Страница 596 из 1391

If any one is desirous of carrying out in detail the Platonic

education of after-life, some such counsels as the following may

be offered to him:-That he shall choose the branch of knowledge

to which his own mind most distinctly inclines, and in which he

takes the greatest delight, either one which seems to connect

with his own daily employment, or, perhaps, furnishes the

greatest contrast to it. He may study from the speculative side

the profession or business in which he is practically engaged. He

may make Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, Plato, Bacon the friends and

companions of his life. He may find opportunities of hearing the

living voice of a great teacher. He may select for enquiry some

point of history or some unexplained phenomenon of nature. An

hour a day passed in such scientific or literary pursuits will

furnish as many facts as the memory can retain, and will give him

'a pleasure not to be repented of' (Timaeus).