PLATO.
Reading edition
ATHENIAN prophet of the soaring mind! What new lamp burns so brightly as his old? He changed Philosophy from dross to gold By poet’s alchemy; and he combined Egypt and Ind and the Hellenic States With all the knowledge Cadmus’ letters hold, In Logic’s crucible to be refined; He opened Speculation’s splendid gates To Western ways where Science after trod; A reign of sweeter Ethics he foretold, Renouncing Zeus for a diviner God; And, unaffrighted by the awful Fates, In starry sandals of Religion shod, From pagan darkness Plato led mankind.