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commands, when I have presented the poison to them. But I know you to be the most generous, the most mild, the best of all men, that ever entered this place; and am certain, that, if you entertain any resentment upon this occasion, it will not be at me, but at the real authors of your misfortune. You know the message I bring; farewell: and endeavour to bear with patience what must be borne." 'And,' said Socrates to the officer, who went out weeping, "fare thee well: I will. How civil is this man! I have found him the same all the time of my imprisonment: he would often visit me, sometimes discourse with me, always used me kindly; and now see, how generously he weeps for me. But come, Crito; let us do as he bids us: if the poison be ready, let it be brought in; if not, let somebody prepare it.' The sun is yet among the mountains, and not set,' says Crito: I myself have seen others drink it later, who have even eat and drunk freely with their friends after the sign has been given be not in haste, there is time enough.' Why, yes,' says Socrates, they who do so think they gain something; but what shall I gain by drinking it late? Nothing, but to be laughed at, for appearing too desirous of life pray, let it be as I say.' Then Crito sent one of the attendants, who immediately returned, and with him the man, who was to administer the poison, bringing a cup in his hand to whom Socrates said, Prithee, my good friend, for thou art versed in these things, what must I do?' 'Nothing,' said the man, but walk about as soon as you shall have drunk, till you perceive your legs to fail; and then sit down.' Then he presented the cup, which Socrates took without the least change of countenance, or any emotion whatever, but looking with his usual intrepidity upon the man. He then demanded, 'Whether he might spill any of it in libation? The man answered, he had only prepared just what was sufficient.' 'Yes,' says Socrates, I may pray to the gods, and will, that my passage hence may be happy, which I do beseech them to graut:' and that instant swallowed the draught with the greatest ease. Many of us, who till then had refrained from tears, when we saw him put the cup to his mouth, and drink off the poison, were not able to refrain longer, but gave vent to our grief: which Socrates observing, Friends,' said he, 'what mean you? I sent away the women for no other reason, but that they might not disturb us with this: for I have heard that we should die with gratulation and ap

plause be quiet then, and behave yourselves like men.' . These words made us with shame suppress our tears. When he had walked a while, and perceived his legs to fail, he lay down on his back, as the executioner directed: who, in a little time, looking upon his feet, and pinching them pretty hard, asked him, If he perceived it?" Socrates said, 'No.' Then he did the same by his legs; and shewing us, how every part successively grew cold and stiff, observed, that when that chillness reached his heart, he would die. Not long after, Socrates, removing the garment with which he was covered, said, I owe a cock to Esculapius; pay it, neglect it not.' It shall be done,' says

Crito: would you have any thing else?' He made no answer, but, after lying a while, stretched himself forth: when the executioner uncovering him found his eyes fixed, which were closed by Crito. "This," says Plato, was the end of the best, the wisest, and the justest of men:" and this account of it by Plato, Cicero professes, that he could never read without tears.

He died, according to Plato, when he was more than seventy, 396 B. C. He was buried with many tears and much solemnity by his friends, among whom the excessive grief of Plato is noticed by Plutarch: yet, as soon as they performed that last service, fearing the cruelty of the thirty tyrants, they stole out of the city, the greater part to Euclid at Megara, who received them kindly; the rest to other places. Soon after, however, the Athenians were recalled to a sense of the injustice they had committed against Socrates; and became so exasperated, as to insist that the authors of it should be put to death. Melitus accordingly suffered, and Anytus was banished. In farther testimony of their penitence, they called home his friends to their former liberty of meeting; they forbade public spectacles of games and wrestlings for a time; they caused his statue, made in brass by Lysippus, to be set up in the Pompeium; and a plague ensuing, which they imputed to this unjust act, they made an order, that no man should mention Socrates publicly and on the theatre, in order to forget the sooner what they had done.

As to his person, he was very homely; was bald, had a dark complexion, a flat nose, eyes projecting, and a severe down-cast look. His countenance, indeed, was such, that Zopyrus, a physiognomist, pronounced him incident to various passions, and given to many vices: which when Al

cibiades and others that were present derided, knowing him to be free from every thing of that kind, Socrates justified the skill of Zopyrus by owning, that "he was by nature prone to those vices, but had suppressed his inclination by reason." The defects of his person were amply compensated by the virtues and accomplishments of his mind. The oracle at Delphi declared him the wisest of all. men, for professing only to know that he knew nothing: Apollo, as Cicero says, conceiving the only wisdom of mankind to consist in not thinking themselves to know those things of which they are ignorant. He was a man of all virtues, and so remarkably frugal, that, how little soever he had, it was always enough: and, when he was amidst a great variety of rich and expensive objects, he would often say to himself, "How many things are here which I do not want!"

He had two wives, one of which was the noted Xantippe, whom Aulus Gellius describes as an arrant scold, and several instances are recorded of her impatience and his longsuffering. One day, before some of his friends, she fell into the usual extravagances of her passion; when he, without answering a word, went abroad with them : but was no sooner out of the door, than she, running up into the chamber, threw water down upon his head: upon which, turning to his friends, "Did I not tell you," says he, "that after so much thunder we should have rain." appears, however, to have had a great affection for him, and was a faithful wife.

She

Socrates left behind him nothing in writing; but his illustrious pupils, Xenophon and Plato, have, in some measure, supplied this defect. The "Memoirs of Socrates,' however, written by Xenophon, afford a much more accurate idea of the opinions of Socrates, and of his manner. of teaching, than the Dialogues of Plato, who every where mixes his own conceptions and diction, and those of other philosophers, with the ideas and language of his master. It is related, that when Socrates heard Plato recite his "Lysis," he said, "How much does this young man make me say which I never conceived!" Xenophon denies that Socrates ever taught natural philosophy, or any mathematical science, and charges with misrepresentation and falsehood those who had ascribed to him dissertations of this kind; probably referring to Plato, in whose works Socrates is introduced as discoursing upon these subjects. The truth

appears to be, that the distinguishing character of Socrates was, that of a moral philosopher.

The doctrine of Socrates, concerning God and religion, was rather practical than speculative. But he did not neglect to build the structure of religious faith upon the firm foundation of an appeal to natural appearances. He taught that the Supreme Being, though invisible, is clearly seen in his works, which at once demonstrate his existence, and his wise and benevolent providence. Besides the one supreme Deity, Socrates admitted the existence of beings who possess a middle station between God and man, to whose immediate agency he ascribed the ordinary phoenomena of nature, and whom he supposed to be particularly concerned in the management of human affairs. Hence, speaking of the gods, who take care of men, he says, "Let it suffice you, whilst you observe their works, to revere and honour the gods: and be persuaded, that this is the way in which they make themselves known; for, among all the gods who bestow blessings upon men, there are none who, in the distribution of their favours, make themselves visible to mortals." Hence he spoke of thunder, wind, and other agents in nature, as servants of God, and encouraged the practice of divination, under the notion, that the gods sometimes discover future events to good men.

If these opinions concerning the Supreme Being, and the subordinate divinities, be compared, there will be no difficulty in perceiving the grounds upon which Socrates, though an advocate for the existence of one sovereign power, admitted the worship of inferior divinities. Hence he declared it to be the duty of every one, in the performauce of religious rites, to follow the customs of his country. At the same time, he taught, that the merit of all religious offerings depends upon the character of the worshipper, and that the gods take pleasure in the sacrifices of none but the truly pious. "The man," says he, " who honours the gods according to his ability, ought to be cheerful, and hope for the greatest blessings: for, from whom may we reasonably entertain higher expectations, than from those who are most able to serve us? or how can we secure their kindness, but by pleasing them? or, how please them better, than by obedience ?".

Concerning the human soul, the opinion of Socrates, according to Xenophon, was, that it is allied to the divine VOL. XXVIII.

Being, not by a participation of essence, but by a similarity of nature; that man excels all other animals in the faculty of reason, and that the existence of good men will be continued after death, in a state in which they will receive the reward of their virtue. Although it appears that, on this latter topic, Socrates was not wholly free from uncertainty, the consolation which he professed to derive from this source in the immediate prospect of death, leaves little room to doubt, that be entertained a real belief and expectation of immortality. The doctrine which Cicero ascribes to Socrates on this head is, that the human soul is a divine principle, which, when it passes out of the body, returns to heaven; and that this passage is most easy to those who have, in this life, made the greatest progress in virtue.

The system of morality which Socrates made it the business of his life to teach, was raised upon the firm basis of religion. The first principles of virtuous conduct, which are common to all mankind, are, according to this excellent moralist, the laws of God; and the conclusive argument by which he supports this opinion is, that no man departs from these principles with impunity. He taught, that true felicity is not to be derived from external possessions, but from wisdom, which consists in the knowledge and practice of virtue; that the cultivation of virtuous manners is necessarily attended with pleasure, as well as profit; that the honest man alone is happy; and that it is absurd to attempt. to separate things which are in nature so closely united as virtue and interest.'

SOCRATES, an ecclesiastical historian, who flourished about the middle of the fifth century, was born at Constantinople, in the reign of Theodosius. He studied grammar under Helladius and Ammonius, who, having fled from Alexandria to Constantinople, had opened a school there; and, after he had finished his studies, for some time professed the law, and pleaded at the bar, whence he obtained the name of SCHOLASTICUS. In the decline of life he undertook to write the history of the church, beginning from 309, where Eusebius ends, and continued it down to 440, in seven books. This history is written, as Valesius his editor observes, with much judgment and exactness. His veracity may be presumed from his industry in consulting the original records, acts of council, bishops' letters, and

1 Diog. Laert.-Brucker.-Cicero.-Xenophon's Memorabilia.