Nevertheless I do not think such a construction of Plato’s religious development feasible. A decisive objection is his exposition of the Socratic point of view in so early a work as the _Apology_. I at any rate regard it as psychologically impossible that a downright atheist, be he ever so great a poet, should be able to draw such a picture of a deeply religious personality, and draw it with so much sympathy and such convincing force. Add to this other facts of secondary moment. Even the close criticism to which Plato subjects the popular notions of the gods in his _Republic_ does not indicate denial of the gods as such; moreover, it is built on a positive foundation, on the idea of the goodness of the gods and their truth (which for Plato manifests itself in immutability). Finally, Plato at all times vigorously advocated the belief in providence. In the _Laws_ he stamps unbelief in divine providence as impiety; in the _Republic_ he insists in a prominent passage that the gods love the just man and order everything for him in the best way. And he puts the same thought into Socrates’s mouth in the _Apology_, though it is hardly Socratic in the strict sense of the word, _i.e._ as a main point in Socrates’s conception of existence. All this should warn us not to exaggerate the significance of the difference which may be pointed out between the religious standpoints of the younger and the older Plato. But the difference itself cannot, I think, be denied; there can hardly be any doubt that Plato was much more critical of popular belief in his youth and prime than towards the close of his life.