Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

THE GREEK PHILOSOPHY.419upon the higher points of his doctrine,73 remindersof that which he had set forth to chosen auditorsby word of mouth, the word which was able, ashe says, to explain and defend itself, and to answera question put to it.This, then, was the relation existing in the mindof the prince of Greek philosophers between thewritten and the spoken word as instruments inimparting true knowledge, or science. The writtenword he regarded as subsidiary, as presupposinginstruction by question and answer, and stillmore the moral discipline of a life earnestly givenup to the study of the subjects in question. Withoutthis a writing by itself was like a figure in apicture, which makes an impression on the beholder,but when asked if it is the true impres-sion keeps, as he says, a solemn face, and makesno reply ; which is the same to all, the earnestand the indifferent, and cannot treat them accordingto their merits. He laughs at the notion ofsuch a writing being by itself any more than sport.And let us remember that he who said this hasenshrined his own philosophy in the most finishedpecimens of dramatic dialogues which the Gre IVmind produced. These are the statements of thman who wrote Greek in his countrymen's opinionas Jupiter would have spoken it. There are, then,in Plato's mind three constituents of teaching o :73 See his averseness to write on such doctrines at all set forth inhis 7th epistle.