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Yet the thought of Plato may not be wholly incapable of

application to our own times. Even if regarded as an ideal which

can never be realized, it may have a great effect in elevating

the characters of mankind, and raising them above the routine of

their ordinary occupation or profession. It is the best form

under which we can conceive the whole of life. Nevertheless the

idea of Plato is not easily put into practice. For the education

of after life is necessarily the education which each one gives

himself. Men and women cannot be brought together in schools or

colleges at forty or fifty years of age; and if they could the

result would be disappointing. The destination of most men is

what Plato would call 'the Den' for the whole of life, and with

that they are content. Neither have they teachers or advisers

with whom they can take counsel in riper years.