The three greatest intellects of Greece, and whose influence over succeeding ages was permanent, were Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. A single word of these profound thinkers, who lived in an epoch no less than 400 years before Christ.

Socrates was the author of the first code of Morals that appeared in Europe.* In this he admirably defined the different virtues. He declared the practice of good was the only means to happiness; proved by new arguments the existence of a God, and the immortality of the soul; denounced the frivolous philosophy of his time, chiefly aiming at the Sophists; and laid down that the true study of mankind was man. His boldness alarmed the Government, and he was condemned to death, on the charge of attacking the Established Religion, and promulgating New Divinities. His escape from prison was planned by his friends; but he declared that "the laws should not be disobeyed," and drank the poison whilst discoursing calmly on the soul.†

His disciple, Plato, whether alarmed at the fate of his master, or from the constitution of his mind, gave himself up to abstract speculations. He was the father of Metaphysics; and sought to prove that man was the mere product of "ideas." He declared in one of his discourses that "reason was the true principle of man's nature, although in the present existence there is mingled with it a foreign element-matter, which, by obstructing its development, becomes the cause of man's falling short of perfection." His most famous

* Confucius, who died in China, 479 B.C., just before the birth of Socrates, is regarded by some as the first writer on Morals.

"Virtue," said Socrates, "was the intelligent performance of duties, whose scope man may arrive at by a study both of his own nature, and of the laws of an all-wise Creator discoverable in the system of the Universe. In this pursuit happiness is inseparable from virtue."

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book was a description of the "Ideal Republic," in which he launched many crude theories that have become the source of modern Socialism. His writings are remarkable for sublime conceptions, moral purity, and a style never surpassed. Hence his appellations of the Homer of philosophy," the "Divine Plato." In his "Republic" he uses these striking words:-"That as an individual cannot be at peace with himself except by the harmonious adjustment of all his faculties, wherein each is allowed its due weight; so in the whole world happiness is proportionate to justice; and each individual derives the greater benefit from the community the more complete the harmony is in which he lives with all his fellow-citizens."

Beyond a doubt, the master-mind of antiquity was Aristotle. All the knowledge then existing he possessed, and vastly augmented it. For many centuries his works constituted the limit of all learning, and no one questioned his authority. Though the disciple of Plato, he rejected his master's ideal doctrines, and endeavoured to establish science on the solid ground of facts rather than on mere ideas. Philosophy, he said, was the science of cause and effect. He is attacked by the moderns for having employed the deductive method by reasoning from hypotheses; but it must be remembered how much easier it was for Bacon in the seventeenth century of our era to use the inductive method by reasoning from experiment than it was for Aristotle some three centuries before Christ, when so few facts were known. His work on Logic he called ' "Organon," as Logic was the organ of all science: it was the first complete code on that topic. His works are too numerous to detail; but they embrace essays on Rhetoric, Poetry, Art, Morals, Politics, Natural

History, Anatomy, Astronomy, Physics, Psychology, Metaphysics, Theology. In Psychology, he endeavoured to classify the faculties of the soul, which, he said, was the hidden power that gave life, and which he called intellect. In Theology, he demonstrated the Divine existence on the continuity of movement, and said God was the supreme goal or end of all things, to which all tended, all aspired. In Art, he said the beautiful was only found in the imitation of nature. In Morals, he declared virtue was to be found in the equilibrium of the passions. In Politics, he asserted that the final aim of society was utility-a bold doctrine in those days. His works on Zoology and Comparative Anatomy are declared by Cuvier never to have been exceeded for accuracy and depth.

This is but a brief and superficial sketch of this stupendous intellect.* If Bacon is considered a phenomenon in the seventeenth century, what must we think of Aristotle, who lived upwards of nineteen centuries before him? Philip, King of Macedonia, paid him a just compliment when he asked him to superintend the education of his son, afterwards Alexander the Great, declaring that "he was not so proud of having a son as he was of having Aristotle for his tutor." The philosopher afterwards accompanied Alexander in his Asiatic conquests, and gathered new materials of knowledge. He finally established himself at Athens; but being accused of impiety, he abandoned the city, saying "he wished to spare the Athenians a new crime, already guilty of the death of Socrates."

A conspicuous feature is apparent alike in the

The works of Aristotle were not published till nearly two centuries after his death, having been concealed by his admirers. Apellicon diseovered and published them about a hundred years before Christ.

writings of each of these great thinkers. They all believed in the progress of mankind; but they were compelled, from fear of death, to discuss the moral perfection of man rather than his political elevation. In commenting on Grecian philosophy, Macaulay says sneeringly:-"The ancient philosophy dwelt largely in theories of moral perfection, which were so sublime that they could never be more than theories; in attempts to solve insoluble enigmas; in, exhortations to the attainment of unattainable frames of mind. It disdained to be useful, and was content to be stationary." The reproach is unjust; for in those days, as for long centuries after, thinkers who ventured to enlighten mankind as to their political debasement simply challenged martyrdom. All they could do was to declare that man was capable of the highest moral development. It is clear, I think, that these Greek philosophers believed in man's future political regeneration. It was more than two thousand years later before it could be safely declared that "all men were born free and equal.'

Fearing to fatigue the reader, I will but add that the theories of these three great masters created a profound intellectual movement. Several of their pupils founded Schools of Philosophy. I can only notice the Stoics, who asserted that reason alone should govern man, and the Epicureans, who retorted that the passions were better guides than mere reason. In a note will be found a tabular statement of these doctrines and their application.†

* American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.
Stoical system made reason supreme over the passions.
Love of money, subdued by reason, produces prodigality.

cowardice
celibacy.

In

The rule of Pericles, which lasted some thirty years, witnessed the last bright page of Grecian civilization.* Civil wars then broke out between the rival states, and these enabled the ambitious Philip, King of Macedonia, to subject the whole of Greece to his sway. Demosthenes, the Athenian orator, launched his thunderbolts in vain. spite of his furious Philippics, Grecian independence fell. Alexander the Great maintained the supremacy his father had won. The efforts made by the Greeks to recover their freedom were constantly baffled by civil discords, until the Romans attacked them, and converted Greece into a Roman province under the name of Achaia, in 146 B.C.

The religion of Greece was imported from Asia Minor and Egypt, but it was greatly modified and refined. Polytheism prevailed; but the gods were not mere hideous creations to inspire terror, as in India nor were they worshipped in the forms of animals and

Love of knowledge, subdued by reason, produces credulity.
religion,
atheism.

Epicurean system made passions supreme over reason.
Love of money, uncontrolled by reason, produces avarice.

anarchy. licentiousness. utopias. fanaticism.

In contrast to the above systems might be added a table where reason and the passions are balanced.

Reason and love of money produce prudence.

* During this epoch, more than in any previous one, Greek colonies sprang up in Italy, Gaul, and Hispania. At Nismes, in the south of France, Grecian busts and statues of great beauty are frequently dug up, which prove that the colonists brought their native love of art with them. Nismes was afterwards occupied by the Romans, but the relics of Roman art are far inferior to those of their predecessors.