his vices, his place in creation, and the end and object of his life.
In the defence which Plato puts into his mouth at his trial, Socrates gives an account of what he conceived to be his own mission. His friend Chærephon had asked the priestess of Delphi "if there was any man on earth wiser than Socrates?" and the oracle had replied that there was none. Socrates then resolved "himself to test the truth of this reply, and accordingly he had cross-examined statesmen, poets, philosophers,—all, in short, who had the reputation of wisdom in their profession,—and he had found that their pretended knowledge was only ignorance, that God alone was wise, that human wisdom was worthless, and that among men he was wisest who, like himself,
"Professed
"To know this only, that he nothing knew."[1]
This was the great point of contrast between Socrates and those professors of universal knowledge, the Sophists. In their presence he always assumed the humble position of a man "intellectually bankrupt," who knows nothing, and who is seeking for information. He addresses some master of rhetoric or science with a modest and deferential air; he will take it as an infinite obligation if the great man will condescend to relieve his doubts by answering a few easy questions on some (apparently) obvious question of morality; and, of course, the Sophist, to save his own reputation, has no alternative but to comply. Then Socra-
