The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-10-14
l..

pliers, II they had become popular, would
have destroyed the orthodox religion. In the
system Of DemaCrituS and IN that Of his fol-.
lower. E]picurus. the god were nominally al
lowed to exist, but only aS spirits who lay
beside tn ir nectar and took no part in the
ordering Of human ana'rs. AnaNagoras put
intellect in the place of divine power, and Prota-
goras. "a We have just noted, was an H~gnostic.
IL was only in the teaching Of the Pythagore-
ans that religion maintained a place among
philosophers. and their religion was not that
OF the common people The Greeks. however.
were not readers, though it IS probable that
almost every Athenian could read, and for
a long time the speculations of philosophy
we're either written down in books perused by
but a few, or discussed in narrow circles. In
Athens. AT any rate, philosophy and religion
did not diyerge from one another so widely
a. among the holder thinkers of lonia and
ThraCe. This was due in a great measure
to the influence Of Socrates B & i%69-3aa). who,
disCardInG physical inquiries. altogether de-
voted himself 70 moral and mental specula-
tion and criticism. He was an Athcuian Of
the Athenians, SO great a lover Of his city that
he never left it except to serve on the battle
field. and. when condemned to death, refused
to save his life by di~ohedience 10 tho laws
under which he suffered, a man Of 50 religious
a nature that he claimed To be guided in all
his actions by a divine voice. lie took up
the questions opened by the wandering sophists
so far as they related to ethic, or politics.
and endeavored to find answer to them based
on deeper Investigations A sculptor by trade.
he was satisfied with the bnre~t p%ittauCe In the
way Of wages. and spent his time in talk
ing to any one whom he could find ready to
enter into discussion. Asking no fee
e. Is. ,,.tr,,,t,., 10 ,,tr..t,L, a. could
be called. when he always insisted that he was
the most ignorant Of the company he ASSOC
ciated with rich and poor tnl he gathered
around him a band OF disciples who shaped
the philosophy Of the next century 1t
is well known that Socrates wrote moth
ing himself. neither did he attempt TO frame
any system of ethics. or TO teach any regu-
lar course. His power lay in conversation,
by a serie of subtly contrlved questions, he
led the dis uSsiou in this way and that till
his opponent had become involved In mex
tricable difficulties or downright contradic-
tiOns. Protesting to know nothing himself
he was always convincing others Of their ignor-
ance and at the same time stimulated them to
lay a sure foundation Of knowledge and Of
virtue. Among those who listened to him was
Xenophon. who in the simple memorials of his
masters conversations which he has jotted
down has given ~ a liielike picture Of Socrates
a. he might be seen in the market place of
Athens. OF at a barber shop. or in the house
Of a friend. day by day, asking questions, and
tearing to pieces the answers which he received
till he exposed their superficiality If he did not
attain to the truth beyond them. Plato. also
a disciple, made the conversations Of Socrates
the basis Of his dialogues. Through his disCi-
pies genius, Socrates has become the best
Lv,,p Cy,,ra ,,,,py tho t,bfl,apphara ~ tho
world. and the account which Plato has given
of his masters closing days is little less than
a canonization. For IL came 10 pass that Soc
rates. whose whole life had been passed in the
performance Of duty. fell a victim To the re-
liglous and political susceptibilities Of the
Athenians: he was accused Of atheism and Of
perverting the young men with whom he was
associated. and. when more than 70 years of
age, was condemned to death.
Through Socrates Athens became a centre Of
philosophy. 80 far as ethics and politics were
concerned. In the department Of science. on
the other hand. she had but little share. Hip
p~ocrates, the great physician Of the fifth century
B G.. was a native Of Cos, and what were called
the medical schools Of the time were to be found
in that island and at Epidaurus. Cnidus and
Croton. To Croton belonged Democodes. and
in the next generation Acmwon, who was the
founder OF anatomy. From Cnidus came
Euryphon and Ctesias, who was ply sician to
ArtaSerXes Mnemon at the close Of the century.
The writings Of Hippocrates were the classics"
of the art. Disease was no longer regarded as
due to supernatural influence and a. susceptible
Of cure only by charms and inc1ntations, or by
dreams In the temple Of Asclepius. Hippo
crates maintained that all diseases have a
natural cause. and that natural means must be
taLop for thair p1rp Nature must he aided
where possible. he said. and where she cannot
be- aided she must be left to herself. What
drugs cannot cure the knife must heal; where
the knife fails fire must be applied, and II fire
fails there * no remedy" In the kindred
sciences Of botany and biology little was done,
though Democritus laid a foundation for future
studies in those fields by his ~treatioes on the
causes Of seeds, plants and fruits and on the
Of animals. More attention was
paid TO mathematics; in the Platonic system,
as In the Pythagorcan, they occupied the fore
most place among studies preparatory to philos-
ophy. a position due not so much to the teaching
OF Socrates a. to Plato's sympathy with the
exactness OF thought. Yet no Athenian seems
to have attained great eminence as a mathc-
matiCian, except, perhaps, Melton, who tB. c.
1927 arranged the calendar on a new and
accurate system, based on a cycle Of
nineteen years. by Nhlcn the SOAR ana lunar
years were brought into closer connection
with each other. In geography both scientific
and descriptive, the Greeks took the liveliest
interest. As we have seen. geographical works
were among the first efforts in prose. The
Pythagoreans advanced so far as to conceive
OF the earth as a cone. and Parmenides. fol-
lowing this up. Invented a theory OF zones,
but the current view In the fifth century was
still that Of the 1onians who regarded the earth
as a fat plate floating on air In the middle Of
the universe. The general form Of the Med
iterranean was pretty well known, but measure
ments were inaccurate. and, therefore. con-
rlcting. Whether Libya was surrounded by
the sea. and whether the Caspian was closed
at the northern end were still open questions
Little or nothing was known Of the west or
north Of Europe. for what the Phpnician
traders had discovered they kept a. a trade
secret, as little was known Of India. in spite of
the voyage OF Scylus TO which Herodotus
refers.
VII.
In all the departments Of fine art. though
not equally In all. a new impulse seems
to have stimulated Greece in the fifth century.
The art OF painting had long been employed
In a subordinate manner for the decoration