sense, but purely Greek in another, which was to combine the iron discipline of Sparta with the many-sided culture of Athens—a city where, as her own historian said, men might unite elegance with simplicity, and might be learned without being effeminate.[1] And then, like some painter who copies a divine original, to use his own comparison,[2] Plato first cleanses the moral canvas of his visionary state, then sketches the outline of the constitution, fills it in with the ideal forms of virtue, and gives it a human complexion in the godlike colouring of Homer; and the result is a glorious picture, as the world would acknowledge, he thinks, if they could be brought to see the truth; and a picture which might be realised in history, could a single king, or son of a king, become a philosopher.
Ethics and politics were so closely blended in Plato's view, that he regards the virtues of the Man as identical with those of the State, and thus exaggerates, says Mr Grote, "the unity of the one and the partibility of the other." But we must remember that as the ancient state was smaller, so the public spirit pervading it was more intense; each man was, as we might say, citizen, soldier, and member of Parliament; and unlike modern society, which has been defined as "anarchy plus the policeman,"—where tolerance is carried to its furthest limits, and where state interference is restricted to the security of life and property,—the Greek theory was to secure as far as possible an absolute uniformity of sentiment and character, and
