The Golden Sayings of Epictetus

of poverty and a shrewish wife with calm indifference. He did not give formal instruction after the fashion of other philoso- phers of his time, but went about engaging people in conversa- tion, seeking, chiefly by questions, to induce his contemporaries, and especially the young men, to think clearly and to act reason- ably.

He made profession of no knowledge except of his own ignorance, and the famous “Socratic irony” was shown in his at- titude of apparent willingness to learn from anyone who professed to know. The inevitable result of such conversations, however, was the reduction of the would-be instructor to a state either of irritation at the unmasking of his pretensions, or of humility and eagerness to be instructed by his questioner.

It was natural that such a habit should create enemies, and Socrates was finally accused of wmtroducing new gods and of corrupting the youth. His defense, as will be seen from the “Apology,” was conducted with his customary firm adherence to his convictions, and with entire fearlessness of consequences.

He could, in all probability, have easily escaped the death sentence had he been willing to take a conciliatory tone, but he died (B. C. 399) a martyr to his unswerving devotion to truth. Socrates wrote nothing, and we learn what we know of his teachings chiefly from his disciples, Xenophon and Plato.

Plato was also an Athenian, born in 428 B.C. of a distinguished family. He became a disciple of Socrates at the age of twenty, and after the death of his master he traveled in Egypt, Sicily, and elsewhere, returning to Athens about 388.

Here he estab- lished his school of philosophy in a garden near a gymnasium, called the Academy, and here he spent the last forty years of his life, numbering among his pupils his great rival in philosophical renown, Aristotle. Unlike Socrates, Plato took no part in the civic life of Athens, but he was much interested in political phi- losophy, and is said to have been consulted by statesmen both at home and abroad. i HCI AL L* RIYA A 2 INTRODUCTORY NOTE ‘All the works of Plato have been preserved, and they include, besides those here printed, the “Republic,”