the Stoic's Cynicism. Clearly,
also, it was a perfectly arbitrary proceeding on his part to refer
Aristophanes' mockery of Socrates {Frogs, 1493, seq^, not to the
philosopher, but to an otherwise entirely unknown poet of the same
name. At this stage we can only express our convictions ; we shall
292 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
enter more fully into Pansetius's rejections in our notes on pp. 211
and 282.
Page 189 (Middle). On Eubulides, cf. Diog. Laert., ii. 108, seq.
On his ill-mannered polemic against Aristotle, cf. chiefly Eusebius,
PrcBp. E-vang., xv. 2, 5 ; Athen»us, viii. 354 C. The latter writer also
quotes (x. 437 D) two spiteful lines from a comedy of his (cf. ii. 431,
Kock). (Bottom) On the " Heap," see chiefly Diog. Laert., vii. 82 ;
Cicero, Acad. Priora, ii. 29 ; Sextus Pyrrh., ii. 253 ; and Adv. Mathem,
vii. 416 (117, 19 and 281, 17, Bekker).
Page 192 (Middle). On the " Liar," cf. firstly Cicero, Lc, § 95 ;
Gellius, Nodes Attica, xviii. 2. 10. (Below) The quotation from
Aristotle, Soph. El., xxv. 180 B, 2.
Page 193 (Middle). Chrysippus : according to Diog. Laert., vii.
197. Theophrastus : according to Diog. Laert., v. 49, Jin. (Bottom)
" Electra," or " The Man in Disguise : " cf. Lucian, Vitarum Audio,
22 (562) ; Diog. Laert., vii. 198 ; Aristotle, Sopk. EL, xxiv. 179 A, 33.
Page 194 (Middle). Epicurus: cf. the author's pamphlet, Neue
Bruchstiicke Epikurs (Vienna, 1876), p. 7 : Aib koI ^cfSias aTravres Karaye-
Kaffiv Srap Tis ii]U)Xoyi\iiavr6s rtvos lirjS' hSix^ffBai toutA imaraffBal re no! ^i)
iirlifTaffBai irpoipepri rhv (T\ryKiKaKvii,p,4vov. The author of the catch IS
presently censured as a sophist. (Next par.) Cf. Diog. Laert., vii. 187
and ii. 135 ; also vi. 38 ; Gellius, Noct. Att., xvi. 2. 4, seq. (very judicious).
Mentioned also by Aristotle, op. cit., xxii. 178 A, 29.
Page 19s, § 8. Alexinus : von Arnim has shown some ingenuity in
recognizing and restoring a fragment of this philosopher's work, Xlep!
'A7M7?s : Hermes, xxvii. 65, seq. I cannot set as high a value as Arnim
does {ibid., p. 70) on the anecdote in Diog. Laert., ii. 109. By the
terminus ante quern, 282/1, of that work, his date is fixed more
definitely than it has been before. (Below) Stilpo : cf. Diog. Laert.,
ii. c. II.
Page 196 (Top). "A thorough man of the world:" this is the
correct interpretation of the voKmntinaTos of Diog. Laert., loc. cit.,
§ 114; cf. V. Wilamowitz's Antigonos von Karystos, p. 142, in spite
of Susemihl's objection (Alexandrin. Lit. Gesch., i. 17). On Stilpo
as an ethical philosopher, cf. particularly Seneca, Epist, ix. i and 18 ;
also Teles, 45, 10 Hense. (Middle) The solitary fragment has been
treated by the author, Rhein. Mus., 32. 477, seq. : -SaiKiravt (read IfriKimni)
MijTpoKAe? [this dialogue is known to Diog. Laert., ii. 120] yePplfieL
Tif 'Srl\iravi MriTpoKKijs. The quotation by Teles (p. 14, Hense) cannot
be completely disentangled from the quoter's additions. Cf. von
Wilamowitz {op. cit., p. 360), who has admirably restored the opening
words. Cancelling two interpolations of the critics, I read : Ti Xeyeis,
^riffl, KoCi tIvuv 7) <t>vyti, iroiav ir/aBwv <mpi<TKei, tuv vepl 'livx^v ^ Twy irfpl rh
irafia it tSiv Ikt<(s ; (Bottom) Gibes of Crates at Stilpo : Diog. Laert., ii.
118. In the same passage a gibe of Stilpo at Crates. It seems to me
a comparatively harmless exchange of banter.
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 293
Page 197 (Top). " Denying the possibility of predication : " I see no
reason to interpret Diog. Laert., ii. 119, Ayi/pei koItJi eifS)?, as referring
solely to a polemic against Plato's doctrine of ideas. The context is
against this view ; and it is altogether preferable to understand a
denial of substantial existence to class-concepts in general. Cf. what
is reported of the Eretrian school, and therefore pre-eminently of
Stilpo's pupil Menedemus : 'Ainfpovi/ rhs iroiirnTas Sis oida/iSs 4xoi(ras ti
Koivhv oiaiaies, h Se rots KaB' '^Kourra Koi avvBerois virapxoi<ras (Simplicius,
In Aristotelis Categorias, 68 A 24, Brandis). (Bottom) Abelard : cf.
the quotation in L. Stein, Psychologie der Stoa, ii. 64. The following
is also quoted there : " Nee rem ullam de pluribus dici, sed nomen
tantum concedimus."
Page 198 (Top). Cf. Plutarch, Against Colotes, 22 {Mor., 1369,
Dubner). (Middle) "A well-informed writer:" Aristocles in Euseb.,
PrcBp. Evang., xiv. 17. i. (§ 9) We have little information on the
facts of Diodorus' life ; cf. p. 201, § 10. He is treated of more fully
by Brandis, Griechisch-romische Philosophie, ii. 1. 124, seq., and Ritter,
Geschichte der Philosophie, ii. 137, seq. There are also some very
judicious remarks in Tennemann, ii. 146, seq. Thus he says of the
corpuscular theory attributed to Diodorus (Euseb., Prcep. Evang., xiv.
23,4; Sextas, Adv. Ma/kem., x. 85(= 493, ii,Bekker); Stoh., EcUgiz,i.
310 and 350 (= i. 128, 10 and 143, 20, Wachsmuth) ; Simplic, In Phys.,
920, 20, Diels) : " It appears, therefore, more probable that he assumed
the atoms of Leucippus merely as an hypothesis for the sake of the
latter [the arguments against motion]" {op. cit., 151). The chief
passages relating to those arguments are Sextus, loc. cit., and x. 112.
seq. (499, 5, seq., Bekker). Our view (pp. 199, 200) agrees fairly closely
with that of Prantl {Gesch. der Logik, i. 55, seq.).
Page 200 (Middle). The argument against possibility was known
as i Kvpieiav Kdyos. This phrase is not, in our opinion, to be inter-
preted as " the victorious (or invincible) argument," but refers, like
all analogous designations (<5 apyhs \4yos, 6 ai^av6fievos, 6 tf/evS6ii€vos, etc.),
to the substance of it. This was perceived long ago by Gassendi
{Opera, Lyon, 1658, i. p. 52, A), who, however, found no following.
The best translation is possibly " The theorem of omnipotence "
(Cicero, Ad Familiares, ix. 4). His fullest discussion of the question
in De Fato, ch. 6, seq. Cf. Epictetus, ii. 19, seq. (169, 70, Schenkl) ;
Plutarch, De Stoicorum Repugn., 46 {Mor., 1291, 30, Dubner) ; Alex-
ander, In Aristot. Analyt. Prior., 183, 4 (Wallies). More in'Gercke,
Chrysippea, p. 725, seq. (Leipzig, 1885).
Page 204 (Top). Hermann Bonitz, in his commentary on Aris-
totle's Metaphysics, 0. 6, 1048 b (p. 395, note i), " Mira levitate, ut
dicam quod sentio, Aristoteles his notionibus defungitur," etc. With
this Grote agrees {Plato, iii. 495, note) : " I will not use so uncourteous
a phrase ; but I think his refutation of the Megarics is both unsatis-
factory and contradicted by himself." The contradiction is between
VOL. III. X
294 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
Metaphysics, 0. 3, particularly 1047 a, 25, and 0. 5, 1048 a, 1-24.
Zeller's judgment on the controversy (ii. i, 257, ed. 4) is one with which
I cannot agree. On what follows, cf. Clemens, Strom., iv. 19, 619
(Potter). The name only borne by men is Theognis ; and Menexene
is at least a feminine formed contrary to analogy from Menexenus.
On Diodorus' use of particles as names, 'AAAo/tV for a slave, MeV and
Ae for his own sons, see Ammon., In Aristot. de Interpret, p. 38, 17
(Busse) ; and Stephanus in his commentary on the same work, p. 9, 21
(Hayduck). For his doctrine that ambiguities do not exist, cf. Aulus
Gellius, xi. 12. All this is closely bound up with his championship of
the theory of convention, as Stephanus {loc. cit.) expressly testifies and
Ammonius indicates sufficiently clearly. Sextus (Pyrrhon., ii. 245 = p.
lis, I3> Bekker) tells a good story. The great Alexandrian physician
Herophilus is summoned to attend Diodorus, who has dislocated his
shoulder, and proves to him, by the Zenonian argument against the
possibility of motion, which Diodorus had revived, that the latter
could not have sustained the injury in question. (§ 10) On the origin
of Diodorus, his pupils, and his fame, cf Diog. Laert., ii. m. (Below)
Zeno : according to Diog. Laert., vii. 25.
Page 205 (Top). Clinomachus : cf. Diog. Laert., ii. 112. Phsedo :
Diog. Laert. treats of him, ii. ch. 9. The few fragments of him are
discussed by Preller, Ausgewahlte Aufsdtze, p. 370, recently by von
Wilamowitz, Hermes, xiv. 189, seq. There, too, are expressed what
seem the right conclusions as to his intermediate position between
Antisthenes and Aristippus. We shall meet with his personality again
in the dialogue of Plato named after him. (Bottom) Menedemus :
Diog. Laert. devotes to him the seventeenth chapter of the second
book. An analysis of the sources is given by v. Wilamowitz, Anti-
gonos von Karystos, 86, seg. The circle of Menedemus, ibid., 140, 2.
Page 206 (Bottom). The fragments of Lycophron in Nauck, ed.
2, p. 817. It is a Satyric drama dealing with literary history.
Page 207 (Top). " The first of these qualities : " cf. Plutarch, De
Adulatore et Amico, 11 {Mor., 66, 46, Diibner). On his doctrine of
virtue — unity of virtue — cf the same author in De Virtute Mor alt, 2
{Mor., 535, I, D). Witty sayings of Menedemus in Plutarch, De Pro-
fectibus in Virtute, 10 {Mor., 97, 37, D), and De Vitioso Pudore, 18
(648, 42, D). In the same author, De Stoicorum Repugn.,x. 11 (1268,
18, D), Chrysippus speaks of the former fame of Stilpo and Mene-
demus, a fame which in his time was already dimmed.
Page 208 (Middle). " Denied the substantial existence . . . : " see
our note to p. 197 (top).
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 295
Book IV.— Chapter IX.
Page 209, seq. The description of the locality is founded mainly
on Heinrich Barth, Wanderungen durck die Kitstenlander des Mittel-
meeres, i. ch. 8 ; Elisde Reclus, Nouvelle gdographie universelle, xi.
p. 8, seq.\ Beechey, Proceedings of the Expedition, to explore the
North Coast of Africa, p. 434, seq. (Bottom) Pindar's phrase, Pyth.,
iv. 7. The quotation from Barth : op. cit., p. 425.
Page 211, § 2. Aristippus is treated of by Diog. Laert., ii. ch. 8.
Cf H. von Stein, De Philosophia Cyrenaica (pars prima), Gottingen,
1885. " A disciple of Socrates : " i.e. Ischomachus. Cf. Plutarch, De
Curiositate, ch. 2 (Mor., 624, 38, seq., Diibner). On his intercourse
with Socrates, cf Xen., Mem., ii. i, and iii. 8. Xenophon ascribes to
him a remarkably independent attitude. " GaVe instruction for pay : ' '
an ancient witness to this is Phanias of Eresus, a fellow-student of
Theophrastus, reported in Diog. Laert., ii. ch. 8, § 65. Called a sophist
by Aristotle, Met., B. 2, 996 a, 32. " His stay at the Syracusan court : "
whether this was in the reign of the older or the younger Dionysius
cannot be determined with certainty. Grote is certainly right {Plato,
iii. 549, seq^ in regarding the anecdotes referring to the simultaneous
residence of Plato and Aristotle as " illustrative fiction." He thinks
the visit was more probably paid to Dionysius I. " Aristotle's know-
ledge of Aristippus' doctrines : " Met., M. 4, 1078 a, 32, compared with
the above-mentioned passage. Theopompus, quoted in Athenaeus,
ix. 508, C. The Siarpi/Sal mentioned there also appear in the list of his
writings given by Diog. La,ert., ii. 84 : ivMi 5e /toi SioTpi/BSi' a\niv ifiaa-tv
H yeypaipdi/ai, ot S' oiS' 'i\as ypd^fiat' S,v etTTi Kal iaaiKpdT-i)S S 'PSSios. This is
the same writer who agreed with Panaetius in assigning the writings
of Ariston the Stoic to Ariston the Peripatetic, in spite of the evidence
of titles and subjects (Diog. Laert., vii. 163). Immediately afterwards
Diogenes makes Panastius himself — in glaring contradiction with his
wholesale rejection in ii. 64 (cf. above, p. 291) — admit the genuineness
of twelve named writings, thus indirectly repudiating as spurious
several others mentioned before. We possess a small fragment in
Demetrius, De Eloattione, § 296 : 01 8^ i,vBf<moi xp^M"""" A'«>' a-voMiiiovai
TOiS ■Kaiiriv, iTruTT^fvnv Se oi ffvva-iro\ehou(rii> t^v xpI'ToMeViiv Toiaiv i.iro\€i-
(pe^^fft. Cf. Demetrii Phalerei qui dicitur libellus. . . . L. Radermacher
(Leipzig, 1901), p. 60, 27, and p. 121.
Page 212 (Top). 'Aptartwos fi KaWlas is mentioned among Stilpo's
dialogues by Diog. Laert., ii. 120 ; and Speusippus' 'Apiarnriros in iv. 5.
" The man who makes himself master . . . :" this saying is recorded
by Stobseus, Flor., xvii. 18 (= iii. 493, iS Hense). " I possess . . . : •
Ix", ovK exo/ioi,in Diog. Laert., ii. 75, and in other authors : Horace,
Epist., i. 17, 24, and i. i, 18, 9. "Almost unwilling praise of Aristotle :'
Rhet., B. 23, 1398 b, 29. "Strain of sunny cheerfulness :" cf. JEWsxi,
296 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
Var. Hist., 14, 6 (ii. 160, 23, seq., Hercher). On the bust probably
representing Aristippus, cf. Franz Winter, p. 436, seq., in the
"Festschrift" dedicated to me.
Page 213 (Top). Cicero: "Magnis illi et divinis bonis hanc
licentiam assequebantur " {De Offlciis, i. 41, 148). Highly noteworthy is
the praise of Maximus Tyrius, Diss., vii. ch. 9, p. 125. Against the
malicious anecdotes which Athenaeus derived mainly from Hegesandrus
(xii. 544, ch. 63) may be set others, such as those in Plutarch, De
Cohibenda Ira, 14 {Mor., 561, 2 D). Aristippus, who is disputing
with ^schines, here derives as much lustre from his calm equability
as from the unwilling acknowledgment of his superiority by his fellow-
pupil and opponent. Montesquieu, quoted by Karl Hillebrand,
Zeiten, Volker und Menscken, v. 14. (Middle) Plato, Theatetus,
156 A (Ko/jif/(!T€poi), and Philebus, 53 C (koa»I"'0- (Bottom) "The field
of scientific interest ... :" cf. Sextus, Adv. Math., vii. 11 (192, 24,
seq., Bekker). There is quite a Socratic ring in the words quoted by
Eusebius, Prap. Evang., i. 8, 9, on the authority of Plutarch. The
reproach against mathematics in Aristotle, Met., B. 2, 996 a, 32.
Page 214 (Middle). "But for the purpose of establishing its true
nature . . . : " the chief theses in his deduction of Ethics are given by
Diog. Laert., ii. 85, seq.
Page 215 (Bottom). The "gentle motion" finding its way into
consciousness (Diog. Laert., ii. 85) is more accurately defined and
illustrated by Aristocles, quoted in Eusebius, Prcep. Evang., xiv. 18, 32.
Page 216 (Middle). "One pleasure does not differ . . . :" lo]
Sia<t)cpeiv Tc T/Soviiv ^Sovrjs, Diog. Laert, ii. 87. (Bottom) " Sum of
pleasurable sensations : " quoted by Diogenes, toe. cit. The modern
Utilitarian is J. S. Mill, Utilitarianism (1863), p. 53.
Page 317 (Top). " ' Wisdom ' was declared to be," to end of par. :
cf. Diog. Laert., ii. 91 and o^dfin. (Bottom) The saying of Antisthenes
quoted in Athenaeus, xii. p. 513 A.
Page 218 (Bottom). Eudoxus is designated a Hedonist by
Aristotle, Eth. Nic, A. 12, iioi b, 27, and K. 2, 1172 b, 9, with the
laudatory addition, 15, seq. : tTna-niovro 5' ol A.0'70' SiA t^v roS ^floiis operV
jUaAA.01/ fl ^i avTois' Siatpep6vTws yap i56K€L trditppuv etyai.
Page 220 (Top). "Aristippus himself is reported . . . :" cf. Diog.
Laert., ii. 68. (Bottom) "They appealed ... :" as reported by Diog,
Laert., ii. 90.
Page 221 (Top). Hegesias : on him and his surname, see Diog.
Laert., ii. 86. On his book and its effects, see Cicero, Tuscul., i. 34,
83, 4, and Plutarch, De Amore Prolis, ch. 5 {Mor., 602, 24, D). " Held
happiness to be unattainable . . . :" Diog. Laert., ii. 94, 5. (Bottom)
On Anniceris and his teaching, cf. Diog. Laert., ii. 96, 7, and Clemens,
Strom., ii. ch. 21, 498 (Potter).
Page 223 (Top). "Still, they held it for an established truth . . . :»
cf. Diog. Laert., ii. 93. (Middle) "Again, the English divine . . . : »
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 297
cf- Paley, Moral Philosophy (Edinb. 1852), p. 59, seq. : " Therefore,
private happiness is our motive, and the will of God our rule." The
only difference which Paley acknowledges between prudence and
duty is the following : " that in the one case we consider what we
shall gain or lose in the present world : in the other case we consider
also what we shall gain or lose in the world to come."
Page 224 (Middle). " The second mode of connexion . . . : " cf.
particularly Guyau, La Morale d'' Epicure, which is also my source for
the quotations from d'Alembert and Holbach (p. 270, seq^.
Page226(Middle). "That supposed fundamental phenomenon . . . ."
This will be an appropriate place for at least one quotation from
Bentham (Works, ed. Bowring, i. i) : " Nature has placed mankind
under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. . .
In words a man may pretend to abjure their empire, but in reality he
will remain subject to it all the while. The principle of utility
recognizes this subjection, and assumes it for the foundation of that
system, the object of which is to rear the fabric of felicity by the hands
of reason and of law."
Page 228 (Middle). The reference is to David Hartley's Observa-
tions on Man (1749), and James Mill's Analysis of the Phenomena of
the Human Mind (first published, 1829 ; edited in 1869 by J. S. Mill,
in greatly expanded form, with notes by Bain, Findlater, and Grote).
Page 230 (Top). " Our modes of being affected . . . : " the
sentence runs: Miva. rk iroff?) KoTo\?)irTct (fhai). Thus Aristocles in
Euseb., Prczp. Evang., xiv. 19, init, agreeing almost verbally with Sext.
Emp., Adv. Math., vii. 190, seq. (232, 19, Bekker). Similarly,
Plutarch, Against Colotes, 24, 2 (Mor., 1370, 21, D), and Cicero,
Acad. Prior., ii. 46. 142 : " Aliud . . . Cyrenaicorum, qui praster
permotiones intimas nihil putant esse judicii ; " cf. Diog. Laert., ii. 92.
Page 231 (Top). Plato : cf. vol. i. pp. 456, seq., and 589. The
assumption that in Thecetetus, 152 D, Plato is expounding and
criticizing the theory of Aristippus is now shared by Zeller (ed. 5, i.
1098, seq>i, though he strongly contested it in ed. 4, ii. i. 350, note 2.
It now meets with only isolated opposition, such as that of Tiirk,
Satura Viadrina (1896), p. 89, seq. The objections which we have to
urge against this highly estimable treatise have already been embodied
in the text. (Bottom) The words expressing dogmatic certainty in
these accounts are : dhrierj, rijv hipynav Ix"' aireplairaaTov, aSimpevcTa,
&\liiV(TTa, &iTKave!s, rh aya/idpTriTov, ave^e\eyKTas.
Page 232 (Middle). The illusions here referred to are partly
mentioned by Sextus, loc. cit., and partly by Aristotle, Met, r. 6, loii
a, 33, and in many other passages ; cf. Index Aristotelicus, p. 165 A,
31, seq.
, , Page 234 (Top). "The sensation itself remains undeniable. ... :"
cf. Sextus, loc. cit., 196 (233, 26, B) : 'ixamas y&p toO ISCov vdeovs
avTiKauPdvirai with Plato, ThecetetUS, 160 C : aAijflJjj i.fa e/iol 71 l/ij|
298 ^OTES AND ADDITIONS.
alaBriffis, (Middle) The quotation from James Mill, Analysis, ed. i,
i. 71. The passage in Plato's Theatetus, 157 B, C.
Page 23s (Top). " Modes of being affected . . . : " Sextus, loc. cit.,
194 (233, 15, Bekker). « An English psychologist : " J. S. Mill, ^«
Examination of Sir W. Hamilton's Philosophy, ed. I, 203 ; the
German-Austrian physicist is ^m.s\.y\.a.cla, Beitr age zur Analyse der
Empfittdungen, ed. 3 (Jena, 1902), p. 6,
Page 236 (Bottom). " Activities, processes, and all the invisible :"
trpa^eis 5e koX yeviffeis Kal irav rb a6parou, Thecetet*, 1^5 E.
Page 237 (Top). " He will, of course, begin . . . ." The thought
expressed here needs a more exact statement. No contradiction
arises if I first declare that I know matter only as something tangible,
visible, and so forth, so that I cannot without confusion retain this
conception and at the same time make abstraction of every perceiving
subject, and if I afterwards refer particular sensations or possibilities
of sensations to other such sensations and possibilities as their causes
(that is, invariable and unconditional antecedents). The Cyrenaics,
on the other hand, would have been guilty of real inconsistency if they
had denied all substantial existence, and yet at the same time had
explained the totality of phenomena as arising from the motion of
substances. But it is important not to forget that the exposition
given by Plato, in which such a contradiction appears to be contained,
is anything but an authentic report of Cyrenaic doctrine. (Middle)
" This would accord . . . : " cf. Seneca, Ep., 89, 12 ; Sextus, Adv. Math.,
vii. II (192, 3, Bekker). (Bottom) The work of Philodemus here
mentioned bears the title iliepl Swefwy koI 2ri;i4«(6(rei»i', and was first
edited by the author in 1865. The allusion in Plato's Republic, v. 516
C. It was not entirely overlooked by Schopenhauer, Die Welt als
Wille und Vorstellung, bk. iii. § 31. But it was Ernst Laas who
first noticed thej allusion to the ancient theory of induction ; and
spoken words of his were the occasion of Paul Natorp treating the
subject in his Forschungen sur Geschichte des Erkenntnisproblems im
Altertum, p. 148, seg., where he explained the reference as being to
Protagoras.
Page 239 (Middle). Theastetus : 157 E, seq. (Bottom) The quota-
tion is from Helmholtz, Physiol. Optik., ed. i, 444, 5. The following
quotation is taken from a treatise written by Ernst Mach in 1868, and
cited in his Contributions to the Analysis of the Sensations (trans.
Williams, Chicago, 1897), p. 9, note.
Page 240 (Bottom). The attitude of the modern phenomenalists
to the problem of inherence may be illustrated by the following
quotation : " Thing, body, matter, are nothing apart from their
complexes of colours, sounds, and so forth — nothing apart from their
so-called attributes. That Protean, supposititious problem, which
springs up so much in philosophy, of a single thing with many
attributes, arises wholly from a mistaking of the fact, that summary
NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
299
comprehension and precise analysis, although both are provisionally
justifiable and for many purposes profitable, cannot and must not be
carried on simultaneously " (Mach, op. cit., p. 6).
Page 341 (Top). On Theodorus, cf. especially Diog. Laert, ii. 86
and 97, seq. Sayings of his betokening frank candour are reported by
Diog. Laert., loc. cit., and by Plutarch, De Exilio, i6 {Mor., 732, 18, D).
That which is given by Philo, Quod Omnis Probus Liber, ch. 18 (ii.Vs,*
Mangey), is only a spun-out, bombastic version of Plutarch's anecdote.
See also Cicero, Tusc, i. 43, 102 ; Plutarch, An. Vitiositas . . . sufficiat,
3, fin. {Mor., 604, 35, D) ; Stobseus, ,Flor., ii. 33. (Bottom) The
assumption that Theodorus was a denier of the gods in the true sense
although favoured by Cicero, is contradicted by De Nattira Deorum, i.
I, 2 (and many other passages). The words of Sextus, Adv. Math.,
ix. 55 (404, 20, Bekker), t^ itafh. roTs''EW7iffi 6eo?i.oyoiiieva TOiKl\as
cLi/ameuda-as, can hardly relate to a total, and therefore simple, rejection
of the belief in gods. Another point is the alleged indebtedness of
Epicurus to Theodorus' criticism (Diog. Laert., ii. 97) j and lastly we
have an anecdote, which, being without moral, is not altogether
worthless, touching a dialectic wrangle between Theodorus and
Stilpo, in which unquestioning faith in the gods is presupposed (Diog.
Laert., ii. 100). Plutarch, De Commun. Notitiis,->,\, 4 {Mor., 1315, 28, D),
proves nothing. I am inclined, therefore, to allow considerable weight
to the opinion expressed by Clemens {Protrept., ii. 24, 20, Potter) to
the effect that the name of atheist has been unjustly bestowed on
Theodorus and certain others : (raxppdvas $e$wK6Tas koI KaBeapaK6Tas
h^^ep6v irov . . . T^v afKftl robs 6eo{/s Toirovs iT\ai/riv.
Page 242 (Top). " A late ecclesiastical writer :" Epiphanius, ^<fz/.
Hcereses, iii. 2, 9, 24 (Doxogr., 591, 25) : @e6Sapos . . . ^ero . . . /ii/ ehat
$eioj/ Kal TovTOv MveKev wpovTpejreTO irovTos K\ejrTeiv iviopKeiv apvdCetv Kal fj.ii
intepmtoBvitaReiv TrarpiSos. If there really were any among his pupils
who so understood his teaching, he had ample ground for saying that
some took with the left hand what he offered with the right (Plutarch,
De TranquUlitate Am'mi, ch. 5 {Mor., 566, 31, D). (Middle) " Joy and
sorrow:" x"?'^ ^'^^ ^^ (Diog. Laert., ii. 98). The best right to be
considered a true fragment of Theodorus belongs to the demonstration,
quoted by Stobaeus, Elor., iig, 16, of the unlawfulness of suicide.
How can that act be other than repugnant to a man for whom the
accidents of life have no significance ; for whom only the beautiful is
good, and only the ugly evil ? (Instead of aWxphv rh KaK6y, it is obvious
that we ought to read, rb aiirxphv KaxSy.)
We cannot acquiesce in the .tradition which ranges Euhemerus
among the members of the Cyrenaic school — a tradition which, though
subject to all manner of reservations and restrictions, stiU finds
acceptance. " There is not the slightest hint in any of the authorities "
— so Erwin Rohde justly remarked long ago — " which speaks for this
assumption" (Z?er griechische Roman, ed. 2. 241, note i). The
300 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
Cyrenaic school has no manner of responsibility for the mistake of
Euhemerus— a mistake due to the influence of the Alexander-cult—
which consisted in making one real and effectual factor in the genesis
of religions, the deification of men, the only factor in the process (cf.
also Vol. I. p. 523, where we might have referred more plainly to the dei-
fication of living men, which is still continually taking place in India).
Page 243 (Middle). On Bion, cf. Diog. Laert., iv. ch. 7 ; a
thorough investigation in Hense's Teletis Reliquia, Prolegomena, p.
xlvi. seq. It must be admitted that the course of his education, as
described by our chief source, labours under chronological impossi-
biUties. I cannot, however, agree with those who attribute the
statement that he attended the school of Crates the Academic to a
confusion with Crates the Cynic. For the testimony of Diogenes
Laertius is corroborated on this point by that of a well-read scholar,
the compiler of the Index Academicorum Herculanensis (cf. the
author's Die herculanische Biographie des Polemon in Philosophische
Aufsdtze Eduard Zeller gewidmet, p. 149). I prefer, therefore, on
obvious grounds, to abandon the chronological order of Bion's studies
rather than the individual facts recorded, derived as these doubtless
are, both in this and other instances, from the inscription-registers of
the schools themselves. For this very same reason, these statements
prove nothing at all as to any permanent influencing of the pupil by
the teacher ; nor must we forget that even advanced age was not
incompatible with the attending of lectvures. (Bottom) The two
burlesque verses are discussed by Wachsmuth, Poesis Graca
Ludibunda,fin. On p. 75 of that work there is much ej^cellent matter
on Bion and against his detractors. Erwin Rohde's judgment is
expressed in Griech, Roman, ed. 2, p. 268, note. Hense {op. cit., p.
xlvi.) shows admirably that Bion's own humorous description of a
superstitious person loaded with amulets " like a peg " was transferred
to Bion himself and his deathbed conversion. Cf. Diog. Laert., iv.
S4 — and its appeal to the local gossip of Chalcis, where Bion died ! —
with Plutarch, De Superstitione, ch. 7 (Jllor., 199, 200, D).
Book V.— Chapter I.
Plato is treated of very fully in the whole of the third book of
Diogenes Laertius. Out of the almost unmanageable mass of modem
literature we may single out Zeller's Philos. d. Gr., ii. I (ed. 4),
pp. 389-986 ; George Grote, Plato and the other Companions of
Socrates, London, 1865, 3 vols. (pp. 465-602 of vol. iii. is all that is
devoted to the other Socratics) ; some other writings of the first
importance will be named in the separate sections. Of editions of
Plato's works we may mention the Zurich edition, complete in one
volume, for its convenience in use ; that by Martin Schanz, unfortu-
nately not yet finished, for the copious critical apparatus ; that of
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 30 1
K. F. Hermann (in the Teubner collection) for its handy size ; and
the most recent by John 1 Burnet (four volumes published so far) for the
prominence given to essentials in the apparatus criticus and for the
extensive use made, at least in the second volume, of external sources
of tradition. Friedrich Schleiermacher's translation has exerted a
lasting influence on Platonic study by the introductions prefixed to
the separate dialogues.
Plato's life was written first of all by his immediate pupils. Speu-
sippus, his nephew and successor as head of the school, gave the world
a nxaraii/os eyK^juov ; cf. Diog. Laert., iii. 2 and iv. 5 ; the first passage
should be corrected from the second by transposition. His second
successor, Xenocrates, wrote a Bfoj {Fragm., 53, Heinze). Books on
Plato were also written by his pupils Hermodorus {Index Academ.^
col. vi., and Simplicius, In Aristotelis Phys., 247, 33, Diels) and
PhiUppus (Suidas, sub voc.) ; sections were devoted to him in the
biographical works of Neanthes and Hermippus, and several Peri-
patetics, e.g. Aristoxenus and Clearchus treated of him in separate
writings. Nothing considerable remains beyond that book of Dio-
genes Laertius. There are, firstly, the parts relating to Plato of the
Philodemic Index Academicorum Herculanensis, worked up by
Biicheler, and more recently by Mekler ; next, a short biography by
Olympiodorus (second half of the sixth century), or, more accurately,
written down by a pupil of his from his lectures ; then the Prolegomena
composed by Olympiodorus himself (cf. Freudenthal in Hermes, xvi.
208, seg.) both in the sixth volume of Hermann's edition ; the first,
biographical, half of the \Prolegomena, also in Westermann, Biogr,
Grceci, pp. 388-396 ; lastly, the life in Suidas Qub voc).
Page 249 {intt.). " An eminent contemporary : " Alexander Bain.
(Bottom) Immanuel Kant : cf. Friedr. Paulsen in Deutsche Rund-
schau, August, 1898, p. 198 : "I might have entitled my exposition
' Kantius Platonizans.' "
Page 250 (Middle). "Traces of the relationship :" cf. Adalbert
Merx, Ideen und Grundlininien einer allgemeinen Geschichte der
Mystik, especially p. 9, notes 12 and 26. (Second par.) According to
the testimony of ApoUodorus, reported in Diog. Laert., iii. 2, Plato was
born on the seventh of the month Thargelion, in a year of the eighty-
eighth Olympiad, which, to agree with the statements as to his age,
must have been the first— that is, in the spring of 427. He died while
engaged in the work of authorship (Dionys.,Z'e Compos. Verb., v. 208,
n, Reiske ; Cic, Cato Major, v. 13). Again, according to the decisive
testimony of ApoUodorus, in the archonship of Theophilus, 348-7
(cf. Diog. Laert., v. 9, seq. ; Index Acad., col.ii. ; Dionys., Ad Amma.,
S, 262, 17, Usener). On Plato's family, see chiefly the testimonia m
Plato's own dialogues : Charmides, 155 A (relationship with Solon) and
157 E (his family extolled by Solon, Anacreon, etc.) ; also Republic, u.
368 A, and Timceus, 20 E. The seventh book of the Laws further
302 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
contains autobiographical material ; for here, as Lutoslawski has also
remarked (^Plato's Logic, p. 498), the vesture^ of dialogue is broken
through, and Plato discloses himself as the Athenian stranger.
(Bottom) Critias : the " philosopher among men of the world and
man of the world among philosophers" (he is so styled in a
scholium to Plato's Timaus, 20 A) suffers to this day from this two-
fold character of his. We seek in vain for a complete account of his
personality. The beginnings of one may be found in two memoranda
of Th. Bergk (firiech. Lit. Gesch., iv. 342). Even the remnants of his
authorship have not been reunited since N. Bach's collection (Leipzig,
1827). The considerable fragment of his book-drama Sisyphus has
already been mentioned in the present work (Vol. I. p. 389), and studied
more closely in the author's Beitrdge zur Kritik und Erkldrung
griecMscher Schriftsteller, i. 36, seq. ; the other poetical fragments
may be found in Bergk's Poetce Lyr. Gr., ed. 4, ii. 279, seq. ; the re-
mains of his Politics are contained in Fragmenta Hist. Grcec, ii.
68, seq. ; the few philosophical fragments are waiting to be edited
afresh (cf. the author's Beitrdge, loc. cit.). On his prose style, cf. the
author's Apologie der Heilkunst, p. 105, seq. His Politics are
devoted to the description of manners rather than constitutions! The
fragment of his book, On the Nature of Love, which is taken from
Galen's Glossary, sub voc. tMaavUi (in Bach, p. 103), exhibits him as a
precursor of Theophrastus in the delineation of types of character.
The chief testimony relating to his doctrine of the soul is found in
Aristotle, De Anima, A. 2 (alino r'tiv i/vyk^v eTire).
Page 251 (Middle). Aristotle, Rhet., r. 16, 1416 b, 26, seq. This
declaration (" If any one desired to praise Critias, he would have to
tell his story at great length, for few know him ") hardly admits of any
other interpretation than that Aristotle regarded Critias as a mis-
understood man. It is remarkable that Aristotle, who here couples
Critias with Achilles, in another passage {Anal. Post., B. 13, 97 b, 17)
sets Alcibiades in the same company, in both passages he goes out of
his way to name the two men and treat them as heroes, whereas in his
'Mrivaiwv lloAiTeia he carefully avoids mentioning them. Probably he
judged the political influence of both of them pernicious, but saw in
each a personality of commanding genius, towering above the common
stature. " To excite the tributary peasants . . ." This action of Critias
seems to us, as it did to Grote {Hist, of Greece, ed. 2, viii. 317 : " he is
said . . ."), not completely established as a fact ; the source of the
statement is the accusing speech of his mortal enemy Theramenes
(in Xenophon, Hellen., ii. 3, 36). (Bottom) The quotation from
Niebuhr: Kleine historische und philologische Schriften, ist collection,
475. seq.
Page 252 (Middle). The intimacy of Critias and Charmides is
evident from Xenophon, Mem., iii. 6 and 7 ; i. 2, 6 ; also Symp., init.
Damon : cf. Vol. I. pp. 386 and 575. (Bottom) Cratylus : on him, cf.
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 303
Aristotle, Met., A. 6 {init.), and r. 5, loio a, 10 ; also Plato, Theatel., 189
A, and Cratylus, 440 C.
Page 253 (Bottom). That Plato performed military service may be
assumed as a matter of course, though the different statements relating
to the subject have " blended truth with falsehood ; " cf. W. Christ,
Platonische Sttedien, p. 58, where it is endeavoured to give probability
to the view that Plato served in the cavalry.
Page 254 (second par.). The possibility of some of the purely
Socratic dialogues having been composed in the master's lifetime was
unconditionally rejected by Grote on the following grounds : A dialogue
so composed either contained a true report, and then the copy must
have paled before the original, or else it put un-Socratic thoughts in
the mouth of Socrates, and then Plato must have been guilty of an
undutifulness we should never have expected of him {Plato, i. 199).
This dilemma does not seem to me decisive on the point. AU the
loyalty in the world need not have prevented Plato from inventing
occasions for the dialogues and participants in them, as well as the
speeches of the latter, or from modifying and rearranging such
speeches so as to produce a work of art far superior to the haphazard
course of an actual conversation. (Bottom) This report of Plato's
failure in the law court is taken by Diog. Laert. (ii. 41) from a late
author, Justus of Tiberias {circa 100 B.C.).
Page 255 (Below), "Resided for a while at Megara ..." This
is attested by Hermodorus, who is cited in Diog. Laert, ii. 106, and
iii. 6. The order of Plato's travels is given according to Cicero, De
Fin., V. 29, 87, and De Republ., i. 10, 16. But it is hardly likely that
there was an absolutely trustworthy tradition on the subject ; in any
case incidental visits to Athens are very possible (cf. Vol. II. p. 336),
as no one would remain absent from his home for so long without
necessity. On the condition of Egypt at that date, cf. Ed. Meyer,
Geschichte des alien Agyptens, p. 394. (Bottom) "You Greeks are
boys : " "EAXrji/es ail iratSh iare, TimcBus, 22 B. The following quota-
tions are from Herodotus, ii. 84, and Plato's Laws, ii. 656 D, seq. ;
vii. 799 A and 819 B.
Page 256 (Bottom). Strabo, xvii. 806. On the local features of
Heliopolis, cf. Diimichen, Geschichte Agyptens, 256, seq.; Maspero,
Histoire ancienne des peuples de V Orient classique, i. p. 505 ; Atis
Mehemet Alt's Reich, by the author of the Brief e eines Verstorbenen
(Furst Puckler-Muskau), i. 356; Jul. Braun, Historische Land-
schaften, p. 56 ; Meyer's Reisebucher, Agypten, p. 206, seq.
Page 257 (Top). Strabo {loc. cit.) makes Plato and Eudoxus
arrive at HeliopoUs together. The length of their stay there he fixes
(not without reservation— wi tipwrai ri<ri) at thirteen years, wherein he
appears to have confused the total duration of Plato's travels with his
Egyptian sojourn. Much greater credibility attaches to the statement
given by Diog. Laert., viii. 87, that Eudoxus spent one year and four
304 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
months in Egypt. The chronological impossibility of the two having
been there simultaneously has been recently confirmed by Susemihl,
Rhein. Mtts., liii. 626, seg. (Bottom) What is here said as to Theuth
and Dhuti rests on Plato's Phadrus, 274 C, and the information given
by Brugsch, Religion und Mythologie der alien Egypter, pp. 440,
446.
Page 258 (Top). Passage in Plato's Statesman, 290 D, E. Ac-
cording to an oral communication of my colleague, Professor Krall,
the Egyptian king is in truth " the supreme priest of all the Egyptian
deities." Professor Krall also refers to the Egyptian accession-rites,
as described by Nigidius Figulus, p. 124, in the edition by A. Swoboda.
(Middle) Theodorus : cf. Diog. Laert., iii. 6. Theodorus is an inter-
locutor in Plato's Theatetus, Sophist, and Statesman. His transition
" from pure speculation " (ck tSiv •^ckSiv \6yav) to a special science is
mentioned by himself in Thecetetus, 165 A. More self-characterization,
ibid., 143 B, C, and 145 A. Plato may have made his acquaintance
at Athens, where he appears to have stayed shortly before the death
of Socrates (cf. Thecetetus, 143 A, and Xenophon, Mem., iv. 2, 10), and
■where TheEtetus became his pupil. Theodorus is mentioned as a
mathematician, along with Hippocrates of Chios ; cf. AUman, Greek
Geometry, p. 58. The most important testimony is that of Eudemus
{Fragmenta, p. 114, Spengel) ; then lamblichus, De Communi Mathem.
Scientia, ch. xxv. (p. 77, seq., Festa). He is assigned to the circle of
the Pythagoreans by lamblichus, De Vita Pyth., ch. xxxvi. (p. 193, 4,
Nauck). Plato calls him a friend of Pythagoras, Theatetus, 161 B
and 168 E.
Page 259 (Top). The names of numerous Pythagoreans, natives
of Tarentum, are given by lamblichus, De Vita Pyth., ch. xxxvi.
(p. 198, Nauck). TafavrXvoi was the title of comedies by the younger
Cratinus and Alexis (ii. 291 and 378, Kock). The Pythagoreans,
we may remark in passing, were the butt of much ridicule,
both in these and other comedies. The two poets named each
produced a Uviayofi^ovaa, and Aristophon a nuflayopHTT^s (ii. 279, 280,
290, 370, K). Cf. also the MvV«™ of Antiphanes, ibid., p. 76.
(Middle) " Tarentum at Carnival-time : " cf. Plato, Laws, i. 637 B.
On the social and political conditions there, cf. Aristotle, Pol., Z.
1320 b, 9. Thes ituation of Tarentum is here described from the
author's personal observation. On the advantages and the history of
Tarentum, cf. Strabo, vi. 278, seq., and Polybius, x. i. The friend-
ship of Plato and Archytas is coupled with that of Damon and
Phintias, by lamblichus, De Vita Pyth., ch. xxvii. (p. <)2,seq., Nauck).
(§ 3) Archytas is treated of by Diog. Laert., viii. 4. Aristoxenus wrote
a biography of him (according to Athenffius, xi. 545 A) ; Aristotle
composed three books on his philosophy, and in addition compiled
extracts from his writings (Diog. Laert., v. 25). With his flute-playing
(Athena3us, iv. 184 E) are connected his investigations into the theory
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 305
of music (cf. von Jan in Pauly-Wissowa's Real-Encydopadie, ii. i,
6oOj seq^. On his Idndness to children and slaves, cf. ^lian, Varia
Historia, xii. 15, and Athenasus, xii. 519 B, with which the statement
that ^le invented children's rattles (Aristotle, Pol., 6, 1340 b, 26)
excellently agrees.
Page 260 (Top). " Archytas at the head of a confederation of
cities :" according to Suidas, sub voc. 'Apxiras. On his end, cf. Horace,
Odes, i. 28, with Kiessling's comments. (Par. 2) He is termed the
founder of mechanics by Diog. Laert., loc. cit. As to the invention of
that flying dove (concerning which, besides Favorinus, quoted 'verbatim
by Aulus Gellius, Noct. Att, x. 12, 9, seq., "many and eminent"
authors have written most positively), there is no ground for doubt,
although the employment of compressed air is not otherwise met with
till considerably later, in connexion with Ctesibius, there, to be sure, on
a large scale (cf. Susemihl, Alexander Lit. Gesch., 735, n. 153). The
testimony of Eudemus, in his history of geometry, may be foundl in
Spengel's Eudemi Fragmenta, p. 45. Fuller details of his achieve-
ments in mathematics, as well as a discussion on the spuriousness of
the philosophical writings attributed to him, are given by E. Wellman
(Pauly-Wissowa, op. cit.).
Page 261 (Top). The first of the two fragments here discussed
is taken from Porphyrins' commentary on the " Harmony " of
Ptolemasus (p. 236, seq.), newly edited by Blass in his important essay,
De Archyta - . . Fragmentis Mathematicis, " Mflanges Graux," 573,
seq. ; the second from Aristotle's Problems, xvi. 9, 915 a, 25. Aristotle,
by the way, has two more quotations from Archytas : the definitions
of a calm (sea or wind), {Metaph., h. 2, 1043 a, 21, seq.), and an
ingenious comparison (/f^^/., r. 11, 1412 a, 12). (Middle) Character of
Archytas : anecdotes and apophthegms illustrating his self-command,
his sociability, his steadfastness, are given by lamblichus, De Vita
Pyth., 31, 197 (141, 8, seq., Nauck) ; by Cicero, Cato Mafor,xn. 41 ;
and Lselius, xxiii. 88 (the remainder are repetitions).
Page 262 (par. 2). On the two phases of tyranny, cf. a work, now
out of date, which, though disfigured by many errors of detail, is yet
on the whole excellent : Die Tyrannis-.in ihren beiden Perioden bei
den alien Griechen . . . , by H. G. Plass (2 vols., Bremen, 1852). It
is, so far as I know, the first attempt to judge the great historical
phenomenon of tyranny with insight and justice ; cf., e.g., vol. i. 130,
seq. On Gelon and his mercenaries, cf. Beloch, Gr. Gesch., i. 443.
See further the History of Greece by Grote, against whose tendency to
minimize the violent acts of democracies we must be on our guard.
Thus Thucyd., v. 4, cited by Grote, vii. 191 (ed. 2), decisively con-
tradicts Grote's narrative on p. 163, seq. Cf., too, Aristotle, Polit.,
E. S, 130S a, 4. It is clear, from these passages, that divisions
of land were by no means unheard-of occurrences. " Proverbial
abundance : " S.mxis cTpmidn-ns in Zenob., v. 89 {Para;miogr. Greed, i.
3o6 fJOTES AND ADDITIONS.
157, 3 ; cf. ii.2 08, I ; 641, g, and 770, 7). (Bottom) Treitschke :
Politik, ii. 338. Speech of Alcibiades in Thucydides, vi. 17, 2.1 A
speech which contains, so to speak, the philosophy of the Sicilian
tyranny. /
Page 264. The author speaks of Syracuse from personal
observation.
Page 265 (Top). The remains of the mimes of Sophron and
Xenarchus have now been collected with the greatest completeness,
and explained by Georg Kaibel, Com. Grac. Fragm., i. i, 152-182.
An interesting characterization of them in Otto Jahn, Aus der Alter-
tumsijuissenschaft, p. 56. The imitations belong in part to Theocritus
and Moschus, in part to Herondas, who was coarser than his model.
Plato's preference is attested by Duris, inAthensus, xi. 504 B, as well
as by Diog. Laert., iii. 18. On Epicharmus, cf. note on ch. 8, § 3.
On the " Theorem of Becoming " (ai^avd/iems \6yos) and its statement
by Epicharmus, cf. Bemays, Rhein. Mus., New Series, viii. 2S0,
seq. ( = Ges. Abhandlungen, i. 109, seq^. The fragments of Epicharmus
are again to be found best treated in Kaibel, op. cit, p. 88, seq. The
line given by us in free rendering is fragment 170 in that collection, p.
122. Kaibel, however, seems to have erred, in company with von
Wilamowitz (Heracles, i. 29, ed. i), in rejecting, as not written by
Epicharmus, a considerable number of philosophic and sententious
fragments ; see the author's comments in the contrary sense in
Beitrdge zur Kritik und Erklaruttg griecMscher Schriftsteller, vii. 5,
seq. (Vienna, 1900).
Page 266 (Middle). " The heavily laden tables of Syracuse : " cf.
Republic, iii. 404 D : tvfoxoaiav Se . . . rpdire^av Ka! SikeA.ik^I' iroiKiXlcui
it\/ov, K.T.x. Also Gorgias, 518 B. (Below) Moral sermons addressed
to Dionysius are placed in Plato's mouth by Diog. Laert., iii. 18, and
again by Plutarch, Dio, ch. 5 (1144, 5, Dohner).
Page 267 (Top). "The most bloodstained of all creatures,
adversary of all right and justice." I allude here to Herodotus, v.
92 : ToS oifre aSiKiiTepov ovSey isTi . . . oSre luaupoviTcfov, The remains
of Dionysius' poems, in Nauck's Trag. Grcec. Fragm., ed. 2, p. 793-6.
(Below) " Despotic power . . . ." The original is t, yap rvpawh aStictas
Page 268 (Middle). Cf. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Judicium de
Lysia,Tp. 519 (Reiske) and the fragment there preserved of Lysias'
Olympic oration ; also Diodorus, xiv. 109.
Page 269 (Top). The narrative of Plato's being sold mto slavery
appears in different versions. Cf. Plutarch, Dio, ch. J ; Diodorus, xv. 7 ;
Diog. Laert., iii. 19, seq. ■ Aristides, speech, xlvi. 233 (ii. 306, Dindorf).
Of these, the most credible in itself is the first-named. The doubts
as to the authenticity of the whole story, such as are expressed by
Diimmler, Academica, 210, are wholly without foundation, and, as
Diels has observed, Ztir Textgeschichte der aristotelischen Physik,
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 307
p. 23, they are contradicted by an incidental allusion of Aristotle,
Physics, B. 8, 199 b, 20. The chronological position of the event,
as Zeller remarks, ii. i, 406, ed. 4, is fixed by the circumstance that it
would have been impossible after the Peace of Antalcidas (487).
With this agrees the statement in the 7th Platonic or pseudo-Platonic
epistle, which, in any case, is based upon good sources, 324 A. On
the purchase of a plot of land, cf., besides Diog. Laert., iii. 19, 20,
also Plutarch, De Exil., 10 {Mor., 728, 38, Dubner). (§ 6) Cf. Plato's
Phmdrus, 229 A, seq.
Page 270 (par. 2). On the locality, cf. Bursian, Geographie von
Griechenland, i. 323, and Wachsmuth, .,4/Af« ini Altertum, i. 255, seq.,
262, seq. Ancient accounts : Cicero,27« Fin., v. l, 1-2 ; Diog. Laert.,
iii. 7, seq. ; [Dicaarchi] Descriptio GrcEcice, I {Fragm. Hist. Gr., ii.
254) ; Pausanias, i. chs. 29 and 30 ; Athenaeus, xiii. 561 D, E ;
Plutarch, Cimon, i^Jin. {Vitce, 582, 18, Dohner) ; Aristophanes, Clouds,
ioq6, seq. (Bottom) " Frugal banquets : " cf. Athenseus, x. 419 C ; also
Plutarch, De Sanitate Pracepta, ch. 9, fin., QucBst. Conviv., prooemium
(Mor., 151, 40 and 834, 33, Dubner). The same in .(Elian, Var. Hist.,
ii. 18.
Page 271 (Top). Founder's birthday banquets : cf. Plutarch's
Qttast. Conviv., viii. i, i, and 2, l ; Porphyr., Vita Plotin., ch. 2.
On the cult of the Muses in children's schools, cf. Theophrastus,
Characters, 22 (accAEuecpfo), ./Eschines, In Titnarchum, § 10, as also
on the cult of Hermes in the gymnasia, add the scenery of Plato's
Lysis, 206 D ; further, Epigramm. Gr., ed. Kaibel, No. 295. Daily
offerings in the Academy to the Muses may be conjectured from the
account in the Index Acad. Hercul., col. vii., of Xenocrates' conduct
after the entry of the Macedonian garrison : ws oKte tA Mouo-em flBo-oi
Tiire, K.T.\. (Below) The distich is preserved by Philodemus in the
Index Acad., col. vi, —
Ta(rSE 9i^ai, Sfcis Xdptras Moiffais aveSriKev
STreiSflTiTTTTOS \Qyla3v e'iveKa dSjpa re\av.
The restoration \o(,yl)ai> is unavoidable ; but as the ordinary meaning
of the word, " oracular responses," seems hardly appropriate, I have
hazarded the conjecture that \6yM may here have been used in the
sense of "knowledge," "learning," just as Aeiyios denotes a scholar.
Speusippus would then have addressed to the patron goddesses of all
science the thanks due to his uncle for the vaiSela he had received. A
statue of Plato, the work of the sculptor Silanion, was also placed in
the chapel of the Muses by a Persian named Mithridates (Diog.
Laert., iii. 25). On the lecture-halls recently discovered in Delos and
Olympia, cf. P. Paris in the Dictionnaire des Antiquitis, Daremberg-
Saglio, sub voc. " Exedra." (Bottom) On the dress and bearing of
the Academics, cf. the satire of the comic poets, Antiphanes and
Ephippus (ii. 23 and 257, Kock).
3o8 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
Page 272 (Top). " Dion of Syracuse : " Various instances are
recorded of his pecuniary services to Plato : repayment of the emanci-
pation-money to Anniceris, and, when the latter refused to accept it,
purchase of the plot of land for the same amount, Diog. Laert., iii. 20 ;
the costly work of Philolaus purchased for Plato, Diog., iii. 9; the
expenses of a choregia borne for him, Diog., iii. 3 ; and Plutarch, Dio,
ch. 17, 2 {Vita, 1150,47, Dohner) ; aho Aristides,ch. 1,4 (38o,30,D).
(Middle) " Modest beginnings : " cf. Antigonus of Carystus, in
AthenKus, xii. 547 D-F, where the simplicity native to the Academy
is contrasted with Peripatetic luxury. And though Antigonus is
contrasting the Peripatos under Lycon with the Academy under Plato
and Speusippus, a glance at Plato's and Aristotle's wills (Diog. Laert.,
iii. 41, seg., and v. 11, seg.) will suffice to confirm what we have said in
the text. On the absence of a school library, cf. the author's Platonische
Aufsatze, ii. (Vienna, 1899). On the absence of corporate rights —
contrary to the prevalent view that the philosophic schools of that
time possessed the legal form of religious associations, or elaaoi — see
Beitrdge zur Kriiik und Erkldrimg Griechischer Schrijtsteller, vii.
p. 9, seq.
The analogy in question has been pointed out by G. Lumbroso
{Ricercke Alessandrine, Publications of the Turin Academy, 1873, ii.
i(x),seq., ch. 4) and Usener {Preuss. Jahrb., vol. liii. part i, Organisation
der ■wissenschafi lichen Arbeit., p. 7). Von Wilamowitz declares more
definitely for this identification {Antigonus von Karystus, 263, seq^, and
so now does Erich Ziebarth, Das griechische Vereinswesen, " Preis-
schriften der Jablonowsky'schen Gesellschaft,"Leipzig, 1896. The latter
speaks of the Alexandrine Museumasa" prominent example " in which
we still clearly recognize " the influence of the organization of the Attic
philosophical associations " (p. 73), without noticing that the statement
quoted immediately afterwards from Strabo (xvii. 794), to the effect
that the Museum possessed xp^fnara Koivi, is in flat contradiction with
what we read in the philosophers' wills. These so-called associations
lacked all corporate rights and all legal position relatively to the out-
side world, not, indeed, in the late Roman times, but at the period
into which we are introduced by the philosophers' wills, which have
been preserved. They possessed an inward tendency to become
corporations ; but evidently the Attic legislation denied them the
possibiUty of realizing this tendency otherwise than by the circuitous
method of fictions and moral pressure. That in these institutions, as
in all others devoted to instruction, private religious observances had
something to do with the legal form of the associations, may be
asserted, but cannot be proved. The quotation from Theophrastus'
will is as follows in the original : cUa.' iis tv Uphv koiv^ Kem-nndi/ois
(Diog. Laert., v. 53). What is here said as to the procedure at the
election of the school-heads is taken from various passages of the
Index- Acad., particularly col. vii., also from Diog. Laert, iv. 32 ; cf.
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 309
the author's essay, Die Akademie und ihr vermeintlicher PMlo-
Macedonismus, Wiener Studien, iv. p. 109. On Plato's assistants, cf.
note on Vol. III. 177, and Bergk, Fiinf Abhandlungen, p. 63, seq.
Page 273 (par. 2). The incidental allusions of Aristotle are
collected and commented on by Zeller, ii. i, 416, seg., ed. 4, and ii. 2,
64, ed. 3, where also is given what can be ascertained about Plato's
work, nepl ToD 'AyoSoB. The amusing episode is known to us through
Aristoxenus (see Marquardt, Harmonische Fragmente, p. 44). Accord-
ing to this narrative, the title of that very course of lectures just
mentioned, "On the Good," had attracted a numerous audience
which promptly melted away when it became apparent that Plato did
not propose to treat of such human goods as strength, health, riches,
but on the highest abstractions of his doctrine of ideas in its quasi-
Pythagorean form. The comparison with the Seminar is due to P.
Natorp, Archiv f. Gesch. d. Philos, xii. 42. "In his own little
garden." The statement, with the names of the authorities for it, is
given by Diog. Laert., iii. J. The " garden on the hill Colonus " is
clearly identical with the plot of ground mentioned in Plato's will,
situate in the Deme Eiresidse. It is quite unnecessary to assume
Plato's possession of another piece of land, disposed of before he
made his will, and different both from the above-mentioned and the
neighbouring property in the Deme Iphistiadse (Diog. Laert., iii. 41,
seq.; cf. Loper, Athen. Mitteilungen, xvii. 394, seg^. "Academy'
sometimes means the whole district (thus in Xenophon, Hellen., vi. 5,
49, or Inscr. Att., iii. 61), sometimes the r^/iems, then again the
gymnasium, or Plato's school as a community without reference to
place. " Still greater intimacy. . . : " meals taken daily in common
are indicated by the narrative in Cicero, Tttsc, v. 32, 91 : " Xenocrates
. . . abduxit legates ad cenam in Academiam : iis apposuit tantum
quod satis esset, nullo apparatu." This, therefore, was no banquet, but
a daily meal ; and nothing is more probable than that in this particular,
too, the succeeding heads of the school followed the master's precedent.
Athenseus (i. 4 E) reports that the table was laid for twenty-eight ; the
number seems to me neither mystic nor incredible. Apart from the
limits dictated possibly by space or expanse, Plato may well have liked
to gather his guests round him at three tables, nine at each, for the
number of the Muses was a favourite one in antiquity. On what
follows, compare the discussion on drinking-clubs in Plato's Laws,
particularly i. 639 E, with the complaint of the lack of well-ordered
drinking-societies (see also our text. Vol. III. p. 231). Onthe"table-
rules " and " drinking-regulations " {y&\u>i avaai.ri.K&s and avimo-rmis are
the expressions), cf. Athenaeus, v. 178 F, v. 186 B, i. 3 F, explained by
Bergk, op. cit, p. 67, and Proclus, In Platan. Rempubl., i. 8, l2,^seq.,
ed. Kroll.
Page 274 (Middle). On the " torch-race " (Pausan., i. 30, 2), cf.
Weckelin's essay so entitled in Hermes, vii. 437, seq.
VOL. in. Y
310 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
Book V. — Chapter II,
Page 276. " We learn from Aristotle : " ax^Sbv Se TrapwirKritrias koI
vepl roSs Nd/wvs ?x^' '''"^^ Simpov ypatpivras (Pol., B. 6, ad inii.) ; cf.
Diog. Laert., iii. 37. (Below) The distinction between genuine (yj^o-wi),
unanimously rejected {voe^iovrai . . . i/wAoyouiieviDs), and doubtful
dialogues, in Diog. Laert., iii. 57 ; cf. ii. 64 and 105.
Page 277. "Of the remaining three-fourths . . . condemned as
spurious : " by C. Schaarschmidt, Die Sammlung der platonischen
Schriften, etc. (Bonn, 1866). " Aristotle's warning : " Pol., b. 6. 1265 a,
10. (Below) "A hot-headed critic:" Josef Socher, 'Uber Platan's
Schriften, p. 265 (Munich, 1820). (Below) "A second has been con-
demned." I quote Ueberweg, Untersuchungen iiber die Echtheit und
Zeitfolge platonischer Schriften, p. 180 (Vienna, 1861).
Page 278 (Top). Schjeiermacher : in his translation of Plato,
i. I. 25 (3rd ed.). (Below) " Citations contained in the writings of
Aristotle : " the principal collection in Ueberweg, op. cit., 131, seq.,
who names his predecessors, and in Bonitz, Index Aristotelicus
(fifth volume of the Berlin Academy's edition), s.v. Tl\i.Twv. (Middle)
The misuse of this method may be exemplified by the following
quotations : Suckow, Die wissensch. und kilnstl. Form der Plat.
Schriften, p. 180 : " The list teaches us which dialogues besides
these" (z>. besides eight principal works mentioned above) "may
possibly be genuine, so that the collection may be completed from
their number." Similarly, Schaarschmidt {pp. cit., p. 83) : " For as
soon as it is established that some parts of this corpus have to be
separated as spurious, for the remaining parts also their merely
external attestation seems to lose all value as a testimony to their
genuineness." Whoever thinks, we may ask, of proceeding in such
a way with other ancient writers ? Of Lysias, for instance, there were
in antiquity 425 orations, of which the critics recognized little more
than half as genuine <cf. [Plutarch] VitcE Decern Oratorum, 3, Moralia,
1018, 48, Diibner). None of us regards that judgment of Csecilius and
Dionysius as decisive ; yet nobody thinks of refusing to regard an
extant speech as genuine, except when it is guaranteed by contem-
porary or nearly contemporary evidence. The burden of proof always
falls on one who disputes the tradition, not on one who accepts it ;
it may not in itself possess full cogency, but it always creates a pre-
sumption that weighs heavy in the scale. (Below) " And it is only in
recent years : " cf. Bonitz, in Hermes, iii. 447, seq.
Page 279 (Middle). I take the statistics of language from the
pioneering researches, long left unknown, of Lewis Campbell, Sophistes
and Politicus of Plato, p. xxxi. (Oxford, 1867).
Page 281 (Middle). " Replies to them." I refer to the writings
of Colotes (a favourite pupil of Epicurus) against Plato's Lysis and
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 31 1
Euthydemus, of which the Herculanean rolls have preserved miserable
remnants. Much more considerable remains of the Laches {Brit.
Mus. Pap., 187 verso), without an author's name, but in my judgment
not without bearing on the question. (Below) The list of Aristophanes
is preserved to us by Diog. Laert. (iii. 61), that of Thrasyllus (generally
but without decisive reasons identified with the mathematician of the
same name, a contemporary of Augustus and Tiberius ; cf. Cobet,
Mnemosyne, N. S., iii. 160) by Diog. Laert., iii. 56, seq. That Thra-
syllus did not compile his list on the ground of his personal impression
has been rightly concluded from the following fact. To a certain
dialogue, of which he incidentally expresses a doubt — probably not
even then a merely subjective doubt — he still does not refuse admis-
sion into his list (Diog. Laert., ix. 37, eftrep oi 'AvTspaaraX IlKdravos
(Iffiv). So he must be guided by an authority, and that can scarcely
be any other than Aristophanes, whose list, so far as it is known to us,
completely coincides with his own (cf. Grote, Plato, i. 165).
Page 282. " Had their origin ... in the catalogues of the great
libraries." Cf. Diels, in Hermes, xxii. p. 414. (Below) The genuine-
ness of the Hipparchus is doubted in ^lian, Var. Hist., viii. 2 (ei 5J)
i "imropxM nxc^Taiyiis ia-ri. Tif Svri), that of the Alcibiades II. in Athenseus,
vi. 506 C ('O 7^p Seiirfpoy vit6 Tiviav aevo(l)uvTOS eJvai Keyerai), the Epiuofllis
in Diog. Laert., iii. 37 {toiStov Se koI t})C 'Evtvo/iiSa (pturlv elvai) • cf. also
the Prolegomena of Olympiodorus, ch. 25 (vi. 218, Hermann), and
Suidas, s.-u. i-ixiaot^os. (Below) My conjecture, that Philippus had
been Plato's amanuensis, rests on the Index Acad., col. iii., where the
avaypa(pev5 rod IIAiiTaiyoy Kai aKouirriis is also called a(rTpo\6yos, This
description applies to Philippus : Plato's great age is there in question ;
and there is certainly an intrinsic probability that the private secretary
of Plato was also the editor of his remains. It may be remarked in
passing that I cannot agree with the practically universal assumption
that Philippus was the actual author of the Epinomis. Going to the
bottom of the matter, one can find nothing beyond the inconclusive
^Bo-lj' of Diogenes and two weak arguments of Olympiodorus, loc. cit.,
except the remark thrown out by Boeckh in an early work (Jn Platonis
Minaem,, etc.), that the Epinomis contains much astronomical matter,
and that Philippus was an astronomer. Boeckh, then in his twenty
first year, intended to strengthen this proof (p. 76) ; in fact, he often
repeated this view in his later writings, without supporting it by any new
grounds. Neither has that been done from any other quarter, and so
I should like to raise the question whether this somewhat weak argu-
ment outweighs the intrinsic improbability that Plato's trusted friend
has so grossly betrayed his trust. For the author of the Epinomis,
if he is not Plato, certainly wishes to present the appearance of being
Plato. Any one else would be more likely to do that than the pupil
entrusted with the editing of the remains. And let it not be objected,
that in the judgment of these questions antiquity had a less severe
312 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
standard than ours. That is true for certain times and certain kinds
of literature, but not for this case. In the case of the Timceus we
shall observe the earnestness and zeal with which the immediate
disciples, a Speusippus and a Xenocrates, strove to elicit the true
opinion of the master from his writings. (Below) "The inepti-
tudes of certain Stoics and Neo-Platonists." Panaetius, who rejected
the PhcBdo, has been mentioned above (p. 295). This rejection is so
monstrous that the utmost toil has been expended in explaining
away the statement, and converting the rejection of the genuine-
ness into a dislike of the contents. So Zeller, in the Commeniationes
Mommseniance, p. 402, seq. But his principal argument, that one
witness to the statement betrays his ignorance by speaking of "a
certain PanKtius," is not valid. That navaXTi/is ns is, as Grote already
saw {Plato, i. 157), said rather in contempt. Quite similarly, the by
no means unlearned Aristocles, in Eusebius, Prcep. E-vang., xiv. 18.
27, mentions 'Ayo|apxou tiv<Ss ; so the famous sceptic is called by him,
AiVi)<r(Sij;[4os Tis {ibid., 29). The caprice of Panaetius may be compared
with the Neo-Platonic daring, which did not shrink from rejecting the
Republic ; cf. Freudenthal, in Hermes, xvi. 201, seq.
Page 283 (Top). The weakest grounds for rejection seem to
belong to the Ion, which the genius shown in the simile of the magnet
would be alone enough to defend (533 D ). (As the magnet attracts the
iron, and the iron attracts other iron as soon as it becomes magnetic,
so the Muse is related to the poet, and the poet to the hearers, and
these again, when they recite the work, to other hearers.) A vigorous
defender of the much-attacked dialogue has lately appeared in Walther
Janell, Quastiones Platonicce, 325, seq. (Below) '' The letters : " the
case with these is that neither a general rejection nor the contrary can
be proved tenable. In fact, some such conclusion is no longer con-
tested. Even von Wilamowitz, who in this line sometimes goes
furthest in scepticism, declares, " I could easily accept the Platonic
letter" {}.e. the sixth) "as genuine" {Arisioteles und A then., i. 334 ;
Anm., 33). On the other hand, Blass {Rhein. Mrts., liv. p. 36)
" strikes out the first letter " (but that is a letter of Dion to Dionysius),
expresses objections also to the twelfth, and will "simply not" speak
of the five which are not transmitted in the MSS. of Plato. Christ
also regards several, among them the seventh and eighth, as suspicious
{Platonische Studien, Munich, 1885, p. 26). He remarks very per-
tinently that the thirteen letters which Thrasyllus mentions (Diog.
Laert., iii. 6), and which therefore, on the grounds stated above, are
almost certainly meant by the cVio-roAai of the Aristophanic Ust (Diog.
Laert., iii. 62), are in any case too old for any one to speak of
" sophists' school-exercises " and the like (p. 25). The main a priori
objection also against the genuineness of the letters, more often felt than
expressed, the contradiction between the " world of ideals," in which
his works show him dwelling and the everyday cares which take up
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 313
no small part of Plato's letters, is best exhibited by Christ, and
deprived of its force (ibid., p. 26). What he produces to prove the
genuineness of the thirteenth letter seems to me very well worthy of
attention ; e.g. the allusion by Aristotle {Meiaph., A. 5, 1015 A, 25) to
a passage of this letter (362 B)— an allusion of exactly the same kind
as that which has served to confirm the truth of a statement of
biography (cf. note on p. 269). Wilamowitz's remarks on the other
side {Hermes, xxxiii. 492, seg.) seem to me to be overthrown by Blass,
loc. cit., and by anticipation by Christ, with whose view of the age of
Plato's mother I agree.
On the whole, the conservative tendency in these questions is
perceptibly gaining the upper hand. Grote, it is true, who wished to
exempt the whole Corpus Platonicum, as Thrasyllus attests it, from all
attack, certainly went beyond the mark. For we believe that we have
refuted his fundamental premiss, the assumption of a school-library
which preserved the writings of Plato, and which Aristophanes could
still consult {Platoniscke Aufsatze, ii.) ; and no words need be spent
on his incidental attempts to interpret out of existence the expressions
of doubt in antiquity (e.g. Plato, i. 167, seg.). But his mockery of
the misuse of the " Platonic sense," his indication of the grotesque
contradictions of subjective criticism, have borne fruit. Through the
growth also of the historical sense, the ground has been cut from
under hazardous constructions. To-day it scarcely seems credible to
us that the most pre-eminent veteran in the study of the history of
philosophy, a little more than sixty years ago, declared the Laws to be
un-Platonic, against the express testimony of Aristotle. Here a place
may be found for a double caution, (i) Observe the astonishing
inconsequence, which is not seldom committed in this sphere. A
positive testimony to genuineness by Athenaeus or JEVxaxi is reckoned
as null ; but a faintly indicated doubt of these very writers, even
when it directly contradicts the testimony of the Alexandrians five
hundred years earlier, is to be a sufficient ground, not merely to
counter-balance it in the particular case, but to put the whole Corpus
Platonicum in the dock. (2) But as regards rejection on internal
grounds, our exposition in the text (pp. 277-280) may be followed by
a warning drawn from personal experience. Any one who broods
over and steeps himself in one of the less prominent dialogues, easily
perceives many objections, which seem to justify a sentence of
rejection. But if one reads a number of the dialogues in quick
succession, it happens many times that a single impression of that
kind is corrected and set aside by a second impression. What seemed
objectionable in A is repeated in B, and this time in union with
excellences which exclude every thought of non-Platonic origin.
Page 283 (Bottom). " When ... we read in a late author : "
both quotations from Diog. Laert., iii. 38 (on the other side Cicero,
Oral., xiii. 41) and iii. 35.
314 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
Page 284 (Top). " Meno " and " Symposium : " cf. Symp., 193 A,
Meno, go A, compared with Xen., Hellen., iii. 5. i. Up to the present,
no other at all certain explanation has been found for these allusions.
(Below) " The comparative study." For the questions here treated
the foundation was laid by the prize essay of Friedrich Ueberweg,
crowned by the Vienna Academy, Untersuchungen iiber die Echtheit
und Zeitfolge platonischer Sckriften (Vienna, 1861). The mutual
back-references and anticipations in the Platonic writings have been
followed up with important results by Siebeck, Untersuchungen zur
Geschichte der Philosophie, p. 107, seq. (2nd ed.). The present writer
has also entered this field {Platoniscke Aufsdtze, i.).
Page 285. The investigation of the statistics of the language was
started by two researchers independent of each other, but essentially
agreeing in their results. Lewis Campbell came first, in his edition
mentioned above (note on p. 279), which has been followed by an
important excursus in his and Jowett's edition of the Republic, ii. 46,
seq. (Oxford, 1894), and further by an essay on the place of the
Parmenides {Classical Review, vol. x.). Next came Wilhelm Ditten-
berger, with his paper (1881, in Hermes, xvi. 421, seq\ Sprachliche
Kriterien fiir die Chronologie der platonischen Dialoge. The most
important further contributions have been added by M. Schanz, in
Hermes,-xx.\. (1886), 439, j^j-. ; Constantin Ritter, Untersuchungen uber
Plato (Stuttgart, 1888); and Hans von Arnim, in the Winter Pro-
gramme of the University of Rostock, 1896-7, De Platonis Dialogis
Qumstiones Chronologica. The whole literature on this subject may
be found, collected and estimated, in Lutoslawski's work. The Origin
and Growth of Plato's Logic (London, 1897). The present writer
has reported on the progress of this branch of study in the Zeitschr.
filr Philos. und Philos. Kritik, vol. 109, p. 162, seq., and in the
Anzeiger der Kais. Akademie der Wissenschaften, April 20, 1898.
Book V. — Chapter III.
Page 288. Karl Friedrich Hermann : in his work, Geschichte und
System der Platonischen Philosophic, ist (and only) part (Heidelberg,
1839). Hermann's principal service was that he freed Platonic study
from the spell of Schleiermacher's ingenious but deceitful construction.
According to it, Plato in his early youth had thought out a plan of
philosophic production, and executed it in the course of his long life.
Every preceding dialogue had prepared the reader for a successor,
the totahty of the dialogues together had formed a course of philosophy.
Apart from its inadequate proof and the violence with which it is
applied to particulars, the hypothesis suggests three decisive objections.
How wonderful it would be, if even a philosophic genius had sketched
a plan in his early youth to embrace his whole career ; yet more
wonderful, if he had kept to it, never diverted by inward growth or
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 315
outward influences ; and finally, most wonderful of all, he is supposed
to have regarded the succession of his works and the gradation of
the teaching to be drawn from them as so supremely important, and
yet not to have transmitted it to posterity by any plain and easily
recognizable sign ! By overturning this phantom, Hermann left the
ground free for the historical treatment of the whole matter, and at
the same time made possible the unprejudiced understanding and
equitable estimate of the separate writings, whereby they were rescued
— so far as first principles went — from the sway of the hypercritical
mania for rejection. (Below) Aristotle, Metaph., A. 6 and M. 4
(1078 b, 30, oAX' i fiev SioKpdTTis to Ka06Kov ou p^wpiffTck eirolei, k.t.A.).
Page 289 (Top). " Predecessors of K. F. Hermann : " I am
thinking especially of Friedrich Ast, Platan's Leben und Schriften
(Leipzig, 1816). This scholar did, it is true, put the Protagoras at the
head of the " Socratic " dialogues, which certainly is approximately
right (p. 56) ; but he joined the Phcedrus to it as second, and (after the
Gorgias) the Phcedo as fourth.
Page 290 (Top). The characteristic marks and description of
Plato's aged period are best given by Campbell in the writings
above cited. His assignments of time agree almost throughout
with those of Dittenberger {op. cit.). As early as 1854 Friedrich
Ueberweg came fairly near to the now accomplished solution of this
problem. In his paper, Uber die platonische Weltseele {Rhein. Mus.,
N. F., ix.), to which we are inclined to award the first place among all
the studies on Plato that we know, he has distinguished three series
of writings, according to the presence, absence, and modifications of
the theory of ideas. He counts the Phadrus in the second group, the
Timceus in the third, at the head of which he puts the Parmenides
(p. 52, seq^. At this time he was as yet untouched by the scepticism
which afterwards made him nibble at the genuineness of the
Parmenides and the Sophists (p. 70).
Page 296, § 3. Siebeck has here committed an instructive error.
In the Republic, iv. 430 B, a definition of " courage " is given, and at the
same time, in 430 C, a more exact research into the matter is promised.
Here can be recognized only an unfulfilled promise, the announce-
ment of a purpose which is only inadequately carried out in Bk. vi.
486 A, B. But Siebeck refers this announcement to the Laches {op. cit.,
p. 127), which he therefore makes later than Rep., iv. But, since he
makes the Protagoras, not without probability, later than the Laches
(p. 120), and the Gorgias and Meno later than the Protagoras, quite
rightly, and the Phadrus later than the Gorgias, just as rightly
(p. 129), thus (to say nothing of the opposing evidence of linguistic
criteria), the middle period of Plato's authorship is incredibly over-
weighted, and his early creative period practically emptied. Any one
who looks more carefully, moreover, will by no means conclude with
Siebeck, from the comparison of Rep., iv. 430 C, with Laches, 196 D,
3l6 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
that the Laches contains "the fulfilment of the promise given in
Re<p., 430 C." In the Laches the conception of animal courage is
•elicited, and pari passu elaborated from many single cases ; but in
the Republic it is handled with certainty as a possession of long
standing. The much more probable inference is the opposite order.
When von Arnim also {De Platonis Dial. Quasi. Chronol.,-p. 19) makes
the Laches later than we do, though not so late as Siebeck, he seems
to me to be overrating the cogency of some few answer-formulas.
Page 300. It belongs to the most extraordinary delusions of
hypercriticism, that even the charming Charmides, not less than the
Lysis, "two jewels in the crown of the Platonic work, small, but of the
finest polish " (Lehrs, Plato's Phcedrus und Gastmahl, xv.), have been
victims of excision at the hands of Ast, Socher, and others, down to
the latest times.
Page 305 (Bottom). The parallel to Charmides, 174 B, in Gorgias,
449 B, has been pointed out by my revered teacher Bonitz, in Platan.
Stud., 251 (3rd ed.), a work to which here and elsewhere our
expositions owe much.
Book V. — Chapter IV.
Page 310. George Grote, Plato, ii. 45.
Page 314. "The second fallacy:" against Bonitz's view, that
the reasoning here treated {Protag., 332 A) " is not seriously meant
by Plato " {op. cit., p. 265), in my judgment the fact is decisive that
Plato, while he was still a pure Socratist, could not be fully conscious
of the double sense of acj>po<rip-ri. For such a strict distinction is
incompatible with the intellectualist doctrine, according to which
the will is determined exclusively by knowledge. It is strange that
Bonitz mistakes this, and at the same time has overlooked the fact
that in this discussion Plato is exactly on the level of the Xenophontic
Socrates. Bonitz himself formulates the " dictum, whose proof is
here undertaken," which he supposes not to be seriously meant, as
ffutppoaivTt Kol ao(pta toutiJ, without ever remembering, as it seems, the
sentence of the Memorabilia (iii. 9. 4), irixjilay . . . Kal ira^poirivriv oi
Bi^pt^ev.
If Plato, as Bonitz has rightly remarked, goes further in this
passage than anywhere else, in the identification of the separate
virtues, this can be explained, in my view of the dialogue, apart from
the young author's comparative want of independence, by the difference
of the points of view which prevail here and elsewhere. In the
Protagoras the object is to expound and to confirm, in oppositioi
to the current view and its embodiment in a brilliant representative
the inner connexion of the Socratic principles. So it might easilj
happen, that the several doctrines appear in the form most sharph
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 317
accented and furthest removed from common opinion, while the points
of contact between the new and the usual opinion, which are really
present and on other occasions are consciously appreciated, are here
unduly neglected. Hence comes this liking for paradox, which has
also caused the surprising hedonistic colouring of the final discussion.
Page 315. " Laborious pastime : " cf. Parmenides, 317 b (vpay/ia.
ret^Sri nmSiav iralieiv).
Page 318 (Bottom). The thought formerly occurred to the writer,
and similarly to Teichmiiller ij^itterarische Fehden, ii. p. 52), that
Plato is here (Protag., 349 E, seq^ disputing against Xenophon
{Memor., iv. 6, 10, seq."). But, not to speak of the almost insoluble
chronological difficulties, it would have been a very odd kind of polemic,
only perceptible to a reader here and there.
Page 322. " The reader of the Platonic Laws : " v. 732 E. This
parallel would of itself be sufficient to dispose of the once common
and not yet extinct view that the " hedonistic " discussion at the end
01 the Protagoras is not meant seriously. Moreover, the 9th book
of the Republic also contains a passage (576 E-588 A), a discussion, in
which the sensations of pleasure and pain (JiiovaX and ^.BTrai) are named
and discussed as the elements of happiness and its opposite (euSai/ioyla
and dSAiiJTTjs).
Book V.— Chapter V.
The succession of thoughts and the structure of the Gorgias are
eminently well expounded by Bonitz, op. cit., pp. 1-46.
Page 331. " The surprise of ancient as well as modern readers : "
cf. note on p. 342.
Page 33S (Bottom). " A pupil of the Pythagoreans." The many
and strong traces of Pythagorean influence in the Gorgias have been
till now scarcely noticed by the commentators, and in any case not
duly estimated. In Schleiermacher's and Jowett's introductions, also
in Grote's Plato, ch. xxii., I find no expression pointing that way. In
Gercke's introduction {Plafonds ausgewdhlte Dialoge, ekrlart von H.
Sauppe, iii. herausg. von A. Gercke), we meet a quite cursory indication
of a single passage (493 A), with the remark, " He " (that is, the his-
torical Socrates) " would never have had recourse to Pythagorean
doctrines." But hither belong also the passages referred to in the
text (465 B-C, 505 E, 507 E-S08 A), and much besides.
Page 340, § 6. The description of the judgment of the dead is the
first of the eschatological myths which occur in Plato. They have
been treated as a whole by Dohring {Archiv fir Gesch. der Philos.,
1893, vi. 475, seq.) and A. Dieterich {Nekyid), who agree in essentials.
Both derive these representations from Orphic-Pythagorean sources.
Dieterich's proof of the correspondence of Plutarch, De Latenter
Vivendo, ad fin. {Moralia, 1382, 12, seq., Diibner), with Rep., 614 E,
3l8 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
and the origin of both representations from a lost poem of Pindar,
seems to me quite successful. Among Dohring's remarks, we call
special attention to those which relate to the deeper meaning which
Plato gives to the theory of retribution (Vol. III. p. 92).
Page 342 (Top). " A lost dialogue of Aristotle : " on this lost
dialogue, entitled N^picflor, cf. Bernays, Die Dialoge des Aristoteles,
p. 89, seq. For what follows, cf. Athenaeus, xi. 505, D-E. (Below)
"Debate on the value of rhetoric :" cf. Quintil., ii. 15, 24, seq., the
present writer's essay. Die herculanischen Rollen, in Zeitsfkr. fur
osterr. Gymn., 1866, p. 697, seq. The two orations of Aristides are
called Tpis TiKirava, irepl fniTopiKrjs. In the oration vTTcp Tav TtTTopav is
found the passage (ii. 99, 7, Dindorf) to which I refer in Vol. II. pp.
331, 343, elr' kXeyx^tif p.^v ^ovKerai pT]TopiK-f]v, Karjiyopet Se tuv Tvpdyvap Koi
Swaa-Toiv, ra &ixiKTa fuyvvs. The reply of Porphyrius is mentioned by
Suidas, s.v. noptfiipios.
Page 343. The discovery of the connexion between the pamphlet
of Polycrates and the Gorgias is the merit of Gercke in his introduc-
tion {pp. cit, p. xliii., seq^. His assumption that Libanius has used
Lysias' defence of Socrates is superfluous. Gercke has overlooked
an important point of correspondence. Libanius, § 139 (p. 70, Rogge,
Amsterdam, 1891), quotes among the accusations the following : o^A.'
apyois, tpTjaiv, iiroUi SaKparris, with great prolixity as far as § 146 (p. 73,
Rogge). I compare the saying in Gor^'izr, 515 E, TouTi7Ap eymyc ctno^w,
Ilepi/cAea ireKoniK^vai 'Adrivaiovs apyovs Kal Sei\obs Kal \d\ovs Koi <j>i\apy^povs, eis
■ iu(r6o<f>optav irpSmv KaTaaT-tiffavra. It is, as we say, a case of the enemy's
guns turned on himself. It would have been strange if the vtux^s
aSoXiaxn^, as Socrates is called in Eupolis (cf. note on p. 50), had not
been also assailed with the reproach of making the Athenians
chatterers, which Plato accordingly reproduces in koI Kd\ovs. And
since luaBo^apia is mentioned immediately afterwards, we cannot help
thinking of the leading democratic statesmen in the " nineties " of the
fourth century, who, like Agyrrhius, extended and increased the pay-
ments, and so continued the work of Pericles (cf. Aristotle, 'aStji'.
UoKiT., col. xxi., with Kenyon's remarks, p. 131, 3rd ed.). The second
important accusation may be read in Libanius, § 167, seq. (p. 82,
Rogge). The accuser has just praised Solon and Theseus, koI SieIt/ci
Tohs TOLS <ro<pia'Tats ov ffvyyevofievovSf as hyadobs &fSpas yeyevTjfJLevovv, rhv
Mi\T«£5r)c, riv ©e/uicTTOKAea, rhv ' ApitrrelSriVj k.t.A. " Plato's answer," as
Gercke rightly remarks (op. cit., p. xlvii.), " stands in the Gorgias,"
namely, in the counter-accusation of just those honoured guides of the
Athenian state. That these inferences are right, there seems to me
no room for doubt. Libanius has certainly used some not extant
source ; there are a number of passages, which absolutely exclude the
idea of free fiction, which are only intelligible as replies to accusations
recorded in a tradition, for which Plato's Apology and Xenophon
alike leave us in the lurch ; e.g., above all, the passage just mentioned
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 319
(§ 167). !Now, since one of the few points which we know in
Polycrates' pamphlet is the reference to Conon's services (Favorinus
in Diog. Laert., ii. 39), and this very Conon with his comrade
Thrasybulus is treated in Libanius (§ 177, p. 86, Rogge), no doubt on
the main question can remain. Of Wilamowitz's inversion of the
relation {Berlin. Sitzungs-Berichte, Oct. 26, 1899), it will be time
enough to judge when we are made acquainted with the grounds of
this view.
Page 345. The fallacies here exhibited are found in the Gorgias,
474 E, seq., 476 B, seq. ; the first member of the second pair (p. 349)
in 497 E, seq., the second paralogism (p. 350) in 496 E, seq.
Page 349 (Middle). Cf. Rudolf von Jhering, Scherz und Ernst
in der Jurisprudem (Leipzig, 1884), p. 245, seq. : " Im juristischen
Begriffshimmel."
Page 350. " Precisely as in the Laws : " v. 734, C-D.
Page 351. "Sometimes recognizes a variety of goods, of which
wisdom is the highest :" Laws, i. 631 B-C. " N.ot merely the highest,
but the only good:" Euthydemus, 281 E. ("Bottom) "A previous
want." Here may be mentioned Guyau, Esquisse d!une morale sans
obligation ni sanction, who proves very convincingly that the desire
which precedes the enjoyment need by no means be always felt as
pain. Extreme hunger is torture, appetite is pleasant. Before the
satisfaction of a desire comes, not pain, but a sensation of pleasure, if
the desire keeps short of a certain degree of intensity, and its satis-
faction is held to be attainable and easily attainable.
Page 353 (Top). The two contradictory passages, Gorgias, 460 B
[ohKQvv KaTci TovTov rhv \6yoy Koi 6 t^ SiKaia fiefiadTiK&is SiKaios) and 525 C
{oil yap oXiv tc iWus [i.e. without punishment] dSixlas airaWdTTea-Oat).
Page 354 (Middle). The juxtaposition of the differing ethical
standards : Laws, ii. 663 D and v. 734.
Page 356. Passage on the "judgment of the dead," 525 D. (Below)
Pindar, Fragm., 133, Bergk, preserved by Plato {Meno, 81 B),
Empedocles (457, seq., ed. Stein).
Book V.— Chapter VI.
Page 358. Piety (icriorrjs) appears as one of the cardinal virtues in
Protag., 330 B, Gorg., 507 B (koI }i.^v Trepl itkv hvQpdmovs Th. irpoffriKovTa irpdr-
Tiev SUai it.vTrp6.TToi, ircpl 5c Beois iaia), Laches, 199 D ; on the other hand,
the Repttblic,\\. 441 C-443 B, only knows theother four cardinal virtues.
Our dialogue was understood as early as Schleiermacher (i. 2, 38, 3rd
ed.) to be a necessary hint towards the elimination of icrioTris (but
with reference only to the Protagoras). Others, as Lutoslawski
notices, Plato's Logic, p. 200, have also brought in the Gorgias. Our
chronological order, though for quite different reasons, also appears in
320 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
K. F. Hermann, Geschichte und System, etc., p. 480. On the rejections
of Ast and others, I prefer silence.
Page 359. With the criticism of the myths of Kronos and Uranus,
cf. Rep., ii. 378.
Page 361 (Bottom). " It has long been recognized." I am here
thinking of Bonitz's excellent discussion, Platonische Studien, 227,
seq. (3rd ed.), especially p. 234, seq.
Page 366. " Many believers in revealed religion : " on the moral
positivism of certain nominalists, cf. Ueberweg-Heinze, Grundriss,
ii. 226 ; also 309, seq. (8th ed.). Information on many details in
Cathrein, Moralphilosophie, i. 530 (2nd ed.). Not only Occam and
Gerson, but Descartes and Pufendorf appear among the classics of
moral positivism.
Page 367 (Top). Kant, Werke, x. 184, seq. (ed. Rosenkranz and
Schubert). A lofty irony, playing with the facts, is characteristic
of the Euthyphro, and proclaims itself at the very beginning. The
accuser of Socrates is not reviled as in the Gorgias (486 B, KaT-ijy6po\.
Tvxiiv Trim <pav\ov xal /loxBripov), but treated with cold and towering
contempt. The art is also lofty, which knows how to interweave,
unconstrained and as it were unintentionally, the single case with the
discussion of first principles to which it gives rise. Great also is the
logical maturity of the writer. Notice the distinction between oiicrla.
and vdBos (11 A), M ir\4oy (the further extension) of a conception, the
application of the word m6Beais, which seems to be entirely wanting
in the Protagoras group, and is here used more technically than in
the Gorgias (454 C). Finally, the precision with which the con-
ception of 80-101' is subordinated to that of SUaiov (12 D), in sharp
contrast to their co-ordination, agreeing with the popular view, in the
Gorgias (507 B), offers a further and desirable proof of the chrono-
logical order which we support. Moreover, the Euthyphro affords
perhaps the most decisive instance to disprove Grote's view of the
" dialogues of search " as genuinely coming to no result. (Below ,
§ 3). The genuineness of the Meno, doubted by Ast and Schaar-
schmidt, is, thanks to Aristotle, better attested than that of the
Protagoras and Gorgias. Cf. the passages in Ueberweg's Unter-
suchungen, p. 139.
Page 368 (Middle). On Gorgias's definition of colour, see Vol. I.
p. 594.
Page 369. " Utterance of Xenophanes : " cf. Meno, 80 D, % «' (col 3
Ti fw.\iirTa hrlxois aiiT^, Tras eifirei Sti rourd kff-nv & (rh ovk ■fSriaBa ; with
Xenophanes, Fragm. 14 (MuUach) (referred to in Vol. I. pp. 164 and
310) : « 74p Kol rh. /idM^ra rixoi T€Te\e(r/ieiiov emdiv, avrhs S/ias ovk o'lSe, k.t.,\.
Page 370 (Top). Pindar, Fragm., 134 (Bergk, Poetce Lyr. Gr., i.
428) (4th ed.). On the geometrical discussion in chapter 15, cf.
Cantor, Vorlesungen uber Geschichte der Mathematik, i. 204, seq.
(2nd ed.). What is there given is "the proof of the theorem of
Pythagoras for the case of the isosceles right-angled triangle."
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 32 I
Page 371 (Middle). The bribing of Ismenias, here mentioned,
has been applied as chronological criterion not to be disregarded,
p. 284 above.
Page 373 (Top). " The work of binding them." The connexion
between reminiscence {Swiiivniris) and the apprehension of causes
(aWoi Koyianis) remains obscure, so long as " cause " is thought of as
the actual causal process, which of course is discovered empirically.
Plato is rather thinking of reason than of cause. The word " deduc-
tion " is wanting, but deductive knowledge is that which he has here
in his eye, which alone seems to him to offer indisputable certainty,
and for whose visible presentation mathematics offers him the most
appropriate examples. (Below, § 4) Here I borrow much from my
treatise, Platonische Aufsatze, i. p. 5, seq. (Vienna, 1887). Probably,
also, the fact may be used as evidence of the chronological place of
the Meno, that in several passages, where there would be a motive
for it (74 A and 88 A), piety is not mentioned as a separate virtue.
So far as this criterion goes, it suggests that the Euthyphro preceded
the Meno.
Page 375 (Middle). "Palinode to the Corgias:'' observe the
glaring contrast between —
Goz-^oj, 516 E-517 A. Meno, g^ A.
2m. 'AAijfleis i,pa . . . oi l/iirpoffOev 2w. "K/ioiye, S> 'Ayure, KaX etvai
\6yot ^(Tav, Hti oitStva Jifiels ifffiev SoKovtrw ei^ddSe ayaOol tvl iroA,tTi/cA,
^vSpit SiyaShv yiyavlna to. itoKLTMh. koX ytyavivai en ohx ?ttov % eiyat.
Page 377 (Top). Praise of Aristides in the Gorgias, els Si Kal
irdvv iXK6yi.iiios yeyove (in reputation for righteous government) /cal els
Toils &Wous "EWnvas 'ApiartiSris S Avai/idxov (526 B).
Page 378. Retrospective reference in the Phaedo (72 E, seq^ to
the Meno (81 A, seq^. Ci. Schleiermacher, ii. 3, 11 (3rd ed.) ;
Ueberweg, Untersuchungen, 289, seq. ; Siebeck, Untersuchungen, iii.
(2nd ed.). Siebeck recognizes also " the priority of the Protagoras
to the Meno and Gorgias" {op. cit., p. 129), while Ueberweg {pp. cit,
p. 296) remarks with full justice, " The Meno must at least be later
than the Gorgias^''
Book v.— Chapter VII.
Page 379. " Aristotle speaks in a certain passage : " IpariKo! \iym,
in the middle of a polemic against Plato, Politics, B. 4, 1262 b, with
reference to the speech of Aristophanes in the Symposium. (Below)
" Goethe expressed himself : " Gesprdche, ed. Biedermann, vii. 294.
Page 380 (Top). The point of view mentioned here has been
emphasized by Wilamowitz, Gotting. gel. Anzeigen, 1896, p. 636.
TheTheraic inscriptions in question, in Inscript. Gracce Insul. Maris
32 2 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
^gai, fasc. iii., ed. Hiller von Gartringen, No. 536, seg. On Spartan
customs, cf. Gilbert, Handbuch der Griech. Staatsaltertumer, i. 70, on
Cretan customs, especially Ephorus in Strabo, x. (483-4). (Bottom)
^^ Albanian Studies,^'' p. 166. The instructive work of Havelock Ellis
on Sexual Inversion, p. 5, has given me the reference.
Page 381 (Middle). The stories of Agesilaus and Xenophon in
Xenoph., Ages., 5. 5, and Ion in Athenasus, xiii. 603-4. (Below) On
the later perversion of the friendship of Achilles and Patroclus, cf. the
collection in Roscher's Lexicon der Mythologie, i. 43, 45, seq.
Page 382 (Top). Cf. Mahaffy, Greek Life and Thought from
Alexander's Death, p. 254 (2nd ed.). (Middle) "We marry in
order that," etc. : [Demost.] Or., lix., § 122. (Bottom) The genuine-
ness of the Lysis, attacked by Ast, Socher, etc., is sufficiently assured
by the numerous allusions of Aristotle alone (cf. Ueberweg, Unter-
sicchungen, 172, seq^, but of course a fortiori by its intrinsic quality.
The parallel with the Symposium, which in some passages becomes
verbal agreement, while the Symposium is worked out in an in-
comparably greater style, and separated from the Socratic phase of
apparent in conclusiveness by its positive solutions, scarcely allows a
doubt either of the chronological neighbourhood of the two dialogues
or of the order Lysis, Symposium.
Page 383, § 2. The fragments of Agathon in Nauck, 592, seq.
(2nd ed.).
Page 393 (Bottom). " An allusion to the Charmides : " i.e. 205
E, compared with Charmides, 163 B. As regards the relation to the
Meno, cf. Symp., 202 A, with Meno, 97 A, seq.
Page 394. " Judgment pronounced on the poets : " cf. 209 A, seq.,
as against Gorgias, 502 B. " Justification of ambition : " 208 C, com-
pared with Rep., i. 347 B. (Below) Our view of the internal struchure
is approached most nearly by Arnold Hug (Platen's Symposium,
Leipzig, 1876).
Page 396. " Dion, to whom Plato dedicated an epitaph." The
small poem (in Bergk, Poetcs Lyr. Gr., ii. p. 301, 4th ed.) ends
with the line S ijxhv ittixiivas Bviibv epari Aluv. On this one point — the
" reference to Dio ''■ — I have the pleasure of finding myself in agreement
with Paul Natorp, in his latest work, Plato's Ideenlehre eine Einfuhr-
ting in den Idealismns (Leipzig, 1903}, p. 166, note i. The extent to
which our views diverge on other matters may be best seen from the
manner in which Natorp {ibid., p. 171) conceives the final goal of the
love-throes described by Diotima : " But if the beautiful represents
simply that which is according to law, the one beautiful necessarily
signifies the law of uniformity itself; that is, the ultimate, central
union of all particular knowledge in the primary law of knowledge
itself, in its basis of pure method." That there is no ground for
doubting the genuineness of this and other Platonic poems, I share
the conviction with von Wilamowitz.
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 323
VOL. III.
Book v. — Chapter VIII.
Page I, § I. Cf. above all Tylor, Primitive Culture, ii. 222.
D'Acosta's Historia de las Indtas is accessible to me only in the
French translation (Paris, 1592). There the passage quoted by
Tylor is on p. 214, seq. Laffiteau, Mceurs des Sauvages Amiricains,
i. p. 360, also quoted by Debrosses, Du Culte des Dieux fMches,
P- 59i gives the information on the belief of the Iroquois, that every
kind of animal has its archetype in the land of souls, ce qui revient
aux idies de Platon.
Page 2 (Top). Herbart, Ges. Werke, xii. 8 1. The account by
Aristotle, Metaph., A. 6, and similarly M. 4.
Page 4 (Top). (Hippocrates, ncpl Tex>")s, § 2, vi. 3, 4, ed. Littrd),
cf. the author's Apologie der Heilkunst, pp. 44 and 107, seq. (Middle)
Epicharmus. In Kaibel, Com. Grac. Fragm., i. i, p. 123 (Fragm.
171 = 41 Lorenz). (Below) " In the words of Hermann Bonitz : "
Platonische Studien, p. 201 (3rd ed.).
Page 5. " As John Stuart Mill assumed : " in Dissertations and
Discussions, ii. 348, seq.
Page 7. "An attempted reconciliation:" this attempt belongs
to Herbert Spencer. (Below) " The empirical school," etc. : cf.
especially the sections on this matter in Mill's Logic, above all book
ii. chs. 5-7 J similarly Helmholtz, Vber den Ursprung und die
Bedeutung der Geometrischen Axiome, Populare Aufsatze, p. 23, seq.,
and his Zdhlen und Messen, erkenntnistheoretisch betrachtet, in
PhilosopMsche Aufsatze, Eduard Zeller gewidinet, p. 17, seq., and in
the same connection Kronecker, Uber den Zahlbegriff, p. 263, seq
Stallo's polemic against Mill {Theories and Concepts of Modern
Physics, p. 138, seq^ is partly, but only partly, to the point. Much
nearer to our, that is to the empirical, position, than Stallo, whom he
himself introduced to the German public, comes Ernst Mach, in the
excursuses on the theory of knowledge which he has appended to his
Prindpien der Wdrmelehrej cf. also his Analyse der Empfindungen,
264., seq. (3rd ed.).
Page 10, § 3. Xenophanes and his irreSiua : according to Diog.
Laert., ix. ig ; cf. Rohde, Psyche, ii. 258 (2nd ed.). (Middle)
For the ancient Aryan conceptions in general, cf. Darmesteter,
Zend-Avesta, i. 187 {Sacred Books of the East, iv.), where traces
of the doctrine of the return of the components of man to the
elements are proved to be also found in the Ri^- Veda and the Edda.
(Below) The quotation from Epicharmus ; Fragm. 246 Kaibel = 8
Lorenz. The present writer has lately treated the genuineness of
this and similar fragments {Beitrdge zur Kritik und Erkldrtmg, etc.,
vii. p. 5, seq\ and also the far-reaching correspondences between
324 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
Epicharmus and Xenophanes (ibid., p. 9). Intercourse of both at the
court of Hiero ; according to the Marmor Parium in C. I. G., ii. p. 302,
Clem. Alex., Strom., i. 14, 64 (353 Potter), Plut. Apophthegm, 175
{Moralia, 208, 29, seq., ed. Dubner). "An allusion of Aristotle:"
Metaph, r. 5, loioa, 5, treated by the present writer, Beitrage, iii. 8, seq.,
where the verse is recovered, fltc^ras fiev ou/c ^0a t6S' &aa.' a\a9cas e<i>a, now
Fragm. 252 Kaibel. (Bottom) Menander, in fragments of Epicharmus,
239 Kaibel =11 Lorenz ; the next fragment, 249 Kaibel, = 2 Lorenz.
Page 12 (Bottom). " Story told by Herodotus : " vi. 86.
Page 14. Renan, Les Apotres, Introd., p. Ixiv. Cf. also his
profound remarks in Hist, du Peuple d'Israel, iv. 359-6o.
Book V. — Chapter IX.
Page 16. " These words of Goethe : " Gesprdche mit Eckermann,
p. lOI.
Page 17 (Top). "Speech of Polycrates in praise of mice," etc.:
cf. Blass, Attische Beredsamkeit, ii. 367, seq. (2nd ed.).
Page 20 (Middle). An unmistakable reference back to the Gorgias
in the Phcedrus, 260 E : Hffirep yctp axoieiv SokS, . . . ovK icTi Te'xi^, 4\x'
inexvos Tpi|3^. Plato holds fast to his newly attained estimate of
rhetoric, even in the Politicus, 304 A (cf. Thompson, Phadrus, Introd.,
p. xvi.). Another echo of the Gorgias (452 E) in Phadrus, 261 A.
The hasty gliding over the name of the venerated orator {j^ofy'mv . . .
kdaa/iej/ e88eij») corresponds best with this chronology. Plato could not
have permitted himself this liberty, unless he had already dealt with
him to the best of his power. 260 A and 260 D also remind us of
that dialogue.
Page 21 (Middle). " Organic unity." The comparison of a work
of literary art to an organism appears here for the first time (J'hadrus,
264 C and 268 D), and recurs, as Thompson pointed out {pp. cit., p. 103),
in Philebus, 64 B, and a little modified in Politicus, 377 B. Here, as
so often, Aristotle follows the steps of his master {Poetics, ch. 23,
1459 A, 20). The thought was also frequent with the young Goethe
(Weimar ed., 37. 315).
Page 22 (Bottom). " This passage . . . search for themselves : "
cf. Schleiermacher, Einleitung zu Platon's Werken, i. i. 16 (3rd ed.).
Page 24 (Top). Plato's political aversion from Lysias and pre-
ference for Isocrates is treated excellently by Niebuhr, Vortrdge iiber
alte Geschichte, ii. 212. (Middle) "This art of character-drawing : "
cf. the ancient judgments in Blass, op. cit., i. 392 (2nd ed.). If the
realistic quality of Sophron's mimes attracted Plato (cf. Vol. II. p. 264),
but repelled him in Lysias' forensic speeches, the contradiction is more
in the words than in the fact. That kind of mime, which we partly
know from the fragments and still more from Theocritus' imitations
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 325
illuminated every-day life by a freely playing humour ; the advocacy
of Lysias sticks fast to every-day life, and is likely to have seemed to
the author of the Republic an offence against his prohibition : rk S'
o«\ei!flep« iit^TS iroieTc /n^re Seivoiis eTyoi fun'titrairBai (ill. 395 C ; cf. also 396
D, 397 A, 398 A, and further the judgment against everything
" banausic," vi. 495 D).
Page 25 (Top). " ^schines was attacked by him : " cf. note on p.
124. (Middle) The influence of Socratic teaching on Isocrates is treated
thoroughly, and on the whole convincingly, in spite of many less
weighty arguments, by Schroder, QucBsHones Isocratece Duce (Utrecht,
1859, pp. 1-41). Some particulars are mentioned by ancient tradition :
[Plutarch] Vitce Decern Oratorum, iv. 35 {Mor., 1022, 16, Diibner). The
final compliment also at the end of the Pkcedrusxs scarcely intelligible
without personal relations between the two. (Below) " Antagonism to
Antisthenes : " cf. Blass, op. cit, ii. 45 (2nd ed.). That at the time when
Plato wrote the Phadrus he was already unfavourable to Antisthenes,
may not improbably be inferred from the ridicule on the interpretation
of myths, 229 B, seq. (Bottom) The much-disputed statement of Cicero
{Orator., xiii. 42), " Hsec de adulescente Socrates auguratur, at ea de
seniore scribit Plato et scribit sequalis," we take to be completely
justified. Our view of the famous prophecy was anticipated a gene-
ration ago by Thompson [pp. cit., pp. 182, 183), and Constantin Ritter
has also judged likewise, though not without some exaggeration
{Untersuchungen iiiber Plato, p. 133).
Page 26. The relations between Isocrates and Plato have been
an object of almost endless discussion. The foundation was laid by
Leonhard Spengel, who did much service to the understanding of Plato
as well as of Aristotle, in the paper Isokrates und Platan {Munchener
Akademie-Schriften, 1855). Isocrates speaks of his " philosophy " in
Orat., xii. § 9, xv. § 50 ; cf. also § 41 ; in opposition to the barrenness of the
"so-called philosophy," §§ 270 and 181, and with direct reference to
Plato in Or., x. ad init. ; on the " princes of the contentious art," in xv.
§ 261. The raving outburst against the dead Plato in v. § 12 came
a year after Plato's death, and so, probably, under the immediate
impression of the fresh-published Laws and their expressions of com-
plete hostihty to the rhetorical profession (xi. 937, 938). Isocrates'
self-appreciation is probably expressed most strongly in xii. 13 and
XV. 46, seq.
Page 27, § 4. The correspondence between Phadrus, 269 D and
Isocrates' Sophists (xiii.) §§15-18 was first observed and discussed, not
by Reinhardt, De Isocratis Mmulis, as Blass erroneously states {op. cit.,
ii. 29, 2nd ed.),but long before by Spengel {pp. cit., p. 17). The present
writer agrees with those who hold Plato for the borrower, like Blass^
I.C.; tJberweg, Philologvs, xxvii. 177; '&tx^,Fiinf Abhandlungen, etc., p.
31; Siebeck, I7ntersuchungen,i2(),seq.; Zycha {16th Leopoldstddter Gyvi-
nasial-Programm, Vienna, 1880), p. 23; Natorp,//£^;««, xxxv. 389, seq. ;
VOL. III. Z
326 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
and (less decidedly) Thompson, op. cit., p. 120. The most thorough
proof is given by Siebeck, Lc, who has most strictly investigated the
relation of both works. Closely connected with this is the important
question of the date of the Phadrus. The anonymous ancient statement
that it was Plato's first-fruit (cf. Vol. II. p. 283) has found much support.
Schleiermacher, though he gives no authority to that tradition {Platan's
Werke, i. i, p. 53, 3rd ed.), yet believes that the purpose of the dialogue
and the method of its fulfilment " indisputably " secure to it " the
earliest place among all the works of Plato " {pp. cit., p. 47). Bonitz
also defends the early composition of the Pkadrus. He finds, briefly
stated, that the various subjects treated are not brought into such
complete and unconstrained connexion as might be expected from
Plato's perfected skill. " To excellences, which can only be attained
by an artist of genius, are united defects, in which we must recognize
the artist just beginning " {Platon. Studien, 292, 3rd ed.). We may
answer, I think, that the blame for the defects mentioned by Bonitz
lies not with insufficient skill in the mastery of the task, but in its too
great difficulty. The thinness of the "connecting threads," the
obviousness of the "joints in the structure," both recur to an increased
degree in the Republic and the Laws. To judge the Phczdrus with
complete equity, Bonitz should have compared it with these works, not
with the "small works, unimportant in content," nor yet with the
" perfected works," of which the content, while supremely important,
is incomparably more uniform. The latest attempt to claim the
Phadrus for Plato's early period has been made by Usener {Rhein.
Mus., XXXV. 131, seq^. According to him, Plato wrote the Phcsdrus
" surprisingly early, as early as his twenty-fifth year," i.e. 403 or 402.
To say nothing of all other reasons, that is, in my judgment, quite
excluded by the way in which Lysias appears as " the most important
speech-writer of his time : " Sia/6-raTos rSiv viv . . . ypd(peiv (228 A). For
Lysias, as Grote {Plato, i. 200) points out in a similar connexion,
delivered a speech in 403,in which he speaks of his " inexperience."
This might, as a last resort, be explained as want of practice
in public appearance. But the surrounding words, fiii Sict Ti\v
efjLtreipiav sLya^tas Kal aSwdras , . . ttjv Kwrriyopiav iroi-iitTa^ai {Oral., xii.
§ 3), make it appear quite impossible, as I judge with Blass, op.
cit., i. 542 (2nd ed.), that he was then already a celebrated speech-
writer. Also this oration describes his personal fortunes and the
overthrow which they received under the rule of the Thirty Tyrants.
Before it he was very well off, and has only lately become poor.
This is a second decisive reason against the view that before that
he had been an orator by profession, and an expert, so that he
could be opposed to the "layman" (iShSttis), as is done in the
Ph(Edrus, l.c. Compare what we have collected on the low esteem of
such a " banausic " occupation in Vol. I. p. 580 (note on p. 417). Only
reasons of absolutely overwhelming strength would enable us to make
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 327
such a presupposition. In truth, the date of none of Lysias' orations
leads us further back than that time. Usener's proof rests chiefly on
■ the notice in Cicero, Brutus, xii. 48 : " Nam Lysiam primo profiteri
solitum artem dicendi ; deinde, quod Theodorus esset in arte subtilior,
in orationibus autem ieiunior, orationes eum scribere aliis ccepisse,
• artem removisse." Although Aristotle may be Cicero's authority
(cf. § 46), the words of his statement are not before us, and the possi-
bility of a free reproduction by Cicero cannot be excluded. In a
word, we are not at all driven to assume that the two activities of
Lysias were mutually exclusive, and that his career as a teacher had
already preceded his earliest forensic speeches. Preferably the con-
clusions arising from the facts of his life compel us to interpret the
notice in Aristotle and Cicero as meaning that at first, but not before
403, he was a teacher of rhetoric, and that this occupation more and
more gave way to' his activity as speech-writer and advocate. The
statement of Isocrates (fir., xv. 41), quoted by Reinhardt {De Isocratis
Mmulis, p. 4), that no speech-writer ever became a teacher of rhetoric,
cannot make us doubt our view. Taken strictly, it may be true ; but,
so taken, neither does it contradict the account of Lysias' life to which
we are compelled by the facts. That the transition from one to the
other of these occupations was effected by entirely giving up the first
before the second was begun, may be true of Isocrates, who began as an
advocate and ended as a teacher, and who, moreover, was anxious to
obliterate the traces of his short career of advocacy (cf. Vol. I. p. 417).
But there cannot have been a rule without exception, which, even in
the reverse order, was bound to apply to Lysias or Antiphon.
The very remarkable echo of the Phcedrus, 275 D, 276 D-E, 277 E,
in the Oration of Alcidamas, §§ 27 and 35, has been noticed by Zycha
{op. ciL, p. 25, seq^, and the polemic of Isocrates {Panegyricus, Or.
iv. § n, seq^ against Alcidamas by Reinhardt {op. cit, p. 16) ; Zycha
has best used his observation for the chronological fixing of the
Phcedrus. The date of 380 or 381 was the most usual for the
Panegyricus (cf. Blass, op. cit, p. 25 1, 2nd ed.), and has lately been
determined more exactly by von Wilamowitz {Aristoteles und Athen.,
ii. 380) by means of the obvious reference to the Olympian festival
(Midsummer, 380). Whether the oration was "already finished in
the second half of 381," as Judeich affirms {Kleinasiat. Studien,
p. 137, seq^, and Beloch denies {Griech. Gesch., ii. 219), need not
trouble us. On the date of the Sophists, cf. Blass, op. cit., pp. 17, 22.
Page 28 (Top). "The great poets and lawgivers." The two passages
here mentioned are Symp., 100 C-D, and Phadrus, 277 E, with 278 C.
It may be objected that in Rep., x. 599 D-E, Lycurgus and Solon are
again named with honour. Yet it must not be forgotten that Plato
always paid high honour to Solon personally, as a friend of his
ancestors, and in that passage he required Lycurgus to contrast with
Homer, whom he is there blaming. In that part of the Republic, the
328 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
Sophists, as well as the legislators, are treated very leniently. The
latest attempt to prove the priority of the Phcedrus (I vo Bruns, Attische
Liebestheorien, Neue Jahrbiicher, 1900, p. 17, seq^ is ingenious, but
by no means free from artificial and violent constructions. The main
argument may be exactly reversed. The Symposium knows nothing
of personal immortality ; its place is taken by the continuation of
individual existence through bodily and intellectual posterity. But
in the Phado, the Republic, and the Laws, the question of individual
immortality is supremely important for Plato. In the Laws, as we shall
see, he even repeats a proof of immortality already given in the Phcedrus.
Hence the separate attitude of the Symposium in this respect, so far
as it proves anything, proves its own priority, not that of the Phcedrus.
(Below) "Already been the subject of much discussion." The
passages of the Phcsdo chiefly referred to are 76 D and 100 B : ci likv
eo-Tiv & 6pv\ovii€v acl, and «r' kKetva rh ir oXvB piXl)T a, both about
the doctrine of ideas, while it is said of the same doctrine, in Pkadrus,
247 C, ToX/inreov yap olv t6 ye a\7)8ey elireiy. Before Plato " dared " to
announce the doctrine of ideas in the name of Socrates, and thereby
in his own, he had put it into the mouth of the prophetess Diotima
{Symp., 211 E), and there too with reference only to the idea of beauty.
Page 29. The question here discussed has been minutely treated
by the present writer in Platon. Aufsdtze, i. {Zur Zeitfolge Platonischer
Sckrifteii). His conjecture, that the Phcedrus is extant in a second
redaction, appears to him still (or rather again, for at one time he for-
sook it) as the only path of rescue from many other insoluble diffi'
culties. There seems to him little force in the objection raised against
it, that Plato, if he had published the Phcedrus at a later date in a
second edition, would have thought himself ol)liged, by the troubled
relations with Isocrates which had intervened, to cancel the prophecy
relating to him. In truth it contained from the first only a very con-
ditional and relative praise (cf. pp. 25, 26). That on the occasion
of a revision of the text, which is all that we suppose, the author of
the already widely known work was bound to cancel an expression
which belonged to its substance, — we think too highly of Plato to
assume that. (Blass agrees with us, in Attische Beredsamkeit, iii. 2.
392, 2nd ed.)
Book V.— Chapter X;
Page 30 (Bottom). Here I am glad to agree precisely with Windel-
band {Platon, p. 77). I point this out the more gladly, because the
tendency to minimize the doctrine of ideas, and the monstrous suppo-
sition that Plato was misunderstood by Aristotle in regard to his
principal doctrine, have in these days been very considerably diffused.
A rough refutation of this view, but in my judgment quite to the point.
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 329
may be read in a letter of Lehrs' {Briefe von tend an Lobeck und
Lehrs, p. 1002, 1003).
Page 31 (Bottom). Philolaus. On his system of the universe, cf.
Book I. chap. iv. We shall meet with him again in considering the
TimcBUs, and reserve further information till then.
Page 36 (Bottom). On the reference in the Phcedo to the Mow,
cf. note on Vol. II. p. 378. The morality of prudence is called a
" shadowy (image " of true virtue in Phcedo, 69 B.
Page 37 (Middle). A correction of the rules of method found in
Phcedo, loi D-E, is contained in Rep., vi. 511 A-B, and vii. 533 B-D.
(Similar observations in Lutoslawski, Plato's Logic, 308-310 and 312.)
Similarly, Rep., x. 611 B, in the words, ws vDi/ riiuv i^&vr\ ri rf/vxli {i.e. as
composite), seems to look back to the now abandoned doctrine of the
simpHcity of the soul, as it is represented in the Phcedo. (Cf. Schultess,
Platonische Forschungen, pp. 49, 55, who, however, defends the order
which we reject — Phcedo, Phcedrus, Republic, ibid., p. 58.) We regard
as equally erroneous the view supported by others, that the Thecetetiis
precedes the Phcedo. This appearance is, it is true, produced by the
fact that difficulties which are discussed in Phcedo, 96 D, seg., and
solved in 102 B, seg., by means of the doctrine of ideas, emerge again
in Thecstetus, 154 C, without finding a solution. In general, it is
true, such a relation speaks for the order which in this case we
oppose. But for this time the inference is not conclusive. For in the
Thecetetus those difficulties are not discussed simply in themselves, but
as corollaries, which spring from the doctrines of other schools there
attacked, and of which the solution cannot be got from those schools.
In other words, it is the critical survey of the theories of Aristippus
and Antisthenes that leads Plato back to difficulties which, from his
own point of view and by his own means, he thinks he has already
solved. In the Republic also (vii. 523, seq^ Plato comes back to these
difficulties, and yet we have just seen that this and the neighbouring
books in any case followed the Phcedo. It might be a temptation to
bring down the Phcedo very late, that it finds the most trustworthy
grounds of virtue in the rewards and punishments of a future life
(especially 107 C), while the Republic tries to prove that even on earth
the life of the just man is the happiest, the life of the unjust the most
miserable; But a conclusion based on that would belong to the class
of those which prove too much. For then we must also put the Phcedo
after the Laws (v. 732 E, seq^, which is obviously impossible, on
internal and external grounds alike. We readily concede this much
only, that the Phcedo must have been composed at a time when the
coincidence of justice and happiness was not so unshakably certain to
the philosopher as it was in other periods of his hfe. That hesitations
even in this fundamental conviction were not wanting we learn from
the very same Laws (ii. 663 B-E). The Phcedo stands just as far
removed from the end as from the beginning of the Platonic series.
330 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
Besides what we have said about its relation to the Protagoras, another
sign of that date is, as Grote remarks {Plato, ii. 152), the manner
in which Socrates is spoken of at the end, kvipbs . . . t&v t6t€ . . .
apiffTovK.r.K
Page 40 (Top). "The sea-god Glaucus." The simile in Pep., x.
611 C-D. On the whole preceding discussion, cf. Phado, 82 E, seq.
(especially 83 D), and 93 D, 94 B, seq. (Below, § 4) See Bonitz's
masterly analysis in his Platonische Studien, 293, j^^.(ed. 3). There also
(p. 310, note 9) the much-discussed question, whether Phcedo, 96 A, seq.,
is a description of Socrates' mental development or of Plato's own,
receives what is plainly the only right answer : " Plato ... is not giving
an historical account, but laying down in outline the reasons which lead
from the philosophy of nature to the philosophy of concepts." That
does not, in my judgment, exclude the possibility that certain details
may also possess historical truth ; e.g. the combined impression of
admiration and disillusionment which Socrates received from the
teaching of Anaxagoras. Cf. what was remarked on pp. 46, 47 of Vol.
II., about his earlier intercourse with the Anaxagorean Archelaus.
Page 43. The view of the soul as a harmony of the body appears
as represented by Dicaarchus in Aetius (cf. Doxographi, p. 387, 5).
In general, cf. Zeller, i. i. 444, seq. (5th ed.). Macrobius {Somnium,
i. 14) ascribes this theory to Philolaus and Pythagoras. Aristotle
refers to them, without mention of a name (JDe Anima, A. 4, Politics,
0. 5, ad Jin.). The testimony on Aristoxenus in Zeller, ii. 2. 888, note i
(3rd ed.).
Page 45 (Middle). " A recent interpreter : " Windelband, Platon,
137. (Bottom) Phadrus, 245 C, seq. ; Laws, x. 854 E, seq.
Page 46 (Middle). " In the tenth book of the Republic : " Rep.,
X. 608 D, seq. (Bottom) I am thinking of Phcedo, 73 C, seq.
Book V.— Chapter XI.
Page 48 (Middle). We regard the much-disputed genuineness
of the Menexemcs as secured by Aristotle's allusions {Rhetoric, A. 9.
1367, b 8, and r. 14. 1415, b 30). The latter testimony, especially with
the introduction, % . . . Keyei ^wKpdTiis h TijT iinra^iif, allows no con-
tradiction, since Aristotle does not in any demonstrable case quote
any other writings than Platonic dialogues in this manner. Uberweg's
expedient {Untersuchungen, p. 146) breaks down on passages like
Politics, B 6. 1265, A. 10, where 01 toD Seo/cpi^Tous \6-^oi appears as pre-
cisely the collective name for the Platonic dialogues. I regard also
the genuineness of Rhetoric, iii. as certain, following Diels' exposition
in the Abhandlungen des konigl. preuss. Akad. der Wissensch., 1886.
On the purpose of the author of the Menexenus, I think exactly like
Grote {Plato, iii. 8), Diels, op. cit., p. 21, and Wendland, Hermes,
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 33 1
XXV. 180. Grote is only wrong in refusing to acknowledge raillery in
the working out of the subject, while others overlook that Plato, carried
away by his subject, sometimes has quite forgotten his purpose of
parody.
Page 49. Whether Menexenus, 238 C-D, is exactly modelled on
passages of the Periclean funeral oration (Thuc, ii. 37), can scarcely
be decided. The jest (236 B) that Aspasia has glued together scraps
from her own oration, seems to favour our conjecture. I do not
accept the objection that Plato did not know the history of Thucydides.
It is incredible in itself, and besides, there seems to me an agreement,
which cannot be accidental, between Rep., viii. 560 D-E, and
Thuc, iii. 82, 83.
Page 50 (Bottom). " In the earlier books of the Republic : "
especially i. 335 B-D.
Page 51 (Top). "As has been recently pointed out:" by Dr.
Heinrich Gomperz, U6er die Abfassungszeit des Platonischen Kriton,
Zeitschr.f. Philos. und Philos. Kritik, vol. cix. pp. 176-179. (§ 2) To
go thoroughly into the opposing views on the composition of
the Republic, as they are represented especially by A. Krohn, Der
Platonische Siaat (Halle, 1876) ; E. Pfleiderer, Zur Losung der Pla-
tonischen Frage (Freiburg, 1888) ; and also by Windelband, Platan
(Stuttgart, 1900), is impossible in this place. I may just refer, first of
all, to the replies of Zeller, ii. i. 558, seq. (4th ed.), and Campbell,
Republic, ii. i, seg. ; and further, cf. Apelt, Berl. Philol. Wochenschr.,
November 10, 1888 ; Siebeck, Untersuchungen, 271 (2nd ed.) ;
YlixxatrfEntstehungund Compositionder Platonischen Politeia (J^tvpzi%,
1897) ; Grimmelt, De Reipublicce Compos. (Berlin, 1887) ; Westerwiek,
De Rep. Plat. (Munster, 1887). On the dates, of the single parts, I
believe that I, agreeing with others, have obtained the following
results. The earlier books presuppose the Gorgias ; compare i. 348 E
with Gorgias, 474 C, seq., and iv. 438 D with Gorgias, /^.jd, 477. With
equal certainty the Phcedrus precedes at least the fourth and fifth
books of the Republic, which is clear from the comparison of Rep., v.
454 A with Phadrus, 265 C and 273 E, and of iv. 435 A-441 C with
Phcedrus, 246 A, seq. The later books of the Republic, as we have
seen, look back to the Phcedo. That the Phado itself must have
been composed after Rep., ii. and iii., is an apparent but not really
cogent inference. It is true that in these books " there is no trace of
a doctrine of immortality strictly so called " (Rohde, Psyche, ii. 267,
ed. 2), but not true that " the rewards which are held out to it (justice)
after death are only mentioned ironically." No more ironically than
the prosperity on earth which is appointed for the just man by the
gods, or the good and evil fame which are assigned to the just and the
unjust man in this life (ii. 363). The object in these parts is rigorously
to demonstrate the power of justice in itself to give happiness, to cut it
free from all rewards and punishments, whether real or supposed, in this
332 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
life or the next. This point of view, the effort to make the strictest ap-
pUcation of the method of difference, prevails here without Umit, Plato
has to do only with this isolation (Siiaraais), with the uncompromising
completion of his thesis [yv/ivuTeos 8); vivrmi irA^y iucauxrivT]!, ii. 360 E
and 361 C). This tendency is further heightened by another, by the
polemic against the vulgar view of the under-world, which sees in
Hades merely a place of horjror and wailing. The <i>i\aices are to be
steeled against this feeling, which enfeebles the soul. (Beginning of
iii.) The fear of punishment, which awaits transgressors according to
the Orphic view— a view shared, and in many dialogues expressed by
Plato himself— here, we may say, never comes into his spiritual field
of vision ; any regard to it would, in fact, introduce an element
injurious to the exposition and weakening to its power. Therefore
also the way in which the "muddy pool" (363 D) is mentioned proves
nothing against the priority of Phado, 69 C.
Page 58. The few fragments of the speeches of Thrasymachus,
in Oratores Attici (Ziirich ed.), pp. 162-164.
Page 64 (Middle). I cannot agree with the opinion of many
scholars — to whom, however, Campbell (on Rep., iii. 86) does not
belong — that the community described in Rep., ii. 372, is intended to
represent the Cynic ideal. There is no lack of points of contact, but
also no lack of characteristic differences. Any ironical intention of
Plato is absolutely out of the question. The abusive name, "pigs'
commonwealth," is put into the mouth of Glaucon, whose desire lor
more luxurious furnishing of society is immediately expressed at fuU
length by Socrates in the words, ^a 8^; ical fiBpa ko! Au/ukJ^ioto koI iToipai
Kol ire/i/iora, 'iKaara tairKV irnvToiatri (373 A), which certainly are no
ideal demands in Plato's sense. And, most important of all, the
description " healthy " (So-irep vyvi\s ns), is applied to the earlier model
of primitive simplicity, while the succeeding social life of greater
luxury is called by Socrates <^\i-/fuUvo\i<ra. iro\is (372 E). Arthur
Fairbanks also agrees with me (" The Stoical Vein in Plato's
Republic" Philosophical Review, x. 17).
Page 66 (Top). What is here said about the stages of a process
of natural development requires justification and limitation. In fact,
there are two opposing currents. The degeneration of constitutions
described in the eighth book of the Reptiblic corresponds to the
gradual decadence of organisms described in the TimcEus. Both corre-
spond to the primitive Greek way of thinking, which is suggested in
the Homeric oToi vvv Pporol ciViv, and fully pictured in the Hesiodic
doctrine of the ages. With the opposite view we have already met in
Vol. I. 388, and not less in Vol. I. 297. Something similar is found in
Plato, not only in the Protagoras (cf. Vol. I. p 389), but also where he
is speaking in his own name, in the Politicus (274 B-C), in connexion, it
is true, with the doctrine of cycUcal succession of progress and retro-
gression. This doctrine is also tacitly assumed as the foundation of
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 333
the expositions in the Republic. Cf. Rohde, Der Griechische Roman,
216, note 2 (2nd ed.).
Page 69 (end of § 7). Cf. Rep.^ iii. 414 A : as eV tiStt^, ^tJ Si'
iiKfiPelas, also vi. 502 D, se^.
Page 70 (Top). Of music Plato says, eflco-i iraiSeiovcra roiis ^iJAokos
. . . evapiiotrrica' tivc^, oi!k eKiaTi\ixiiv irapaSiSov<ra ; and vii. 518 £ : ^0E<r2 te
m\ aaidimTiv. (Below) "Alludes more than once to philosophy . . . : "
ii. 376 C, iii. 410 E, 411 C-F, v. 456 A. On the necessity of subordi-
nation under the XoyurTM6v, cf. iv. 441 E. (Middle) " Only he attains
to the possession . . . :" vi. 494 D.
Page 71 (Top). "Drew a veil :" irapilUvros koJ irapaKaXwTOnivov
To5 \iyou, vi. 503 B.
Page 73 (Middle). " Soldiers or helpers : " eVi/coupoi. As the
use of this expression has been made a test in the discrimination of
the supposed " strata " of the work, a few remarks on it may be in
place here. The division of the <pi\a.Kis into &pxovTes and mere
hrtKovpoi is accomplished by degrees and quite naturally. Compare iii.
414 B with passages of book iv., such as 434 C, 440 D, 441 A, where,
instead of Hpxai/res, Plato speaks simply of the Pov\evTiKhv y4ms. In
books ii. and iii. up to nearly the end of the latter, everywhere
where the character and education of the upper class is described as
opposed to the <pav\ol re Kal xe'corexvo' (iii- 4oS A), no occasion had
arisen for that differentiation. It would only have introduced confu-
sion, as, instead of one class, two sub-classes would have had to be
mentioned. That differentiation does not take place till the i/tree
parts of the soul are recognized, and the parallelism with the three
classes taken in hand, not till the study of science, by which the division
is effected, is in near prospect. Both in the Republic and in the
Laws it is not so much the exaggeration of literary defects, as bUnd-
ness to literary excellences, which has provided hyper-criticism with
its sharpest weapons.
Book V. — Chapter XII.
Page 80 (Top). " Until political power and philosophy are
united." The important passage is Rep., v. 473 D, partly repeated in
vi. 487 E. (Par. 2) One of the most important passages bearing on
the arrangement of the work is vi. 502 D, seq. How can any one read
this part, with its accumulated references to the preceding books,
without recognizing the artistic interweaving of the different threads,
the well-calculated ascent of the exposition from the coarser to the
more subtle? (Compare v. 502 E, seq., with iii. 412 E and 413 U ; or
vi. 504 A-B with iv. 427 D, seq., 435 D, and iii. 414 A.) Again and
again, in 502 and 503, the enhanced subtlety (awpf^eia) of the discus-
sion is emphasized — a subtlety that could only be offered to the reader
after he has been thoroughly prepared for it, and become fascinated by
334 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
the work, whereas previously he has had to content himself with an
exposition given in rough outline.
Page 83 (Top). "Scale of precedence, or hierarchy." The absolutely
earliest rudiments of the hierarchy of the sciences are to be found,
perhaps, not in Plato, Rep., vii. 525 B, but in Philolaus, who treated
of the sequence of the sciences under the mystic garb of the theory of
numbers. For what else is the meaning of his making the ideas of
point, line, surface, body, physical quality, and soul, correspond, in
that order, to the first^six numbers ? I am not inclined to see here, as
Zeller does (i. 443, ed. 5), " a weak attempt " at analysis, but a highly
remarkable anticipation of most important theories. Cf. Diog. Laert.,
viii. 25, especially, «k Se Toirwv (that is, from the points, which for their
part have arisen from the numbers) Tcks ypan/ids, e| Sy to eTrfa-eSa axit^'^'^'
tK Se tSov iirnridwv t^ (rrepea. ffxflp^Ta, e/c Serovruj/T^ cuitBtit^ frd^fiaTo. In this
respect Aristotle followed Plato ; cf. Metaph., A. 2, 982 a, Tj {aX t\
fKaTrivmv [sc. tiriffT^^uai] aKpiffirmpai) ; Analyt. Post., A. 27, 87 a, 30 >
and De Ceelo, T. 1, 299 a, 16, etc. — passages in which the fundamental
principles underlying all classification of the sciences are expressed
with wonderful pregnancy. It would be worth while to trace the
further development of the theory, with its chief stages : Descartes
(Preface to the Principia, iii. i, ed. Cousin), Hobbes {Opera Lat., ed.
Molesworth, iii. 87, iv. 28, et al.), then d'Alembert (cf. Discours Pri-
liminaire de r Encydop'edie), Ampere {Essai sur la Philosophie des
Sciences, Paris, 1834), down to Comte and Spencer. Dilthey {Archiv,
xiii. 358-360 and 466, seg.) has lately contributed a valuable beginning
towards this task. Cf. also Edmond Goblot, Essai sur la Classification
des Sciences (Paris, 1898). The contradictions which arise in the treat-
ment of this theme are partly due to the fact that the chronological or
historical sequence of the sciences corresponds largely but not entirely
to the logical sequence, while the third point of view, the didactic, has
little in common with the two others. Comte, like Plato, placed
astronomy immediately after mathematics. Spencer {Essays, iii. p. 6)
raised objections against this juxtaposition, which Littrd {Augitste
Comte et la Philos. Posit., p. 294) endeavoured to repel. It is obvious
that astronomy, taken in the widest sense, is a branch of physics. But
it is otherwise with Vastronomie m^caniqve, which is, as Littr^ expresses
it, une dtude de gravitation. As such, it may precede terrestrial
mechanics, because it exhibits to us a particular mechanical force,
perhaps the most fundamental of all, acting on an overwhelmingly great
scale, and thus practically without modification or check.
Page 84 (Bottom). " The beginnings of disentanglement : " cf.
Mach, Die Mechanik in ihrer Entwickelung, ed. 3, p. 8, seq., where
reference is made to Aristotle's treatment of the lever problem. The
passage in question is, MTjxoyiitci, ch. i, 847 A, 28, seq.
Page 85 (Top). " Who shrugs his shoulders at experiments." I
am here thinking of Republic, vii. 531 A. The light and the shadow of
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 335
Plato's scientific thought are equally displayed in what is related by
Plutarch, Life of Marcellus, ch. 14, 5 ( Vita, p. 364, 46, Dohner), and
QucBst. Conviv., viii. 2, I, 7 (^Mor., 876, 9, Diibner). Plato is repre-
sented as having been angry with Eudoxus and Archytas because
they employed instruments and apparatus for the solution of a
problem, instead of relying solely on reasoning. The problem in
question certainly was one of pure geometry — the so-called Delian
problem of the duplication of the cube. It is clear that Plato desired
geometry to retain its newly acquired character of a deductive
science, and not lapse, say, into the old Egyptian methods. But the
expression of lofty disdain in Plutarch's narrative (ttokktis koI (^opriK^r
fiaiiauffoupylas), agreeing as it does with the passage just cited from
the Republic and with another in the Timceus which will occupy us
shortly, allows us to draw more far-reaching inferences. Had Archi-
medes or Galilei been a contemporary of Plato's, had they carried
out in his presence their fundamental experiments in statics and
dynamics, they would hardly have fared better than Eudoxus and
Archytas. As we learn from Diogenes Laertius (viii. 13 : oSror irpSros
Ttk i).i\x<i'VMh, Tttij fiaBrj/iaTiKois 'trpoaxi'i]<'^l''^vos apxats fi.e6iiSevffe), Archytas
himself laid the foundation of a scientific study of mechanics ; and it
may be that Plato's silence on these beginnings, which were known
to the world in his own time, has something to do with an opinion of
his that Archytas had made an insufficient use of mathematical
principles. (Below) Kepler and Tycho Brahe : cf. Rudolf Wolf,
GescMchte der Astronomic {Gcsch. d. Wisseasch.in Deutschland, xvi.),
p. 286, seq. ; also Newcomb, Popular Astronomy, p. 66.
Page 86 (Top). " Pure and divine beauty : " Jowett and Camp-
bell {Plato's Republic, iii. 306) refer here to Symposium, 211 D, E,
and to Phcedrus, 250 D. See also the thoughtful remarks on the
Idea of the Good, p. 306 of the same work. (Middle) " A brilliant
metaphor." The simile of the cave occurs at the beginning of
Republic, vii.
Page 88 (Middle). " It has been remarked with some justice : "
cf. D. Peipers, Die Erkenntnistheorie Plato's, p. 588 and p. 594 note.
Page 89 (Top). " Science will be complete . . ." My source for
the quotation from Royer Collard is Taine, Les Philosophes classiques
du XIX^"" Steele en France, ed. 7, p. 28. The strictly empirical mode
of thought described in what precedes has already been under our
notice in the case of Democritus, cf. Vol. I. p. 363. In the century
just over it was maintained by no one with greater consistency and
fruitfulness than by J. S. Mill ; compare, e.g.. System of Logic, bk.
iii. ch. 12, " Of the Explanation of Laws of Nature," especially the
conclusion, § 6.
Page 90 (Middle). " ' Limping ' one-sidedness." It is no little to
Plato's credit that he did not censure the "limping" one-sidedness of
the mere sportsman and hunter more severely than that of the man
336 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
who cultivates his mind jto the entire neglect of his body (vii. 535 D :
X<e7Cbs Se Koi 6 ravwrta roirov fifTaPe$Kr)Ki>s ri/v ifitKoTroviav). It is no
less characteristic that in the choice of rulers he desires comeliness of
form to be taken into consideration, so far as possible, as well as
mental and moral qualities : Toftj Se yhp pePaiordTovs koX robs avSpfiora-
Tovs irpoaipcriov, xal koto; iivafuv toIis cteiinrrirovs (535 ■^)' The ascetic
author of the Phado has here become a true and complete Hellene
once more.
Page 91 (Top). " Patriarchal monarchy . . . aristocracy:" cf. ix.
576 D, then 580 B ; iv. 445 D is highly important for the express
declaration that the ideal state may be termed monarchy just as well
as aristocracy. And, in fact, when we come to 587 D, we find the
apuTT0KpaTiK6s identified with the Pa<ri\iK6s, and timocracy, the first
degenerate form of government, is represented by Plato in viii. 544 E
and 545 C as arising out of that same aristocracy. I am, therefore,
entirely unable to agree with Zeller when he says (ed. 4, ii. i, 925)
that Plato is here concerned only with the scale of worth, or " ideal
development," and not at all with the " historical development " — a
circumstance " which Aristotle . . . quite fails to recognize in his
criticism, Poltf., v. 12." It is none of our business, I think, to extricate
Plato from the contradictions in which he has, without any doubt,
involved himself ; or at least only to the extent of attributing to him
the thought that the patriarchal monarchy of the first ages formed the
most important approximation to the ideal state. (Bottom) " The
analogy, partly, real . . ." Jowett and Campbell rightly remark, on
viii. 559, that the analogy between political and individual types
" begins to fail more and more." " The ' Platonic number : ' " Pep., viii.
546 B-C. A vast amount .has, been written on this number, both in
ancient and modem times. It is only recently that the commentary
of Proclus on the passage has become known to us {Prodi in Platonis
Rem Publ. Comment., ii. 36, seq., KroU, with important explanations by
Hultsch, who writes with uncommon authority on the subject, p. 400,
seg., of the same work). Through the intermediacy of Proclus (410-
485 A.D.) we make the acquaintance of the treatises by ancient
scholars on this difficult problem, the final solution of which has not
yet been won, but to the elucidation of which the best contributions
had already been made by Hultsch himself (Zeitschr. f. Mathematik
11. Physik, xxvii.).
Page 92 (Middle). "Historical elements." I allude here to K,
F. Hermann's essay. Die historischen Elemente des platonischen
Staatsideals, Ges. Abhandlungen usw., p. 132, seq. "Accumulating
treasure abroad : " at least one allusion to this may be detected in
548 A. This mode of evading the Spartan prohibition against own-
ing the precious metals is treated of by Posidonius in Athenseus,
vi. 233 F, and probably the inscription no. 68 in Rohl's Inscr. Gr.
Antiqxdss. relates to the same subject.
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 337
Page 94 (Top). " Philolaus of Corinth : " on his legislature, cf.
Aristotle, Politics, B 12, 1374 A, B. (Bottom) "The law of reaction."
This law is hinted at in Rep., iii. 388 D, fully stated in 563 E. The
reaction against Athenian many-sidedness and individuality is most
conspicuous in the repeated emphasis laid on the division of labour,
e.g. iii. 394 E and 397 E, and in the glorification of life in common,
Rep., V. 463 B, or Laws, v. 739 C, D.
Page 95 (Middle). Thucydides. On this allusion, cf. note to
p. 49. " Overloaded with imagery : " see especially 560 A, B ; the
condemnation of the imagination in x. 603 A.
Page 99 (Top). "Plato has reached his goal . . ." We may
here note the highly artistic manner in which Plato returns to the
original problem of the work by means of the words, 'Ap' oZv . . . f>s
%v ^aivii]TUi TtovopiraTOS, KaX aBAiiiraTos ipavlia'eTai ; (JRep., ix. 57^ C). An
inferior writer would not have been able to dispense with a forced
transition. He would have left the long historico-philosophical
digression, which occupies the whole of bk. viii. and the first section
of bk. ix., and returned to the main problem by some such phrase
as, " We will now resume our discussion of the old question whether
justice makes the just man happy." As it is, the transition is brought
about quite naturally and as it were spontaneously. But this result,
when we come to look into it, is only made possible by the fact that
after the last degenerate form of constitution, tyranny, has been dealt
with, the personal character of the tyrant is described with great
minuteness. And the right to this fulness of description has only
been acquired by a previous detailed parallelism between the several
forms of state and the corresponding types of men. This parallelism,
we observe, has not been carried through entirely without violence,
especially in the passage where the rise of democracy is deduced from
the democratic type. We may perhaps venture to say that this whole
modus procedendi was in large measure dictated by artistic considera-
tions, and that what seems violent in the earlier stages of it was partly
intended to facilitate the passage from the historical back to the
ethical theme, and free it from every suspicion of violence.
Page 100 (Top). " J. S. Mill in a cognate argument : " Utilitarian-
ism, ch. ii. p. 12.
Page 103 (Below). "The first astonishing repetition :" Leo Tolstoi,
who entirely agrees with Plato ; see Gegen die Moderne Kunst (Berlin,
H. Steinitz), p. 152.
Page 104 (Middle). We have already (at the end of the chapter
on the Phcedo, p. 46) treated of the proof of immortality given in this
passage (x. 608 D). From the circumstance that Glaucon at the
outset speaks as if he had never before heard of the immortality of
the soul, far-reaching consequences have been deduced with regard to
the composition of the Republic. The argument again appears to
prove too much. How could Plato have here introduced the doctrine
23^ NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
of immortality " as a paradox "(Rohde's expression, Psyche, ii. 267, ed. 2),
when he had presupposed that doctrine in the Gorgias and the CHto,
and carefully demonstrated it in the Phcedrus and the Phado ? Surely
no one will venture to set down the tenth book of the Republic as
earlier than all these works. Such a chronological order could soon be
proved impossible by decisive arguments. But the hypothesis that
Plato is here treating the question of the soul and immortality for the
first time, is more than sufficiently negatived by the wording of the
passage. In 611 B we must not stop at the words, as vvv ^ic k^i.vn v
^vxi, but go on to what immediately follows : "On /ley Toimiv afliixarov
^"xh, to! 6&pTi \6y05 Kalot &\\oi avayKdanav &v. Both certainly refer back
to the Phcedo (cf. note to p. 46). The circumstance that the whole
question of immortality appears here in the guise of a newly arisen
problem, is and must remain strange, whatever view we take of the
original order in which the books of the Republic were written. It
may be partly explained by the reflexion that the introduction of a
new argument finds its best motive in an antecedent expression of
doubt, and that its convincing force stands out most strongly against
the background of emphatically stated disbelief. In the use of this
artifice, however, the great artist has for once overshot the mark.
The literary economy of a part has been served at the expense of that
of the whole. It may be set down as an error on Plato's part that in
bk. vi. (496 E, 498 C, D) he makes his brother Glaucon assent to
several doctrines which involve the belief in immortality, and then, in
bk. X., makes him reject that belief in the first instance. But this
error gives us no trustworthy instruction on the chronological order of
the books. It teaches us at the most that the author of this highly
complex work, one which occupied him during a long series of years,
did not write with all the details of his plan continually present to his
mind, and that his final revision left something to be desired in point
of thoroughness and accuracy. Let me here say a last word on the
composition of the Republic. To those who believe that bks. viii.
and ix. were written before bks. vi. and vii., the following reply may
be made : It is quite incorrect that bks. viii. and ix. connect
immediately with the earlier books. The sections which treat of the
doctrine of ideas are indispensably presupposed by the preference
given to philosophy, to the knowledge of the eternal essences — a
preference so strongly marked at the close of bk. ix. that it leads
to the morally superior or just man being confounded with the
philosopher, from which even the Paa-i.\eis almost ceases to be dis-
tinguished (cf. especially 587 B). It may be termed a sheer
impossibility that these sections were written as the immediate con-
tinuation of those parts of the work which know nothing of philosophical
training, or intellectual training of any kind, in which music and
gymnastic are regarded as sufficient instruments of education even for
the ruling class.
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 339
Book V. — Chapter XIII.
Page io6 (Bottom). " Slavery : " cf. the important passage,
ix. 590 C, D.
Page 107 (Top). " It has been rightly remarked : " by Jowett and
Campbell {Platens Republic, iii. p. 224) : " The lower classes have no
real place in the Republics they fade away into the distance."
" ' Wealth ' no less than ' poverty : ' " Rep., ii. 374 B, and iv. 421 C, seg.
For what follows, cf. ix. 590 C. (Below) " A passage of the Gorgias : "
512 E, seq. In what follows the reference is to Rep., viii. 549 A, then
to v. 469 C, seq. ; see also 470, 471.
Page 108 (end of par. 2). " ' Householders and farmers,' but not
good ' guardians ; ' " iii. 417 A. (Below) " Rudiments of communism at
Sparta : " cf. Xenophon, Respubl. Lacedcem., ch. vi. 4.
Page 109, § 2. The simile of the dogs and wolves : iii. 416 A.
■ (Bottom) " Community of women ... : " this important utterance in
Laws, V. 739 C, D, supplemented by xii. 942 C.
Page 1 10 (Middle). "Such a man is . . . ." The passages referred
to here and immediately above are Rep., viii. 561 C, seq., and 557 D.
My translation largely follows Oncken, Staatslehre des Aristoteles,
i. 118.
Page III (Top). " Some of the best men of the nineteenth century."
I am thinking of Tocqueville's Democracy in America, and J. S. Mill's
Liberty.
Page 112 (Top). "Magnificence:'' iieyaKoirpiveia, which appears
in Rep., iii. 402 C, and vii. 536 A, as a virtue by the side of a-uKppoa-ivn
and avSpela. Although the high position thus given to the quality is
not "justified on any principle," mankind may well be grateful to
Plato for this enlargement of the modern ideal, especially in a
democratic age with a tendency to give what are sometimes called the
"huckstering virtues" an undue preponderance. Plato pronounced
a " commonalty of thinkers " an " impossibility " (Rep., vi. 494 A .
(juxiaoipov . . , TrhTjeos oSvvarov ehai) ; a high-souled " magnificent "
commonalty would not have seemed to him any more credible.
(Below) The passage from the Laws, xi. 918, 919.
Page 113 (Top). The quotation from the Republic; iv. 441 E.
(Middle) " The best of sayings . . . ■ " KaXXiSTa yap Si) toDto kuI Aeyerai
Kal A.EA.€'j€Tai, 3ti rh fjikv oi^iXinov KoAiy, rh 8e ^Ka^tplv alffxpov (v. 457 B).
Page 114 (Below). The passages in the Republic are iv. 420 B,
and V. 465 E, seq. Aristotle's criticism is in Politics, B. 5, fin. I
cannot agree with Campbell and Jowett {Plato's Republic, iii. 162, 163)
in regarding this criticism as a grave misunderstanding.
Page 115 (Top). " Call nothing their own but their body : " Sia rh
mSiv iSiov EKT^o-eai vKTjv Th (tZ/w. (Rep., v. 464 D). (Bottom) " Analogies
from animal life : " e.g. Rep., v. 451 D, 459 A, 466 D, 467 B ; cf. also
340 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
Laws, vii. 814 B. The example of the animals is also cited against
the love of boys and in favour of strict monogamy in Laws, viii. 836 C
and 840 D, E. " The argument of the Laws : " vii. 805 B. (§ 5) On
the restriction of the healing art, see Rep., iii. 405 C, seg. ; on the
hardening rdgime, principally Laws, xii. 942 D, E.
Page 116 (par. 2). "Moral hardening:" Rep., x. 606 B, D ; also
603 E, seg., and iii. 387 D, seg.
Page 117 (Top). "The Academy and the Lyceum:" cf. Diog.
Laert., iv. 22, and hidex Acad. Hercul., col. xv. The saying is one of
Arcesilaus, reported by his contemporary, Antigonus of Carystus.
(Below) "Pheido the Corinthian :" cf. Aristotle, Politics, B. 6, 1265
B, 12. He wished ri TrA^flos tSc TToAiTwj' to remain unchanged as well
as their property in land. (Middle) " Exposure of . . . infants : "
on this and kindred matters, see Rep., v. 459 D, 460 C, and 461 A-C.
The hardly less severe precepts of Aristotle may be found in Politics,
H. 16. Cf., on this subject, the instructive remarks of Grote {Plato,m.
229, seg^.
Page 118, § 6. Aristotle's criticism of Plato : Politics, B. 1-5, that
of the Laws, 6-7. The remark quoted occurs in B. 5, 1263 b, 15.
(Bottom) "All this is approved of by Aristotle : " op.cit., 1265 a, \2„seg.
The quotation from Xenophon, Respubl. Lacedczm., ch. i. 7-10. Instead
of " primitive Greece," I might have spoken of the primitive Aryan
period ; see the articles " Keuschheit " and " Zeugungshelfer " in
O. Schrader's Real-Lexicon der Indogermanischen Altertumskunde.
Page 119 (Top). Herodotus : iv. 104. Fragment 653 of Euripides
{Protesilaus), Koivhv yapfhai xpv" yi""^"<e7ov Ae'xoj, is not wholly irrelevant.
It is true we should need to know the dramatic situation out of which
this exclamation arose, in order to measure its significance (cf.
kindred paradoxes in Hippolytus, 6i8, seg., and Medea, 573, seg^.
Perhaps the intention was to rebuke the excess of conjugal love
which caused Laodamia to follow her husband to the grave. The
line shows at the least, just as much as the mad pranks of the
Ecclesiazusae, that such thoughts were not entirely strange to the
Athenian public of that day. An opinion was once widely held that
in the comedy referred to, Aristophanes had Plato and his Republic in
his mind. This opinion, with its corollary that a part of the Republic
was published as early as 392, may now be considered as out of date.
See H. Dietzel's essay on the subject in the Zeitschrift f. Gesch. u.
Lit. d. Staatswissenschaft, i. (Leipzig, 1893), p. 373, seg. Zeller has
a full discussion of it, ed. 4, ii. i, 551, seg. See also Ivo Bruns'
pamphlet, Frauenemancipation in Athen. (Kiel, 1900), pp. 22-25.
The chief point is that Aristophanes treats the community of
women as a hitherto unheard-of thought, and that the public
could not possibly have detected an allusion to Plato which was
not hinted at in a single syllable. Further, the Lysistrate, which
was performed as early as 411, contains passages which remind us
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 34I
of Plato's emancipation of women ; no one, however, could explain
these passages as in any way dependent on Plato, who was only
sixteen years old at the time. Lastly, the above hypothesis has
been supported by a statement found in Aulus Gelhus {Nod. Att,
xiv. 3. 3, 4), to the effect that two books of the Republic were
published independently, and that Xenophon's Cyropadia was partly
intended as a polemic against them. But this statement has turned
out to be quite unhistorical (see Zeller, op. cit., p. 488, and the
copious literature cited by Martin Herz, in his edition of Gellius,
ii. 3o6). The decisive circumstance here is that the first two books
of the Republic do not contain a single word on the projects of reform
which Aristophanes is supposed to be ridiculing in the Ecclesiazusce.
Moreover, it is absolutely impossible to see how Plato could have
published the two introductory books as an independent work. On
the other hand, Gellius {Joe. cit.) and Diogenes Laertius (iii. 34)
would appear to have been right in remarking that the words of
Laws, iii. 694 C, iraiSfias Se opBrfs ovx ?i<p9ai t!> irapdnav (sc. rhv Kipoy),
are meant as a thrust against the above-named work of Xenophon.
(Middle) " Different kinds of land-collectivism : " shown to be known
by Aristotle in Politics, B. 5, 1263 a, 1-8. " Community of women in
African tribes : " ibid., B. 3, 1262 a, 19-22 ; cf. Herodotus, iv. 172, on
the (Libyan) Nasamones and Massagetes. (Bottom) "Shall length
of time. . . ." These remarkable words of Aristotle occur in op. cit.,
1264 A, I : Sti xP^ irpotrexeiy t$ ttoKI^^ XP^'I' ""^ '''''* iroWois €Tetriv. The
last word is not to be corrected to iBv^aiv, as is done by Bernays
{Ges. Abhandlungen, i. 177; cf. Vahlen, in Zeitschrift f. osterr. Gymn.,
xxi. 829, seq^.
Page 120 (Top). " Re-echoed a hundred times : " e.g. by Lubbock,
Prehistoric Times, p. 490 : " In reality we are but on the threshold of
civilization." Similar expressions occur not infrequently in the works
of Guizot and J. 8. Mill, of Maine and Tylor. (Middle) Aristotle's
criticisms: op. cit., 1261 b, 22, and 1262 b, 15. Grote's polemic,
Plato, iii. 230, note b. (Bottom) " Another objection of the Stagirite : "
op, cit., 1264 a, 24 : h luS yhp ■ir6Xii Sio iroXcis avayKutov sTvai, Kal rairas
ivemvTias aAAiJXois, compared with Rep., viii. 551 D : rh /ii; /ilav aWh Sio
hiiyKT) ehai riiv TOioiJrrjj' iroKiv, r^v fiev mv^Toiv riiv Sh itKoviriav, olxovvras iv
rQ ouT$, oel lm^ov\eiovTas oAA.^\ois : and iv. 422 E : Sio ;nec . . . irohe/ila
iTOL^iXats, 71 nii> irev^uv, r) Se ■rrKovalav.
Page 121 (Above). " The theocratic despotism of the Incas." The
mention of this empire leads me to notice an analogy between the
old Peruvian and the Platonic legislations. According to Prescott,
History of the Conquest of Peru (New York, 1847), i. 112-115, all the
girls of from eighteen to twenty years of age were every year married
by the State to the young men of twenty-four, and dowered with a
piece of land, which received an increase at the birth of each child.
But the consent of the parents was necessary, and the wishes
VOL. III. 2 A
342 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
of the parties concerned were not left unregarded. (Bottom)
" Pedantocracy." The expression was coined by J. S. Mill and
adopted by Comte ; cf. their newly published correspondence (Paris,
1899) in many passages.
Page 122 (Bottom). Otto Ludwig, Genofeva-Fragment [Dramat.
Fragmente, Berl., 1891, p. 275). The preceding quotation from
Euripides, Fragm., 21, 3/4.
Page 123 (Middle). "Socialization of the means of production."
I call this no longer unexampled, on the strength of Franz Oppenheimer's
account (in Julius Wolff's Zeitschr.f. Social-Wissenschaft, ii. 194, seq^
of the successful attempts in that direction of which Southern California
has been the theatre still more than the Mormon state. (Bottom)
On the Perfectionists of Oneida, cf. Charles Nordhoff", The Com-
munistic Societies of the United States (London, 1875), pp. 259-301,
especially pp. 276 and 291. The other publications relating to this
subject, including a reply of J. H. Noyes himself to W. Hepworth
Dixon's account in his New America, may be disregarded. This
parallel has also been referred to recently (1902) by Lewis Campbell,
in his short but uncommonly valuable monograph, Plato's Republic,
pp. 103 and 105.
Page 124 (Middle). jEschines. So far we have only spoken of
this Socratic once and at slight length (Vol. I. p. 426). Diogenes
Laertius treats of him in ii. ch. 7. The not very numerous fragments
were collected by K. F. Hermann, in Be jEschinis Socratici Reliquiis
(Gottingen, 1850), supplemented by Hirzel, Der Dialog, i. 138, 139. A
luminous characterization is given in the latter work, pp. 129-140.
The relics of his dialogues exhibit an apparently artless, but in reality
highly artistic, kind of literary miniature-painting. Antiquity saw in
them the truest copy of the actual dialogues in which Socrates took
part. Their content was partly political ; in the Alcibiades, the
praise of Themistocles took up considerable space. His personality
is exhibited in a very disagreeable light by the remains of a plaintiffs
speech by Lysias (cf. p. 25). According to this speech, he paid court
to an old woman, "whose teeth might be counted more easily than the
fingers of one hand," swindled her, and brought her family to beggary
(in Athenseus, xiii. 611, 612). There is better attestation for his long
residence at the court of Dionysius II. (Diog. Laert., ii. 63), where
he met with Plato. The relations of the two are very differently
described by different authorities. Diogenes' statement (ii. 61),
that Plato ignored jEschines at the Syracusan court, is in fiat
contradiction with what is told us by Plutarch (De Adulatore et
Amico, ch. 26 ; Mar., p. 81. 14, Diibner), and the latter writer is
corroborated to some extent by the fact that Plato mentions
^schines twice {Apology, 33 E, and Phado, 59 B). There seems
no doubt that his dialogue Aspasia had for its content what we
have stated in the text ; cf. Natorp, in Philologus, 51, 489, seq., and
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 343
von Wilamowitz, Hermes, 35. 552. I cannot, however, agree with the
latter writer in denying all inferences as to the historical Aspasia.
It would be exceedingly strange if three authors (Plato, Xenophon,
and ^schines) had agreed in fictitiously endowing the companion
of Pericles with what we might very reasonably have expected her to
possess — a highly cultivated mind and intellectual influence. For I
cannot admit the contention that Xenophon's praise of Aspasia
{CEcon., iii. 13) may have been intended merely as a compliment
to jEschines, " in whose dialogue Aspasia appeared in company with
Xenophon and his young wife." This seems to me by no means
"obvious." For if von Wilamowitz's conception of Aspasia were
the objectively correct one, Xenophon could not possibly have been
gratified to find himself, and still less his real or fictitious young wife,
joined with her in a dialogue.
Page 126 (Top). Xenophon's description {CEconomicus, vii. 4, seg.)
is made good use of by Ivo Bruns, in the pamphlet which we have
already mentioned (Fraicen-Emancipation in A then, p. 29).
Page 128 (Middle). The comparison of the individual with the
jToAis, and the appended injunction, occur in Rep., ix. 591 E, 592 A.
Book V.— Chapter XIV.
Our chief sources are Plutarch's Life of Dion and the relevant
sections of Diodorus' sixteenth book. I have not ventured to utilize
Plato's Epistles, in view of the controversy still pending as to their
authenticity.
Page 134 (par. 2). The details given here and in the sequel are
taken from Plutarch's Dio, ch. 13, 14 {Vita, 1148, seq., Dohner).
The expression rvpawlSa (Plutarch, op. cit., 1149, 8) is certainly un-
historical, for at that period it had long been a word of evil sound.
The official title of Dionysius II. was at all events not ;8oo-iA.eiis, but
Spx™" or rryendy. StKeAias &pxav is the title of Dionysius I. in an
Athenian decree (C. /. A., ii. Ji ; cf- Ad. Wilhelm, Wiener Jahres-
hefte, iii. 170, and U. Kohler, Athen. Mitteilungen, i. 19).
Page 135 (Middle). " The judgment of George Grote : " History of
Greece, xi. 103. Grote certainly supports his judgment by an appeal
to Plato's Epist., iii. 315 E ; but the authenticity of this epistle would
need to be fully established before we should be justified in drawing
conclusions from it as to Plato's own thoughts and views.
Page 137 (Bottom). Speusippus : cf. Plutarch, Dio, ch. 22, 2
{Vita, 1 1 53, 28, D.). Helicon. The solar eclipse predicted by him
(Plutarch, op. cit., 19, 3 = 11 52, 11) must be identified with that
numbered 2035 in Oppolzer's Kanon der Finsternisse, and dated May
12, 360 B.C. The victory of Xenocrates in the drinking contest at the
Pitcher-Feast is glanced at by Diog. Laert., iv. ch. 2, 8, and fully related
344 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
in the Index Acad. Hercul., coll. 8 and 4 (treated by the author in the
collection of essays dedicated to Zeller, p. 143).
Page 138 (par. 3). The narrative of Diodorus exhibits astonishing
divergences in historical detail from that of Plutarch. One of Dio-
dorus' main sources was Ephorus. Plutarch made special use of
Timonides, besides whom he cites Ephorus and Theopompus for
special details, together with the censorious Timseus, whom he very
rightly mistrusts. It is generally recognized that this latter was a
source of Cornelius Nepos (cf. Holm, Sicilien im Altertum, ii. 374,
seq^, on the strength of the agreement of Nepos, Dio, 2, with Plutarch,
ch. 6, where Timseus is cited. I cannot, however, here give the com-
plete justification for my conviction that the unfavourable verdict on
Dion, which is found in Nepos alone, is entirely due to the malevolence
of Timaeus. (Bottom) "Eudemus of Cyprus :" cf. p. 71. Aristotle
wrote a dialogue entitled, EiStifios ii ircpl Vvxvs, of which not inconsider-
able relics have been preserved (Berlin Academy edition, 1479 B,
seq.). Timonides: cf Plutarch, o^. cit., ch. 35,3 (1161,22). That
Callippus belonged to the Platonic circle is undisputed. The Platonic
Epistle, vii. 333 E, and also Plutarch, op. cit., ch. 54, init. (1170, 37),
seek to qualify the closeness of his association ; the hostile Athenseus,
on the other hand (xi. 508 E), refuses to allow the qualification ; the
one is as intelligible as the other, and complete certainty in such a
case seems unattainable.
Page 139, § 3. The greater the divergences between the accounts
given by Diodorus and Plutarch, the more weight must be given to
their agreement in judging Dion's character. Indeed, the expres-
sions of Diodorus, who, as far as we can see, was not influenced by
the Platonics, have a still more enthusiastic ring about them than
those of Plutarch : cf. Diodorus, xvi. 6, 4 ; 20, 2. Grote's account
(xi. 172) is based exclusively on the narrative of Nepos — a narrative
which has been recognized by us as quite untrustworthy, and which,
in any case, stands entirely alone.
Page 141 (Middle). "Helpers and counsellors:" cf. Plutarch,
op. cit., 53, I (117O1 14) '■ MeToire/iTreTai Se Jk KoplvBov (Tv/iPoiKovs /col
a-vi'dpxix'Tas. Our allusion to Dion's coinage is derived from Bury's
History of Greece (London, 1900, p. 672). The chief sources for what
follows are Plutarch's Life of Timoleon, and Diodorus, xvi. 66, seq.
(Bottom, and p. 142) Comparison of Timoleon with Dion : I am here
in agreement with Beloch, Griechische Geschichte, ii. 578, seq., who
expresses himself on the constitution founded by Timoleon, perhaps
too positively, but certainly in the main justly (p. 587, seq). The
expression " democratic ilaws," used by Diodorus (xvi. 70), should,
according to the context, be taken as referring to civil and penal rather
than to constitutional legislation. A really democratic system of
government is contradicted by the institution, mentioned immediately
afterwards, of the priesthood of the Olympic Zeus as the ipTi/iordrri
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 345
ofxh- The possible objection, that this priestly office was invested,
with the dazzling semblance of an authority it did not really exercise,
has the ground cut from under it by Diodorus himself, who remarks :
lav ycip 'Pufiaiav neraSivruv ro7s ^iKeKuirais t^s iroKiTeCas ri ray ct,n<pnr6\a>v
apxh eTairetv^9ri, which certainly points to a more than nominal im-
portance of the office. The constitution estabUshed by Timoleon with
the assistance of Corinthian legislators (Plut., Timol., ch. 24, 2 = Vita,
296, 47, D.) cannot, from all that we know, have been very unlike the
mixed constitution projected by Dion (Plut., Dio., 53, 2 = 1170, 20).
Just as Timoleon may be said to have continued Dion's policy, so
Agathocles resumed the tradition of the demagogue Heraclides.
When the rich and highly placed had been partly butchered, partly
hunted into exile, when, after this " purging of the city," Agathocles
had been chosen dictator {arfwrtri^'^ airoKptiToip), he at once promised
the poor extinction of debts and division of the land (Diodorus, xix.
ch. 9, i-s).
Book v.— Chapter XV.
Page 144 (Middle). "Passage of the Statesman:^' 296, B-E.
(Bottom) " The Eufhydemus." After Ast, several writers have contested
the genuineness of this dialogue. It is attested by Thrasyllus, and
therefore, probably also, indirectly, by Aristophanes. The various
references in Aristotle (cf. Ueberweg, Untersuchungen'ijj^, and Bonitz,
Platonische Studien, ed. 3, 135, note 27) cannot be regarded as finally
establishing its authenticity, for the sophisms there treated of were
certainly not invented entirely by Plato. Considerable weight should
be allowed to the polemical writing of Colotes already mentioned,
npis Tiv nxirievos EieiSrifioy (cf. note to Vol. II. p. 281), of which, how-
ever, we only know the title. Taken all in all, the Euthydemus is no
better and no worse attested than, say, the Protagoras ; no reasons,
however, worth taking seriously have been urged against its Platonic
origin.
Page 145 (Top). Euthydemus and Dionysodorus are real, if not
very important, personalities. On the former, cf. Aristotle, Soph.
Elench., 20 (177 B, 12) ; Rhetoric, B, 24 (1401 A, 27) ; Plato, Cratylus,
386 D. Dionysodorus is mentioned by Xenophon as a teacher of
military science {Mem., iii. i, i). The polemic against the Megarians
and Antisthenes was first detected by Schleiermacher (ed. 3, ii. i,
276) ; as far as regards Antisthenes it was examined in detail by K.
Urban, Uber die Erwahnungen der Philosophie des Antisthenes in
den platonischen Schriften, Konigsberger Gymnasial-Programm,
1882. (Bottom) This passage of the Eicthydemws (304 D, seq^ has
received various interpretations, which may be found indicated in
Winckelmann's special edition of the dialogue (p. xxxiv., seq). The
conjecture which has found most favour is the one according to
346 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
which the passage refers to Isocrates ; it is a conjecture which was
first propounded by Schleiermacher in 1805, in the introduction to his
translation of the dialogue, and shortly afterwards, in 1806, by Hein-
dorf, Platonis Dialogi Selecti, iii. 413. Welcker, Spengel, and many
others have accepted it. Full certainty is, however, lacking ; and in
any case a conjecture of this nature, though very plausible, cannot
serve as basis for far-reaching conclusions touching Plato's literary
chronology. It is from the relation of the strictures in this dialogue to
the prophecy concerning Isocrates at the close of the Phadrus that
such conclusions have been largely drawn. With our interpretation
of the two passages, in which the first-named is regarded as a very
qualified censure and the second a very qualified compliment, little
room remains for such inferences. And even if the expressions in the
Euthydemus could be taken to imply a decided antipathy to Isocrates,
no crucial argument would result as to the chronological order of the
two dialogues. For the changes in the personal relations of the two
men may, indeed, but need not, have followed a straight course. A
momentary tension may have yielded to a more friendly understanding,
and this in its turn have been replaced by renewed and heightened
discord. (Such want of harmony existed in any case between Isocrates
and Plato at the time when the latter wrote the sixth book of the
Republic. Compare 500 B with the rejoinder of Isocrates in Oration
XV., " On the Exchange of Property " — published in 352 — § 260, one
of the most certain among the many conjectured polemical references.
See Spengel, Philologus, xix. 596, seq., and Bergk, F'unf Abhand-
lungen, p. 38.) Thus, even supposing the allusion established, it is
by no means intrinsically impossible that the Euthydemus may have
preceded the Phcedrus, or, according to my hypothesis, the first
edition of it. (Cf. von Arnim, in the Rostock " Winterprogramm," 1896-
7, p. 21.) I am inclined to place the Euthydemus at least well towards
the end of Plato's first stylistic period, to which it is assigned by the
linguistic criteria. For it is the dialogue in which the polemic against
Antisthenes and the Megarians begins which is continued in the
ThecEtetus and Sophist; it displays, moreover, a maturity of thought
such as characterizes these later works, and not those of the early
period. (See, for example, 290 B, seq., where the special branches —
arithmetic, geometry, astronomy — are subordinated to the philosophic
master-science, or dialectic.) The faculty, too, of viewing from the
same standpoint things very different externally, must have reached
a high stage of development in Plato when he co-ordinated miUtary
commanders and special researchers, compared them, just as if it
were the obvious thing to do, with hunters and fishers, and brought
them all together under the common category of acquisition. We
are here hot so far behind the dialectical works of the late period, and
a long way ahead of a Protagoras or a Gorgias. That the Meno,
which presupposes the Protagoras and the Gorgias, is itself prior to
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 347
the Eutkydemus, may, I think, be abundantly proved. I owe some-
thing here to the apposite remark of Bonitz : " The possibility of
teaching wisdom, and hence, by a necessary connexion, virtue as
well, is conceded to Socrates by Cleinias in Euthydemus, 282 C.
as an established truth ; now, this same possibility is under demon-
stration throughout the Meno" [Platonische Studien, ed. 3, 122, note).
A different judgment on the relation of the two dialogues, and, I
venture to say, a very perverse one, is that of Steinhart, in his intro-
duction (Platons sdmmtl. Werke ubersetzt von H. Muller, ii. 26).
I have also derived no little help from the above-mentioned essay of
Bonitz in the grouping and arrangement of the various sophisms, as
well as in their reduction to general categories.
Page 148, § 2. The genuineness of the Parmenides, which is
attested by no mention or allusion on the part of Aristotle, has been
frequently attacked in recent times. Two main reasons have been
urged against it. Both have been formulated with most precision
by Ueberweg, in Untersuchungen 'icber die Echtheit und Zeitfolge
platonischer Schriften, pp. 180, 181 (see p. 277 of the second volume,
and note). The most telling reply to both has been given by Clemens
Baumker. This scholar has shown that the most "overwhelming
objection " against the doctrine of ideas, the argument of the so-called
Tfiros &v6p<mos, is not removed out of the works of Plato by cancelling
the Parmenides ; that " a quite similar train of thought " recurs in Rep.,
x- 597 C ; further, that this argument, as had been already pointed
outby Grote {Plato,\\. 271), was not the work of Plato, but of Polyxenus,
a so-called sophist closely allied to the Megarians {Rhein. Mus., 34,
82, 3). There is thus no force in Ueberweg's dilemma that we must
either deny the Parmenides to Plato or make Aristotle "guilty of
plagiarism," since he gives " no hint whatever that he has borrowed
this argument, on which he lays the greatest stress, from Plato him-
self." Nor can we fail to be astonished at the liberality which the de-
structive critics show in enriching Greek literature with an ever-fresh
supply of philosophic writers of the first rank. The Parmenides is a
marvellous product of dialectic subtlety. So much even those can-
not refuse to admit who view the dialogue very differently from the
latest Neo-Platonists. These — agreeing herein with Hegel (see Kuno
Fischer's Hegel, p. 1054) — ^have regarded it as "the true unveiling
of all the mysteries of the Divine Essence," and have accordingly
expounded it in many-volumed commentaries. We may instance
Proclus (best edited by Victor Cousin in collaboration with L^vesque,
1864, and lately translated into French by Chaignet, 2 vols., Paris,
1900) and Damascius (recently edited, for the first time completely,
by Ruelle, Paris, 1889). The objections to which the dialogue was
supposed to be open from the linguistic standpoint have been defi-
nitively cleared away by O. Apelt, Gdttinger Gel. Anzeigen, 1894, p. 75,
seg., supplemented by Philolog. Anzeiger, 14, 194.
348 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
For my conception of the dialogue I am most indebted to Otto
Apelt's masterly Untersuchungen uber den Parmenides des Plato,
(Weimar, 1879). In regard to its date, I am so far in agreement with
him as to place the Parmenides before the Thetztetus and the Sophist —
a position demanded by the material (cf. Apelt, op. cif., pp. 5 1-S4) as
well as by the linguistic criteria. The allusions in Sophist, 217 C, and
Theatetus, 183 E, seq., to the meeting of Socrates and Parmenides
are quite decisive on the point ; and, as the meeting in question is
obviously a fictitious incident, no difference of opinion ought ever to
have arisen. This decisive argument, by the way, was urged long ago,
so far as the Sophist is concerned, by Schleiermacher (^Platan's Werke,
ed. 3, ii. 2, p. 95). Schleiermacher likewise recognized the priority of
the Parmenides to the Theatetus (ed. 3, ii. i, p. 125, seq^, though the
applicability of the above argument escaped him in this case. Camp-
bell (in his comment on Sophist, 217 C) mentions, for the sake of
completeness, the possibility that when Plato wrote that passage he
had already planned the Parmenides, but not written it; the possibility,
no doubt, exists, but there is not the slightest ground for regarding it
as even a probability. The " fairly early date " assumed by Apelt
{pp. cit., p. 56) can be accepted only in this relative sense. Or need
we prove that a considerable time must have elapsed since the first
promulgation of the doctrine of ideas before Plato's critics or Plato
himself could light on the " overwhelming" objections which are treated
of in the first part of the dialogue ?
Between the Republic, or the greater part of it by far, and the
Timceus — these are the widest limits within which the criteria of style
and substance allow us to place this dialogue (cf. Dittenberger, in
Hermes, xvi. 337, seq., and Apelt, op. cit., p. 51). The two great
constructive works are separated by an intervening stratum of dialectic.
The negative arm of the Platonic philosophy would seem to have
craved exercise and activity after its long rest and before the rest that
awaited it.
Page 150 (Bottom). "Megarians or Neo-Eleatics." It is not
against Euclides himself — to do this man honour is perhaps the main
purpose of the prelude to the Thecetetus — but against the thinkers
trained by him and their congeners that Plato, not yet by any means
an aged man, directs his polemic. This alone is enough to suggest
that of the two Euclides was the older, and that he had already made
speed to found his school. There are several other circumstances which
support this conjecture. In the introduction to the Thecetetus Euclides
speaks of his repeated visits to Athens shortly before the time when
Socrates drained the cup of poison {iiaaK.i.s 'Afl^i/ofe iupMolnriv, 143 A).
Thus at that time he was no longer in the number of Socrates'
pupils, in the strict sense ; and his discipleship must be placed in
an earlier epoch. Moreover, Aristotle, who was a grand-pupil of
Socrates, had for a contemporary a great-great-grand-pupil of
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 349
Socrates, in the person of Diodorus, who was indirectly a pupil
of Eubulides, the pupil of Euclides (of. Diog. Laert., ii. 1 1 1).
Page 153 (par. 2). " Laborious pastime : " see note to Vol. II.
p. 315, par. 2.
Page 154 (Top). "Comparison with other dialogues:" such a
comparison has been carried out with acuteness and judgment
by Apelt, pp. 8-1 1. From this source are taken the quotations
further on.
Book V. — Chapter XVI.
Page 155. The testimonies relating to Theaetetus as a mathema-
tician may be found in AUman, Greek Geometry from Thales to
Euclid, p. 206, seq. Cf. also Cantor, Vorlesungen uber Geschichte der
Mathematik, ed. 2, i., especially pp. 222-224. The date of the
Theatetus has exercised scholars hardly less than that of the
Phmdrtts. It is no doubt definitely established that this dialogue
preceded the Sophist and the Statesman, which form its continuation,
but which, it must be admitted, do not seem to have followed it
immediately. (See Dittenberger in Hermes, xvi. 345, but more
particularly the important remarks of Janell, Quast. Plat., 294 and
306, seq., on the greatly increased diligence of Plato in avoiding
the hiatus.) Equally certain, in my opinion, is the priority of the
Parmenides (see the remarks above). To this I will add that the
investigations based on statistics of language decisively assign the
Thecetetus to the second period of Plato's style, and now make an
attempt to fix the date of its composition within still narrower limits.
In this case the attempt bids fair to be more successful than usual.
The terminus a quo is supplied by Plato's allusion (in 174 D-175 B)
" to panegyric speeches in which kings of his own day had been
glorified. Such panegyrics did not exist before the Euagoras of
Isocrates, that is, at least not before 374." Thus writes Erwin Rohde,
in the Philologus, 49, 230, seq. (= Kleine Schriften, i. 277). The same
scholar had previously written (in 1881, Kl. Schr., i. 259, seq?), " Now
we . . . know from the 'S,va,y6fas of Isocrates (§ 5, seq., and especially
§ 8) that this was the first attempt to glorify a contemporary in a
prose encomium. Isocrates wrote the ^vKyofas after the death of his
hero, that is, after 374 (Diodorus, xv. 47), probably not long after,
perhaps in 370.'! The terminus ad quern is provided by the argument
stated on p. 158 of this volume, based on the episode of 173 D-E.
The date of the Thecetetus thus lies somewhere between 374 and 367.
On the other hand, I do not think that the battle near Corinth,
mentioned in the introduction, in which Theaetetus was wounded,
can be utilized for the purposes of chronology. With approximately
equal probability, this battle may be placed either in the late nineties
or in the year 368 ; and, above all, we lack every means of measuring
350 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
the interval of time between the "composition of the work itself" and
the " event to which it alludes " (Rohde, op. cit, p. 276). A second
indication, utilized by Rohde, namely, the reference (175 A-B) to the
encomium on a Spartan king who counted twenty-five ancestors,
ought also, I think, to be eliminated from the discussion, for the
simple reason that the number of ancestors may have been slightly
rounded off. (See the debate between Rohde, Kl. Schr., i. 256-308,
and Zeller, Berliner Sitzungsberichte, 1886, No. 37, Archiv, iv.
189, seq., and v. 289, seq. In this connexion we may also refer to
Bergk, Funf Abhandlungen, etc., 1-40. This writer also appeals to
the trial of Chabrias. He interprets the passage in the Thecetetus:
Srav kv SiKcuTTTiplif . . . avaryKoxrBf [that is, the philosopher] irepl rSy vApa
iriJSas . . . Sm\4ye<reai, y4\uTa irope'xei, 1 74 C, as referring to the ill
success which Plato is said to have had as that general's advocate.
But how improbable it is that Plato should have thus revived the
memory of his own fiasco, apart from the doubt as to its historical
character !) There is much excellent matter on the priority of the
Republic to the Thecetetus in Lutoslawski's work, Plato's Logic, pp.
396, seq. The whole question is admirably treated by Dr. Michael
Jezienicki in a work marred by linguistic and typographical errors,
but equally rich in knowledge and thought : Uber die Abfassutigszeit
der platoniscken Dialoge Theaitet und Sopkistes (Lemberg, 1887).
(Bottom) " He makes Euclides say : " 143 C. The substitution of
the narrative for the purely dramatic form was employed by Teich-
miiller as a criterion for dating the works of Plato in his pamphlet.
Die Reihenfolge der platoniscken Dialoge (Leipzig, 1879). He there
far overshot the mark, as his manner was ; the limited sense in which
I think his observation valuable has been explained in the text.
Page 159 (Top). "An echo of the Phcedo:" 176 B. "An allusion
to the doctrine of ideas:" 175 C. "Straggle after likeness with
the . . . Deity:" 176 B. I speak of his attack on Antisthenes as
descending to a lower level, not so much because of the allusion to
his Thracian mother (174 A, compared with Diog. Laert., vi. i, i),
without which the reference to Antisthenes might not have been
sufficiently clear, as because of its twofold repetition with opprobrious
adjuncts : ov /iovov @p^tt&is, ctAAet /tal t^ &\\<f o^A^, and ©p^ttois /ley ou
iropExei ouS' S\x^ iiraiSeiTip ovSevl (174 C and 175 D). Note also the
echo in Aristotle, Metaph., H. 3, 1043 b, 24 : oi'AvTureheioL icai 01 oSras
airalSfvToi. This abusive epithet may have become a stock expression
of the school. It is not improbable that in his 'HpaxA^s ^ irepl ipovliaeus
Kttl 'la-x^os Antisthenes may have taxed the "Sophist" Prometheus
through the mouth of his hero with useless brooding and dreamy
aloofness from the world, aiming herein at Plato. The latter would
then have taken his revenge by his gibe at the " Thracian woman,"
and the " other uneducated rabble," after preparing the way by the
story of Thales falling into a well while gazing at the stars, and being
NOTES AI^D ADDITIONS. 35 1
mocked at by the handmaid who was accompanying him (Diog.
Laert., i. 34). (Cf. Bucheler, Rhein. Mus., 24, 450, and Diinimler,
Antisthenica, p. 14 = Kleine Schriften, i. 21, seq^ The gibe attributed
to Diogenes (Diog. Laert., vi. 28) also recalls that legend.
Page 160 (Bottom). The following fallacy may be noted : In
189 A, the psychical object of a iol&iuv is confused with an externally
real object ("O Se H So|<£f(Bi' oix iv n So^d(ei —Avdynri—'O S' tv ri So^diav
ouK & n; — SuTX"?" — 'O Spa |iti) %v io^A^av, ou8f 1/ SoftJfet).
Page 162 (Top). The complete agreement in expression, namely,
between Theatetus, 201 C, "E^tj Se tjji' /uec /tcro 'KiyovhX'nSli i6i,av VKiffri\ii.-i\v
eli-oi, and Symposium, 203 A, Ih opSk Soid(etv koI &veu rod exeiv Koyov
iovvai OVK olfffl', l^ri [namely, Diotima], Sn oSre erriaTaaBal etrri . . . otkt
anoBla. Again, in Meno, 97 A, seg., opBrj S6ia becomes eVhtt^/ihi by the
addition of the aWias \oyi(rii,6s,
: Page 163 (Top). I may here refer to Bonitz's excellent treatment
of the dialogue in Platonische Studien, ed. 3, pp. 47-92.
Page 164, § 4. As the entirely groundless doubts on the genuine-
ness of the Cratylus have not been voiced for decades, I do not think
it necessary to dwell on them. They were cleared away by Theodor
Benfey, in Uber die Aufgabe des platon. Dialogs Cratylus (from the
Abhandlungen der Gott. gelehrt. Gesellschaft, Gottingen, 1866), and
by Lehrs in the short appendix to his translation of the Phcedrus and
the Symposium, where (p. 144) he pithily sums up the result of the
dialogfue ; " Language, whether we adopt the one theory of it or the
other, is not an instrument by which we can gain the knowledge of
things." (Bottom) " The investigation of words . . . :" cf. note to p. 185
(middle). Plato's summing up : Cratylus, 439 B.
Page 165 (Bottom). Leibnitz discusses the meaning of the /, r,
and V sounds in Nouveaux Essais sur Ventendement humain, bk. iii.
ch. I. Jakob Grimm : Uber den Ursprung der Sprache (^e.i]\n, iZ^Z,
p. 39, seg.).
Page 166 (Bottom). The close kinship of the Theatetus and the
Cratylus has been pointed out recently by Carlo Giussani, in La
Questione del Linguaggio secondo Platone e secondo Epicuro (Milan,
1896), p. 3 of the separate reprint from the publications of the Lombard
Institute : " II Cratilo h una specie di complemento del Teeteto "
(here follows an excellent account of the purpose of the Theatetus).
Which of the two dialogues is the earlier, Giussani leaves open.
Similarly, Diels, Elementum (Leipzig, 1899), p. 18: "To the many
points of contact between the Cratylus and the Theatetus belongs
also the simile of the letters . . ." The satire on the Neo-Heracliteans :
Crat., 411 C; Theat., 180 A. The sport with etymologies, lastly,
is not foreign to the Thecetetus (199 C-E). Here, to be sure, both
dialogues also join hands with the Phadrus (244 B-D and 251 C).
352 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
Book V.— Chapter XVII.
The genuineness of the Sophist and the Statesman is sufficiently-
attested by the AristoteUan references alone, as is abundantly proved
in Ueberweg's if anything too cautious disquisition (JJntersuchungen,
152-171). (Cf. note to Vol. II. p. 277.) Seeing that the self-criticism
practised by Plato in the Sophist as well as the Parmenides has led to
these works being suspected, it is almost matter for regret that the
Phcedrus has been protected against such attacks by the invulnerable
character of its credentials. If the case had been otherwise, the
treatment of this dialogue by the critics might have afforded us great
entertainment. Why should not one or other of them have rejected
it from among Plato's works, on the ground, say, that "one of the
greatest among authors could not possibly have looked down upon all
authorship with that contempt which Plato shows for it in the Phadrus.
The voice that speaks to us in these pages is the voice of jealous
impotence, not that of creative genius rejoicing in its strength " ?
Page 167 (end of par. i). The words of Statesman, 284 B, KaSdrep
iv T$ Soi^iiirTp, do not seem to me, if considered impartially, to bear
any other interpretation.
Page 168 (Top). "Gentle and respectful in tone:" compare
especially 242 C : ii.v66v nm, k.t.a.. Plato corrects the " great " Par-
menides much as a son might a father whose way of thinking seems
to him a little old-fashioned. It is possibly for the purpose of
providing this mode of treatment with an appropriate setting that
the criticism of the Eleatic position, which is promised in the Theatetus,
is there deferred, on the pretext of lack of time (180 E and 183 E).
(Middle) The " enclosing husk " is spoken of by Bonitz, in his
valuable sections on the Sophist iPlatonische Studien, p. 152, seq.,
ed. 3). But the inner bond of union between the two parts of the
dialogue will be sought for in vain, even in Bonitz's pages, as I have
already said in my necrologue (Berlin, Calvary, 1889, p. 14 of the
separate reprint). I ventured, in the same essay, to point out what
seems to me a defect in the Platonische Studien taken in general :
" The picture of Plato which results from them is all too lacking in
temporal and local colour, as well as in definite individuality. His'
strong personal sympathies and antipathies . . . and likewise the
exigencies of his polemics are too completely overshadowed by the
purely didactic purposes ascribed to him."
Page 171 (Top). Trendelenburg: Logische Untersuchungen, ii.
149, note. The whole section xii., " Die Verneinung," is extremely
instructive ; so, too, is the section of Sigwart's Logic (part i. ch. 4)
dealing with the same subject. The author, however, has nowhere
found the problem in question solved to his complete satisfaction.
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 353
(Bottom) I am confident that the materialists here alluded to are
the adherents of Democritus. It has been recently supposed that
Antisthenes is aimed at ; but the illegitimacy of this view is abun-
dantly evident from 25 1 C-D, where he and his followers are made
the objects of attack, in words which make it clear beyond a doubt
that up to the present nothing has been said about them. Again,
the " corporeal soul " of 247 B is, in my. opinion, an unmistakable
reference to the " soul-atoms " of Leucippus and Democritus.
Page 172 (Top). " Friends of the ideas." On the identity of
these men (johs tuv elSav iplKovs) a controversy still rages in the camp
of Plato-students. My opinion may be best expressed in the words of
Grote (J'lato, iii.482) : "To affirm that Eukleides admitted a plurality
of Ideas or Forms, is to contradict the only one deposition, certain
and unequivocal, which we have about his philosophy." In fact, all
that we know of the positive metaphysics of the Megarians is just this
fidelity of theirs to the Eleatic doctrine of unity. To ascribe to them
a sort of doctrine of ideas was an unfortunate thought of Schleier-
macher's — a counsel of desperation, only adopted because, like many
others, he could not make up his mind to credit Plato with so
humorous and so impersonal a criticism of his own fundamental
doctrine. I differ from these weighty authorities with the lighter
heart, because I find myself in agreement with a large number of
exact Plato-students. Besides Grote, I may mention Ueberweg
{Untersuchungen, 277); Campbell {Introduction, p. 75); Dittenberger
{Hermes, xvi. 343) ; Jowett (Translation of Plato, iii. 446) ; Hirzel
{Hermes, viii. 128) ; Felice Tocco {Atene e Roma, i. 40) ; Windel-
band {Plato, pp. 88 and loi, note) ; von Arnim {Dio von Prusa,
p. 22) ; Diels {Elementum, p. 19, note). It is true that Ueberweg and
Campbell prefer to regard the " friends of the ideas " as Academics
who had remained at a stage of thought which Plato had left, while
for Windelband, as formerly for Socher (see Vol. II. p. 277 and note),
any criticism of the doctrine of ideas is a ground for doubting the
authenticity of the work in which it occurs. Apelt {Beitrdge zur
Geschichte der griechischen Philosophie, p. 90) has set out on a venture-
some quest for traces of a doctrine of ideas among the Megarians.
He starts from a notice in Diogenes Laertius (ii. 119) relating to
Stilpo, the first words of which unequivocally state the exact contrary
(ayij'pei Ktti TO rfSr)), and on the remainder of which little more is to be
said beyond whatwe have already said in the text (Vol. II. pp. 197, 198).
The second example by which the predication difficulty is explained in
the sense of Abelard's " rem de re praedicari monstrum " can hardly
have any other meaning than the following : You show me an object,
and say it is " vegetables ; " but you are maintaining an absurdity, for
you are identifying that which was not in existence a few days ago
with that which has existed for thousands of years. (Below) " Chiefly,
if not exclusively." It is probable that this error was also due partly to
354 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
that singular feature of ancient theories of perception which appears
most clearly in the teaching of Alcmason and Empedocles on vision
(Vol. I. pp. 150 and 235). The " fire in the eye " combines with the fire
outside it ; the subjective and the objective factor in perception are
supposed to be similar, and to act each upon the other. Thus the
way was opened for the fallacy here in question.
Page 173 (end of par. i). This most noteworthy passage occurs
in 247 D-E. The thought is presently repeated in 248 C. (Middle)
"Conscious and of the nature of soul :" compare Campbell's par-
ticularly thoughtful introduction to the Sophist, especially p. Ixxvi.,
where he points to the analogies in the Philebus, the Timaus, and the
Laws, as well as many passages in his commentary. Besides Laws,
xii. 967 D, Timaus, 34 C, is specially considered as bearing on the
high rank given to the psychic principle. But Campbell's just view
of the case has been recklessly exaggerated by Lutoslawski, and by
Ritter before him, who refused the doctrine of ideas all place in the
works of Plato's late period, and contended that the ideas were there
superseded by souls. In forming these conclusions, they have over-
looked such passages as Timceus, 51 D, in which the substantial
existence of the ideas is affirmed with an emphasis hardly to be found
elsewhere (TiavTi,naaiV tivai Kafl" auTck toBto, ivadrBrira v^^ rifiSv elSri, vooifieva
im6vov). Otherwise, Lutoslawski could not have made his emphatic
remark on Philebus, 59 C : " It is very important to observe that
eternal ideas (icl kotA t^ butiJ) are not now separate, self-existing, or
independent existences {airh ko9' ainS) as they were in earlier dialogues "
{Platds Logic, p. 465). At the same time, he places the Timaus, quite
rightly, as I think, later than the Philebus. And here I am compelled,
with much regret, to tax this meritorious investigator with an almost
incredible piece of carelessness. In Philebus, 15 B, he finds "a very
clear indication that the separate existence of ideas is deemed im-
possible" {op. cit, 467). The wording of the passage quoted is as
follows : ji-iTh. 5e tout' h Toli yiyvofievois ad Ral awelpois e?Te Steffiraffiievriv
Kal TToWi yeyovviav, el6' B\iiv ou'tV aiTrjs x^pls, i> SJ; wivrav aSwar^raTOv
(palvoiT' &, Tavrhii Kal ev ci/ia iv evl re ko! toXXoTs ylyveaBai. Lutoslawski
runs together the two words xmp/i and aBuyaTt^TOToi/, and he is clearly
of the opinion that it is the separate existence of the ideas which is
pronounced the most impossible thing in the world ! If so, this would
indeed be the most remarkable passage in the whole of Plato. The
adaptability of the philosopher would have reached an unexampled
height. He would not only have denied, but even declared absurd,
that which, for Aristotle, was the most distinctive peculiarity of his
own teaching : oAA' S /ihy :SaiKpiTris to KaS6\ov ou xtoptiTTci ivolet . , . 01 S'
iX^piaav {Metaph., M. 4, 1078 b, 30— with several other passages to
the same effect). In reality, x»pfs is to be taken with aint\s, just as in
the passage of the Parmenides, which treats of the same problem (the
participation of things in the ideas : koI a-uliv n laaWoy airii ofir^s x""*"'*
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 355
isTiv (131 B). That which is really pronounced impossible here is
the self-renunciation of the idea, which can no more become absolutely
and entirely bare of itself than it can be taken up into the infinite
manifold of particular things, and at the same time maintain its inde-
pendent existence. More accurately, its entry into the particular
things is incredible, its absorption into them the greatest of impossi-
bilities. Just as untenable, though free from the above error of inter-
pretation, is the assertion of Ritter (Plato's Laws, Commentary, p. 355,
seq^ that " in all the extensive works of Plato," which we have ground
to believe he wrote in his old age, in the "Sophist, Statesman, Philebus,
Timceus, as also in the Laws . . . a ' doctrine of ideas,' similar to the
one presented to us in Zeller's exposition, is nowhere to be discovered,"
with the single exception that in the Sophist, 264 B, seg., " the con-
ception of motionless and incorporeal ideas, which have nothing in
common with the variable things of the phenomenal world, which are
inaccessible to all perception by the senses, and which can only be
apprehended by the reason, is radically rejected."
Page 173 (Bottom). " Plato's emancipation from the bonds of
Eleaticism." The process to which I refer in these terms has been
fully and adequately explained by Campbell, in his Introduction to the
Sophist, lix., seg.
The views here advocated on the transformation of the doctrine of
ideas — views which have been defended in a special manner by.Bonitz
{Platonische Studien, ed. 3, p. 152, seq^ — are open to a plausible objec-
tion. In the Republic, which we regard as earlier in date than the
Sophist, one idea, that of the Good, is already endowed with activity
(Campbell alludes to this, Republic, ii. p. 42), and is indeed spoken
of as the highest active principle (cf. p. 481, seq^. How, then, it may
be asked, is it possible to say that this change in the theory of the
ideas is not made till the Sophist? We answer : It was at this one
supreme point that Plato first broke through the limits of his original
doctrine. He may not at first have fully realized all the consequences
of the innovation ; afterwards, the involuntary beginning may have
carried him further in the same direction, and the desire for con-
sistency and inner coherence may have united with the other factors
we have named to produce this transformation. From the revision of
the doctrine of ideas there follow very naturally the other changes
which we meet further on — the abandonment of ideas of relations and
of artificial products, likewise the abandonment of the theory of
" participation " (of the yitcTfX""'). Cf. note to p. 247.
Otto Apelt has treated this point in a widely different manner
(Beitrdge zur Geschichte der griech. Philosophic, p. 67, seq., and In-
troduction to the reissue, under his supervision, of Stallbaum's edition,
pp. 27-32). Here I can deal with his views only in summary fashion.
We welcome the information, which he gives us, that the Kotvuvia rZv
l^vSiv is not an absolute innovation in the Sophist. It has already
356 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
had its prelude in Phadrus, 265 D, seq., and in Republic, v. 476 A.
But we fail to see the slightest force in Apelt's chief argument (Bei-
trdge, p. 84) : " Substances can only be either bodies or spiritual
essences ; if, then, the ideas are substances, there is nothing else left
for them than to be spiritual essences ; " from which the further
inference is drawn that the ideas always were for Plato what they
were for him in the Sophist. There is here a no doubt unintentional
ambiguity. A substance may be conceived as incorporeal and as
imperceptible by the senses, without being for that reason regarded as
spiritual in the sense of possessing consciousness. That the irayrcASs
ov is a ff^iiybv KoX aytoy, j/ovy oIik ex"" — this is an assumption that Plato
rejects in Sophist, 249 A ; but that it is an absurd, self -contradictory
hypothesis, he does not suggest by as much as a single word. Just
as little — I might almost have said still less — is this his view of the
assertion that those substances must be denied life and movement.
And how was he to attribute consciousness, life, or motion to the
archetypes of tables and beds which he mentions in the Republic (cf.
p. 103), to negative concepts, or to the concepts of relations ? Apelt's
position, that the doctrine of ideas receives no modification in the
Sophist, is, in my opinion, entirely destitute of foundation.
Page 175 (Top). " Plato now affirms . . ." The quotation is
from Sophist, 259 D-E. Bonitz seems to me to be mistaken in so far
as he contends that the positive solutions contained in the dialogue
derive all their value and significance from the fact that "for Plato
every logical relation, precisely as such, has the force of objective
reality " (pp. cit., p. 196). He misses the point that Plato here
addresses himself to the old oTrop^ai, which had gained currency and
influence independently of the doctrine of ideas, and that he
comes as near a final solution of them as was possible, subject to the
presuppositions which governed his own and his contemporaries'
thought.
Page 176 (Middle). " The Parmenides : " 129 C. This passage
sheds new light on the purpose of the Euthydemus. One is inclined
to conjecture that when Plato wrote this dialogue he was already
fully aware that no small number of puzzles and pitfalls owe their
existence to the absolute use of purely relative terms, to the tendency
(Campbell, Introduction to the Sophist, p. 60) " to view every subject
in the light of abstract alternatives, to apply the language of logic
immediately to the sensible world." As I am on the subject of
anticipations, I may also remark here that the recognition and
explanation of the /u^ ov, as found in the Sophist, had already been
prepared for in Thecetetus, 189 B, I mean in the passage where the
iJfcuSi; So|iifeii' is reduced to an oWoSoJeic, though it is true that Plato
does not here rest satisfied with the explanation.
Page 177 (Top). "A comic fragment :" namely, of Epicrates
(ii. 287, seq., Kock). It was Usener who first drew attention to this
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 357
fragment, which is of considerable length and very valuable. Its full
importance is only perceived when it is used to illustrate Plato's late
period. Unfortunately, it cannot be dated with any accuracy, and it is
not worth the trouble to discuss fully the unauthoritative chronological
statements which have been made on the floruit of this poet (in
Meineke, Com. Grcec. Fragm., i. 414, and in Bergk, Rhein. Mus.,
34, 329). Only so much may be said that the appearance of
Speusippus and Menedemus (of Pyrrha) as Plato's assistants points
to an epoch very considerably removed from the beginnings of the
Academy. (Below) " For the author of the Statesman : " 262 D-E ;
see also Parmenides, 130 C. Very characteristic of the tendency here
in question is the passage, Sophist, 227 B, where the general's art and
the art of louse-catching are coupled as coming under the common
concept of the hunter's art, and the natural objection drawn from their
difference in dignity expressly overridden. Here, too, belongs the
dictum of the Statesman, 272 C, that from anything and everything
which Nature produces something is to be learnt. Cf. Campbell's
Essays, i. § 30 {Republic, ii. 41).
Page 178 (Middle). The quotations are from Sophist, 254 D and
251 B.
Page 179 (Top). Cf. J. C. Fr. ZoUner, Uber die Naturder Kometen,
ed. 2 (Leipzig, 1872), p. 163, seq. (§ 4) I find it hard to understand
how any one can doubt that the Statesman " forms the bridge from
the Republic to the Laws,^' as Rohde puts it (JCleine Schriften, i. 275).
The criteria of matter are in accord with those of language. My
conjecture, that Plato's second Sicilian residence is to be placed
between the Theatetus on the one side, and the Sophist and States-
man on the other, has already been expressed in the text, pp. 144 and
158. Good grounds for assuming an interval between the Sophist and
the Statesman are given by Rohde (pp. cit., p. 262, note 1).
Page 180 (Top). " Excursus on the . . . nature of examples : "
Statesman, 278 C ; " investigation of the idea of measure : " 283 E, seq. ;
" cult of method : " 286 D ; Tiiv iJ,f0oSov avriiv tiimv tov kbt' elSri SwaThv fTyai
JioipEir. (Below) On the Cynic identification of the king with the
shepherd, cf. note to Vol. 1 1, p. 161. It is more important to point out
(with Hirzel, Hermes, viii. 127, seq.) that this is another instance of self-
correction on Plato's part. Indeed, there are two instances. In the
Republic, the ruler had been compared with the shepherd (iii. 416 A,
seq., and iv. 440 D), and with the queen-bee (vii. 520 B). The first
comparison is re^'oked by Statesman, 267 C, seq., the second by
301 E.
Page 181 (Middle). " Casually as this remark seems to be
dropped . . . : " with Statesman, 283 D, compare Phado, 96 D, seq.,
and 102 B, seq. ; Republic, 523 E, 524 A, 525 A, seq. The case is
somewhat different with Theatetus, 154 C (see note to p. yj).
(Bottom) " Means of enjoyment : " elsewhere in Plato, as in Aristotle,
VOL. IIL 2 B
358 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
/u/iriTucii is the generic idea to which the various fine arts are
subordinated ; here (288 C) raiyytov, that is, sport or play, appears as
the higher unity, which comprehends under itself painting, music,
decoration and adornment (K6aiws) of all kinds. Campbell rightly
says in his commentary, "We have here the larger kind of which
mftriTMii is a part."
Page 184 (Top). Demades. The quotation is from Oratores Attici,
ii. 31S B.
Page 185, " Not to take words too seriously." Plato's words
are : rh /iij mrouSdCe'V ^irl roh ovofuurtv, 261 E ; and fieruTiSefieva 8' sis Tcks
rSv irpayiiirwii fMKph Kol /i.^ ^i}Slovs avWa^is. In the first passage the
allusion to Antisthenes is made unmistakable by the immediately
following words : n\ov(Tid!iTepos els rh yrjpas aiiaif>avi\(ret tppovi\aeus, compared
with Sophist, 251 C, where the vevta t^s irepl <pp6rri<riv KT^o-eais which
belongs to TrpeaPmepois avBpdnrois is spoken of with direct reference to
a doctrine of Antisthenes. It is certain, too, that Antisthenes is aimed
at in 306 A. With my final remark, cf. Jowett, The Dialogues of
Plato, iii. 568 : " But nowhere has the spirit of modern inductive
philosophy been more happily described."
Book v.— Chapter XVIII.
The genuineness of the Philebus, which some scholars have
disputed, is sufficiently guaranteed by the allusions of Aristotle,
particularly Eth. Nic, K. 2, 1 172 b, 28, compared with Philebus, 20 B
and 61 B. Or where else are we to suppose that Plato expressed the
opinions there attributed to him by Aristotle ? (Cf. Ueberweg,
Untersuchungen, 148, seq. ; and Bonitz, Index Aristotelicus, sub voc.
XlKiTicv.) The chronological position of the dialogue between the
Statesman and the Timaus seems to me perfectly well estabUshed ;
compare Campbell, Essays {Republic, ii. 46, seq.), and Rohde, Kleine
Schriften, i. 262. Ueberweg, too, places the Philebus near the Sophist
and Statesman {Untersuchungen, 207, seq., and 267). The "pecu-
liarity of style " noted in the text is one which I have since treated more
fully in Platonische Aufsdtze, iii. It is only the great and well-earned
authority of Zeller that induces me to combat shortly the opinion
which he tenaciously holds, that the Philebus preceded the Republic.
All that has been learnt in the last few decades about the develop-
ment of Plato's language and style speaks against that view. No men-
tion has so far been made of the arguments, tending in the same
direction, of Hirzel {Der Dialog, 1.251) and Ivo Biuns {Das Literarische
Portrdt, etc., p. 272). Zeller's proof rests on the relation of the discus-
sions in Republic, vi. 505-509 and ix. 581-587 to the kindred matter in
the Philebus. The question is one of very great interest from the point
of view of method. If an author treats the same problem twice in
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 359
substantially the same manner, except that his exposition is more
compressed in the one instance and more expanded in the other, two
explanations are possible. The author may have intended to clear the
way for the longer and fuller discussion of his subject by the shorter
one, or the latter may follow the former as a kind of condensed extract.
Which of these hypotheses is the correct one we must learn from the
careful and nicely balanced examination of each particular case. We
have already come across examples of the second type (cf. Vol. II.
p. 393)- On the other hand, the short excursus on the idea of measure
contained in the Statesman cannot, in my opinion, be regarded as a
risumi of the comprehensive investigation of the same subject in the
PhiUbus (Siebeck expresses the same view, but less decidedly, in
Untersuchungen zur Philosophic der Griechen, ed. 2, p. 118). Zeller's
positive assertions (ed. 4, ii. l, p. 548) do not, as I think, bear close
examination. He names a number of passages in the Philebus, and
asks why, if all these were backward references to the Republic, there
was any need for Plato to write the Philebus at all. Here, at all
events, a distinction is necessary. The fundamental problem of the
Philebus is mentioned in Republic, vi. 505 B, in a few words : hXKk
fiijv Koi t65g ye oTtrdtt, '6ti rots fiev leoXKots tjSov^ Soksi etvai rh ayaOSv, rots Se
Ko/v^orepois <pp6iiri(rts. This brevity proves, in my opinion, merely that
at the time when Plato wrote this part of the Republic, he was able to
assume his readers acquainted with the teaching of Euclides, who,
according to Diog. Laert, ii. 106, identified rh &yae6v with ippSvniris,
likewise with the Deity and with voSs. Why we are to suppose a
backward reference here to Philebus, 11 B-E, etc., I cannot imagine.
In point of logic and depth the advantage is certainly with the
Philebus, while in the Republic (505 B-C) Plato rests content with
objections against the two doctrines drawn from very near the
surface. The champions of <pp6vri<Tis are said to revolve in a circle
because they cannot avoid defining this notion more exactly as ^pSvtiiris
ToS o7ofloS ; and the advocates of iiSovii are taxed with inconsistency
because they are unable to deny the existence of " bad " T/Sofal as well
as good. It is true that the passages of the ninth book, 583 B, segr.,
which Zeller matches with parallel passages in the Philebus, contain
a discussion on the various kinds of pleasure marked by great subtlety
— a subtlety which is only exceeded by the Philebus itself. The chief
difference is that the exposition in the Philebus is completer and more
intricate than that in the Republic. I am entirely of the opinion of
Campbell, who pronounces the hypothesis demanded by the whole
character of the two works perfectly legitimate, namely, " that Plato
had arrived at this general conception of the relative worth of
Pleasure, Thought, and the Good, before giving to it the full and
complex expressions which the Philebus contains " {pp. cit., p. 23).
Page 187 (Top). "Abandonment of dichotomy:" Statesman,
287 C, and Philebus, 16 D. Warning against the overleaping of
360 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
mediate notions : Philebtts, 17 A (rek Se ^eVa airrahs iKipciyet). Dialectic
the chief instrument of all discoveries : 16 C.
Page 188 (Bottom). Philolaus: cf. the beginning (which has
been preserved) of his work liepl iiaeas. The fragment is contained
in Diog. Laert., viii. 85, and has been critically treated by Reiske,
more recently by Diels, Hermes, 24, 321 (see also his Parmenides,
p. 66). It is perhaps best written as follows : *ti(ris a tS Kiajua apiidxiv
i^ iirelpuv Tc Ko! mpatvovruv, koL 'Akos Kiiriios Kol tA 4v air$ vima.
Page 189 (Middle). " King of the heavens and the earth :" see
Philebus, 28 C. The polemic against naturalism, 28 C-29 A ; Sophist,
246 A and 247 B ; Laws, x. 891 C, seg.
Page 190 (Middle). On the opposition between real and merely
apparent pleasure {Philebus, 5 1 A, seg.), Grote has written brilliantly
and in a manner highly characteristic of his whole mode of thought
(Plato, iii. 604, seg.).
Page 191 (Top). Compare Philebus, 55 B, with Gorgias, 499 B,
discussed pp. 350, 351 of the second volume. (Middle) There is
considerable conflict of opinions as to who these "enemies of
Philebus" (44 B) are. The literature bearing on the subject is
catalogued by R. G. Bury, The Philebus of Plato, Cambridge, 1897,
p. 95, seg. The hypothesis, that Antisthenes is referred to, seems to
me entirely inadmissible. He and his adherents could not possibly
have been described as Seixo! Tct ite/i! i^iaai. Even a Zeller, in order to
maintain this hypothesis, is obliged to adopt the violent interpretation
that what is here meant is the (piais of ifiov^ (ed. 4, ii. 309, note : " . . .
thus he might very well, in the present connexion, be termed Jeivis tA
irepl i^iiaiv ")• Equally illegitimate, as I think, is the assumption that
those "allies" whom Plato follows "like prophets" (44 C, D) are
Democritus and his adherents (Hirzel, Untersuchungen zu Cicero's
philosophischen Schriften, i. 141, seg., and Natorp, Archiv, iii. 521),
The three features mentioned in Philebus, 44 B-E : (i) the strongly
emphasized Svaxipua, or repugnance for pleasure, that is, ascetic or
nearly ascetic sentiments ; (2) eminent achievements in natural
science ; (3) friendly relations to Plato ; — these three, as Grote
recognizes {pp. cit., 609, seg.), seem to apply, in their entirety, only to
Pythagoreans.
Page 192 (Top). On Eudoxus as a Hedonist we only possess the
condensed notices contained in two passages of the Nicomachean Ethics
(see note to Vol. II. p. 218). Usener's assertion that it was his theory
of pleasure and not that of Aristippus that furnished Plato's Philebus
with an " occasion and subject " {Organisation der wissensch. Arbeit,
p. 16), seems hardly capable of being proved. Usener finds it striking
that the Philebus should contain words which remind of the KaTaarn-
/ioTiKol ^Socol of Epicurus (Diog. Laert., x. 136), although states of
pleasure were allowed no space in the system of at least the older
Cyrenaics (Diog. Laert., ii. 87-90). Such must be his meaning in
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 36 1
referring to the fact that " ideas emerge in the Philebus which other-
wise do not occur before Epicurus." But the allusion supposed to be
contained in Philebus, 42 U, is merely apparent. The entrance upon
a state is not itself a state, but a process. For an example of the
" return to the normal state " there spoken of, we may take the effect
of food on the hungry or of drink on the thirsty. The resulting
pleasure is momentary, and has nothing in the world to do with the
permanent pleasures or pleasurable states of Epicurus (see Diog.
Laert., ii. 87-90). We observe, too, that this reference is put in the
mouth, not of Protarchus, but of Socrates, who speaks of widely held
opinions (elpjjTof irou iroAActKu). There is thus no justification for the
hypothesis that it is the voice of Eudoxus that speaks to us here, and
that we ought therefore to see in him, so far as this point is concerned,
a precursor of Epicurus. But, even supposing this view correct, how
are we to infer from it that Plato contented himself with making only
one of the two contemporary champions of Hedonism the target of his
polemic ? Both thinkers based their common doctrine on the same
fundamental phenomena of animal life ; of the two, Aristippus was in
any case the more influential. The severity of Plato's tone suggests,
moreover, that he is striking at Aristippus, on whom he casts else-
where — at the beginning of the Phado — a by no means friendly
side-glance. I leave it open whether the somewhat coarse invective
of the final words {pi v&vns 06es re ko! iJinroi) are or are not intended to
suggest Aristippus' name. Diimmler's arguments on the subject,
in Akademika, p. 167, need not detain us. The careless haste with
which he treats it is shown even by an external indication, his
repetition of an error of the pen or press which appears in Usener's
pages.
Page 194 (Middle). On the conception of exact science, compare
Philebus, 55 E, with Euthyphro, 7 B, seq., and Republic, x. 602 D.
" Measure, weight, and number," which are joined by Plato in these
passages, are similarly connected by the author of the work On Ancient
Medicine, ix. (i. 588, Littrd), and again by the author of the work On
Diet, ch. 2 (vi. 470, L.). Sophocles, Fragm., 399 N : S.taiii.Sni opifl^Si' xal
/[leVpiay (ipiinara. ^schylus, Prometheus, 461 : Kol m^)" ap'M"" *?oX'»'
ao^iafiATav. (Bottom) The wide interval between the Philebus and
the Gorgias is shown by 55 E, where the Karaii^Kerav invetpl^ koi nvt
Tpi$f is placed second only to strictest and most exact procedure,
while in Gorgias, 463 B, the arts of cookery and dress, etc., are com-
prehended under this very notion of dnireipia /col rpiPii, and opposed to
r4xpv in general. A similar contempt is shown in 501 A, and much
the same again in Phcedrtcs, 270 B. In his passionate denunciation of
lawyer-like rhetoric, the aged author of the last books of the Laws
(xi. 938 A) returns to the modes of thought and speech which had
distinguished the work of his youth.
Page 196 (par. 2). In my appreciation of the scale of goods, I
362 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness to Apelt, Archtv, ix. p. 20,
seg., an essay which contains much other valuable matter ; e.g. what
is said (p. 17) on the difference between "the good" in the Philebus
and the " idea of the good " in the Republic.
Page 197 (Bottom). " Because otherwise no one of us would even
know his way home : " Phil., 62 B.
Page ig8 (end of par. i). Cf. 65 A. A comparison of 64 E and
65 D brings to light a very remarkable argument in a circle.
" Truth " was made an ingredient in the mixture. With what
ustification ? Apparently only because the " true " pleasures (falsely
so called, by the way) occur in it, and because the imffTrjiuu likewise
participate in truth. But the latter is only a property, either of the
Tfiovai, or the tiria-T^fuu. Here it is hypostasized. It is next said that
vous is either completely or almost completely identical with truth —
a statement in which subjective knowledge and the object of knowledge
are strangely confused. The inference is then drawn that <pp6iiriiris has
a much larger share in the mixture than iiSorli, that is, is in a much
higher degree a constituent element of the good. (Middle) " Pleasure
of the moral man . . . :" 12 D : liSeerfloi Se koI rhv aaippovovpTa a!iT^ T^
ffatppovetv . , . rliieffBai 5* ahrhv (ppovovvra avT^, t^ tppov^7v.
In conclusion, it is fitting to remark that Schleiermacher's Intro-
duction not only contains many thoughts of great delicacy, as all his
introductions do, but also is by no means blind to logical weaknesses.
If, in spite of such defects, the closing portion of the dialogue holds
the modern reader spell-bound, the reason of this, apart from the
charm of style, is chiefly the following. The Hedonists appear as
cold calculators, as representatives of a refined selfishness, a temperate
sensuality ; Plato is all fervour and enthusiasm. Now, our conception
of the character of the older Hedonists, of whose writings hardly a
fragment has reached us, rests on no solid foundation. But it may be
taken for granted that a researcher of the calibre of Eudoxus cannot
have been lacking in enthusiasm. Nor are we entirely thrown back
on inferences. Epicurus, too, was a Hedonist in ethics, that is, he no
less than Aristippus and Eudoxus, founded ethics on the striving after
pleasure which is a root-phenomenon of all life. But who would affirm
that his real character, or that of his disciple Lucretius, bore any
correspondence to the popular conception of him? Epicurus, at all
events, was no " epicure " !
Book V.— Chapter XIX.
Page 200 (Top). That a long interval lies between the completion
of the Republic and the composition of the Timceus is proved, in the
first place, by the criteria of style and language. There is further the
trustworthy information of Grantor, who, moreover, was "the first
commentator on Plato " (in Proclus' commentary on the Timceus,
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 363
p. 24 E, quoted on p. 301 of this volume), of which the text is :
(T/cwTTTeffffat fiiv <p^]ffiv avrhu inrh tuv t6tg &s oiSk a^rhv Sura ttis no\tTetas
eiperiiv oAAck /ierwypiitfiaiiTa ri AtyvTrrlaV rhv Sh roaovTov iroi'liffairBtu rav
ffKawrSpTttiV \6yoy, Sct' ^tt' PdyvTrriovs apairsfn^ai t^v irepl ^AQrjvalay Kal
'ArAayT/vai/ toAttji/ iVTopfav Sis rav 'ABrpiaiuv kot^ -rairriv Qi\aii.vTaiv tote tV
Page 201 (Top). Hermocrates : cf. Critias, 108 A-B ; also
Timaus, 20 A. The opinion opposed to ours, that the recapitulation
at the opening of the Timaus refers to an earlier sketch of the
Republic, is principally represented by Rohde, Psyche, ii. 266, notes
(2nd ed.), and von Arnim, De Reipubliccs Platonis Compositione ex
Timceo Illustranda (Rostock Winter Programme, 1898). I have
tried to show on p. 203 that this hypothesis is unnecessary. The
Republic as it lies before us decidedly does not give the impression of
being a rdchauffi of a previous work. If it were, many harsh tran-
sitions would have been smoothed over, many violences in the
structure softened. Further, it is not very probable that the same
person whom Plato thought the fittest mouthpiece of his cosmological
speculations, also possessed the qualifications to make a character in
his principal work of social polity. Finally and principally, how can
it be explained that the Tiinceus, which shows all the signs of Plato's
late period, should be appended by its author to a comparatively
early work, which must be older than even the earliest books of our
Republic ?
Page 202. " Aristotle, in his Constitution of the Athenians : " 'ABw
noAiT., C. 13 (Kenyon, p. 43, 3rd ed.), in essentials agreeing with
Critias, p. 110 B, except that the nobility whom Aristotle calls
flnraTpiSai are described by Plato, in imitation of Egypt, as the warrior
caste (ri lidxi/i-ov).
Page 203 (Top). Cf. Critias, 1 10 B. (Bottom) " To see the figures
... in active motion :" cf. Timaus, 19 B: eh imBv/ilav a<plKoiTo eedtratreai
KLVov/jLeva.
Page 205. " A highly gifted French novelist : " cf. Zola, Le Roman
ExpMmental, p. 7 : " Puis I'expdrimentateur parait et institue I'ex-
p&ience, je veux dirt fait mouvoir les personnages''^ (so Plato, in the
passage quoted), " dans une histoire particulifere, pour y montrer que
la succession des faits y sera telle," etc. Cf. also § 8, p. 12, seg., and
p. 30 : " Puisque la mddecine qui dtait un art, devient une science,
pourquoi la litterature elle-meme ne deviendrait-elle pas une science,
grice k la mdthode exp^rimentale ? " Or p. 17, " Donc,les romanciers
naturalistes sont bien en effet des morahstes expdrimentateurs."
Much more reasonable is p. 48, where observation and analysis
appear as the principal tools of the " romancier expdrimentateur."
Page 206 (Middle). Cf. Timaus, 24 E-25 D ; and Critias, 113 B
seq. Rohde calls the whole narrative of Atlantis " the freest fiction,
attached, at the utmost, to some cosmological and geographical
364 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
theories" {GriecMscher Roman, 213, 2nd ed.). Further, in note 2,
"When Plato (Timaus, 25 D) makes the destruction of Atlantis the
cause of the ocean's becoming muddy and shallow, and therefore
inaccessible, at least the fact thus explained stood firm in his belief,
as in the belief of all antiquity," with a reference to Miillenhoff,
Deutsche Altertumskunde, i. 78 and 420. To me the connexion with
a popular legend continues to seem more probable. People saw, or
thought they saw, Tois 'ABrivalovs . . , piKuvras riv irphs 'ArXavrlvovs
7riiA.eyttoy, on the ireVxos of Athene (Scholia on the opening of the
Republic). Christ's conjecture also {Platonische Studien, 55, seq^,
that the Atlantic legend had an historical background in the invasion
of the Northern peoples, may be not entirely devoid of foundation.
Moreover, it remains obscure why Plato calls Atlantis an island,
although it is said to have been larger than Asia and Libya put
together. Compare on this and kindred questions, H. Berger, Gesch.
der wissensch. Erdkunde der Griechen, ii. 125, also 141. The boldness
with which Plato puts the prehistoric Athenians at the head of
mankind borders on the incredible. Cf. Critias, 112 E, tVl iraffay
Evp(JjTniy Kal 'Afriav . . . e\\6ytfiol re ^(Toy koX 6f0fia(rT6TaT0t irdvrwv tup
tJtc. (Below) "Always been regarded as enigmatic." Differences of
opinion on the explanation of the Timceus, as early as the immediate
pupils of Plato, such as Xenocrates and Speusippus, are attested, both
directly and indirectly, by Plutarch, in his eminently remarkable work,
which is unique in the ancient treatment of philosophical history : " On
the creation of the soul in the Timceus " (irepl t^j & Tijuo?^ xf/vxayovtas —
Moralia, 1238-60, ed. Diibner, separate edition by Berthold Miiller,
Breslau, 1873). Besides the commentary of Crantor, named above
(p. 201), there were others by the Peripatetics Eudorus and Adrastus,
the Stoic Poseidonius, etc. There are extant a fragment of Galen's
commentary in the original, edited by Daremberg (Paris, 1848); the
commentary and the Latin translation of the Neo-Platonist Chalcidius,
most recently edited by Wrobel (Leipzig, 1876) ; and that of Proclus,
edited by Schneider (Breslau, 1846). (Bottom) "A labour of secondary
importance :" Timcsus, 59 C-D.
Page 207 (Middle). "Proscribed as an impiety:" Timceus, 68 D :
El St Tis Toirav ifiycf a-KOTroi/ievos fiiaavov Aa/iPdvoi, rh rrjs avSpatrlinis koX
eelas tpiaeas iiyvor)Kiis ttv ftri Sid<popoi'. What is here rejected is the
attempt at what we call chemical synthesis and analysis. (Below)
''But the bond," etc. I cannot find the same thoughts except in
Alberti, Uder Geist und Ordnung der platonischen Schriften (Leipzig,
1864), p. 17-
Page 208 (Top). This doctrine of a descending scale or degene-
ration in Timceus, 41 D, seq. (Bottom) "As has been rightly observed: "
cf. Grote, Plato, iii. 251.
Page 209 (Top). " Greater or less degree of plausibility: " iiKhis
lUyoi, eiKoVes ij.v9o\., are names given to his expositions by the author of
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 365
the Timcsus, in 29 B-D, 48 D-E, 57 D, 59 C. (Par. 3) The act of
creation. Perhaps it is advisable on this occasion to present to the
reader the stock of reasons on both sides which have determined our
judgment. To take the creative act for a mere figure was a course
that already commended itself to ancient interpreters from Xenocrates
onward, with a view to escaping the Aristotelian objections (cf.
Ueberweg, Rhein. Mus., ix. 78, seq^. Latest of all, R. Wahle {Archiv,
xiv. 14s, seq.\ following in the wake of many others, has entered on a
more cogent method of proof for the theory that " the Demiurge is no
ideal, metaphysical potency." For " all kinds of being and becoming,
of body and spirit, have already been used by Plato in the construction
of his world and its souls, so that nothing is left for the Demiurge.
The principle of the permanent, change, mixtures, everything, has
been distributed ; what besides could the nature of the Demiurge be ?
Nothing. . . . Only in a figure could it be, at the utmost, the personifi-
cation of power, of the effect of the self-existent forms on the principle
that invests itself with them." Plausible as all this sounds, yet hesi-
tation is suggested, first of all, by the parallels in the Sophist and
Siatesman,to which our exposition points. The figurative presentations,
the " accommodation," of which Wahle speaks {op. cit, p. 150), must in
any case have grown out of the purposes which prevail in the Timaus.
But now, compare expressions on the Demiurge in Timaus, 28 C, rhv
ykv oZv Tiaii\T^v Kti^ ttwrifa ToCSe ToS iravTils, or 37 C, i yevviiaas iroT^p, with
Statesman, 269 D, vapA. rod yew/iaaVTOs iierel\i)^ei> (that is, the yfvviiaas of
the oupavis and K6triu>s, 270 A) iropi toO SijjuioupyoS, or 273 B, tV toB
Siiiuovpyov Kol iroTp^j . . . SiSaxfi", and further with Sophist, 265 C, /iav
iWou Tiphs fl fleoS SiifuovpyovvTos ^aofifv Sirrepoi/ ylyye<r8cu irp6T(pov oiiK
ivra; The mistrust thus awakened — a mistrust which is always
appropriate in the face of a purely deductive treatment of a question
of history or interpretation— leads us to those considerations which
we have presented on pp. 2ii, 212. If in all this there can be any
suggestion of " accommodation," it is accommodation to Plato's own
religious feeling, not to any popular opinions, which he opposes more
freely and absolutely in the Timmus (40 E, quoted on p. 213) than any-
where else. It was simply the development of his own religious meta-
physics that made it difficult for him to attach himself to the current
mythical conceptions. The more intimately, we may venture to add,
Plato occupied himself with the process of the world's formation, the
greater was the importance that the dynamical side of the supreme
world-principle assumed in his eyes. This now becomes a genuinely
moulding and producing being, and therefore more and more becomes
furnished with will, and, so far, with personality. Such a progress,
moreover, is probably visible as early as the tenth book of the
Republic, in the passage where the Deity, in no uncertain words, is
called the creator (Demiurge), as of all other things, so of the ideas
(596 B-C). This want of complete clearness is also noticed by
366 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
Theophrastus (quoted by Simplicius, /« PAyj., P- 26, 11-13, Diels).
While he distinguishes God from the Good in the Platonic doctrine,
he yet unites them at the same time into one principle : Uo t&s afxi.s
. . . rb fCiv imoKilyLfvov at S\riy (us SAtji' inroKelfjitvov?'), t wpo<rayopiiet iravSex^'t
rb Se its aXTiov Kal Kijfovv, & irpoffdiTTeL rp rod 6eov KoL dyaBov Bvj/dfiet. (Middle)
" Found expression in the Philebus : " 30 A. (Bottom) " As far as
possible : " kbI kotA Siwaiuv Sti kcJaaio-to Kol ipiffra {Timcsus, ^2 E), and
(p\avpoy 8e unShv elvai Kara Siva/uv (30 A).
Page 210 (Top). " The first great difficulty of interpretation."
The passage 38 B : xp^""' '' ''^'' /"*'''' oip^^voS 76'7oc€i/, and its relation to
10 A, obx Tjfrvxlay Ikytav akXh. Kivo^fifvov wKTHMfieKoas xaX oTct/cTws, present
perhaps the greatest difficulty of all in the explanation of the Timceus.
See Aristotle, De Calo,'\. 10 (279, 280), and Simplicius on the passage
(pp. 303, 304, Heiberg). Simplicius, I may remark, adduced States-
man, 273 B, but did not make the same use of it that I have done.
Page 211, § 4. The passages bearing on the problem of the
primordial matter are : Timcsus, 49 A, 51 A, 52 B. Especial attention
is due to the triad, emphasized so strongly in 52 A-D, of the iv (i.e.
the world of ideas), of x'^P^ (z.«- space), and of yive<ns (^i.e. the sub-
stratum of material processes) ; and with 52 A should be compared
the exact parallels in 27 D-28 A. The emphatic denial of empty
space occurs principally in the theory of respiration, which I have
reproduced on p. 224. The apparent contradiction between this
denial of Kev6v and the diiiKm mentioned in several passages (58 B,
60 E, 61 A-B^ is removed by Deichmann and his critic Diimmler in
a perfectly legitimate manner. They point out that the Si&Kiva " are
not meant as true voids existing between the elementary particles ;
the name is to be interpteted relatively to definite individual bodies "
(Deichmann, Das Problem des Raumes in der griechischen Philosophie,
p. 65, and Diimmler, Kleine Schriften, i. 292). Diimmler continues,
with perfect justice, "The element-forming triangles which constitute
the elementary crystals do so by bounding full space, not empty space,
and they cannot divide up the whole original mass." This is fully
decided by the passage 58 A-B in particular. The opinion of the
most ancient interpreters has been retained not only by the two
scholars just named, but by Bonitz, K. F. Hermann, Brandis, Ueberweg
{Rhein. Mus., ix. 59, seq., where he gives references to the earlier
literature), and Grote {Plato, iii. 248). The most important modern
commentator on the Timceus, Henri Martin, wavers on this point ;
compare his Etudes sur le Timde, ii. 180, with the page following.
The opposite view, that Plato's primordial matter is nothing else than
space, originated with Bockh {Kleine Schriften, iii. 124, seq.), and has
received the assent of Zeller (ed. 4, ii. i, 727, seq^, and finally ot
Windelband {Plato, pp. 89 and 106, seq^. Nothing decisive is to be
extracted from Aristotle. His words in the Physics (a. 2, 209 b, 11) :
Sib KvX nA.aTCW*' TT^y ^\t\v KoX T^v x^P^^ Ta.in6 (pjunv elvai 4v t^ Tijuat^j, can
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. -ifil
hardly, considering the context, mean anything else than that space
and matter, according to Plato, coincide in their extension, in other
words, that Plato knows nothing of space denuded of matter.
(Bottom) " A well-considered answer : " given by Ueberweg, Rhein.
Mus., ix. 69.
Page 212 (Top). " Fully in earnest." Here, too, I must again
refer to Ueberweg {pp. cit., p. 76, note 40), who insists on the highly
important but often neglected distinction between Plato's mythical
expositions and those which are meant seriously, though not presented
as claiming absolute certainty. The word yiyovfv (sc. i kSo-hos) is
not even subject to this last limitation ; it is the answer, given in
the most positive manner conceivable, to the question, ir6Tipov ^v
ael . . . t) yiyovev - . . s (28 B). That Plato is fully in earnest about
the creation of the world, has recently been acknowledged, though
not without reserve, by R. Heinze {Xenocrates, p. 51), by Apelt
{Beitr. z. Gesch. d. Philos., viii.), and long before these by Stumpf,
whose treatise, Verhdltnis des platonischen Gottes zur Idee des Guien,
is only known to me at second hand. (Bottom) " To discover . . . : "
Tim., 28 E.
Page 213 (Middle). " Eternal gods." The ideas are called aiSioi
e^ol in 37 C ; the cosmos a siSaliiav eds in 34 B. The might of
" Necessity " — ^here appeased and compliant — is specially mentioned
in 56 C ; together with the " erratic cause of motion," it appears in
48 A. The last passage contains a significant phrase : The world
was created ^| h/iyxiis tc koL vov avaTiaeas. The evil world-soul is
spoken of in Laws, x. 896 E and 898 C. (Below) August Bockh,
Kleine Schriften, iii. 130.
Page 214 (Middle). " In the Thecetetus : ^^ 176 A {vTrcmvTiov yap
ri T$ 0708^ aA fhai avdyxri). I am here entirely in agreement with
Ueberweg-Heinze, i. 174, 8th ed.
Page 215 (Top). Creation of the world-soul : TimcBus, 36 E, seq.
(Middle) "Plato's pupils :" cf. Aristotle, Physics, r. 4, 203 a, 15 :
m^i.Tav Se ilio ri. Aireipa, rh fiiya KoX rh lUKpiv. Similarly, Physics, A. 2,
209-210; also Metaph., A. 6, 988 a, 13 : 3t( oBtij Stos ia-riv, rb p-irj/a
KaX T^ fiiKp6v.
Page 216 (Middle). "Some of his followers :" especially Xeno-
crates, who has been followed by many moderns. I have the more
confidence in my interpretation from the agreement of R. Heinze
{Xenocrates, p. 22, seg.), who explains the fii/cTbc ydvos of the Philebus
in a similar manner, without any reference to the Timceus. In
passing, I may remark that I cannot understand why Heinze {op.
cit, p. 21), as also Ueberweg and Heinze in several passages, make
the Philebus follow the Timceus. I hope I have made sufficiently
plain the close connexion of the Philebus with the companion dialogues.
Sophist and Statesman. Perhaps, as a last desperate shift, it might
occur to some one to place all three dialogues later than the Timaus.
368 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
But this may easily be shown to be illegitimate. For the Philebus
begins as a rearguard of the other two, and ends as an advance-guard
of the TimcBus. In it a kind of dynastic change is accomplished.
The sceptre passes from dialectic to mathematics, from which it is
not again wrested. (Par. 2) For this section, see in particular 41
D-E, 69 C, seq., 44 A-D, 39 C, 40 B.
Page 217, § 5. The contemptuous expression is known to us from
an addition by an unknown hand to Alexander's commentary on the
Metaphysics (A. 5, 985 b, 23), Anonym. Urbin., in Brandis' Scholia
in Aristotelem, p. 539 A, fin. : 'Ofiotas rouVotj koI UKarav, irep! ou iKpyiv
Tivts i)s KaTefiaSriiiaTtKeiffaTO rijv (prlcriv. On the thoughts expressed in
what follows, cf. Alex, von Humboldt, Kosmos, i. 98 : " The planetary
system, considered with respect to its absolute magnitude and the
relative position of the axes, . . . does not oifer any greater degree
of natural necessity [that is, in the sense of ' intrinsic and causal
connexion'] than the distribution of sea and land, . . . than the
outline of the continents or the height of mountain-chains. No
universal law governing these details is to be discovered either in
the celestial spaces or in the inequalities of the earth's crust. These
axe facts of nature, resulting from the conflict of many different forces
working under unknown conditions."
Page 218 (par. 2). The difficulties of the theory of the elements
which is introduced in 31 B, and expounded in 53, seq., have been
discussed with especial insight and impartiality by H. Martin, in
Etudes sur le Timde, ii. 239, seq. The solution which he gives of the
problem of proportion (i. 338) is approved by Bockh {Das kosmische
System des Platon, p. 17) ; Grote {Plato, iii. 252) and Jowett {The
Dialogues of Plato, '\\. 512) reject it, hardly on good grounds. Plato's
statement is correct only if the numbers considered are powers of
primes. He was, however, quite justified in making prime numbers —
linear numbers, as the Greeks called them — the basis of his theory,
since every number which is not prime, being the product of factors,
as such expresses the measure of a surface or a solid. (Bottom)
Philolaus : This Pythagorean of Crotona has been mentioned a good
many times in the present work (see Vol. I. pp. 112, seq., 250, 285,
544 ; Vol. III. pp. 31, 43, 188, 209). The most important testimony
for our present purpose is found in Sfobseus, i. 10 (p. 18, J, Wachs-
muth) : KoX T(i ^v r^ (npaipt^ fft&fiaTa Trevre 4vt{ . . . irvp, Sdap Kol 70 Kol
aiip (to! i Tcis (T<palpas 5\Kis (?) TrefvirToy. It will be well to begin by
answering the doubts raised by Ueberweg-Heinze (i. 66, ed. 8) :
"The doctrine of the five regular solids must not be regarded as
pre-Platonic, for Plato bears witness (Pep., vii. 528 B) that in his
time no solid geometry was as yet in existence." But this is to draw
a much too detailed inference from a general statement. Plato
might very well regret the absence of a system of solid geometry
rivalling plane ia depth and extent, and yet have such a rudimentary
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 369
acquaintance with tlie subject as is implied by his recognizing the
existence of the five regular solids. We may observe that the com-
plaint referred to recurs in Laws, vii. 819 D, seq. On the ground
of doctrines ascribed to Philolaus, in the London papyrus (see note to
Vol, I. p. 285), his chronological position has now been more exactly
determined by Diels (in Hermes, 28, 417), who makes him a younger
rather than an older contemporary of Socrates. He shows signs of
dependence on Alcmseon, on Hippasus, and probably on Prodicus.
The most important of his fragments, which at one time were regarded
with much suspicion, are now acknowledged on good grounds as
genuine — ^by Zeller {Hermes, 10, 178, seq.\ by Rohde {Psyche, ii. 170,
ed. 2), by Diels {Parmenides, p. 66). The fragment quoted in Vol. I.
p. 250 of the present work is supplied by Clemens, Strom., iii. 518,
Potter. Bockh's pioneer monograph has been already mentioned
(Vol. I. note to p. 112). The fragments maybe found iniChaignet,
Pythagore et la Philosophie Pythagorcienne, i. 226, seq., and in MuUach,
Fragmenta Philos. Grcec, ii. i, seq.
Page 219 (Top). " Admitted it again in his latest phase." That
Plato did so recognize the ether as a fifth element, may be inferred
with great probability from the agreement of his pupils Speusippus,
Xenocrates, and the author of the Epinomis (cf. R. Heinze,
Xenocrates, p. 68.). (Middle) " The enigmatic question . . . : " see
note to p. 211, § 4. (Below) Allusions to the theories of the atomists
in Tim., 52 E (the winnowing-fan), 59 C (specific gravity). We may
also note a reference to Anaximenes in 49 C, to Anaxagoras in 56 C.
The double meaning of Kireipos is played on in 55 C; a somewhat
similar passage is Philebus, 17 C. (Bottom) "The elements having
been constructed : " for this paragraph, cf. especially 33 B, seq.
Page 220 (Middle). Plato's astronomical theories are set forth in
Rep., X. (the vision of Er) 616 B, seq. Timaus, 38 B, seq., and Laws,
vii. 821, seq. Besides these, we have the concluding portion of the
Phcedo, and the allusions in Phcedrus, 246 E, seq. Epinomis, 982 A,
seq., provides a supplement which can only be used with caution
because of its doubtful origin. The chief passage bearing on the
rudiment of the sphere-theory is Timceus, 39 A. A lucid statement
of that theory is given by Whewell, History of the Inductive Sciences,
i. 113, seq. The works of Schiaparelli, cited in the note to Vol. I. p.
1 10, are of fundamental importance ; they have since been supple-
mented by an essay in the periodical Atene e Roma, i. No. 2. There
is one point, however, on which I venture to differ from Schiaparelli
and his numerous followers. That the sphere-theory was a mere
mechanism of representation, and not an account of supposed facts,
is a conjecture to which, as far as I can see, tradition lends no support
whatever. The hoops or rings imagined by Plato were solid, not
immaterial ; and the later champions of the theory believed in equally
solid, if transparent spheres.
370 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
Page 221 (Middle). Theophrastus : in Plutarch, PlatoniccE Quces-
Hones, viii. i. i, 3 {Mor., 1231, 37, Diibner), and Life of Numa, ch.
1 1, 2 ( Vita, 80, 24, Dohner). Where Plato finally supposed the centre
of the universe to be, is unfortunately not reported ; it may be that
his utterances on the subject were quite indefinite (" another and a
better "). The second passage suggests the central fire ; it does not,
however, demand this solution, but, more closely considered, is rather
against than for it. This statement of Plutarch, and a passage in the
Laws which we shall have to speak of shortly, have been wrongly
interpreted as proving Plato a precursor of Copernicus ; carried
away by the reaction against this error, no less a person than Bockh
{Das kosmische System des Platon, p. 146) as well as H. Martin (in
his great work, Mdmoire sur Vhistoire des Hypothlses Astronomiques,
etc., Paris, 1881, p. 131) have gone the length of declaring the state-
ment of Theophrastus to be worthless. To this I cannot agree, any
more than could G. C. Lewis {Astronomy of the Ancients, p. 143).
The statement remains obscure, but it is absolutely trustworthy. On
Plato's contempt in the Laws for human concerns, see vii. 803 B in that
work : ^'Etm 5^ roivw tA rtov avOp^ctiy Trpayfiara fieytiKtjs fihy trtrovSTis ovk iSt^ia,
Shortly afterwards Plato calls man " a plaything of God " (repeated
from i. 644 D). (Bottom). The quotation is from Newcomb, Popular
Astronomy, p. 4.
Page 223 (Middle). In the Laws, vii. 821, seq., Plato refers
enigmatically to a doctrine only lately made known to him, on the
nature of which the interpreters differ. Schiaparelli, in I Precursor!
di Copernico, p. 20, believes, on grounds which appear to me con-
vincing, that the expression can only be understood as referring to
the earth's rotation, and he quotes Epinomis, 987 B. in support of his
view. I follow his great authority in opposition to Bockh (J)as
kosmische System des Platon, p. 48, seq^ and Martin {Mdmoire, etc.,
p. 85, seq^. Aristotle was prolaably acquainted with the earth's rotation
(cf. Vol. I. p. 1 19) ; and, considering that the works in question do not
belong to Aristotle's later writings, it is not at all incredible, a priori,
that Plato also was acquainted with this discovery of the younger
Pythagoreans at the time when he wrote the seventh book of the Laws.
Another remarkable circumstance must be mentioned, which is that
in De Ccelo, ii. 13, Aristotle interprets a passage of the Timaus (40 B)
as teaching the rotation of the earth. It is now universally acknow-
ledged that this interpretation is erroneous. (Grote's attempted
rehabilitation was unanimously rejected by the experts.) Now,
Schiaparelli (p. 17, seq.) points out that this strange misunderstanding
on the part of Aristotle becomes in a certain degree explicable if he had
in his mind conversations or lectures of Plato in which the motionless
state of the earth (really retained by him in the Timceus) was given up.
No tenable result has been obtained by the attempt to combine Plato's
allusion in the Laws and the statement of Theophrastus referred to
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 37 I
above. (Par. 2) Bockh {Kleine Schriften, iii. 135, seq.) treats of the
musical phenomena of Plato's heaven, and of the world-soul pervading
it, with unsurpassed learning and an ingenuity which all acknowledge
as triumphant. (§ 7) " The doctrine of natural places," no above and
below, antipodeans : Timaus, 60 B-C, 62, 3. '
Page 224 (Middle). Theory of respiration : 79 B-80 C. For what
follows, compare 80 C. This whole section is illustrated by Plutarch,
Qumstiones PlatoniccB, vii. (Mor., 1229-1231, Diibner). (Bottom) Con-
volutions of the intestines, etc. : Timaus, 73 A. Purpose of nails :
76 D-E.
Page 225 (Bottom). Theory of disease : 82 A, seq. On mental
diseases, 86 B, seq.
Page 226 (Middle). " Connexion between mind and body : " a
rudiment of these theories may be found in the Phado, cf. p. 434.
Book V. — Chapter XX.
Any one desiring to make himself rapidly acquainted with the
matter contained in the Laws may be advised to use Constantin
Ritter's summary, Plato's Gesetze, Darstellung des Inhalts, a volume
which, apart from the copious index, only contains 126 pages. The
commentary which has lately been published by the same author
contains much that is excellent, but not seldom leaves the reader
in the lurch. A commentary which should shed a uniform light on
all parts of the work would be a difficult but a very welcome
performance.
Page 227 (Below). " Philippus of Opus : " see note to Vol. II. pp.
276 and 282. Also Prolegomena ad Philosophiam, Platonis, ch. 24,
in Hermann, vi. p. 218. (Bottom) " Within a year." This is clear from
the malicious allusion of Isocrates in his Philippus (composed between
April and July, 346 ; cf. Blass, Griechische Beredsamkeit, ii. 314, ed. 2).
(See pp. 26 and 325 above.) These chronological facts have been
noticed long ago.
Page 228 (Middle). " The truth may well be said . . . : " quoted
from Laws, xii., 956 E. On what follows, cf. iii. 701 C-D. (Par. 2) Cf.
iv. 715 C, where the innovations spoken of are certainly less those of
word-formation than of the employment of words ; still, he could
hardly speak of the latter without being reminded of the former.
(Bottom) The remarkable self-complacency in vii. 811 D-E.
Page 229 (Middle). What is said about the cypresses rests on
personal observation (see also Theophrastus, Hist. Plant., i. 2, 2 ;
iii. I, 6 ; iii. 2, 6 ; iv. I, 3). The cypress appears as a special gift of
Crete to the gods'in Hermippus {Fragm. Com. Grcec, i. 243 ; Frg., 63,
Kock).
Page 230 (Middle). Aristotle, Politics, B. 9, where there is an
allusion to Laws, i. 630 D-E.
372 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
Pages 233-255. On the filiation of the theory of the division
of powers, cf. Montesquieu, Esprit des Lois, book xi. chap. 6, seg.,
especially chap. 11 ad fin. : "Las Grecs n'imaginferent point la vraie
distribution des trois pouvoirs dans le gouvernement d'un seul ; ils ne
I'imaginferent que dans le gouvernement de plusieurs, et ils appel&rent
cette sorte de constitution polls." There, too, is the reference to
Aristotle's Politics, namely, to A. 8, 1293 b, 33 : ian yhx ri TroXircfa &s
avKus ciireii' fu^ts 6\iyapxlas xal SriiiaicpaTlas. In book xi. chap. 17, Mon-
tesquieu speaks of the division of powers in the Roman republic, and
refers to the sixth book of Polybius, that is, to the celebrated passage
in which the mixed form of government is treated of fully and held up
as an ideal. Now, Polybius, as a glance at vi. 11, §§ 11, 12, and at
Laws, iv. 712 D, will show, quite obviously leans on Plato, though
R, Scala ignores this relationship in his book on Polybius. On the
canonic reputation which Montesquieu had for Hamilton and Madison,
the chief creators and exponents of the North-American constitution,
Mr. Bryce speaks in TAe American Commonwealth, p. 282, ed. 3.
Page 234 (Top). " Troy . . . within the sphere of Assyrian in-
fluence : " see note to Vol. I. p. 47.
Page 235 (par. 2). This objection was anticipated by Montesquieu
himself, book xi. chap. 6, p. 269 A {CEuvres completes, Paris, 1835).
It was worked out by Bentham, in his Book of Fallacies (ii. p. 545, ed.
Bowring). It is equally unnecessary here to treat particularly of
Montesquieu's precursors, Locke and Buchanan, or of the criticism
which Montesquieu's theory has received in our own day. (Bottom)
The consciousness of well-calculated and successful composition finds
particularly strong expression at the close of the third book. If the
parallel with the Phadrus had been observed, it would have forestalled
many groundless judgments on the genesis of the Laws. The same
artifice is employed in both passages in identical language —
Laws, iii. 702 B. Phadrus, 262 C-D.
ioiKf kotA Tixn" Tti/tk Tiiuv ret Tuv Kol /tV KBT^ rixv ye Tiya, &s
\6yav Toiriev trdnrav S>v Sie|^Xflo/iei; iooKv i^^H\Ti\v rii \iya,
yeyovevat.
An equally convincing passage is that in which the " truancy of
the discourse," the ir^dvn toS \6you, is spoken of (682 E — 683 A).
Page 236 (par. 2). I leave for another place (Platonische
Aufsdtze, iii.) the controversy with the widely spread view that
the work is quite destitute of any strict composition ; that it was
"put together" by Philippus, " with little skill, from a number of
sketches " (Windelband, Platon, p. 62), whether it was that Philippus
added a great deal of his own, or confined himself to intertwining two
sketches. The first of these theories is maintained by Ivo Bruns
{Platotfs Gesetze, Weimar, 1880), the second by Theodor Bergk
\Funf Abhandlungen, etc. (Leipzig, 1883), pp. 41-1 16). The objections
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 373
which are really present can be explained by the certainly tedious and
wearying labour on the comprehensive work, whose discrepancies
would have required a smoothing and harmonizing revision more
than any other work of Plato. That the Laws did not get this from
their author is a well-attested and obvious fact. (Bottom) "A few
instances of literary art : " cf. Laws, iv. 712 D, and notes to pp. 233-235.
I take the next example from x. 892 D-894 B, the one following from
i. 645 A, the last from x. 906 C-D.
Page 238 (Top). " What dreadful news ! " The paradoxical
exclamation, niiiroi, olov Keyeis, iv. 704 C. The second paradoxical
term, vii. 789 A.
Page 239 (Bottom). " The Spartan practice : " proofs in Schomann-
Lipsius, Griech. Altert.,\. 27 (4th ed.).
Page 241. " Excess of self-love." In the words, % \iyova-iv S>s <t>(\os
airq: itas Mpairos (v. 73 1 E), I think I recognize an allusion to sayings
of poets like Euripides, Medea, 86, 'iis iras ns afniv toS ire'xos imkkov <^i\ei:
Fragm. 460, ^ihSiv iiAkutt' Ijmmhv ouK iu,<i-)(ivo)uu : or Sophocles, CEd. Col.
309, Tfs 7ip itsS *s oux afnif <pC\os ; Above I have taken over a sentence
from vi. 777 D, probably the most valuable moral utterance of Plato,
and incorporated it in reproducing the prooemium of v. — the words,
5i(iSi)\os yctp S i^iaet. Koi n^ wKaiTTus (r4$tDV ri/v Slxnv, fuaZv 5^ ivrias th SStKov
4v Toirois Twv avdptiiram, iv oh avrtf p^Siov ctSiKeiv. (Bottom) " Dowries are
forbidden : " probably after the ancient Spartan model ; cf. Dareste,
La science du droit en Grece (Paris, 1893), p. 61.
Page 242 (Middle). " Adopted by Charondas : " Theophrastus, in
StobcBus Floril., 44. 22 ad fin., % &(nrep XapdvSas /tal TlKirav; (Laws, xi.
915 D). OuTOj yli,p iropaxpw" K(\eiov(rt SiS6i>at ko! \aii0dvetv idv S4 Tis
iriiTTfl/ffr), fih e?>"» Slxriv, aiirhv ydp airiov ilvai ttis iSmlas.
Page 24.3 (Middle). " Under the Solonic constitution : " cf.
Aristotle, Politics, B. 12, 1724 a, 16, seg., hfi ti\aiv 7c iome riiv
avayKaiOTi.rt\v aTToSiS6vai r$ Siinip Svva/iiv, Ti ris opx'*^ oipeifffloi Kol tuBivcir.
What is said of Dracon just below rests on the newly discovered
'Aflrjvoiaiv IIoXiTefo, ch. 4.
Page 244. " The compulsory vote." I take the remark on com-
pulsory voting from Bryce, American Commonwealth, ii. 150 (3rd ed.).
On the additions to the Belgian constitution, which include com-
pulsory voting, cf. H. Triepel, Wahlrecht ttnd Wahlpflicht (Dresden,
1900), p. 20, seq. In regarding the vote not as a personal right but
as a pubUc duty, Plato is the precursor of J. S. Mill, Gneist, Robert
Mohl, Zacharia, Lassalle, Laband, Seydel, Herbert Spencer. Cf. Leo
Wittmayer, Unser Reichsratswahlrecht (Vienna, 1901), pp. 168-177.
(Middle) " Constitution of the Athenians : " 'M-i\v. no\i.T., ch. 8, ad init.,
with Kenyon's remarks, p. 26 (3rd ed.).
Page 246 (Bottom). Fears of the misuse of dialectic are expressed
by Plato in Republic, vii. 537 D-538 A. " But few traces reniain. . . ."
So far as these traces go, they certainly exhibit the spirit and the
VOL. III. 2 ^
374 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
method of the dialogue-triad, Sophist, Statesman, Philebus. They
occur in the following passages, which are dealt with by Campbell on
p. Hi. of his Introduction to the Statesman: vi. 751 A ; vii. 814 C and
824 A ; viii. 841 C ; x. 894 A and 895 C j xii. 944 B and 945 C.
Page 247 (Top). Aristotle : of. Metaph., A, 9, 990 b, 15-17, and
991 b, 5-7 (denial of the ideas both of relations and of artificial
products). Xenocrates : apud Proclum, In Plat. Parmen., p. 136,
Cousin (= p. 691, Stallbaum) : ^Ivai r^v ISeav ee/ievos ahiav vapaSeiy/mTiKiiv
Tuv KwTcL ipiffiv ael avveffT4>Tav. With this Aristotle perfectly agrees in
Metaph., A. 4, 1070 a, 18, Si!) V>\ o4 kokSs i 'OXi.Tuv e^i; 8ti cfSij eo-rlc
Iniaa. i^ia^i. (Bottom) The later deduction of the ideas from mathe-
matical " primary principles " is attested by Aristotle, Metaph., M. 4,
1078 b, 9-12 ; N. I, 1087 b, 7, seq., also A. 6, 988 a, 7, seq. Of the
literature bearing on the subject, I may specially mention Ueberweg's
Untersuchungen, 202, seq., his often-quoted treatise in Rhein. Mus.,
9, 52, seq. ; Heinze's Xenocrates, 37, seq., though I cannot agree with
the contradiction (p. 52 in the last-named work) of Zeller {Berliner
Sitzungs-Berichte, 1887, p. 198) and Apelt, Beitrdge, p. 83. A good
deal of truth, mixed with a little error, seems to me to be contained
in Jackson's comprehensive dissertations on " Plato's Later Theory of
Ideas " {Journal of Philology, x.-xv.). The attempt there made to
prove Plato a precursor of Berkeley does not strike me as successful.
One of his results, the chronological priority of the Philebus to the
TimcBus, I regard, though for different reasons, as definitely
established.
Page 248 (Top). " The science of law.'' The praise of this study
as an instrument of general education — a sentiment not elsewhere
paralleled in Plato, or indeed in any other ancient author — occurs in
xii. 957 B-C. (Bottom) " Mixture of constitutional forms." This, in
my opinion, most important and fertile factor of Plato's political
thought, may well be illustrated by a few quotations : iii. 693 B, is
i,j>a ov Set iieyd?uis &px^^ ovS' oJ i/ilKTOvs vofio0eTe7v (cf. 692 A— C). As the
two fundamental forms (oTov jUTjTepcs) he names in the sequel monarchy
and democracy, the one-sided exaggeration of which is exemplified by
the Persians and the Athenians. Both, he contends, have in a manner
experienced the same fate : ixelvois liev iiA mrav SovXelav Syoucri rhv Srj/uiv,
rifuv S' at rovi/avTiov iirl irairav i\ev8eptav Tporpdirovirt ri irA'^flj) (iii. 699 E).
And again he says, with reference to the election of the council : /leo-oK
&v 6X01 iwvapxMrjs Kal StinoKpariKrjs iroAiTttas . . . SovKot yiip &v (to! SeffTniTot
oiiK &v TToTe y4vQivTo ^i\oi (vi. 756 E).
Page 250 (Middle). The election of the censors (eHewot) is treated
of in book xii. 945 B, seq. That the votes are not secret, I infer from
the words, ty hv 'dicatrTos ainav r\y^rai xavrp tptirrov etvai jr^^K o4to0.
This last limitation could have no meaning if there were no means of
checking the voting. Stich a means is supplied if the voting-tablet
bears the voter's signature. Precisely this regulation is found in vi.
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 375
753 C, where the election of the guardians of the laws is in question ;
and therefore .1 see no objection against assuming that this mode of
voting is contemplated here too. That each voter could only vote for
one candidate is clear from the first words of the above sentence,
especially taken in connexion with the words which immediately pre-
cede : T^ 9eiy Sarotpaivov/ieiiovs HvSpas airav rpcTs, after which we yet read
not 08s .. . ipiarovs, but ti> . . . &pi(rroy. As every one can see to whom
questions of electoral technique are not wholly unfamiliar, the whole
subsequent process of elimination has meaning and purpose only
on this supposition. If space permitted, I should have liked to put
before the reader more of the abundant materials for comparison
which have been kindly placed at my disposal by Dr. Leo Wittmayer.
The voie unique is a special case of the vote limits, which was in use a
short time ago at the elections of Italian deputies ; it exists to-day in
Brazil for the election of deputies, at Hamburg for the election of
burgess-committees by the whole body of burgesses. (The Platonic
election system is treated with accuracy, fulness, and insight by
Dareste, in the Annuaire . . . des Etudes grecques, 1883, p. 65, seq.
Part of his article is repeated on p. 54, seq., of the work quoted in the
note to p. 241.) Thomas Hare, The Election of Representatives,
Parliamentary and Municipal {"Loiadon, 1859).
Page 251 (Bottom). The purposes of punishment are stated in
ix. 854 D, 860 B, 862, 863, and xi. 934 A-B. The subject is also
touched on in v. 728 C.
Page 252 (par. 2). The " dumb judges " are condemned in three
passages widely separated from each other : vi. 766 D (^^wkos 8' o!
SiKoffTjjs . . . ovK i.v trore iKavhs yevoiro), ix. 876 B (SiKaffriipia <pav\a Ka!
&<pava), and xii. 957 B (li<ra Si vepl re aiyiiv SikocttSi/ . . . toi /xev etprrrai,
K.T.K.) — a circumstance which, so far as it goes, does not exactly bring
grist to the mill of the x"P^f<»"'es. (Bottom) Hippodamus : cf. Vol. I.
pp. 409, 410-
Page 253 (Below). Charondas : Diodorus, xii. 12, init., compared
with Laws, xi. 930 B. For what follows, cf. Hid., 930 C. In vi. 774 E
there is no hint of girls having any voice at all in their own disposal.
But in 771 E a certain amount of social intercourse is prescribed
between young people before marriage (probably more than Attic
custom required). On heiresses, compare xi. 924 E with Hermann-
Thalheim, Griech. Rechtsalter turner, p. 57, ed. 3, and Das Recht von
Gortyn, p. 30 (Bucheler and Zittelmann). (Bottom) " In the Re-
public: " v. 468 B-C ; cf. also iii. 403 B. For what follows, cf. Rep.,
V. 460 E and 461 B-C.
Page 254. " In a passage of the sixth book ... in the eighth
book : " vi. 784 E— 785 A ; viii. 838.
Page 255 (Top). Cf. Laws, vi. 772 A, 841 A, with echoes in ii.
666 A and viii. 835 D-E. On what follows, cf. viii. 837, 838 E. The
quotation from Bruns' A ttiscke Liebestheorien, 32. (§6) "Widespread
376 NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
unbelief of the age.'' The remarkable passage in proof, xii. 948 C.
The most widely spread of the three heresies is said to be the third,
which, of course, was closely interwoven with the popular belief. But
we learn with astonishment that also fueposiicvn . . . avepdiravThirapi'rav
ovx TiyovvTai 6eo{is, ol 5' ov ^povri^eiv Tifiav aiiroi/s Siavoovvrat,
Page 256 Anaxagoras : cf. x. 886 D-E. Archelaus : 889 E.
Page 257 (Top). " Pindar's phrase : " iii. 690 B (cf. Stallbaum on
the passage). (Bottom) This equally important and difficult passage
is in X. 903.
Page 258 (Middle). " The problemlof the will." On Plato's theory
of the will, his only apparent indeterminism and the changes in his
theory, Tobias Wildauer has thrown much light in his model book,
Die Psychologic des Willens bet Sokrates, Platon und Aristoteles, ii.
(Innsbruck, 1879).
Page 260 (Bottom). "The medical treatment of chronic diseases."
On this I am referring to a work chronologically near to the Laws,
the TimCBUS (89 C) : 816 isaiZayuiyitv Set Siakais Travra tA toioSto, Ka9' iaov
i.v ^ T(p <rxoK-ti. The delight with which the baths surrounded by
pleasure-grounds are depicted (vi. 761 B-D) reminds us of the similar
description in Critias, 117 A-B ; we may believe that we are here
conscious of a personal preference of Plato's.
Page 262 (end of par. 2). The triumph of "misology" and
intolerance was not complete at the last. Even in the passage where
he desires to fight heresy with the aid of the executioner, Plato's deep-
rooted sense of truth wrings from him the confession that unbelief
and moral corruption do not necessarily go hand-in-hand .: ^ i^p tw ^
yo/ii^oyTi Beois eivai vh napditav ^Bos <j>iaii irpoayevrfrm S^Koiov, k.t-A. (x. 908 B)-
Book V.— Chapter XXI.
Page 265 (Middle). Bacon : cf. Nov. Org-., § 77 : " Tum demum
philosophice Aristotelis et Platonis, tamquam tabulae ex materia
leviore et minus solida, per fluctus temporum servatae sunt," with
which may be compared the praise of the antiquiores in § 71.
Schopenhauer : cf. Kober, Arthur Schopenhauer's Philosophie, p. 52.
It is true that in the passages there quoted only Aristotle is named.
But the error there named as the most fatal of all, the geocentric
theory, was common to Aristotle and Plato, equally with the
fundamental physical theory of the " natiu-al places."
Page 266 (Top). Plato's services to mathematics are insisted on
with great ardour, but at the same time with strong emphasis on his
more mediate influence, in sharp contrast to the real creators of the
science, by Eudemus, the highest authority of antiquity, in his history
of geometry {Eudemi Fragmenta, 114, 115, ed. Spengel). Against the
erroneous inclusion of the achievements of Archytas, Theaetetus, etc.,
in the category of " Plato and the Academy," Allman has lately given
NOTES AND ADDITIONS. 377
ajustified warning {Greek Geometry from Thales to Euclid, p. 214, 215).
Very similarly, Zeuthen, in GescMchte der Mathematik im Altertum
und Mittelalter (Copenhagen, 1896), p. 19 : "Even these" (the later
Academics), "however, do not ascribe to him personal mathematical
investigations of greater importance, but rather show themselves
inclined to claim for him the honour for the methods which came into
use in his time, and to make him the adviser of those who made the
real forward steps in mathematics." (This tendency is already shown
in the account used by Philodemus, Index Acad. HercuL, col. v., now
in Mekler, p. 15.) The solution of the Delian problem, which
occupied Plato, is due, not to him, but to Archytas and Eudoxus (cf.
Eutocius, in the commentary on De Sphcera et Cylindro, Archimedis
Opera, iii. 106, ed. Heiberg). As regards Eudoxus, a pupil and
biographer of this great and exact researcher, himself a devotee of
exactness, has given us precise dates, which directly convict as false
the assumption of a real course of study under Plato. According to
these dates, he attended Plato's lectures for two months at the age of
twenty-three (Diog. Laert., viii. 86).
Page 267 (Bottom). Montaigne, Essais, iii. 12 (iv. 211, seq.e^A.
Louandre). On Carneades and the distinction between his scepticism
and Pyrrho's, Montaigne speaks (ii. 12 = iii. 368, seq^ in words which
remind us of the opening of Sextus Empiricus's Pyrrhonian sketches.
Page 268 (Top). On John of Damascus and his use of the "so-
called Dionysius Areopagites" by the side of both the Gregories,
Basil, etc., even in his religious doctrine, cf. Krumbacher's masterly
GescMchte der Byzantin. Lit., 172 (ist ed.). A Neo-Platonist,
Porphyrins, is one of his philosophical authorities. On Psellus,
besides Krumbacher {op. cit., 174, seq.), see the monograph on him by
Aurelio Covotti (Naples, 1898). (Middle) In antiquity, Plato's works
were collected into two volumes. A copy of the first volume is found
in the codex written on the verge of the tenth century (896), found
by E. D. Clarke in the monastery of St. John in Patmos, and called
sometimes "Clarkianus" after its discoverer, sometimes "Bodleianus"
after its place of deposit, the Oxford University Library transformed
by Sir Thomas Bodley. A copy of the second volume, mutilated at the
beginning, is contained in a Parisian MS. of the ninth century. (Bottom)
Plotinus. Not quite identical, but similar thoughts on the effect of
scepticism on Plotinus, in R. Wahle, Geschichtlicher Uberblick uber die
Entwicklung der Philosophie (Vienna, 1895), pp. 42, 43, 45. (Below)
See the paper of Adalbert Merx, quoted in the note to Vol. II. p. 250.
Page 269 (Middle). Petrarch. Voigt enlarges on the enthusiasm
with which Petrarch read Augustine's Confessions {Wiederbelebung
des Classischen Altertums, p. 51, seq:). (Cf. also Burckhardt, Cultur
der Renaissance, ii. 19 (4th ed.).) Windelband {Hist, of Philosophy,
Eng. tr., p. 383) gives a similar character of St. Augustine. (Bottom
of par. 2) The frequently noticed kinship between Augustine and
37^ NOTES AND ADDITIONS.
Descartes, and not less the essential points that separate them,
are thoroughly illustrated by Dr. H. Leder, Untersuchungen uber
AugustirHs Erkenntnisstheorie (Marburg, 1901), p. 76, seq.
Page 271 (§ 5). Plato's pupils are treated thoroughly by Zeller
(ii. I. 420, seq., and 986, seq., 4th ed.). The present writer has tried to
confirm the trustworthiness of the statement that Demosthenes was a
pupil, in Zeitschr.fur dsterr. Gymn. (1865), p. 819, seq. On the poUtical
attitude of certain Platonists, and against the imaginary picture of the
Academy as a kind of " Nationalverein," see the present writer's essay"
quoted in the note to Vol. II. p. 272.
INDEX TO VOLS. II. AND III.
N.B. — As in the Index to the First Volume, the following references to the text of
the work are intended to carry with them references to the corresponding
portions of the Notes and Additions ( Vol. III. pp. 273-378). The author's
indices are reserved for publication with the final volume.
Abelard, ii. 175, 186
Abstractions, the hypostasy of, ii. 203,
20S, iii. 3
Academy, the, ii. 270, 271, 272, 273,
iii. 308
Adeimantus, ii. 99, iii. 62
^schines, the Sipcratic, iii. 25, 134,
34Z
^schines, the orator, ii, 118
^schylus, ii. 6, 7, 8
Agathocles, iii. 141
Agathon, ii. 383, 387
Agathyrsi, the, iii. 179
Agesilaus, ii. 124, 381
Agyrrhius, ii. 344
Alcibiades, ii. 47, 50, 72, 95, 114.
392. 394, seq., iii. 25
Alcidamas, iii. 27
Alcmseon, iii. 45
d'Alembert, ii. 224
Alexander the Great, ii. 19, 161
Alexinus of Megara, ii. 195
All-one, doctrine of, iii. 11
Altruism, of the Cynics, ii. 163;
deduction of, ii. 22i
AmphictyonicXeague, the, ii. 21
Anaxagoras, ii._46, 85, 97, iii. 43
Anaximander, ii. 37
Anaximenes, ii. 158
Anniceris, the Cyrenaic, ii. 221, 222
Anthemion, ii. 371
Antigonus of Carystus, ii. 206
Antigonus Gonatas, ii. 206, 207
Antisthenes, ii. 81, 89, 95, 114. 139.
197, 244, 293, 356, iii. 25, 91, 145.
147, 152, 159, 161, 162, 164, 166,
170, 178, 185, 350 ; his life, ii. 142 ;
writings, ii. 142, 182 ; teachers, ii.
182 ; teaching, ii. 150 ; on the gods,
ii. 165; politics, ii. 154; on the
nature of animals, ii. 144 ; on
pleasure, ii. 217 ; on predication
and the theory of knowledge,
ii. 183
Anytus, ii. 97, 99, 114, n6, 253,343,
371
Apaturia, the, ii. 52
Apollodorus, ii. 50
" Apology," Plato's, ii. 85, 100, seq.
Arabia, ii, 4
Aratus, ii. 206
Archelaus of Macedonia, ii, 46, 60,
73. 94. 332.. 341
Archidamus, 11. 128
Archytas, ii. 243, 259, 260, 261, iii,
191 .. „
Areopagus, the, 11, 8
Arginusse, battle of, ii, 51
Aristarchus of Samos, ii. 208
Aristides, ii. 377
Aristippus, ii. 95, 114, 244, iii. 134,
158; life and character, ii. 211,
212 ; his ethics, ii. 213-215 ;
theory of knowledge, ii, 231
Aristocles, ii, 230
Aristomache, iii. 138
Ariston, ii. 161
Aristophanes, the comedian, ii. 93,
94, 103; the "Clouds," ii, 17; in
the " Symposium," ii, 386, 387 ;
allusions to Plato? iii, 340, 341
Aristophanes of Byzantium, ii, 281
Aristotle, ii. 47, iii, 132 ; his witness
on the teaching of Socrates, ii, 55,
56, 59, 60, 64, 69, 89, 104 i on
the Megarians, ii, 171, 203 ; on
38o
INDEX TO VOLS. II. AND III.
Cratylus, ii. 253 ; on Critias, ii.
251 ; on Archytas, ii. 260 ; on
Plato's life, ii. 269, 273 ; on the
origin of the doctrine of ideas,
iii. 2 ; his references attest the
genuineness of Plato's works, ii.
278 ; pupil of Plato, iii. 266 ; his
views on poetry, iii. 116 ; rhetoric,
ii. 328 ; pleasure, pain, and happi-
ness, ii. 227, iii. 129 ; criticizes
Plato's political science, iii. 118,
119, 120; on the history of civiliza-
tion, iii. 233 ; on slave-raids, ii. 20 ;
his elegy on Eudemus, ii. 71 ; his
" Rules for the Table," ii. 274
Aristoxenus, iii. 43
Art, iii. 102, seq.
Arts and pseudo-arts, ii. 339
Aspasia, iii. 343
Association (in psychology), iii. 46
Astronomy, iii. 83, 85
Athens and the Athenians, ii. 27, 30,
seq. ; contrast with Sparta, ii. 40 ;
Socrates' opinion of, ii. 309
Atlantis, tale of, iii. 204, seq.
Atomism, iii. 171
Augustine, St., iii. 269
Avesta, the, iii. 12
B
Bacon, Francis, ii. 57
Balance of power, the, iii, 23S
"Banausic" occupations, iii. 24
Barbarians, attitude of Greeks to-
wards, ii. 19
Beauty, the Idea of, ii. 392 ; male
beauty, ii. 302
Beggar's wallet, of the Cynics, ii. 153
Bentham, Jeremy, ii. 216, 219, 224,
225, 226
Berkeley, George, ii, 187, 234
Bemays, Jakob, ii. 164
Bion of Borysthenis, ii. 148, 152, 164,
165, 243, 244
Bockh, August, iii. 213
Bonitz, Hermann, ii. 204, 365, iii. 4,
40
Byron, Lord, ii, 149
" Csesarism," ii, 133
Callias, ii, 308
Callimachus, ii. 211
"Callippus, iii. 138, 139
Callixenus, ii. 52, 54
Cannonus, decree of, ii. 54
Cameades, ii. 211, iii. 267
"Cave," Plato's, iii. 86, seq.
"Censors," iii. 250
Cercidas, ii. 157
Chaerephon, ii. 50, loi, 105, 301, 326
" Charmides," dialogue, ii. 300, seq.
Charmides, ii. 50, 96, 252, 301, iii.
24, III
Chinese ethics, ii. 83
Chrysippus, ii. 193
Cicero, ii. 200, iii. 25 ; on Socrates
and Aristippus, ii. 213
Cleanthes, ii. 71, 73
Clinomachus of Thurii, ii. 205
Clisthenes, ii. 18, 39
Communism, iii. 118, 1 19; Plato's
relation to, iii, 106
Comte, iii. 122
Confucius, ii. 82
Contradiction, problem of, ii. 185
Copenhagen, bombardment of, ii. 25
Corporeality, as hindrance to know-
ledge, iii. 1 I
Courage, definition of, ii. 297, seq.
Crates, ii. 152, 153, 158, 162, 165,
I9S
" Cratylus, dialogue, iii. 164
Cratylus, ii. 252, 253, 266, iii. 2, 164
Creation, in the " Timaeus," iii. 209 ;
Plato's view of the, iii. 365
Cre1e, political institutions of, iii, 91,
92, 108
"Critias," dialogue, iii, 200, seq.
Critias, ii. 51, 56,96, 114, 118, 250,
251, 252, 301, iii, 24, 25, III
" Crito," dialogue, iii. 49, seq.
Critobulus, ii. 61
Cromwell, Oliver, ii. 43
Curtius, Ernst, ii. 32, 34
Cynics, the, ii. 139, seq., iii. 116 j
mode of life, ii, 151 ; their religion,
ii, 146, 164
Cyrenaics, their theory of knowledge,
ii. 229, seq. ; of sensation, ii. 239
Cyrene, situation and history of, ii,
209, 2 to
D
" Daemon" of Socrates, the, ii, 87
Delphi and the Delphic oracle, ii. 21,
105, 165, iii. 12 ; consulted by
Socrates, ii. 87 ; by Xenophon,
ii. 120
Demetrius of Phalerum, ii. 242
"Demiurge," the, iii, 211, 212
Democracy, iii, 93, 94
INDEX TO VOLS. II. AND III.
381
Demosthenes, ii. 189
" Descent," Plato's theory of, iii. 208,
225
Diagoras, ii. 85, 242
Dicsearchus, iii. 43
Dilettantism, ii. 119
Diodorus the historian, ii. 85
Diodorus Cronus, ii. 198, seq. ; gave
strange names, ii. 204
Diogenes of ApoUonia, ii, 90
Diogenes of Sinope, ii. 148, 205 ;
life, ii. 205 ; works, ii. 156, 158,
162 ; attitude towards the gods,
ii. l6s
Dion of Prusa, ii. 153
Dion of Syracuse, iii. 135, seq. ; his
friendship with Plato, ii. 396
Dionysius II., ii. 263, 266, 267, 268,
iii. 133, seg.
Diotima, ii. 389, seg.
" Disorderly " motion, iii. 210
Dissen, L., iii. 279
Dualism, iii. 11
DUmmler, Ferd., iii. 285
E
Eclipse, predicted by Helicon, iii. 137
Education, iii. 66, seg., 83, 89, 90,
230, 231, 246, seg.
Egypt, iii. 232 j Plato's visit to, ii.
255, 256
Eleatics, the, ii. 233
Elections, political, iii. 244, seq.
" Electra," the, fallacy, ii. 193
Elements, the, iii. 218, seg.
Elian-Eretrian school, the, ii. 205
Empedocles, ii. 356
England, ii. 25, 28
English constitution, the, iii. 249
Enlightenment, age of, and humanity,
ii. 19
Epaminondas, ii. 130
Ephialtes, ii. 18
Ephorus, ii. 123
Epicharmus, ii. 69, 84,, 265, 266, iii.
4,10
Epictetus, ii. 116
Epicurus, ii. 188, 194, 223, 225, 242,
244
" Epimetheus," ii. 321
Eratosthenes, ii. 161, 21 1
Eros, Plato's doctrine of, ii. 391,
iii. 19
Eschatology, iii. 105
Eubulides, ii. 189, 203, 204
Euclid, ii. 208
Euclides of Megara, ii. 89, 188, 205,
255, iii. 86 ; his life and character,
ii- 173
Eudemus of Cyprus, ii. 71, iii. 138
Eudoxus, ii. 219, 257, iii. 223
Eugammon, ii. 211
Euhemerus, iii. 299
Eupatridse, the, ii. 17
Eupolis, ii. 92
Euripides, ii. 10, seg., 19, 30, 84, 97,
167
Euryptolemus, ii. 52, 53, 54
Eusebius, " Prsep. Evan.," ii. 231
" Euthydemus," dialogue, iii. 145
" Euthyphro," dialogue, ii. 358, seg. ;
its chronological position, ii, 363
Exact science, definition of, iii. 194
" Excluded Middle," principle of, ii.
19s
" Fall of the soul by sin," the, ii. 364
Family, the, iii. 78, 79, 253
Fechner, iii. 220
Franklin, Benjamin, ii. 45
Freedom of speech in antiquity, ii. 1 1 1
Gabelentz, G. von, ii. 83
Generals, trial of the Athenian, ii.
51, seg.
Geometry, origin of knowledge of,
ii. 370
Glaucon, iii. 62
Glaucus the Spartan, iii, 12
Goethe, ii. 379
Goldsmith, iii. 120
"Good," meanings of, ii. 350, 351,
iii. 85, 86 ; " table of goods," iii.
196
" Gorgias," dialogue, ii. 154, 326, seg.
Gorgias, ii. 143, iii. 154
Greeks, the, keenness of their senses,
ii. 35 ; their romantic feeling, ii.
382 ; their nature-religion, iii. 13
Grote, George, ii. 25, 104, iii. 120,
135, 168; misled by the "Pro-
tagoras," ii. 310
Gymnastic, iii. 68
H
Hartley, ii. 228
" Heap," the, fallacy, ii. 189
?82
INDEX TO VOLS. II. AND III.
Hedonism, ii. 349; of Aristippus,
ii. 218 ; of Plato, ii. 322, scq.
Hegesias, ii. 221
Helicon of Cyzicus, iii. 137
Hellenic race, consciousness of its
unity, ii. 20
Helmholtz, ii. 239
Helots, ii. 27
Helvetius, ii. 224, iii. 109
Heracles as patron saint of the
Cynics, ii. 151, 166
Heraclides, iii. 140
Heraclitus, ii. 385, iii. 2
Herbart, J. F., ii. 171, I77. 188
Hero-worship, ii. 333, 334
Herodotus, ii. 5, 8, 12, 17, 20, 35,
38, 90, 208, 391, iii. 103, 119
Hipparchia, ii. 148, 158, 162
"Hippias," the lesser, dialogue, 11.
291, seq.
Hippias of Elis, ii. ij, 223, 315
Hippocrates, ii. 35
Hippodamus of Miletus, ii. 13S
Hobbes, ii. 230
Holbach, ii. 224
Homer, ii. 3, 4. S. 2°. 22. 35. HO,
391, iii. 103
« Horned Man," the, fallacy, n. 194
Humboldt, W. von, ii. 38
Hume, David, iii. 267
Hurndall, W. F., iii. 279
Hypotheses, iii. 37
Ideas, Plato's doctrine of, ii. 176, 180,
352, iii. I, seq., 28, 46, 85, siq.,
150, seq., 173, 17s. 181, 247, 355
Induction, Socratic, ii. 56
" Inherence," problem of, ii. 175, seq.,
182, iii. 3
Intellectualism, ii. 66
International morality and law, ii.
59
Involuntary error, n. 294
Ion of Chios, ii. 46
lonians, characteristics of the, ii. 36
Ismenias, ii. 371
Isocrates, iii. 22, 25, seq., 145, 146
Italy of the Renaissance, iii. 14
Joel, K., iii. 280
John of Damascus, iii. 268
Judgment of the dead, the, ii. 340,
341
Jung-Stilling, ii. 88
Justice, definition of, iii. 55, seq.
K
Kant, ii. 249; on religion, ii. 366,
367
Kepler, iii. 217
Knowledge, theory of, iii. 157 seq. ;
distinguished from " right opinion,"
ii- 372. 374. 393
Laas, Ernst, ii. 237
"Laches," dialogue, ii. 296
Language, theories of, ii. 204, iii.
164, seq.
"Laws, the, dialogue, iii. 2.2"], seq.
Legislation, iii. 239, seq.
Leibnitz, ii. 224
Leodamas, ii. 260
Leon of Salamis, ii. 5 1
"Lesser Hippias," dialogue, ii. 291,
seq.
Leucippus, ii. 230, 232
"Liar," the, fallacy, ii. 192
Limited monarchy, iii. 249
Linguistic criteria, iii. 29
Locke, John, ii. 187, 230
Logic, the beginnings of, ii. 318 ; of
lie Cyrenaics, ii. 237
Lucian, ii. 155, 165
Lycon, ii. 99, 116
Lycophron, ii. 179, 206
Lysias, ii. 118, iii. 16, seq., 326
" Lysis," dialogue, ii. 382, seq.
M
Mach, Ernst, ii. 235, 240
" Magnificence," iii. 112
" Man in Disguise," fallacy, ii. 193
Mathematics and mathematical truth,
iii. 8, seq., 23
Matter, ancient doctrines of, ii. 236,
iii. 211 ; Plato's doctrine of, iii. 366
Mechanics, history of, iii. 84
Megara, situation and history of, ii.
171
Megarian school, the, li. 170, seq.,
iii. 145, 253
Meleager, ii. 165
Meletus, ii. 97, seq., 104, 1 16, 358
Melissus, ii, 174
Melos, ii. 25
INDEX TO VOLS. II. AND III.
383
Menander, iii, 10
Monedemus of Eretria, ii. 205, 206,
208, 241
Menedemus of Pyrtha, ii. 273
Menexenus, iii. 48
Menippus, ii. 165
" Meno," dialogue, ii. 367, seq. ;
chronological position of, ii. 374
Metrocles, ii. 148, 158, 195
Miletus, ii. 30, 33, 43
Mill, James, ii. 228, 234
Mill, John Stuart, ii. 38, 78, ill, 235,
iii. S, 8, 100
Mitylene, ii. 26
Mixed constitutions, iii. 233, seq.
Monimus, ii. 158
Montaigne, iii. 267
Montesquieu, ii. 213, iii. 234
Moschion, ii. 20
Murder, expiation of, ii. 4
Music, iii. 68 ; of the Greeks, ii. 35
Mysticism, ii. 250, iii. 268
N
"Natural places," doctrine of, iii. 84,
223
Nature and Convention, ii. 333
Nature-religion of the Greeks, iii. 13
Necessary truth, iii. 6, seg.
Negation, problem of, iii. 170, 171
Newton, Isaac, ii. 47
Nicias, ii. 96, 332, 355
Niebuhr, ii. 251
Nocturnal Council, the, iii. 248
Nominalism, ii. 177, 181
Number, the Platonic, iii. 91
O
CEnomaus of Gadara, ii. 165
Oligarchy, iii. 92, 93
Olympia, ii. 21
Orphicism, ii. 336, 352, 355, 364, iii,
II, 12, 14, 208, 210
Paley, ii. 223
Pansetius, iii. 291
"Parmenides," dialogue, iii. 148, seq.
Parmenides, ii. 174, iii. 2, 34, 170
Parthenon, the, ii. 35
Pausanias, King of Sparta, ii. 20
Perception and knowledge, iii. IS7)
seq.
Peregrinus the Cynic, ii. 152
Pericles, ii. 41, 43, 72, 324, 327, 329
Persians, their belief in the divinity
of the sun, etc., iii. 10
" Phaedo," dialogue, iii. 30, seq.
Phaedo of Elis, ii. 205
" Phsedrus," dialogue, iii. 16, seq. ; its
mise en seine, ii. 269
Pheido of Corinth, iii. 117
Phenomenalism, ii. 211, iii. 298
"Philebus," dialogue, iii. 186, seq.
Philippus of Opus, iii. 226
Philistus, iii. 135
Philodemus, ii. 237
Philolaus of Corinth, iii. 43, 94, 188,
209, 220, 221
Philosophers, rule of, iii. 80
Philosophic nature, the, iii. 81, 82
Phocion, ii. 158
Phrynichus, his " capture of Miletus,"
ii. 30
Piety, nature of, ii. 359, seq.
Pindar, ii. 7, 356
Pisistratus, ii. 34, 38
Platsea, treatment of, by the Spartans,
ii. 24
Plato, birth and family, ii. 250 ; life,
ii. 250, seq., iii. 133, seq. ; travels, ii.
254, seq. ; in Egypt, ii. 256, seq. j
Cyrene, ii. 258 ; Italy, ii. 259 ;
Sicily, ii. 261, iii. 133 ; sold as a
slave, ii. 269 ; his financial position,
ii. 272 ; his teachers, ii. 252, 258 ;
influenced by Archytas, ii. 259 ; by
Isocrates, iii. 27 ; by Socrates, ii.
47, 288, 289, 294, 295 ; by Hera-
cliteans, ii. 252, 253 ; by theOrphics
and Pythagoreans, ii. 259, 336, 351,
352, 364, iii. 37, 2IS, 221, 223, 233,
247 ; his family pride, ii. 250 ; his
contempt for the lower orders, iii.
107, 108 ; his contempt for the
" banausic," ii. 81, iii. 24 ; his
ascetic tendency, iii. 28 ; his in-
tolerance, iii. 179, 248, 255, 291 J
his severity, iii. 115, 116, 127 ; his
pessimism, iii. 214 ; unemotional
tone in early dialogues, ii. 324 ;
the aesthetic impulse, iii. 35 ; his
love of natural beauty, ii. 269 ; his
"dread of friction," iii. 121; his
mathematical studies and bent, ii.
258, 335. 336, iii- 217. 248 ; his
capacity for self-criticism and self-
correction, ii. 277, iii. 37, 184 ;
founds the Academy, ii. 269, 270 ;
as lecturer, ii. 273 ; his assistants,
ii. 273 ; influence of his teaching
vocation on himself, ii. 373, seq. ;
384
INDEX TO VOLS. II. AND III.
A
his influence on the world, ii. 249,
250, iii. 264, seq. ; his anticipation
of modern conditions, iii. 127 ;
authenticity of the works attributed
to him, ii. 275, seq., iii. 312, seq. ;
chronology of his works, ii. 254,
275, seq., 290, iii. 148 ; wrote a
tragedy? ii. 252; general view of
the series of his writings, ii. 289 ;
their division into trilogies, etc., ii.
281, 286; the best editions, iii. 300,
seq. ; influence of his life on his
works, iii. 158 ; his language, ii.
279, 284, 285; style, iii. 26, 186,
228 ; characteristics of his later
phase, iii. 176, 198, 260 ; artistic
and constructive methods, ii. 388,
393. iii- 35. 52. S3. 66, 70, 71, 155,
156, 176, 181, 184, 216, 229, 236,
337. 359 > Ws historical sense, iii.
202 ; his use of myths, ii. 309, iii.
17, 104, sej., 180 ; exaggeration,
iii. 129 ; tendency to outbid, ii. 309,
iii. 151 ; love of paradox, iii. 238 ;
humour, iii. 172 ; plays on words,
iii. 219 ; imagery, iii. 33, 41, 102 ;
fallacies, ii. 313, 314, 345, seq., iii.
38, 45, 46, 75, 172, 191, 193;
changes in tone and sentiment, ii.
279 ; his nearest approach to the
Cynics, ii. 356 ; his relation to
Eleaticism, iii. 173, 175 ; his re-
ligion and theology, iii. 66, 256 ;
his ethics, iii. 36, 50 j relation to
Hedonism and utilitarianism, ii. 79,
322, seq., iii, 113 ; on punishment,
i. 311, 317; on the_ notion of th e
gooijii. 85, 86 ; not an indetei:-
mmist, iii. 258 ; his psychology, ii.
353. iii- 37. 102 5 o" pleasure, iii.
99, seq. ; the Platonic eros, ii. 391,
seq., iii. 19, seq. ; his views on art,
iii. 67, 102 ; on music, iii. 232 ; on .
poetry, iii. 116; on rhetoric, iii.
20, seq. ; his political and social
thought, ii. 331, iii. 90, seq., 106,
seq., 182, seq. ; attitude towards
Athens and contemporary politics,
ii. 333, iii. 46...49. 5° 5 slavery, iii.
107 ; women, iii. 115, seq., 124, seq. ;
communism, iii. 118, 119; educa-
tion, iii. 66, seq, 109 ; his natural
science, iii. 83, 84, 224, 301, seq. ;
relation to the atomists, iii. 219 ;
contempt for experiment, iii. 85,
207 ; his astronorny, iii. 34, 85 ;
invents the sphere-theory, iii. 220 ;
medicine, iii. 115, 116 ; a source of
information on Aristippus, ii. 231 ;
on the Megarians, ii. 171 ; on
^Socrates, ii. 50, 53, 57, 59, 60, 61,
62, 87, 88, 100
Pleasure, ii. 349, 350, iii. 189, seq. ;
views of Aristippus, Bentham, and
Mill on, ii. 2l5
Plotinus, iii. 268
Poetry, iii. 102, seq., 116
Polus of Agrigen^um,_ ii. 326
Polycrates wrote against Socrates, ii.
63, 114. "8, 343. 394. 395. iii- >7
Polyxenus, iii. 151, 347
Population, question of, iii. 117
Prayer, ii. 362
Predication, problem of, ii. 175, seq.,
197, iii. 3, 174.. 353 ,^^
Procedure, legal, m the " Laws," lu.
252, seq.
Prodicus, ii. 242, 314, 315, iii. 103
Prometheus, legend of, ii. 145, 153
"Protagoras," dialogue, ii. 308, seq,
Protagoras, ii. 85, 92, 93, 94, 97, 144.
231. 233, iii. 103. 158 ...
Punishment, purpose of, 111. 251
Pythagoreanism, ii. 259, iii. 34, 199,
209, 215, 223, 233
R
Realism, ii. 177, i8i
Relations, ideas of, iii. 5
"Republic," dialogue, iii. 51, seq.;
rearrangement theory of its com-
position, iii. 51, 69, 70, 8l
Rhetoric, definition and nature of,
ii. 327, seq. ; Plato's views on,
iii. 20, seq.
Rotation of the earth, known to
Plato? iii. 315
Rousseau, ii. 142, 145, 148, iii. Il5
Russian pessimism, ii. 148
Sacrifice, ii. 362
Schleiermacher, ii. 231, 374, 376, 378
Schools of philosophy, iii. 308
Schopenhauer, iii. 116
Scientific classification, iii. 177. '78
Scione, ii. 24
Sensation, subjectivity of, ii. 230 ;
Cyrenaic theory of, ii. 239
Sextus Empiricus, ii. 230
Sicily, history of, ii. 262, 263, iii.
. 133. ■'«'?•
Simonides, poem of, ii. 315, seq.
Slavery, iii. 107 ; at Athens, ii. 27
INDEX TO VOLS. II. AND III.
385
Socialism, Plato's relation to, iii. 106
Socrates, birth, facts of his life, ii.
46 ; his teachers, ii. 46 ; his mode
of life and work, ii. 48 ; his trial,
ii. 98 ; his death, ii. 1 10 ; public
opinion on him after his death, ii.
118 ; his character, ii. 45 ; natural
tendencies, ii. 48 ; his concentra-
tion, ii. 47 5 his " daemon," ii. 87 ;
his participation in public life, ii.
54 ; his relation to Alcibiades, ii.
394, seq. ; his teaching, ii. 66 ;
sources for our knowledge of it, ii.
60, seq. ; his intellectualism, ii. 66 ;
his definitions, ii. 55 ; his habit of
starting from the obvious, ii. S7 >
his irony, ii. 49 ; his doctrine of
involuntary error, ii. 66 ; practical
effects of his teaching, ii, 78 ;
Athenian opinion on his influence,
ii. 113; his utilitarianism, ii. 80;
his views on public life, ii. 115 ; on
appointment by lot, ii. 80; on
slavery, ii. 8l j what he would
think of modern society, ii. 78 ;
his freedom from prejudice, ii. 58 ;
his religious views, ii. 85 ; his
attitude towards natural science,
ii. 91 ; Plato's homage to him, ii.
1,254; the Platonic Socrates, iii.
229 ; schools of Socratism, ii. 205 ;
general view of Socratism, ii. 244
Solon, ii. 34, 344
" Sophist," dialogue, iii. 167, seq.
Sophocles, ii, 9, 97
Sophron, ii. 265
Sophroniscus, ii. 46
Stti^poo'iii'T), iii. 138
Soul, the, immortality of, ii. 84, iii.
40, seq.; simile of the horses, iii.
18 ; a harmony of the body, iii. 43,
44 ; the source of motion, iii. 45 ;
of threefold nature, iii. 72, 73, 102
Sparta, social and political conditions
of, iii. 91, 92, 108, III, 115, 118,
234 ; contrasted with Athens, ii.
4° , ...
Speculative life, the, ui. 131
Speusippus, ii. 271, 273, 274, iii. 137
Sphere-theory, the, iii. 220, seq.
Sphodrias, ii. 128
"Statesman," dialogue, iii. I1ij,seq.
Statesmen, Athenian, condemnation
of, ii. 338, 339; apology to, ii.
375, seq. ; have inferior sons, 11.
372
Stilpo, ii. 19s, 205, 206, 207, 208,
240, 241, 242
Stylists, literary, iii. 26
Suicide among the Cynics, ii. 152
Sun and moon, opinions of Plato and
Aristotle on, ii. 86
" Symposium," dialogue, ii. 383, seq.\
date, ii. 393, iii. 27, 28
Syracuse, description of, ii. 264
Syssitia, ii. 40
Telegonia, the, ii. 211
Teles, ii. 152, 211, 244
Temperance, definition of, ii. 303,
seq. ; Greek idea of, ii. 300, 301
Ten Thousand, retreat of the, ii. 120
Teutonic Order, compared to Plato's
guardians, iii. 123
"TheEEtetus," dialogue, iii. 155, seq.
Thesetetus, ii. 260
" Thebais," the, ii. 23
Thebans, the, ii. 24; dangerous to
Hellas, ii. 130
Themistocles, ii. 327, 329
Theodorus, ii. 220, 240, 241, 258
Theognis, ii. 3, 4, 17. 172
Theophrastus, ii. 46, 193, 211 ; his
will, ii. 269
Theramenes, ii. 130, 394
Thirty Tyrants, the, ii. 51
Thrasyllus, ii. 281, 282
Thrasymachus of Chalcedon, iii. 56,
seq,
Thrasymachus of Corinth, ii. 205
Thucydides, ii. 12, 25, 26, 35, 41. 43.
iii. 9S, no
" Timaeus," dialogue, iii. 200, seq.
Timocracy, iii. 92
Timocrates, iii. 138
Timoleon, iii. 141, seq.
Timonides, iii. 138
Tolstoi, ii. 337, iii. 103, 337
Torone, ii. 24
Torpedo, Socrates compared to, ii.
Transmigration of souls, u. 370
Tyranny and tyrants, iii. 95, seq.
U
United States, the, ii. 20
Unity, absolute, iii. 153
Unity of virtue, ii. 299, 312, 313,
319, iii. 184
Utilitarianism, ii. 140, ui. 113, seq.
386
INDEX TO VOLS. II. AND III.
Virtue, coincident with happiness,
ii. 354 J possibility of teaching it,
ii. 311, 312, 370, 372
Volney, ii. 223
Voltaire, ii. 244
W
WeH-being, notion of, ii. 336
Wine, Plato on the uses of, iii. 231
Women, iii. 77, 78, 115, seq., 124
World-soul, the, iii. 213, 216
X
Xeniades, ii. 156
Xenocrates, ii. 274, iii. 137
Xenophanes, ii. 14, 89, 369, iii. 10,
II, 209
Xenophon, ii. 20, 53, 56, 57, 59, 60,
61, 62, 63, 64, 72, 73, 74, 76, 81,
83, 86, 87, 90, 96, 382, iii. 118;
his life, ii. 119, seq. ; not the leader
of the Ten Thousand, ii. 122 ; his
life in retirement, ii. 124 ; his cha-
racter, ii. 119; intellectual defects,
126 ; his religion, ii. 135 ; as apo-
logist of Socrates, ii. 114, 395 ; his
" CEconomicus," ii. 62, 119, iii.
126 ; " Symposium," ii. 62, 127 ;
" Memorabilia," ii. 63, 75, 79, 136 ;
"Hellenica," ii. 123, 128 ; "Cyro-
psedia," ii. 131; other writings,
ii. 133, 134
Zalmoxis, ii. 302
Zeno of Elea, ii. 188, igj, 244, iii.
149, seq.
Zeno the Stoic, ii. 195, 204
Zeus, conceived as judge, ii. 56
Zola, iii. 205, 363
Zbllner, iii. 179
Zopyrus, ii. 48
Zoroastrianism, iii. 12
END OF VOL. III.
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND DECCLES.