Buddha: His Life, his Doctrine, his Order c8.26

c8.26

schools. Long before people began to commit to writing the life of Jesus in the manner of our gospels, there was current in the young communities a collection of discourses and sayings of Jesus (λόγια κυριακά); to this collection was appended just so much precise narrative matter as was necessary to call to mind the occasion when, and the external surroundings amid which, the several discourses were delivered. This collection of the sayings of Jesus laid no claim to any historical arrangement or sequence whatever, or to any chronological accuracy. Similarly the Memorabilia Socratica of Xenophon. The method and manner of Socratic action are here illustrated by a rich profusion of the individual utterances of Socrates. But neither Xenophon nor any other of the old Socratics has given us the life of Socrates. What should induce them to do so? The form of Socrates was memorable to the Socratics for the words of wisdom which came from the lips of that great, eccentric man, not for the poor external fortunes of his life.