ing

"Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange, eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion--
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything."

He is full of admiration for the past and of contemptuous disgust at the
present; his thoughts are wandering to the things that occupied him in
his youth, and even in his infancy. Like those who are ready to die, he
delivers himself up to religious preparation, without any farther
concern whether the things on which he is depending are intrinsically
true or false.

In this, the closing scene, no more do we find the vivid faith of Plato,
the mature intellect of Aristotle, the manly self-control of Zeno. Greek
philosophy is ending in garrulity and mysticism. It is leaning for help
on the conjurer, juggler, and high-priest of Nature.

There are also new-comers obtruding themselves on the stage. The Roman
soldier is about to take the place of the Greek thinker, and assert his
claim to the effects of the intestate--to keep what suits him, and to
destroy what he pleases. The Romans, advancing towards their age of
Faith, are about to force their ideas on the European world.

Under the shadow of the Pyramids Greek philosophy was born; after many
wanderings for a thousand years round the shores of the Mediterranean,
it came back to its native place, and under the shadow of the Pyramids
it died.

[Sidenote: It becomes retrospective.]

[Sidenote: Has arrived at Oriental ideas.]

From the period of the New Academy the decline of Greek philosophy was
uninterrupted. Inventive genius no longer existed; its place was
occupied by the commentator. Instead of troubling themselves with
inquiries after absolute truth, philosophers sought support in the
opinions of the ancient times, and the real or imputed views of
Pythagoras, Plato, or Aristotle were received as a criterion. In this,
the old age of philosophy, men began to act as though there had never
been such things as original investigation and discovery among the human
race, and that whatever truth there was in the world was not the product
of thought, but the remains of an ancient and now all but forgotten
revelation from he