Page:Ferrier Works vol 2 1888 LECTURES IN GREEK PHILOSOPHY.pdf/361

306 extensive influence on the thoughts and interests of mankind, more so, probably, than any other, either in ancient or in modern times. Aristotle is the only other name that can be put in comparison with that of Plato. The ascendancy of Aristotle may for some centuries have been more despotic, but I am inclined to think that the genius of Plato has from first to last ruled the minds of thinking men with a more living and penetrating sway. Not to speak of his immediate followers, the rise of Neo-platonism, principally in Alexandria, in the centuries immediately subsequent to the Christian era, attests the depth and extent of Plato's influence. His writings, moreover, were much admired, and closely studied by many of the early Christian fathers. Justin Martyr, Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, Eusebius, and St Augustin, these founders of the Church regarded Plato as actually inspired, so profoundly were they impressed by the divine character of his instructions; while others were of opinion that he had derived his wisdom from an acquaintance with the Hebrew Scriptures, an opinion, I need scarcely say, which rests on very insufficient evidence. Throughout the dark ages, that is to say, from the sixth to the tenth or eleventh century, an eclipse passed over the light of Plato, as it did over every other light in the firmament of philosophy and literature. From the tenth until the fourteenth century, Aristotle, and not Plato, was in the ascendant. This is the period usually called the middle ages. During its continuance, the only