than a sick body which presents the mere appearance of health.
36. Such is the scope (in so far as a few sentences can give it) of the moral philosophy of Plato, in its more popular aspect, as presented to us in the Republic. He treats the subject more metaphysically in the Philebus. But the result reached is in both cases the same. The maintenance of that organisation of the soul in which reason rules and passion obeys, this is the end to be aimed at by man, rather than happiness or pleasure.
37. But more important than any results, either moral or metaphysical, which have been brought to maturity by Plato, are the inexhaustible germs of latent wealth which his writings contain. Every time his pages are turned they throw forth new seeds of wisdom, new scintillations of thought, so teeming is the fertility, so irrepressible the fulness of his genius. All philosophy, speculative and practical, has been foreshadowed by his prophetic intelligence; often dimly, but always so attractively as to whet the curiosity and stimulate the ardour of those who have chosen him for their guide.
38. Plato's ethical doctrines are presented in their clearest and most detailed form in his great work, entitled the 'Republic.'[1] In this treatise his main
- ↑ The 'Republic' has been translated with remarkable fidelity
