Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: SKEPTICISM: ITS FUNCTION AND IMPORTANCE. Plmdrus.—Do you see that tallest plane-tree in the distance ? Socrates.—Yes. Plmdrus.—There are shade and gentle breezes, and grass on which we may either sit or lie down. Socrates.—Move on. Pha'drus.—I should like to know, Socrates, whether the place is not somewhere here at which Boreas is said to have carried off Orithyia from the banks of the Ilissus. Socrates.—That is the tradition. Phcedrus.—And is this the exact spot? The little stream is delightfully clear and bright; I can fancy that there might be maidens playing near. Socrates.—I believe that the spot is not exactly here, but about a quarter of a mile lower down, where you cross to the Temple of Agra, and I think that there is some sort of Altar of Boreas at the place. Pfuedrus.—I don't recollect; but I wish that you would tell me whether you believe this tale. Socrates.—The wise are doubtful, and if, like them, I also doubted, there would be nothing very strange in that Such is the dialogue, as Plato represents it, between the two friends, as they enter into a shady retreat for the purpose of discussing the merits of Lysias' speech. The conditions are truly inviting: the country is beautiful, the air exquisitely pure and full of sweet scents, as they pass on to their goal, and to the consideration of their subject For us, however, it is only the passing remark that "the wise are doubtful, etc," which at present concerns us; and which we have selected because it in a measure forms an introduction to the subject embraced in the present chapter: viz., that spirit of doubt, and disposition to investigate, which, having become' synonymous with the spirit of the age, are at once the terror of extreme conservatism, and the hope and promise of liberal... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.