KNOW THYSELF.
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sus,—In The Best of Matthew Arnold's Prose, edited by Mr. D. C. Somervell, and in the opening essay, Sweetness and Light, on page 24, I find :"--•-
■ .4 In my opinion the speech most proper . is Socrates's Know Thyself ! "
It would be interesting to, know why Arnold credited the famous phrase to Socrates. It is usually attributed to Solon, though Diogenes Laertius credited it to Thales, and others have ascribed it to Chilo the Spartan, to Pythagoras, and to the mythical poetess Phemonoe. It was inscribed in -golden letters on the pediment of the temple at Dclubit for
which reason, perhaps, Cicero called it a precept of Apollo, while Juvenal declared it to have descended. from heaven. But nowhere, outside of Arnold's essay,.have I seen it attributed to Socrates, though of course he may have employed it, since he followed many years after the others- to whom its origin. is attributed. Can it be that Arnold had some special reason, not generally known, for calling it Socrates's ? Or that he was guilty of a slip, which his editor might be warranted in. correcting ?—I am, Sir, &e.,
Minus FLETCHER JOHNSON..
Firleigh Hall, New Providenr..e, N.J., U.S.A.
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