Page:A History of Ancient Greek Literature.djvu/198

174 LITERATURE OF ANCIENT GREECE off cause of all Love, loved his disciples and all who were working towards the same end. Plato realises this to the full. Socrates perhaps had only glimpses of it ; but it is clear that that intense vibrating personal affection between man and man, which gives most modern readers a cold turn in reading the Platonic dia- logues, is in its seed a part of Socrates. It is remark- able, considering the possibilities of Greek life at the time, that this ' Eros ' gave rise to no scandal against Socrates, not even at his trial.^ In Plato's case it showed itself to be a little imprudent ; Aristotle's mag- nificent conception of Friendship is best explained when we see that it is the Platonic Love under a cooler and safer name. What was the source of Socrates's immense influence over all later philosophy, since in actual philosophic achievement he is not so great as Protagoras, not com- parable with Democritus ? It was largely the daemonic, semi-inspired character of the man. Externally, it was the fact of his detachment from all existing bodies and institutions, so that in their wreck, when Protagoras, Pericles, 'Gorgias fell, he was left standing alone and un- discredited. And, secondly, it was the great fact that he sealed his mission with his blood. He had enough of the prophet in him to feel that it was well for him to die ; that it was impossible to unsay a word of what he believed, or to make any promise he did not personally approve. Of course the Platonic Apology is fiction, but there is evidence to show that Socrates's indifference, or rather superiority, to life and death is true in fact. The world was not then familiarised with religious per- secutions, and did not know how many people are ready 1 He speaks quite positively on the point : Xen. Symp. viii. 32 ff.