Page:History of Greece Vol VIII.djvu/471

 BACONIAN SPIRIT. 449 There is nothing which Plato is more fertile in illustrating, than this relation between the teacher and the scholar, operating not by what it put into the latter, but by what it evolved out of him ; by creating an uneasy longing after truth, aiding in the elabora- tion necessary for obtaining relief, and testing whether the doc trine elaborated possessed the real lineaments, or merely the delusive semblance, of truth. There are few things more remarkable than the description given of the colloquial magic of Sokrates and its vehement effects, by those who had themselves heard it and felt its force. Its suggestive and stimulating power was a gift so extraordinary, as well to justify any abundance of imagery on the part of Plato to illustrate it. 1 On the subjects to which he applied himself, man and society, his hearers had done little but feel and affirm: anxiety to be relieved from it, is not less powerfully attested in the simpler language of Xenophon, than in the metaphorical variety of Plato. See the conversation with Euthydemus, in the Memorabilia of Xenophon, iv, 2 ; a long dialogue which ends by the confession of the latter (c. 39) : 'A.vayKuei HE raiiTa ofj.o'Xoyelv 6rj7t.ovoTi ij efitj (j>avX6~i]<; Kai ^povri^u /J.T) Kpariarov 9 pot aiyuv Kivdvvevu yu.p uTr/lwf ovdev eldevai, Kai TTUVV u&vfiuf i%uv uTnyA- & Kai v o [iia af r > ov r t uv 6 p air 06 ov elv a t: compare i, 1, 16. This same expression, " thinking himself no better than a slave," is also put by Plato into the mouth of Alkibiades, when he is describing the powerful effect wrought on his mind by the conversation of Sokrates (Sym- posion, c. 39, p. 215, 216): HcpiK^-tovf 6e UKOVUV KOI uM.uv ciyatfuv prjro- puv cv (lev f/yov/iJ}v, TOIOVTOV 6' ovdtv e.-aaxov, ov6e TedopvftrjTo pov TJ ipv^ ovff Tiya.va.KTei uf iiv 6 p OTT o 6 u 6 cJ f & lateiftiv ov, 'AAX' virb rov- uare ftot 66^ai ifj ftturfiv clvai Compare also the Meno, c. 13, p. 79, E, and Thcaetct. c. 17, 22, p. 148, E, 151, C, where the metaphor of pregnancy, and of the obstetric art of Sok- ratSs, is expanded : Truff^ovfft de 6t) oi tpol ^vyyiyvofiEvot aal TOVTO ravruv rotf riKTovaatc udlvovai yup Kai airoplaf tuirtfi^avrat WKTuf re Kai ijpepaf iro?.t) /iu?ifa>v fj iKclvai. TavTTjv re ri/v u6lva kyeipeiv re Kai uTTO^aveiv 17 I/*?) Texi'fj ivvarai 'Ev/orf (5e, ol av firj fto i 6 6 f u a tv iyKtiftovef elvai, yvoiif bri ovdev ifjiov diovrat, iruvv evfievuf irpopvu- usi, etc. 1 There is a striking expression of Xenophon, in the Memorabilia, about Sokrates and his conversation (i, 2, 14) : "He dealt with everyone just as he pleased in his discussions," says Xenophon. rolf 61 dtafayopevoif airy iruai xpupevov Iv rotf Uyoif CTWI VOL. vin. 29oc-