,,phaethon2 ,,loose ,,thoughts ,,for ,,loose ,,thinkers4 #aheb4 ,templeton and ,i were lounging by the clear limestone stream which crossed his park and wound away round wooded hills toward the distant ,severn4 ,a lovelier fishing morning sportsman never saw4 ,a soft gray under-roof of cloud slid on before a soft west wind1 and here and there a stray gleam of sunlight shot into the vale across the purple mountain-tops1 and awoke into busy life the denizens of the water1 already quickened by the mysterious electric influences of the last night's thunder-shower4 ,the long-winged cinnamon-flies spun and fluttered over the pools2 the sand-bees hummed merrily round their burrows in the marly bank2 and delicate iridescent ephemerae rose by hundreds from the depths1 and1 dropping their shells1 floated away1 each a tiny ,venus ,anadyomene1 down the glassy ripples of the reaches4 ,every moment a heavy splash beneath some overhanging tuft of milfoil or water hemlock proclaimed the death- doom of a hapless beetle who had dropped into the stream beneath2 yet still we fished and fished1 and caught nothing1 and seemed utterly careless about catching anything2 till the old keeper who followed us1 sighing and shrugging his shoulders1 broke forth into open remonstrance3 ,excuse my liberty1 gentlemen1 but what ever is the matter with you and master1 sir8 ,i never did see you miss so many honest rises before4 ,it is too true1 said ,templeton to me with a laugh4 ,i must confess ,i have been dreaming instead of fishing the whole morning4 ,but what has happened to you1 who are not as apt as ,i am to do nothing by trying to do two things at once8 ,my hand may well be somewhat unsteady2 for to tell the truth1 ,i sat up all last night writing4 ,a hopeful preparation for a day's fishing in limestone water6 ,but what can have set you on writing all night after so busy and talkative an evening as the last1 ending too1 as it did1 somewhere about half-past twelve8 ,perhaps the said talkative evening itself2 and ,i suspect1 if you will confess the truth1 you will say that your morning's meditations are running very much in the same channel4 ,lewis1 said he1 after a pause1 go up to the hall1 and bring some luncheon for us down to the lower waterfall4 ,and a wheelbarrow to carry home the fish1 sir8 ,if you wish to warm yourself1 certainly4 ,and now1 my good fellow1 said he1 as the old keeper toddled away up the park1 ,i will open my heart-a process for which ,i have but few opportunities here-to an old college friend4 ,i am disturbed and saddened by last night's talk and by last night's guest4 ,by the ,american professor8 ,how1 in the name of ,english exclusiveness1 did such a rampantly heterodox spiritual guerilla invade the respectabilities and conservatisms of ,herefordshire8 ,he was returning from a tour through ,wales1 and had introductions to me from some ,manchester friends of mine1 to avail himself of which ,i found he had gone some thirty miles out of his way4 ,complimentary to you1 at least4 ,to ,lady ,jane1 ,i suspect1 rather than to me2 for he told me broadly enough that all the flattering attentions which he had received in ,manchester-where1 you know1 all such prophets are received with open arms1 their only credentials being that1 whatsoever they believe1 they shall not believe the ,bible-had not given him the pleasure which he had received from that one introduction to what he called 'the inner hearth-life of the ,english landed aristocracy4' ,but what did you think of him8 ,do you really wish to know8 ,i do4 ,then1 honestly1 ,i never heard so much magniloquent unwisdom talked in the same space of time4 ,it was the sense of shame for my race which kept me silent all the evening4 ,i could not trust myself to argue with a gray-haired ,saxon man1 whose fifty years of life seemed to have left him a child in all but the childlike heart which alone can enter into the kingdom of heaven4 ,you are severe1 said ,templeton1 smilingly though1 as if his estimate were not very different from mine4 ,can one help being severe when one hears irreverence poured forth from reverend lips8 ,i do not mean merely irreverence for the ,catholic ,creeds2 that to my mind-,god forgive me if ,i misjudge him- seemed to me only one fruit of a deep root of irreverence for all things as they are1 even for all things as they seem4 ,did you not remark the audacious contempt for all ages but 'our glorious nineteenth century1' and the still deeper contempt for all in the said glorious time who dared to believe that there was any ascertained truth independent of the private fancy and opinion of- for ,i am afraid it came to that-him1 ,professor ,windrush1 and his circle of elect souls8 ',you may believe nothing if you like1 and welcome2 but if you do take to that unnecessary act1 you are a fool if you believe anything but what ,i believe-though ,i do not choose to state what that is4' ,is not that1 now1 a pretty fair formulisation of his doctrine8 ,but1 my dear raver1 said ,templeton1 laughing1 the man believed at least in physical science4 ,i am sure we heard enough about its triumphs4 ,it may be so4 ,but to me his very 'spiritualism' seemed more materialistic than his physics4 ,his notion seemed to be1 though heaven forbid that ,i should say that he ever put it formally before himself- ,or anything else1 said ,templeton1 sotto voce4 -that it is the spiritual world which is governed by physical laws1 and the physical by spiritual ones2 that while men and women are merely the puppets of cerebrations and mentations1 and attractions and repulsions1 it is the trees1 and stones1 and gases1 who have the wills and the energies1 and the faiths and the virtues and the personalities4 ,you are caricaturing4 ,how so8 ,how can ,i judge otherwise1 when ,i hear a man talking1 as he did1 of ,god in terms which1 every one of them involved what we call the essential properties of matter-space1 time1 passibility1 motion2 setting forth phrenology and mesmerism as the great organs of education1 even of the regeneration of mankind2 apologising for the earlier ravings of the ,poughkeepsie seer1 and considering his later eclectico-pantheist farragos as great utterances3 while1 whenever he talked of ,nature1 he showed the most credulous craving after everything which we1 the countrymen of ,bacon1 have been taught to consider unscientific-,homoeopathy1 ,electro-biology1 ,loves of the ,plants a la ,darwin1 ,vestiges of ,creation1 ,vegetarianisms1 ,teetotalisms-never mind what1 provided it was unaccredited or condemned by regularly educated men of science8 ,but you don't mean to assert that there is nothing in any of these theories8 ,of course not4 ,i can no more prove a universal negative about them than ,i can about the existence of life on the moon4 ,but ,i do say that this contempt for that which has been already discovered-this carelessness about induction from the normal phenomena1 coupled with this hankering after theories built upon exceptional ones-this craving for 'signs and wonders1' which is the sure accompaniment of a dying faith in ,god1 and in nature as ,god's work-are symptoms which make me tremble for the fate of physical as well as of spiritual science1 both in ,america and in the ,americanists here at home4 ,as the ,professor talked on1 ,i could not help thinking of the neo- ,platonists of ,alexandria1 and their exactly similar course-downward from a spiritualism of notions and emotions1 which in every term confessed its own materialism1 to the fearful discovery that consciousness does not reveal ,god1 not even matter1 but only its own existence2 and then onward1 in desperate search after something external wherein to trust1 towards theurgic fetish worship1 and the secret virtues of gems and flowers and stars2 and1 last of all1 to the lowest depth of bowing statues and winking pictures4 ,the sixth century saw that career1 ,templeton2 the nineteenth may see it re- enacted1 with only these differences1 that the ,nature-worship which seems coming will be all the more crushing and slavish1 because we know so much better how vast and glorious ,nature is2 and that the superstitions will be more clumsy and foolish in proportion as our ,saxon brain is less acute and discursive1 and our education less severely scientific1 than those of the old ,greeks4 ,silence1 raver6 cried ,templeton1 throwing himself on the grass in fits of laughter4 ,so the ,professor's grandchildren will have either turned ,papists1 or be bowing down before rusty locomotives and broken electric telegraphs8 ,but1 my good friend1 you surely do not take ,professor ,windrush for a fair sample of the great ,american people8 ,god forbid that so unpractical a talker should be a sample of the most practical people upon earth4 ,the ,americans have their engineers1 their geographers1 their astronomers1 their scientific chemists2 few indeed1 but such as bid fair to rival those of any nation upon earth4 ,but these1 like other true workers1 hold their tongues and do their business4 ,and they have a few indigenous authors too3 you must have read the ',biglow ,papers1' and the ',fable for ,critics1' and last but not least1 ',uncle ,tom's ,cabin'8 ,yes2 and ,i have had far less fear for ,americans since ,i read that book2 for it showed me that there was right healthy power1 artistic as well as intellectual1 among them1 even now-ready1 when their present borrowed peacocks' feathers have fallen off1 to come forth and prove that the ,yankee ,eagle is a right gallant bird1 if he will but trust to his own natural plumage4 ,and they have a few statesmen also4 ,but they are curt1 plain-spoken1 practical-in everything antipodal to the knot of hapless men1 who1 unable from some defect or morbidity to help on the real movement of their nation1 are fain to get their bread with tongue and pen1 by retailing to 'silly women1' 'ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth1' second-hand ,german eclecticisms1 now exploded even in the country where they arose1 and the very froth and scum of the ,medea's caldron1 in which the disjecta membra of old ,calvinism are pitiably seething4 ,ah6 ,it has been always the plan1 you know1 in ,england1 as well as in ,america1 courteously to avoid taking up a ,german theory till the ,germans had quite done with it1 and thrown it away for something new4 ,but what are we to say of those who are trying to introduce into ,england these very ,americanised ,germanisms1 as the only teaching which can suit the needs of the old world8 ,we will1 if we are in a vulgar humour1 apply to them a certain old proverb about teaching one's grandmother a certain simple operation on the egg of the domestic fowl2 but we will no less take shame to ourselves1 as sons of ,alma ,mater1 that such nonsense can get even a day's hearing1 either among the daughters of ,manchester manufacturers1 or among ,london working men4 ,had we taught them what we were taught in the schools1 ,templeton- ,alas1 my friend1 we must ourselves have learnt it first4 ,i have no right to throw stones at the poor ,professor1 for ,i could not answer him4 ,do not suppose that ,i can either4 ,all ,i say is-mankind has not lived in vain4 ,least of all has it lived in vain during the last eighteen hundred years4 ,it has gained something of eternal truth in every age1 and that which it has gained is as fresh and young now as ever2 and ,i will not throw away the bird in the hand for any number of birds in the bush4 ,especially when you suspect most of them to be only wooden pheasants1 set up to delude poachers4 ,well1 you are far more of a ,philister and a ,conservative than ,i thought you4 ,the ,new is coming1 ,i doubt not2 but it must grow organically out of the ,old-not root the old up1 and stick itself full-grown into the place thereof1 like a ,french tree of liberty-sure of much the same fate4 ,other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid already1 in spiritual things or in physical2 as the ,professor and his school will surely find4 ,you recollect to whom the ,bible applies that text8 ,i do4 ,and yet you say you cannot answer the ,professor8 ,i do not care to do so4 ,there are certain root-truths which ,i know1 because they have been discovered and settled for ages2 and instead of accepting the challenge of every ,i-know-not-whom to re- examine them1 and begin the world's work all over again1 ,i will test his theories by them2 and if they fail to coincide1 ,i will hear no more speech about the details of the branches and flowers1 for ,i shall know the root is rotten4 ,but he1 too1 acknowledged certain of those root-truths1 said ,templeton1 who seemed to have a lingering sympathy with my victim2 he insisted most strongly1 and spoke1 you will not deny1 eloquently and nobly on the ,unity of the ,deity4 ,on the non-,trinity of it1 rather2 for ,i will not degrade the word ',him1' by applying it here4 ,but1 tell me honestly-c'est le timbre qui fait la musique-did his ',unity of the ,deity' sound in your ,english ,bible-bred heart at all like that ancient1 human1 personal ',hear1 ,o ,israel6 the ,lord thy ,god is one ,lord'8 ,much more like ',the ,something our ,nothing is one ,something4' ,may we not suspect1 then1 that his notion of the ',unity of the ,deity' does not quite coincide with the foundation already laid1 whosesoever else may8 ,you are assuming rather hastily4 ,perhaps ,i may prove also1 some day or other4 ,do you think1 moreover1 that the theory which he so boldly started1 when his nerves and his manners were relieved from the unwonted pressure by ,lady ,jane and the ladies going upstairs1 was part of the same old foundation8 ,which1 then8 ,that1 if a man does but believe a thing1 he has a right to speak it and act on it1 right or wrong4 ,have you forgotten his vindication of your friend1 the radical voter1 and his 'spirit of truth'8 ,what1 the worthy who1 when ,i canvassed him as the ,liberal candidate for ---1 and promised to support complete freedom of religious opinion1 tested me by breaking out into such blasphemous ribaldry as made me run out of the house1 and then went and voted against me as a bigot8 ,i mean him1 of course4 ,the ,professor really seemed to admire the man1 as a more brave and conscientious hero than himself4 ,i am not squeamish1 as you know2 but ,i am afraid that ,i was quite rude to him when he went as far as that4 ,what-when you told him that you thought that1 after all1 the old theory of the ,divine ,right of ,kings was as plausible as the new theory of the ,divine ,right of ,blasphemy8 ,my dear fellow1 do not fret yourself on that point4 ,he seemed to take it rather as a compliment to his own audacity1 and whispered to me that ',the ,divine ,right of ,blasphemy' was an expression of which ,theodore ,parker himself need not have been ashamed4 ,he was pleased to be complimentary4 ,but1 tell me1 what was it in his oratory which has so vexed the soul of the country squire8 ,that very argument of his1 among many things4 ,i saw1 or rather felt1 that he was wrong2 and yet1 as ,i have said already1 ,i could not answer him2 and1 had he not been my guest1 should have got thoroughly cross with him1 as a pis-aller4 ,i saw it4 ,but1 my friend1 used we not to read ,plato together1 and enjoy him together1 in old ,cambridge days8 ,do you not think that ,socrates might at all events have driven the ,professor into a corner8 ,he might3 but ,i cannot4 ,is that1 then1 what you were writing about all last night8 ,it was4 ,i could not help1 when ,i went out on the terrace to smoke my last cigar1 fancying to myself how ,socrates might have seemed to set you1 and the ,professor1 and that warm-hearted1 right-headed1 wrong-tongued ,high-,church ,curate1 all together by the ears1 and made confusion worse confounded for the time being1 and yet have left for each of you some hint whereby you might see the darling truth for which you were barking1 all the more clearly in the light of the one which you were howling down4 ,and so you sat up1 and-,i thought the corridor smelt somewhat of smoke4 ,forgive1 and ,i will confess4 ,i wrote a dialogue2-and here it is1 if you choose to hear it4 ,if there are a few passages1 or even many1 which ,plato would not have written1 you will consider my age and inexperience1 and forgive4 ,my dear fellow1 you forget that ,i1 like you1 have been ten years away from dear old ,alma-,mater1 ,plato1 the boats1 and ,potton ,wood4 ,my authorities now are ',morton on ,soils' and ',miles on the ,horse's ,foot4' ,read on1 fearless of my criticisms4 ,here is the waterfall2 we will settle ourselves on ,jane's favourite seat4 ,you shall discourse1 and ,i1 till ,lewis brings the luncheon1 will smoke my cigar2 and if ,i seem to be looking at the mountain1 don't fancy that ,i am only counting how many young grouse those heath-burning worthies will have left me by the twelfth4 ,so we sat down1 and ,i began3 ,,phaethon ,alcibiades and ,i walked into the ,pnyx early the other morning1 before the people assembled4 ,there we saw ,socrates standing1 having his face turned toward the rising sun4 ,approaching him1 we perceived that he was praying2 and that so ardently1 that we touched him on the shoulder before he became aware of our presence4 ,you seem like a man filled with the ,god1 ,socrates1 said ,alcibiades4 ,would that were true1 answered he1 both of me and of all who will counsel here this day4 ,in fact1 ,i was praying for that very thing2 namely1 that they might have light to see the truth1 in whatsoever matter might be discussed here4 ,and for me also8 said ,alcibiades2 but ,i have prepared my speech already4 ,and for you also1 if you desire it-even though some of your periods should be spoiled thereby4 ,but why are you both here so early1 before any business is stirring8 ,we were discussing1 said ,i1 that very thing for which we found you praying-namely1 truth1 and what it might be4 ,perhaps you went a worse way toward discovering it than ,i did4 ,but let us hear4 ,whence did the discussion arise8 ,from something1 said ,alcibiades1 which ,protagoras said in his lecture yesterday-,how truth was what each man troweth1 or believeth1 to be true4 ',so that1' he said1 'one thing is true to me1 if ,i believe it true1 and another opposite thing to you1 if you believe that opposite4 ,for1' continued he1 'there is an objective and a subjective truth2 the former1 doubtless1 one and absolute1 and contained in the nature of each thing2 but the other manifold and relative1 varying with the faculties of each perceiver thereof4' ,but as each man's faculties1 he said1 were different from his neighbour's1 and all more or less imperfect1 it was impossible that the absolute objective truth of anything could be seen by any mortal1 but only some partial approximation1 and1 as it were1 sketch of it1 according as the object was represented with more or less refraction on the mirror of his subjectivity4 ,and therefore1 as the true inquirer deals only with the possible1 and lets the impossible go1 it was the business of the wise man1 shunning the search after absolute truth as an impious attempt of the ,titans to scale ,olympus1 to busy himself humbly and practically with subjective truth1 and with those methods-rhetoric1 for instance-by which he can make the subjective opinions of others either similar to his own1 or1 leaving them as they are-for it may be very often unnecessary to change them-useful to his own ends4 ,then ,socrates1 laughing3 ,my fine fellow1 you will have made more than one oration in the ,pnyx to-day4 ,and indeed1 ,i myself felt quite exalted1 and rapt aloft1 like ,bellerophon on ,pegasus1 upon the eloquence of ,protagoras and you4 ,but yet forgive me this one thing2 for my mother bare me1 as you know1 a man-midwife1 after her own trade1 and not a sage4 ,,alcibiades4 ,what then8 ,,socrates4 ,this1 my astonishing friend-for really ,i am altogether astonished and struck dumb1 as ,i always am whensoever ,i hear a brilliant talker like you discourse concerning objectivities and subjectivities1 and such mysterious words2 at such moments ,i am like an old war-horse1 who1 though he will rush on levelled lances1 shudders and sweats with terror at a boy rattling pebbles in a bladder2 and ,i feel altogether dizzy1 and dread lest ,i should suffer some such transformation as ,scylla1 when ,i hear awful words1 like incantations1 pronounced over me1 of which ,i1 being no sage1 understand nothing4 ,but tell me now1 ,alcibiades1 did the opinion of ,protagoras altogether please you8 ,a4 ,why not8 ,is it not certain that two equally honest men may differ in their opinions on the same matter8 ,s4 ,undeniable4 ,a4 ,but if each is equally sincere in speaking what he believes1 is not each equally moved by the spirit of truth8 ,s4 ,you seem to have been lately initiated1 and that not at ,eleusis merely1 nor in the ,cabiria1 but rather in some ,persian or ,babylonian mysteries1 when you discourse thus of spirits4 ,but you1 ,phaethon 7turning to me71 how did you like the periods of ,protagoras8 ,do not ask me1 ,socrates1 said ,i1 for indeed we have fought a weary battle together ever since sundown last night1 and all that ,i had to say ,i learnt from you4 ,s4 ,from me1 good fellow8 ,,phaethon4 ,yes1 indeed4 ,i seemed to have heard from you that truth is simply 'facts as they are4' ,but when ,i urged this on ,alcibiades1 his arguments seemed superior to mine4 ,a4 ,but ,i have been telling him1 drunk and sober1 that it is my opinion also as to what truth is4 ,only ,i1 with ,protagoras1 distinguish between objective fact and subjective opinion4 ,s4 ,doing rightly1 too1 fair youth4 ,but how comes it then that you and ,phaethon cannot agree8 ,that1 said ,i1 you know better than either of us4 ,you seem both of you1 said ,socrates1 to be1 as usual1 in the family way4 ,shall ,i exercise my profession on you8 ,no1 by ,zeus6 answered ,alcibiades1 laughing2 ,i fear thee1 thou juggler1 lest ,i suffer once again the same fate with the woman in the myth1 and after ,i have conceived a fair man-child1 and1 as ,i fancy1 brought it forth2 thou hold up to the people some dead puppy1 or log1 or what not1 and cry3 ',look what ,alcibiades has produced6' ,s4 ,but1 beautiful youth1 before ,i can do that1 you will have spoken your oration on the bema1 and all the people will be ready and able to say ',absurd6 ,nothing but what is fair can come from so fair a body4' ,come1 let us consider the question together4 ,i assented willingly2 and ,alcibiades1 mincing and pouting1 after his fashion1 still was loath to refuse4 ,s4 ,let us see1 then4 ,alcibiades distinguishes1 he says1 between objective fact and subjective opinion8 ,a4 ,of course ,i do4 ,s4 ,but not1 ,i presume1 between objective truth and subjective truth1 whereof ,protagoras spoke8 ,a4 ,what trap are you laying now8 ,i distinguish between them also1 of course4 ,s4 ,tell me1 then1 dear youth1 of your indulgence1 what they are2 for ,i am shamefully ignorant on the matter4 ,a4 ,why1 do they not call a thing objectively true1 when it is true absolutely in itself2 but subjectively true1 when it is true in the belief of a particular person8 ,s4 -,though not necessarily true objectively1 that is1 absolutely and in itself8 ,a4 ,no4 ,s4 ,but possibly true so8 ,a4 ,of course4 ,s4 ,now1 tell me-a thing is objectively true1 is it not1 when it is a fact as it is8 ,a4 ,yes4 ,s4 ,and when it is a fact as it is not1 it is objectively false2 for such a fact would not be true absolutely1 and in itself1 would it8 ,a4 ,of course not4 ,s4 ,such a fact would be1 therefore1 no fact1 and nothing4 ,a4 ,why so8 ,s4 ,because1 if a thing exists1 it can only exist as it is1 not as it is not2 at least my opinion inclines that way4 ,certainly not1 said ,i2 why do you haggle so1 ,alcibiades8 ,s4 ,fair and softly1 ,phaethon6 ,how do you know that he is not fighting for wife and child1 and the altars of his gods8 ,but if he will agree with you and me1 he will confess that a thing which is objectively false does not exist at all1 and is nothing4 ,a4 ,i suppose it is necessary to do so4 ,but ,i know whither you are struggling4 ,s4 ,to this1 dear youth1 that1 therefore1 if a thing subjectively true be also objectively false1 it does not exist1 and is nothing4 ,it is so1 said ,i4 ,s4 ,let us1 then1 let nothing go its own way1 while we go on ours with that which is only objectively true1 lest coming to a river over which it is subjectively true to us that there is a bridge1 and trying to walk over that work of our own mind1 but no one's hands1 the bridge prove to be objectively false1 and we1 walking over the bank into the water1 be set free from that which is subjectively on the farther bank of ,styx4 ,then ,i1 laughing3 ,this hardly coincides1 ,alcibiades1 with ,protagoras's opinion1 that subjective truth was alone useful4 ,but rather proves1 said ,socrates1 that undiluted draughts of it are of a hurtful and poisonous nature1 and require to be tempered with somewhat of objective truth1 before it is safe to use them-at least in the case of bridges4 ,did ,i not tell you1 interrupted ,alcibiades1 how the old deceiver would try to put me to bed of some dead puppy or log8 ,or do you not see how1 in order1 after his custom1 to raise a laugh about the whole question by vulgar examples1 he is blinking what he knows as well as ,i8 ,s4 ,what then1 fair youth8 ,a4 ,that ,protagoras was not speaking about bridges1 or any other merely physical things1 on which no difference of opinion need occur1 because every one can satisfy himself by simply using his senses2 but concerning moral and intellectual matters1 which are not cognisable by the senses1 and therefore permit1 without blame1 a greater diversity of opinion4 ,error on such points1 he told us-on the subject of religion1 for example-was both pardonable and harmless2 for no blame could be imputed to the man who acted faithfully up to his own belief1 whatsoever that might be4 ,s4 ,bravely spoken of him1 and worthily of a free state4 ,but tell me1 ,alcibiades1 with what matters does religion deal8 ,a4 ,with the ,gods4 ,s4 ,then it is not hurtful to speak false things of the ,gods8 ,a4 ,not unless you know them to be false4 ,s4 ,but answer me this1 ,alcibiades4 ,if you made a mistake concerning numbers1 as that twice two made five1 might it not be hurtful to you8 ,a4 ,certainly2 for ,i might pay away five obols instead of four4 ,s4 ,and so be punished1 not by any anger of two and two against you1 but by those very necessary laws of number1 which you had mistaken8 ,a4 ,yes4 ,s4 ,or if you made a mistake concerning music1 as that two consecutive notes could produce harmony1 that opinion also1 if you acted upon it1 would be hurtful to you8 ,a4 ,certainly2 for ,i should make a discord1 and pain my own ears1 and my hearers'4 ,s4 ,and in this case also1 be punished1 not by any anger of the lyre against you1 but by those very necessary laws of music which you had mistaken8 ,a4 ,yes4 ,s4 ,or if you mistook concerning a brave man1 believing him to be a coward1 might not this also be hurtful to you8 ,if1 for instance1 you attacked him carelessly1 expecting him to run away1 and he defended himself valiantly1 and conquered you2 or if you neglected to call for his help in need1 expecting him falsely1 as in the former case1 to run away2 would not such a mistake be hurtful to you1 and punish you1 not by any anger of the man against you1 but by your mistake itself8 ,a4 ,it is evident4 ,s4 ,we may assume1 then1 that such mistakes at least are hurtful1 and that they are liable to be punished by the very laws of that concerning which we mistake8 ,a4 ,we may so assume4 ,s4 ,suppose1 then1 we were to say3 ',what argument is this of yours1 ,protagoras8-that concerning lesser things1 both intellectual and moral1 such as concerning number1 music1 or the character of a man1 mistakes are hurtful1 and liable to bring punishment1 in proportion to our need of using those things3 but concerning the ,gods1 the very authors and lawgivers of number1 music1 human character1 and all other things whatsoever1 mistakes are of no consequence1 nor in any way hurtful to man1 who stands in need of their help1 not only in stress of battle1 once or twice in his life1 as he might of the brave man1 but always and in all things both outward and inward8 ,does it not seem strange to you1 for it does to me1 that to make mistakes concerning such beings should not bring an altogether infinite and daily punishment1 not by any resentment of theirs1 but1 as in the case of music or numbers1 by the very fact of our having mistaken the laws of their being1 on which the whole universe depends8'-,what do you suppose ,protagoras would be able to answer1 if he faced the question boldly8 ,a4 ,i cannot tell4 ,s4 ,nor ,i either4 ,yet one thing more it may be worth our while to examine4 ,if one should mistake concerning ,god1 will his error be one of excess1 or defect8 ,a4 ,how can ,i tell8 ,s4 ,let us see4 ,is not ,zeus more perfect than all other beings8 ,a4 ,certainly1 if it be true that1 as they say1 the perfection of each kind of being is derived from him2 he must therefore be himself more perfect than any one of those perfections4 ,s4 ,well argued4 ,therefore1 if he conceived of himself1 his conception of himself would be more perfect than that of any man concerning him8 ,a4 ,assuredly2 if he have that faculty1 he must needs have it in perfection4 ,s4 ,suppose1 then1 that he conceived of one of his own properties1 such as his justice2 how large would that perfect conception of his be8 ,a4 ,but how can ,i tell1 ,socrates8 ,s4 ,my good friend1 would it not be exactly commensurate with that justice of his8 ,a4 ,how then8 ,s4 ,wherein consists the perfection of any conception1 save in this1 that it be the exact copy of that whereof it is conceived1 and neither greater nor less8 ,a4 ,i see now4 ,s4 ,without the ,pythia's help1 ,i should say4 ,but1 tell me-,we agree that ,zeus's conception of his own justice will be exactly commensurate with his justice8 ,a4 ,we do4 ,s4 ,but man's conception thereof1 it has been agreed1 would be certainly less perfect than ,zeus's8 ,a4 ,it would4 ,s4 ,man1 then1 it seems1 would always conceive ,god to be less just than ,god conceives himself to be8 ,a4 ,he would4 ,s4 ,and therefore to be less just1 according to the argument1 than he really is8 ,a4 ,true4 ,s4 ,and therefore his error concerning ,zeus1 would be in this case an error of defect8 ,a4 ,it would4 ,s4 ,and so on of each of his other properties8 ,a4 ,the same argument would likewise1 as far as ,i can see1 apply to them4 ,s4 ,so that1 on the whole1 man1 by the unassisted power of his own faculty1 will always conceive ,zeus to be less just1 wise1 good1 and beautiful than he is8 ,a4 ,it seems probable4 ,s4 ,but does not that seem to you hurtful8 ,a4 ,why so8 ,s4 ,as if1 for instance1 a man believing that ,zeus loves him less than he really does1 should become superstitious and self- tormenting4 ,or1 believing that ,zeus will guide him less than he really will1 he should go his own way through life without looking for that guidance3 or if1 believing that ,zeus cares about his conquering his passions less than he really does1 he should become careless and despairing in the struggle3 or if1 believing that ,zeus is less interested in the welfare of mankind than he really is1 he should himself neglect to assist them1 and so lose the glory of being called a benefactor of his country3 would not all these mistakes be hurtful ones8 ,certainly1 said ,i3 but ,alcibiades was silent4 ,s4 ,and would not these mistakes1 by the hypothesis1 themselves punish him who made them1 without any resentment whatsoever1 or ,nemesis of the ,gods being required for his chastisement8 ,it seems so1 said ,i4 ,s4 ,but can we say of such mistakes1 and of the harm which may accrue from them1 anything but that they must both be infinite2 seeing that they are mistakes concerning an infinite ,being1 and his infinite properties1 on every one of which1 and on all together1 our daily existence depends8 ,p4 ,it seems so4 ,s4 ,so that1 until such a man's error concerning ,zeus1 the source of all things1 is cleared up1 either in this life or in some future one1 we cannot but fear for him infinite confusion1 misery1 and harm1 in all matters which he may take in hand8 ,then ,alcibiades1 angrily3 ,what ugly mask is this you have put on1 ,socrates8 ,you speak rather like a priest trying to frighten rustics into paying their first-fruits1 than a philosopher inquiring after that which is beautiful4 ,but you shall never terrify me into believing that it is not a noble thing to speak out whatsoever a man believes1 and to go forward boldly in the spirit of truth4 ,s4 ,feeling first1 ,i hope1 with your staff1 as would be but reasonable in the case of the bridge1 whether your belief was objectively or only subjectively true1 lest you should fall through your subjective bridge into objective water4 ,nevertheless1 leaving the bridge and the water1 let us examine a little what this said spirit of truth may be4 ,how do you define it8 ,a4 ,i assert that whosoever says honestly what he believes1 does so by the spirit of truth4 ,s4 ,then if ,lyce1 patting those soft cheeks of yours1 were to say3 ',alcibiades1 thou art the fairest youth in ,athens1' she would speak by the spirit of truth8 ,a4 ,they say so4 ,s4 ,and they say rightly4 ,but if ,lyce1 as is her custom1 wished1 by so saying1 to cheat you into believing that she loved you1 and thereby to wheedle you out of a new shawl1 she would still speak by the spirit of truth8 ,a4 ,i suppose so4 ,s4 ,but if1 again1 she said the same thing to ,phaethon1 she would still speak by the spirit of truth8 ,by no means1 ,socrates1 said ,i1 laughing4 ,s4 ,be silent1 fair boy2 you are out of court as an interested party4 ,alcibiades shall answer4 ,if ,lyce1 being really mad with love1 like ,sappho1 were to believe ,phaethon to be fairer than you1 and say so1 she would still speak by the spirit of truth8 ,a4 ,i suppose so4 ,s4 ,do not frown2 your beauty is in no question4 ,only she would then be saying what is not true8 ,i must answer for him after all1 said ,i4 ,s4 ,then it seems1 from what has been agreed1 that it is indifferent to the spirit of truth1 whether it speak truth or not4 ,the spirit seems to be of an enviable serenity4 ,but suppose again1 that ,i believed that ,alcibiades had an ulcer on his leg1 and were to proclaim the same now to the people1 when they come into the ,pnyx1 should ,i not be speaking by the spirit of truth8 ,a4 ,but that would be a shameful and blackguardly action4 ,s4 ,be it so4 ,it seems1 therefore1 that it is indifferent to the spirit of truth whether that which it affirms be honourable or blackguardly4 ,is it not so8 ,a4 ,it seems so1 most certainly1 in that case at least4 ,s4 ,and in others1 as ,i think4 ,but tell me-,is not the man who does what he believes1 as much moved by this your spirit of truth as he who says what he believes8 ,a4 ,certainly he is4 ,s4 ,then if ,i believed it right to lie or steal1 ,i1 in lying or stealing1 should lie or steal by the spirit of truth8 ,a4 ,certainly3 but that is impossible4 ,s4 ,my fine fellow1 and wherefore8 ,i have heard of a nation among the ,indians who hold it a sacred duty to murder every one not of their own tribe1 whom they can waylay3 and when they are taken and punished by the rulers of that country1 die joyfully under the greatest torments1 believing themselves certain of an entrance into the ,elysian fields1 in proportion to the number of murders which they have committed4 ,a4 ,they must be impious wretches4 ,s4 ,be it so4 ,but believing themselves to be right1 they commit murder by the spirit of truth4 ,a4 ,it seems to follow from the argument4 ,s4 ,then it is indifferent to the spirit of truth whether the action which it prompts be right or wrong8 ,a4 ,it must be confessed4 ,s4 ,it is therefore not a moral faculty1 this spirit of truth4 ,let us see now whether it be an intellectual one4 ,how are intellectual things defined1 ,phaethon8 ,tell me1 for you are cunning in such matters4 ,p4 ,those things which have to do with processes of the mind4 ,s4 ,with right processes1 or with wrong8 ,p4 ,with right1 of course4 ,s4 ,and processes for what purpose8 ,p4 ,for the discovery of facts4 ,s4 ,of facts as they are1 or as they are not8 ,p4 ,as they are4 ,s4 ,and he who discovers facts as they are1 discovers truth2 while he who discovers facts as they are not1 discovers falsehood8 ,p4 ,he discovers nothing1 ,socrates4 ,s4 ,true2 but it has been agreed already that the spirit of truth is indifferent to the question whether facts be true or false1 but only concerns itself with the sincere affirmation of them1 whatsoever they may be4 ,much more then must it be indifferent to those processes by which they are discovered4 ,p4 ,how so8 ,s4 ,because it only concerns itself with affirmation concerning facts2 but these processes are anterior to that affirmation4 ,p4 ,i comprehend4 ,s4 ,and much more is it indifferent to whether those are right processes or not4 ,p4 ,much more so4 ,s4 ,it is therefore not intellectual4 ,it remains1 therefore1 that it must be some merely physical faculty1 like that of fearing1 hungering1 or enjoying the sexual appetite4 ,a4 ,absurd1 ,socrates6 ,s4 ,that is the argument's concern1 not ours3 let us follow manfully whithersoever it may lead us4 ,a4 ,lead on1 thou sophist6 ,s4 ,it was agreed1 then1 that he who does what he thinks right1 does so by the spirit of truth-was it not8 ,a4 ,it was4 ,s4 ,then he who eats when he thinks that he ought to eat1 does so by the spirit of truth8 ,a4 ,what next8 ,s4 ,this next1 that he who blows his nose when he thinks that it wants blowing1 blows his nose by the spirit of truth4 ,a4 ,what next8 ,s4 ,do not frown1 friend4 ,believe me1 in such days as these1 ,i honour even the man who is honest enough to blow his nose because he finds that he ought to do so4 ,but tell me-a horse1 when he shies at a beggar1 does not he also do so by the spirit of truth8 ,for he believes sincerely the beggar to be something formidable1 and honestly acts upon his conviction4 ,not a doubt of it1 said ,i1 laughing1 in spite of myself1 at ,alcibiades's countenance4 ,s4 ,it is in danger1 then1 of proving to be something quite brutish and doggish1 this spirit of truth4 ,i should not wonder1 therefore1 if we found it proper to be restrained4 ,a4 ,how so1 thou hair-splitter8 ,s4 ,have we not proved it to be common to man and animals2 but are not those passions which we have in common with animals to be restrained8 ,p4 ,restrain the spirit of truth1 ,socrates8 ,s4 ,if it be doggishly inclined4 ,as1 for instance1 if a man knew that his father had committed a shameful act1 and were to publish it1 he would do so by the spirit of truth4 ,yet such an act would be blackguardly1 and to be restrained4 ,p4 ,of course4 ,s4 ,but much more1 if he accused his father only on his own private suspicion1 not having seen him commit the act2 while many others1 who had watched his father's character more than he did1 assured him that he was mistaken4 ,p4 ,such an act would be to be restrained1 not merely as blackguardly1 but as impious4 ,s4 ,or if a man believed things derogatory to the character of the ,gods1 not having seen them do wrong himself1 while all those who had given themselves to the study of divine things assured him that he was mistaken1 would he not be bound to restrain an inclination to speak such things1 even if he believed them8 ,p4 ,surely1 ,socrates2 and that even if he believed that the ,gods did not exist at all4 ,for there would be far more chance that he alone was wrong1 and the many right1 than that the many were wrong1 and he alone right4 ,he would therefore commit an insolent and conceited action1 and1 moreover1 a cruel and shameless one2 for he would certainly make miserable1 if he were believed1 the hearts of many virtuous persons who had never harmed him1 for no immediate or demonstrable purpose except that of pleasing his own self-will2 and that much more1 were he wrong in his assertion4 ,s4 ,here1 then1 is another case in which it seems proper to restrain the spirit of truth1 whatsoever it may be8 ,p4 ,what1 then1 are we to say of those who speak fearlessly and openly their own opinions on every subject8 for1 in spite of all this1 one cannot but admire them1 whether rationally or irrationally4 ,s4 ,we will allow them at least the honour which we do to the wild boar1 who rushes fiercely through thorns and brambles upon the dogs1 not to be turned aside by spears or tree-trunks1 and indeed charges forward the more valiantly the more tightly he shuts his eyes4 ,that praise we can bestow on him1 but1 ,i fear1 no higher one4 ,it is expedient1 nevertheless1 to have such a temperament as it is to have a good memory1 or a loud voice1 or a straight nose unlike mine2 only1 like other animal passions1 it must be restrained and regulated by reason and the law of right1 so as to employ itself only on such matters and to such a degree as they prescribe4 ,it may seem so in the argument1 said ,i4 ,yet no argument1 even of yours1 ,socrates1 with your pardon1 shall convince me that the spirit of truth is not fair and good1 ay1 the noblest possession of all2 throwing away which1 a man throws away his shield1 and becomes unworthy of the company of gods or men4 ,s4 ,or of beasts either1 as it seems to me and the argument4 ,nevertheless1 to this point has the argument1 in its cunning and malice1 brought us by crooked paths4 ,can we find no escape8 ,p4 ,i know none4 ,s4 ,but may it not be possible that we1 not having been initiated1 like ,alcibiades1 into the ,babylonian mysteries1 have somewhat mistaken the meaning of that expression1 'spirit of truth'8 ,for truth we defined to be 'facts as they are4' ,the spirit of truth then should mean1 should it not1 the spirit of facts as they are8 ,p4 ,it should4 ,s4 ,but what shall we say that this expression1 in its turn1 means8 ,the spirit which makes facts as they are8 ,a4 ,surely not4 ,that would be the supreme ,demiurgus himself4 ,s4 ,of whom you were not speaking1 when you spoke of the spirit of truth8 ,a4 ,certainly not4 ,i was speaking of a spirit in man4 ,s4 ,and belonging to him8 ,a4 ,yes4 ,s4 ,and doing-what1 with regard to facts as they are8 for this is just the thing which puzzles me4 ,a4 ,telling facts as they are4 ,s4 ,without seeing them as they are8 ,a4 ,how you bore one6 of course not4 ,it sees facts as they are1 and therefore tells them4 ,s4 ,but perhaps it might see them as they are1 and find it expedient1 being of the same temperament as ,i1 to hold its tongue about them8 ,would it then be still the spirit of truth8 ,a4 ,it would1 of course4 ,s4 ,the man then who possesses the spirit of truth will see facts as they are8 ,a4 ,he will4 ,s4 ,and conversely8 ,a4 ,yes4 ,s4 ,but if he sees anything only as it seems to him1 and is not in fact1 he will not1 with regard to that thing1 see it by the spirit of truth8 ,a4 ,i suppose not4 ,s4 ,neither then will he be able to speak of it by the spirit of truth4 ,a4 ,why8 ,s4 ,because1 by what we agreed before1 it will not be there to speak of1 my wondrous friend4 ,for it appeared to us1 if ,i recollect right1 that facts can only exist as they are1 and not as they are not1 and that therefore the spirit of truth had nothing to do with any facts but those which are4 ,but1 ,i interrupted1 ,o dear ,socrates1 ,i fear much that if the spirit of truth be such as this1 it must be beyond the reach of man4 ,s4 ,why then8 ,p4 ,because the immortal gods only can see things as they really are1 having alone made all things1 and ruling them all according to the laws of each4 ,they therefore1 ,i much fear1 will be alone able to behold them1 how they are really in their inner nature and properties1 and not merely from the outside1 and by guess1 as we do4 ,how then can we obtain such a spirit ourselves8 ,s4 ,dear boy1 you seem to wish that ,i should1 as usual1 put you off with a myth1 when you begin to ask me about those who know far more about me than ,i do about them4 ,nevertheless1 shall ,i tell you a myth8 ,p4 ,if you have nothing better4 ,s4 ,they say1 then1 that ,prometheus1 when he grew to man's estate1 found mankind1 though they were like him in form1 utterly brutish and ignorant1 so that1 as ,a,eschylus says3 ,seeing they saw in vain1 ,hearing they heard not2 but were like the shapes ,of dreams1 and long time did confuse all things ,at random3 being1 as ,i suppose1 led1 like the animals1 only by their private judgments of things as they seemed to each man1 and enslaved to that subjective truth1 which we found to be utterly careless and ignorant of facts as they are4 ,but ,prometheus1 taking pity on them1 determined in his mind to free them from that slavery and to teach them to rise above the beasts1 by seeing things as they are4 ,he therefore made them acquainted with the secrets of nature1 and taught them to build houses1 to work in wood and metals1 to observe the courses of the stars1 and all other such arts and sciences1 which if any man attempts to follow according to his private opinion1 and not according to the rules of that art1 which are independent of him and of his opinions1 being discovered from the unchangeable laws of things as they are1 he will fail4 ,but yet1 as the myth relates1 they became only a more cunning sort of animals2 not being wholly freed from their original slavery to a certain subjective opinion about themselves1 that each man should1 by means of those arts and sciences1 please and help himself only4 ,fearing1 therefore1 lest their increased strength and cunning should only enable them to prey upon each other all the more fiercely1 he stole fire from heaven1 and gave to each man a share thereof for his hearth1 and to each community for their common altar4 ,and by the light of this celestial fire they learnt to see those celestial and eternal bonds between man and man1 as of husband to wife1 of father to child1 of citizen to his country1 and of master to servant1 without which man is but a biped without feathers1 and which are in themselves1 being independent of the flux of matter and time1 most truly facts as they are4 ,and since that time1 whatsoever household or nation has allowed these fires to become extinguished1 has sunk down again to the level of the brutes3 while those who have passed them down to their children burning bright and strong1 become partakers of the bliss of the ,heroes1 in the ,happy ,islands4 ,it seems to me then1 ,phaethon and ,alcibiades1 that if we find ourselves in anywise destitute of this heavenly fire1 we should pray for the coming of that day1 when ,prometheus shall be unbound from ,caucasus1 if by any means he may take pity on us and on our children1 and again bring us down from heaven that fire which is the spirit of truth1 that we may see facts as they are4 ,for which1 if he were to ask ,zeus humbly and filially1 ,i cannot believe that ,he would refuse it4 ,and indeed1 ,i think that the poets1 as is their custom1 corrupt the minds of young men by telling them that ,zeus chained ,prometheus to ,caucasus for his theft2 seeing that it befits such a ruler1 as ,i take the ,father of gods and men to be1 to know that his subjects can only do well by means of his bounty1 and therefore to bestow it freely1 as the kings of ,persia do1 on all who are willing to use it in the service of their sovereign4 ,so then1 said ,alcibiades1 laughing1 till ,prometheus be unbound from ,caucasus1 we who have lost1 as you seem to hint1 this heavenly fire1 must needs go on upon our own subjective opinions1 having nothing better to which to trust4 ,truly1 thou sophist1 thy conclusion seems to me after all not to differ much from that of ,protagoras4 ,s4 ,ah dear boy6 know you not that to those who have been initiated1 and1 as they say in the mysteries1 twice born1 ,prometheus is always unbound1 and stands ready to assist them2 while to those who are self-willed and conceited of their own opinions1 he is removed to an inaccessible distance1 and chained in icy fetters on untrodden mountain-peaks1 where the vulture ever devours his fair heart1 which sympathises continually with the follies and the sorrows of mankind8 ,of what punishment1 then1 must not those be worthy1 who by their own wilfulness and self-confidence bind again to ,caucasus the fair ,titan1 the friend of men8 ,by ,apollo6 said ,alcibiades1 this language is more fit for the tripod in ,delphos1 than for the bema in the ,pnyx4 ,so fare-thee- well1 thou ,pythoness6 ,i must go and con over my oration1 at least if thy prophesying has not altogether addled my thoughts4 ,but ,i1 as soon as ,alcibiades was gone1 for ,i was ashamed to speak before1 turning to ,socrates said to him1 all but weeping3 ,oh ,socrates1 what cruel words are these which you have spoken8 ,are you not ashamed to talk thus contemptuously to one like me1 even though he be younger and less cunning in argument than yourself2 knowing as you do1 how1 when ,i might have grown rich in my native city of ,rhodes1 and marrying there1 as my father purposed1 a wealthy merchant's heiress1 so have passed my life delicately1 receiving the profits of many ships and warehouses1 ,i yet preferred ,truth beyond riches2 and leaving my father's house1 came to ,athens in search of wisdom1 dissipating my patrimony upon one sophist after another1 listening greedily to ,hippias1 and ,polus1 and ,gorgias1 and ,protagoras1 and last of all to you1 hard-hearted man that you are8 ,for from my youth ,i loved and longed after nothing so much as ,truth1 whatsoever it may be2 thinking nothing so noble as to know that which is ,right1 and knowing it1 to do it4 ,and that longing1 or love of mine1 which is what ,i suppose ,protagoras meant by the spirit of truth1 ,i cherished as the fairest and most divine possession1 and that for which alone it was worth while to live4 ,for it seemed to me1 that even if in my search ,i never attained to truth1 still it were better to die seeking1 than not to seek2 and that even if acting by what ,i considered to be the spirit of truth1 and doing honestly in every case that which seemed right1 ,i should often1 acting on a false conviction1 offend in ignorance against the absolute righteousness of the gods1 yet that such an offence was deserving1 if not of praise for its sincerity1 yet at least of pity and forgiveness2 but by no means to be classed1 as you class it1 with the appetites of brutes2 much less to be threatened1 as you threaten it1 with infinite and eternal misery by ,i know not what necessary laws of ,zeus1 and to be put off at last with some myth or other about ,prometheus4 ,surely your mother bare you a scoffer and pitiless1 ,socrates1 and not1 as you boast1 a man-midwife fit for fair youths4 ,then1 smiling sweetly1 ,dear boy1 said he1 were ,i such as you fancy1 how should ,i be here now1 discoursing with you concerning truth1 instead of conning my speech for the ,pnyx1 like ,alcibiades1 that ,i may become a demagogue1 deceiving the mob with flattery1 and win for myself houses1 and lands1 and gold1 and slave-girls1 and fame1 and power1 even to a tyranny itself8 ,for in this way ,i might have made my tongue a profitable member of my body2 but now1 being hurried up and down in barren places1 like one mad of love1 from my longing after fair youths1 ,i waste my speech on them2 receiving1 as is the wont of true lovers1 only curses and ingratitude from their arrogance4 ,but tell me1 thou proud ,adonis-,this spirit of truth in thee1 which thou thoughtest1 and rightly1 thy most noble possession- did it desire truth1 or not8 ,p4 ,but1 ,socrates1 ,i told you that very thing1 and said that it was a longing after truth1 which ,i could not restrain or disobey4 ,s4 ,tell me now1 does one long for that which one possesses1 or for that which one does not possess8 ,p4 ,for that which one does not possess4 ,s4 ,and is one in love with that which is oneself1 or with that which is not8 ,p4 ,with that which is not oneself1 thou mocker4 ,we are not all1 surely1 like ,narcissus8 ,s4 ,no1 by the dog6 not quite all4 ,but see now3 it appears that when any one is in love with a thing1 and longs for it1 as thou didst for truth1 it must be something which is not himself1 and which he does not possess8 ,p4 ,true4 ,s4 ,you1 then1 while you were loving facts as they are1 and longing to see them as they are1 yet did not possess that which you longed for8 ,p4 ,true1 indeed2 else why should ,i have been driven forth by the anger of the gods1 like ,bellerophon1 to pace the ,aleian plain1 eating my own soul1 if ,i had possessed that for which ,i longed8 ,s4 ,well said1 dear boy4 ,but see again4 ,this truth which you loved1 and which was not yourself or part of yourself1 was certainly also nothing of your own making8-,though they say that ,pygmalion was enamoured of the statue which he himself had carved4 ,p4 ,but he was miserable1 ,socrates1 till the statue became alive4 ,s4 ,they say so2 but what has that to do with the argument8 ,p4 ,i know not4 ,but it seems to me horrible1 as it did to ,pygmalion1 to be enamoured of anything which cannot return your love1 but is1 as it were1 your puppet4 ,should we not think it a shameful thing1 if a mistress were to be enamoured of one of her own slaves8 ,s4 ,we should2 and that1 ,i suppose1 because the slave would have no free choice whether to refuse or to return his mistress's love2 but would be compelled1 being a slave1 to submit to her1 even if she were old1 or ugly1 or hateful to him8 ,p4 ,of course4 ,s4 ,and should we not say1 ,phaethon1 that there was no true enjoyment in such love1 even on the part of the mistress2 nay1 that it was not worthy of the name of love at all1 but was merely something base1 such as happens to animals8 ,p4 ,we should say so rightly4 ,s4 ,tell me1 then1 ,phaethon-for a strange doubt has entered my mind on account of your words4 ,this truth of which you were enamoured1 seems1 from what has been agreed1 not to be a part of yourself1 nor a creation of your own1 like ,pygmalion's statue-how then has it not happened to you to be even more miserable than ,pygmalion till you were sure that truth loved you in return8-and1 moreover1 till you were sure that truth had free choice as to whether it should return or refuse your love8 ,for1 otherwise1 you would be in danger of being found suffering the same base passion as a mistress enamoured of a slave who cannot resist her4 ,p4 ,i am puzzled1 ,socrates4 ,s4 ,shall we rather say1 then1 that you were enamoured1 not of truth itself1 but of the spirit of truth8 ,for we have been all along defining truth to be 'facts as they are1' have we not8 ,p4 ,we have4 ,s4 ,but there are many facts as they are1 whereof to be enamoured would be base1 for they cannot return your love4 ,as1 for instance1 that one and one make two1 or that a horse has four legs4 ,with respect to such facts1 you would be1 would you not1 in the same position as a mistress towards her slave8 ,p4 ,certainly4 ,it seems1 then1 better to assume the other alternative4 ,s4 ,it does4 ,but does it not follow1 that when you were enamoured of this spirit1 you did not possess it8 ,p4 ,i fear so1 by the argument4 ,s4 ,and ,i fear1 too1 that we agreed that he only who possessed the spirit of truth saw facts as they are2 for that was involved in our definition of the spirit of truth4 ,p4 ,but1 ,socrates1 ,i knew1 at least1 that one and one made two1 and that a horse had four legs4 ,i must then have seen some facts as they are4 ,s4 ,doubtless1 fair boy2 but not all4 ,p4 ,i do not pretend to that4 ,s4 ,but if you had possessed the spirit of truth1 you would have seen all facts whatsoever as they are4 ,for he who possesses a thing can surely employ it freely for all purposes which are not contrary to the nature of that thing2 can he not8 ,p4 ,of course he can4 ,but if ,i did not possess the spirit of truth1 how could ,i see any truth whatsoever8 ,s4 ,suppose1 dear boy1 that instead of your possessing it1 it were possible for it to possess you2 and possessing you1 to show you as much of itself1 or as little1 as it might choose1 and concerning such things only as it might choose3 would not that explain the dilemma8 ,p4 ,it would assuredly4 ,s4 ,let us see1 then1 whether this spirit of truth may not be something which is capable of possessing you1 and employing you1 rather than of being possessed and employed by you4 ,to me1 indeed1 this spirit seems likely to be some demon or deity1 and that one of the greatest4 ,p4 ,why then8 ,s4 ,can lifeless and material things see8 ,p4 ,certainly not2 only live ones4 ,s4 ,this spirit1 then1 seems to be living2 for it sees things as they are4 ,p4 ,yes4 ,s4 ,and it is also intellectual2 for intellectual facts can be only seen by an intellectual being4 ,p4 ,true4 ,s4 ,and also moral2 for moral facts can only be seen by a moral being4 ,p4 ,true also4 ,s4 ,but this spirit is evidently not a man2 it remains therefore1 that it must be some demon4 ,p4 ,but why one of the greatest8 ,s4 ,tell me1 ,phaethon1 is not ,god to be numbered among facts as they are8 ,p4 ,assuredly2 for he is before all others and more eternal and absolute than all4 ,s4 ,then this spirit of truth must also be able to see ,god as he is4 ,p4 ,it is probable4 ,s4 ,and certain1 if1 as we agreed1 it be the very spirit which sees all facts whatsoever as they are4 ,now tell me1 can the less see the greater as it is8 ,p4 ,i think not2 for an animal cannot see a man as he is1 but only that part of him in which he is like an animal1 namely1 his outward figure and his animal passions2 but not his moral sense or reason1 for of them it has itself no share4 ,s4 ,true2 and in like wise1 a man of less intellect could not see a man of greater intellect than himself as he is1 but only a part of his intellect4 ,p4 ,certainly4 ,s4 ,and does not the same thing follow from what we said just now1 that ,god's conceptions of himself must be the only perfect conceptions of him8 ,for if any being could see ,god as he is1 the same would be able to conceive of him as he is3 which we agreed was impossible4 ,p4 ,true4 ,s4 ,then surely this spirit which sees ,god as he is1 must be equal with ,god4 ,p4 ,it seems probable2 but none is equal to ,god except himself4 ,s4 ,most true1 ,phaethon4 ,but what shall we say now1 but that this spirit of truth1 whereof thou hast been enamoured1 is1 according to the argument1 none other than ,zeus1 who alone comprehends all things1 and sees them as they are1 because he alone has given to each its inward and necessary laws8 ,p4 ,but1 ,socrates1 there seems something impious in the thought4 ,s4 ,impious1 truly1 if we held that this spirit of truth was a part of your own self4 ,but we agreed that it was not a part of you1 but something utterly independent of you4 ,p4 ,noble would the news be1 ,socrates1 were it true2 yet it seems to me beyond belief4 ,s4 ,did we not prove just now concerning ,zeus1 that all mistakes concerning him were certain to be mistakes of defect8 ,p4 ,we did1 indeed4 ,s4 ,how do you know1 then1 that you have not fallen into some such error1 and have suspected ,zeus to be less condescending towards you than he really is8 ,p4 ,would that it were so6 ,but ,i fear it is too fair a hope4 ,s4 ,do ,i seem to thee now1 dear boy1 more insolent and unfeeling than ,protagoras1 when he tried to turn thee away from the search after absolute truth1 by saying sophistically that it was an attempt of the ,titans to scale heaven1 and bade thee be content with asserting shamelessly and brutishly thine own subjective opinions8 ,for ,i do not bid thee scale the throne of ,zeus1 into whose presence none could arrive1 as it seems to me1 unless he himself willed it2 but to believe that he has given thee from thy childhood a glimpse of his own excellence1 that so thy heart1 conjecturing1 as in the case of a veiled statue1 from one part the beauty of the rest1 might become enamoured thereof1 and long for that sight of him which is the highest and only good1 that so his splendour may give thee light to see facts as they are4 ,p4 ,oh ,socrates6 and how is this blessedness to be attained8 ,s4 ,even as the myths relate1 the nymphs obtained the embraces of the gods2 by pleasing him and obeying him in all things1 lifting up daily pure hands and a thankful heart1 if by any means he may condescend to purge thine eyes1 that thou mayest see clearly1 and without those motes1 and specks1 and distortions of thine own organs of vision1 which flit before the eyeballs of those who have been drunk over-night1 and which are called by sophists subjective truth2 watching everywhere anxiously and reverently for those glimpses of his beauty1 which he will vouchsafe to thee more and more as thou provest thyself worthy of them1 and will reward thy love by making thee more and more partaker of his own spirit of truth2 whereby1 seeing facts as they are1 thou wilt see him who has made them according to his own ideas1 that they may be a mirror of his unspeakable splendour4 ,is not this a fairer hope for thee1 oh ,phaethon1 than that which ,protagoras held out to thee-that neither seeing ,zeus1 nor seeing facts as they are1 nor affirming any truth whatsoever1 nor depending for thy knowledge on any one but thine own ignorant self1 thou mightest nevertheless be so fortunate as to escape punishment3 not knowing1 as it seems to me1 that such a state of ignorance and blindfold rashness1 even if ,tartarus were a dream of the poets or the priests1 is in itself the most fearful of punishments8 ,p4 ,it is1 indeed1 my dear ,socrates4 ,yet what are we to say of those who1 sincerely loving and longing after knowledge1 yet arrive at false conclusions1 which are proved to be false by contradicting each other8 ,s4 ,we are to say1 ,phaethon1 that they have not loved knowledge enough to desire utterly to see facts as they are1 but only to see them as they would wish them to be2 and loving themselves rather than ,zeus1 have wished to remodel in some things or other his universe1 according to their own subjective opinions4 ,by this1 or by some other act of self-will1 or self-conceit1 or self-dependence1 they have compelled ,zeus1 not1 as ,i think1 without pity and kindness to them1 to withdraw from them in some degree the sight of his own beauty4 ,we must1 therefore1 ,i fear1 liken them to ,acharis1 the painter of ,lemnos1 who1 intending to represent ,phoebus1 painted from a mirror a copy of his own defects and deformities2 or perhaps to that ,nymph1 who finding herself beloved by ,phoebus1 instead of reverently and silently returning the affection1 boasted of it to all her neighbours1 as a token of her own beauty1 and despised the god2 so that he1 being angry1 changed her into a chattering magpie2 or again to ,arachne1 who having been taught the art of weaving by ,athene1 pretended to compete with her own instructress1 and being metamorphosed by her into a spider1 was condemned1 like the sophists1 to spin out of her own entrails endless ugly webs1 which are destroyed1 as soon as finished1 by every slave-girl's broom4 ,p4 ,but shall we despise and hate such1 ,oh ,socrates8 ,s4 ,no1 dearest boy1 we will rather pity and instruct them lovingly2 remembering always that we shall become such as they the moment we begin to fancy that truth is our own possession1 and not the very beauty of ,zeus himself1 which he shows to those whom he will1 and in such measure as he finds them worthy to behold4 ,but to me1 considering how great must be the condescension of ,zeus in unveiling to any man1 even the worthiest1 the least portion of his own loveliness1 there has come at times a sort of dream1 that the divine splendour will at last pierce through and illumine all dark souls1 even in the house of ,hades1 showing them1 as by a great sunrise1 both what they themselves1 and what all other things are1 really and in the sight of ,zeus2 which if it happened1 even to ,ixion1 ,i believe that his wheel would stop1 and his fetters drop off of themselves1 and that he would return freely to the upper air1 for as long as he himself might choose4 ,just then the people began to throng into the ,pnyx2 and we took our places with the rest to hear the business of the day1 after ,socrates had privately uttered this prayer3 ,oh ,zeus1 give to me and to all who shall counsel here this day1 that spirit of truth by which we may behold that whereof we deliberate1 as it is in thy sight6 ,as ,i expected1 said ,templeton1 with a smile1 as ,i folded up my manuscript4 ,my friend the parson could not demolish the poor ,professor's bad logic without a little professional touch by way of finish4 ,what do you mean8 ,oh-never mind4 ,only ,i owe you little thanks for sweeping away any one of my lingering sympathies with ,mr4 ,windrush1 if all you can offer me instead is the confounded old nostrum of religion over again4 ,heydey1 friend6 ,what next8 ,really1 my dear fellow1 ,i beg your pardon1 ,i forgot that ,i was speaking to a clergyman4 ,pray don't beg my pardon on that ground4 ,if what you say be right1 a clergyman above all others ought to hear it2 and if it be wrong1 and a symptom of spiritual disease1 he ought to hear it all the more4 ,but ,i cannot tell whether you are right or wrong1 till ,i know what you mean by religion2 for there is a great deal of very truly confounded and confounding religion abroad in the world just now1 as there has been in all ages2 and perhaps you may be alluding to that4 ,templeton sat silent for a few minutes1 playing with the tackle in his fly-book1 and then murmured to himself the well-known lines of ,lucretius3 ,humana ante oculos foede cum vita jaceret ,in terris oppressa gravi sub ,relligione ,quae caput a coeli regionibus ostendebat1 ,horribili super aspectu mortalibus instans4 ,there6-blasphemous reprobate fellow1 am ,i not8 ,on the contrary1 ,i said1 ,i think that in the sense in which ,lucretius intended that the lines should be taken1 they contain a great deal of truth4 ,he had seen the basest and foullest crimes spring from that which he calls ,relligio1 and he had a full right to state that fact4 ,i am not aware that one blasphemes the ,catholic and ,apostolic ,faith by saying that the devilries of the ,spanish ,inquisition were the direct offspring of that 'religious sentiment' which ,mr4 ,windrush's school-though they are at all events right in saying that its source is in man himself1 and not in the 'regionibus ,coeli'-are now glorifying1 as something which enables man to save his own soul without the interference of ',the ,deity'-indeed1 whether ',the ,deity' chooses or not4 ,do leave these poor ,emersonians alone for a few minutes1 and tell me how you can reconcile what you have just said with your own dialogue4 ,why not8 ,is not ,lucretius glorying in the notion that the gods do not trouble themselves with mortals1 while you have been asserting that ',the ,deity' troubles ,himself even with the souls of heathens8 ,certainly4 ,but that is quite a distinct matter from his dislike of what he calls ,relligio4 ,in that dislike ,i can sympathise fully3 but on his method of escape ,mr4 ,windrush will probably look with more complaisance than ,i do1 who call it by the ugly name of ,atheism4 ,then ,i fear you would call me an ,atheist1 if you knew all4 ,so we had better say no more about it4 ,a most curious speech1 certainly1 to make to a parson1 or soul- curer by profession6 ,why1 what on earth have you to do but to abhor and flee me8 asked he1 with a laugh1 though by no means a merry one4 ,would your having a headache be a reason for the medical man's running away from you1 or coming to visit you8 ,ah1 but this1 you know1 is my 'fault1' and my 'crime1' and my 'sin4' ,eh8 and he laughed again4 ,would the doctor visit you the less1 because it was your own fault that your head ached8 ,ah1 but suppose ,i professed openly no faith in his powers of curing1 and had a great hankering after unaccredited ,homoeopathies1 like ,mr4 ,windrush's2 would not that be a fair cause for interdiction from fire and water1 sacraments and ,christian burial8 ,come1 come1 ,templeton1 ,i said2 you shall not thus jest away serious thoughts with an old friend4 ,i know you are ill at ease4 ,why not talk over the matter with me fairly and soberly8 ,how do you know till you have tried1 whether ,i can help you or not8 ,because ,i know that your arguments will have no force with me2 they will demand of me or assume in me1 certain faculties1 sentiments1 notions1 experiences-call them what you like2 ,i am beginning to suspect sometimes with ,cabanis that they are 'a product of the small intestines'-which ,i never have had1 and never could make myself have1 and now don't care whether ,i have them or not4 ,on my honour1 ,i will address you only as what you are1 and know yourself to be4 ,but what are these faculties1 so strangely beyond my friend ,templeton's reach8 ,he used to be distinguished at college for a very clear head1 and a very kind heart1 and the nicest sense of honour which ,i ever saw in living man2 and ,i have not heard that they have failed him since he became ,templeton of ,templeton4 ,and as for his ,churchmanship1 were not the county papers ringing last month with the accounts of the beautiful new church which he had built1 and the stained glass which he brought from ,belgium1 and the marble font which he brought from ,italy2 and how he had even given for an altar-piece his own pet ,luini1 the gem of ,templeton ,house8 ,effeminate picture6 he said4 ,it was part and parcel of the idea- ,before ,i could ask him what he meant1 he looked up suddenly at me1 with deep sadness on his usually nonchalant face4 ,well1 my dear fellow1 ,i suppose ,i must tell you all1 as ,i have told you so much without your shaking the dust off your feet against me1 and consulting ,bradshaw for the earliest train to ,shrewsbury4 ,you knew my dear mother8 ,i did4 ,the best of women4 ,the best of women1 and the best of mothers4 ,but1 if you recollect1 she was a great ,low-,church saint4 ,why 'but'8 ,how does that derogate in any wise from her excellence8 ,not from her excellence2 ,god forbid6 or from the excellence of the people of her own party1 whom she used to have round her1 and who were1 some of them1 ,i do believe1 as really earnest1 and pious1 and charitable1 and all that1 as human beings could be4 ,but it did take away very much indeed from her influence on me4 ,surely she did not neglect to teach you4 ,it is a strange thing to say1 but she rather taught me too much4 ,i don't deny that it may have been my own fault4 ,i don't blame her1 or any one4 ,but you know what ,i was at college-no worse than other men1 ,i dare say2 but no better4 ,i had no reason for being better4 ,no reason8 ,surely she gave you reasons4 ,there-you have touched the ailing nerve now4 ,the reasons were what you would call paralogisms4 ,they had no more to do with me than with those trout4 ,you mistake1 friend1 you mistake1 indeed1 said ,i4 ,i don't mistake at all about this2 that whether or not the reasons in themselves had to do with me1 the way in which she put them made them practically so much ,hebrew4 ,she demanded of me1 as the only grounds on which ,i was to consider myself safe from hell1 certain fears and hopes which ,i did not feel1 and experiences which ,i did not experience2 and it was my fault1 and a sign of my being in a wrong state-to use no harder term-that ,i did not feel them2 and yet it was only ,god's grace which could make me feel them3 and so ,i grew up with a dark secret notion that ,i was a very bad boy2 but that it was ,god's fault and not mine that ,i was so4 ,you were ripe indeed then1 said ,i sadly1 like hundreds more1 for ,professor ,windrush's teaching4 ,i will come to that presently4 ,but in the meantime-was it my fault8 ,i was never what you call a devout person4 ,my 'organ of veneration1' as the phrenologists would say1 was never very large4 ,i was a shrewd dashing boy1 enjoying life to the finger-tips1 and enjoying above all1 ,i will say1 pleasing my mother in every way1 except in the understanding what she told me-and what ,i felt ,i could not understand4 ,but as ,i grew older1 and watched her1 and the men round her1 ,i began to suspect that religion and effeminacy had a good deal to do with each other4 ,for the women1 whatsoever their temperaments1 or even their tastes might be1 took to this to me incomprehensible religion naturally and instinctively2 while the very few men who were in their clique were-,i don't deny some of them were good men enough-if they had been men at all3 if they had been well-read1 or well-bred1 or gallant1 or clear-headed1 or liberal- minded1 or1 in short1 anything but the silky1 smooth-tongued hunt- the-slippers nine out of ten of them were4 ,i recollect well asking my mother once1 whether there would not be five times more women than men in heaven-and her answering me sadly and seriously1 that she feared there would be4 ,and in the meantime she brought me up to pray and hope that ,i might some day be converted1 and become a child of ,god-,and one could not help wishing to enjoy oneself as much as possible before that event happened4 ,before that event happened1 my dear fellow8 ,pardon me1 but your tone is somewhat irreverent4 ,very likely4 ,i had no reason put before me for regarding such a change as anything but an unpleasant doom1 which would cut me off1 or ought to do so1 from field sports1 from poetry1 from art1 from science1 from politics-for ,christians1 ,i was told1 had nothing to do with the politics of this world-from man and all man's civilisation1 in short2 and leave to me1 as the only two lawful indulgences1 those of living in a good house1 and begetting a family of children4 ,and did you throw off the old ,creeds for the sake of the civilisation which you fancied that they forbid8 ,no4 ,i am a ,churchman1 you know2 principally on political grounds1 or from custom1 or from-the devil knows what1 perhaps-,i do not4 ,probably it is ,god1 and not the devil1 who knows why1 ,templeton4 ,be it so-,frightful as it is to have to say it-,i do not so much care-,i suppose it is all right3 if it is not1 it will all come right at last4 ,and in the meantime1 ,i compromise1 like the rest of the world2 and hear ,jane making the children every week-day pray that they may become ,god's children1 and then teaching them every ,sunday evening the ,catechism1 which says that they are so already4 ,i don't understand it-,i suppose if it was important1 one would understand it4 ,one knows right from wrong1 you know1 and other fundamentals4 ,if that were necessary1 one would know that too4 ,but can you submit quietly to such a barefaced contradiction8 ,i8 ,i am only a plain country squire4 ,of course ,i should call such dealing with an ,act of ,parliament a lie and a sham-,but about these things1 ,i fancy1 the women know best4 ,jane is ten thousand times as good as ,i am-you don't know half her worth-,and ,i haven't the heart to contradict her-nor the right either2 for ,i have no reasons to give her2 no faith to substitute for hers4 ,our friend1 the ,high-,church curate1 could have given you a few plain reasons1 ,i should think4 ,of course he could4 ,and ,i believe in my heart the man is in the right in calling ,jane wrong4 ,he has honesty and common sense on his side1 just as he has when he calls the present state of ,convocation1 in the face of that prayer for ,god's ,spirit on its deliberations1 a blasphemous lie and sham4 ,of course it is4 ,any ensign in a marching regiment could tell us that from his mere sense of soldier's honour4 ,but then-if she is wrong1 is he right8 ,how do ,i know8 ,i want reasons3 he gives me historic authorities4 ,and very good things too2 for they are fair phenomena for induction4 ,but how will proving to me that certain people once thought a thing right prove to me that it is right8 ,good people think differently every day4 ,good people have thought differently about those very matters in every age4 ,i want some proof which will coincide with the little which ,i do know about science and philosophy4 ,they must fight out their own battle1 if they choose to fight it on mere authority4 ,if one could but have the implicit faith of a child1 it would be all very well3 but one can't4 ,if one has once been fool enough to think about these things1 one must have reasons1 or something better than mere ipse dixits1 or one can't believe them4 ,i should be glad enough to believe2 do you suppose that ,i don't envy poor dear ,jane from morning to night8-but ,i can't4 ,and so- ,and so what8 asked ,i4 ,and so1 ,i believe1 ,i am growing to have no religion at all1 and no substitute for it either2 for ,i feel ,i have no ground or reason for admiring or working out any subject4 ,i have tired of philosophy4 ,perhaps it's all wrong-at least ,i can't see what it has to do with ,god1 and ,christianity1 and all which1 if it is true1 must be more important than anything else4 ,i have tired of art for the same reason4 ,how can ,i be anything but a wretched dilettante1 when ,i have no principles to ground my criticism on1 beyond bosh about ',the ,beautiful'8 ,i did pluck up heart and read ,mr4 ,ruskin's books greedily when they came out1 because ,i heard he was a good ,christian4 ,but ,i fell upon a little tract of his1 ',notes on ,sheepfolds1' and gave him up again1 when ,i found that he had a leaning to that ',clapham sect4' ,i have dropped politics3 for ,i have no reason1 no ground1 no principle in them1 but expediency4 ,when they asked me this summer to represent the interests of the county in ,parliament1 ,i asked them how they came to make such a mistake as to fancy that ,i knew what was their interest1 or anyone else's8 ,i am becoming more and more of an animal2 fragmentary1 inconsistent1 seeing to the root of nothing1 unable to unite things in my own mind4 ,i just do the duty which lies nearest1 and looks simplest4 ,i try to make the boys grow up plucky and knowing-though what's the use of it8 ,they will go to college with even less principles than ,i had1 and will get into proportionably worse scrapes1 ,i expect to be ruined by their debts before ,i die4 ,and for the rest1 ,i read nothing but ,the ,edinburgh and ,the ,agricultural ,gazette4 ,my talk is of bullocks4 ,i just know right from wrong enough to see that the farms are in good order1 pay my labourers living wages1 keep the old people out of the workhouse1 and see that my cottages and schools are all right2 for ,i suppose ,i was put here for some purpose of that kind-though what it is ,i can't very clearly define-,and there's an end of my long story4 ,not quite an animal yet1 it seems8 said ,i with a smile1 half to hide my own sadness at a set of experiences which are1 alas6 already far too common1 and will soon be more common still4 ,nearer it than you fancy4 ,i am getting fonder and fonder of a good dinner and a second bottle of claret-about their meaning there is no mistake4 ,and my principal reason for taking the hounds two years ago was1 ,i do believe1 to have something to do in the winter which required no thought1 and to have an excuse for falling asleep after dinner1 instead of arguing with ,jane about her scurrilous religious newspapers-,there is a great gulf opening1 ,i see1 between me and her- ,and as ,i can't bridge it over ,i may as well forget it4 ,pah6 ,i am boring you1 and over-talking myself4 ,have a cigar1 and let us say no more about it4 ,there is more here1 old fellow1 than you will cure by doses of ,socratic ,dialectics4 ,i am not so sure of that1 ,i replied4 ,on the contrary1 ,i should recommend you in your present state of mind to look out your old ,plato as quickly as possible1 and see if he and his master ,socrates cannot give you1 if not altogether a solution for your puzzle1 at least a method whereby you may solve it yourself4 ,but tell me first-,what has all this to do with your evident sympathy for a man so unlike yourself as ,professor ,windrush8 ,perhaps ,i feel for him principally because he has broken loose from it all in desperation1 just as ,i have4 ,but1 to tell you the truth1 ,i have been reading more than one book of his school lately2 and1 as ,i said1 ,i owe you no thanks for demolishing the little comfort which ,i seemed to find in them4 ,and what was that then8 ,why-in the first place1 you can't deny that however incoherent they may be they do say a great many clever things1 and noble things too1 about man1 and society1 and art1 and nature4 ,no doubt of it4 ,and moreover1 they seem to connect all they say with-with-,i suppose you will laugh at me-with ,god1 and spiritual truths1 and eternal ,divine laws2 in short1 to consecrate common matters in that very way1 which ,i could not find in my poor mother's teaching4 ,no doubt of that either4 ,and therein is one real value of them1 as protests in behalf of something nobler and more unselfish than the mere dollar-getting spirit of their country4 ,well1 then1 can you not see how pleasant it was to me to find someone who would give me a peep into the unseen world1 without requiring as an entrance-fee any religious emotions and experiences8 ,here ,i had been for years1 shut out2 told that ,i had no business with anything eternal1 and pure1 and noble1 and good2 that to all intents and purposes ,i was nothing better than a very cunning animal who could be damned2 because ,i was still 'carnal1' and had not been through all ,jane's mysterious sorrows and joys4 ,and it was really good news to me to hear that they were not required after all1 and that all ,i need do was to be a good man1 and leave devotion to those who were inclined to it by temperament4 ,not to be a good man1 said ,i1 but only a good specimen of some sort of man4 ,that1 ,i think1 would be the outcome of ,emerson's ',representative ,men1' or of those most tragic ',memoirs of ,margaret ,puller ,ossoli4' ,how then1 hair-splitter8 ,what is the mighty difference8 ,would you call ,dick ,turpin a good man1 because he was a good highwayman8 ,what now8 ,that he would be an excellent representative man of his class2 and therefore1 on ,mr4 ,emerson's grounds1 a fit subject for a laudatory lecture4 ,i hate reductiones ad absurdum4 ,let ,turpin take care of himself4 ,i suppose ,i do not belong to such a very bad sort of men1 but that it may be worth my while to become a good specimen of it8 ,certainly not2 only ,i think1 contrary to ,mr4 ,emerson's opinion1 that you will not become even that1 unless you first become something better still1 namely1 a good man4 ,there you are too refined for me4 ,but can you not understand1 now1 the causes of my sympathy even with ,windrush and his 'spirit of truth'8 ,i can1 and those of many more4 ,it seems that you thought you found in that school a wider creed than the one to which you had been accustomed8 ,there was a more comprehensive view of humanity about them1 and that pleased me4 ,doubtless1 one can be easily comprehensive if one comprehends good and bad1 true and false1 under one category1 by denying the absolute existence of either goodness or badness1 truth or falsehood4 ,but let the view be as comprehensive as it will1 ,i am afraid that the creed founded thereon will not be very comprehensive4 ,why then8 ,because it will comprehend so few people2 fewer even than the sect of those who will believe1 with ,mr4 ,emerson1 that ,harvey and ,newton made their discoveries by the ',aristotelian method4' ,the sect of those who believe that there is no absolute right and wrong1 no absolute truth external to himself1 discoverable by man1 will1 it seems to me1 be a very narrow one to the end of time2 owing to a certain primeval superstition of our race1 who1 even in barbarous countries1 have always been ,platonists enough to have some sort of instinct and hope that there was a right and a wrong1 and truths independent of their own sentiments and faculties4 ,so that1 though this school may enable you to fancy that you understand ,lady ,jane somewhat more1 by the simple expedient of putting on her religious experiences an arbitrary interpretation of your own1 which she would indignantly and justly deny1 it will enable her to understand you all the less1 and widen the gulf between you immeasurably4 ,you are severe4 ,i only wish you to face one result of a theory1 which1 while it pretends to offer the most comprehensive liberality1 will be found to lead in practice to the most narrow and sectarian ,epicurism for a cultivated few4 ,but for the many1 struggling with the innate consciousness of evil1 in them and around them-an instinctive consciousness which no argumentation about 'evil being a lower form of good' will ever explain away to those who 'grind among the iron facts of life1 and have no time for self-deception'-what good news for them is there in ,mr4 ,emerson's cosy and tolerant ,epicurism8 ,they cry for deliverance from their natures2 they know that they are not that which they were intended to be1 because they follow their natures2 and he answers them with3 ',follow your natures1 and be that which you were intended to be4' ,you began this argument by stipulating that ,i should argue with you simply as a man4 ,does ,mr4 ,emerson's argument look like doing that1 or only arguing as with an individual of that kind of man1 or rather animal1 to which some iron ,fate has compelled you to belong8 ,but1 ,i say1 these books have made me a better man4 ,i do not doubt it4 ,an earnest cultivated man1 speaking his whole mind to an earnest cultivated man1 will hardly fail of telling him something he did not know before4 ,but if you had not been a cultivated man1 ,templeton1 a man with few sorrows1 and few trials1 and few unsatisfied desires-if you had been the village shopkeeper1 with his bad debts1 and his temptations to make those who can pay for those who cannot1-if you had been one of your own labourers1 environed with the struggle for daily bread1 and the alehouse1 and hungry children1 and a sick wife1 and a dull taste1 and a duller head-in short1 if you had been a man such as nine out of ten are- what would his school have taught you then8 ,you want some truths which are common to men as men1 which will help and teach them1 let their temperament or their circumstances be what they will-do you not8 ,if you do not1 your complaint of ,lady ,jane's exclusive ,creed is a mere selfish competition on your part1 between a ,creed which will fit her peculiarities1 and a ,creed which will fit your peculiarities4 ,do you not see that8 ,i do-go on4 ,then ,i say you will not find that in ,professor ,windrush's school4 ,i say you will find it in ,lady ,jane's ,creed4 ,what8 ,in the very ,creed which excludes me8 ,whether that ,creed excludes you or not is a question of the true meaning of its words4 ,and that again is a question of ,dialectics4 ,i say it includes you and all mankind4 ,you must mistake her doctrines1 then4 ,i do not1 ,i assure you4 ,i know what they are2 and ,i know1 also1 the misreading of them to which your dear mother's school has accustomed her1 and which has taught her that these ,creeds only belong to the few who have discovered their own share in them4 ,but whether the ,creeds really do that or not-whether ,lady ,jane does not implicitly confess that they do not by her own words and deeds of every day1 that1 ,i say1 is a question of ,dialectics1 in the ,platonic sense of that word1 as the science which discovers the true and false in thought1 by discovering the true and false concerning the meanings of words1 which represent thought4 ,be it so4 ,i should be glad to hold what ,jane holds1 for the sake of the marvellous practical effect on her character-sweet creature that she is6-which it has produced in the last seven years4 ,and which effect1 ,i presume1 was not increased by her denying to you any share in the same8 ,alas1 no6 ,it is only when she falls on that-when she begins denouncing and excluding-that all the old faults1 few and light as they are1 seem to leap into ugly life again for the moment4 ,few and light1 indeed6 ,ah1 my dear ,templeton1 the gulf between you and happiness looks wide2 but only because it is magnified in mist4 ,which you would have me disperse by lightning-flashes of ,dialectics1 eh8 ,well1 every man has his nostrum4 ,i have not4 ,my method is not my own1 but ,plato's4 ,but1 my good fellow1 the ,windrush school admire ,plato as much as you do1 and yet certainly arrive at somewhat different conclusions4 ,they do ,plato the honour of patronising him1 as a ,representative ,man2 but their real text-book1 you will find1 is ,proclus4 ,that hapless philosophaster's a priori method1 even his very verbiage1 is dear to their souls2 for they copy it through wet and dry1 through sense and nonsense4 ,but as for ,plato-when ,i find them using ,plato's weapons1 ,i shall believe in their understanding and love of him4 ,and in the meanwhile claim him as a new verger for the ,reformed ,church ,catholic8 ,not a new verger1 ,templeton4 ,augustine said1 fourteen hundred years ago1 that ,socrates was the philosopher of the ,catholic ,faith4 ,if he has not seemed so of late years1 it is1 ,i suspect1 because we do not understand quite the same thing as ,augustine did1 when we talk of the ,catholic ,faith and ,christianity4 ,but you forget1 in your hurry of clerical confidence1 that the question still remains1 whether these ,creeds are true4 ,that1 too1 as ,i take it1 is a question of ,dialectics1 unless you choose to reduce the whole to a balance-of-probabilities argument- rather too narrow a basis for a ,world-faith to stand upon4 ,try all 'mythic' theories1 ,straussite and others1 by honest ,dialectics4 ,try your own thoughts and experiences1 and the accredited thoughts and experiences of wise men1 by the same method4 ,mesmerism and ',the ,development of ,species' may wait till they have settled themselves somewhat more into sciences2 at present it does not much matter what agrees or disagrees with them4 ,but using this weapon fearlessly and honestly1 you will1 unless ,socrates and ,plato were fools1 arrive at absolute eternal truths1 which are equally true for all men1 good or bad1 conscious or unconscious2 and ,i tell you-of course you need not believe me till you have made trial-that those truths will coincide with the plain honest meaning of the ,catholic ,creeds1 as determined by the same method-the only one1 indeed1 by which they or anything else can be determined4 ,you forget ,baconian induction1 of which you are so fond4 ,and pray what are ,dialectics1 but strict ,baconian induction applied to words1 as the phenomena of mind1 instead of to things1 the phenomena of- ,what8 ,i can't tell you2 or1 rather1 ,i will not4 ,i have my own opinion about what those trees and stones are2 but it will require a few years' more verification before ,i tell4 ,really1 you and your ,dialectics seem in a hopeful and valiant state of mind4 ,why not8 ,can truth do anything but conquer8 ,of course-assuming1 as every one does1 that the truth is with you4 ,my dear fellow1 ,i have seldom met a man who could not be a far better dialectician than ,i shall ever be1 if he would but use his ,common ,sense4 ,common ,sense8 ,that really sounds something like a bathos1 after the great big ,greek word which you have been propounding to me as the cure for all my doubts4 ,what8 ,are you about to 'gib' after all1 just as ,i was flattering myself that ,i had broken you in to go quietly in harness8 ,i am very much minded to do so4 ,the truth is1 ,i cannot bring myself to believe that the universal panacea lies in an obscure and ancient scientific method4 ,obscure and ancient8 ,did ,i not just say that any man might be a dialectician8 ,did ,socrates ever appeal to any faculty but the ,common ,sense of man as man1 which exists just as much in ,england now1 ,i presume1 as it did in ,athens in his day8 ,does he not1 in pursuance of that method of his1 draw his arguments and illustrations1 to the horror of the big-worded ,sophists1 from dogs1 kettles1 fishwives1 and what not which is vulgar and commonplace8 ,or did ,i1 in my clumsy attempt to imitate him1 make use of a single argument which does not lie1 developed or undeveloped1 in the ,common ,sense of every clown2 in that human ,reason of his1 which is part of ,god's image in him1 and in every man8 ,and has not my complaint against ,mr4 ,windrush's school been1 that they will not do this2 that they will not accept the ground which is common to men as men1 but disregard that part of the ',vox ,populi' which is truly ',vox ,dei1' for that which is ',vox ,diaboli'-for private sentiments1 fancies1 and aspirations2 and so casting away the common sense of mankind1 build up each man1 on the pin's point of his own private judgment1 his own inverted pyramid8 ,but are you not asking me to do just the same1 when you propose to me to start as a ,scientific ,dialectician8 ,why1 what are ,dialectics1 or any other scientific method1 but conscious common sense8 ,and what is common sense1 but unconscious scientific method8 ,every man is a dialectician1 be he scholar or boor1 in as far as he tries to use no words which he does not understand1 and to sift his own thoughts1 and his expression of them1 by that ,reason which is at once common to men1 and independent of them4 ,as ,m4 ,jourdain talked prose all his life without knowing it4 ,well- ,i prefer the unconscious method4 ,i have as little faith as ,mr4 ,carlyle would have in saying3 ',go to1 let us make'-an induction about words1 or anything else4 ,it seems to me no very hopeful method of finding out facts as they are4 ,certainly2 provided you mean any particular induction1 and not a general inductive and severely-inquiring habit of mind2 that very ',go to' being a fair sign that you have settled beforehand what the induction shall be2 in plain ,english1 that you have come to your conclusion already1 and are now looking about for facts to prove it4 ,but is it any wiser to say3 ',go to1 ,i will be conscious of being unconscious of being conscious of my own forms of thought'8 ,for that is what you do say1 when1 having read ,plato1 and knowing his method1 and its coincidence with ,common ,sense1 you determine to ignore it on common-sense questions4 ,but why not ignore it1 if mother-wit does as well8 ,because you cannot ignore it4 ,you have learnt it more or less1 and cannot forget it1 try as you will1 and must either follow it1 or break it and talk nonsense4 ,and moreover1 you ought not to ignore it4 ,for it seems to me1 that you were sent to ,cambridge by ,one greater than1 your parents1 in order that you might learn it1 and bring it home hither for the use of the ,m4 ,jourdains round you here1 who have no doubt been talking prose all their life1 but may have been also talking it very badly4 ,you speak riddles4 ,my dear fellow1 may not a man employ ,reason1 or any other common human faculty1 all his life1 and yet employ them very clumsily and defectively8 ,i should say so1 from the gross amount of human unwisdom4 ,and that1 in the case of uneducated persons1 happens because they are not conscious of those faculties1 or of their right laws1 but use them blindly and capriciously1 by fits and starts1 talking sense on one point and nonsense on another8 ,too true1 ,heaven knows4 ,but the educated man1 if education mean anything1 is the man who has become conscious of those common human faculties and their laws1 and has learnt to use them continuously and accurately1 on all matters alike4 ,true1 ,o ,socraticule6 ,then is it not his especial business to teach the right use of them to the less educated8-unless you agree with the old ,sophists1 that the purpose of education is to enable us to deceive or coerce the uneducated for our own aggrandisement4 ,i am therefore1 it seems1 to get up ,platonic ,dialectics simply in order to teach my ploughmen to use their common sense8 ,exactly so4 ,teach yourself first1 and every one around you afterwards1 not the doctrines1 nor the formulas-though he had none- but the habit of mind which ,socrates tried in vain to teach the ,athenian youth4 ,teach them to face all questions patiently and fearlessly3 to begin always by asking every word1 great or small1 from ',predestination' to ',protection1' what it really means4 ,teach them that ',by your words you shall be justified1 and by your words you shall be condemned1' is no barren pulpit-test1 but a tremendous practical law for every day1 and for every matter4 ,teach them to be sure that man can find out truth1 because ,god his ,father and ,archetype will show it to those who hunger after it4 ,try to make them see clearly the ,divine truths which are implied1 not only in their creeds1 but in their simplest household words2 and- ,and fail as ,socrates failed1 or rather worse2 for he did teach himself3 but ,i shall not even do that4 ,do not despair in haste4 ,in the first place1 ,i deny that ,socrates taught himself1 for ,i believe that ,one taught him1 who has promised to teach every man who desires wisdom2 and in the next place1 ,i have no fear but that the sound practical intellect which that same ,one has bestowed on the ,englishman1 will give you a far better auditory in any harvest field1 than ,socrates could find among the mercurial ,athenians of a fallen age4 ,well1 that is1 at all events1 a comfort for poor me4 ,i will really take to my ,plato again1 till the hunting begins4 ,and even then1 you know1 you don't keep two packs2 so you will have three days out of the six wherein to study him4 ,four1 you mean-for ,i have long given up reading ,sunday books on ,sunday4 ,then you read your ,bible and ,prayer-book2 or even borrow some of ,lady ,jane's devotional treatises2 and try1 after you have translated the latter into plain ,english1 to make out what they one and all really do mean1 by the light which old ,socrates has given you during the week4 ,you will find them wiser than you fancy1 and simpler also4 ,so be it1 my dear ,soul-doctor4 ,here come ,lewis and the luncheon4 ,and so ended our conversation4