FOOTNOTES

FOOTNOTES[1]See the Heading of the Lamprian Catalogue:Bernardakis. vol. vii. p. 473.[2]Plutarchi ChæronensisMoraliarecognovitGregorius N. Bernardakis(Leipzig. Teubner. 7 vols. and Appendix).[3]Classical Review, vol. iv. (1890), p. 306.[4](Then of Goettingen.) See thePræfatiotoBernardakis’Second Volume.[5]The Treatise ofPlutarch,De Cupiditate Divitiarum, edited byW. R. Paton. (David Nutt. 1896.) We have also consulted Mr. Paton’sPlutarchi Pythici Dialogi tres(Berlin, 1893). (An emendation of Mr. Paton’s is notedinfra, p. 90.)[6]Leben, Schriften und Philosophie des Plutarch von Chæronea, vonR. Volkmann(Berlin, 1869).[7]De la Morale de Plutarque, parOctave Gréard(Paris, 1866).[8]Plutarch, his Life, his Parallel Lives, and his Morals.Five Lectures byRichard Chenevix Trench, D.D., &c. (London, 1873).[9]The Greek World under Roman Sway, from Polybius to Plutarch, byJ. P. Mahaffy, D.D., &c. (London, 1890).[10]Mahaffy, p. 321. How Plutarch could possibly have “taken pains to understand” Christianity when, in Professor Mahaffy’s own words (p. 349), he “seems never to have heard of it,” we must leave it to Professor Mahaffy to explain.[11]Ibid.p. 321.[12]Ibid.p. 349.[13]Volkmann, vol. ii. cap. 1.[14]Gréard, Preface to Third Edition, p. iii.[15]De Apologetica Plutarchi Chæronensis Theologia(Marburg, 1854). Seibert refers to two other authors who had dealt with some aspects of his own subject—Absolute demum opusculoSchreitericommentationemde doctrina Plutarchi theologica et moraliscriptam ...necnon Nitzchii Kiliensis de Plutarcho theologo et philosopho popularidisquisitionem 1849 editam conferre licuit.—We have been unable to see a copy of either of these dissertations, although Trench also alludes to Schreiter’s work. They did not, in Seibert’s opinion, render his work unnecessary; butheenjoyed the inestimable advantage of the friendship of Zeller, who helped him “libris consilioque.”[16]Politik und Philosophie in ihrem Verhältniss, &c., byH. W. J. Thiersch(Marburg, 1853).—Damals stand Plutarch, dem bereits Trajan consularische Ehren bewilligt hatte, auf der höchsten Stufe des Ansehens. (For M. Gréard’s destruction of this Legend see his first chapter.—Légende de Plutarque.)[17]The Essays of Plutarch, byW. J. Brodribb.Fortnightly Review, vol. 20, p. 629.[18]“He cared not for the name of any sect or leader, but pleaded the cause of moral beauty in the interests of truth only.”—Merivale’s “Romans under the Empire,” cap. 60, where there is an excellent, but unfortunately too brief, account of our author.[19]Œuvres Morales de Plutarque, traduites du grec parDominic Ricard(1783-1795).—“Rapprochée un texte, la version de Ricard est, dans sa teneur générale, d’une élégance superficielle et d’une fidélité peu approfondie.”—Gréard.Trenchalso severely condemns some of the translations in the edition issued in Dryden’s name.[20]Plutarch’s Morals, translated from the Greek by several hands, corrected and revised byW. W. Goodwin, Ph.D. (London, 1870).—“It may have been a fortunate thing for some of our translators that Bentley was too much occupied with the wise heads of Christ Church to notice the blunders of men who could write notes saying that the Parthenon is a ‘Promontory shooting into the Black Sea, where stood a chappel dedicated to some virgin godhead, and famous for some Victory thereabout obtain’d.’”—Editor’s Preface.[21]Plutarch’s Morals.Theosophical Essays.Translated by the lateC. W. King, M.A. (London, 1889).Ethical Essaystranslated byA. R. Shilleto, M.A. (London, 1888).[22]Tertullian:De Carne Christi, 5.—“Crucifixus est Dei filius; non pudet, quia pudendum est. Et mortuus est Dei filius; prorsus credibile est, quia ineptum est. Et sepultus resurrexit; certum est, quia impossibile est.”[23]St. Augustine:Confessiones, vi. 5.—“Ex hoc tamen quoque jam præponens doctrinam Catholicam, modestius ibi minimeque fallaciter sentiebam juberiut crederetur quod non demonstrabatur(sive esset quid demonstrandum, sed cui forte non esset, sive nec quid esset), quam illic temeraria pollicitatione scientiæ credulitatem irrideri; et postea tam multa fabulosissima et absurdissima, quia demonstrari non poterant, credenda imperari.”—The principle inherent in the five italicized words is identical with that which the writer exposes as an example of the absurd credulity of the Manichæans. The difference is merely one of degree.[24]Attempts have, of course, been made at various times to rationalize a Religion whose cardinal principle is Faith. Paley and Butler are conspicuous examples in the history of Anglican Christianity but neither the one nor the other supplied any widespread inspiration to the religious life of the day. Butler, “who had made it his business, ever since he thought himself capable of such sort of reasoning, toproveto himself the being and attributes of God,” who “found it impossible to dissociate philosophy from religion in his own mind,” and “would have agreed with South that what is nonsense upon a principle of Reason will never be sense upon a principle of Religion,” was yet compelled to admit that “it was too late for him to try to support a falling Church;” and it is a matter of national history that Wesley, with his direct appeal to the principle of “justification byfaith,” did more to reinvigorate the religious life of England than all the cultured rationalists who adorned the English Church in those days. And in these later days Butler has not escaped the charge of “having furnished, with a design directly contrary, one of the most terrible of the persuasives to Atheism that has ever been produced.” (Butler, by the Rev. W. Lucas Collins, M.A.) Paley likewise thought it a just opinion “that whatever renders religion more rational renders it more credible,” and devoted his genius to the task of making religion more rational, but has done little more than furnish a school text-book for theological students. Further, what Christian, in his heart of hearts, and at those moments which he would regard as his best, does not respond more readily to the sublime sentiment of Tertullian than to the ratiocinations of theAnalogyor theEvidences?[25]M. Constant Martha’sÉtudes morales sur l’Antiquité, from which we have taken this just and striking phrase of Bossuet, gives an interesting account of the passionate and anguished manner in which the calm precepts of the famous “Golden Verses of Pythagoras” were applied by Christianity:—“Le philosophe, si sévère qu’il fût, se traitait toujours en ami; ... le chrétien au contraire, ... passe souvent par des inquiétudes inconnues à la sereine antiquité.” (L’Examen de Conscience chez les Anciens.)[26]“Belief is a virtue, Doubt is a sin.”—Quoted by J. A. Froude,Short Studies, vol. i. p. 243.[27]Certain emotional aspects of Greek Religion are dealt with in the subsequent analysis of Plutarch’s teaching.[28]Horace:Epist.i. 6, 15, 16.[29]Gaston Boissier:De la Religion Romaine, vol. i. p. 21. Cf.Cicero:De Natura Deorum, ii. 28.[30]Cf. the remark ofSeneca:Epistolæ ad Lucilium, i. 21.—“Quod fieri in senatu solet, faciendum ego in philosophia quoque existimo. Quum censuit aliquis, quod ex parte mihi placeat, jubeo illum dividere sententiam, et sequor.”—For a summary of interesting examples of the manner in which this spirit of compromise worked out in practical religious questions, see Boissier, pp. 22, sqq.[31]Virgil:Georgics, 1. 268-272.—Cf. the note of Servius on this passage: “Scimus necessitati religionem cedere.” On the general character of Roman Religion, cf.Constant de Rebecque:Du Polythéisme Romain.—“On dirait que les dieux ont abjuré les erreurs d’une jeunesse fougueuse pour se livrer aux occupations de l’âge mûr. La religion de Rome est l’âge mûr des dieux, comme l’histoire de Rome est la maturité de l’espèce humaine.”[32]Macrobius:Saturnalia, iii. 9.—“Si deus, si dea est, cui populus civitasque Carthaginiensis est in tutela, teque maxime ille,” etc.[33]Plutarch:De Iside et Osiride. (Passages subsequently quoted.) Cf.Dion Chrysostom:De Cognitione Dei. (Vol. i. p. 225, Dindorf’s Text.)[34]Dionysius of Halicarnassus:De Antiquitatibus Romanorum, ii. 18.—Though Livy’s account of the administrative measures of Numa is written in a totally different spirit from that of Dionysius, it may be noted that Numa is depicted as introducing religion as an aid to political stability.—“Ne luxuriarentur otio animi, quos metus hostium disciplinaque militaris continuerat,omnium primum, rem ad multitudinem imperitam et illis sæculis rudem efficacissimam Deorum metum injiciendum ratus est.” (Livy, i. 19.) Cicero confesses that the auspices had been retained for the same reason. (De Div., ii. 33.)[35]The indignant phrases with which Horace scathes the degeneracy of his own times in this respect clearly indicate the religious aspect of the patriotic self-immolation of Regulus:—“Milesne Crassi conjuge barbaraTurpis maritus vixit et hostium(Proh curia inversique mores!)Consenuit socerorum in armisSub rege Medo Marsus et ApulusAnciliorum et nominis et togæOblitus æternæque VestæIncolumi Jove et urbe Roma?” (Od., iii. 5.)[36]Cf.Boissier:De la Religion Romaine, vol. i. p. 17.—“Nonseulement la religion romaine n’encourage pas la dévotion, mais on peut dire qu’elle s’en méfie. C’est un peuple fait pour agir; la rêverie, la contemplation mystique lui sont étrangères et suspectes. Il est avant tout ami du calme, de l’ordre, de la regularité; tout ce qui excite et trouble les âmes lui déplaît.” Boissier quotes as the remark of Servius onGeorgics, 3. 456, the words, “Majores religionem totam in experientia collocabant;” but what Servius really wrote was, “Majores enim expugnantes religionem, totum in experientia collocabant,” and he gives an apt reference to Cato’s speech on the Catilinarian conspiracy as reported by Sallust:—“Non votis neque suppliciis muliebribus auxilia deorum parantur: vigilando, agendo,bene consulendo, prospere omnia cedunt.” Propertius (iii. 22) boasts that Rome is free from the more extravagantly emotional legends of Greek mythology.[37]Cicero:De Nat. Deor.lib. iii.—Cf. the “theory of Twofold Truth,” which was “accepted without hesitation by all the foremost teachers in Italy during the sixteenth century,” who “were careful to point out, they were philosophers, and not theologians.”—The Skeptics of the Italian Renaissance, by John Owen (p. 186, second edition).[38]Cicero:Tusc. Disp.i. 1.—“Iam illa quæ natura, non literis, adsecuti sunt, neque cum Græcia neque ulla cum gente sunt conferenda; quæ enim tanta gravitas, quæ tanta constantia, magnitudo animi, probitas, fides, quæ tam excellens in omni genere virtus in ullis fuit, ut sit cum majoribus nostris comparanda?”[39]A situation forecast in the well-known passage of Plato’sRepublic, 619 C, in reference to the soul who has chosen for his lot in life “the most absolute despotism he could find.”—“He was one of those who had lived during his former life under a well-ordered constitution, and hence a measure of virtue had fallen to his share,through the influence of habit, unaided by philosophy.” (Davis and Vaughan’s translation.) What could more accurately describe the character of early Roman morality than these words?[40]It was inability to grasp this truth that explained the “patriotic” opposition of the Elder Cato to the lectures of Carneades, Critolaus, and Diogenes. He was “unwilling that the public policy of Rome, which for the Roman youth was the supreme norm of judgment and action, and was possessed of unconditional authority, should, through the influence of foreign philosophers, become subordinated, in the consciousness of these youths, to a more universal ethical norm.”Ueberweg:Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie(Morris and Porter’s translation, p. 189, vol. i.). (Cf.M. Martha:Le Philosophe Carnéade à Rome.)[41]Cicero:De Officiis, i. 43.—“Princepsque omnium virtutum illa sapientia quam σοφίαν Græci vocant—prudentiam enim, quam Græci φρόνησιν, aliam quandam intellegimus, quæ est rerum expetendarum fugiendarumque scientia; illa autem sapientia quam principem dixi rerum est divinarum et humanarum scientia, in qua continetur deorum et hominum communitas et societas inter ipsos—ea si maxima est, ut est certe, necesse est quod a communitate ducatur officium id esse maximum.”—He is here emphasizing the social duties of the individual man.[42]De Divinatione, ii. 2.—“Quod enim munus reipublicæ afferre majus meliusve possumus, quam si docemus atque erudimŭs juventutem? his præsertim moribus atque temporibus, quibus ita prolapsa est, ut omnium opibus refrænenda ac coërcenda sit.”—We shall venture to believe that personally Cicero was not a religious man, in spite of the religious usefulness of his philosophic work, and also notwithstanding Trollope’s contention that “had Cicero lived a hundred years later I should have suspected him of some hidden knowledge of Christian teaching.” (Trollope’sLife of Cicero, chapter on “Cicero’s Religion.”) Cicero’s Letters have as much religion in them as Lord Chesterfield’s—and no more.[43]Herod.ii. 53.[44]Hesiod:Works and Days, 280 sqq. (cf. 293-326). Here also is to be found that famous description of the hard and easy roads of Virtue and of Vice. The reward held out to progress in Virtue is that this road, too, becomes pleasant and easy at last.[45]Οὗτος μὲν πανάριστος ὃς αὐτῷ πάντα νοήσῃ. (Hesiod:Works and Days, 293.)—It is not surprising that Aristotle quotes this verse with approval, or that it commended itself to the genius of Roman writers. (Cf.Livy, xxii. 29;Cicero:Pro Cluentio, c. 31.)[46]Pindar:Olymp., 1, v. 28, sqq. (Christ’sTeubnerEdition).[47]Plutarch:De Ε apud Delphos, 385 B.D.[48]SeeThe Ethics of Aristotle, by SirAlexander Grant, Essay II.[49]Horace’s “Mutatus Polemon” is well known. The details of the story are given in practically the same form by Diogenes Laertius, Valerius Maximus (vi. 6. 15), and by Lucian in his dramatic version in theBis Accusatus(16, 17). Philostratus—Lives of the Sophists, i. 20—gives an intenselymodernaccount of the conversion of the sophist Isæus. (See alsoNoteon p. 28.)[50]Plato:Laws, 642 C. (Jowett’s translation.)[51]Browning’sAsolando, “Development.” (P. 129, first edition.)[52]For the influence of the Greek Myths in this direction, cf.Propertius, Book iii. 32.“Ipsa Venus, quamvis corrupta libidine Martis,Nec minus in cælo semper honesta fuit,Quamvis Ida palam pastorem dicat amasseAtque inter pecudes accubuisse deam....Dic mihi, quis potuit lectum servare pudicum,Quæ dea cum solo vivere sola deo?”St. Augustine’s criticism of the famous passage in theEunuchusof Terence (Act iii. sc. 5), where Chærea is encouraged in his clandestine amour by a picture of Jupiter and Danaë, is, of course, painfully justified by the facts as reported by the dramatist. (Confessiones, lib. i.)[53]Plato:Phædo, 69 B.[54]“Before the fifth century, philosophy had beenentirelyphysical or metaphysical.”—SirA. Grant:Aristotle. (Essay already quoted.) The word italicized is surely too sweeping. (The thought is repeated with some qualification on page 67.) Cf.Diogenes Laertius: i. 18, and i. 13.Cicero:Tusc. Quæst., v. 4;Acad., i. 4, 15.Aristotlespeaks with greater truth and moderation.—Metaph., i. 6. The distinction between Socrates and previous philosophers lies not so much in the fact that they were not ethical philosophers as that he was not a physical philosopher.[55]Herod.i. 75. Cf. the amusing story told by Plutarch (De Sollertia Animalium, 971 B, C), in which a mule laden with salt lightens its load in crossing a river by soaking its packages well under the water. Thales enters the ranks against the clever mule, and comes off easy winner by giving him a load ofsponges and wool.[56]Herod.i. 170. Cf.Plutarch:Cum Principibus Viris Philosopho esse disserendum, 779 A.[57]RitterandPreller, p. 10. (QuotingSimplicius:Physica, 6, a.)[58]Simplicius:Physica. (Quoted byRitterandPreller, p. 10.)[59]“Heraclitus used to say that Homer, and Archilochus as well, ought to be expelled from the Contests and cudgelled.”—D. L., ix. 1.[60]SeePlutarch:Adversus Coloten, 118 C; andStobæus:Anthologion, v. 119, and iii. 84. (Vol. i. pp. 94 and 104.—TauchnitzEdition.)[61]Plutarch:De Exilio, 604 A.[62]Diogenes Laertius, ii. 6.[63]Alex. Aphrod:De Fato, ii., quoted byRitterandPreller, p. 28. Cf.Pseudo-Plutarch:De Placitis Philosophorum, 885 C, D.[64]Aristotle:Metaphysics, i. 3.[65]RitterandPreller, p. 52.—Cf.Ueberwegon Leucippus and Democritus, “The ethical end of man is happiness, which is attained through justice and culture.”[66]Magna Moralia, i. 1, and i. 34. Cf.Aristotle:Eth. Nich., v. 5.—“The Pythagoreans defined the just to be simply retaliation—and Rhadamanthus (in Æschylus) appears to assert that justice is this: ‘that the punishment will be equitable when a man suffers the same thing as he has done.’” (Thomas Taylor’s translation ofThe Works of Aristotle.)[67]Ueberweg, p. 47. See also citations in last note.[68]Howfruitful, the whole Attic Tragedy demonstrates.[69]RitterandPreller, p. 79 (fromClemens Alexandrinus).[70]Cf.Marlowe’sDr. Faustus:—“Why wert thou not a creature wanting soul?Or why is this immortal that thou hast?Ah, Pythagoras’ metempsychosis, were that trueThis soul should fly from me, and I be changedUnto some brutish beast! All beasts are happy,For when they die,Their souls are soon dissolved in elements;But mine must live still to be plagued in hell.”[71]Martha:L’Examen de Conscience chez les Anciens(“études morales sur l’Antiquité”).—“Ce poème, attribué par les uns à Pythagore lui-même, par d’autres à Lysis, son disciple, par d’autres encore ou à Philolaüs ou à Empédocle, ne remonte pas sans doute à une si haute antiquité, mais il est certainement antérieur au christianisme, puisque des écrivains qui ont vécu avant notre ère, entre autres le Stoïcien Chrysippe, y ont fait quelquefois allusion ... Hieroclès dit formellement que lesVers d’orne sont pas l’œuvre d’un homme, mais celle de tout le sacré collège pythagoricien.”—The author of the verses is, doubtless, unknown, but their general attribution in antiquity to a Pythagorean source is in harmony with the universal recognition that they cohere with the ethical doctrine of the school. M. Martha subjects ancient philosophers and critics to a severe reprehension on the ground that they saw in these verses a mere inculcation of the practice of the memory—“Un certain nombre d’anciens sont tombés dans la plus étrange méprise. Ils ont cru qu’il s’agissait ici d’un exercice de mémoire.” But, giving all the force which M. Martha assigns to the passages he quotes in support of this view, we must not leave out of consideration the important part which a good memory was believed to subserve in practical ethics. See the pseudo-Plutarchic tractDe Educatione Liberorum, 9 F. Cf.Epictetus, lib. iii. cap x.Seneca(De Ira, 3, cap. 36) learned the practice inculcated by the golden verses from Sextus, who was claimed as a Pythagorean (RitterandPreller, 437).[72]Plato:Republic, 600 B.[73]Plutarch:Adversus Coloten, 1126; cf.D. L., ix. 23. See alsoPlato’sParmenides, and cf.Ueberwegon Parmenides.[74]Leslie Stephen:The Science of Ethics(concluding sentence).[75]For a brief expression of this identity, seeDion. Ch.De Exilio, xiii. p. 249.—“To seek and strive earnestly after Virtue—that is Philosophy.” Cf.Seneca:Epist., i. 37;et passim.[76]SeeMartha:La prédication morale populaire(“Les moralistes sous l’empire romain,” pp. 240, 241).—“A cette époque la philosophie était une espèce de religion qui imposait à ses adeptes au moins l’extérieur de la vertu. Les sophistes se reconnaissent à leur mœurs licencieuses et à leurs manières arrogantes, les philosophes à la dignité de leur conduite et de leur maintien. On entrait dans la philosophie par une sorte de conversion édifiante: on ne pouvait en sortir que par une apostasie scandaleuse.” See the passages referred to byM. Martha, and, in addition,Dion’saccount of his “conversion” inOratioxiii. (De Exilio), and his comparisons between the sophist and the peacock, and the philosopher and the owl, inOratioxii. (De Dei Cognitione).[77]Cicero:Acad. Poster., i. 4. (Reid’s translation.) Cf.RitterandPreller: sec. 204, note “a” onXenophon:Memorabilia, iv. 3. 1, and i. 4. 4.—“Socratem quodam modo naturæ studuisse vel ex nostro loco luculenter cernitur, ubi deprehendis eum teleologicam quæ dicitur viam ingressum, quæ ratio transiit ad Socraticos. Inde corrigendus CiceroAcad. Poster., i. 4.” Cf.Benwell’sPreface to his edition of theMemorabilia: “Quam graviter de Dei providentia et de admirabili corporis humani structura Socratem disserentem inducit!”—It must be conceded, however, that in Xenophon’s account Socrates is described as discussing natural phenomena still with a view to ethical edification. (Memorab., iv. 3.)[78]Plato:Timæus, 59 C.[79]W. S. Landor:Diogenes and Plato (Imaginary Conversations).—“Draw thy robe around thee; let the folds fall gracefully, and look majestic. That sentence is an admirable one, but not for me. I want sense, not stars.” Cf. Dr.Martineau:Plato (Types of Ethical Theory).—“The perfection which consists in contemplation of the absolute, or the attempt to copy it, may be the consummation of Reason, but not of character.”[80]Cf.Landor:loc. cit.—“The bird of wisdom flies low, and seeks her food under hedges; the eagle himself would be starved if he always soared aloft and against the sun. The sweetest fruit grows near the ground, and the plants that bear it require ventilation and lopping.”[81]Archer-Hind:The Phædo of Plato, Appendix I.[82]Cf.Martineau: “Types of Ethical Theory”:Plato, p. 97, vol. i.—“For the soul in its own essence, and for great and good souls among mankind, Plato certainly had the deepest reverence; but he had no share in the religious sentiment of democracy which dignifies manas man, and regards with indifference the highest personal qualities in comparison with the essential attributes of common humanity.—He rated so high the difficulty of attaining genuine insight and goodness that he thought it much if they could be realized even in a few; and had no hope that the mass of men, overborne by the pressure of material necessity and unchastened desires, could be brought, under the actual conditions of this world, to more than the mere beginnings of wisdom.”[83]Aristotle:Ethics, i. cap. 3. Cf. i. 6 and i. 8.[84]Ethics, i. 3, 4, where also the verse from theWorks and Daysis quoted; cf. sec. 6.[85]Ethics, i. 8.[86]Grant’sAristotle, vol. i. p. 155.[87]SeeRitterandPreller, sec. 392, for the authorities on this head.[88]A Voice from the Nile, byJames Thomson. An Epicurean would have heartily responded to the verse following those quoted in the text from this fine poem—“And therefore Gods and Demons, Heaven and Hell.”[89]Diogenes Laertius(RitterandPreller, 380. Cf.Cic.:De Finibus, i. 7).[90]Cf.Pseudo-Plutarch:De Placitis Philosophorum. 877 D.[91]Diogenes Laertius, x. 142. Cf.Cic.:De Finibus, i. 19.—“Denique etiammorati melius erimusquum didicerimusquid natura desideret.” (RitterandPreller, p. 343).[92]Cf. the statement ofSeneca(Epist., 89, 9).—“Epicurei duas partes philosophiæ putaverunt esse, naturalem atque moralem: rationalem removerunt.”[93]“Through the great weight which, both in theory and in their actual life with each other, was laid by the Epicureans on Friendship (a social development which only became possible after the dissolution of the bond which had so closely united each individual citizen to the Civil Community), Epicureanism aided in softening down the asperity and exclusiveness of ancient manners, and in cultivating the social virtues of companionableness, compatibility, friendliness, gentleness, beneficence, and gratitude, and so performed a work whose merit we should be careful not to under-estimate.”—Ueberweg:Grundriss. Cf.Horace:Sat., I. iv. 135—“dulcis amicis.” The other elements of the Epicurean ideal are also realized in Horace’s character, as his writings have left it to us.[94]This breaking away of the barriers between the teaching of various schools was, doubtless, largely due to the increasing importance which they universally attached to Ethics. The fact, at any rate, is indisputable. Every history of Greek philosophy, from the Third Century onward, is freely scattered with such phrases as these from Ueberweg:—“The new Academy returned to Dogmatism. It commenced with Philo of Larissa, founder of the Fourth School.... His pupil, Antiochus of Ascalon, founded a Fifth School, by combining the doctrines of Plato with certain Aristotelian, and more particularly with certain Stoic theses, thus preparing the way for the transition to Neo-Platonism.”—“In many of the Peripatetics of this late period we find an approximation to Stoicism.”

FOOTNOTES

[1]See the Heading of the Lamprian Catalogue:Bernardakis. vol. vii. p. 473.

[2]Plutarchi ChæronensisMoraliarecognovitGregorius N. Bernardakis(Leipzig. Teubner. 7 vols. and Appendix).

[3]Classical Review, vol. iv. (1890), p. 306.

[4](Then of Goettingen.) See thePræfatiotoBernardakis’Second Volume.

[5]The Treatise ofPlutarch,De Cupiditate Divitiarum, edited byW. R. Paton. (David Nutt. 1896.) We have also consulted Mr. Paton’sPlutarchi Pythici Dialogi tres(Berlin, 1893). (An emendation of Mr. Paton’s is notedinfra, p. 90.)

[6]Leben, Schriften und Philosophie des Plutarch von Chæronea, vonR. Volkmann(Berlin, 1869).

[7]De la Morale de Plutarque, parOctave Gréard(Paris, 1866).

[8]Plutarch, his Life, his Parallel Lives, and his Morals.Five Lectures byRichard Chenevix Trench, D.D., &c. (London, 1873).

[9]The Greek World under Roman Sway, from Polybius to Plutarch, byJ. P. Mahaffy, D.D., &c. (London, 1890).

[10]Mahaffy, p. 321. How Plutarch could possibly have “taken pains to understand” Christianity when, in Professor Mahaffy’s own words (p. 349), he “seems never to have heard of it,” we must leave it to Professor Mahaffy to explain.

[11]Ibid.p. 321.

[12]Ibid.p. 349.

[13]Volkmann, vol. ii. cap. 1.

[14]Gréard, Preface to Third Edition, p. iii.

[15]De Apologetica Plutarchi Chæronensis Theologia(Marburg, 1854). Seibert refers to two other authors who had dealt with some aspects of his own subject—Absolute demum opusculoSchreitericommentationemde doctrina Plutarchi theologica et moraliscriptam ...necnon Nitzchii Kiliensis de Plutarcho theologo et philosopho popularidisquisitionem 1849 editam conferre licuit.—We have been unable to see a copy of either of these dissertations, although Trench also alludes to Schreiter’s work. They did not, in Seibert’s opinion, render his work unnecessary; butheenjoyed the inestimable advantage of the friendship of Zeller, who helped him “libris consilioque.”

[16]Politik und Philosophie in ihrem Verhältniss, &c., byH. W. J. Thiersch(Marburg, 1853).—Damals stand Plutarch, dem bereits Trajan consularische Ehren bewilligt hatte, auf der höchsten Stufe des Ansehens. (For M. Gréard’s destruction of this Legend see his first chapter.—Légende de Plutarque.)

[17]The Essays of Plutarch, byW. J. Brodribb.Fortnightly Review, vol. 20, p. 629.

[18]“He cared not for the name of any sect or leader, but pleaded the cause of moral beauty in the interests of truth only.”—Merivale’s “Romans under the Empire,” cap. 60, where there is an excellent, but unfortunately too brief, account of our author.

[19]Œuvres Morales de Plutarque, traduites du grec parDominic Ricard(1783-1795).—“Rapprochée un texte, la version de Ricard est, dans sa teneur générale, d’une élégance superficielle et d’une fidélité peu approfondie.”—Gréard.Trenchalso severely condemns some of the translations in the edition issued in Dryden’s name.

[20]Plutarch’s Morals, translated from the Greek by several hands, corrected and revised byW. W. Goodwin, Ph.D. (London, 1870).—“It may have been a fortunate thing for some of our translators that Bentley was too much occupied with the wise heads of Christ Church to notice the blunders of men who could write notes saying that the Parthenon is a ‘Promontory shooting into the Black Sea, where stood a chappel dedicated to some virgin godhead, and famous for some Victory thereabout obtain’d.’”—Editor’s Preface.

[21]Plutarch’s Morals.Theosophical Essays.Translated by the lateC. W. King, M.A. (London, 1889).Ethical Essaystranslated byA. R. Shilleto, M.A. (London, 1888).

[22]Tertullian:De Carne Christi, 5.—“Crucifixus est Dei filius; non pudet, quia pudendum est. Et mortuus est Dei filius; prorsus credibile est, quia ineptum est. Et sepultus resurrexit; certum est, quia impossibile est.”

[23]St. Augustine:Confessiones, vi. 5.—“Ex hoc tamen quoque jam præponens doctrinam Catholicam, modestius ibi minimeque fallaciter sentiebam juberiut crederetur quod non demonstrabatur(sive esset quid demonstrandum, sed cui forte non esset, sive nec quid esset), quam illic temeraria pollicitatione scientiæ credulitatem irrideri; et postea tam multa fabulosissima et absurdissima, quia demonstrari non poterant, credenda imperari.”—The principle inherent in the five italicized words is identical with that which the writer exposes as an example of the absurd credulity of the Manichæans. The difference is merely one of degree.

[24]Attempts have, of course, been made at various times to rationalize a Religion whose cardinal principle is Faith. Paley and Butler are conspicuous examples in the history of Anglican Christianity but neither the one nor the other supplied any widespread inspiration to the religious life of the day. Butler, “who had made it his business, ever since he thought himself capable of such sort of reasoning, toproveto himself the being and attributes of God,” who “found it impossible to dissociate philosophy from religion in his own mind,” and “would have agreed with South that what is nonsense upon a principle of Reason will never be sense upon a principle of Religion,” was yet compelled to admit that “it was too late for him to try to support a falling Church;” and it is a matter of national history that Wesley, with his direct appeal to the principle of “justification byfaith,” did more to reinvigorate the religious life of England than all the cultured rationalists who adorned the English Church in those days. And in these later days Butler has not escaped the charge of “having furnished, with a design directly contrary, one of the most terrible of the persuasives to Atheism that has ever been produced.” (Butler, by the Rev. W. Lucas Collins, M.A.) Paley likewise thought it a just opinion “that whatever renders religion more rational renders it more credible,” and devoted his genius to the task of making religion more rational, but has done little more than furnish a school text-book for theological students. Further, what Christian, in his heart of hearts, and at those moments which he would regard as his best, does not respond more readily to the sublime sentiment of Tertullian than to the ratiocinations of theAnalogyor theEvidences?

[25]M. Constant Martha’sÉtudes morales sur l’Antiquité, from which we have taken this just and striking phrase of Bossuet, gives an interesting account of the passionate and anguished manner in which the calm precepts of the famous “Golden Verses of Pythagoras” were applied by Christianity:—“Le philosophe, si sévère qu’il fût, se traitait toujours en ami; ... le chrétien au contraire, ... passe souvent par des inquiétudes inconnues à la sereine antiquité.” (L’Examen de Conscience chez les Anciens.)

[26]“Belief is a virtue, Doubt is a sin.”—Quoted by J. A. Froude,Short Studies, vol. i. p. 243.

[27]Certain emotional aspects of Greek Religion are dealt with in the subsequent analysis of Plutarch’s teaching.

[28]Horace:Epist.i. 6, 15, 16.

[29]Gaston Boissier:De la Religion Romaine, vol. i. p. 21. Cf.Cicero:De Natura Deorum, ii. 28.

[30]Cf. the remark ofSeneca:Epistolæ ad Lucilium, i. 21.—“Quod fieri in senatu solet, faciendum ego in philosophia quoque existimo. Quum censuit aliquis, quod ex parte mihi placeat, jubeo illum dividere sententiam, et sequor.”—For a summary of interesting examples of the manner in which this spirit of compromise worked out in practical religious questions, see Boissier, pp. 22, sqq.

[31]Virgil:Georgics, 1. 268-272.—Cf. the note of Servius on this passage: “Scimus necessitati religionem cedere.” On the general character of Roman Religion, cf.Constant de Rebecque:Du Polythéisme Romain.—“On dirait que les dieux ont abjuré les erreurs d’une jeunesse fougueuse pour se livrer aux occupations de l’âge mûr. La religion de Rome est l’âge mûr des dieux, comme l’histoire de Rome est la maturité de l’espèce humaine.”

[32]Macrobius:Saturnalia, iii. 9.—“Si deus, si dea est, cui populus civitasque Carthaginiensis est in tutela, teque maxime ille,” etc.

[33]Plutarch:De Iside et Osiride. (Passages subsequently quoted.) Cf.Dion Chrysostom:De Cognitione Dei. (Vol. i. p. 225, Dindorf’s Text.)

[34]Dionysius of Halicarnassus:De Antiquitatibus Romanorum, ii. 18.—Though Livy’s account of the administrative measures of Numa is written in a totally different spirit from that of Dionysius, it may be noted that Numa is depicted as introducing religion as an aid to political stability.—“Ne luxuriarentur otio animi, quos metus hostium disciplinaque militaris continuerat,omnium primum, rem ad multitudinem imperitam et illis sæculis rudem efficacissimam Deorum metum injiciendum ratus est.” (Livy, i. 19.) Cicero confesses that the auspices had been retained for the same reason. (De Div., ii. 33.)

[35]The indignant phrases with which Horace scathes the degeneracy of his own times in this respect clearly indicate the religious aspect of the patriotic self-immolation of Regulus:—“Milesne Crassi conjuge barbaraTurpis maritus vixit et hostium(Proh curia inversique mores!)Consenuit socerorum in armisSub rege Medo Marsus et ApulusAnciliorum et nominis et togæOblitus æternæque VestæIncolumi Jove et urbe Roma?” (Od., iii. 5.)

[35]The indignant phrases with which Horace scathes the degeneracy of his own times in this respect clearly indicate the religious aspect of the patriotic self-immolation of Regulus:—

“Milesne Crassi conjuge barbaraTurpis maritus vixit et hostium(Proh curia inversique mores!)Consenuit socerorum in armisSub rege Medo Marsus et ApulusAnciliorum et nominis et togæOblitus æternæque VestæIncolumi Jove et urbe Roma?” (Od., iii. 5.)

“Milesne Crassi conjuge barbara

Turpis maritus vixit et hostium

(Proh curia inversique mores!)

Consenuit socerorum in armis

Sub rege Medo Marsus et Apulus

Anciliorum et nominis et togæ

Oblitus æternæque Vestæ

Incolumi Jove et urbe Roma?” (Od., iii. 5.)

[36]Cf.Boissier:De la Religion Romaine, vol. i. p. 17.—“Nonseulement la religion romaine n’encourage pas la dévotion, mais on peut dire qu’elle s’en méfie. C’est un peuple fait pour agir; la rêverie, la contemplation mystique lui sont étrangères et suspectes. Il est avant tout ami du calme, de l’ordre, de la regularité; tout ce qui excite et trouble les âmes lui déplaît.” Boissier quotes as the remark of Servius onGeorgics, 3. 456, the words, “Majores religionem totam in experientia collocabant;” but what Servius really wrote was, “Majores enim expugnantes religionem, totum in experientia collocabant,” and he gives an apt reference to Cato’s speech on the Catilinarian conspiracy as reported by Sallust:—“Non votis neque suppliciis muliebribus auxilia deorum parantur: vigilando, agendo,bene consulendo, prospere omnia cedunt.” Propertius (iii. 22) boasts that Rome is free from the more extravagantly emotional legends of Greek mythology.

[37]Cicero:De Nat. Deor.lib. iii.—Cf. the “theory of Twofold Truth,” which was “accepted without hesitation by all the foremost teachers in Italy during the sixteenth century,” who “were careful to point out, they were philosophers, and not theologians.”—The Skeptics of the Italian Renaissance, by John Owen (p. 186, second edition).

[38]Cicero:Tusc. Disp.i. 1.—“Iam illa quæ natura, non literis, adsecuti sunt, neque cum Græcia neque ulla cum gente sunt conferenda; quæ enim tanta gravitas, quæ tanta constantia, magnitudo animi, probitas, fides, quæ tam excellens in omni genere virtus in ullis fuit, ut sit cum majoribus nostris comparanda?”

[39]A situation forecast in the well-known passage of Plato’sRepublic, 619 C, in reference to the soul who has chosen for his lot in life “the most absolute despotism he could find.”—“He was one of those who had lived during his former life under a well-ordered constitution, and hence a measure of virtue had fallen to his share,through the influence of habit, unaided by philosophy.” (Davis and Vaughan’s translation.) What could more accurately describe the character of early Roman morality than these words?

[40]It was inability to grasp this truth that explained the “patriotic” opposition of the Elder Cato to the lectures of Carneades, Critolaus, and Diogenes. He was “unwilling that the public policy of Rome, which for the Roman youth was the supreme norm of judgment and action, and was possessed of unconditional authority, should, through the influence of foreign philosophers, become subordinated, in the consciousness of these youths, to a more universal ethical norm.”Ueberweg:Grundriss der Geschichte der Philosophie(Morris and Porter’s translation, p. 189, vol. i.). (Cf.M. Martha:Le Philosophe Carnéade à Rome.)

[41]Cicero:De Officiis, i. 43.—“Princepsque omnium virtutum illa sapientia quam σοφίαν Græci vocant—prudentiam enim, quam Græci φρόνησιν, aliam quandam intellegimus, quæ est rerum expetendarum fugiendarumque scientia; illa autem sapientia quam principem dixi rerum est divinarum et humanarum scientia, in qua continetur deorum et hominum communitas et societas inter ipsos—ea si maxima est, ut est certe, necesse est quod a communitate ducatur officium id esse maximum.”—He is here emphasizing the social duties of the individual man.

[42]De Divinatione, ii. 2.—“Quod enim munus reipublicæ afferre majus meliusve possumus, quam si docemus atque erudimŭs juventutem? his præsertim moribus atque temporibus, quibus ita prolapsa est, ut omnium opibus refrænenda ac coërcenda sit.”—We shall venture to believe that personally Cicero was not a religious man, in spite of the religious usefulness of his philosophic work, and also notwithstanding Trollope’s contention that “had Cicero lived a hundred years later I should have suspected him of some hidden knowledge of Christian teaching.” (Trollope’sLife of Cicero, chapter on “Cicero’s Religion.”) Cicero’s Letters have as much religion in them as Lord Chesterfield’s—and no more.

[43]Herod.ii. 53.

[44]Hesiod:Works and Days, 280 sqq. (cf. 293-326). Here also is to be found that famous description of the hard and easy roads of Virtue and of Vice. The reward held out to progress in Virtue is that this road, too, becomes pleasant and easy at last.

[45]Οὗτος μὲν πανάριστος ὃς αὐτῷ πάντα νοήσῃ. (Hesiod:Works and Days, 293.)—It is not surprising that Aristotle quotes this verse with approval, or that it commended itself to the genius of Roman writers. (Cf.Livy, xxii. 29;Cicero:Pro Cluentio, c. 31.)

[46]Pindar:Olymp., 1, v. 28, sqq. (Christ’sTeubnerEdition).

[47]Plutarch:De Ε apud Delphos, 385 B.D.

[48]SeeThe Ethics of Aristotle, by SirAlexander Grant, Essay II.

[49]Horace’s “Mutatus Polemon” is well known. The details of the story are given in practically the same form by Diogenes Laertius, Valerius Maximus (vi. 6. 15), and by Lucian in his dramatic version in theBis Accusatus(16, 17). Philostratus—Lives of the Sophists, i. 20—gives an intenselymodernaccount of the conversion of the sophist Isæus. (See alsoNoteon p. 28.)

[50]Plato:Laws, 642 C. (Jowett’s translation.)

[51]Browning’sAsolando, “Development.” (P. 129, first edition.)

[52]For the influence of the Greek Myths in this direction, cf.Propertius, Book iii. 32.“Ipsa Venus, quamvis corrupta libidine Martis,Nec minus in cælo semper honesta fuit,Quamvis Ida palam pastorem dicat amasseAtque inter pecudes accubuisse deam....Dic mihi, quis potuit lectum servare pudicum,Quæ dea cum solo vivere sola deo?”St. Augustine’s criticism of the famous passage in theEunuchusof Terence (Act iii. sc. 5), where Chærea is encouraged in his clandestine amour by a picture of Jupiter and Danaë, is, of course, painfully justified by the facts as reported by the dramatist. (Confessiones, lib. i.)

[52]For the influence of the Greek Myths in this direction, cf.Propertius, Book iii. 32.

“Ipsa Venus, quamvis corrupta libidine Martis,Nec minus in cælo semper honesta fuit,Quamvis Ida palam pastorem dicat amasseAtque inter pecudes accubuisse deam....Dic mihi, quis potuit lectum servare pudicum,Quæ dea cum solo vivere sola deo?”

“Ipsa Venus, quamvis corrupta libidine Martis,

Nec minus in cælo semper honesta fuit,

Quamvis Ida palam pastorem dicat amasse

Atque inter pecudes accubuisse deam.

...

Dic mihi, quis potuit lectum servare pudicum,

Quæ dea cum solo vivere sola deo?”

St. Augustine’s criticism of the famous passage in theEunuchusof Terence (Act iii. sc. 5), where Chærea is encouraged in his clandestine amour by a picture of Jupiter and Danaë, is, of course, painfully justified by the facts as reported by the dramatist. (Confessiones, lib. i.)

[53]Plato:Phædo, 69 B.

[54]“Before the fifth century, philosophy had beenentirelyphysical or metaphysical.”—SirA. Grant:Aristotle. (Essay already quoted.) The word italicized is surely too sweeping. (The thought is repeated with some qualification on page 67.) Cf.Diogenes Laertius: i. 18, and i. 13.Cicero:Tusc. Quæst., v. 4;Acad., i. 4, 15.Aristotlespeaks with greater truth and moderation.—Metaph., i. 6. The distinction between Socrates and previous philosophers lies not so much in the fact that they were not ethical philosophers as that he was not a physical philosopher.

[55]Herod.i. 75. Cf. the amusing story told by Plutarch (De Sollertia Animalium, 971 B, C), in which a mule laden with salt lightens its load in crossing a river by soaking its packages well under the water. Thales enters the ranks against the clever mule, and comes off easy winner by giving him a load ofsponges and wool.

[56]Herod.i. 170. Cf.Plutarch:Cum Principibus Viris Philosopho esse disserendum, 779 A.

[57]RitterandPreller, p. 10. (QuotingSimplicius:Physica, 6, a.)

[58]Simplicius:Physica. (Quoted byRitterandPreller, p. 10.)

[59]“Heraclitus used to say that Homer, and Archilochus as well, ought to be expelled from the Contests and cudgelled.”—D. L., ix. 1.

[60]SeePlutarch:Adversus Coloten, 118 C; andStobæus:Anthologion, v. 119, and iii. 84. (Vol. i. pp. 94 and 104.—TauchnitzEdition.)

[61]Plutarch:De Exilio, 604 A.

[62]Diogenes Laertius, ii. 6.

[63]Alex. Aphrod:De Fato, ii., quoted byRitterandPreller, p. 28. Cf.Pseudo-Plutarch:De Placitis Philosophorum, 885 C, D.

[64]Aristotle:Metaphysics, i. 3.

[65]RitterandPreller, p. 52.—Cf.Ueberwegon Leucippus and Democritus, “The ethical end of man is happiness, which is attained through justice and culture.”

[66]Magna Moralia, i. 1, and i. 34. Cf.Aristotle:Eth. Nich., v. 5.—“The Pythagoreans defined the just to be simply retaliation—and Rhadamanthus (in Æschylus) appears to assert that justice is this: ‘that the punishment will be equitable when a man suffers the same thing as he has done.’” (Thomas Taylor’s translation ofThe Works of Aristotle.)

[67]Ueberweg, p. 47. See also citations in last note.

[68]Howfruitful, the whole Attic Tragedy demonstrates.

[69]RitterandPreller, p. 79 (fromClemens Alexandrinus).

[70]Cf.Marlowe’sDr. Faustus:—“Why wert thou not a creature wanting soul?Or why is this immortal that thou hast?Ah, Pythagoras’ metempsychosis, were that trueThis soul should fly from me, and I be changedUnto some brutish beast! All beasts are happy,For when they die,Their souls are soon dissolved in elements;But mine must live still to be plagued in hell.”

[70]Cf.Marlowe’sDr. Faustus:—

“Why wert thou not a creature wanting soul?Or why is this immortal that thou hast?Ah, Pythagoras’ metempsychosis, were that trueThis soul should fly from me, and I be changedUnto some brutish beast! All beasts are happy,For when they die,Their souls are soon dissolved in elements;But mine must live still to be plagued in hell.”

“Why wert thou not a creature wanting soul?

Or why is this immortal that thou hast?

Ah, Pythagoras’ metempsychosis, were that true

This soul should fly from me, and I be changed

Unto some brutish beast! All beasts are happy,

For when they die,

Their souls are soon dissolved in elements;

But mine must live still to be plagued in hell.”

[71]Martha:L’Examen de Conscience chez les Anciens(“études morales sur l’Antiquité”).—“Ce poème, attribué par les uns à Pythagore lui-même, par d’autres à Lysis, son disciple, par d’autres encore ou à Philolaüs ou à Empédocle, ne remonte pas sans doute à une si haute antiquité, mais il est certainement antérieur au christianisme, puisque des écrivains qui ont vécu avant notre ère, entre autres le Stoïcien Chrysippe, y ont fait quelquefois allusion ... Hieroclès dit formellement que lesVers d’orne sont pas l’œuvre d’un homme, mais celle de tout le sacré collège pythagoricien.”—The author of the verses is, doubtless, unknown, but their general attribution in antiquity to a Pythagorean source is in harmony with the universal recognition that they cohere with the ethical doctrine of the school. M. Martha subjects ancient philosophers and critics to a severe reprehension on the ground that they saw in these verses a mere inculcation of the practice of the memory—“Un certain nombre d’anciens sont tombés dans la plus étrange méprise. Ils ont cru qu’il s’agissait ici d’un exercice de mémoire.” But, giving all the force which M. Martha assigns to the passages he quotes in support of this view, we must not leave out of consideration the important part which a good memory was believed to subserve in practical ethics. See the pseudo-Plutarchic tractDe Educatione Liberorum, 9 F. Cf.Epictetus, lib. iii. cap x.Seneca(De Ira, 3, cap. 36) learned the practice inculcated by the golden verses from Sextus, who was claimed as a Pythagorean (RitterandPreller, 437).

Seneca(De Ira, 3, cap. 36) learned the practice inculcated by the golden verses from Sextus, who was claimed as a Pythagorean (RitterandPreller, 437).

[72]Plato:Republic, 600 B.

[73]Plutarch:Adversus Coloten, 1126; cf.D. L., ix. 23. See alsoPlato’sParmenides, and cf.Ueberwegon Parmenides.

[74]Leslie Stephen:The Science of Ethics(concluding sentence).

[75]For a brief expression of this identity, seeDion. Ch.De Exilio, xiii. p. 249.—“To seek and strive earnestly after Virtue—that is Philosophy.” Cf.Seneca:Epist., i. 37;et passim.

[76]SeeMartha:La prédication morale populaire(“Les moralistes sous l’empire romain,” pp. 240, 241).—“A cette époque la philosophie était une espèce de religion qui imposait à ses adeptes au moins l’extérieur de la vertu. Les sophistes se reconnaissent à leur mœurs licencieuses et à leurs manières arrogantes, les philosophes à la dignité de leur conduite et de leur maintien. On entrait dans la philosophie par une sorte de conversion édifiante: on ne pouvait en sortir que par une apostasie scandaleuse.” See the passages referred to byM. Martha, and, in addition,Dion’saccount of his “conversion” inOratioxiii. (De Exilio), and his comparisons between the sophist and the peacock, and the philosopher and the owl, inOratioxii. (De Dei Cognitione).

[77]Cicero:Acad. Poster., i. 4. (Reid’s translation.) Cf.RitterandPreller: sec. 204, note “a” onXenophon:Memorabilia, iv. 3. 1, and i. 4. 4.—“Socratem quodam modo naturæ studuisse vel ex nostro loco luculenter cernitur, ubi deprehendis eum teleologicam quæ dicitur viam ingressum, quæ ratio transiit ad Socraticos. Inde corrigendus CiceroAcad. Poster., i. 4.” Cf.Benwell’sPreface to his edition of theMemorabilia: “Quam graviter de Dei providentia et de admirabili corporis humani structura Socratem disserentem inducit!”—It must be conceded, however, that in Xenophon’s account Socrates is described as discussing natural phenomena still with a view to ethical edification. (Memorab., iv. 3.)

[78]Plato:Timæus, 59 C.

[79]W. S. Landor:Diogenes and Plato (Imaginary Conversations).—“Draw thy robe around thee; let the folds fall gracefully, and look majestic. That sentence is an admirable one, but not for me. I want sense, not stars.” Cf. Dr.Martineau:Plato (Types of Ethical Theory).—“The perfection which consists in contemplation of the absolute, or the attempt to copy it, may be the consummation of Reason, but not of character.”

[80]Cf.Landor:loc. cit.—“The bird of wisdom flies low, and seeks her food under hedges; the eagle himself would be starved if he always soared aloft and against the sun. The sweetest fruit grows near the ground, and the plants that bear it require ventilation and lopping.”

[81]Archer-Hind:The Phædo of Plato, Appendix I.

[82]Cf.Martineau: “Types of Ethical Theory”:Plato, p. 97, vol. i.—“For the soul in its own essence, and for great and good souls among mankind, Plato certainly had the deepest reverence; but he had no share in the religious sentiment of democracy which dignifies manas man, and regards with indifference the highest personal qualities in comparison with the essential attributes of common humanity.—He rated so high the difficulty of attaining genuine insight and goodness that he thought it much if they could be realized even in a few; and had no hope that the mass of men, overborne by the pressure of material necessity and unchastened desires, could be brought, under the actual conditions of this world, to more than the mere beginnings of wisdom.”

[83]Aristotle:Ethics, i. cap. 3. Cf. i. 6 and i. 8.

[84]Ethics, i. 3, 4, where also the verse from theWorks and Daysis quoted; cf. sec. 6.

[85]Ethics, i. 8.

[86]Grant’sAristotle, vol. i. p. 155.

[87]SeeRitterandPreller, sec. 392, for the authorities on this head.

[88]A Voice from the Nile, byJames Thomson. An Epicurean would have heartily responded to the verse following those quoted in the text from this fine poem—“And therefore Gods and Demons, Heaven and Hell.”

[89]Diogenes Laertius(RitterandPreller, 380. Cf.Cic.:De Finibus, i. 7).

[90]Cf.Pseudo-Plutarch:De Placitis Philosophorum. 877 D.

[91]Diogenes Laertius, x. 142. Cf.Cic.:De Finibus, i. 19.—“Denique etiammorati melius erimusquum didicerimusquid natura desideret.” (RitterandPreller, p. 343).

[92]Cf. the statement ofSeneca(Epist., 89, 9).—“Epicurei duas partes philosophiæ putaverunt esse, naturalem atque moralem: rationalem removerunt.”

[93]“Through the great weight which, both in theory and in their actual life with each other, was laid by the Epicureans on Friendship (a social development which only became possible after the dissolution of the bond which had so closely united each individual citizen to the Civil Community), Epicureanism aided in softening down the asperity and exclusiveness of ancient manners, and in cultivating the social virtues of companionableness, compatibility, friendliness, gentleness, beneficence, and gratitude, and so performed a work whose merit we should be careful not to under-estimate.”—Ueberweg:Grundriss. Cf.Horace:Sat., I. iv. 135—“dulcis amicis.” The other elements of the Epicurean ideal are also realized in Horace’s character, as his writings have left it to us.

[94]This breaking away of the barriers between the teaching of various schools was, doubtless, largely due to the increasing importance which they universally attached to Ethics. The fact, at any rate, is indisputable. Every history of Greek philosophy, from the Third Century onward, is freely scattered with such phrases as these from Ueberweg:—“The new Academy returned to Dogmatism. It commenced with Philo of Larissa, founder of the Fourth School.... His pupil, Antiochus of Ascalon, founded a Fifth School, by combining the doctrines of Plato with certain Aristotelian, and more particularly with certain Stoic theses, thus preparing the way for the transition to Neo-Platonism.”—“In many of the Peripatetics of this late period we find an approximation to Stoicism.”

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