SOCRATES, taken altogether, may be considered as one of the most remarkable men, if not the most remarkable man, of heathen antiquity. If he were not directly the author of any one particular system of philosophy, which, descending to modern times, has greatly influenced, and in some respects governed, the intellectual world; yet he may be considered as the primary source of systems, framed, indeed, by others, and given by them to the public in their complete form, but which, in their great principles, were first enunciated by him, and received by them from him as his scholars. Xenophon, Aristotle, Plato, for instance, were his disciples. And it is remarkable that in the works in which Plato teaches his philosophy, and which are all written in the form of dialogue, Socrates is always the leading speaker. Whatever other persons are introduced, they are always represented as conversing with him, listening to him, deriving instruction from him. Whoever else may be present, Socrates is the central and principal figure in the group. Perhaps no man, only possessing human power, ever exerted a more decided, or more permanent, influence. Still does his name survive; and in all the discussions of moral philosophy, only the names of VOL. XI. Second Series. N

those who walked and spoke in the midst of light from heaven, are quoted more frequently than his. No history, no character, of unaided man, better deserves to be recorded and studied. The task of narration and description is now undertaken for the benefit of the readers of "The Youth's Instructer." It is connected with many difficulties. Information must be sought from various sources, often found in opposition to each other. Concerning so extraordinary a man, very discordant judgments, as might be expected, have been pronounced; and the imagination of the writer has often furnished the features which have been delineated. In no case is it more necessary than in the present to keep strongly in view the great facts and laws of human nature, as they are clearly described in that unerring volume which the Great Author of nature and Observer of man has been pleased to give us. The disciples of Christ are the best fitted for investigating both the history and the character of the man, of whom Aristotle and Plato were the willing scholars.*

* Reflection will show the thoughtful reader the full correctness of this statement. It is not merely meant to say that Christian opinions will best prepare the mind for such an inquiry; but that this is the case, because, if these opinions be correct, they are founded on positive facts, and refer to absolute truth. In this respect, the religion of the Bible essentially differs from all schemes of philosophy. These, indeed, are opinions; and may be either correct or incorrect. A severely impartial reasoner must examine them, for the purpose of ascertaining their character and tendency. Still, they are only opinions, and as such were delivered by their authors. But the Bible professes to be "given by inspiration of God," and to state the great facts which relate to the existence and character of God, to the creation and fall of man, and to his redemption and government in and by our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour, Ruler, and Judge of man. Now, this claim of inspiration is either true, or false. If false, so are the facts which Scripture narrates, so far as the character in which they are narrated is concerned; and, if this be so, then, as we have no other communication direct from heaven, all certainty as to what is beyond visible and physical existence passes away, and we are thrown back into the regions of opinion, with all their conflicts and uncertainties. But if this claim to inspiration is true, then has the Maker of mankind spoken to mankind, and truth is before us, truth in relation both to God and man. Some portions of Scripture, in the form which Scripture itself possesses, may be attended with difficulties, and there may be various opinions, more or less correct, as to the best methods of explaining and removing them. But there are likewise plain statements in Scripture, concerning which there can be no disagreements among those

A general view of his life, connected with some of the reflections that may occasionally be suggested, will be given in the first paper: a second will be devoted to a more particular review of his character and principles; especially as exhibited in his conduct on his trial before his Judges, and in the prison previously to his having administered to him the envenomed and fatal draught.

I. LIFE OF SOCRATES.

SOCRATES was born at Athens, in that part of the city which was called Alopece, belonging to the Antiochian tribe, on the sixth day of the month Thargelion, (answering to our May 16th,) in the fourth year of the seventy-seventh Olympiad, or, before Christ, four hundred and sixty-eight. This was in the midst of one of the most eventful periods in Grecian history. Sixteen years before, the Athenians, fearing lest Aristides, renowned for his inflexible uprightness, should acquire too great influence, had ostracised him, driven him into exile for the sole crime of being just. Twelve years previously, Leonidas, and his little Spartan band, had withstood the vast army of Persians, under Xerxes, and, though defeated and slain, had smitten the invading host with a blow from which they never recovered, and which was soon followed by that rout at Platea, which dispersed them, and sent back the discomfited Monarch almost a solitary fugitive

who honestly submit themselves to divine teaching. As an example of the former, we may take the genealogies of Christ given by Matthew and Luke, and the proper way of explaining their seeming discrepancies. But we are not to place among such instances as these, the accounts of man's creation, fall, and redemption. Were true reason always dominant, and human passion always silent, very seldom would there be any differences on these points. Even as it is, there are few that can be called important. Calvinists and Arminians, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Independents, can agree in fundamental truth. We do not mean, therefore, in what we have said in the text, to say that Christian opinions, but that Christian facts and truths, serve best to explain Socratic principles and opinions. We commend the reasonings of this note to the most thoughtful attention of our esteemed "young pupils." Perhaps another opportunity will occur for calling them to observe this important distinction between what are only opinions and what are established facts and absolute truths, truths always, and to all.ED. Y. I.

to his own empire. Three years before, Themistocles, seeking to betray his country, had fled for safety to the court of the great King. The Persian empire was declining; Rome was in its infancy; Greece was rapidly advancing to the very meridian lustre of human wisdom. The Jews, permitted to return from their long captivity, were re-edifying their civil and ecclesiastical polity; their city and temple: and though the dispensation of inspired men was drawing to its close, the voice of prophecy was not yet silent. Ezra and Nehemiah were the teachers of the Jews; and while Socrates was growing up to maturity, Zechariah and Malachi were closing the volume of the Old Testament Scriptures. By very eminent critics it is believed, that those wonderful compositions, the first and one hundred and nineteenth Psalms,to the truths contained in which, though sung in every Jewish family, Greece, in the utmost brilliancy of philosophic teaching never even approached,- —were written during the youthhood of Socrates, demonstrating that by man's wisdom the world knows not God. Well might they who studied in the light of revelation sing,-while Socrates was hearkening to all that human wisdom could say to him,-"Thou, through thy commandments, hast made me wiser than mine enemies. I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts." (Psal. cxix. 98— 100.)

Sophroniscus, the father of Socrates, was a statuary; and when the love of the Athenians for sculpture is remembered, and the extent to which the city was adorned by means of it, it will be at once seen that the profession was not only respectable, but honourable. His mother, Phænarete, was a midwife; and such were their circumstances, that they were able to leave their son a modest but sufficient patrimony. Socrates was educated in his father's profession, and appeared likely to attain to great proficiency in it. Some figures of the Graces in the Acropolis were in after-years exhibited as having been executed by him. By some, it has been concluded, from this circumstance, that there is an invariable connexion between a taste for material, and a taste for moral, loveliness,

Thus far, perhaps, they may be correct, that the taste itself may be extended from the former to the latter: but this is by no means invariably the case; so far from it, that the first may exist without any reference to the other. The mind may be so materialized, as that the taste may be nothing but a refined and elegant sensuality, connected with no love for spiritual beauty, not even with any perception of it; and under this refinement and elegance of form, the real grossness of vice may exist, the more dangerous for the disguise which it wears. A fearful example of this is furnished, in our own times, by a great part of the literature of the Parisian school, in which, material elegance, combined with a sort of human and social honour, are found in connexion with total godlessness. Never did philosopher more accurately apply an undeniable principle, than was done by Robert Hall in taking for the text of his invaluable discourse on the "Modern Infidelity," the language of St. Paul descriptive of the Grecians, the Ionians of his day, "Without God in the world." Without saying that the men are atheists, yet most indubitably the system is atheistic. The more it is examined, the more completely will it appear that its grand characteristic is found in the total negation of all religion, whether under the form of natural or revealed. So far as they give utterance to their mental conceptions, it is a deplorable fact, that “God is not in all their thoughts." So, indeed, was it among the Athenians. By some of their philosophers, especially after Socrates, there were uttered aspirations after a "good and fair," which material nature presents not; but these were most indistinct, as those of men who sat in darkness, yet seeking to describe the invisible circumstances of their position; but the great mass of the people were mere materialists, continuing so till the Day-spring from on high visited them; and Paul, standing on Mars' Hill, proclaimed in the city where gods were as numerous as men, "God that made the world, and all things therein," the "Lord of heaven and earth," who "giveth to all life, and breath, and all things," and who will "judge the world in righteousness."

Even while following the profession he had chosen, young Socrates manifested his desire for the pursuits of philosophy,