possession of an inquiring, skeptical mind which questioned every common belief and superstition. But he went beyond the sophists in his emphasis on problems of every-day morality. Though Socrates wrote nothing, his teaching and personality made a deep impression on his contemporaries. The Delphic oracle declared that no one in the world was wiser than Socrates. Yet he lived through a long life at Athens, a poor man who would neither work at his trade of sculptor, nor (as did the sophists) accept money for his instruction. He walked the streets, barefoot and half-clad; and engaged in animated conversation with anyone who was willing to discuss intellectual subjects with him. Socrates must have been a familiar figure to the Athenians. His short body, large, bald head, and homely features hardly presented the ideal of a philosopher. Even Aristophanes in a comedy laughs at him. SOCRATES Vatican Gallery, Rome Condemnation of Socrates Late in life Socrates was accused of impiety and of corrupting the youth of Athens with his doctrines. As a matter of fact he was a deeply religious man. If he objected and death to the crude mythology of Homer, he often spoke of one God, who ruled the world, and of a divine spirit or conscience within his own breast. A jury court found him guilty, however, and condemned him to death. He refused to escape from prison when opportunity offered and passed his last days in eager conversation on the immortality of the soul. When the hour of departure arrived, he bade his disciples farewell and calmly drained the cup of hemlock, a poison that caused a painless death. Although Socrates gave his life for his philosophy, this did not perish with him. One of the members of the Socratic circle was Plato, a wealthy noble who abandoned a public career for the attractions of philosophy. After the death of Socrates, Plato Plato traveled widely in the Greek world and even visited Egypt, where he interviewed the learned priests. On his return to Athens Plato began teaching in the garden and gymnasium called the Academy. His writings, known as Dialogues, are cast in the form of question and answer that Socrates had used. In most of them Plato makes Socrates the chief speaker. Plato's works are both profound in thought and admirable in style. The Athenians used to say that if Zeus had spoken Greek he would have spoken it as did Plato. Aristotle As great a philosopher as Plato, but a far less attractive writer, was Aristotle. He was not an Athenian by birth, but he passed many years in Athens, first as a pupil of Plato, who called him the "mind" of the school, and then as a teacher in the Athenian city. Aristotle seems to have taken all knowledge for his province. He investigated the ideas underlying the arts of rhetoric and poetry; he gathered the constitutions of many Greek states and drew from them some general principles of politics; he studied collections of strange plants and animals to learn their structure and habits; he examined the acts and beliefs of men in order to write books on ethics. In all this investigation Aristotle was not content to accept what previous men had written or to spin a pleasing theory out of his own brain. Everywhere he sought for facts; everything he tried to bring to the test of personal observation. Aristotle, then, was as much a scientist as a philosopher. His books were reverently studied for centuries after his death and are still used in our universities. Epicureanism The system of philosophy called Epicureanism was founded by a Greek named Epicurus. He taught in Athens during the earlier part of the third century B.C. Epicurus believed that pleasure is the sole good, pain, the sole evil. He meant by pleasure not so much the passing enjoyments of the hour as the permanent happiness of a lifetime. In 1 See page 261. order to be happy men should not trouble themselves with useless luxuries, but should lead the "simple life." They must be virtuous, for virtue will bring more real satisfaction than vice. Above all, men ought to free themselves from idle hopes and fears about a future existence. The belief in the immortality of the soul, said Epicurus, is only a delusion, for both soul and body are material things which death dissolves into the atoms making up the universe. And if there are any gods, he declared, they do not concern themselves with human affairs. Some of the followers of Epicurus seemed to find in his philosophic system justification for free indulgence in every appetite and passion. Even to-day, when we call a person an "Epicurean," we think of him as a selfish pleasure seeker. Stoicism The noblest of all pagan philosophies was Stoicism, founded by Zeno, a contemporary of Epicurus. Virtue, said the Stoic, consists in living "according to nature," that is, according to the Universal Reason or Divine Providence that rules the world. The followers of this philosophy tried, therefore, to ignore the feelings and exalt the reason as a guide to conduct. They practiced self-denial, despised the pomps and vanities of the world, and sought to rise above such emotions as grief, fear, hope, and joy. The doctrines of Stoicism gained many adherents among the Romans1 and through them became a real moral force in the ancient world. Stoicism is even now no outworn creed. Our very word "stoical" is a synonym for calm indifference to pleasure or to pain. Rise of Roman literature 96. Roman Literature The beginnings of Roman literature go back to the third century B.C., when some knowledge of the Greek language became increasingly common in Rome. The earlier writers chiefly poets and dramatists did little original work, and usually were content to translate and adapt the productions of Greek authors for Roman audiences. During this period the Romans gradually discovered the capabilities of their language for prose composi 1 See page 226. tion. The republican institutions of Rome, like those of Athens, were highly favorable to the art of public speaking. It was the development of oratory which did most to mold the Latin language into fitness for the varied forms of prose. Cicero, the greatest of Roman orators, created a style for Latin prose composition which has been admired and imitated by men of letters even to our own day. Latin, in Cicero his hands, became a magnificent instrument for the expression of human thought. Cicero's qualities as an author are shown, not only by his Orations, but also by the numerous Epistles which he wrote to friends and correspondents in all parts of the Roman world. Besides their historical interest Cicero's letters are models of what good letters ought to bethe expression of the writer's real thoughts and feelings in simple, unstilted language. Cicero also composed a number of Dialogues, chiefly on philosophical themes. If not very profound, they are delightfully written, and long served as textbooks in the schools. Cæsar Another eminent statesman Julius Cæsar won success in literature. As an orator he was admitted by his contemporaries to stand second to Cicero. None of his speeches have survived. We possess, however, his invaluable Commentaries on the Gallic and Civil wars. These works, though brief and in most parts rather dull, are highly praised for their simple, concise style and their mastery of the art of rapid narration. The half century included within the Augustan Age marks a real epoch in the history of Latin literature. The most famous poet of this period was Vergil. The Æneid, Vergil and which he undertook at the suggestion of Augustus, Horace is his best-known work. In form the poem is a narrative of the adventures of the Trojan hero, Æneas,1 but its real theme is the growth of Rome under the fostering care of the gods. The Eneid, though unfinished at the author's death, became at once what it has always remained - the only ancient epic worthy of comparison with the Iliad or with the Odyssey. Another 1 See page 142. member of the Augustan circle was Vergil's friend and fellowworker, Horace. An imitative poet, Horace reproduced in Latin verse the forms, and sometimes even the substance, of his Greek models. But, like Vergil, what Horace borrowed he made his own by the added beauty which he gave to it. His Odes are perhaps the most admirable examples of literary art to be found in any language. The most famous prose writer of the Augustan Age was Livy. His History of Rome, beginning with Romulus and extending to Augustus, traced the rise and growth of the Livy Roman state during eight centuries of triumphal progress. It did in prose what Vergil's Æneid had done in verse. The period of the "Good Emperors" saw the rise of several important authors, of whom one, the historian Tacitus, was a Tacitus man of genius. The crowning labor of his life was a history of Rome from Tiberius to Domitian. Of this work, issued under the two titles of Histories and Annals, only about one-half is extant. Survival of Roman literature Less than two hundred years separate Cicero and Tacitus. During this period Latin authors, writing under the influence of old Greece, accomplished much valuable work. Some of their productions are scarcely inferior to the Greek masterpieces. In later centuries, when Greek literature was either neglected or forgotten in the West, the literature of Rome was still read and enjoyed. Even to-day a knowledge of it forms an essential part of a "classical" education. Characteris 97. Greek Architecture The existing monuments of Greek architecture - chiefly ruined temples-afford some idea of its leading characteristics. The building materials were limestone and white tics of Greek marble. The blocks of stone were not bound architecture together by cement, but by metal clamps which held them in a firm grip. It was usual to color the ornamental parts of a temple and the open spaces that served as a background for sculpture. The Greeks did not employ the principle of the arch, in order to cover large spaces with a vaulted ceil |