Socrates's House

                                          Socrates' House


Socrates , the great classical Greek philosopher, one of the founders of Western ethical philosophy was the most sober and most chaste of all men. He lived content upon very little or nothing, that entirely commanded his passions, and that his reasonings were so persuasive that he drew all men to his side.
No man ever taught to live well, like Socrates, for in his whole life, he was an example of untainted probity and in his discourses he spoke of virtues and of all the duties of man in all spheres of life in a manner that made him admired of all his hearers.

In the entire world literature and in all languages, there is always depiction of atleast one anecdote from his inspiring life.

It is said, once a house of a modest size was built for the wise philosopher. On every side, people shouted and cried. Each of them found a fault to tell of the house he had built up so well. All the so called friends commented that the house was so small, so mean and so miserable that one could not move at all. It was so narrow and so tight one could not budge to left or right. His so called friends went on criticizing and ended up saying that it could hardly be called a residence appropriate to his eminence. As the philosopher heard them cry, he laughed aloud,and replied, ' Friends, it is wrong on your part to criticize like this. This is not wise and proper.'
He added, " Though my small cabin is little worth,
                    It's everything I require on earth,
                    All I pray is, that it may be
                     Filled with friends who are true to me."

In this, the cream of Socrates's philosophy is reflected. According to him that to have need of nothing at all is a divine perfection, and that to have need but of little is to approach very near the Deity, and hence it follows that,as there is nothing more excellent than the Deity, whatever approaches nearest to it is likewise most near the supreme excellence. The philosopher's main delight was to be with his virtuous friends, to teach them all the good he knew, and recommend them to all whom he believed capable to assist them in the way to perfection.