Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/260

 2IO Outlines of Eicropean History Plato Plato's ideal state the for7n of government of the ideal state. They accepted as a matter of course the monarchy under which they lived as the natural form for the state. But in Greece the question of the form of government, whether a kingdom, a republic, or what not, was now earnestly discussed. Thus there arose a new science, the science of govenmient. Plato, the most gifted pupil of Socrates, published much of his beloved master's teaching in the form of dialogues, sup- posedly reproducing the discussions of the great teacher himself. Then after extensive travels in Egypt and the west he returned to Athens, where he set up his school in a grove near the gym- nasium of Academus (hence our word " academy "). Convinced of the hopelessness of democracy in Athens, he reluctantly gave up all thought of a career as a statesman, to which he had been strongly drawn, and devoted himself to teaching. He was both philosopher and poet. The ideas which Socrates maintained the* human mind could discern, became for Plato eternal realities, having an existence outside of riian and his mind. The human soul, he taught, had always existed, and in an earlier state had beheld the great ideas such as goodness, beauty, evil, as if they were pictures, and the soul had thus gained a vision of them which in this earthly life it now recalled, and recognized again. People gifted with such vision were the ones to control the ideal state, for they w^ould necessarily act in accordance with the ideas of virtue and justice which they had discerned. It w^as possible by education, thought Plato, to lead the souls of men to a clear vision of these ideas. In a noble essay entitled The Repul^Iic Plato presents a lofty vision of his ideal state. Here live the enlightened souls gov- erning a society ruled by the highest ideals of righteousness and justice. They do no work, but depend on craftsmen and slaves for all menial labor. And yet the comforts and luxury which they enjoy are the product of that very world of industry and commerce in a Greek city which Plato so thoroughly de- spises. The plan places far too much dependence on education,