Glebe Collegiate Institute - Lux Glebana Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

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just that he never did injury to any man but was the benefactor to his associates, so temperate he never preferred pleas- ure to rightg so wise in judging good and evil he was never at fault. But these disciples although they num- bered among them many famous men- Plato, Crito, Alcibiades, Xenophon, Phaedon. Euclides of Megara and Aristippus, were not merely unable to save him from the tragic fate which came upon him but were in away contributing causes of his downfall. In Athens at the time there were two extreme parties-the Aristocratic or Oli- garchic and the believers in Unmixed Dem- ocracy. Between them stood a middle party-which advocated a Limited Dem- ocracy and which had as its adherents the most thoughtful men of the time. Socrates was a moderate,and the spreader of moderate ideas. Hence, the extreme parties united in an effort to have him put out of the way and because of his oddity and the activity of his enemies, they succeeded in their unjust attempt. Socrates was accused first of denying the gods recognized by the state and secondly of corrupting the youth of Athens. His accusers were Meletus the poet, Auystus the tanner, and Sycon the orator. They were narrow-minded men who feared new ideas but they were also members of the extreme democratic party and while the accusations were on moral grounds the real cause of the persecution of Socrates was political. Socrates, instead of trying to conciliate his judges, defied them. He was found guilty by a small majority-280 to 220- of the 500 jurors. With such a number of jurors, mob psychology could easily have been used and their passions appealed to. Socrates, however, did not stoop to such means, and when Meletus proposed capital punishment, the accused gave his answer strongly and forcibly. There is no doubt that, if he had suggested a lighter penalty, his plea would have been accepted. But, to the amazement of all present, he declared openly that he should not be condemned, but supported by the state since it was in the state's welfare that he was working. He was willing, however, to pay a small fine of one mina. His judges were exasperated and the voters returned with a greater ma- jority against him. Then, in his famous address known as the Apology of Socrates, the philosopher professed his contentment with his own conduct and the sentence. Page 22 Even in his last speech, he tried to teach his listeners as he had in the streets. He knew not whether he would pass away to a dreamless sleep, or a new life in Hades, where he would have the opportunity of testing the wisdom of the heroes and ancient sages. But in either case, he esteemed it to be a gain to die. Under ordinary circumstances, the con- demned was to drink the poison hemlock on the day following the trial. In the case of Socrates, however, the rule that no one should be put to death during the absence of the sacred ship to Delos, made a delay of thirty days. During this time, he conversed freely with his friends, and looked forward to his death calmly and bravely as such a great man should. An escape was arranged by Crito, but Socrates refused to take advantage of it, saying that the verdict, though contrary to fact, must be obeyed for it was the verdict of a legitimate court. On the day of his death, he asked the jailor if he might not pour some of the poison out of the cup as an offering to the gods. The jailor, not real- izing that he was joking, replied that only the necessary amount of poison had been mixed and none should be wasted. Smiling, the old man-for Socrates was now over seventy,- drank it immediately though he had until sundown, and after walking up and down for a few minutes, he lay down and prepared to die. The numbness caused by the poison, gradually crept up from his lower limbs, and when it reached his heart, that great soul of wisdom passed into the un- known, certain that he had done no wrong. Hsvkvk Autumn The cold wind shakes the shivering trees, Dead leaves rustle under my treadg And sullen skies sulk down at meg . Even the sun has fled, In autumn. I see the dry, brown corpses stand That once as flowers made us gay: And in the trees deserted nests Whose birds have flown away In autumn. But though the earth seems dead and drab From out the ground the plants will creep, When spring shall whisper sweetly. Meanwhile they need their beauty sleep In autumn. RUTH AGULNIK-3J. Lux GLEBANA

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Socrates N HIS immortal Aeneid, Virgil said, Of arms and the man I tell . How- ever, it is not of great battles or heroes that I tell but of a man who,though he lived twenty-five centuries ago, still exerts an iniiuence on posterity. His life and career are somewhat obscure except to those who have studied Ancient History and Phil- osophy, and I feel it would be valuable to bring him forward in greater detail to everyone. His name is Socrates, philoso- pher of Ancient Greece. iklkvlf Socrates was born in Athens not later than the year 469 B.C. In his youth he received the usual education, being instructed chiefly in music and gymnastics. Later through his own efforts he learned mathematics and the doctrines of the leading Greek philosophers. He followed his father's profession as young men do nowadays and became a sculptor of no mean ability. As was the duty of a pat- riotic Athenian, he took part in military affairs, serving for some years at Sauros at Potidaea, where he saved the life of the celebrated Alcibiadesg moreover, he dis- tinguished himself at Deleum and at Am- phipolis by his courage and endurance. When he took part in public affairs he was equally courageous, standing firmly for what he thought right, at one time against the demands of the populace, at another against the unjust commands of the Thirty. He became convinced, however, that his divinely appointed task and patriotic duty was neither military nor political but ed- ucative and gave the remainder of his life to teaching sounder views on ethical and political subjects. As he left no writings his ideas and methods must be learned from the reports of his devoted disciples Xeno- phon and Plato. Socrates did not form a school or expect people to come to him. He walked about the streets, the market place and the gym- nasia conversing with all, artisans, phil- osophers, poets, politicians, rich or poor about their affairs and their ideas of right and wrong. One of his sayings was Fields and trees will not teach me anything, The life of the streets will . His attitude was that of a seeker after truth. Unlike most Greeks he did not love reputation but professed ignorance and by systematic questioning and by treating the most obviously-mistaken opinions with the LUX GLEBANA patience of Job, he argued his opponent first into a doubt of his own wisdom and thence into a new and better opinion. It was not simple ignorance that Socrates thus combatted but ignorance which mis- took itself for knowledge. Although he did not stress religion as the path to good conduct, he was a deeply religious man performing the orthodox re- quirements of the gods piously. But here again he sought for truth. He questioned the traditional accounts of the gods, given by Homer and other poets. How, he asked, could Divine Beings, the source of all good, commit acts that would disgrace the worst of men? It was a purified religion that he taught and he felt, like the Hebrew prophets, that a divine voice showed him the way. . Socrates discussed many things-trying to discover the true nature of beauty, truth, friendship, courage, honesty, virtue and knowledge. To him, men were wicked only through ignorance. He sincerely believed no man was willingly bad, and that all men could be brought to believe in and practise virtue by learning its true nature. He waged a life-long war against vagueness of thought and laxity of speech. The best rulers, he said are not the richest or the most powerful but the wisest. So he spent much time instructing the Athenian youths who were to be responsible in the future for the conduct of the state. Socrate's method of arguing by interro- gation was later known as the Socratic method and was famous all over the Ancient World. Many of the men with whom he argued, however, resented being discom- fitted by him in public and although Soc- rates had only a desire to help them, they felt they had been made ridiculous and could not forgive him. Socrates made other en- emies by his harsh rebukes when great wrongs and injustices were done in the state. On the whole, Socrates' appearance and mode of life were not such as to make him popular. His figure was short and thicksetg he was snub-nosed, had prominent eyes and thick lips. He looked both coarse and stupid. Then he dressed in beggarly fashion, often went cold and hungry. Those who knew him well, loved him 3 they saw in him one who was at once master, counsellor and friend. One of them said, He was a man so pious he never did any- thing without taking counsel of the gods, so Page 21

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A Hapsburg in America by Eric Minton N 1862 Napoleon III tried to create a French empire in Mexico. This short account deals with his attempt and its result. . France in the eighteen-sixties, the last decade of the Second Empire .had begun. Napoleon III, fresh from imposing v1ctor1es over the Austrians at Magenta and Solfer- ino, was at the height of his power and with a most facile imagination was already plan- ning a grandiose scheme for enlarging the empire. Napoleon had visited America in 1837 where he conceived the idea of the Canale- Napoleonen fPanamaJ. Central America had fascinated him, its importance obsessed him and ever since then he thought he knew and understood it. The Mexican adventure was primarily a financial matter. A rather amiable civil war had been going on in that country for years. Its treasury was exhausted. The crisis came in 1861 when President Juarez suspended for two years the payment of foreign debts. Posthaste a joint expedition was sent out by England, France and Spain. The first and last went simply as debt col- lectors, but the man in the middle thought differently. The English and Spanish soon realized this, broke off' the alliance, did their business, and went home, leaving behind a French force of some six thousand men. Defeat at La Puebla now brought France into open war in Mexico. Superior equipment and well-trained troops told the story in the end and early in 1863 saw the French marching into Mexico City unmoles- ted, while Juarez and his republican govern- ment fled to the northern provinces. Meanwhile in his castle on the Adriatic a young man watched the Mexican struggle -Archduke Maximilian, brother of the Em- peror of Austria, and a Hapsburg. Napoleon was looking for a monarch to rule over his new conquest. An offer of the Mexican throne to Vienna might please Franz-Joseph -bring about an alliance with Austria. He pursued this idea and in the spring of 1864 a picturesque delegation of Mexican emigres travelled to Trieste and offered Maximilian the throne of their country. The time LUX GLEBANA seemed opportune, America was embroiled in a civil warg the Munroe Doctrine lay dormantg and the French army was vic- torious and well-received, hailed with cheers and flowers Qtypical Latin courtesyj. Urged on by Charlotte, his ambitious wife, he accepted, signed the final documents, and one afternoon in April he bade Napoleon good-bye and sailed away to be crowned in the great Cathedral in Mexico City. For the next two years this colonial ex- periment which held the interest of French investors was a queer medley. Maximil- ian's authority existed only in the cities and towns occupied by the army. The country was perpetually bankrupt, and finally had to resort to the expedient of lotteries to raise money. Interminable guer- illa warfare went on between the republicans and the French. Juarez continued to harass and embarass the monarchy. Gradually the glamour of the Mexican adventure began to fade. New problems were forming in Central Europe. Germany under Bis- marck was rising, and rising fast, and the Rhine was nearer than the Rio Grande. By 1865 the American Civil War was over, and the government of President Johnson curtly refused to recognize Maximilian. Napoleon valued American goodwilland he valued more highly still his army which was in Mexico. Early in 1866, France, and the diplomatic world were informed that the troops would be withdrawn. No money, loyalty or support, Maximilian and his empress were left alone, and as the foot- steps of the departing troops died away down the long, hot, dusty, road to Vera Cruz they thought not of the unfortunate Haps- burg but only of Paris and home. Amid all his wars and schemes, Napoleon sought to make Paris the most attractive capital of Europe, and in these last years, before the fall of the Second Empire, it-was at its gayest. To this new Paris came Charlotte, from Mexico. Ill and a little wild-eyed she begged the 'French Emperor to support her husband. No, he would not, could not help her. Several days later by the new American cable Maximilian learned of his wife's death at Rome. Wavering between abdication and resistance he travelled from town to town. His position at home would be questionable, he could expect no welcome from Franz-Joseph. With no forces op- posing them, the Republican Government under Juarez returned to Mexico City, while the ex-ruler retired with fifteen hundred followers to Queretaro. There was a short Page 23