पृष्ठ 545 / 1391

In no duty towards others is there more need of reticence and

self-restraint. So great is the danger lest he who would be the

counsellor of another should reveal the secret prematurely, lest

he should get another too much into his power; or fix the passing

impression of evil by demanding the confession of it.

Nor is Plato wrong in asserting that family attachments may

interfere with higher aims. If there have been some who 'to party

gave up what was meant for mankind,' there have certainly been

others who to family gave up what was meant for mankind or for

their country. The cares of children, the necessity of procuring

money for their support, the flatteries of the rich by the poor,

the exclusiveness of caste, the pride of birth or wealth, the

tendency of family life to divert men from the pursuit of the

ideal or the heroic, are as lowering in our own age as in that of

Plato. And if we prefer to look at the gentle influences of home,

the development of the affections, the amenities of society, the

devotion of one member of a family for the good of the others,

which form one side of the picture, we must not quarrel with him,

or perhaps ought rather to be grateful to him, for having

presented to us the reverse.