Now we can understand the Socratic Conception of Virtue in relation to the conscious and unconscious life. What Socrates maintained was that true virtue must depend upon knowledge; hence knowledge is the strongest power of man and cannot be controlled by passion. In short, knowledge is the root of moral action, and, on the other hand, lack of knowledge is the cause of vice. In other words, no man can voluntarily pursue evil, and to prefer evil to good would be foreign to human nature. Hence, in the Socratic sense, in the unconscious lies the root of antisocial deeds, and, as Forbes puts it: "Socratic view of sin, in fact, keeps it in a region subliminal to knowledge. The sinner is never more really than an instinctive man, an undeveloped, irrational creature; strictly speaking, not a man at all."[24.] Since Socrates identified virtue with knowledge, and made knowledge a conscious factor in mental life, it is evident that education, environment, religion and conventionality are the determining factors in the cultivation of the conscious. "What may be called institutional virtue," writes Snyder, "is for Socrates the fundamental and all-inclusive Virtue, the ground of the other Virtues. He believes in the State, obeys the Laws, performs his duties as a citizen. This does not hinder him from seeing defects in the existent state and its Laws, and trying to remedy them. Indeed, his whole scheme of training in Virtue is to produce a man who can make good Laws, and so establish a good State. 'What is Piety?' he asks, not a blind worship of the gods, but worship of them according to their laws and customs, which one must know. That is, one must know the law of the thing, the time of mere instinctive action and obedience is past." [25.] And Zeller expresses himself in a similar manner: "Of the importance of the state and the obligations towards the same, a very high notion indeed is entertained by Socrates:--He who would live amongst men, he said, must live in a state, be a ruler or be ruled. He requires, therefore, the most unconditional obedience to the laws, to such an extent that the conception of justice is reduced to that of obedience to law, but he desires every competent man to take part in the administration of the state, the well-being of all individuals depending on the well-being of the community. These principles were really carried into practice by him throughout his life. With devoted self-sacrifice his duties as a citizen were fulfilled, even death being endured in order that he might not violate the laws. Even his philanthropic labors were regarded as the fulfillment of a duty to the state; and in Xenophon's Memorabilia we see him using every opportunity of impressing able people for political services, of deterring the incompetent, of awakening officials to their sense of their duties, and of giving them help in the administration of their offices. He himself expresses the political