ics,
Heracleitus, and Socrates, reappears, transfigured in the system of
Plato. But it is not to be imagined, on this account, that Plato was a
mere eclectic, or a plagiarist, who took the best thoughts of others,
and worked them into some sort of a patch-work philosophy of his own.
He was, on the contrary, in the highest degree an original thinker.
But like all great systems of thought, that of Plato grows out of the
thought of previous thinkers. He does indeed appropriate the ideas of
Heracleitus, Parmenides, and Socrates. But he does not leave them as
he finds them. He takes them as the germs of a new development. They
are the foundations, below ground, upon which he builds the palace of
philosophy. In his hands, all previous thought becomes {165}
transfigured under the light of a new and original principle.

1. Life and Writings.

The exact date of the birth of Plato is a matter of doubt. But the
date usually given, 429-7 B.C. cannot be far wrong. He came of an
aristocratic Athenian family, and was possessed of sufficient wealth
to enable him to command that leisure which was essential for a life
devoted to philosophy. His youth coincided with the most disastrous
period of Athenian history. After a bitter struggle, which lasted over
a quarter of a century, the Peloponnesian war ended in the complete
downfall of Athens as a political power. And the internal affairs of
the State were in no less confusion than the external. Here, as
elsewhere, a triumphant democracy had developed into mob-rule. Then at
the close of the Peloponnesian war, the aristocratic party again came
into power with the Thirty Tyrants, among whom were some of Plato's
own relatives. But the aristocratic party, so far from improving
affairs, plunged at once into a reign of bloodshed, terror, and
oppression. These facts have an important bearing upon the history of
Plato's life. If he ever possessed any desire to adopt a political
career, the actual condition of Athenian affairs must have quenched
it. An aristocrat, both in thought and by birth, he could not
accommodate himself to the rule of the mob. And if he ever imagined
that the return of the aristocracy to power would improve matters, he
must have been bitterly disillusioned by the proceedings of the Thirty
Tyrants. Disgusted alike with the democracy and the aristocracy he
seems to have retired into seclusion. He never once, throughout his
long life, appeared as a {166} speaker in the popu