First, he tried to clear away the mass of unscientific and indefinite notions that had accumulated in the minds of men by their superficial examination of objects through the senses, and their blind trust of their own conclusions thereupon. No mean undertaking, when you think that there can hardly be said to have been such a thing as Science at all, and that the few scientific notions then extant were mostly altogether wrong.

In doing so, Socrates knew that he could not replace these false ideas by the true ones, and his inability to do so drew forth the cry of almost despair from his knowledge-loving nature, "I know Nothing." All he knew was that there was Truth, and that Truth was not yet found.

When by questioning and cross-questioning he had cleared away false ideas, he proposed Definition. Opinion was to be certified. The Logic which was foreshadowed by Zeno of Elea was made and established by Socrates.

How his reversive and destructive method was received, and what its effect was upon friends, enemies, and the indifferent, the remainder of his life will show.

In the world of Thought his mind rises, stern, gaunt, and immovable as the very Acropolis in the Athenian plain; and, like that rocky hill, it is the foundation for edifices of every sort: for all the Philosophies and Schools cannot but be erected upon the basis of the Science of Thought discovered by Socrates.

CHAPTER VII.

SOCRATES-continued.

THE life of Socrates may be divided into three parts. Firstly, we may consider him as soldier, serving his country; secondly, as philosopher and teacher only; thirdly, as civil officer. It was the daring and subversive manner in which he spoke out as officer of the State, as well as during his philosophical converse, that eventually produced what may be truly termed his martyrdom.

We learn most of his life from Plato, his pupil and devoted admirer, and from Xenophon, the noted warrior, historian, and writer. In Plato's Dialogues the author delights in attributing his own metaphysical speculations to Socrates, and it is only by comparison with the historical Socrates that we can judge how much was Socrates, how much Plato.

Socrates' soldier life may be said to have interrupted his philosophical career in Athens, which properly commenced when he was a man of middle age. Then he was to be seen daily wandering about the city conversing with any person, no matter of what station of life, who wished to talk to him. In the Palæstræ and Gymnasia the young men and boys left their games and exercises to crowd round him. In the groves of the Academy, or in the porches of the Senate-house, or any of the sacred Temples, he would meet politicians, philosophers, statesmen, and other civilians of culture.

But he instructed the unlearned as well. He strolled

in the Agora, or market-place, among the booths, where all commodities, from slaves and vases to flowers, honey, and vegetables, were exposed for sale, and conversed with the country-people, choosing rude and common similes to suit their powers of comprehension. Pack-asses, smiths, cobblers, and curriers were prominent figures in Socrates' conversations with his inferiors in education; nor did he fail to repeat himself when he wished to hammer an idea into a slow intellect.

Of listeners and " companions," as Socrates preferred to call those whom he taught, it might be said that "all were fish that came to his net." Careful though he was that his reputation as well as his life should be unblemished, he even admitted to his acquaintance the beautiful Aspasia, afterwards the wife of Pericles-whose reputation for womanly bashfulness scarcely equalled her renown as a charming as well as a highly gifted being—and Theodota, another like specimen of the fair sex. His reason for marrying the renowned shrew, Xantippe, who must have been his junior by several years, is somewhat of a mystery. Perhaps he felt that a loving and tender woman would prove a rival to his philosophical teaching, and that with such a wife he would find difficulty in remaining so many hours away from home, and therefore chose Xantippe for the very purpose of keeping him “up to the mark" of his weary daily pilgrimages. He himself declares that he chose her to cultivate his patience. If he could live with Xantippe, he could get along with any one.

We are not told whether the sharp-tongued lady was a beauty. Most likely not; for Socrates, evidently not wishing for home-attractions, would scarcely choose a handsome woman as house-mistress. He was a great admirer of beauty, as were all the Athenians. Their identification of personal beauty with their gods and goddesses doubtless strengthened what appears to have been a natural instinct with them, and a handsome youth

or man was generally adored. The Athenians were not good-looking as a rule, or "the fair," as Plato terms all beauties, irrespective of their sex, would perhaps have, individually, had fewer admirers.

As it was, the beauties of the time when Socrates was in his zenith are immortalised in the very Dialogues of Plato which are devoted to accounts of his conversations.

In the very first account Plato gives us of the philosopher after his bravery at the battle of Potidæa,—the hero of the scene is Charmides, a youth renowned for his personal beauty as well as for his mental gifts.

In this fascinating dialogue we are taken to the Palæstra of Taureas, a gymnasium without an outer vestibule. Here youths, bared to the waist, are wrestling or practising gymnastics, while men are pacing the spaces divided by the rows of pillars from the open court with the shining marble pavement, strolling up and down in twos or threes, or leaning up against the pillars watching the play.

...

The shrill young voices and the deep hum of the manly tones is waxing louder, when a sudden pause occurs. Some one has come in who was not expected. . . . The youths, flushed and panting, give over and stretch themselves, toss their moistened hair from their brows, or stare, with arms akimbo, at the bustling crowd surrounding a squat, ugly man, whose quaint visage they have seen represented on the stage when they went to the theatre to see a comedy of the satirist Aristophanes.

...

Socrates comes into the light. He is bronzed and aged, but his usual amused smile plays about his thick lips as he replies to the questions which assail him from all sides. There has been a report that many Athenians of note had fallen at Potidea. "Sit down and tell us the whole story," is the general demand. Socrates seats himself by the eloquent and well-bred Critias, and patiently replies to their many interrogations. Then he wishes to hear something from them about affairs at home, and

about the progress of philosophy since his departure. He also asks about the young people. Do any of these that he is unacquainted with show promise?

In reply he is told that the boys he sees flocking in at the principal entrance are the advance guard of the great beauty of the season, Charmides.

The rough warrior-sage, in whose eyes all youth is beautiful, is taken aback by the dazzling appearance of the youth, at whose entrance amazement and confusion reigned. boys and men hanging about him alike.

"Is he not beautiful?" they ask Socrates. And Socrates acknowledges that if his mind be a fit inmate for his body, he is indeed a paragon.

Critias, who is a relation of Charmides, asserts that he is as fair and good within as he is without; that young though he is, he is already far advanced in philosophy, and is a poet, “not only in his own opinion, but in that of others."

Upon which Socrates talks to the lad, and we have a first taste of his method of disputation. All the people in the Palæstra gather round the fair youth with the ruddy cheeks who is seated next to Socrates. They are on the qui vive, for it is long since they heard the philosopher speak.

He begins by telling the boy Charmides that he is told that he is as "temperate" as he is beautiful. At which speech Charmides blushes, and replies with ingenuousness that it is a difficult question to answer, for if he says Yes, it will be self-praise, and if he says No, it will be "giving the lie" to his relation Critias, or whoever has said this of him to Socrates.

"That is a natural reply," remarks Socrates, amused. Then he proposes they shall examine the question together. He opens the argument by asking Charmides to define Temperance.

Charmides hesitates; for the moment he feels nonplussed. It is rather a trial for a youth of a naturally