New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-08-11

the text, save for scruplc expressed III inc
preface II is there said respecting the use OF
Scripture quotation: Having greater ioice
and beauty than other language. and q RELIGIOUS
association it disturbs the even flow OF the style
| 1t may be used 10 reproduce In the tahsa"oh
! the quaint effect of some antique phrase III 'nc
original. but rarely; and when adopted IL sno"iu
have a CERTAIN freshness and a suitable en'ouraee'
r. ia strange TO observe that the most effective
use of Scripture phraseology arises on. oi u'e
application of it in a sense not intended by inc
author"
Professor Jowett is equally avsrse, though LOT
a different reason. 20 tho excessive use OF phrases
from Shakespeare Still he does use them-ln
some cases in a sense not intended oy 'he
author They fool me to the top OIL NY
bent" said Hamlet, out of patience WIN 'ne
absurd tests TO which his sanity was put 30
Professor Jowett has Socrates fooling az inc
Ton of his bent One might infer that he was
testing the sanity OF the other people. As
matter of fact that exactly what ne was
! doing, but not with malice aforethoush''
Socrates was Greek, and there were Jew innings
| the ancient Greeks were weaker In thah e.S
nology. In the Cratylus there is superhu"S
% tho kind Of verbal analysis which seemed an
| admirable thing 10 Plato but which gives a
| modern scholar the headache. Socrates is repre-
s.r+.d "a nerformipg the most extraordinary
|
| too,a in tho derivation Of words. So the trans
later instead Of putting the supescrption 70
Inse as a statement OF what Plato was ABOUT
| turned II into criticism the text. lie was
obliged 10 repeat these tactics over other passages
Of the Cratvlus. and We find him calling at'enr
ton 20 more ridiculous etymoogies from
page 70 page The same device OF seh'enuo"'
criticism. condensng the uselessness OF ione
nassnee in four or Eve words. is adopted over 'sc
discussion in the Sophist respecting something
and nothing Notbciug-that awiuI puzzN'
SAWS Professor Jowctt grimly pleased 70 tnump
sbundly the everlasting paradox OF metaphys"s
| Not only does he cite Shakespeare ana inc
Ribe in the way described; he also turns fla'o
himself TO an unexpected use. In tho iu'ro0"o-
.;on 70 the Pbi,ebus he has occasion 10 discuss
militia rians ancient and modern. ana ne remarks
among other things Ave are living In inc
s.cond ago Of utitarianism. when the charm OF
novelty and the fervor of the first disciples nave
nossed awoy The doctrine is no longer stated
| In Tho forcible paradoxical manner OF Bcntha'n'
| hut has 70 be adapted TO meet oDJecNons' l's
corners are rubbed off, and the meaning Oh ns
most characteristics expressions is SCREENED puV
while he is willing TO say this, he is not Wiling
| N have his reverence for Bcntham douoted. 90
at the top Of the page one reads IL Den."
| conld come back 10 life" One has 10 60 back
| 70 the Thcactetus 10 find the literary aliuson
which Professor Jowett has in MIND. lhere
Socrates after amusing himself with the doctrines
~ Protacoras was mildly called down oy lheo-
dor,is with the remark, think Nocia'es' We
arc running nv old friend too hard Socrates
evidently felt the same way for he exclaimed
"Jf no could only lust get hi. head out OF the
world below. he would have overthrown both OF
ne ooain and again, me for talking nonsense, and
Won for asserting to me, and have been on ana
| underground in a tricc.'
Professor Iowett even makes an ehort 70 trahs'
fer 10 a page heading one OF Platos puh7' ""'
he would probably not insist on the SUCCESS Vi
the effort. The play on words Is IN lac' "l-
trarsatablc II turns on the point hrst 'hau al
Greek law originated in custom and was throu'n-
cut the historic period largely matter OF custom
as we'll as of direct enactment Now music was
also q matter of custom to very remarkao"
derrce 90 that certain well known chants ottch
ropeated became known az laws, That l., rs hohoi
Plato amused himself in grave fashion III the
laws with this ambiguous meaning OF a word in
frequent use reversing, as may be suspected the
nrocess Of derivation. and for the sake of the
argument affirming the paradox that strains OF
music are our laws Above this Professor
Io,yctt has the phrase A law about laws but
he has TO add the explanation, That Is, strains
Of music which is almost as bad as 10 be
obliged 70 nut under the drawing OF q quadrupfd
This is horse Only one OF the paCe-hcadings
has been found that contradictcd the text In
the Nenexenus il is said: " Had the orator to
nrais4 Athenians among Peloponnesians, or felo-
nonnesians among Athenians lie would be gooI
rhetorician who could succeed and gain credit
But there lis no difficulty in mans winning APP
n,ouse when he is contcnding for fame among the
ncrsons whom he il praslng over ths 'he
headline with more than Socratic irony Is Eas
"a praise Athenians among Peloponneslans. 10
have tried this would have been like laudlna tho
Pope in an Orange lodge, or celebrating the
| Rattle Of the Boyne in the midst OF mob OF
Catholic Irishmen.
The "etwa. neuesn OF which Freeman com
nloin,d has no attractions for Professor Jow'l''
The beauty Of hts work throughout consists larSeN
in his conservatism. lie has no startling theories
20 offer respecting the Platonic dea, for example
and he sits down with all his weight upon thoSe
who have lie Is thoroughly disguised by the
| usel.ssncss Of some OF the new sciences IN whlch
| men busy Themselves or some Of these sciences
| which he does not name he speaks WIN pit'er-
ness but he discusses Psychology at some Iehg'h'
certainly in no feeling OF hopcfuneSS Tor the OUT
come of the very modern methods lie inu-
mates that the popular phrase, survival OF the
Gttest," is a truism rather than grand scch'lhc
discovery. lie smiles at the learning that has
| been devoted TO proving that Plato did not spin
from his own Imagination the myth Of Atlantis.
No five volumes in the English language consti-
into a more emphatic protest against the familiar
nractisc Of going Of at half cock" before one
has stndied ones subject. The trouble Is that
| tbosc who need the lesson will never read Pro-
fessor Jowett