ent thought; and Greco-Roman philosophy as well as
Hebrew religion have contributed not a little to the form and trend of
modern ethical inquiry.

All we can attempt is the briefest outline, first, of the successive
epochs of Greek and Roman Ethics; and second, of the leading moral
ideas of the Hebrews as indicating the preparatory stages in the
evolution of thought which finds its completion in the Ethics of
Christianity.

I

Before the golden age of Greek philosophy there was no Ethics in the
strictest sense. Philosophy proper occupied itself primarily with
ontological questions--questions as to the origin and constitution of
the material world. It was only when mythology and religion had lost
their hold upon the cultured, and the traditions of the poets had come
to be doubted, that inquiries as to the meaning of life and conduct
arose.

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The Sophists may be regarded as the pioneers of ethical science. This
body of professional teachers, who appeared about the fifth century in
Greece, drew attention to the vagueness of common opinion and began to
teach the art of conduct. Of these Protagoras is the most famous, and
to him is attributed the saying, 'Man is the measure of all things.'
As applied to conduct, this dictum is commonly interpreted as meaning
that good is entirely subjective, relative to the individual. Viewed
in this light the saying is one-sided and sceptical, subversive of all
objective morality. But the dictum may be regarded as expressing an
important truth, that the good is personal and must ultimately be the
good for man as man, therefore for all men.

1. It was _Socrates_, however, who, as it was said, first called
philosophy from heaven to the sphere of this earth, and diverted men's
minds from the consideration of natural things to the affairs of human
life. He was indeed the first moral philosopher, inasmuch as that,
while the Sophists merely talked at large about justice and virtue, he
asked what these terms really meant. Living in an age when the old
guides of life--law and custom--were losing their hold upon men, he was
compelled to find a substitute for them by reflection upon the meaning
and object of existence. For him the source of evil is want of
thought, and his aim is to awaken men to the realisation of what they
are, and what they must seek if they would make the best of their
lives. He is the prophet of clear self-consciousness. 'Know thyself'
is his motto, a