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    TWO UNPUBLISHED ESSAYS THE 'CHARACTER OF SOCRATES THE PRESENT STATE OF ETHICAL

    PHILOSOPHY

    BY

    RALPH WALDO EMERSON WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY EDWARD EVERETT HALE

    MDCCCXC-Vl

    LAMSON WOLFFE D CO

    BOSTON O NEW-YORK

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    Copyright, 1895,

    By Lamson, Wolffe, & Co.

    All rights reserved

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    SRLF URL

    Introduction

    logue preserved by John Lovell of pupils of the Boston Latin School, which is the basis of its printed cata

    logue. He graduated at the college made him a

    THE

    name of James Bowdoin

    is

    first

    on that

    cata-

    Cambridge in 1 745, and, in 1783, Doctor of Laws. He was a fellow

    of the college, president of the American Academy, and Governor of Massachusetts in 1788. He was a

    leading member of the convention which adopted the Federal

    Constitution

    ;

    1780, which

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    made

    he was president of the convention of the Constitution of Massachusetts.

    Very

    likely

    it

    name of "the

    successors.

    was he who gave Harvard College its new University at Cambridge," and it is per

    haps a pity that that

    name

    has not been preserved by his

    When

    of some

    in

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    "to my Alma Mater,

    good

    security,

    left in his will a bequest, the University at Cambridge," four hundred pounds, to be placed at interest

    he died, in 1790, he

    " and

    applied in the

    useful

    way of premiums

    the interest thereof annually for the advancement of

    and

    polite literature in the residents, as well

    grad

    uates as undergraduates, of the university, the premiums to be paid in such way and manner as shall be

    best

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    adapted to excite a

    dents

    ;

    spirit

    of emulation

    among

    such

    resi

    the performances entitled to such

    premiums

    to be

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    Introduction

    read in

    deliver a fair

    library,

    by their respective authors, who shall copy of the same, to be lodged in the such copies to be written on

    quarto paper of

    public

    size, that

    the

    same

    such of them as shall merit

    in

    it

    may

    in

    be bound together

    the library."

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    handsome volumes and lodged

    At some period not very long after Governor Bowdoin's death, the arrangements were made,

    substantially

    as they are

    still

    carried on, for the

    Bowdoin

    prize disser

    tations, as they are called at

    Cambridge.

    An

    announce

    ment

    is

    made annually

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    that dissertations will be received,

    from resident graduates and from

    competition for the prizes offered.

    as they prefer to handle

    undergraduates, in

    Several subjects are

    select

    assigned, from which the competitors

    may

    such

    but no competitor may write ; on any subject except one of these. The income of the fund has not been

    all used in every year for the prizes

    offered,

    and

    it

    tion of

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    till it

    unused

    has thus been enlarged by the appropria interest to the increase of the principal,

    stands on the treasurer's account at about fourteen

    At the time of Bowdoin' s death, the dollars. pound of which he spoke was worth $3.33 the fund is

    therefore now nearly ten times what it was then.

    thousand

    ;

    At

    tion.

    present, nine prizes are offered from this founda They may be as much as one hundred dollars ;

    less

    they will not be

    than

    fifty dollars.

    They

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    are offered

    for translations into

    Greek

    or Latin, for compositions in

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    Introduction

    Greek

    or Latin,

    and

    for English essays.

    Some of

    some

    are

    are

    the

    subjects in English essays are historical,

    is

    what

    now called philosophical, and some The dissertations must not contain more

    scientific.

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    than ten thou

    are invited to read

    to be designated

    sand words, and the authors of successful dissertations them in public, at a place and time

    In

    by the dean. Mr. Emerson's day, the arrangement was sub

    same, but the

    first

    stantially the

    fifty dollars,

    prizes

    were then only

    and the second

    at that

    prizes thirty.

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    The

    tradi

    tion

    is

    that a gold

    medal was originally

    time

    ;

    offered,

    and

    it

    but for many, many years no The winners of candidate ever asked for the medal.

    was offered

    prizes

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    their

    were generally young men who knew how to use money and when, many years after Mr. Emer

    ;

    son, a successful competitor asked for his gold medal,

    it

    proved that the college had no die for any such medal, and no such offer has since been made.

    Fortunately for us, among the subjects given in the Mr. year 1820 was "The Character of Socrates."

    Emerson was at this time seventeen years old. Know

    ing him as we know him now, one is not surprised that he chose this subject. His dissertation, printed

    from the copy preserved in the college library, is in the

    reader's

    there was

    hands.

    The

    next

    year,

    among

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    the subjects

    " The

    fortunately again, Present State of

    Ethical Philosophy."

    Once more Mr. Emerson was

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    Introduction

    successful in the competition, and the second of these curious and valuable papers exists, therefore, in

    the col

    is reprinted here. reads these essays now, if he be at all familiar with the habit of writing, in the first half

    of the

    lection at

    Cambridge, which also

    Whoever

    century, of

    men who were

    dealing with such subjects,

    boy of seventeen or eighteen years of wrote what must have surprised and sometimes an age noyed the

    sort of men who would be apt to be named

    will see that the

    upon a committee of award. In the present instance, the committees were the corporation of thecollege, con

    sisting

    of President Kirkland, John Davis, Dr. William

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    Ellery Channing, John Lowell, John Phillips, William Governor Gore Prescott, and Dr. Eliphalet Porter.

    assisted in the

    award of 1820.

    It

    would be hard

    to

    make

    a better committee.

    It will

    in his early tussles

    be an encouragement to many a young man, of competition, if he be reminded

    at that

    that

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    Ralph Waldo Emerson

    time could not, or

    did not, write an essay that was thought worthy of a first It is pathetic to think that the judges were not

    prize.

    willing to

    award the

    first

    prize to

    any of the papers

    which were offered

    in the

    competition.

    But to us who read

    after the event,

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    who

    read after

    Mr. Emerson has changed the whole philosophy of that " Yankee Plato" time, the opportunity to read

    what the

    said,

    when he was

    a boy, of the

    life

    of Socrates

    is

    most

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    Introduction

    fortunate.

    I

    cannot but think that,

    if

    we had

    not his

    manuscript had struggled through anony mously and were printed to-day, we should have sense

    name,

    if this

    enough, wit enough, and insight enough to recognize

    the author.

    the sketch of the

    reader will be curious to compare the paper with life of Socrates in the essay on Plato The date of the

    publica in "Representative Men."

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    is 1876, but, probably, much of it had been put on paper before that time. In reading the two papers, I

    have been led to ask my

    The

    tion of the essay

    self

    of the

    whether the careful study which, for the preparation first, he gave to the life of Socrates, did not do

    something in the direction of the studies of his junior and senior years, and so if it did not lead up to the

    sec ond paper. But such speculations are hardly more than

    It is he who said, when he was not yet thirty " Milton does not love moral perfection more than I. That

    which I cannot yet declare has been my angel from childhood until now." Why should we not expect ofthe boy who was fast growing into such a

    fanciful.

    years old,

    manhood,

    that he should write, if he could,

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    on the posi

    ?

    tion of the study of ethical philosophy in his time

    condition of ethical philosophy in 1821 was cer In 1837, in the same col tainly not very promising.

    lege, I

    The

    Philosophy,"

    had given to me for my study Paley's " Moral in which I was taught that I did right in

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    Introduction

    the hope and expectation of being paid in heaven for

    my

    sacrifice.

    Things were no

    better

    sixteen

    years

    before.

    It would be idle to anticipate the pleasure with which the reader will follow these early essays, by

    pointing out some striking passages in which the early promise of the

    man may be

    observed.

    It

    is

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    a pity that

    we have no

    contemporary record of the occasion in which he read these essays before an audience of

    undergraduates. The

    will required that the essays

    should be so read.

    At

    the

    present time, they are read "when and where the dean requests." At times, there has been a certain

    difficulty,

    I believe, in

    finding an audience.

    But had there been

    any spirit of prophecy in the classes which graduated in i8zo and i8zi, there would have been no doubt

    but that

    they would have filled the modest chapel of the time to hear Ralph Waldo Emerson lecture on Socrates

    or on

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    ethical philosophy.

    EDWARD

    NOTE.

    Since this introduction was in type,

    to

    E.

    HALE.

    Mr. Josiah P.

    which

    his father

    Quincy has shown

    received as a

    first

    me

    the original gold medal

    prize

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    when Mr. Emerson took

    a second.

    The

    medal bears the head of Bowdoin on the obverse.

    This shows

    that the die has been lost in recent times, if the traditions above

    referred to

    were well founded.

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    The

    Character of Socrates

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    The

    Character of Socrates

    Dissertation of i8zo]

    [A Bowdoin Prize

    my way Through Lyceum's walk, the green retreats Of Academus, and the thymy vale Where, oft

    enchanted with Socratic sounds,

    fair

    " Guide

    pure devolved his tuneful stream In gentler murmurs. From the blooming store

    Ilissus

    Of these

    auspicious

    fields,

    may

    I

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    unblamed

    Transplant some living blossoms to adorn My native clime."

    years commanded an unusual degree of attention from the curious and the learned. The

    late

    THE

    much

    philosophy of the

    human mind

    has of

    increasing

    notice

    which

    it

    obtains

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    is

    owing

    raised

    to the genius of those

    men who have

    themselves with the science to general regard, but chiefly, as its patrons contend, to the uncon

    trolled progress

    of

    human improvement.

    The

    advocates, however, commendable, has sinned in one particular, they have laid a little too much self-

    complacent stress^

    zeal of

    its

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    in other respects

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    The

    Character of Socrates

    their

    on the merit and success of

    own

    unselfish

    exertions, and in their first contempt of the absurd and trifling speculations of former metaphysicians,

    appear to have confounded sophists and true phil osophers, and to have been disdainful of some

    who have enlightened the world and a path for future advancement.

    ment

    marked out

    Indeed, the giant strength of modern improve is more indebted to the early wisdom of

    is

    Thales and Socrates and Plato than

    allowed, or perhaps than

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    generally

    modern philosophers

    have been well aware.

    This supposition is strongly confirmed by a consideration of the character of Socrates, which,

    in

    every view,

    is

    uncommon and

    Plato without

    admirable.

    To

    by

    one who should read

    his life as recorded

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    previous knowl edge of the man, the extraordinary character and

    Xenophon and

    circumstances of his

    incredible.

    It

    biography would appear

    that antiquity had

    would seem

    endeavored to fable forth a being clothed with all the perfection which the purest and brightest

    imagination could conceive or combine, bestow-

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    The

    ing

    to

    Character of Socrates

    so

    upon the piece only

    it

    much

    of mortality as

    tangible and imitable. view of the character, imaginary

    inclined to

    make

    Even

    in this

    we have been

    revelation,

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    wonder that men, without a

    of reason only, should set forth a model of moral perfection which the wise of any

    by the

    light

    And, further, it age would do well to imitate. offer a subject of ingenious speculation, to might

    mark the

    points of difference, should

    all its

    modern

    and

    fancy, with

    superiority of philosophic

    theological knowledge, endeavor to create a sim ilar But this is foreign to our purpose. paragon.

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    be well, in reviewing the character of Socrates, to mark the age in which he lived, as the moral and

    political circumstances of the times

    It will

    would probably exert an important and immediate influence on his opinions and character. The

    dark ages of Greece, from the settlement of the colonies to the Trojan War, had long closed.

    The young

    had been growing in and territory, digesting their strength, population, constitutions and building up

    their name and

    republics

    importance.

    The

    Persian

    War,

    that hard but

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    The

    Character of Socrates

    memorable controversy of rage and spite, con and disciplined independ flicting with energetic

    ence, had shed over their land an effulgence of glory which richly deserved all that applause

    which

    trial

    after ages

    have bestowed.

    It

    was a

    stern

    of

    human

    if,

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    effort,

    and the Greeks might be

    with

    less glorious

    tri

    pardoned

    in their intercourse

    nations, they carried the record of their long

    umph too far to conciliate national jealousies. The aggrandizement of Greece which followed

    this

    memorable war was the zenith of

    its

    and splendor, and ushered of the political fabric.

    in the decay

    powers and fall

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    The

    remembered

    age of Pericles has caused Athens to be At no time during her in history.

    existence were the arts so flourishing, popular taste and feeling so exalted and refined, or her

    political

    relations

    so

    extensive and respected.

    The

    Athenian people were happy at home, rev erenced abroad, and at the head of the Grecian

    confederacy.

    Their commerce was

    In

    lucrative,

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    this mild

    and

    their

    it

    wars few and honorable.

    period

    was

    to be expected that literature and

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    The

    science would

    tering

    Character of Socrates

    fos

    grow up vigorously under the

    of taste

    patronage

    and

    power.

    The

    of

    Olympian games awakened the emulation of

    genius and

    produced

    the

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    dramatic

    efforts

    ^Eschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristoph

    anes, and philosophy came down from heaven to Anaxagoras, Archelaus, and Socrates.

    Such was the external and obvious condition

    apparently prosperous, but a con cealed evil began to display specific and disastrous The sophists had

    acquired the consequences.

    of Athens,

    brightest popularity

    and influence, by the exhibi

    accomplishments whose novelty captivated the minds of an ingenious

    tion of those superficial

    people,

    its

    among whom

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    true learning

    was yet

    in

    own

    infancy. sake.

    Learning was not yet loved for its It was prized as a saleable com

    sophists bargained their literature,

    ;

    modity. such as

    The

    it

    was, for a price

    and

    this price, ever

    ability

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    exorbitant,

    scholar.

    was yet regulated by the

    of

    of the

    should pos sess so strong an influence over the Athenian

    That

    this singular order

    men

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    The

    Character of Socrates

    public argues no strange or unnatural state of

    been sometimes represented ; it is the proper and natural result of improvement in

    society, as has

    a

    money-making community.

    By

    the prosperity

    of their trading interests all the common wants of society were satisfied, and it was natural that

    the

    mind should next urge

    its

    claim to cultivation,

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    and the surplus of property be expended for the This has been gratification of the intellect.

    found true in the growth of

    provided the

    all

    nations,

    that

    after successful trade, literature

    soon throve well,

    human mind was cramped by no of climate or " skyey influences." disadvantages The Athenian sophists

    adapted their course of

    pursuits of knowledge, with admirable skill, to the

    taste of the people.

    They

    first

    approved them

    selves masters of athletic exercises, for the

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    want

    of which no superiority of

    intellect,

    however

    Grecian

    consummate, Would compensate

    republics.

    in the

    They then applied themselves to the cultivation of forensic eloquence, which enabled

    them

    on any and on any occasion, however unexpected. subject

    to discourse volubly, if ignorantly,

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    The

    Character of Socrates

    in

    this

    To

    become

    perfect

    grand

    art,

    it

    was

    necessary to acquire, by habit and diligence, an imperturbable self-possession which could con

    front, unabashed, the rudest accident

    ;

    and more

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    over, a

    flood

    of respondent and exclamatory

    phrases, skilfully constructed to meet the emer After this gencies of a difficult conversation.

    laudable education had thus far accomplished

    its

    aim, the young sophist became partially con versant with the limited learning of the age in all

    its

    subjects.

    The poets, the historians, the sages,

    on the useful

    arts,

    the writers

    each and

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    all

    And occupied by turns his glancing observation. when the motley composition of his mind was

    full, it

    some few

    only remained to stamp upon his character to make him what the peculiarities,

    called a

    moderns have

    and his mannerist," education was considered complete. professional When the sophists made

    themselves known,

    they assumed a sanctity of manners, which awed familiarity and very conveniently cloaked their

    sinister designs.

    "

    Pythagoras, after his persever

    ing exertions for the attainment of knowledge,

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    io

    The

    Character of Socrates

    after his varied

    and laborious

    travels,

    had estab

    institu

    lished a romantic school at

    Crotona with

    tions resembling free

    in

    masonry, which had planted

    Greece prepossessions favorable to philosophy.

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    The

    dices,

    sophists availed themselves of their preju

    and amused the crowds

    who

    gathered at

    the

    rumor of novelty, with

    riddles

    and

    defini

    tions, with gorgeous theories of existence, splendid fables and presumptuous professions. They laid

    claim to all knowledge, and craftily

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    continued to steal the respect of a credulous populace, and to enrich themselves by pretending When to

    instruct the children of the opulent.

    they had thus fatally secured their own emolu ment, they rapidly threw off the assumed rigidity

    of their morals, and, under covert of a sort of perfumed morality, indulged themselves and their

    followers in abominable excesses, degrading the

    mind and debauching

    virtue.

    Unhappily

    for

    Greece, the contaminating vices of Asiatic lux ury, the sumptuous heritage of Persian War,

    had

    but too

    naturally seconded

    the

    growing

    depravity.

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    The

    Character of Socrates

    The

    youth of great

    men

    is

    any peculiarities minds have secret workings ; and, though they feel and enjoy the consciousness of

    genius, they seldom betray prognostics of greatness. Many

    which

    arrest observation.

    seldom marked by Their

    who were

    cradled by misfortune and want have reproached the sun as he rose and went down,

    for amidst the baseness of circumstances their

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    large

    minds were

    unsatisfied, unfed

    ;

    many have

    their

    bowed lowly

    were destined

    to those

    whose names

    own

    ; many have gone down to their graves in obscurity, for fortune withheld them from eminence, and to

    beg they were

    to outlive

    ashamed.

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    Of

    only but displaying genius for higher pursuits, Crito, who afterward became his disciple, procured for

    know

    the son of the sculptor and midwife we that he became eminent as a sculptor,

    him admission

    to the schools

    and to such educa

    tion as the times furnished.

    But the rudiments

    of his character and his homely virtues were formed in the workshop, secluded from tempta tion j and

    those inward operations of his strong

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    1 2

    The

    Character of Socrates

    mind were begun which were afterwards matured

    in the ripeness

    of

    life.

    We shall

    proceed to examine the character of

    the philosopher, after premising that we do not intend to give the detail of his life, but shall occa

    sionally

    adduce

    facts

    of the opinions

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    to the

    we have

    of biography as illustrative With regard formed.

    method pursued in the arrangement of our remarks, we must observe that sketches of the

    character of an individual can admit of

    definiteness of plan, but

    little

    we

    shall direct

    our atten

    tion to a consideration of the leading features of

    his

    mind, and to a few of

    to

    his

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    moral excellences

    which went

    make up

    the great aggregate of

    his character.

    The

    chief advantage which he

    owed

    to nature,

    the source of his philosophy and the foundation of his character, was a large share of plain good

    sense,

    itself to

    a shrewdness

    which would not

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    suffer

    be duped, and withal, concealed under a semblance of the frankest simplicity, which

    beguiled the objects of his pursuit into conversa This tion and confidence which met his wishes.

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    The

    was the

    his

    Character of Socrates

    13

    faculty

    which enabled him

    to investigate

    own

    character, to learn the natural tendency

    and

    bias of his

    own

    genius, and thus to perfectly

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    control his mental energies. There is a story of Socrates, related by Cicero, which militates somewhat

    with the opinion we

    have formed of

    ognomist, after

    his

    that when a physi mind, examined his features, having

    had pronounced him a

    man

    of bad passions and

    depraved character, Socrates reproved the indig nation of his disciples by acknowledging the

    truth of the assertion so far as nature

    was con

    his

    cerned, saying that

    life

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    it

    had been the object of

    passions.

    art,

    to eradicate these violent

    This

    and

    as

    might have been merely a trick of such is consistent with his character.

    not view

    it

    We

    can

    it is

    in

    any other

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    light

    ;

    for although

    very probable that natural malignity might have darkened his early life, yet no assertion of his

    own would

    his

    whole

    life

    convince us, in contradiction with and instruction, that he was ever

    Such, too, was subject to the fiercer passions. the order of his intellect. He was a man of

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    14

    The

    Character of Socrates

    strong and vivid conceptions, but utterly desti

    tute of fancy.

    Still,

    he possessed originality and

    sometimes sublimity of thought. His powerful mind had surmounted the unavoidable errors of

    which are found applicable

    education, and had retained those acquirements to the uses of com

    mon

    life,

    whilst he had discarded whatever

    was

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    absurd or unprofitable. He studied the nature and explored the des tinies of men with a chastised

    enthusiasm. Not

    withstanding

    the

    sober, dispassionate

    is

    turn

    of

    mind which we have mentioned, he

    not un

    moved

    at

    all

    times

    ;

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    when he

    enters into the

    upon the immortality of the soul and the nature and attributes of Deity, he forgets his

    discussion

    quibbles upon terms, and his celebrated irony,

    and sensibly warms and expands with his theme. This was aided by the constant activity of his mind,

    which endowed him with energy of thought and language, and its discipline never suffered him to

    obtrude an unguarded emotion. In perfect accordance with this view of his

    mind

    is

    his

    conduct under circumstances related

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    The

    Character of Socrates

    15

    by Plato. In prison, whilst under condemnation, he was directed in vision to seek the favor of the

    Muses.

    This new

    was

    utterly

    upon him incongruous with the temper and

    discipline enjoined

    habits of feeling usual to the philosopher.

    His

    plain sense and logical mind, which would reduce

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    everything, however impressive, to mathematical

    measurement, were

    little

    conversant,

    pose, with poetical visions.

    In

    we may sup fact, we could

    not suppose a character more diametrically oppo site to the soul of the poet, in all the gradations

    of cultivated mind, than the soul of Socrates. The food "and occupation of the former has do with

    golden dreams, airy nothings, bright personifications of glory and joy and evil,

    to

    Brahma, moulding magnificent forms, clothing them with The latter dwells on beauty and grandeur.

    earth, dealing plainly

    and we imagine him

    sitting apart, like

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    and bluntly with

    men and

    men's actions, instructing them what to do and to forbear ; and even when he desires to lift his

    tone,

    it is

    only to mingle with higher

    reality,

    but

    never forsaking safe,but tedious, paths of certainty.

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    16

    The

    All this

    Character of Socrates

    we know, and

    the

    manner which Soc

    him

    for

    rates selected to perform the task assigned

    creates neither disappointment nor surprise

    ;

    perhaps in the biographical annals

    there

    of his country

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    feature

    was no

    intellect

    whose leading

    more

    nearly resembled

    fables

    It

    his

    own

    than Esop, whose

    he undertook to

    versify.

    may

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    well be supposed that a mind thus cast

    instruct,

    was eminently calculated to

    and

    his

    didactic disposition always rendered

    him

    rather

    the teacher than the companion of his friends.

    Add

    to all this

    tration into the character of others,

    an unrivalled keenness of pene and hence

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    arose his ruling motive in all his intercourse with men ; it was not to impart literary knowledge or

    information in science or

    his

    art,

    but to lay open to

    human mind, and all its unac knowledged propensities, its weak and fortified All positions, and the

    springs of human action.

    the

    this

    own view

    was achieved by the power of

    his art,

    and

    it

    enabled him easily to grasp the mind, and mould

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    it

    at will,

    and to unite and direct the wandering

    energies of the

    human

    soul.

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    The

    Character of Socrates

    17

    was

    His mind was cultivated, though his learning little. He was acquainted with the works

    of the most eminent poets of his country, but as he seems never to have made literature his study,

    the limited erudition he possessed was probably gleaned from the declamations of the sophists,

    whose

    pride never scrupled to

    borrow abundantly

    from the superfluous light which departed genius afforded. His own acquisitions had been made

    in the

    workshops of the Athenian artisans, in the society of Aspasia and Theombrota, and by in

    experienced observation.

    living in

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    telligent,

    Though

    as he

    taste for the elegance or pride

    Athens, he acquired little of life ; surrounded

    was by the

    living marbles

    which

    all

    suc

    ceeding ages have consented to admire, and then just breathing from the hand of the artist, he

    appeared utterly dead to their beauties, and used them only as casual illustrations of an argu ment. In

    the gratification of his desire to learn

    and know mankind, he visited the poor and the rich, the virtuous and the degraded, and set him

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    self to explore all the varieties

    of circumstances

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    1

    8

    The

    Character of Socrates

    occurring in a great city, that he might discover what were "the elements which furnish forth

    creation."

    We may judge

    from the acquaintances of the

    philosopher what were the minds most congenial to his own. Of his great contemporaries,

    Euripides Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, He never at alone was his pupil and friend.

    tended the theatre only as his tragedies were to This warmth of feeling for the be performed.

    chaste and tender dramatist should defend his

    mind from the imputation of

    taste

    utter deafness to

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    The majestic and sublime and beauty. of Sophocles was not so intimately allied genius

    to the every-day morals of Socrates

    knew and

    mon

    his

    ; Euripides taught more human nature in its com The oracle of Delphos justified aspects.

    choice

    in

    that

    remarkable

    declaration

    :

    Bptavre iravr&v,

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    The

    fathers, with their usual

    grudge against

    the heathen oracles, formed singular opinions " The respecting this extraordinary decree.

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    The

    great Origen

    is

    Character of Socrates

    19

    when

    of the opinion that the Devil, he delivered that sentence, by giving Soc

    rates those partners purposely

    obscured his glory,

    to applaud

    whilst he

    it."

    was

    in

    some measure forced

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    have attempted to draw the outline of one of the most remarkable minds which human

    history has recorded,

    its

    We

    and which was rendered

    extraordinary by times in which he lived.

    wonderful adaptation to the

    We

    must now hasten

    to our great task of developing the moral superi

    ority

    of the philosopher.

    manly philosophy has named fortitude, temperance, and prudence its prime virtues. All

    belonged, in a high degree of perfection, to the son of Sophroniscus, but fortitude more particu

    larly.

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    A

    Perhaps

    it

    the first-fruits of his philosophy. constitution was built up like his

    was not a natural virtue, but A mind whose

    the will of

    the philosopher moulding the roughest materials into form and order might create its own

    virtues,

    and

    set

    them

    in array to

    compose the

    not like other

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    aggregate of character.

    He was

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    2o

    The

    Character of Socrates

    men, the

    sport of circumstances, but by the per

    severing habits

    of forbearance and

    his

    self-denial

    whole being which enabled him to hold the same even,

    he had acquired that control over

    all

    unchangeable temperament in

    his fortunes.

    the extremes of

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    influ

    is

    This exemption from the

    ences of circumstances in the moral world

    almost like exemption from the law of gravita

    tion in the natural

    economy.

    The

    exemplifica

    tions of this fortitude are familiar.

    When

    all

    the judges of the senate, betraying an unworthy

    pusillanimity, gave

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    way

    to an iniquitous

    demand

    of the populace, Socrates alone disdained to sac rifice justice to the fear of the people.

    On

    broken

    another occasion, in the forefront of a

    battle, Alcibiades

    owed

    his life to the firm

    ness of his master.

    Patriotic

    steadfastness in

    resistance to the oppression of the Thirty

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    is

    recorded to his honor.

    Tyrants Although we are un

    willing to multiply these familiar instances, we would not be supposed to undervalue that milder

    fortitude which Diogenes Laertius has lauded, and which clouded his domestic joys. The vie-

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    The

    tory over

    Character of Socrates

    21

    human habits and passions which shall bring them into such subjection as to be sub servient to the real

    advantage of the possessor

    is

    that necessary virtue

    which philosophers de

    nominate temperance.

    We

    are led to speak of

    this particularly because its existence in the char acter of Socrates has been questioned.

    The impurity of public morals and the preva lence of a debasing vice has left a festering reproach on the

    name of Athens, which deepens

    as the

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    manners of

    civilized nations

    have altered

    and

    improved. and paragraphs

    formerly led

    rates.

    Certain

    in the

    many

    equivocal expressions Dialogues of Plato have to fasten the stigma on Soc

    laid

    This abomination has likewise been

    of Virgil, and probably with as

    to the charge

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    justice.

    little

    Socrates taught that every soul was an

    eternal, immutable form of beauty in the divine mind, and that the most beautiful mortals ap

    proached nearest to that

    celestial

    mould

    ;

    that

    it

    was the honor and

    better

    delight of

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    human

    intellect to

    contemplate this beau ideal, and that this was done through the medium of earthly per-

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    2 z

    The

    For

    Character of Socrates

    fection.

    this reason this

    sober enthusiast

    associated with such companions as Alcibiades,

    Critias,

    and other beautiful Athenians.

    article in the

    A

    of u

    late

    Quarterly Review, the

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    better to vindicate the character of Aristophanes

    from the reproach attached to him as the author

    The Clouds," has taken some pains to attack the unfortunate butt of the comedian's buffoon

    unpleasant at this day to find facts misrepresented in order to conform to a system,

    ery.

    It is

    and unwarranted insinuations wantonly thrown out to vilify the most pure philosopher of an

    tiquity,

    interest

    is

    for no other purpose than to add the of novelty to a transient publication. It a strong, and one would

    think an unanswer

    able,

    argument against the

    allegation, that his

    unsparing calumniator, the bitter Aristophanes, should have utterly omitted this grand reproach,

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    while he wearies his sarcasm on more

    cant

    follies.

    insignifi

    it

    Nor

    did he pass

    it

    by because

    was not accounted

    of the age

    justifies

    a

    crime,

    as if the fashion

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    the enormity ; for in this identical play he introduces his Just Orator,

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    The

    Character of Socrates

    23

    declaiming against this vice in particular and remembering with regret the better manners of

    when lascivious gestures were un studied and avoided and the cultivated strength of manhood was

    devoted to austere, laborious

    better times,

    virtue.

    The whole

    tions of Socrates ought to

    this

    character and public instruc have shielded him from

    imputation, while they manifest its utter When the malignity of an early improbability.

    historian had given birth to the suspicion, the

    often bore no good-will to Socrates (whose acquired greatness eclipsed their natural often employed

    their pens to confirm and parts),

    fathers,

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    diffuse

    it,

    who

    and

    it

    owes

    its

    old currency chiefly to

    their exertions.

    We shall not speak particularly of the prudence

    of Socrates.

    philosophical

    He

    possessed

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    signification

    it abundantly, of the term,

    in the

    but

    inter

    none of that timorous caution which might

    fere

    with the impulses of patriotism, duty, or

    courage.

    It

    seems to have been a grand aim of

    a patriot,

    his life

    to

    become

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    a reformer of the abuses

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    24

    The

    Character of Socrates

    of morals and virtue which had become a national

    He saw his country embarrassed, and without help in the abyss of moral plunging and excess made

    Dissipation degradation.

    calamity.

    Athens their home and revelled with impunity. " " Give us a was song of Anacreon or Alcaeus

    !

    the

    common

    cry.

    itself

    had entwined

    its

    frightful voluptuousness about the devoted city, and

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    A

    ultimate baneful

    their

    work.

    consequences had begun In these circumstances, when all

    eyes appeared to be blinded to the jeopardy by the fatal incantations of vagrant vine-clad Muses, this

    high-toned moralist saw the havoc that was

    in operation.

    men

    ;

    flatter

    He desired to restore his country he would not treacherously descend to them.

    accomplish

    this,

    To

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    To

    after

    he selected a different

    course from the ordinary plans of young men.

    an Athenian entering on life and aspiring eminence, the inducements to virtue were

    weak and few, but to vice numberless and strong. Popularity was to be acquired among these de

    generate republicans

    ;

    not as formerly

    among

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    The

    Character of Socrates

    25

    by toilsome struggles for pre-eminence in purity, by discipline and austere virtue, but by squandered

    wealth, profligacy, and \Vhat, then, flattery of the corrupt populace.

    their great ancestors,

    had an obscure young man, poor and

    friendless,

    to expect, sternly binding himself to virtue,

    and

    attacking the prevalent vices and prejudices of a This was certainly no unworthy great nation ?

    prototype of the circumstances of the founders of the Christian religion. He devoted himself

    entirely to the instruction of the

    young, aston

    a strange system of doctrines ishing which inculcated the love of poverty, the for

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    them with

    giveness of injuries, with other virtues equally

    unknown and

    unpractised.

    His philosophy was a source of good sense and of sublime and practical morality. He directs

    his disciples

    to

    know and

    ;

    practise

    the purest

    principles of virtue

    to be upright, benevolent,

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    and brave; to shun vice, TO Oi)pov^ the dreadful monster which was roaring through

    earth for his prey. The motives which he pre sented for their encouragement were as pure as

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    26

    the

    life

    The

    Character of Socrates

    they recommended.

    Such inducements

    were held up as advancement in the gradations of moral and intellectual perfection, the proud

    becoming more acceptable in the eye of Divinity, and the promise to virtue of com

    delight of

    munications from other and higher spheres of existence. The notions of the nature of God

    which Socrates entertained were

    infinitely

    more

    philosopher

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    correct and adequate than those of any other before him whose opinions have

    to us.

    come down

    Additional praise is due to him, since he alone dared to express his sentiments on the subject

    and

    is

    his infidelity to the popular religion.

    "

    What

    "

    It is

    God ?

    "

    said the

    disciples to Plato.

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    " hard," answered the philosopher, to know, and

    impossible to divulge."

    Here

    is

    that reluctance

    which timorous believers were obliged to display. " What is God ? " said they to Socrates, and " The he

    God who has

    replied,

    great

    himself,

    formed the universe and sustains the stupendous work whose every part is finished with the ut

    most goodness and harmony

    j

    he

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    who

    preserves

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    The

    them

    to

    Character of Socrates

    27

    perfect in immortal vigor and causes

    unfailing

    them

    obey him with

    punctuality and a

    rapidity not to be followed

    this

    by the imagination himself sufficiently visible by the endless wonders of which he is the author, but

    God makes

    continues always invisible in himself."

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    explicit

    and noble.

    He

    continues,

    This is " Let us not,

    then, refuse to believe even what

    we do

    not

    supply the defect of our corporeal eyes by using those of the soul ; but especially let us learn to render

    the just homage

    let

    behold, and

    us

    will

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    of respect and veneration to that Divinity whose it seems to be that we should have no other

    perception of him but by his effects in our favor.

    Now

    this adoration, this

    pleasing him, and

    we can

    homage, consists in only please him by

    doing his will." These are the exalted sentiments and motives

    which Socrates enforced upon men, not

    lated or extraordinary portions

    in insu

    of

    his

    system but

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    through the whole compass of his instructions. Convinced that the soul is endowed with energies

    and powers, by which,

    if

    well directed, she strives

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    28

    The

    Character of Socrates

    and climbs continually towards perfection, it was his object to stimulate and guide her ; to quicken

    her aspirations with

    new

    motives, to discover

    and apply whatever might spur on conscientious endeavor or back its efforts with omnipotent

    strength.

    He

    wished the care and improvement

    of the soul to be of chief concern, that of the

    of

    body comparatively trifling. The natural effect his philosophy was to form an accomplished

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    so perfect a man as was compatible pagan, with the state of society ; and this state should not

    be underrated.

    A

    nation of disciples of Socrates

    would suppose a state of human advancement which modern ambition and zeal, with all its

    of knowledge and religion, might never hope to attain. And, could Athens have expelled her sophists

    and corruptors, and by ex

    superiority

    hibiting respect for his instructions

    have extended

    the influence of her most mighty mind until the chastity of her manners was restored and the

    infirmities

    tues,

    of her dotage displaced by active vir had her citizens then become the converts

    she might

    and advocates of Socratic sentiments,

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    The

    Character of Socrates

    29

    free

    have flourished and triumphed on till this day, a and admirable commonwealth of philoso

    phers, and looked with enviable unconcern

    all

    on

    the revolutions about her that have agitated and swallowed up nations ; and Philip of Mace-

    don and

    Mummius

    But

    of

    Rome

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    is

    obscurity.

    offer

    this

    might have slept in digression, and we can

    a vision affords.

    no apology except the pleasure which such must now proceed to say

    We

    his ambiguous genius. Satftmv of Socrates partakes so much of the marvellous that there is no cause for

    something of

    The

    wonder

    arising

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    from the difference of opinion

    discussion.

    manifested in

    its

    Those who

    love

    to ascribe the most to inspiration in the prophets of God's revealed religion claim this mysterious

    personage as akin to the ministering spirits of

    the

    Hebrew faith. know not of this

    Those who, with Xenophon,

    similarity, or

    who do

    not find

    foundation for this belief, look upon the SaifAcov only as a personification of natural sagacity ;

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    the philoso charitably supposed that himself was deluded into a false conviction pher

    some have

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    30

    The

    Character of Socrates

    that he enjoyed a peculiar

    communication with

    the gods by the intervention of a supernatural learned their will and accomplished their being,

    ends.

    These supposed claims which

    Socrates

    laid to divine inspiration

    have induced many to

    marvellous

    carry their veneration to a more extent than we can safely follow.

    We

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    are

    willing

    to

    allow

    that

    they

    have

    the

    plausible

    arguments

    who

    have considered

    as

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    philosopher in the

    more imposing view,

    an

    especial light of the world

    commissioned from

    heaven and as a distant forerunner of the Saviour

    Dr. Priestley, with a bolder hand, has instituted a comparison between Socrates and

    himself.

    are not disposed to enter upon these discussions, as they do not lead to truth and serve only to

    bewilder. It is prob

    the Saviour himself.

    We

    able that the philosopher adopted the successful

    artifice

    of Lycurgus, referring

    his instructions to

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    higher agents in order to enforce their obedi

    regard to the innocence of the artifice, although perhaps no philosopher has a

    ence.

    With

    sincerer

    reverence

    for truth, yet the

    doctrine

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    The

    Character of Socrates

    31

    was but too common

    were

    if

    at that time that they promulgate useful falsehoods ; and he imagined that the necessity of the case

    free to

    might acquit Lycurgus, certainly a falsehood of a more heinous nature would at present have

    been

    justifiable.

    The

    entitled

    death of this illustrious

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    man

    has chiefly

    him

    to the veneration of mankind.

    The

    mild magnanimity which could forgive and justify its unjust oppressors ; the benevolence which

    forgot self and its pains and necessities in the ardor of instructing others ; the grandeur of soul

    which disdained self-preservation purchased

    the expense of inflexible principle

    at

    tues

    which stooped not in extremity which the human understanding always must approve, and which

    compel admiration. We have heard much of triumphant and honor

    or by sudden violence,

    or from natural causes

    the courage ; these are vir

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    able deaths at the stake

    of

    men who have

    ;

    died

    in

    martyrdom

    for liberty, religion, or love

    these

    But without are glorious indeed and excellent. into consideration the allowance to be taking

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    32

    The

    Character of Socrates

    made

    lous,

    for exaggeration

    and the love of the marvel

    we

    should attribute

    much

    is

    to the influence

    of despair.

    hurried suddenly from family and friendship and all the atmosphere

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    enthusiast

    An

    of social

    life

    his joys

    and hopes and habits

    to the place of torture and execution, to pay the

    penalty of adherence to a tenet.

    fearful

    The quick and of circumstances bewilders and change overwhelms a mind easily affected by things ex

    Morbid

    sensibility

    ternal.

    takes the place of

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    sanity of mind, and, but partially conscious of his conduct, he mechanically repeats the language

    strongly written on his memory ; and it follows that the ignorant mistake his imbecility for fear

    lessness,

    and

    his insensibility for blissful antici

    pation of approaching glory.

    Such cases are by

    no means improbable, and a strict scrutiny of miraculous last words and dying speeches will find them.

    But in the sacrifice of Socrates there

    is

    no shadow of a doubt on which

    incredulity

    might attach itself. The firmness and uncon cern with which he regards the approach of death

    are truly astonishing

    ;

    there does not appear to

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    The

    Character of Socrates

    33

    have been the slightest accession of excitement, not the alteration of a degree in his mental tem He met

    his agitated friends with the perature.

    usual calm discourse and deliberate reasoning. He spoke upon the subject, it is true, when they

    frequently introduced

    in the ordinations

    it,

    but willingly acquiesced

    employed

    his

    of superior intelligence, and reason to unveil the sublime pur

    poses of Providence. fortunate superstition of the Athenians fur

    A

    nished him with the opportunity of manifesting the sincerity and greatness of his philosophy, as

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    the length of time between his condemnation and death enabled him to hold frequent inter

    course with his disciples.

    Human

    sincerity has

    seldom passed a severer ordeal than did the prin ciples of Socrates. Notwithstanding the minute

    accuracy with which his every action has been detailed, we know not that the fortitude of which

    we have spoken ever abandoned him to a mo ment's melancholy. behold him upbraid ing the

    pusillanimity, or soothing the sorrows, of

    We

    those friends whose office

    it

    should have been,

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    34

    The

    Character of Socrates

    in the ordinary course of circumstances, to alle

    viate his

    own

    dying agonies.

    The

    dignity and

    grandeur of soul, everywhere predominant, is sustained to the conclusion of the great tragedy,

    till

    we

    are irresistibly led to bestow

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    upon the

    pagan the praise of a perfect man. It is melancholy to turn from this heroic event, this mighty giving-up

    of the ghost, to the dark

    der.

    of so foul a mur history of the causes and agents should avoid all recurrence to it, and

    We

    save mankind the shock and blush of recollection,

    not we think that some palliation might be pleaded to soften this black disgrace on a name we so much

    love to venerate as that of

    did

    Athens.

    When the philosopher began life there was a freshness of glory diffused over his country which no after

    times equalled. There had been

    magnificent

    success

    in

    arms and

    arts,

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    and

    achievements which

    overshadowed the great

    Hercules and names of their own romance, Theseus and Achilles. These stupendous suc cesses, to which

    modern history does not pre-

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    The

    Character of Socrates

    35

    tend to offer a parallel, had become familiar to

    them, and led them to that independence of character the ultimate effect of which was that

    caprice

    It

    which distinguished the people of Athens.

    natural, further beholding the full dis of their might, which had been thus glori play ously exhibited, that

    these republicans should

    was

    acquire confidence in themselves, a fearlessness of contending interests about them, and of the

    own actions, which was from the political community as a imparted whole to each separate state, and

    from the state

    consequences of their

    to each individual.

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    youthful Socrates.

    Such countrymen had the But he lived to see them

    degenerate, and crouch to the despotism of the Thirty ; to submit to defeat abroad, and to fac

    tion

    at

    home.

    All this, however, had

    little

    effect

    on that caprice whose cause we have

    mentioned.

    When

    the anarchy of the Thirty

    Tyrants was over, the impatience with which the people remembered their own submission only

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    increased the action of their caprice

    ;

    nor

    is

    it

    extraordinary if an overflowing zeal to approve

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    36

    The

    Character of Socrates

    themselves freemen should have made judgment

    hasty.

    We

    liberty

    should rejoice but

    if

    the death of Socrates

    were referable merely

    ;

    to this

    impetuous

    it

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    spirit

    of

    it

    belongs chiefly to that general

    debasement of morals which

    of Socrates to attack and reprehend.

    was the passion Their

    progress is sufficiently marked by the successive characters of the comedy, from its primal inno

    cence to

    its

    third stage,

    when

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    that

    grossness

    became fashionable which

    stains the

    dramas of

    Aristophanes. But not only their anger at the man who reproached them with their vices induced them

    to offer violence to him, but likewise his infi

    delity to the religion

    duction of

    new

    doctrines.

    of their fathers, and intro Grosser infidelity

    than that for which Socrates suffered, and which his predecessors Anaxagoras and Archelaus had

    wisdom enough to entertain but dared not avow, was openly proclaimed in the licentious theatre, and

    applauded by the multitude. But there is

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    The

    Character of Socrates

    plausibility in the

    37

    some appearance of

    apology

    for that inconsistency.

    In the theatre, impiety excited strong feeling,

    and the people's gratitude to the poet who could so faithfully amuse them would easily find apol

    ogy for more glaring impropriety. But the phil osopher was the teacher of youth, who should

    do away with every improper impression, and might not be allowed to infringe upon the faith

    they had been accustomed to venerate. Besides, they came to the lectures of the sage with dis

    passionate minds, and there was no purpose of warm feeling to be answered which might par

    don the introduction of what they termed pro We must confess that it is hard to fanity. check andchange the free tide of an ancient

    religion.

    When

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    tertains of his

    Maker

    old prejudices which man en are fixed ; when he is

    reasoning himself into a consent to the laws of God which govern him ; when he has incorpo

    rated the

    names and

    attributes of those

    who

    views

    know and make

    his destiny

    with

    all

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    his

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    38

    The

    ;

    Character of Socrates

    of existence be

    its

    be

    this

    it

    religion bad or good,

    tendency what

    its

    may,

    till

    he

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    is

    con

    error he will repel with indigna tion the power that came to rend and shatter

    vinced of

    the whole constitution of his soul.

    The memory

    of Socrates was vindicated from

    calumny by the subsequent sorrow of the Athe nians, who endeavored to atone for their crime

    by honors splendid

    executed

    the

    unavailing. Lysippus costly tribute of their respect, and the vengeance of the senate fell upon the

    if

    accusers, in punishment adequate to their guilt. He was Socrates led a sanctimonious life.

    abstemious, and his whole demeanor corre sponded with the coarseness of his features and

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    the deformity of his person.

    By

    harsh

    disci

    pline he endeavored to subdue his corporeal wants so far as to make them merely subservi

    ent to the mental advantage, yet never carrying it to anything like that excess of Indian super

    which worships God by outraging nature. unnatural expression of courage has been This

    stition

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    The

    called

    Character of Socrates

    39

    man

    an assertion of the dignity of man. nature wants no such champions.

    Hu

    We

    must hasten

    Grecian.

    to take our

    leave of the

    illustrious

    As

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    the head of the Ionic

    school, he did

    its

    more

    to found true philosophy

    on

    legitimate basis than

    any other master.

    When

    we

    consider

    how much

    this individual fulfilled

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    of the great duty which every man owes to his that of crowding into a little life fellowmen,

    the most extended benefit, and contributing the strength of his soul to the aggrandizement of

    the species,

    we

    shall

    men can cope

    with him.

    acknowledge that few Lord Bacon, the

    foremost of those few, did not

    irreproachable character.

    come up

    to his

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    The

    Present State of Ethical

    Philosophy

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    The

    Present State of Ethical

    Philosophy

    [A Bowdoin Prize Dissertation of 1811]

    WHEN

    its

    the present system of things began being, and the eternal relations of mat

    were established, the constitution of moral It began with science was yet to be founded.

    ter

    the social

    human

    condition,

    with man's

    first

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    his fellowsense of duty It has remained in permanent eternal man. principles, designed to regulate the

    present life

    to his

    Maker and to

    and to conduct the human race to their unseen

    and

    final destinies.

    Its

    development was

    later

    :

    with rude and unworthy beginnings, in which

    Advancement was long

    scarcely perceptible and

    always uncertain, and blessed with no charter of exemption from the difficulties of error. For a

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    time

    it

    was

    extricating itself

    from the conse

    its

    quences of mistake, and improving

    condi

    tion, sometimes, however, making a false step and plunging deeper into gulfs of absurdity and

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    44

    The

    ;

    Present State of Ethical Philosophy

    pollution

    but

    it

    has

    in

    finally

    placed itself on

    circle

    respectable

    ground

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    the

    of

    human

    knowledge.

    It

    were a bold and useless enquiry, and lead

    limits

    ing back beyond the

    of

    human informa

    tion, certainly claiming the apology of interest

    and importance, to ask what surpassing mind conceives the germ of moral science, or how

    it

    was communicated from heaven

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    to earth.

    It

    was the

    beautiful and eternal offspring of other

    worlds, and conferred on this by interposition

    which no discoveries might

    anticipate.

    We

    shall briefly sketch the history

    of ethical

    philosophy, and notice some prominent distinc tions which separate ancient from modern ethics,

    before we proceed to consider the present state of the science.

    We

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    find irregular

    and casual hints of moral

    science thrown out by the most distinguished ancient Greek poets, descending, as is supposed,

    know remotely from primeval revelation. of none, however, among the first schools of Grecian

    philosophy, who set himself apart for

    We

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    The

    Present State of Ethical Philosophy

    45

    the sublime purpose of gathering up the rela tions which bind man to the universe about him.

    Ethics were not thus early separated from the immature, misunderstood sciences of logic and

    metaphysics.

    to

    The

    world was not old enough

    have accurately parcelled and distributed her science into professions. The amassed stores of

    experience were not then overflowing her garners, as now, when ages of industry have elapsed to

    define and multiply the offices of her stewards. Believing, as the philosophical ancients appear

    to have done, that the world as they found

    it

    has

    forever subsisted, and should continue to sub

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    sist,

    and that an inscrutable Fate overruled their

    destinies,

    who might make them,

    at pleasure,

    demigods or nonentities after death, they had but scanty encouragement for any grand and

    holy system which the ardor of virtue might induce them to form. Enthusiasm was chilled

    by the awful, unrevealing silence which pre vailed over nature, and the sanctions which it

    supplied were inadequate to the support of a

    great religious faith.

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    46

    The

    Present State of Ethical Philosophy

    Some, astonished at the lustre and enchant ment with which this visible world was illu

    mined and renewed, imagined the possibility of a more intimate connection between man and

    nature, and hence arose the mysteries of Eleu" The sis, and the doctrine of natural magic.

    religion of

    " Egypt," says Madame de Stael, the system of emanations of the Hindoo, the Per sian adoration of the

    elements, are vestiges of

    some curious

    the universe."

    tion

    ;

    attraction

    which united man

    is

    to

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    More

    ;

    fortunate

    our condi

    delight,

    we

    recognize, with

    scientific

    they are material, still they are the agency of Deity, and we value them as subservient to the great

    relations we seek and

    these attractions

    pant after, in moral

    attractions,

    affinities

    and

    intellectual

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    from

    his

    moral influence.

    But the

    high and adventurous ends which these inter preters proposed to themselves were unan

    swered and afterwards perverted in corrupt times. Others among the ancients were fain to be

    lieve the voice of long descended tradition,

    and

    awaited the return of the departed gods with

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    The

    Present State of Ethical Philosophy

    47

    of ample dispensations, and piously congratulated themselves on the security of human condition under

    the protection of

    the golden

    age

    Providence.

    Others threw themselves head

    long on the comfortless creed of the administra tion of chance, and scoffed at the hopes and

    terrors of all, as distempered dreams.

    To

    sible

    this frail

    and

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    fleeting order of beings, per

    secuted by the same natural obstructions to pos aggrandizement, the progress of ages has

    unfolded, and immediate revelation sanctioned,

    a system of morality so complete and divine, and its promises attended with presentiments so

    rich of glory hereafter, as to exalt and assimi

    late the

    species to the boldest forms of ideal

    excellence.

    date the reduction of ethics to anything like a separate system from the time of Socrates.

    We

    " Socrates

    videtur, primus ab occultis rebus et a na-

    tura ipsa involutis, in quibus ante eum philosophi occupati fuerunt, philosophiam avocavisse et ad

    communem

    vitam adduxisse."*

    * Cic. Academ. Quaestiones.

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    48

    The

    Present State of Ethical Philosophy

    Others before him had been ambitious of dic

    tating laws for the

    government of kings and empires, or had locked up their results and con clusions in costly manuscripts,

    so that their in fluence upon the public was remote and insig

    But

    this patriotic philosopher

    nificant.

    extended

    his

    first

    wisdom

    city

    body of the people in the of the world, and communicated to his

    to the

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    not a hieroglyphical scripture to amuse the learned and awe the ignorant, but practical

    disciples,

    rules of life, adapted immediately to their

    dition

    con

    and character, and little infected by the dogmas of the age. To the inquisitive he un folded his system,

    and the laws and dependen

    cies

    of morals.

    The

    grandeur of his views

    regarding the Deity far outwent those of his con

    temporaries,

    whose malice exposed him to op There is an impor probrium attached to Socrates, which tant

    circumstance

    as a blasphemer.

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    that should not be forgotten in ethical history, from him is derived the modern custom of

    grounding virtue on a single principle. In treating of things which are _/*/, by which

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    The

    Present State of Ethical Philosophy

    49

    all things to be are agreeable to the laws. Modern just which improvement acknowledges this to be a

    flimsy

    he meant virtuous, he declares

    and fallacious

    criterion,

    vary under every

    different

    which must necessarily government, and

    which

    state

    sufficiently indicates the then imperfect

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    of morals.

    In the beginning of the seventeenth century, when Bacon's " Inductive Philosophy " tri

    umphed over

    Aristotle,

    and the authority of the

    Grecian sage began to decline, multitudes united to accelerate his fall. The indignation of the zeal

    ots against his errors

    went beyond bounds, and

    proceeded to abolish his

    ments where

    it

    empire in those depart deserved to remain entire. Such

    violent zeal will probably create a reaction at

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    some

    future period.

    little

    The

    ethics of Aristotle

    have been

    sion of

    read, and serve only to aston

    ish the occasional student

    with the comprehen remark and the advancement of knowl

    edge which they contain.

    Aristotle

    pursues different views of morals

    exhibits

    from the moderns, and

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    unexpected

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    50

    trains

    The

    Present State of Ethical Philosophy

    of ideas, unconnected, indeed, by phil osophical association ; he occupies himself long

    and tediously

    in ascertaining definitions

    and

    in

    drawing the boundary

    lines

    of moral and math

    ematical philosophy, and thus manifests the in fancy of the science, but discovers an intellect

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    which was acute

    hend,

    to devise

    an

    intellect

    and vast to compre which belonged to that

    unequalled

    series

    and Plato,

    commencing with Socrates alone, among the sons of Adam,

    and methodize the science

    qualified to institute

    of morality. After the ages of Grecian refinement, during

    which

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    all

    the

    sciences

    burst into

    premature

    after him,

    perfection, the Stoics exhibited rational and cor

    rect views of ethics.

    Zeno, and, long

    his illustrious disciples, Epictetus, Arrian,

    and

    Antoninus, maintained the doctrine of a supreme Intelligence, of his universal provi

    dence, and of the obligation

    M.

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    we

    are under to

    conform

    and acquiesce in his deci sions as necessarily right and good. Cicero, though the ornament and herald of

    to his will

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    The

    Present State of Ethical Philosophy

    little for

    51

    philosophy in his age, did ment of its principles.

    elegant

    the advance

    Cicero

    admired an

    philosophy.

    What was

    and

    uncouth or

    ;

    profound he polished

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    simplified

    for

    no

    man on

    ever pictured to himself such high classical and ethereal beauty, for the wor

    earth

    ship of imagination, as this distinguished Roman. Cicero was an eclectic philosopher ; he entered

    the schools free from the sourness of pedantry

    which the pride of philosophy was and hallow. His genius led him

    theories and systems with a to seek something to light,

    tiable

    to to

    pardon

    explore sole view to de

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    employ

    his insa

    moral imagination. the same in kind, though superior in science is degree, to that of modern essayists ;

    his elegant effusions inspired a delight to investigate the

    usefulness

    to

    His

    topics of

    which they

    treated,

    a desire

    which

    twenty centuries have not abated in the breast of liberal scholars.

    With Seneca and Marcus Antoninus

    the line of ancient moralists, and with

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    closes

    them the

    chief praise of

    human

    ingenuity and wisdom.

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    52

    The

    Present State of Ethical Philosophy

    Unassisted

    proficiency as at the time elapsing

    rates

    philosophy never made such vast between Soc

    and

    Antoninus.

    After

    this

    time

    the

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    Christian religion comes in, supplying the de fects and correcting the errors of morality, and

    establishing

    on the whole a grander system

    ;

    but

    ingenuity alone never soared so high as the epoch we have marked. during From these philosophers,

    ethics were deliv

    ered

    human

    down

    to the Christian fathers with all the

    new motives and sanctions opened by revelation. With all their parade of schools and disputa

    tions, the fathers did little to settle the

    founda

    tions of morals.

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    They

    wrote

    much about them,

    to

    and collected the crude materials for others to

    analyze.

    They endeavored

    show

    a contra

    laws of reason and revelation, and to substitute their expositions of the one for the

    riety in the

    plain dictates of the other.

    of the monastic

    cell,

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    and

    But the obscurity the narrow views

    which were

    the

    entailed

    Roman

    upon each succession of Priesthood, were unfavorable to

    grand apprehensions of moral science.

    Some

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    The

    Present State of Ethical Philosophy

    53

    of them were sufficiently familiar with Greek and Roman philosophy to take up the subject on proper

    grounds, but it was beyond the force

    of minds perverted by bigotry to continue as had been begun.

    it

    The

    remain

    world.

    history of this hierarchy must always a phenomenon in the annals of the

    The commissioned

    apostles of peace

    and religion were seen arming the nations of Europe to a more obstinate and pernicious con

    test

    than had ever been

    fatal

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    with

    hostility,

    known ; and pursued with seven successions of

    till

    bloodshed and horror,

    its

    dye was doubled

    this,

    on the crimson

    cross.

    Not content with

    subjects, and

    the ambitious popes were embroiled in perpetual

    disputes with their

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    crowned

    from

    new some new

    every

    contest the consecrated robber reaped acquisition to enrich the domain of

    the church.

    ecclesiastical govern ment, a different and graver character should naturally have been expected from

    the vicar of

    this

    In the theory of

    Christ.

    From

    the

    nature of the

    institution,

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    54

    The

    Present State of Ethical Philosophy

    great results in intellectual science might reason ably be expected from the peaceful and educated

    Neither domestic relations nor labors clergy. to obtain a livelihood interfered to deter them

    from these pursuits, and we can hardly ascribe The difficulty their failure to want of motive.

    seems

    to

    have been lodged

    in the very spirit

    which pervaded and characterized the whole

    church, that of choosing darkness rather than a perverse obstinacy of ignorance. To light,

    exhibit a system of morals, entire and in all its parts, requires a powerful faculty of generaliza

    tion,

    which

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    is

    nourished only where opinion

    ;

    is

    it free and knowledge is valued requires, also, an accurate discrimination, accustomed to op

    pose subtlety and sophistry with ambidexter in

    from big genuity, and a complete emancipation the besetting sin of the Roman church. otry,

    With

    the torch of revelation in their hands,

    we

    find the Christian fathers inculcating the neces

    sity

    of

    silly

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    and degrading penances, the offering

    or delirium, or bidding the transgressor repair to the Holy Land, in order to propitiate

    of

    whim

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    The

    Present State of Ethical Philosophy

    55

    the favor of the Deity.

    far

    The Hindoo

    had gone

    beyond them

    in his

    moral estimates.

    " If

    thou be not," says the lawgiver Menu, " at va riance, by speaking falsely, with Yama, the subduer of all,with Vaivaswata, the punisher, with

    that great divinity

    who

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    dwells in the breast, go

    not on a pilgrimage to the river Ganga, nor to the plains of Curu, for thou hast no need of ex

    piation."

    By

    the rapid advancement of the collateral

    philosophy of the mind by the spring imparted

    by Bacon and Descartes, ethical speculations were matured and improved. It was useless to

    disclose defects in the culture of the moral

    ers

    till

    pow

    the knowledge of the mental operations taught how they should be amended and regu

    lated.

    With Lord Bacon

    our remarks have less con

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    nection than with his less illustrious contempo raries, for in contemplating the science of mor

    als

    we have only to speak of theorists who have analyzed,

    the classifiers and

    have recommended and applied

    not the sages who it. sketch

    A

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    56

    The

    Present State of Ethical Philosophy

    of the science has no more concern with the

    contains or occasions, than the nature of the soil with the different

    beautiful

    it

    sentiments

    owners through which

    its title

    had passed.

    important controversy which has been much agitated among modern philosophers,

    An

    whether

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    benevolence

    or

    selfishness

    be

    the

    arose chiefly from the ma ground of action, levolent spirit of Mr. Hobbes, whose shrewd

    speculations discovered to society that

    relations

    all

    their

    were

    artificial

    and grotesque

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    ;

    and that

    nature, which they had ignorantly judged to be so sublime and aspiring, would lead them to the

    character and cir