THE PROBLEM OF KNOWLEDGE 279 



an organ of vision, an instrument of interpreta 

 tion; it furnished the medium through which the 

 world was seen and the course of life estimated. 

 Philosophy died as philosophy, to rise as the set 

 and bent of the human mind. Through a thousand 

 and devious and roundabout channels, the thoughts 

 of the philosophers filtered through the strata of 

 human consciousness and conduct. Through the 

 teachings of grammarians, rhetoricians, and a va 

 riety of educational schools, they were spread in 

 diluted form through the whole Roman Empire 

 and were again precipitated in the common forms 

 of speech. Through the earnestness of the moral 

 propaganda of the Stoics they became the working 

 rules of life for the more strenuous and earnest 

 spirits. Through the speculations of the Sceptics 

 and Epicureans they became the chief reliance and 

 consolation of a large number of highly cultured 

 individuals amid social turmoil and political dis 

 integration. All these influences and many more 

 finally summed themselves up in the two great 

 media through which Greek philosophy finally 

 fixed the intellectual horizon of man, determined 

 the values of its perspective, and meted out the 

 boundaries and divisions of the scene of human 

 action. 



These two influences were the development of 

 Christian theology and moral theory, and the or 

 ganization of the system of Roman jurisprudence. 



