But yet a third advance was made.  The Greek mind became conscious of itself as the knower and therefore the lord and master of its world.  Turning inward upon itself it discovered itself as the centre of its universe and set itself to explore this new inner realm of being.  In the consciousness of itself it found inexhaustible interest and strength.  Thus it created Philosophy, its last and greatest gift to humanity.  In so doing it freed itself from the trammels even of Science, which thus became its servant and not its master—­at the same time finally liberating itself from the narrowing and blinding influences of passion and imagination and all the shackles of merely practical needs and disabilities.  Here too it fixed the idea or the ideal.  ’Life without reflection upon life, without self-examination and self-study and self-knowledge, is a life not worth living by man.’  In doing so it revealed a self deeper than the physical being of man and an environment wider and more real—­more stable and permanent—­than the physical cosmos, finding in the one and the other something more enduring, substantial, and precious than shows itself either to Science or the economic and political prudence, yet which alone gives meaning and worth to the one and the other.  Thus for the first time arose before the mind of man the conception of a life not sunk in nature and practice, but superior to them and the end or meaning of their existence—­a life of intense activity, of unfailing interest, of inexhaustible and eternal value.

This life was throughout the duration of Greek thought too narrowly conceived.  It was frequently thought and spoken of as the life of a spectator or bystander or onlooker, as a life withdrawn or isolated, cut off from what we should call ordinary human business and concerns, a life into which we, or at least a few of us, could escape or be transported at rare intervals and under exceptionally favourable circumstances.  Yet in principle it was open to all, and certainly not confined to those privileged by birth or wealth or social position.  It was not the reward of magical favour or ascetic exercises, it was reached by the beaten path of the loyal citizen and the resolute student.  There was about it no esoteric mystery or other-worldliness.  And if to reach it was a high privilege its attainment brought with it the imperative duty of a descent into the ordinary world to instruct, to enlighten, to comfort and help and console, to play a part in the great business and work of human civilization.  In a sense this was, and is, the most permanent and fruitful gift of Greece to the European world.