Trees and fields tell me nothing, men are my teachers.
—Plato.
Plato, the renowned Greek philosopher, was born at Athens, about 427 B.C., and died there 347 B.C. Among his famous dialogues are: “Apology,” “Lysis,” “Charmides,” “Laches,” “Protagoras,” “Meno,” “Gorgias,” “Io,” “Euthyphro,” “Crito,” “Phædrus,” “The Sophist,” “The Politician,” “Parmenides,” “Symposium,” “Phædo,” “The Republic,” “The Laws,” etc.
Excess of grief for the deceased is madness; for it is an injury to the living, and the dead know it not.
—Xenophon.
Xenophon, a famous Greek author, was born at Athens, about 430 B.C., and died in Corinth, about 355 B.C. He is the author of: “Encomium of Agesilaus,” “Horsemanship,” “Hipparchicus,” “Cynegeticus,” “Cyropædeia,” “Lacedæmonian Polity,” “Hieron,” “Athenian Finance,” “Symposium,” “Apology of Socrates,” “Œconomicus,” and his most celebrated works, the “Hellenics” and “Anabasis.”
Our Theocritus, our Bion,
And our Pindar’s shining goals!—
These were cup-bearers undying,
Of the wine that’s meant for souls.
“Wine of Cyprus,”—E. B. Browning.
Theocritus, the greatest of Greek bucolic poets, lived in the first half of the third century B.C. Thirty-one of his idyls and pastorals and a number of his epigrams have been preserved.
No excellent soul is exempt from a mixture of madness.