dragged along against its will by the Demon allotted for its guide. And when it arrives at that rendezvous of all souls, if it has been guilty of any impurity, or polluted with murder, or has committed any of those atrocious crimes that desperate and lost souls are commonly guilty of, the other souls abhor it, and avoid its company; it finds neither companion nor guide, but wanders in a fearful solitude and horrible desert, till after a certain time necessity drags it into the mansions it deserves; whereas the temperate and pure soul has the gods themselves for its guides and conductors, and goes to cohabit with them in the mansions of pleasure prepared for it.” From "Phædo," Morley's text. THA PLATONIC ANALECTS WISDOM HAT alone-I mean wisdom - is the true and unalloyed coin, for which we ought to exchange all these things; for this, and with this, everything is in reality bought and sold — fortitude, temperance and justice; and, in a word, true virtue subsists with wisdom. From "Phædo.» THIS THE FALSEHOODS OF SENSE HIS life is a road that's apt to mislead us and our reason in our inquiries, because, while we have a body, and while our soul is drowned in so much corruption, we shall never attain the object of our wishes, i. e., truth. The body throws a thousand obstacles and crosses in our way, by demanding necessary food; and then the diseases that ensue do quite disorder our inquiry. Besides, it fills us with love, desires, fears, and a thousand foolish imaginations, insomuch that there is nothing truer than the common saying, That the body will never conduct us to wisdom." What is it that gives rise to wars, and occasions seditions and dueling? Is it not the body and its desires? In effect, all wars take rise from the desire of riches, which we are forced to heap up for the sake of our body, in order to supply its wants, and serve it like slaves. 'Tis this that cramps our application to philosophy. And the greatest of all our evils is that when it has given us some respite, and we are set upon meditation, it steals in and interrupts our meditation all of a sudden. It cumbers, troubles, and surprises us in such a manner that it hinders us from descrying the truth. Now we have made it out, that in order to trace the purity and truth of anything, we should lay aside the body, and only employ the soul to examine the objects we pursue. So that we can never arrive at the wisdom we court till after death. Reason is on our side. For if it is impossible to know anything purely while we are in the body, one of these two things must be true: either the truth is never known, or it is known after death; because at that time the soul will be left to itself, and freed of its burden, and not before. And while we are in this life, we can only approach to the truth in proportion to our removing from the body, and renouncing all correspondence with it that is not of mere necessity, and keeping ourselves clear from the contagion of its natural corruption, and all its filth, till God himseff comes to deliver us. Then, indeed, being freed from all bodily folly, we shall converse, in all probability, with men that enjoy the same liberty, and shall know within ourselves the pure essence of things, which perhaps is nothing but the truth. But he who is not pure is not allowed to approach to "urity itself. From "Phædo.» HEAVENLY AND EARTHLY LOVE IMPLY to praise Love, O Phædrus, seems to me too bounded a scope for our discourse. If Love were one, it would be well. But since Love is not one, I will endeavor to distinguish which is the Love whom it becomes us to praise, and having thus discriminated one from the other, will attempt to render him who is the subject of our discourse the honor due to his divinity. We all know that Venus is never without Love; and if Venus were one, Love would be one; but since there are two Venuses, of necessity also must there be two Loves. For assuredly are there two Venuses: one, the elder, the daughter of Uranus, born without a mother, whom we call the Uranian; the other younger, the daughter of Jupiter and Dione, whom we call the Pandemian; - of necessity must there also be two Loves, the Uranian and Pandemian companions of these goddesses. It is becoming to praise all the gods, but the attributes which fall to the lot of each may be distinguished and selected. For any par ticular action whatever in itself is neither good nor evil; what we are now doing - drinking, singing, talking, none of these things are good in themselves, but the mode in which they are. done stamps them with its own nature; and that which is done. well is good, and that which is done ill is evil. Thus, not all love, nor every mode of love is beautiful, or worthy of commendation, but that alone which excites us to love worthily. From "The Banquet." Shelley's translation. MISANTHROPY ISANTHROPY arises from a man trusting another without hav Ming a sufficient knowledge of his character, and, thinking him to be truthful, sincere, and honorable, finds a little afterwards that he is wicked, faithless; and then he meets with another of the same character. When a man experiences this often, and, more particularly, from those whom he considered his most dear and best friends,-at last, having frequently made a slip, he hates the whole world, and thinks that there is nothing sound at all in any of them. From "Phædo.» I' THE EFFECT OF LOVE T IS love that causes peace among men, a calm on the sea, a lulling of the winds, sweet sleep on joyless beds. It is he who takes from us the feeling of enmity, and fills us with those of friendship; who establishes friendly meetings, being the leader in festivals, dances, and sacrifices, giving mildness and driving away harshness; the beneficent bestower of good-will, the nongiver of enmity; gracious to the good, looked up to by the wise, admired by the gods; envied by those who have no lot in life, possessed by those who have; the parent of luxury, of tenderness, of elegance, of grace, of desire, and regret; careful of the good, regardless of the bad; in labor, in fear, in wishes, and in speech, the pilot, the defender, the bystander, and best savior; of gods and men, taken altogether, the ornament; a leader the most beautiful and best, in whose train it becomes every man to follow, hymning well his praise, and bearing a part in that sweet song which he sings himself, when soothing the mind of every god and man From "The Banquet." W THE PHILOSOPHER HETHER a man dwelling in the city is nobly or ignobly born, whether some unfortunate event has taken place to one of his ancestors, man or woman, is equally unknown to him as the number of measures of water in the sea, as the proverb goes. And he is not aware of his own ignorance; nor does he keep aloof from such things from mere vanity, but, in reality, his body only dwells in the city and sojourns there, while his mind, regarding all such things as trivial, and of no real moment, despising them, is carried about everywhere, as Pindar says, measuring things under the earth and upon its surface, raising his eyes to the stars in heaven, and examining into the nature of everything in the whole universe, never stooping to anything near at hand. From "Theætetus.» [* EVIL T is not possible, Theodorus, to get rid of evil altogether; for there must always be something opposite to good; nor can it be placed among the gods, but must of necessity circulate round this mortal nature and world of ours. Wherefore we ought to fly hence as soon as possible to that upper region; but this flight is our resembling the Divinity as much as we are able, and this resemblance is that we should be just, and holy, and wise. From "Theaætetus.>> GOD AND MAN OD is in nowise in the least unjust, but is as just as possible; and there is no one more like to him than the man among us who has become as just as possible. It is on this that the real excellence of a man depends, and his nothingness and worthlessness From "Theætetus.» TELL HEAVEN'S PERFECT GIFTS ELL me, therefore, what benefits the gods derive from the gifts they receive from us; for the advantage derived from what they bestow is evident to every one; for there is no perfect gift which they do not bestow; but how are they bene fited by what they get from us? Have we so much advantage in this traffic, that we receive everything good from them, and they nothing from us? From "Euthyphron.» EXPERIENCE HERE many arts among men, the knowledge of which is Tacquired bit by bit by experience. For it is experience that causes our life to move forward by the skill we acquire, while want of experience subjects us to the effects of chance. From "Gorgias.» |