But those who make these admissions, and who regard,
not without pity, the victims of such illusions in our own day, whose life
has been blasted by them, may be none the less resolved that the natural
and healthy instincts of mankind shall alone be tolerated (Greek); and that
the lesson of manliness which we have inherited from our fathers shall not
degenerate into sentimentalism or effeminacy. The possibility of an
honourable connexion of this kind seems to have died out with Greek
civilization. Among the Romans, and also among barbarians, such as the
Celts and Persians, there is no trace of such attachments existing in any
noble or virtuous form.
(Compare Hoeck's Creta and the admirable and exhaustive article of Meier in
Ersch and Grueber's Cyclopedia on this subject; Plutarch, Amatores;
Athenaeus; Lysias contra Simonem; Aesch. c. Timarchum.)
The character of Alcibiades in the Symposium is hardly less remarkable than
that of Socrates, and agrees with the picture given of him in the first of
the two Dialogues which are called by his name, and also with the slight
sketch of him in the Protagoras.
Pages:
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70