[1.1] See the splendid eulogy of the philosopher in J. S. Mill’s essay
“On Liberty.”
[1.2] See the famous sentence in the Deontology (vol. i.), which a
man to believe must have seen,--so gross is the amount of ignorance,
conceit, and dogmatism that it parades without a mask.
[26.1] The reader will not suppose that we have penned the above
sentences about the position and character of the Sophists without
having seriously weighed the evidence on the subject, and
especially without having taken into account the very able chapter
on Socrates and the Sophists in Grote’s History of Greece. On
the contrary, we have read that chapter carefully over several
times, and have on each occasion returned from the perusal with
the confirmed conviction that the learned author wrote it as a
special pleader rather than as an impartial historian, and that the
light in which he presents this important subject is essentially
false, and distorts, or rather inverts, the real position of the principal
figures in the picture. The main features in Grote’s account
of the matter are that the Sophists are a much calumniated class
of men; that Socrates was the head of that class, rather than their
antagonist; and that not the real facts of the case, but the imagination
of the transcendental Plato, and the caricatures of Aristophanes,
carelessly accepted as true history, have been the sources of modern
ideas on the subject. In all this we think Mr. Grote is decidedly
wrong, running counter at once to the inherent probabilities of the
case, and to the unhesitating and concurrent testimony of all
antiquity. The hollowness of the case of Mr. Grote has been shown
in detail by Mr. Cope in the Cambridge Philological Journal and by
myself in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh; so that
we may content ourselves here by simply stating what appears to be
the _rationale_ of the process by which the distinguished author of
the History of Greece was led into the maintenance of such an
untenable position. Now the influences which acted on the learned
historian’s mind in this matter seem reducible to three--(1.) Mr.
Grote is characteristically a polemical historian; from beginning to
end of his book he has in his eye, and is writing against, a class of
writers who had made it a business, in writing the history of Greece,
to write against the Athenian democracy, and through that, against
democracy in general. With such a literary mission, Mr. Grote, however
triumphant in the main, was constantly exposed to the strong
temptation of vindicating characters that had been previously abused,
and abusing those whose respectability had hitherto stood
unquestioned; (2.) In the course of his sweeping progress of knocking
down old ideals and setting up new ones, no figures were more likely
to call his chivalrous faculty of vindication into play than the
Sophists; for they were, as we have seen, the natural guides of the
lusty young democracy, and as such the special favourites of a
historian whose business it was to justify and glorify the Athenians
in all the characteristic phases of their social and political life.
And to a certain extent no doubt the distinguished historian was right
in maintaining that the antagonists of Socrates were not so black as
they had been painted by many, but represented a considerable element
of civic worth and respectability. But he was certainly not justified
in wiping out that antagonism altogether from the record,--an
antagonism which was just as marked in Athens as that more famous one
in Jerusalem four centuries later, between the Scribes and Pharisees
and the first preachers of the Gospel. The manner in which Mr. Grote
endeavours to confound Socrates with the herd of Sophists, from the
mere external resemblance of the weapons which they used, is unworthy
of a great historian. It was enough that such a confusion should have
blinded the eyes of the Athenian vulgar, and their great jest-maker
Aristophanes, without being made at this time of day to serve as a
serious vindication of the great mass of Sophistical teachers; but
(3.) Mr. Grote was led to elevate the Sophists, and so, comparatively,
to degrade their great antagonist, not only from his position as the
champion of Athenian democracy, but from his sympathy with the
philosophical principles of the Sophists, as opposed to those of
Socrates and Plato. These principles are those of the Sensational as
opposed to what is commonly called the Ideal or Intellectual
philosophy, the philosophy which gathers its conclusions exclusively
from what is external, while looking with suspicion on any categorical
intuitions, God-given instincts, or God-seeking aspirations that may
assert themselves from within. With this temper Mr. Grote is naturally
led to take the part of those ancient Greek teachers who held similar
principles; and these are to be found not on the side of Socrates,
Plato, and Aristotle, but on the side of Protagoras and the Sophists.
How strongly his speculative tendencies gravitate in this direction
the learned historian has amply shown in his book on Plato, a work in
which the reader will more readily find an eager and acute advocacy of
the adversaries of Plato than an intelligent and loving estimate of
the great idealist himself. In expounding Plato Mr. Grote put himself
pretty much in the same position that Voltaire would have done had he
undertaken to write a commentary on the Gospel of John. It is not
enough, in order to see a thing, that a man have sharp eyes; he must
have a soul behind the eye, to teach him both what is to be seen, and
what it signifies when it is seen.
[32.1] See the singular dialogue with Theodote, afterwards mistress
of Alcibiades, in the _Memorabilia_.
[42.1] Professor Grote says--“Law is the public reason of a society,
participated in more or less by the mass of individuals, enforcible
upon all who will not participate in it.”--_On Utilitarianism_.
[43.1] The Communists, who declare war against Capital, can get
over this only by saying that every society is entitled to demand
of its members that they shall sacrifice any part of their natural
rights for the good of the whole to which they belong, and further,
that man being essentially a social animal has no right to anything
except as a member of society. The question will then be, whether
it is good for society to be so exclusively society as to swallow up
all individualism and what naturally belongs thereto.
[49.1] εὐδαιμονία happiness, literally, well-goddedness,--the state of
a creature to whom the gods are kind.
[49.2] So Austin (_Province of Jurisprudence_, Lecture iv.) calls
“Good the aggregate of pleasures,” a language borrowed from
Bentham, which Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle would with one
consent have repudiated.
[66.1] _On the Philosophy of Ethics_. By S. S. Laurie: Edin. 1866.
[70.1] “Atheism is repugnant to moral and political economy, for it
necessarily destroys the idea of morality. If there is no law in
the material world, there can be no law in the spiritual and social
worlds. Every motive for self-restraint is removed; for the idea
of an object for which to strive is rejected.”--Baring-Gould,
_Development of Religious Belief_, vol. i. p. 283. An original and
powerful work.
[74.1] This seems the best way of translating the τὸ δαιμόνιον in the
mouth of Polytheists. It is a sort of vague step towards Monotheism.
[75.1] As if it were the destiny of modern philosophers to pervert the
wisdom of the ancients into ridiculous caricature, so we find in
reference to this matter Helvetius in a well-known passage saying
seriously that if horses had had hands they would have been men,
and if men had had hoofs they would have been horses! In this
way the ingenious fool always makes a knife out of every instrument
to cut his own fingers.
[75.2] See this point stated more formally in Hegel, _Encyclopädie_, 50.
[81.1] Darwin, by the use of the term _selection_, turned _accident_ into
_design_, and was the first to do so.--Stirling on Protoplasm
(Edinburgh, 1869), p. 69.
[85.1] Stirling on Protoplasm, p. 33.
[86.1] The opposite and characteristically modern view of the origin
and character of religious duties may be stated most shortly in a
sentence from a distinguished modern thinker:--
“If there be a God, then man bears relations to Him, _and his
duties to God are of a private nature, and therefore not of interest
to the State, and in no way coming under the jurisdiction of
Science_. And what the duties are which man owes to God can
only be ascertained by a _Revelation_, for they cannot be discovered
experimentally.”
There are two propositions here essentially anti-Socratic, and, in my
opinion, essentially false:--(1.) That religion belongs to man only as
a private individual, and not as a citizen. This is a favourite idea
of the most recent times, and has its only root in the fact that on
account of the growth of a certain stout and stubborn individualism in
Christian Churches it has been found practically impossible to make
Christian men combine socially for the performance of any religious
function. This difficulty, however, belongs not to the nature of
religion, but to the imperfection of moral culture in our existing
ethical associations called Churches. The social recognition of the
Supreme Father still remains as much an ideal in modern times as it
was a real in ancient times. The ancients sacrificed in this matter
the individual to the State; we, for the glorification of the
individual, allow the State to sit shorn of one of its greatest
glories. Whatsoever a man is bound to do as a moral being
individually, he is bound to do socially, _if it be possible_. The
so-called Voluntary system is a mere shift to save the trouble and
shirk the difficulty which narrow-minded Christians feel in working
together to give a national expression to common religious feelings
and common religious convictions.
(2.) The second proposition here is, that religious duties can
only be ascertained by Revelation, and come in no way under the
jurisdiction of SCIENCE. To this Socrates answers that religious
duties are three, _reverence_, _gratitude_, and _obedience_, and that the
first two of these have their root in the commonest instincts and
most rudimentary notions of reasonable beings, while the third,
depending, as it does, partly on general science, partly on special
intellectual culture, falls directly under the jurisdiction of Science.
For to obey the laws of God we must know them, and we know
them, as we know other things, by observation and reflection; for
they are not hidden, as some men count hidden, but written everywhere,
both within us and without, in the most legible scripture,
and pressed upon us daily by the most cogent arguments; and no
man can escape from their obligation. If by duties to God Mr.
Gould understands only special religious observances as expressive
of our religious sentiments and convictions, then no doubt it is
quite true that these special forms of expression must either be
revealed directly from Heaven, or vary considerably, according to
the character and condition of the people who use them; but such
a narrowing of the idea of religious duty, confining it to the accidental
instead of the essential, depriving it in fact of its soul and
vital principle, is most unphilosophical; and I am more willing to
suppose that such a thoughtful writer as Mr. Gould should have
been led astray by a fashionable phase of modern thought, than
that he should be deliberately guilty of the impertinence of giving
his readers the shell of a thing as its definition, when they had a
right to look for the kernel.
[88.1] Since writing the above I have stumbled on an excellent passage
on the inherent germ of Monotheism in Polytheism, contained in
Baring Gould’s _Development of Religious Belief_, vol. i. p. 268, etc.
To the same purpose the reader may consult my notes on Homer’s
Iliad, viii. 2.
[89.1] Baring-Gould on the _Development of Religious Belief_
(London, 1869), p. 124.
[101.1] This was written twelve months before the startling events of
the late Franco-German war brought the deficiencies of our British
military system so prominently into public view.
[117.1] This passage teaches us all that can profitably be said on the
so-called δαίμων or familiar spirit of Socrates. It was plainly nothing
but an inward voice dissuading from certain courses of action,
which, as it rested on no grounds of human argumentation, and
did not pretend to explain itself, fell to be classed with what we
call mysterious instincts and presentiments, and which, as a pious
man, Socrates, and in my opinion wisely, attributed to the Source
of all original vital power and spiritual energy, viz., GOD. If men
eat and drink, and sleep and perform other essential functions of
vitality, by a law which the Creator keeps in His own hands, and
over which human volition exercises no control, there is no reason
why in the higher region of our moral and intellectual life, behind
and beyond the domain of our purpose and volition, the great
Source of all cosmic energy should not reserve for Himself a field
of deeper influence, and by us necessarily inexplicable. Our understanding,
with all its pretensions, is a petty faculty, which asserts
its power lightly in dissecting what is dead, but proves itself
feeble and powerless in all that concerns vital origination. Homer
constantly represents his heroes as receiving inspirations of strength,
and wisdom from the Infinite Source of all strength and wisdom;
and in accordance with this healthy human instinct Socrates taught
that on great and critical occasions he was often directed by a
mysterious voice, or intimation from the τὸ δαιμόνιον. The only
thing about the matter which ought to require explanation is the
method in which this divine power acted. Its method of action
was negative, never positive, and warning on each occasion from
what was not to be done, never inciting to what should be done.
The reason of this, we think, is not far to seek. Socrates was both
personally, and in virtue of the people to whom he belonged, a
reasoner; logic was his lamp through life, and by this clear light
he was habitually guided in all common cases. But there are dark
and doubtful moments in the brightest lives, when even the wisest
and the most conscientious can find no sure direction in the pros
and cons that suffice for general guidance; in such cases one is
thrown back on those radical and fundamental instincts of character
which underlie all reasoning and all purpose; and the particular
God-given instinct which was strong in the nature of Socrates was
_not_ to meddle with certain matters, from which it was doubtful
whether his character would come out unscathed. It was therefore
a mysterious instinct of caution that God had implanted in the
breast of the philosopher, an instinct of the utmost value to all men
who live in the world, but especially useful to one who, like
Socrates, was always in danger of being drawn by his strong and
wide sympathies into regions from which, in the interest of his
higher mission, it was better that he should retire.
[130.1] Luther’s Briefe, anno 1516.--De Wette, i. p. 16.
[131.1] Life of Harris, by the Earl of Malmesbury.
[131.2] Hume’s life, i. p. 92.
[152.1] ἕξις, ἦθος, ἔθος, with which again St. Paul agrees, Heb. v. 14,
where Aristotle’s favourite word is used.
[173.1] It is interesting here to observe how Aristotle, concurring with
Homer (_Od._ xiii. 289), makes the distinction, unquestionably just,
through the neglect of which Burke fell into his notable error that
beautiful things are always small. He ought to have known that
there is the same distinction between _beautiful_ and _pretty_ in English,
as between καλός and ἀστεῖος in Greek.
[181.1] The scholar will observe that throughout this passage, and
specially in this last sentence, I have paraphrased the author a
little, to bring out more clearly his meaning. His style is too curt
and bald, not to suffer in some cases by strict literalness.
[184.1] Grant’s _Ethics of Aristotle_, vol. i. p. 147.
[192.1] Lecky, _History of European Morals_, vol. i., Introductory
Discourse.
[194.1] See the doctrine of Heraclitus in Ritter and Preller’s admirable
compend--_Historia Philosophiæ Græco-Romanæ_--one of the
best manuals of the many that we owe to the erudition and judgment
of the great German people.
[198.1] _Life of Martin Boos_, 1855, p. 25.
[198.2] Life of Franklin in the _Encyclopædia Britannica_.
[200.1] ὁ θεὸς ὁ ἀναγεννήσας ἡμᾶς εἰς ἐλπίδα ζῶσαν δι᾽ ἀναστάσεως
Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐκ νεκρῶν.--1 Pet. i. 3.
[202.1] Westcott, _The Gospel of the Resurrection_, London, 1867.
[205.1] To persons ignorant of Greek, who may wish to receive a vivid
impression of the moral influence of Stoicism, I recommend Long’s
_Translation of Antoninus_, Lecky’s _History of European Morals_,
and Farrar’s _Seekers after God_.
[213.1]
Ἔστι γὰρ δὴ ὡς ὁ παλαιὸς λόγος, καὶ ἡ σωφροσύνη, καὶ ἡ ἀνδεία
καὶ ἡ πᾶσα ἀρετὴ, κάθαρσις, καὶ ἡ φρόνησις αὐτὴ· διὸ καὶ αἱ τελεταὶ
ὀρθῶς αἰνίττονται τὸν μὴ κεκαθαρμένον καὶ ἐν ᾅδου κείσεσθαι ἐν
βορβόρω, ὅτι τὸ μὴ καθαρὸν βορβόρῳ διὰ κάκην φίλον, οἶα δὴ καὶ
ὗες, οὐ καθαραὶ τὸ σῶμα, χαίρουσι τῷ τοιούτῳ.--PLOTINUS, _Enn_.
i. 6, p. 55; edit, Kirchhoff, i. 6.
[214.1] Professor Ferrier on Consciousness; _Works_, vol. i. p. 221.
[223.1] _Usque-beatha_--whisky.
[229.1] Read Mr. Farrar’s delightful little work, _Seekers after God_.
[229.2] Burton’s _Life of David Hume_, vol. ii. p. 195.
[234.1] Lines on the death of Faraday.--_Punch_, September 7, 1867--a
periodical which though sometimes unjust is never vicious, and
always knows to appreciate real excellence.
[235.1] βασίλειον ἱεράτευμα,--1 Pet. ii. 9.
[240.1] The Rev. J. W. Fletcher, Rector of Madeley, Shropshire.
[245.1] _Pædag_. ii. 1-3.
[255.1] It is to be observed, however, that the friends of agricultural
improvement in Strasburg used their interest to get the merits of
their pastor known in Paris; and the consequence was that he was
rewarded with a gold medal after having worked fifty-one years in
the unnoticed useful obscurity of his parish. Altogether his
golden pastorate lasted for the long space of fifty-nine years.
[255.2] Westcott, _Gospel of the Resurrection_ (1867), p. 96.
[261.1] Westcott, _Gospel of the Resurrection_, p. 98.
[267.1] οὐ γὰρ ἄν πώποτε εἶδεν ὀφθαλμός ἥλιον ἡλιοειδὴς μὴ γεγενημένος,
οὐδὲ τὸ καλὸν ἄν ἴδοι ψυχὴ μὴ καλὴ γενομένη.--PLOTINUS, i. 9; Kirchhoff.
[267.2] Locke, ii. 21, 68.
[274.1] Austin.
[274.2] Schwegler, _Geschichte der Philosophie_. Translated by Stirling.
[277.1] _Logic_, chap iii.
[278.1] Ferrier on Consciousness; Posthumous Works, vol. i. p. 255.
[289.1] _Analysis_, ii. 137, 139.
[293.1] _Emotions and Will_, xv. p. 290.
[293.2] On Consciousness; _Works_, i. 195.
[296.1]
Βίας ἐρωτηθεὶς τὶ ἂν εἴη τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον ἀφόβων εἶπεν ἀγαθὴ συνείδησις.
Περίανδρος ἐρωτηθεὶς τὶ ἔστιν ἐλευθερία εἶπεν ἀγαθὴ ουνείδησις.
STOBÆUS, _Sermon_, cvi.
[298.1] Bentham said, “I am a selfish man, as selfish as any man can
be; but in me somehow or other selfishness has taken the shape of
benevolence” (_Works_, xi. 95). This is neither wit nor sense, but
an affectation of humility of which one should have thought
Bentham would not have been guilty.
[300.1] The value of Mr. Austin’s work is more juridical than moral,
and the ethical part of it is so entirely identical with Paley that for
the purposes of the present survey it did not seem to demand
special notice.
[304.1] On the Different Species of Philosophy.
[305.1] From a letter written in 1734.--Burton’s _Life of Hume_, i. p.
35. In Sect. I. of the “Inquiry into the Principles of Morals,” he
says, “The ancient philosophers, though they often affirm that
virtue is nothing but conformity to reason, yet in general seem to
consider morals as deriving their existence from taste and sentiment.”
This is directly contrary to the fact.
[307.1] Sceptical Solutions of Sceptical Doubts.
[307.2] On the different Species of Philosophy.
[307.3] On Self-love.
[309.1] Hume’s Essay _On some Verbal Disputes_.
[310.1] “There is no enthusiasm amongst philosophers.”--_On Providence
and a Future State_.
[319.1] Ferrier, Works by Grant and Lushington, vol. i. p. 116.
[319.2] See the remarkable letter to Mure of Caldwell in Burton’s
Hume, i. 162.
[325.1] _Introduction to the Principles of Morals, etc._, chap. ii.
[329.1] [J. S. Mill died on the 8th of May 1873.]
[End of Footnotes]