The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c41.3

v2.c41.3

The only question, therefore, which can arise is whether the early schools of Greek philosophy were affected by the tenets of the schools of the Brahmans. This question, first handled with naïve enthusiasm by Sir William Jones, has been dealt with at length by Garbe,¹ who is quite prepared to derive early Greek philosophy in large measure from India, and the merit of his work on Indian philosophy renders it necessary to consider carefully the arguments which he has adduced. The possibility of such influence must be admitted, though its probability is a very different question. Still we cannot assert that there was any insuperable barrier between early India and early Greece: the proof of such intercourse is not large in quantity or quality, but the mere fact that the two countries were not separated by uncrossed deserts or seas is so far in favour of there having been exchange of ideas. Positive evidence is sometimes alleged in the shape of the quaint legend of the wooers of Agariste in Herodotos,² which is traced to a Buddhist Jātaka, and even for the famous passage of the *Antigone*,³ in which the heroine weighs the respective claims of brother and husband to consideration as regards the duty of self-sacrifice, an Indian original has been claimed. In neither instance is the case at all made out and the easy credulity with which the claims of the proof of the wandering of fables and folk-tales at an early date have been accepted⁴ is scarcely creditable to the historic acumen of the critics.