The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-01-30

ne volume eutllltu fHf " fhA-
iosophv. by GILBERT MURRAY %,Putnarn).
is no more han a slight address given
as "A Conway Memorial Lecture at
South Place Institute. II has the in-
terest that any writing by this great
humanist must have. With character
istic modesty he points Ms To Il. V.
Arnold's comprehensive volume on
"Roman Stoicism" and Edwyn Bevan's
sligh;er but illuminating work on
"Stoics and Sceptics." The preface.
which was Prof. Murray's introduce
ton on the evening Of the lecture.
refers very Justly TO the speaker as
"onc of that group of scholars who are
converting oxford from "A home OF
lost causes into "A great headquarters
for causes vet tn he won" There :
no doubt that oxford is escaping is
.reproach of being medieval in thought
AS we'll as in architecture. rrof. Mae
kairs ESSAY on 1.-The Poetry of oxford"
ends in "A m call to mndcrni,y.
and that which DISTINGUISHES Gilbert
Murray from the average man Of let
,ers Is his alert human interest. What
attracted him above all to Euripidcs
and resulted in the greatest transla-
tons OF the age is not the Greek poets
lyric splendor. nor yet his dramatic
siihtlety. hut his daring %rationalism
and his passionate resentment Of the
stupidities and cruelties Of chanca and
destiny. summed ND in the phrase
mans inhumanity TO man"
I, Is then largely the religious elc-
ment in stole philosophy which at
tracts Prof. Murray, for he SAWS:
"Stoic,sm WIS a religion in it's eX-
allied passion; "A philosophy inasmuch
os (, made no pretence To magical
powers or supernatural knowledge"
The difficulty with many religions has
been that they were religions either
for adversely or prosperity; religions
which defy the world OF religions
which accept IL. religions which place
their hopes in the hetterment Of hui
man life on this earth or which regard
II as a vale OF tears and look for hap
piness outside the world. Some Of
the religions which think most mean'v
of the world they know have "A pro-
found admiration for all. or nearly All
those parts of the universe where they
have moi been"
Stoiclsm like Christianity. was orig.
inally n religion for he oppressed /,
religion nf defence and defiance. Blu,
like Christianity. .Stoicism had powers
OF admiration. Thus the two chief ex.
%ponents Of Stoicism are the one. +,
lame and penniless slave. Epictetus
and the other an Emperor of Rome
Marcus Aurelius. keenly Interested in
the administration OF the affairs of
his world. The Greek religious ira.
ditions would not bear thinking GU,
and the Greeks were thorough in theii
thinking. The traditional religion o,
1 Greece fell because the people wer,
nropressiye NOT, hecause tbey ver,
degenerate. This is an excellent poin
to make with the modern
|. of christianity. only II II can .xran,
, to meet the needs OF progress can 4
5 survive. What Is happening 10 4
is not secularization but adaptation t,
, needs. If. in the case OF the Greel
= religions. the Gods had been capabl,
/, OF protecting their w%orshippers thei,
moral and intellectual d~efciencie,
might have been overlooked. But the,
, were not. They we're no match 70,
4 and the generation of 800 b. C.. was I,
: rebuild "A public spirit devoted to some
e thin greater than the city and I,
build a religion which would he "A SAT,
I guide in a threatenin,; chaos.
Zeno began by asserting n rea
a world-a real. solid materia. world. an,
his modes OF argument. says Prot