PHILOSOPHY: SOCRATES.--At the head of the Greek philosophers is the illustrious name of _Socrates_. He was the son of Sophroniscus, a sculptor, and was born 469 B.C., just as Pericles was assuming the leadership at Athens. Socrates was the founder of moral philosophy. He was original, being indebted for his ideas to no previous school. He was as sound in body as in mind. His appearance was unique. His forehead was massive, but his flat nose gave to his countenance an aspect quite at variance with the Greek ideal of beauty. He looked, it was said, like a satyr. He taught, in opposition to the _Sophists_, a class of men (including _Gorgias, Protagoras_, and others) who instructed young men in logic and grammar, taking fees,--which was contrary to the custom of the Greek philosophers,--and cultivating intellectual keenness and dexterity, often at the expense of depth and sincerity. Their work as thinkers was negative, being confined mainly to pointing out fallacies in existing systems, but providing nothing positive in the room of them. _Socrates_ had been called by the oracle at Delphi the wisest of men. He could only account for this by the fact, that, in contrast with others, he did not erroneously deem himself to be knowing. "Know thyself" was his maxim. His daily occupation was to converse with different classes, especially young men, on subjects of highest moment to the individual and to the state. By a method of quiet cross-examination, the "_Socratic irony_," he made them aware of their lack of clear ideas and tenable, consistent opinions, and endeavored to guide them aright. The _soul_ and its moral improvement was his principal subject. He asserted _Theism_ and the spiritual nature and obligations of religion, without calling in question the existence of the various divinities. He taught the doctrine of a universal _Providence_. Absolute loyalty to conscience, the preference of virtue to any possible advantage without it, he solemnly inculcated. He believed, perhaps not without a mingling of doubt, in the immortality of the soul. Taking no part in public affairs, he devoted his time to this kind of familiar instruction,--to teaching by dialogue, in compliance with what he believed to be an inward call of God. An impulse within him, which he called a divine "voice," checked him when he was about to take a wrong step. He was charged with corrupting the youth by his teaching, and with heresy in religion. His rebukes of the shallow and the self-seeking had stung them, and had made him many enemies. Such men as _Alcibiades_ and _Critias_, who had been among his hearers, but for whose misconduct he was really not in the least responsible, added to his unpopularity. The _Apology_, as given by Plato, contains the substance of his most impressive defense before his judges. He took no pains to placate them or his accusers, or to escape after he was convicted. Conversing with his disciples in the