Chapter 38 Volume Four, Chapter Seven

How Socrates made his disciples original and fit for the management of affairs; his frankness and sincerity, § 1.To what extent does he think that quantitative geology should be learned, Sections 2 and 3.To what extent does he recommend astronomy, §4-7.Pretentious research should be avoided, Section 8.Attention should be paid to health, section 9.Ask God, v. 10. It is evident from what I have said above that Socrates always expressed his heart sincerely to his disciples, and I will now say how much he cared for them in the work to which he was fitted. Ability to work independently.Of all the men I have ever known, he was the one most eager to find out what his disciples knew.All that a good and noble man should know, he was always more than willing to teach them, if he knew them; and if he did not know them himself, he took them to those who knew.He also taught them the degree to which a well-educated man should be familiar with the practical sciences.

He said, for example, that a person who learns quantitative geology can easily acquire the correct measurement of the land purchased, transferred or distributed, or the correct calculation of the amount of labor when necessary. .Anyone who has devoted himself to surveying knows how big a piece of land is and how it is measured.He disapproved of studying quantitative geology for the purpose of studying complex and incomprehensible figures; for he could not see the use of doing so, although he himself was not ignorant of it.He believes that doing so will make people spend their whole life on it, so that many other useful things cannot be learned.

He also advises people to be acquainted with astronomy, but only in order to be able to know the hours of the night, the seasons of the months, for traveling by land and water, night shifts, and other conveniences that require working according to seasons, months, or nights, so that the above-mentioned times can be distinguished by signs.All this knowledge, he thought, could easily be learned from those who are necessary for hunting at night, steering the helm, and many other trades.As for the energy expended in distinguishing between celestial bodies, planets, and comets that do not revolve in the same orbit, in calculating their distance from the earth, their period of rotation, and the reason for their rotation, he strongly disapproved of all this, he said, he could not see that What's the use of doing it.In fact, he himself is not ignorant of these things, but he believes that doing so will consume one's life energy, so that one cannot learn many other useful things.

As regards the heavens, he dissuaded, in general, from inquiring how the gods manipulated every celestial body: he held that these were beyond the reach of man, and that those who wished to please the gods should not inquire into what the gods have done. Unwilling to reveal things.He also said that those who dared to inquire into these matters were in danger of losing their sanity, as did Anazagoras, who boasted of being able to explain the creation of the gods, and thus lost his sanity. When Anazagoras said that fire and the sun are the same thing, he did not think that people can easily look at the fire, but they cannot gaze at the sun. When the sun shines, people's skin will turn black, but when the fire shines on their skin, they will not. He also did not think that without the sunshine, everything that grows in the field cannot grow well, but after being scorched by the fire, everything will wither.Nor did he think of this fact when he said the sun was a fiery stone; if a stone were placed in a fire, it would neither shine nor long resist the power of the fire, but the sun is always the most brilliant celestial body .

Socrates also advises one to learn arithmetic, but in this, as in other things, he advises against useless labor.No matter what is useful, he always studies and investigates together with his disciples. Socrates tried his best to exhort his disciples to pay attention to their health.On the one hand, try to learn from those who know how to keep healthy, on the other hand, each person must pay attention throughout his life: what food, what drink, and what kind of exercise are good for him, and how to use them to get the best. healthy.A man so concerned with his health, he said, will find that he knows more about what is good for his health than a doctor knows.

Socrates advises anyone who desires help beyond the reach of human wisdom to study divination, for he says that those who know how the gods reveal things through the omens will never be short of gods. give pointers.