he was
certainly the first to place it upon a philosophic basis. The Phaedo
presents the doctrine and the _reasoning_ by which Socrates had elevated
his mind above the fear of death. Some of the arguments may be purely
Platonic, the argument especially grounded on "ideas;" still, as a
whole, it must be regarded as a tolerably correct presentation of the
manner in which Socrates would prove the immortality of the soul.

In _Ethics_, Socrates was pre-eminently himself. The systematic
resolution of the whole theory of society into the elementary principle
of natural law, was peculiar to him. _Justice_ was the cardinal
principle which must lie at the foundation of all good government. The
word sophia--_wisdom_--included all excellency in personal morals,
whether as manifested (reflectively) in the conduct of one's self, or
(socially) towards others. And _Happiness_, in its purity and
perfection, can only be found in virtuous action.[486]

[Footnote 486: Butler's "Lectures on Ancient Philosophy," vol. i. pp.
360, 361.]

Socrates left nothing behind him that could with propriety be called a
_school_. His chief glory is that he inaugurated a new _method_ of
inquiry, which, in Plato and Aristotle, we shall see applied. He gave a
new and vital impulse to human thought, which endured for ages; "and he
left, as an inheritance for humanity, the example of a heroic life
devoted wholly to the pursuit of truth, and crowned with martyrdom."

CHAPTER X.

THE PHILOSOPHERS OF ATHENS (_continued_).

THE SOCRATIC SCHOOL (_continued_).

PLATO.

We have seen that the advent of Socrates marks a new era in the history
of speculative thought. Greek philosophy, which at first was a
philosophy of nature, now changes its direction, its character, and its
method, and becomes a philosophy of mind. This, of course, does not mean
that now it had mind alone for its object; on the contrary, it tended,
as indeed philosophy must always tend, to the conception of a rational
ideal or _intellectual system of the universe_. It started from the
phenomena of mind, began with the study of human thought, and it made
the knowledge of mind, of its ideas and laws, the basis of a higher
philosophy, which should interpret all nature. In other words, it
proceeded from psychology, through dialectics, to ontology.[487]

[Footnote 487: Cousin's "Lectures on the History of Philosophy," vol. i.
p. 413.]

This new movement we have designated in general te