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373 SOCRATE'S 373

SOCRATES

Socrates, the master of Plato, ΛVΓote no books himself. He said that he was dissatisfied with books, for books could not answer questions. He was born about 469 b. c, the son of Sophroniscus, a stone-cutter, and he himself Λvas a sculptor during the early part of his life. A group of the Graces which stood on the Acropolis was said to be his work. But he turned from the carving of stone to the moulding of men's minds and the search for truth. As Cicero says, he was the first to call Philosophy down from the clouds to dwell among men. He formed no school and received no pupils, but as he met men on the street and in the market- place, questioned them, and roused them to thought. Grad- ually a band of followers formed around him, — chiefly young men, among whom Plato, Alcibiades, and Xenophon are best known to us. The character of Socrates had many sides. Plato was his true successor in the search for truth. Xenophon was not a philosopher, but being an intensely practical man was much impressed by his ethical teachings. Socrates's self-control and contempt for physical in compar- ison Λvith mental and moral pleasures were continued with exaggerations by the Cynics and Stoics.

Alcibiades and others of the young men who had followed Socrates entered upon political courses displeasing to the Athenians, and in the spring of 399 B. c, Socrates was brought to trial on the charge of corrupting the youth and of introducing new divinities. The second " count" of the indictment referred to his belief that a special divine influ- ence (daemoniuTn) often restrained him from action, thus guiding him aright. He was condemned to death, and, ac- cording to the custom of that time, drank the poison-hem- lock (coniurn) in his cell. The Phaedo of Plato narrates his life and conversation in the prison on the day of his death, — the heart of the dialogue being devoted to an ar- gument for the immortality of the soul.