Note 105 — Chapter VIII · PLATONIC COMPOSITIONS GENERALLY.

Plato, Republic, v. 450 B. μέτρον δέ γ’, ἔφη, ὦ Σώκρατες, ὁ Γλαύκων, τοιούτων λόγων ἀκούειν, ὅλος ὁ βίος νοῦν ἔχουσιν. vi. 504 D. Τὴν μακροτέραν περϊιτέον τῷ τοιούτῳ, καὶ οὐχ ἧττον μανθάνοντι πονητέον ἢ γυμναζομένῳ. Also Phædrus, 274 A, Parmenid. p. 135 D, 136 D, ἀμήχανον πραγματείαν — ἀδολεσχίας, &c. Compare Politikus, 286, in respect to the charge of prolixity against him.

In the Hermotimus of Lucian, the assailant of philosophy draws one of his strongest arguments from the number of years required to examine the doctrines of all the philosophical sects — the whole of life would be insufficient (Lucian, Hermot. c. 47-48). The passages above cited, especially the first of them, show that Sokrates and Plato would not have been discouraged by this protracted work.