GREEK AND HINDU PHILOSOPHY.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
Elm—With reference to the letter of Mr. Marsh in the Spec- tator of January 22nd may I point out that Zeller, the greatest authority on Greek philosophy, has thoroughly examined the question whether it was derived from Indian sources? He concludes that there is no ground for thinking that it was, and never throughout his work tries to establish any connexion between Greece and India in this respect. The case of Plotinus and his successors proves nothing. They lived in and after the third century A.D., when Greek philosophy had lost its vitality. In fact, Neo-Platonism was a religion, not a philosophy. Nor is there any analogy between the Buddhist Nirvana—that is, the purging of the human individual from appetites and illusions—and the unconditioned being which is the centre of the thought of Plotinus. I do not believe there is any ground for supposing any connexion between the name "Pythagoras" and the words "Buddha, guru." Names ending in " -agoras" are not uncommon in Greek history, e.g., there were at least five persons named Aristogoras, not one of whom
was a sage or teacher.—I am, Sir, &c., X.
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