=The Two Tendencies in Plato.= From the doctrine of the two worlds there are two distinct tendencies running through the entire teaching of Plato. These are (1) the tendency to glorify nature, and (2) the tendency to turn away from nature to ascetic contemplation. On the one hand, Plato felt within himself the light heart-beat of the artist, and the Hellenic love of life was strong within him. He felt that the Idea of the Good was realized even in the world of sense, that there was pleasure in the sensuous imitation of the Idea, in practical artistic skill, and in an intelligent understanding of mathematical orderings. These were at least preparations for the highest Good, which consisted in knowledge of the Ideas. On the other hand, one finds beside this the ascetic tendency to be repelled by nature, a negative ethics that would leave the world of sense and would spiritualize the life. The _Theætetus_ sets up an ideal of retirement for the philosopher, and points out that he should find refuge as soon as possible from the evils of the world in the divine presence. The _Phædo_ pictures the whole life of the philosopher as a dying, a purification of the soul, an existence in prison, from which escape is only by virtue and knowledge. This ascetic tendency seems very anti-Greek; and yet is it foreign to Greek life? In Greek history do we not find, by the side of the Epic and the glorification of nature, the Mysteries and the withdrawal of the individual from the world? Both these historic tendencies appear in Plato, and on the whole the ascetic tendency is stronger. The Ideas are contrasted with the nature world more often than they transfigure it. The dualism of Heaven and earth is emphasized, and the contrast is strongly drawn between the reality of the Ideas and the temporality of sense. =Platonic Love.= Described in technical terms, in both Socrates and Plato, Love (Eros) is the philosophic and not a purely intellectual impulse. Its rather more didactic character in Socrates of an attempt to engender knowledge and virtue in others appears in Plato in a larger way as the personal and practical realization of the truth. Reduced to its simplest terms, Platonic Love is the longing of the human being in his imperfectness for perfectness and completeness. It is the innate desire for immortality.