the preparation for a profession, an occasional attendance at a
lecture to which we are invited by friends when we have an hour to spare
from house-keeping or money-making--these comprise, as a matter of fact,
the education even of the educated; and then the lamp is extinguished
'more truly than Heracleitus' sun, never to be lighted again'
(Republic). The description which Plato gives in the Republic of the
state of adult education among his contemporaries may be applied almost
word for word to our own age. He does not however acquiesce in this
widely-spread want of a higher education; he would rather seek to make
every man something of a philosopher before he enters on the duties of
active life. But in the Laws he no longer prescribes any regular course
of study which is to be pursued in mature years. Nor does he remark that
the education of after-life is of another kind, and must consist with
the majority of the world rather in the improvement of character than in
the acquirement of knowledge. It comes from the study of ourselves
and other men: from moderation and experience: from reflection on
circumstances: from the pursuit of high aims: from a right use of the
opportunities of life. It is the preservation of what we have been,
and the addition of something more. The power of abstract study or
continuous thought is very rare, but such a training as this can be
given by every one to himself.

The singular passage in Book vii., in which Plato describes life as a
pastime, like many other passages in the Laws is imperfectly expressed.
Two thoughts seem to be struggling in his mind: first, the reflection,
to which he returns at the end of the passage, that men are playthings
or puppets, and that God only is the serious aim of human endeavours;
this suggests to him the afterthought that, although playthings, they
are the playthings of the Gods, and that this is the best of them. The
cynical, ironical fancy of the moment insensibly passes into a religious
sentiment. In another passage he says that life is a game of which God,
who is the player, shifts the pieces so as to procure the victory of
good on the whole. Or once more: Tragedies are acted on the stage; but
the best and noblest of them is the imitation of the noblest life, which
we affirm to be the life of our whole state. Again, life is a chorus, as
well as a sort of mystery, in which we have the Gods for playmates. Men
imagine that war is their serious pursuit, and