Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

THE GEEEK PHILOSOPHY.391and goodness, those who knew them not to bejustly called of servile mind/ ' Never did hecease inquiring with those who frequented himabout what everything was.'26 ' And he did notdistinguish between wisdom and temperance, buthe asserted that justice and every other virtue waswisdom.'27 With this view hang together the convictionsthat virtue can be taught, that all virtuein truth is only one, and that no one is willinglywicked, but only through ignorance.28 The goodis identical with the beautiful and the expedient.Right dealing, grounded upon prudence and practice,is better than good fortune. Self-knowledge,the fulfilment of the Delphic Apollo's injunction,4 Know thyself,' is the condition of practical ability.External goods do not advance. To need nothingis godlike; to need the least possible comes nearestto the divine perfection.29 Cicero's well-knownexpression is substantially correct,30 that Socratescalled down philosophy from heaven to earth, introducedit into cities and houses, and required itto study life, morals, goods and evils, which constituteda progress from the natural philosophyby his predecessors to ethics whose pro-vince is man. But Socrates possessed no completystem of ethical doctrines, but only the main-oro so it was natural th2LTIbIbid. iii. 9, iv. 6; Sympos. ii, 12. Plat. Apol. 25 e; Pp. 329 b.29 Mf 30 Tusc. v. 4.