|
|
|
|
|
APPENDIX VIIL
Plato on the Soul.
As this volume is likely to fall into the hands of readers in the
East who may not ho able to refer to the passage for themselves, 1
here add the context of the passage quoted above, pp. 9597; from
the Phmdo:
"And this is the reason .... why the true votaries of philosophy
" abstain from all fleshly lusts, and endure and refuse to give them-
"selves up to them,not because they fear poverty or the ruin of
" their families, like the lovers of money and the world in general;
" nor like the lovers of power and honour, because they dread the
" dishonour or disgrace of evil deeds.....Therefore they who have
" any care of their own souls, and do not merely live moulding and
"fashioning the body, say farewell to all this, they will not walk
"in the ways of the blind; and when philosophy offers them
" purification and release from evil, they feel that they ought not to
" resiBt her influence, and whither she leads they turn and follow.
".. The lovers of knowledge are conscious that their souls,
"when philosophy takes them in hand, are simply fastened and
" glued to their bodies the soul is able to view real existence only
" through the bars of a prison, and not of herself nnhindered; she
"is wallowing in the mire of all ignorance; and philosophy, bchold-
"ing the terrible nature of her confinement, inasmuch as the captive
" through lust becomes a chief accomplice in her own captivity,
"for the lovers of knowledge are aware that this was the original
" state of the soul, hut that when she was in this state philosophy
" adopted and comforted her, and wanted to release her, pointing |
|
|
|
