Page:Ferrier Works vol 2 1888 LECTURES IN GREEK PHILOSOPHY.pdf/323

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GREEK PHILOSOPHY.

tinguished were Xenophon, who in his 'Memorabilia' has recorded the sayings and doings of Socrates in their bearings on the business of mankind, and Cebes, to whom a work is questionably attributed entitled Πίναξ, or the Table, which sketches, on Socratic principles, an allegorical picture of human life. Its moral is to show that virtue alone can make us truly happy, and that pleasure is a snare and a delusion, whose charm lasts only for a time. Others, again, or I should rather say one other of his immediate followers, comprehended the whole scope and design of his philosophy; and this disciple was Plato. Plato alone fathomed the depths, both moral and metaphysical, of the Socratic speculations. He has interfused them with the splendours of his own genius, and has given them to the world in a style, the eloquence of which has never been surpassed, if indeed it has ever been equalled. Plato stands out as the only adequate exponent and representative of the Socratic philosophy in all its phases. But, intermediate between Plato on the one hand, and the popular expositors just referred to on the other hand, there are presented to us three schools of Socraticists, who, being more scientific in their treatment of the philosophy than Xenophon or Cebes, are at the same time much less complete and comprehensive than Plato. These three Socratic sects are the Cyrenaic, the Cynic, and Megaric. They are frequently termed the imperfect or one-sided Socraticists.