SOCRATES' REPLY CONCERNING HERACLITUS' WRITINGS.
I
When
Socrates had read, as Authors note,
A certain Book that Heraclitus wrote.
Deep in its Matter and obscure beside,
Ask'd his Opinion of it, he replied:
“All that I understand is good and true,
And what I don't is, I believe, so too.”
II
Thus answer'd Socrates, whom Greece confess'd
The wisest of her Sages and the best,
By Justice mov'd and Candour of a Piece
With that Philosopher's Repute in Greece,—
Worthy of Imitation, to be sure,
When a good Writer is sometimes obscure.
III
All the haranguing, therefore, on the Theme
Of deep Obscurity in Jacob Behme
Is but itself obscure; for he might see
Further, 'tis possible, than you or me.
Meanwhile, the Goodness of his plainer Page
Demands the Answer of the Grecian Sage.
IV
The “Stuff and Nonsense, Labyrinth and Maze,
Madness, Enthusiasm,” and such-like Phrase,
Its quick Bestowers are oblig'd to own,
Ought not to move us by its eager Tone
More than they ought in Reason to be mov'd,
Should we so paint a Work which they approv'd.
V
He whom the fair Socratical Remark
Describes, was call'd “σκοτεινος,” or “the dark.”
Yet his wise Reader from the Good in View
Thought that his darker Passages were true;
He would not judge of what as yet lay hid,
By what he did not see, but what he did.
VI
The Books of Behme, as none are tied to read,
To blame unread they have as little need;
As they who read them most, the most commend,
Others at least may venture to suspend,
Or think with ref'rence to such Books as these
Of Heraclitus and of Socrates.
