55 chapters
23 hour read
Selected Chapters
55 chapters
GEORGE GROTE
GEORGE GROTE
The right of Translation is reserved. ADVERTISEMENT. In the present Edition, with a view to the distribution into four volumes, there is a slight transposition of the author’s arrangement. His concluding chapters (XXXVIII., XXXIX.), entitled “Other Companions of Sokrates,” and “Xenophon,” are placed in the First Volume, as chapters III. and IV. By this means each volume is made up of nearly related subjects, so as to possess a certain amount of unity. Volume First contains the following subjects
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PREFACE.
PREFACE.
The present work is intended as a sequel and supplement to my History of Greece. It describes a portion of Hellenic philosophy: it dwells upon eminent individuals, enquiring, theorising, reasoning, confuting, &c., as contrasted with those collective political and social manifestations which form the matter of history, and which the modern writer gathers from Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon. Both Sokrates and Plato, indeed, are interesting characters in history as well as in philosoph
31 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
SPECULATIVE PHILOSOPHY IN GREECE, BEFORE AND IN THE TIME OF SOKRATES.
SPECULATIVE PHILOSOPHY IN GREECE, BEFORE AND IN THE TIME OF SOKRATES.
Change in the political condition of Greece during the life of Plato. The life of Plato extends from 427-347 B.C. He was born in the fourth year of the Peloponnesian war, and he died at the age of 80, about the time when Olynthus was taken by the Macedonian Philip. The last years of his life thus witnessed a melancholy breach in the integrity of the Hellenic world, and even exhibited data from which a far-sighted Hellenic politician might have anticipated something like the coming subjugation, r
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II. GENERAL REMARKS ON THE EARLIER PHILOSOPHERS — GROWTH OF DIALECTIC — ZENO AND GORGIAS.
CHAPTER II. GENERAL REMARKS ON THE EARLIER PHILOSOPHERS — GROWTH OF DIALECTIC — ZENO AND GORGIAS.
Variety of sects and theories — multiplicity of individual authorities is the characteristic of Greek philosophy. The first feeling of any reader accustomed to the astronomy and physics of the present century, on considering the various theories noticed in the preceding chapter, is a sort of astonishment that such theories should have been ever propounded or accepted as true. Yet there can be no doubt that they represent the best thoughts of sincere, contemplative, and ingenious men, furnished w
41 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER III.*
CHAPTER III.*
* As stated in the prefatory note to this edition, the present and the following chapter have been, for convenience, transferred from the place given to them by the author, to their present position....
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
OTHER COMPANIONS OF SOKRATES.
OTHER COMPANIONS OF SOKRATES.
Having dwelt at some length on the life and compositions of Plato, I now proceed to place in comparison with him some other members of the Sokratic philosophical family: less eminent, indeed, than the illustrious author of the Republic, yet still men of marked character, ability, and influence. 1 Respecting one of the brethren, Xenophon, who stands next to Plato in celebrity, I shall say a few words separately in my next and concluding chapter. 1 Dionysius of Halikarnassus contrasts Plato with τ
18 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IV. XENOPHON.
CHAPTER IV. XENOPHON.
Xenophon — his character — essentially a man of action and not a theorist — the Sokratic element in him an accessory. There remains one other companion of Sokrates, for whom a dignified place must be reserved in this volume — Xenophon the son of Gryllus. It is to him that we owe, in great part, such knowledge as we possess of the real Sokrates. For the Sokratic conversations related by Xenophon, though doubtless dressed up and expanded by him, appear to me reports in the main of what Sokrates ac
57 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V. LIFE OF PLATO.
CHAPTER V. LIFE OF PLATO.
Scanty information about Plato’s life. Of Plato’s biography we can furnish nothing better than a faint outline. We are not fortunate enough to possess the work on Plato’s life, 1 composed by his companion and disciple Xenokrates, like the life of Plotinus by Porphyry, or that of Proklus by Marinus. Though Plato lived eighty years, enjoying extensive celebrity — and though Diogenes Laertius employed peculiar care in collecting information about him — yet the number of facts recounted is very smal
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI. PLATONIC CANON, AS RECOGNISED BY THRASYLLUS.
CHAPTER VI. PLATONIC CANON, AS RECOGNISED BY THRASYLLUS.
As we know little about Plato except from his works, the first question to be decided is, Which are his real works? Where are we to find a trustworthy Platonic Canon? Platonic Canon — Ancient and modern discussions. Down to the close of the last century this question was not much raised or discussed. The catalogue recognised by the rhetor Thrasyllus (contemporary with the Emperor Tiberius) was generally accepted as including none but genuine works of Plato; and was followed as such by editors an
46 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VII. PLATONIC CANON AS APPRECIATED AND MODIFIED BY MODERN CRITICS.
CHAPTER VII. PLATONIC CANON AS APPRECIATED AND MODIFIED BY MODERN CRITICS.
The Canon of Thrasyllus continued to be generally acknowledged, by the Neo-Platonists, as well as by Ficinus and the succeeding critics after the revival of learning. The Platonic Canon established by Thrasyllus maintained its authority until the close of the last century, in regard to the distinction between what was genuine and spurious. The distribution indeed did not continue to be approved: the Tetralogies were neglected, and the order of the dialogues varied: moreover, doubts were intimate
58 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VIII. PLATONIC COMPOSITIONS GENERALLY.
CHAPTER VIII. PLATONIC COMPOSITIONS GENERALLY.
Variety and abundance visible in Plato’s writings. On looking through the collection of works enumerated in the Thrasyllean Canon, the first impression made upon us respecting the author is, that which is expressed in the epithets applied to him by Cicero — “varius et multiplex et copiosus”. Such epithets bring before us the variety in Plato’s points of view and methods of handling — the multiplicity of the topics discussed — the abundance of the premisses and illustrations suggested: 1 comparis
36 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IX. APOLOGY OF SOKRATES.
CHAPTER IX. APOLOGY OF SOKRATES.
Adopting the order of precedence above described, for the review of the Platonic compositions, and taking the point of departure from Sokrates or the Sokratic point of view, I begin with the memorable composition called the Apology. The Apology is the real defence delivered by Sokrates before the Dikasts, reported by Plato, without intentional transformation. I agree with Schleiermacher 1 — with the more recent investigations of Ueberweg — and with what (until recent times) seems to have been th
53 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER X. KRITON.
CHAPTER X. KRITON.
General purpose of the Kriton. The dialogue called Kriton is, in one point of view, a second part or sequel — in another point of view, an antithesis or corrective — of the Platonic Apology. For that reason, I notice it immediately after the Apology: though I do not venture to affirm confidently that it was composed immediately after: it may possibly have been later, as I believe the Phædon also to have been later. 1 1 Steinhart affirms with confidence that the Kriton was composed immediately af
41 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XI. EUTHYPHRON.
CHAPTER XI. EUTHYPHRON.
The dialogue called Euthyphron, over and above its contribution to the ethical enquiries of Plato, has a certain bearing on the character and exculpation of Sokrates. It will therefore come conveniently in immediate sequel to the Apology and the Kriton. Situation supposed in the dialogue — interlocutors. The indictment by Melêtus against Sokrates is assumed to have been formally entered in the office of the King Archon. Sokrates has come to plead to it. In the portico before that office, he meet
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1888.
LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1888.
The right of Translation is reserved....
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
ALKIBIADES I. — ON THE NATURE OF MAN.
ALKIBIADES I. — ON THE NATURE OF MAN.
Situation supposed in the dialogue. Persons — Sokrates and Alkibiades. This dialogue is carried on between Sokrates and Alkibiades. It introduces Alkibiades as about twenty years of age, having just passed through the period of youth, and about to enter on the privileges and duties of a citizen. The real dispositions and circumstances of the historical Alkibiades (magnificent personal beauty, stature, and strength, high family and connections, great wealth already possessed, since his father had
26 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
ALKIBIADES II.
ALKIBIADES II.
Second Alkibiades — situation supposed. The other Platonic dialogue, termed the Second Alkibiades, introduces Alkibiades as about to offer prayer and sacrifice to the Gods. Danger of mistake in praying to the Gods for gifts which may prove mischievous. Most men are unwise. Unwise is the generic word: madmen, a particular variety under it. Sokr. — You seem absorbed in thought, Alkibiades, and not unreasonably. In supplicating the Gods, caution is required not to pray for gifts which are really mi
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIII. HIPPIAS MAJOR — HIPPIAS MINOR.
CHAPTER XIII. HIPPIAS MAJOR — HIPPIAS MINOR.
Hippias Major — situation supposed — character of the dialogue. Sarcasm and mockery against Hippias. Both these two dialogues are carried on between Sokrates and the Eleian Sophist Hippias. The general conception of Hippias — described as accomplished, eloquent, and successful, yet made to say vain and silly things — is the same in both dialogues: in both also the polemics of Sokrates against him are conducted in a like spirit, of affected deference mingled with insulting sarcasm. Indeed the fig
24 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIV. HIPPARCHUS — MINOS.
CHAPTER XIV. HIPPARCHUS — MINOS.
In these two dialogues, Plato sets before us two farther specimens of that error and confusion which beset the enquirer during his search after “reasoned truth”. Sokrates forces upon the attention of a companion two of the most familiar words of the market-place, to see whether a clear explanation of their meaning can be obtained. Hipparchus — Question — What is the definition of Lover of Gain? He is one who thinks it right to gain from things worth nothing. Sokrates cross-examines upon this exp
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
In continuing to recognise Hipparchus and Minos as Platonic works, contrary to the opinion of many modern critics, I have to remind the reader, not only that both are included in the Canon of Thrasyllus, but that the Minos was expressly acknowledged by Aristophanes of Byzantium, and included by him among the Trilogies: showing that it existed then (220 B.C. ) in the Alexandrine Museum as a Platonic work. The similarity between the Hipparchus and Minos is recognised by all the Platonic critics, m
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XV. THEAGES.
CHAPTER XV. THEAGES.
Theagês — has been declared spurious by some modern critics — grounds for such opinion not sufficient. This is among the dialogues declared by Schleiermacher, Ast, Stallbaum, and various other modern critics, to be spurious and unworthy of Plato: the production of one who was not merely an imitator, but a bad and silly imitator. 1 Socher on the other hand defends the dialogue against them, reckoning it as a juvenile production of Plato. 2 The arguments which are adduced to prove its spuriousness
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Τὸ δαιμόνιον σημεῖον.
Τὸ δαιμόνιον σημεῖον.
Here is one of the points most insisted on by Schleiermacher and Stallbaum, as proving that the Theagês is not the work of Plato. These critics affirm (to use the language of Stallbaum, Proleg. p. 220) “Quam Plato alias de Socratis dæmonio prodidit sententiam, ea longissimè recedit ab illâ ratione, quæ in hoc sermone exposita est”. He says that the representation of the Dæmon of Sokrates, given in the Theagês, has been copied from a passage in the Theætêtus, by an imitator who has not understood
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVI. ERASTÆ OR ANTERASTÆ — RIVALES.
CHAPTER XVI. ERASTÆ OR ANTERASTÆ — RIVALES.
The main subject of this short dialogue is — What is philosophy? ἡ φιλοσοφία — τὸ φιλοσοφεῖν. How are we to explain or define it? What is its province and purport? Erastæ — subject and persons of the dialogue — dramatic introduction — interesting youths in the palæstra. Instead of the simple, naked, self-introducing, conversation, which we read in the Menon, Hipparchus, Minos, &c. Sokrates recounts a scene and colloquy, which occurred when he went into the house of Dionysius the grammati
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
This is one of the dialogues declared to be spurious by Schleiermacher, Ast, Socher, and Stallbaum, all of them critics of the present century. In my judgment, their grounds for such declaration are altogether inconclusive. They think the dialogue an inferior composition, unworthy of Plato; and they accordingly find reasons, more or less ingenious, for relieving Plato from the discredit of it. I do not think so meanly of the dialogue as they do; but even if I did, I should not pronounce it to be
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVII. ION.
CHAPTER XVII. ION.
Ion. Persons of the dialogue. Difference of opinion among modern critics as to its genuineness. The dialogue called Ion is carried on between Sokrates and the Ephesian rhapsode Ion. It is among those disallowed by Ast, first faintly defended, afterwards disallowed, by Schleiermacher, 1 and treated contemptuously by both. Subsequent critics, Hermann, 2 Stallbaum, Steinhart, consider it as genuine, yet as an inferior production, of little worth, and belonging to Plato’s earliest years. 1 Schleierm
28 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVIII. LACHES.
CHAPTER XVIII. LACHES.
The main substance of this dialogue consists of a discussion, carried on by Sokrates with Nikias and Lachês, respecting Courage. Each of the two latter proposes an explanation of Courage: Sokratês criticises both of them, and reduces each to a confessed contradiction. Lachês. Subject and persons of the dialogue, Whether it is useful that two young men should receive lessons from a master of arms. Nikias and Lachês differ in opinion. The discussion is invited, or at least dramatically introduced,
25 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
Ast is the only critic who declares the Lachês not to be Plato’s work (Platon’s Leben und Schr. pp. 451-456). He indeed even finds it difficult to imagine how Schleiermacher can accept it as genuine (p. 454). He justifies this opinion by numerous reasons — pointing out what he thinks glaring defects, absurdity, and bad taste, both in the ratiocination and in the dramatic handling, also dicta alleged to be un-Platonic . Compare Schleiermacher’s Einleitung zum Lachês, p. 324 seq. I do not concur w
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIX. CHARMIDES.
CHAPTER XIX. CHARMIDES.
As in Lachês, we have pursued an enquiry into the nature of Courage — so in Charmidês, we find an examination of Temperance, Sobriety, Moderation. 1 Both dialogues conclude without providing any tenable explanation. In both there is an abundant introduction — in Charmidês, there is even the bustle of a crowded palæstra, with much dramatic incident — preluding to the substantive discussion. I omit the notice of this dramatic incident, though it is highly interesting to read. 1 I translate σωφροσύ
39 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
The dialogue Charmidês is declared to be spurious, not only by Ast, but also by Socher (Ast, Platon’s Leb. pp. 419-428; Socher, Ueber Platon, pp. 130-137). Steinhart maintains the genuineness of the dialogue against them; declaring (as in regard to the Lachês) that he can hardly conceive how critics can mistake the truly Platonic character of it, though here too, as in the Lachês, he detects “adolescentiæ vestigia” (Steinhart, Einleit. zum Charmidês, pp. 290-293). Schleiermacher considers Charmi
52 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XX. LYSIS.
CHAPTER XX. LYSIS.
Analogy between Lysis and Charmidês. Richness of dramatic incident in both. Youthful beauty. The Lysis, as well as the Charmidês, is a dialogue recounted by Sokrates himself, describing both incidents and a conversation in a crowded Palæstra; wherein not merely bodily exercises were habitually practised, but debate was carried on and intellectual instruction given by a Sophist named Mikkus, companion and admirer of Sokrates. There is a lively dramatic commencement, introducing Sokrates into the
25 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXI. EUTHYDEMUS.
CHAPTER XXI. EUTHYDEMUS.
Dramatic and comic exuberance of the Euthydêmus. Judgments of various critics. Dramatic vivacity, and comic force, holding up various persons to ridicule or contempt, are attributes which Plato manifests often and abundantly. But the dialogue in which these qualities reach their maximum, is, the Euthydêmus. Some portions of it approach to the Nubes of Aristophanes: so that Schleiermacher, Stallbaum, and other admiring critics have some difficulty in explaining, to their own satisfaction, 1 how P
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXII. MENON.
CHAPTER XXII. MENON.
Persons of the Dialogue. This dialogue is carried on between Sokrates and Menon, a man of noble family, wealth, and political influence, in the Thessalian city of Larissa. He is supposed to have previously frequented, in his native city, the lectures and society of the rhetor Gorgias. 1 The name and general features of Menon are probably borrowed from the Thessalian military officer, who commanded a division of the Ten Thousand Greeks, and whose character Xenophon depicts in the Anabasis: but th
31 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIII. PROTAGORAS.
CHAPTER XXIII. PROTAGORAS.
Scenic arrangement and personages of the dialogue. The dialogue called Protagoras presents a larger assemblage of varied and celebrated characters, with more of dramatic winding, and more frequent breaks and resumptions in the conversation, than any dialogue of Plato — not excepting even Symposion and Republic. It exhibits Sokrates in controversy with the celebrated Sophist Protagoras, in the presence of a distinguished society, most of whom take occasional part in the dialogue. This controversy
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIV. GORGIAS.
CHAPTER XXIV. GORGIAS.
Persons who debate in the Gorgias. Celebrity of the historical Gorgias. Aristotle, in one of his lost dialogues, made honourable mention of a Corinthian cultivator, who, on reading the Platonic Gorgias, was smitten with such vehement admiration, that he abandoned his fields and his vines, came to Athens forthwith, and committed himself to the tuition of Plato. 1 How much of reality there may be in this anecdote, we cannot say: but the Gorgias itself is well calculated to justify such warm admira
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1888.
LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1888.
The right of Translation is reserved....
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXVI. PHÆDRUS — SYMPOSION.
CHAPTER XXVI. PHÆDRUS — SYMPOSION.
These two are the two erotic dialogues of Plato. Phædrus is the originator of both. I put together these two dialogues, as distinguished by a marked peculiarity. They are the two erotic dialogues of Plato. They have one great and interesting subject common to both: though in the Phædrus, this subject is blended with, and made contributory to, another. They agree also in the circumstance, that Phædrus is, in both, the person who originates the conversation. But they differ materially in the manne
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXVII. PARMENIDES.
CHAPTER XXVII. PARMENIDES.
Character of dialogues immediately preceding — much transcendental assertion. Opposite character of the Parmenides. In the dialogues immediately preceding — Phædon, Phædrus, Symposion — we have seen Sokrates manifesting his usual dialectic, which never fails him: but we have also seen him indulging in a very unusual vein of positive affirmation and declaration. He has unfolded many novelties about the states of pre-existence and post-existence: he has familiarised us with Ideas, Forms, Essences,
30 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXVIII. THEÆTETUS.
CHAPTER XXVIII. THEÆTETUS.
Subjects and personages in the Theætêtus. In this dialogue, as in the Parmenides immediately preceding, Plato dwells upon the intellectual operations of mind: introducing the ethical and emotional only in a partial and subordinate way. The main question canvassed is, What is Knowledge — Cognition — Science? After a long debate, turning the question over in many distinct points of view, and examining three or four different answers to the question — all these answers are successively rejected, an
34 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXIX. SOPHISTES — POLITIKUS.
CHAPTER XXIX. SOPHISTES — POLITIKUS.
Persons and circumstances of the two dialogues. These two dialogues are both of them announced by Plato as forming sequel to the Theætêtus. The beginning of the Sophistês fits on to the end of the Theætêtus: and the Politikus is even presented as a second part or continuation of the Sophistês. 1 In all the three, the same interlocutors are partially maintained. Thus Sokrates, Theodôrus, and Theætêtus are present in all three: and Theætêtus makes the responses, not only in the dialogue which bear
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXX. POLITIKUS.
CHAPTER XXX. POLITIKUS.
The Politikus by itself, apart from the Sophistês. I have examined in the preceding sections both that which the Sophistês and Politikus present in common — ( viz. a lesson, as well as a partial theory, of the logical processes called Definition and Division) — and that which Sophistês presents apart from the Politikus. I now advert to two matters which we find in the Politikus, but not in the Sophistês. Both of them will be found to illustrate the Platonic mode of philosophising. Views of Plato
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXI. KRATYLUS.
CHAPTER XXXI. KRATYLUS.
The dialogue entitled Kratylus presents numerous difficulties to the commentators: who differ greatly in their manner of explaining, First, What is its main or leading purpose? Next, How much of it is intended as serious reasoning, how much as mere caricature or parody, for the purpose of exposing and reducing to absurdity the doctrines of opponents? Lastly, who, if any, are the opponents thus intended to be ridiculed? Persons and subjects of the dialogue Kratylus — Sokrates has no formed opinio
2 hour read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXII PHILEBUS.
CHAPTER XXXII PHILEBUS.
The Philêbus, which we are now about to examine, is not merely a Dialogue of Search, but a Dialogue of Exposition, accompanied with more or less of search made subservient to the exposition. It represents Sokrates from the first as advancing an affirmative opinion — maintaining it against Philêbus and Protarchus — and closing with a result assumed to be positively established. 1 1 Schleiermacher says, about the Philêbus (Einleit. p. 136) — “Das Ganze liegt fertig in dem Haupte des Sokrates, und
53 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXIII. MENEXENUS.
CHAPTER XXXIII. MENEXENUS.
Persons and situation of the dialogue. In this dialogue the only personages are, Sokrates as an elderly man, and Menexenus, a young Athenian of noble family, whom we have already seen as the intimate friend of Lysis, in the dialogue known under the name of Lysis. Funeral harangue at Athens — Choice of a public orator — Sokrates declares the task of the public orator to be easy — Comic exaggeration of the effects of the harangue. Sokr. — What have you been doing at the Senate-house, Menexenus? Yo
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1888.
LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1888.
The right of Translation is reserved....
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXV. PLATONIC REPUBLIC — ABSTRACT.
CHAPTER XXXV. PLATONIC REPUBLIC — ABSTRACT.
The Republic is the longest of all the Platonic dialogues, except the dialogue De Legibus. It consists of ten books, each of them as long as any one of the dialogues which we have passed in review. Partly from its length — partly from its lofty pretensions as the great constructive work of Plato — I shall give little more than an abstract of it in the present chapter, and shall reserve remark and comment for the succeeding. Declared theme of the Republic — Expansion and multiplication of the top
31 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXVI. REPUBLIC — REMARKS ON ITS MAIN THESIS.
CHAPTER XXXVI. REPUBLIC — REMARKS ON ITS MAIN THESIS.
Summary of the preceding chapter. The preceding Chapter has described, in concise abstract, that splendid monument of Plato’s genius, which passes under the name of the Πολιτεία or Republic. It is undoubtedly the grandest of all his compositions; including in itself all his different points of excellence. In the first Book, we have a subtle specimen of negative Dialectic, — of the Sokratic cross-examination or Elenchus. In the second Book, we find two examples of continuous or Ciceronian pleadin
51 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXVII. REPUBLIC — REMARKS ON THE PLATONIC COMMONWEALTH.
CHAPTER XXXVII. REPUBLIC — REMARKS ON THE PLATONIC COMMONWEALTH.
Double purpose of the Platonic Republic — ethical and political. In my last Chapter, I discussed the manner in which Plato had endeavoured to solve the ethical problem urged upon him by Glaukon and Adeimantus. But this is not the entire purpose of the Republic. Plato, drawing the closest parallel between the Commonwealth and the individual, seeks solution of the problem first in the former; because it is there (he says) written in larger and clearer letters. He sketches the picture of a perfect
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXVIII. TIMÆUS AND KRITIAS.
CHAPTER XXXVIII. TIMÆUS AND KRITIAS.
Persons and scheme of the Timæus and Kritias. Though the Republic of Plato appears as a substantive composition, not including in itself any promise of an intended sequel — yet the Timæus and Kritias are introduced by Plato as constituting a sequel to the Republic. Timæus the Pythagorean philosopher of Lokri, the Athenian Kritias, and Hermokrates, are now introduced, as having been the listeners while Sokrates was recounting his long conversation of ten Books, first with Thrasymachus, next with
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
KRITIAS.
KRITIAS.
Kritias: a fragment. The dialogue Kritias exists only as a fragment, breaking off abruptly in the middle of a sentence. The ancient Platonists found it in the same condition, and it probably was never finished. We know, however, the general scheme and purpose for which it was destined. Proœmium to Timæus. Intended Tetralogy for the Republic. The Kritias was third piece in that Tetralogy. The proœmium to the Timæus introduces us to three persons 146 : Kritias and Hermokrates, along with Sokrates.
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXXIX. LEGES AND EPINOMIS.
CHAPTER XXXIX. LEGES AND EPINOMIS.
Leges, the longest of Plato’s works — Persons of the dialogue. The Dialogue, entitled Leges — De Legibus — The Laws — distributed into twelve books, besides its Appendix the Epinomis, and longer than any other of the Platonic compositions — is presented to us as held in Krete during a walk from the town of Knossus to the temple of Zeus under Mount Ida — between three elderly persons: Megillus, a Spartan — Kleinias, a Kretan of Knossus — and an Athenian who bears no name, but serves as the princi
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
EPINOMIS.
EPINOMIS.
Leges close, without describing the education proper for the Nocturnal Counsellors. Epinomis — supplying this defect. Here closes the dialogue called Leges: somewhat prematurely, since the peculiar training indispensable for these Nocturnal Counsellors has not yet been declared. The short dialogue called Epinomis supplies this defect. It purports to be a second day’s conversation between the same trio. The Athenian declares his plan of education — Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy. The Athenian —
24 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
Since the commencement of the present century, with its increased critical study of Plato, different and opposite opinions have been maintained by various authors respecting the genuineness or spuriousness of the Treatise De Legibus. Schleiermacher (Platons Werke, I. i. p. 51) admitted it as a genuine work of Plato, but ranked it among the Nebenwerke, or outlying dialogues: i.e. , as a work that did not form an item or stepping-stone in the main Platonic philosophical series (which Schleiermache
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter