him.

"For, in so far as we are intelligent beings, we cannot desire
anything save that which is necessary, nor yield absolute
acquiescence to anything, save to that which is true:
wherefore, in so far as we have a right understanding of these
things, the endeavor of the better part of ourselves is in
harmony with the order of nature as a whole."[344:13]

In agreement with this teaching of Spinoza's is the famous Stoic formula
to the effect that "nothing can happen contrary to the will of the wise
man," who is free through his very acquiescence. If reason be the proper
"ruling part," the first step in the moral life is the subordination of
the appetitive nature and the enthronement of reason. One who is himself
rational will then recognize the fellowship of all rational beings, and
the unitary and beneficent rationality of the entire universe. The
highest morality is thus already upon the plane of religion.

[Sidenote: The Platonic Ethics of Perfection.]

Sect. 169. With Spinoza and the Stoics, the perfection of the individual
is reduced to what the universe requires of him. The good man is willing
to be whatever he must be, for the sake of the whole with which through
reason he is enabled to identify himself. With Plato and Aristotle the
perfection of the individual himself is commended, that the universe may
abound in perfection. The good man is the ideal man--the expression of
the type. And how different the quality of a morality in keeping with
this principle! The virtues which Plato enumerates--temperance, courage,
wisdom, and justice--compose a consummate human nature. He is thinking
not of the necessities but of the possibilities of life. Knowledge of
the truth will indeed be the best of human living, but knowledge is not
prized because it can reconcile man to his limitations; it is the very
overflowing of his cup of life. The youth are to

"dwell in the land of health, amid fair sights and sounds; and
beauty, the effluence of fair works, will visit the eye and
ear, like a healthful breeze from a purer region, and
insensibly draw the soul even in childhood into harmony with
the beauty of reason."[345:14]

Aristotle's account of human perfection is more circumstantial and more
prosaic. "The function of man is an activity of soul in accordance with
reason," and his happiness or well-being will consist in the fulness of
rational living. But such fulness re