No More Learning

in', but also the enemies and calumniators of Socrates,
and even many of the illustrious men whom Athens
had produced, especially Pericles. What most of all,
however, characterizes this production, is, that Socra-
tes does not pursue his ordinary method of question and
answer; he pronounces, on the contrary, connected
discourses; and, far from inertly stating doubts, he
expresses his sentiments in clear and precise terms.
In general, there reigns in this dialogue a more serious
tone than that which pervades the two previous pnes,
and less of irony. But the place of the latter is sup-
plied by a caustic kind of manner, which is not found
in the others. According to Stallbaum, this dialogue
was written not long after 413 B. C. A writer in the
Jena Review controverts this opinion. (Stallbaum,
ad Phileb. , p xl --JenaAllgem. Lit. Zeil. , 1822, No.
195. )--4. Qaiduv, i) irepl i'l^c, "Phazdon, or con-
cerning the Suul. " This dialogue is one of the most
remarkable of those that bear th* iim<< of Plato. The
interlocutors are Phaedon, the subsequent founder of
the school of Elis, and Echecrales. The former of
these gives the latter an account of all that happened
towards the close of Socrates' life, and relates the con-
versation of this philosopher with Cebcs and Simmias.
Socrates undertakes to prove the immortality of the
soul by its spirituality; and we have here the first
traces of a demonstration, which modern philosophy,
under the guidance of revelation, has carried on to so
successful a result. Tho doctrine which Plato here
puts into the mouth of Socrates is not entirely pure;
it is amalgamated with the Pythagorean hypothesis of
the metempsychosis, and with all sorts of fables bor-
rowed from the Greek mythology. --The Phadon is
regarded by all critics as one of the dialogues of Plato
respecting the authenticity of which not the least
doubt can be raised. And yet, if we are to believe
an epigram in the Anthology 'Ejndict. , n. 358, An-
ted. Pal. ; 1, 44, Anthol. Plan. ), the celebrated
Pansutms rejected it as supposititious. It is most
probable, however, that the author of the epigram
oi question mistook the sense of the passage in which
Pansetiiis spoke of the Phadon, and that the phi-
losopher merely meant to say that Plato puts into
the mouth of Socrates a doctrine which \\r, Panse-
tius, did not admit; fot we know from Citero that
i'ansetms differed in this point from the tenet j of Pla-
Iv (Tunc Dixp. , 1,32. )--5. eeoin/roc, tjit'pi tnti-
rq/aic. "Thrattetus, or concerning Science. " Tie
geometer, Theodorus of Gyrene, his pupil TheaMetus,
and Socrates, aro the interlocutors in this dialogue:
the subject discussed is the nature of science. Socra-
tes, assuming the character of ignorance, and compa-
ring himself to a midwife, pretends that all his wisdom
is limited to the aiding of others in giving birth to their
ideas. Under this pretext he refuses to define sci-
ence; and yet, at the same time. h>> shows the inad-
missibility of all the definitions given by Theaetetus.
This dialogue is a kind of sportive dialectics, and leads
to no positive result. In it Plato, as usual, combats
the sophists; he turns his arms, too, against all the
schools that had been produced from the Socratic,
namely, the Megaric, Cynic, and Cyrenaic : he attacks,
in particular, the dualistic system of Heraclilus. --6.
Zof^jonpc. ti irepi rov bvroc, " The Sophist, or con-
teining that which exists. " This dialogue is a con-
tinuation, as it were, of the preceding. After having
shown, in the Theaetetus, that there exists no science
? ? obtained through the medium of the senses, Plato here
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? PLA'IU
PLATO.
? ? pendent of all conventional arrangement; the other,
Cratylus, a disciple of Keraclitus, regard i them as ar-
bitrary signs of our ideas, imposed on the objects
which they designate, either from accident, use, or
some fitness which they possess. Socrates shows the
insufficiency of each of these systems, without, how-
ever, replacing them by a third. This discussion gives
rise to many etymological discussions, which cannot
now be very interesting for us. --10. <WAj7ooc, ij ? Kepi
ijilowjc, "PhiUbut, or concerning Pleasure. " This
dialogue is distinguished from those already mention-
ed in that it is not limited to the overthrow of false
doctrines, but examines the subject matter itself with
great care. It has an end in view strictly dogmatical,
iliat is, to establish a truth and enunciate a positive
proposition: this proposition is, that good consists
neither in pleasure nor in knowledge, but in the union
of the first and the second with the sovereign good,
which is God. The Philebus is almost entirely de-
void of irony; but it is sometimes deficient in clear
ness. It is one of the principal sources from which
to obtain an acquaintance with the moral system of
Plato. --11. ivundatov, ij mpi lourof, " The Banquet,
or concerning Love. " Plato appears to have had a
double object in view in writing this dialogue: the
first, to discourse upon the nature of love; and the
other, to defend Socrates against the calumnies to
which he had been exposed. Agathon celebrates by
a banquet a poetical victory which has just been gained
by him. The guests agree that each one, in turn,
shall write a eulogium on love. Phaedrus, Pausa-
uias, Eryximachus, Aristophanes, and Agathon, speak
each on this subject, according to their respective
principles and views; and in this species cf oratorical
encounter, Aristophanes assumes a character most in
accordance with his peculiar talent, thftt of satire.
Socrates, who succeeds, paints metaphysical love, that
is, philosophy, the end of which is to excite the love
of virtue, the only true and imperishable source of
beauty. The Banquet is that one of the productions
of Plato on which he would seem to have bestowed
the greatest care. He has spread over it all the riches
of his imagination, his eloquence, and his talent for
composition. --12. HoXiTeia, f/ irepi iixsiov, "A Re-
public, or concerning what ii Just. " The following
able analysis of this celebrated production is deserving
of insertion. {Southern Review, No. 7, p. 127, seqq. )
"To say of Plato's Republic that it is the idea of a
perfect commonwealth, is not to give by any means an
adequate, or even a just description of it. It is, in
one sense, to be sure, a dream of social and political
perfection, and, so far, its common title is not alto-
gether inapplicable to it; but it bears hardly any re-
semblance to the things that generally pass under that
name; to the figments, for example, of Harrington and
Sir Thomas More. Compared with it, Tclcmachus,
though a mere epic in prose, is didactic and practical:
the Cyropedia deserves to be regarded as the manual
of soldiers and statesmen, and as the best scheme of
discipline for forming them. Plato's is a mere vision,
and that vision is altogether' characteristic of his ge-
nius as his contemporaries conceived of it. It is
something between prose and poetry in style; it is
something made up both of poetry and philosophy in
the plan and design. But a very small part of it is
given to any topics that can pretend to the character
of political. Indeed, Socrates expressly says, that the
? ? institution of a commonwealth is but a subordinate ob-
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? PT iTO
PLATO.
Sjiiy developed, are so well disciplined and disposed,
'. hat nothing jarring or discordant, nothing uneven or
irregular, is ever perceived in them. And so in the
larger type, a perfect polity is that in which the same
proportion and fitness are observed; in which the dif-
ferent orders of society move in their own sphere, and
do only their appointed work; in which intellect gov-
erns, and strength and passion submit; that is, coun-
cellors advise, soldiers make war, and the labouring
classes employ themselves in their humble, but neces-
sity and productive calling. The division of labour is
? fundamental principle of Plato's legislation, and is
enforced by very severe penalties. He considers it as
in the highest degree absurd, as out of all reason and
proportion, that one man should pretend to be good at
many things. --On the other hand, the most fearfully
depraved condition of society is that which Polybius
calls an ochlocracy; an anarchy of jacobins and sans-
culottes, where every passion breaks loose in wild dis-
order, and no law is obeyed, no right respected, no de-
corum observed; where young men despise their se-
niors, and old men affect the manners of youth, and
children are disobedient to their parents, wives to their
husbands, slaves to their masters. The justice of
which he speaks is not, therefore, the single cardinal
virtue known by that name. It is not commutative
justice, nor retributive justice, nor (except, perhaps,
in a qualified sense) distributive justice. It does not
consist in mere outward conformity or specific acts.
Its scat is in the inmost mind; its influence is the
music of the soul; it makes the whole nature of the
true philosopher a concert of disciplined affections, a
choir of virtues attuned to the most perfect accord
among themselves, and falling in with the mysterious
and everlasting harmonics of heaven and earth. --This
general idea is still farther illustrated by the scheme
of education in Plato's Republic. It is extremely sim-
ple; for young men it consists only of music and gym-
nastics; for adepts of an advanced age, it is the study
of truth, pure truth, the good, the to Sv, the divine
monad, the one eternal, unchangeable. It is in the
third book that he orders the former division of the
scheme. It is necessary to cultivate with equal care
both the parts of which it is composed, and to allow of
no excess or imperfection in either. They who are
addicted exclusively to music become effeminate and
slothful; they, on the other hand, who only discipline
their nature by the exercises of the gymnasium, be-
come rude and savage. This music, as Tiedemann
observes, is mystic and mathematical. Pythagoras
and Plato thought everything musical of divine origin.
--God gave us these great correctives of the soul and
of the body, not for the sake of either separately, but
that all their powers, and functions, and impulses,
should be fully brought out into action; and, above
all. be harmonized into mutual assistance and perfect
unison. Plato's whole method and discipline is di-
rected to this end. He banishes from his ideal terri-
tory the Lydian and Ionic measures as ' softly sweet'
and wanton, while he retains, for certain purposes, the
grave Dorian mood, and the spirit-stirring Phrygian.
So, in like manner, lie expels all the poets except the
didactic, with Homer at their head. The tragic poets
were, in reference to moral education, especially of-
fensive to him. In conformity with the same princi-
ple, be proscribes all manner of deliciousness and ex-
cess, Sicilian feasts, and Corinthian girls, and A'. tic
? ? dainties, as leading to corruption of manners, and to
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? PLATO.
PLATO
? be subjects or critical scepti-ism, since Schlelcrma-1 this of the Laws that called oft' the alteol. on of ihm
. ? hei thought he had discovered in some of them what author from his design of writing the Hermogem,. i
Diogenes Laertius informs us (3, 37), that Plato died
before publishing his Laws, and that Philip of Opus,
one of his disciples, gave to the world the manuscript,
which he found among his master's tablets. Thh
was not characteristic of Plato, and since Ast has re-
acted them all indiscriminately. --15. Knpuv $ nepi
tfouudtolur (iitXia it', '-Twelve books of Laws, or con-
cerning Legislation. " This work has, until lately,
Veen regarded as that production of antiquity which
moat distinguishes itself by the importance of ita sub-
ject, and the richness of the materials connected with
it; aa that in which the philosopher, abandoning the
paths of imagination, enters into those of real life, and
jnfolds a part of bis system, the putting of which into
practice he considered as possible; for it cannot but
be admitted that the Laws are to be viewed as the
production of Plato's old age. Bockh makes the work
to have been written in Plato's seventy-fourth year (ad
M. n , p. 73). Plato here traces the basis of a legis-
lation less idoal, and more conformable to the weak-
ness of human nature, than that which he had given
in his Republic. The scene of the dialogue is laid in
the island of Crete. The author criticises the codes
of Minos and Lycurgus, as having no other object in
view but the formation of warriors. He shows thai
? he object of a legislator ought to be to maintain the
freedom and union of the citizens, and to establish a
wise form of government. Examining the different
forms of government that had existed in Greece or
other countries, he exposes their several defects. In
the course of these remarks, he traces, in hia third
book, a character of Cyrus far different from that
which Xenophon has left. It is commonly supposed
that Plato wished, in so doing, to retaliate on Xeno-
phon, whose Cyropirdia appeared to him to hare been
directed against the first two books of his Republic.
Bockh, however, has written against this opinion.
(De Si mult ale. quam Plato cum Xenophonte excr-
cuisse fcrtur, Bcrol. , 1811. ) After these preliminary
observations, the philosopher enters more directly on
his subject in the fourth book. He treats at first of
the worship of the gods, the basis of every well-regu-
lated slate. The fifth book contains the elements
of social order, the duties of children towards their
parents, of parents towards their children, the duties
of citizens and of strangers. He then considers
the political form of the state that is to be founded.
Plato, if he is the author of the work, renounces in it
all the chimeras of his youth, the community of prop-
erty, and of women and children. In the sixth book
be treats of magistrates, of the laws of marriage, of
slavery; in the seventh of the education of children;
in the eighth of public festivals and of commerce; in
the ninth of crimes; in the tenth of religion; in the
eleventh of contracts, testaments, <Stc. ; in the twelfth
of various topics, such as military discipline, oaths,
right of property, prescription, &c. --Every page of
the Laws is in contradiction to the Republic. Never-
theless, the Laws existed in the time of Aristotle; and
this philosopher, who cites them by name, expresses
no doubts whatever as to their authenticity. The dif-
ference of style between this work and some other
productions of Plato may be easily explained by the
difference pf age. Ast objects, that Plato himself de-
clares the Republic, Timasus, and Critias to be his
? ? hut works, and that after thia he will write a dialogue,
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? PLATO
. PLATO
If tfl , 1826 "1--20. AiVif, >) nc(. i fiAiac, "Lysis, or
roncerning Friendship. " The authjr here treats, with-
ju*. eomiiig lo any decision, a questi >n which has oc-
cupied much of the attention both of ancient and mod-
ern philosophers, namely, "What produces friend-
ship and love? " (Plato's and Aristotle's ideas on
friendship arc finely given by Bouterwek, in the fourth
volume of the "Neuen Vesta. ") According to Dio-
genes Laerlius (3, 24), Socrates, on hearing this dia-
logue read, exclaimed, "By Hercules! how many
thinga does this young man falsely report of me! "
Hence it appears to have been the work of Plato's
youth. Schleiermaeher regards this dialogue as au-
thentic. Ast and Socher reject it. --21. 'AAK(67<i6i/r
6 ucifcv, r) irtpl ^ieeuc uvBpiirroii, "The first (or
greater) Alcibiades, or concerning the Nature of Man. "
The second member of this title, added by the com-
mentators, does not suit the subject. The dialogue
has reference merely to Alcibiades, who, young and
presumptuous, without knowledge and without experi-
ence, is on the point of presenting himself before the
people to be employed in the government of the state.
Socrates directs him to study first the principles of
law and politics. The end of this piece is to show
the true nature of the attachment which Socrates had
for this young man, an attachment which made him
so desirous of correcting his faults. --As Socrates, in
the course of this dialogue, compares the Deity to
light, certain commentators have discovered in this
expression the germe, as they think, of the system. of
emanation, in which God is light and matter is dark-
ness. --Schleiermaeher considers this production as
supposititious. --22. \Xm6uidnc /)', y mpi irpooevxyc,
"The second Alcibiades, or concerning Prayer. " Soc-
rates shows Alcibiades the emptiness and inconsist-
ency of the prayers which mortals address to the di-
vinity, unable as they are to tell whether the things
for which they pray will turn to their advantage or
cot. Socher declares against this dialogue. --23.
tievt^cvoc, f/ iniTufyioc, "Mcnezenus. or the Funeral
Dration. " This funeral oration, in honour of those
Athenians who had died for their country, is put in
the mouth of Aspasia, and is supposed to have been
an extemporaneous production on her part.
The end
of Plato, in composing this satirical piece, was, with-
out doubt, to show that oratory was not a very diffi-
cult art. Bockh very acutely maintains, in his com-
mentary on the Minos, that Plato, in many of his dia-
logues, comes forth in a polemic attitude against the
celebrated Lvsias, and especially in his Mcnexenus.
(Bockh. adMin. , p. 182, seqq ) The events connect-
ed with the history of Athens, which are alluded to in
the course of this dialogue, reach to the peace of An-
talcidas, concluded fourteen years after the death of
Socrates. This anachronism, which may be pardoned
in a satirical production, has nevertheless induced
Schleiermaeher to regard as supposititious the begin-
ning and end of the dialogue. Schlciermacher's opin-
ion, which is also that of Ast, and which was first
started by Schlegel, in Wieland's Attische Museum
(vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 2C2, seqq. ), has found an opponent
in Loers, in his edition of the Menexenus, Colon.
Agripp. , 1824. --24. Adxnc, i? Trepl avipeiac, "Laches,
or concerning Bravery. " The author shows that it is
difficult to say what bravery properly is: his principal
Object, however, is to enforce the necessity of not
confining the education of the young to mere bodily
? ? exercises. --25. 'Ijrjrtar juiCuv, 7 irepi tov koJiov,
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? PLATO.
PLATO.
tl Halicaruassus calls this production a ec'. ogium un i
"It the form of an apology (cd. Rcisle, vol. 5, p. 21)5,
808). Bockh maintains, tha-> Plato wrote the "De-
fence of Socrates" in a spirit of rivalry towards the
one composed by Lysias; and he refers to Plutarci
(X Oral. Vit. --Op. , ed. Reiske, vol. 9, p. 324). Ast,
>n the contrary, remarks that Plutarch appears rather
to have had in his eye the oration of Lysiaa mentioned
in the Phsedrus. 'Bockh, ad Min. , p. 182. --Ast, Pla-
tans Leben, dec, p. 492. -- Compare Beck, Comment.
Societ. Philolog. Lips. , vol. 4, pt. I, p. 28. )--30.
Kpi'ruv, 7 Ttepi itpoKTeoi, "Crito, or concerning the
Duty of a Citizen. " The scene of this dialogue be-
tween Crito and Socrates is in the prison where the
latter is confined, during the interval between his con-
demnation and death. Crito advises him to fly, and
hint* that the keeper of the prison has been bribed by
him, and that all things are ready for his escape. Soc-
rates, on the other hand, maintains that it is not allow-
ed a citizen to withdraw himself from that authority
*hich has power over him, nor to break the tacit com-
pact by which he has bound himself to obey the laws
of his country. Not only Ast, but another writer also,
has attacked the authenticity of this dialogue. {Del-
truck, Sokratcs, Kiln. , 1819,8vo. ) It has found, how-
ever, vigorous supporters in Thiersch, Socher, and Brc-
mi. (Philologische Beytrage ausderSchweiz. , Zurich,
1819, 8vo, p. 143. )--31. Qeaync, fj Ttepi ooipiac, " The-
zges, or concerning Wisdom. " Demodocus having
brought to Socrates his son Theages, desirous of learn-
ing that kind of wisdom by which one is lilted for gov-
erning the state, Socrates declines the proposal, on the
ground that he has not yet heard the voice of his Ge-
nius, without whose approbation nothing that he might
undertake would auccced. The end of the dialogue
is to show that the method of Socrates differs from that
of the sophists, in that the former gives no regular in-
struction to his disciples, but forms them to virtue in
bis society and by his converse. This dialogue con-
tains some very line passages. Schlciermacher re-
gards it as supposititious. --32. 'AvTtpaorai, "The
Rivals," also entitled 'Kpaorai, $ wept <j>i\ooo$iac,
"The Lovers, or concerning Philosophy. " A very
feeble dialogue, the object of which is to show that
Socrates estimated virtue and justice above every-
thing else, and cared very little for purely speculative
researches. --33. '\Ttizapxoe, fi ^iXoxepdijc, " Hippar-
chut, or the Lover of Gain. " This dialogue, which is
very probably mutilated, is deficient in plan. It treats
of the false ideas that men entertain respecting the ac-
quisition and love of gain. The author advances in
the course of it some historical paradoxes. Socher,
who defends several dialogues against the attacks of
Sctileiermacher and Ast, acknowledges, with them,
and also with Wolf (Prolegom. ad Horn. , p. cliv. ), that
this is not one of Plato's productions Valckcnaer
{ad Herod. , 5, f)5) had already expressed the same
opinion. -- 34. Mt'vor, fj Ttepi vouov, " Minos, or con-
cerning Law. " Socrates discourses, in this dialogue,
with a certain Minos on the nature of law, which he
lakes, in its most extended sense, as the rule of all our
actions. We here find the first elements of the doc-
trine of modern philosophers respecting the law of na-
ture and the moral law. The authenticity of this dia-
logue has been ably attacked by Bockh, with whom
Socher agrees. (Bockh, Comment, in Platonis dialog.
? i vutgo inscribitur Min. , cVc, Hahe, 1806, 4to )--
? ? . K? . et"04K. "'V, fj irpoTpexTtKoc, " Clitophon, or the Ex-
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? PLATO
P LA
"v Plato to Sicilv, and to the intrigues of which this
stand was the theatre, in consequence of the tyranny
of the younger Dionysius and the movements of Dion.
The correspondence in question appears to have been
published by some of the followers of Plato with the
view of exculpating their master and themselves from
the charge of fomenting troubles in Syracuse. Cicero
seems to have entertained no doubt of these letters
being genuine, and he cites one of them as "prttclara
eputola Platonit. " (Tutc. Disp . 5, 35. ) The fol-
lowing modern scholars have denied their authenticity:
Mcincrs, CommeiUat. Soc. , Goit. , 1783, p. 51, tcqq. --
Gruddcck,Lileratur-Guchichle. --Ticdemann, Griech-
enlands ertle Philotophcn, p. 476, ttqq. --Alt, Pin-
ion* Leben und Schriften, p. 376, teqq. -- Socher,
Veber Platon* Schriften, Munchtn, 1820. --In de-
fence of their genuineness we may name, Schlotttr,
Plato* Briefe uhertetzt (Schmid und Sncll, Philot.
Journ. , vol. 2, p. 3, Gietten, 1795). --Tennemann,
Lchrcn und Mcinungen der Sokratiker, p. 17, *eqq.
--Id. , System der Plat. Philot. , p. 106, ttqq. --Mor-
gtnsltrn, Entuntrf von Plato* Leben, etc. --Grimm,
Ve Epistolit Platonis, an genuinct vcl tupposilititz
tint, Berol. , 1815. --We have six lives of Plato re-
maining, three others by Speusippus, Porphyry, and
Aristoxenus being lost. The most ancient of these
six lives is that by Apuleius, in the first book of his
work, "De habitudine doctrinarum -( de nativitate
Platoni*. " The other five are written in Greek; of
these, one is by Diogenes Laertius, and is found in
Jie third book of his compilation; another is by Olym-
piodorus, and is given at the head of his commentary on
the first Alcibiades; the third is by Hesychius of Mi-
letus; the fourth and fifth are anonymous. All these
lives are scanty and crowded with fables. Two of the
best modern biographies of the philosopher are those
of Tennemann and Ast. The former of these has
been translated by the Rev. Mr. Edwards, professor
in the Theological Seminary at Andover, and forms
part of a work, entitled " Selection* from German Lit-
erature, by B. B. Edioardt and E. A. Park, Prqfct-
tort Tkeol. Sent. Andmer," 1839. Valuable mate-
rials have been obtained by us, from this, for our bi-
ographical sketch of Plato. The commentaries on
Plato are still numerous, though very many have been
last. A Platonic Lexicon by Timaeus has come down
to us, of which Ruhnken published an excellent edi-
tion in 1754; and to the same modern scholar we
owe the publication of some valuable Platonic scholia
(Lugi. Bat, 1800, Rvo). A new edition of the Lex-
icon of Timaeus, by Koch, appeared from the Leipsic
press in 1828. --Of the MSS. of Plato, two possess
great value on account of their early date. One of
these belongs to the tenth century, and is at present in
the Royal Library at Paris, being known among its
collection of MSS. as No. 1807. The other is the
celebrated one brought over from Groece by Dr.
Clarke, the well-known traveller. It is now in the
Bodleian Library at Oxford. This is the earlier of
the two, having been written in 896 A. D. It contains
the first twenty-four dialogues, with the titles precisely
as they are given in the Basic edition of 1534. In the
margin are written scholia in a very ancient hand.
The MS. is on vellum. In 1812, Professor Guisford
published an account of it, in his " Catalogue, tint
\olitia Manutcriptorum. quiacel. E. D. Clarke com-
parali, in Bibliotkcca Bodleiana adtcrvantur," etc. ,
? ? Oxen. , 1812, its. In 1820, the same scholar publish-
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? PLA
PLAUTUS.
charged with having made use of his exorbitant power
to oppress the people, and to excite the vindictive
passions of his master. By the marriage of his daugh-
ter Plautilla with Caracalia, who had already, for some
years, enjoyed the rank of Augustus, he obtained ad-
mittance into the imperial household; where his pride,
and the influence which he possessed over the emper-
or, rendered him an object of suspicion and dislike.
Being it last accused privately to the emperor of aim-
ing at the succession, he was slain by a soldier, at the
order of Caracalia, in the presence of Severus. Plau-
tilla wan banished by Severus, along with her brother
Plautus, to the island of Lipara, where, seven years
after, she was put to death by order of Caracalia, A. D.
311. (Herodtan, 3, 10. --Dio Cass. , 76, 14, seqq. --
Spar Han. , Vit. Sev. )
Plautus, M.