Aristotle and Ancient Educational Ideals Part 7

Wealth without Worth is no harmless housemate.--Sappho

One to me is ten thousand, if he be best.

All the Ephesians, from youth up, ought to be hanged and the State left to the boys, because they cast out Hermodorus, the worthiest man amongst them, saying: 'No one of us shall be worthiest, else let him be so elsewhere and among others.'--Herac.l.i.tus

Reflecting once that, of the very small states, Sparta appeared to be the most powerful and the most renowned in Greece, I began to wonder in what way this had come about. But when I reflected upon the manners of the Spartans, I ceased to wonder. As to Lycurgus, who drew up for them the laws, by obedience to which they have prospered, I admire him and hold him to be, in the highest degree, a wise man. For he, instead of imitating other states, reached conclusions opposite to those of most, and thereby rendered his country conspicuous for prosperity.--Xenophon

Xenophon was in no sense a philosopher or a practical teacher, but he was a man of sterling worth, of knightly courage, of wide and varied experience, of strong sagacity, and of genial disposition, a keen observer, and a charming writer. He was a true old Athenian puritan, broadened and softened by study and contact with the world. He hated democracy so cordially that he would not live in Athens to witness its vulgarity and disorder; but he loved his country, and desired to see its people restored to their ancient worth. He believed that this could be done only by some great, royal personality, like Lycurgus or Cyrus, enforcing a rigid discipline, and once more reducing the man to the citizen. Unwilling, probably, to hold up hated Sparta as a model to his beaten and smarting countrymen, he laid the scene of his pedagogical romance in far-off Persia.

In the _Education of Cyrus_ (????? pa?de?a) we have Xenophon's scheme for a perfect education. Despite the scene in which it is laid, it is purely h.e.l.lenic, made up of Athenian and Spartan elements in about equal proportions. For this reason also it has a special interest for us. As the portion of the treatise dealing directly with public education is brief, we can hardly do better than transcribe it in a translation.

"Cyrus is still celebrated in legend and song by the barbarians as a man of extraordinary personal beauty, and as of a most gentle, studious, and honor-loving disposition, which made him ready to undergo any labor, and brave any danger, for the sake of praise. Such is the account that has been handed down of his appearance and disposition. He was, of course, educated in accordance with the laws of the Persians. These laws seem to begin their efforts for the public weal at a different point from those of most other states; for most states, after allowing parents to educate their children as they please, and the older people even to spend their time according to their own preference, lay down such laws as: Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not rob, Thou shalt not commit burglary, Thou shalt not commit a.s.sault, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not disobey a magistrate, etc.; and if any one transgresses any of these laws, they inflict punishment on him. The Persian laws, on the contrary, provide beforehand that the citizens shall never, from the very first, have any disposition to commit a wicked or base act. And they do so in this way. They have what they call a Freemen's Square, where the royal palace and the other public buildings stand. From this square are removed all wares and chafferers, with their cries and vulgarities, to another place, so that their din and disorder may not interfere with the decorum of the cultivated cla.s.s. This square in the neighborhood of the public buildings is divided into four parts, one for boys, one for youths (?f???), one for mature men, and one for men beyond the military age. The hour when these shall appear in their places is settled by law. The boys and mature men come at daybreak, the older men when they think fit, except on the special days when they are bound to appear. The youths pa.s.s the night by the public buildings in light armor, only those who are married being excused. These are not hunted up, unless they have been ordered beforehand to appear; but it is not thought decent to be often absent. Each of these divisions is under the charge of twelve governors, one from each of the twelve tribes into which the Persians are divided. The governors of the boys are chosen from among the elderly men, with special view to their fitness for making the most of boys, while those of the youths are chosen from among the mature men upon a similar principle. Those of the mature men are selected with a view to their ability to hold these to their regular duties, and to the special commands of the supreme authority. Even the old men have presidents appointed over them, who see that they perform their duty. What the duties of each are we shall now state, in order to show just how provision is made for securing the highest worth on the part of the citizens.

"First, then, the boys, when they go to school, spend their time in learning justice. They say they go for that purpose, just as our boys go to learn letters. Their governors spend the greater part of the day in acting as judges among them. It is needless to say that boys, as well as men, bring charges against each other of theft and robbery and violence and deceit and slander, and similar things, and those whom the judges find guilty of any of these they punish. But they also punish those whom they find bringing false charges. They p.r.o.nounce judgment likewise on a charge which, more than anything else, makes men hate each other, and for which they are judged less than for any other, namely, ingrat.i.tude.

If the judges find a boy in a position to return a favor and not doing it, they punish him severely, believing that persons who are ungrateful will, more than any others, be undutiful to the G.o.ds, to parents, country, and friends. It is generally held that ingrat.i.tude, more than aught else, leads to irreverence, and we need not add that _it_ is the prime mover in every form of baseness. They teach the boys also self-denial, and these are greatly aided in learning this virtue from seeing it daily practised by their elders. Another thing they teach them is obedience to those placed in authority over them; and they are greatly aided in learning this, by seeing their elders strictly obeying their governors. Another thing yet which they teach them is self-discipline in matters of eating and drinking; and they are greatly aided in this by seeing that their elders never absent themselves for the purpose of eating, until they are permitted to do so by their governors, as well as by the fact that they (the boys) do not eat with their mothers, but with their teachers, and at a signal from their governors. As food, they bring with them from home bread, as a relish, nasturtium, and in order to drink, if they are thirsty, they bring an earthen cup to draw water from the river with. In addition to all these things, the boys learn to shoot with the bow and to throw the javelin.

Up to the age of sixteen or seventeen years, these are the studies in which the boys engage; after that they are transferred to the cla.s.s of cadets (?f???).

"These cadets spend their time in this way: For ten years from the time when they graduate from the boys' cla.s.s, they sleep, as we have already said, in the precincts of the public buildings, acting at once as a guard to the city and practising self-denial. It is generally agreed, indeed, that this is the age which especially requires attention. During the day they are at the disposal of their governors, and ready to perform any public service required. If no such service is demanded, they remain in the neighborhood of the public buildings. When the king goes out to hunt, which he does many times a month, he takes with him one-half of the tribes, and leaves the other behind. Those youths who accompany him must carry with them bows and, in a sheath alongside their quivers, a bill or scimitar; also a light s.h.i.+eld, and two javelins apiece, one to throw, the other to use, if necessary, at close quarters.

For this reason they make hunting a matter of public concern, and the king, as in war, acts as their leader, hunts himself, and sees that the others hunt, the Persians being of opinion that this is the best of all preparations for war. And, indeed, it accustoms them to rise early, and to bear heat and cold; it affords them exercise in marching and running, and compels them to use their bows or their javelins upon wild animals, wherever they happen to come upon them. They are often forced, moreover, to sharpen their courage, when they find themselves face to face with some powerful animal. They must, of course, wound the one that comes to close quarters, and hold at bay the one that attacks them. Hence it is difficult to find in war anything that is absent from the chase. When they go out to hunt, the young men, of course, take with them a larger luncheon than the boys are allowed to have; but this is the only difference between the two. And while they are hunting, they sometimes do not lunch at all; but, if they have to remain beyond their time on account of some game, or otherwise, if they wish to prolong the chase, they make a dinner of this lunch, and on the following day continue the hunt till dinner-time, counting the two days one, because they consume only one day's food. And they do this for the sake of practice, so that, if ever they should run short of provisions in war, they may be able to do the same thing. These youths have as a relish what game they capture in the chase, otherwise they have nasturtium. And if any one thinks that they eat without pleasure, when they have only nasturtium with their food, or drink without pleasure, when they drink water, let him remember how sweet barley-cake and wheaten bread are when he is hungry, and how sweet water is when he is thirsty. The tribes that remain behind, when the king goes hunting, spend their time in the same studies which they pursued as boys, including shooting and javelin-casting, and in these continual contests are going on. There are likewise public exhibitions in them, at which prizes are offered; and whichever tribe contains most young men exceptionally proficient, manly, and steady, is commended by the citizens, who likewise honor, not only their present governor, but also the governor who had charge of them as boys. The young men who are left behind are also employed by the authorities, if any such service is required as manning a guard-house, tracking out malefactors, running down robbers, or anything demanding strength and swiftness. Such are the studies of the young men. And when they have pa.s.sed ten years in these, they graduate into the cla.s.s of mature men.

"From the date of this graduation, they spend five and twenty years more in the following manner: In the first place, like the young men, they place themselves at the disposal of the authorities for any public service requiring at once sagacity and unimpaired strength. If they are required to take the field in war, men proficient as they are go armed, no longer with bows and javelins, but with what are called hand-to-hand weapons, breast-plates, s.h.i.+elds in their left hands, such as we see in pictures of the Persians, and a sword or bill in their right. And all the officials are drawn from this cla.s.s, except the boys' teachers. And when they have pa.s.sed twenty-five years in this cla.s.s, they are something more than fifty years of age. At that age they graduate into the cla.s.s of elders, as, indeed, they are called.

"These elders no longer serve in war outside their own country, but, remaining at home, act as judges in public and private cases. They do so even in capital cases. They likewise choose all the officials, and if any person belonging to either of the cla.s.ses of young and mature men neglects any of his lawful duties, the governor of his tribe, or any one else who pleases, may report him to the elders, and these, if they find the fact to be as reported, expel him from his tribe, and he who is expelled remains dishonored all his life.

"To give a clearer notion of the polity of the Persians as a whole, I will retrace my steps a little. After what has been said, this may be done in a very few words: The Persians, then, are said to number about one hundred and twenty thousand. Of these, none is excluded by law from honors or offices; but all Persians are allowed to send their sons to the public schools of justice. However, it is only those who are able to maintain their sons without employment that send them there: the rest do not. On the other hand, those that are educated by the public teachers are permitted to spend their youth among the _epheboi_, while those who have not completed this education are not. Again those that pa.s.s their youth among the _epheboi_, and come up to the legal requirements, are allowed to graduate into the cla.s.s of mature men, and to partic.i.p.ate in honors and offices; whereas those who do not pa.s.s through the grade of the _epheboi_ do not rise to the cla.s.s of mature men. Finally, those who complete the curriculum of the mature men without reproach, pa.s.s into the cla.s.s of elders. Thus it is that this cla.s.s of elders is composed of men who have pa.s.sed through all the grades of culture. Such is the polity of the Persians, and such is the system of training whereby they endeavor to secure the highest worth."

This Utopian scheme of education has a peculiar interest, because it is nothing more or less than the old ideal of Greek education become fully conscious of itself, under the influence of the new ideal. Let us call attention to the main points of it. (1) The education here set forth is purely political: men are regarded simply and solely as citizens; all honors are civic honors. (2) No provision is made for the education of women, their range of activity being entirely confined to the family.

(3) Distinction is made to rest upon education and conduct. (4) The poorer cla.s.ses of the population, though not legally excluded from education, position, and power, are virtually excluded by their poverty, so that the government is altogether in the hands of the rich, and is, in fact, an aristocracy, while pretending to be a democracy: hence, (5) Social distinctions are distinctions of worth, which is just the Greek ideal.

There is, however, one point in the scheme which shows that it is reactionary, directed against prevailing tendencies. Not one word is said of the intellectual side of education, of music or letters. It is evident that Xenophon, himself a man of no mean literary attainments, clearly saw the dangers to Greek life and liberty involved in that exaggerated devotion to literary and intellectual pursuits which followed the teaching of the sophists and Socrates, and that, in order to check this perilous tendency, he drew up a scheme of education from which intellectual and literary pursuits are altogether excluded, in which justice takes the place of letters, and music is not mentioned.

This suggests a curious inquiry in respect to his _Memoirs of Socrates_.

This work has generally been regarded as giving us a more correct notion of the real, living Socrates than the manifestly idealizing works of Plato. But was not Xenophon, who could not fail to see the future power of Socrates' influence, as anxious as Plato to claim the prophet as the champion of his own views, and does not this fact determine the whole character of his work? Is it not a romance, in the same sense that the _Cyropaedia_ is, with only this difference, that the facts of Socrates'

life, being fairly well known to those for whom Xenophon was writing, could not be treated with the same freedom and disregard as those of Cyrus' life?

Before we part with Xenophon, we must call attention to another treatise of his, in which he deals with a subject that was then pressing for consideration--the education of women. While, as we have seen, the aeolian states and even Dorian Sparta provided, in some degree, for women's education, Athens apparently, conceiving that woman had no duties outside of the family, left her education entirely to the care of that inst.i.tution. The conservative Xenophon does not depart from this view; but, seeing the moral evils that were springing from the neglect of women and their inability to be, in any sense, companions to their cultured, or over-cultured, husbands, he lays down in his _conomics_ a scheme for the education of the young wife _by her husband_. As this affords us an admirable insight into the lives of Athenian girls and women, better, indeed, than can be found elsewhere, we cannot do better than transcribe the first part of it. It takes the form of a conversation between Socrates and a young husband, named Ischomachus (Strong Fighter), and is reported by the former. Socrates tells how, seeing Ischomachus sitting at leisure in a certain portico, he entered into conversation with him, paid him an acceptable compliment, and inquired how he came to be nearly always busy out of doors, seeing that he evidently spent little time in the house. Ischomachus replies:--

"'As to your inquiry, Socrates, it is true that I never remain indoors.

Nor need I; for my wife is fully able by herself to manage everything in the house.' 'This again, Ischomachus,' said I, 'is something that I should like to ask you about, whether it was you who taught your wife to be a good wife, or whether she knew all her household duties when you received her from her father and mother.' 'Well, Socrates,' said he, 'what do you suppose she knew when I took her, since she was hardly fifteen when she came to me, and, during the whole of her life before that, special care had been taken that she should see, hear, and ask as little as possible. Indeed, don't you think I ought to have been satisfied if, when she came to me, she knew nothing but how to take wool and turn it into a garment, and had seen nothing but how tasks in spinning are a.s.signed to maids? As regards matters connected with eating and drinking, of course she was extremely well educated when she came, and this seems to me the chief education, whether for a man or a woman.'

'In all other matters, Ischomachus,' said I, 'you yourself instructed your wife, so as to make her an excellent housewife.' 'To be sure,' said he, 'but not until I had first sacrificed, and prayed that I might succeed in teaching her, and she might succeed in learning, what was best for both of us.' 'Then,' said I, 'your wife took part in your sacrifice and in these prayers, did she not?' 'Certainly she did,' said Ischomachus, 'and solemnly promised to the G.o.ds that she would be what she ought to be, and showed every evidence of a disposition not to neglect what was taught her.' 'But do, I beseech you, Ischomachus, explain to me,' said I, 'what was the first thing you set about teaching her? I shall be more interested in hearing you tell that, than if you told me all about the finest gymnastic or equestrian exhibition.' And Ischomachus replied: 'What _should_ I teach her? As soon as she could be handled, and was tame enough to converse, I spoke to her in some such way as this: Tell me, my dear, have you ever considered why I took _you_ as my wife, and why your parents gave you to me? That it was not because I could not find any one else to share my bed, you know as well as I.

No, but because I was anxious to find for myself, and your parents were anxious to find for you, the most suitable partner in home and offspring, I selected you, and your parents, it seems, selected me, out of all possible matches. If, then, G.o.d shall ever bless us with children, then we will take the greatest care of them, and try to give them the best possible education; for it will prove a blessing to both of us to have the very best of helpers and supports in our old age. But at present we have this as our common home. And all that I have, I pa.s.s over to the common stock, and all that you have brought with you, you have added to the same. Nor must we begin to count which of us has contributed the larger number of things, but must realize that whichever of us is the better partner contributes the more valuable things. Then, Socrates, my wife replied, and said: In what way can I cooperate with you? What power have I? Everything rests with you. My mother told me that my only duty was to be dutiful. a.s.suredly, my dear, said I, and my father told me the same thing. But it is surely the duty of a dutiful husband and a dutiful wife to act so that what they have may be improved to the utmost, and by every fair and lawful means increased to the utmost. And what do you find, said my wife, that I can do towards helping you to build up our house? Dear me! said I, whatever things the G.o.ds have endowed you with the power to do, and the law permits, try to do these to the best of your ability. And what _are_ these? said she. It strikes me, said I, that they are by no means the least important things, unless it be true that in the hive the queen-bee is entrusted with the least important functions. Indeed, it seems to me, my dear, I continued, that the very G.o.ds have yoked together this couple called male and female with a very definite purpose, viz. to be the source of the greatest mutual good to the yoke-fellows. In the first place, this union exists in order that living species may not die out, but be preserved by propagation; in the second, the partners in this union, at least in the case of human beings, obtain through it the supports of their old age. Moreover, human beings do not live, like animals, in the open air, but obviously require roofs. And I am sure, people who are going to have anything to bring under a roof must have some one to do outdoor duties; for, you see, ploughing, sowing, planting, herding, are all outdoor employments, and it is from them that we obtain all our supplies. On the other hand, when the supplies have all been brought under cover, there is needed some one to take care of them, and to perform those duties which must be done indoors. Among these are the rearing of children and the preparation of food from the produce of the earth; likewise the making of cloth out of wool. And, since both these cla.s.ses of duties, the outdoor and the indoor, require labor and care, it seems to me, I said, that G.o.d has constructed the nature of woman with a special view to indoor employments and cares, and that of man with a view to outdoor employments and cares. For he has made both the body and the soul of the man better able than those of the woman to bear cold, heat, travelling, military service, and so has a.s.signed to him the outdoor employments. And, since he has made the body of woman less able to endure these things, he seems to me to have a.s.signed to her the indoor employments. Considering, moreover, that he had made it woman's nature and duty to nourish young children, he imparted to her a greater love for babies than he did to man. And, inasmuch as he had made it part of woman's duty to take care of the income of the family, G.o.d, knowing that for care-taking the soul is none the worse for being ready to fear, bestowed upon woman a greater share of fear than upon a man. On the other hand, knowing that he who attends to the outdoor employments will have to protect the family from wrong-doers, he endowed him with a greater share of courage. And, since both have to give and receive, he divided memory and carefulness between them, so that it would be difficult to determine which of the s.e.xes, the male or the female, is the better equipped with these. And the necessary self-denial he divided between them, and made a decree that, whichever of the two, the husband or the wife, was the superior, should be rewarded with the larger share of this blessing. And just because the nature of man and the nature of woman are not both equally fitted for all tasks, the two are the more dependent upon each other, and their union is the more beneficial to them, because the one is able to supply what the other lacks. And now, said I, my dear, that we know the duties which G.o.d has a.s.signed to us respectively, it becomes each of us to do our best, in order to perform these duties. And the law, I continued, coincides with the divine intention, and unites man and woman. And, just as G.o.d has made them partners in offspring, so the law makes them partners in the household.

And the law sets its approval upon that difference of function which G.o.d has signified by the difference of ability which marks the s.e.xes. For it is more respectable for a woman to remain indoors than to spend her time out of doors, and less respectable for a man to remain indoors than to attend to outdoor concerns. And, if any one acts in a manner at variance with this divine ordination, it may be that his transgression does not escape the notice of the G.o.ds, and that he is punished for neglecting his own duties or performing those of his wife. It appears to me, said I, that the queen-bee also performs duties that are a.s.signed to her by G.o.d. And what duties, said my wife, does the queen-bee perform, that have any resemblance to those inc.u.mbent upon me? This, said I, that she remains in the hive and does not allow the other bees to be idle, but sends out those that have to work to their business, and knows and receives what each brings in, and takes care of it till it is needed for use. And when the time for using comes, she distributes to each her just share. Besides this, she attends to the construction of the honey-combs that goes on indoors, and sees that it is done properly and rapidly, and carefully sees that the young swarm is properly reared. And when it is old enough, and the young bees are fit for work, she sends them out, as a colony, under the leaders.h.i.+p of one of the old ones. And will it be my duty, said my wife, to do these things? Exactly so, said I, it will be your duty to remain indoors, to send out together to their work those whose duties lie out of doors, and to superintend those who have to work indoors, to receive whatever is brought in, to dispense whatever has to be paid out, while the necessary surplus you must provide for, and take care that the year's allowance be not spent in a month. When wool is brought in to you, you must see that it is turned into cloth; and when dried grain comes, that it is properly prepared for food. There is, however, one of your duties, said I, that will perhaps seem somewhat disagreeable to you. Whenever any one of the slaves is sick, you will have to see that he is properly nursed, no matter who he is. Indeed, said my wife, that will be a most pleasant duty, if those who have been carefully nursed are going to be grateful and kindlier than they were before. And I,' said Ischomachus, 'admiring her answer, continued: Don't you suppose, my dear, that by such examples of care on the part of the queen of the hive the bees are so disposed to her that, when she leaves, none of them are willing to remain behind, but all follow her? And my wife replied: I should be surprised if the duties of heads.h.i.+p did not fall to you rather than to me. For my guardians.h.i.+p and disposal of things in the house would be ridiculous, unless you saw to it that something was brought in from without. And my bringing-in would be ridiculous, said I, if there were no one to take care of what I brought?

Don't you see, I said, how those who pour water into a leaky barrel, as the expression is, are pitied, as wasting their labour? And indeed, said my wife, they are to be pitied, if they do that. There are other special duties, said I, that are sure to become pleasant to you; for example, when you take a raw hand at weaving and turn her into an adept, and so double her value to you, or when you take a raw hand at managing and waiting and make her capable, reliable, and serviceable, so that she acquires untold value, or when you have it in your power to reward those male slaves that are dutiful and useful to your family, or to punish one who proves the opposite of this. But the pleasantest thing of all will be, if you prove superior to me, and make me your knight, and if you need not fear that, as you advance in years, you will forfeit respect in the house, but are sure that, as you grow older, the better a partner you are to me, and the better a mother to the children, the more highly you will be respected in the house. For all that is fair and good, said I, increases for men, as life advances, not through beauties, but through virtues. Such, Socrates, to the best of my recollection, was the first conversation I had with my wife.'"

Ischomachus goes on and tells how, in subsequent conversations, he taught his wife the value of order, "how to have a place for everything, and everything in its place," how to train a servant, and how to make herself attractive without the use of cosmetics or fine clothes. But enough has been quoted to show what the ideal family relation among the Athenians was, and what education was thought fitting for girls and women. Just as the man was merged in the citizen, so the woman was merged in the housewife, and they each received the education and training demanded by their respective duties. If Athenian husbands had all been like Ischomachus, it is clear that the lives of wives might have been very happy and useful, and that harmony might have reigned in the family. But, unfortunately, that was not very often the case. Wives, being neglected, became lazy, wasteful, self-indulgent, shrewish, and useless, while their husbands, finding them so, sought in immoral relations with brilliant and cultivated _hetaerae_, or in worse relations still, a coa.r.s.e subst.i.tute for that satisfaction which they ought to have sought and found in their own homes. Thus there grew up a condition of things which could not fail to sap the moral foundations of society, and which made thoughtful men turn their attention to the question of woman's education and sphere of duty.

CHAPTER III

PLATO

All human laws are nourished by the one divine law; for it prevaileth as far as it listeth, and sufficeth for all and surviveth all.--Herac.l.i.tus

Though reason is universal, the ma.s.s of men live as if they had each a private wisdom of his own.--_Id._

ANTIGONE. ... But him will I inter; And sweet 'twill be to die in such a deed, And sweet will be my rest with him, the sweet, When I have righteously offended here.

For longer time, methinks, have I to please The dwellers in yon world than those in this; For I shall rest forever there. But thou, Dishonor still what's honored of the G.o.ds.

--Sophocles, _Antigone_.

The circle that gathered round Isaiah and his household in these evil days, holding themselves apart from their countrymen, treasuring the word of revelation, and waiting for Jehovah, were indeed, as Isaiah describes them, "signs and tokens in Israel from Jehovah of hosts that dwelleth in Mount Zion." The formation of this little community was a new thing in the history of religion. Till then no one had dreamed of a fellows.h.i.+p of faith dissociated from all national forms, maintained without the exercise of ritual services, bound together by faith in the divine word alone. It was the birth of a new era in the Old Testament religion, for it was the birth of the conception of the _Church_, the first step in the emanc.i.p.ation of spiritual religion from the forms of political life,--a step not less significant that all its consequences were not seen till centuries had pa.s.sed away.--W. Robertson Smith, _Prophets of Israel_.

Still at the prophets' feet the nations sit.--Lowell.

That which is to be known I shall declare, knowing which a man attains immortality--the beginningless Supreme Brahma that is said to be neither Aught nor Naught.--_Bhagavad Gita._

The only Metaphysics which really and immediately sustains Ethics is one which is itself primarily ethical, and made of the staff of Ethics.--Schopenhauer.

In answer to the burning question, How can Athens be brought back to moral life and strength? Socrates had answered, "By finding a new moral sanction." He had even gone further, and said: "This sanction is to be found in correct thinking, in thinking whole thoughts, which, because they are whole, are absolutely true, being the very principles according to which G.o.d governs the world." This is, obviously, a mere formal answer. If it was to be of any real service, three further questions had to be answered: (1) How can whole thoughts be reached? (2) What do they prove to be when they are reached? (3) How can they be applied to the moral reorganization of human life? Plato's philosophy is but an attempt to answer these questions. It therefore naturally falls into three divisions, (1) _Dialectics_, including Logic and Theory of Knowledge, (2) _Theoretics_, including Metaphysics and Physics, (3) _Practics_, including Ethics and Politics.

It is obvious that any attempt to reform society on Socratic principles must proceed, not from society itself, but from some person or persons in whom these principles are realized, and who act upon it from without.

These persons will be the philosophers or, rather, the sages. Two distinct questions, therefore, present themselves at the outset: (1) How does a man become a sage? (2) How can the sage organize human life, and secure a succession of sages to continue his work after him? To the first of these questions, dialectics gives the answer; to the second, practics; while theoretics exhibits to us at once the origin and the end, that is, the meaning, of all existence, the human included. In the teaching of Plato we find, for the first time recognized and exhibited, the extra-civic or super-civic man, the man who is not a mere fragment of a social whole, completely subordinated to it, but who, standing above society, moulds it in accordance with ideas derived from a higher source. Forecasts of this man, indeed, we find in all Greek literature from Homer down,--in Herac.l.i.tus, Sophocles, etc., and especially, as we have seen, in Pythagoras;--but it is now for the first time that he finds full expression, and tries to play a conscious part. In him we have the promise of the future Church.

But to return to the first of our two questions, How does a man become a sage? We found the answer to be, By the dialectic method. Of this, however, not all men have the inclination to avail themselves, but only a chosen few, to whom the G.o.ds have granted the inspiration of Love (????)--a longing akin to madness (a??a), kindled by physical beauty, but tending to the Supreme Good. This good, as we shall see, consists in the vision (?e???a) of eternal truth, of being, as it is. The few men who are blessed with this love are the divinely appointed reformers and guides of mankind, the well-being of which depends upon submission to them. The dialectic method is the process by which the inspired mind rises from the beauty of physical things, which are always particulars, to the beauty of spiritual things, which are always universals, and finally to the beauty of the Supreme Good, which is _The Universal_. The man who has reached this last, and who sees its relation to all other universals, so that they form together a correlated whole, sees all truth, and is the sage. What we call universals Plato called "ideas"

(?d?a? = forms or species). These ideas he regards as genera, as numbers, as active powers, and as substances, the highest of which is G.o.d.

Two things are especially notable in connection with this theory: (1) that it involves that Oriental ascetic view of life which makes men turn away from the sensible world, and seek their end and happiness in the colorless world of thought; (2) that it suggests a view of the nature of G.o.d which comes perilously near to Oriental pantheism. Plato, indeed, nowhere denies personality of G.o.d; but neither does he affirm it, and he certainly leaves the impression that the Supreme Being is a force acting according to a numerical ratio or law. It would be difficult to overestimate the influence of these two views upon the subsequent course of Greek education and life. The former suggested to the super-civic man a sphere of activity which he could flatter himself was superior to the civic, viz. a sphere of contemplation; while the second, by blurring, or rather ignoring, the essential elements of personality in G.o.d, viz.

consciousness, choice, and will, left no place for a truly religious or moral life. This explains why Platonism, while it has inspired no great civic movement, has played such a determining part in ecclesiasticism, and why, nevertheless, the Church for ages was compelled to fight the tendencies of it, which it did in great measure under the aegis of Plato's stern critic, Aristotle.

We are now ready to take up our second question: How can the sage organize human life, and secure a succession of sages to continue his work after him? Plato has given two widely different answers to this question, in his two most extensive works, (1) the _Republic_, written in his earlier life, when he was under the influence of Herac.l.i.tus, Parmenides, and Socrates, and stood in a negative att.i.tude toward the real world of history, (2) the _Laws_, written toward the end of his life, when he became reconciled, in part at least, to the real world and its traditional beliefs, and found satisfaction and inspiration in the teachings of Pythagoras. His change of allegiance is shown by the fact that in the _Laws_, and in them alone, Socrates does not appear as a character. We shall speak first of the _Republic_, and then point out wherein the _Laws_ differs from it.

When Plato wrote his _Republic_, he was deeply impressed with the evils and dangers of the social order in which he lived. This impression, which was that of every serious man of the time, had in his case probably been deepened by the teaching and the tragic death of Socrates.

The dangers were, obviously, the demoralization of Athenian men and women, and the consequent weakening and dissolution of the social bonds.

The evils, as he saw them, were (1) the defective education of children, (2) the neglect of women, (3) the general disorganization of the State through individualism, which placed power in the hands of ignorance and rapacity, instead of in those of wisdom and worth. The _Republic_ is a scheme for removing these evils and averting the consequent dangers. It is the Platonic sage's recipe for the healing of society, and it is but fair to say that, of all the Utopian and aesthetic schemes ever proposed for this end, it is incomparably the best. It proposes nothing less than the complete transformation of society, without offering any hint as to how a selfish and degraded people is to be induced to submit thereto. In the transformed society, the State is all in all; the family is abolished; women are emanc.i.p.ated and share in the education and duties of men; the State attends to the procreation and education of children; private property is forbidden. The State is but the individual writ large, and the individual has three faculties, in the proper development and coordination of which consists his well-being: the same, therefore, must be true of the State. These faculties are (1) intellect or reason, (????st????, ?????, ????, etc.), (2) spirit or courage (????, ???e?d??), (3) desire or appet.i.te (?p????a, ?p???et????, f??????at??). The first resides in the head, the second in the heart, the third in the abdomen. The first is peculiar to man, the second he shares with the animals, and the third with both animals and plants. The proper relation of these faculties exists when reason, with clear insight, rules the whole man (Prudence); when spirit takes its directions from reason in its att.i.tude toward pleasure and pain (Fort.i.tude); when spirit and appet.i.te together come to an understanding with reason as to when the one, and when the other, shall act (Temperance); and, finally, when each of the three strictly confines itself to its proper function (Justice). Thus we obtain the four "cardinal virtues." As existing in the individual, they are relations between his own faculties. It is only in the State that they are relations between the individual and his fellows. Rather we ought to say, they are relations between different cla.s.ses of society; for society is divided into three cla.s.ses, marked by the predominance of one or other of the three faculties of the soul. _First_, there is the intelligent cla.s.s,--the philosophers or sages; _second_, the spirited cla.s.s,--the military men or soldiers; _third_, the covetous cla.s.s,--men devoted to industry, trade, and money-making. The well-being of the State, as of the individual, is secure only when the relations between these cla.s.ses are the four cardinal virtues; when the sages rule, and the soldiers and money-makers accept this rule, and when each cla.s.s strictly confines itself to its own function, so, for example, that the sages do not attempt to fight, the soldiers to make money, or the money-makers to fight or rule. In the Platonic ideal State, accordingly, the three cla.s.ses dwell apart and have distinct functions. All the power is in the hands of the philosophers, who dwell in lofty isolation, devoted to the contemplation of divine ideas, and descending only through grace to mingle with human affairs, as teachers and absolute rulers, ruling without laws. Their will is enforced by the military cla.s.s, composed of both s.e.xes, which lives outside the city, devoting itself to physical exercises and the defence of the State. These two cla.s.ses together const.i.tute the guardians (f??a?e?) of the State, and stand to each other in the relation of head and hand. They produce nothing, own nothing, live sparingly, and, indeed, cherish a sovereign contempt for all producing and owning, as well as for those who produce and own. They find their satisfaction in the performance of their functions, and the maintenance of virtue in the State. What small amount of material good they require is supplied to them by the industrial cla.s.s, which they protect in the enjoyment of the only good it strives after or can appreciate, the good of the appet.i.tes. This cla.s.s, of course, has no power, either directive or executive, being incapable of any. It is, nevertheless, entirely happy in its condition of tutelage, and, as far as virtue can be predicated of sensuality, virtuous, the excesses of sensuality being repressed by the other two cla.s.ses. Indeed, the great merit which Plato claims for his scheme is, that it secures harmony, and therefore happiness, for all, by placing every individual citizen in the cla.s.s to which by nature he belongs, that is, in which his nature can find the fullest and freest expression compatible with the well-being of the whole. Such is Plato's political scheme, marked by the two notorious Greek characteristics, love of harmony and contempt for labor. It is curious to think that it foreshadowed three modern inst.i.tutions--the ecclesiastical hierarchy, the standing army, and the industrial community, in which, however, the relations of power demanded by Plato are almost reversed, with (it is only fair to say) the result which he foresaw.

In trying to answer the question, By what means shall these cla.s.ses be sundered? Plato calmly a.s.sumes that his scheme is already in full operation among grown people, so that the only difficulty remaining is with regard to the children. And this is completely met by his scheme of education. The State or, let us say at once, the philosophic cla.s.s, having abolished the family, and a.s.sumed its functions, determines what number and kind of children it requires at any given time, and provides for them as it would for sheep or kine. It brings together at festivals the vigorous males and females, and allows them to choose their mates for the occasion. As soon as the children are born, they are removed from their mothers and taken charge of in State inst.i.tutions, where the feeble and deformed are at once destroyed. Any children begotten without the authority of the State share the same fate, either before or after birth. Those whose birth is authorized, and who prove vigorous, are reared by the State, none of them knowing, or being known by, their parents. But they by no means suffer any diminution of parentage on that account; for every mature man regards himself as the father, and every mature woman regards herself as the mother, of all the children born within a certain time, so that every child has thousands of fathers and mothers, all interested in his welfare; and the mothers, being relieved from nearly all the duties of maternity, share equally with the men in all the functions of the State.

The system of education to which the children of the State are subjected is, to a large extent, modelled after that of Sparta, especially in respect to its rigor and its absolutely political character. It contains, however, a strong Ionic or Athenian element, notably on the intellectual and aesthetic side. It may fairly claim to be intensely h.e.l.lenic. It accepts the time-honored division of education into Music and Gymnastics, making no distinct place for Letters, but including them under Music. It demands that these two branches shall be pursued as parts of a whole, calculated to develop, as far as may be, the harmonious human being, and fit him to become part of the harmonious State. I have said "as far as may be," because Plato believes that only a small number of persons at any given time can be reduced to complete harmony. These are the born philosophers, who, when their nature is fully realized, no longer require the State, but stand, as G.o.ds, above it. In truth, the State is needed just because the ma.s.s of mankind cannot attain inner harmony, but would perish, were it not for the outer harmony imposed by the philosophers. This is a sad fact, and would be altogether disheartening, were it not for the belief, which Plato seems to have derived from Pythagoras and the Egyptians, that those human beings who fail to attain harmony in one life, will have opportunities to do so in other lives, so long as they do not, by some awful and malignant crime or crimes, show that they are utterly incapable of harmony. Plato's scheme of political education, therefore, requires, as its complement, the doctrines of individual immortality, of probation continued through as many lives as may be necessary, and of the possibility of final and eternal blessedness or misery. In fact, Plato has a fully-developed eschatology, with an "other world," consisting of three well-defined parts,--Elysium, Acheron, and Tartarus,--corresponding to the Paradise, Purgatory, and h.e.l.l of Catholic Christianity; with one important difference, however, due to the doctrine of metempsychosis. While the Christian purgatory is a place or state of purgation for souls whose probation is over forever, Acheron is merely a place where imperfect souls remain till the end of a world-period, or aeon, of ten thousand years, when they are again allowed to return to life and renew their struggle for that complete harmony which is the condition of admission to the society of the G.o.ds.

It is from this eschatology that Plato derives the moral sanctions which he employs in his State. It is true that no one has insisted with greater force than he upon the truth that virtue is, in and for itself, the highest human good; he believed, however, that this could be appreciated only by the philosopher, who had experience of it, and that for the lower orders of men a more powerful, though less n.o.ble, sanction was necessary. Accordingly, he depicts the joys of Elysium in images that could not but appeal to the h.e.l.lenic imagination, and paints Tartarus in gruesome colors that would do honor to a St. Ignatius.

In order fully to understand the method of Plato's political education, we must revert to Chapter III of Book I. There we saw that, according to the Greeks, a complete education demanded three things, (1) a n.o.ble nature, (2) training through habit, (3) instruction. For the first Plato would do what can be done by artificial selection of parents; for the second, he would depend upon music and gymnastics; for the third, upon philosophy. In these last two divisions we have the root of the mediaeval _trivium_ and _quadrivium_. The Platonic pedagogical system seeks to separate the ign.o.ble from the n.o.ble natures, and to place the former in the lowest cla.s.s. It then trains the n.o.ble natures in music and gymnastics, and, while this is going on, it tries to distinguish those natures which are capable of rising above mere training to reflective or philosophic thought, from those which are not. The latter it a.s.signs to the military cla.s.s, which always remains at the stage of training, while the former are instructed in philosophy, and, if they prove themselves adepts, are finally admitted to the ruling cla.s.s, as sages. Any member of either of the higher cla.s.ses who proves himself unworthy of that cla.s.s, may at any time be degraded into the next below.

As soon as the children are accepted by the State, their education under State nurses begins. The chief efforts of these for some time are directed to the bodies of the children, to seeing that they are healthy and strong. As soon as the young creatures can stand and walk, they are taught to exert themselves in an orderly way and to play little games; and as soon as they understand what is said to them, they are told stories and sung to. Such is their first introduction to gymnastics and music. What games are to be taught, what stories told, and what airs sung to the children, the State determines, and indeed, since the character of human beings depends, in great measure, upon the first impression made upon them, this is one of its most sacred duties. Plato altogether disapproves of leaving children without guidance to seek exercise and amus.e.m.e.nt in their own way, and demands that their games shall be such as call forth, in a gentle and harmonious way, all the latent powers of body and mind, and develop the sense of order, beauty, and fitness. He is still more earnest in insisting that the stories told to children shall be exemplifications of the loftiest morality, and the airs sung to them such as settle, strengthen, and solemnize the soul. He follows Herac.l.i.tus in demanding that the Homeric poems, so long the storehouse for children's stories, shall be entirely proscribed, on account of the false ideals which they hold up both of G.o.ds and heroes, and the intimidating descriptions which they give of the other world.

Virtue, he holds, cannot be furthered by fear, which is characteristic only of slaves. He thinks that all early intellectual training should be a sort of play. The truth is, the infant-school of Plato's _Republic_ comes as near as can well be imagined to the ideal of the modern kindergarten.