clectic philosophy.

437

But every one is an eclectic who, out of the things that surround and
take place about him, appropriates what is suited to his nature; and
this is what is meant by culture and progress, in matters of theory or
practice.

438

Various maxims of the ancients, which we are wont to repeat again and
again, had a meaning quite different from that which is apt to attach to
them in later times.

439

The saying that no one who is unacquainted with or a stranger to
geometry should enter the philosopher's school, does not mean that a man
must become a mathematician to attain the wisdom of the world.

440

Geometry is here taken in its primary elements, such as are contained in
Euclid and laid before every beginner; and then it is the most perfect
propaedeutic and introduction to philosophy.

441

When a boy begins to understand that an invisible point must always come
before a visible one, and that the shortest way between two points is a
straight line, before he can draw it on his paper with a pencil, he
experiences a certain pride and pleasure. And he is not wrong; for he
has the source of all thought opened to him; idea and reality, _potentia
et actu_, are become clear; the philosopher has no new discovery to
bring him; as a mathematician, he has found the basis of all thought for
himself.

442

And if we turn to that significant utterance, _Know thyself_, we must
not explain it in an ascetic sense. It is in nowise the self-knowledge
of our modern hypochondrists, humorists, and self-tormentors. It simply
means: pay some attention to yourself; take note of yourself; so that
you may know how you come to stand towards those like you and towards
the world. This involves no psychological torture; every capable man
knows and feels what it means. It is a piece of good advice which every
one will find of the greatest advantage in practice.

443

Let us remember how great the ancients were; and especially how the
Socratic school holds up to us the source and standard of all life and
action, and bids us not indulge in empty speculation, but live and do.

444

So long as our scholastic education takes us back to antiquity and
furthers the study of the Greek and Latin languages, we may congratulate
ourselves that these studies, so necessary for the higher culture, will
never disappear.

445

If we set our gaze on antiquity and earnestly study it, in the desire to
form ourselves thereon