"for it is impossible you should do it, whilst you are unac "quainted with its revenues and expences."

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"But," said Glauco, "there is still another means which 66 you have not mentioned. A state may be enriched by the "ruin of its enemies." "You are in the right," replied So crates. "But that depends upon its being the strongest ; "otherwise it incurs the danger of losing what it has. For "which reason, he who talks of engaging in a war, ought to "know the forces on both sides; that if he finds his own party strongest, he may boldly advise the war, and, if weakest, "dissuade the people from undertaking it. Now do you "know the strength of our republic, and that of our enemies, "by sea and, land? Have you a state of them in writing? Be 66 so kind to let me see it." "I have it not at present," said Glauco. "I see then," said Socrates, "that we shall not "presently enter into a war, if you are charged with the go"vernment; for you have abundance of inquiries to make, and "much pains to go through, before you will resolve upon it."

He ran over in this manner several other articles no less important, with which Glauco appeared equally unacquainted; till he brought him to confess, how ridiculous those people were, who have the rashness to intrude into government with out any other preparation for the service of the public, than that of an high esteem for themselves, and an immoderate ambition of rising to the first places and dignities. "Have a care, “dear Glauco," said he to him, “lest a too warm desire of ❝ honours should deceive you into pursuits, that may cover "you with shame, by setting your incapacity and slender abi, ❝lities in full light."

Glauco improved from the wise admonitions of Socrates, and took time to inform himself in private, before he ventur ed to appear in public. This is a lesson for all ages, and may be very useful to persons in all stations and conditions of life.

* Socrates did not urge his friends to enter early upon public employments; but first to take pains for the attainment of the knowledge necessary to their success in them. "A man. "must be very simple," said he, "to believe that the me❝chanic arts are to be acquired without the help of proper "masters, and that the knowledge requisite in governing "states, which is the highest degree of human prudence, de"mands no previous labour and application." His great care in regard to those who aspired at public employments, was to form their manners upon the solid principles of probity and justice; and especially to inspire them with a sincere love of their country, with the most ardent passion for the public good, and an high idea of the power and goodness of the gods & † Ibid. p. 792.

• Xenoph. Memorab. 1. iv. p. 800.

Because, without these qualities, all other abilities serve only to render men more wicked, and more capable of doing evil. Xenophon has transmitted to us a conversation of Socrates with Euthydemus, upon providence, which is one of the finest passages to be found in the writings of the ancients.

"Did you never reflect within yourself," says Socrates to Euthydemus," how much care the gods have taken to bestow 66 upon man all that is necessary to his nature?" "Never, I 66 assure you," replied he. "You see," continued Socrates, "how necessary light is, and how precious that gift of the "gods ought to appear to us." "Without it," added Euthydemus, "we should be like the blind, and all nature as if it "were not, or were dead: but because we have occasion for suspense and relaxation, they have also given us the night "for our repose." "You are in the right, and for this we "ought to render them continual praises and thanksgiving. "They have ordained that the sun, that bright and luminous, "star, should preside over the day, to distinguish its different 66 parts, and that its light should not only serve to discover "the wonders of nature, but to dispense universal life and "heat; and at the same time they have commanded the moon "and stars to illuminate the night, of itself dark and obscure. "Is there any thing more admirable than this variety and vi "cissitude of day and night, of light and darkness, of labour and "rest; and all this for the convenience and good of man?"" Socrates enumerates in like manner the infinite advantages we receive from fire and water in the occasions of life; and continuing to observe upon the wonderful attention of provi dence in all that regards us, "What say you, pursued he, "upon the sun's return after winter to revisit us, and that as "the fruits of one season wither and decay, he ripens new "ones to succeed them? That having rendered man this ser “vice, he retires, lest he should incommode him by excess ❝of heat; and then after having removed to a certain point, "which he could not pass without putting us in danger of pe "rishing with cold, that he returns in the same track to re"sume his place in those parts of the heavens where his pre66 sence is most beneficial to us? And because we could support neither the cold nor heat, if we were to pass in an in"stant from the ope to the other, do you not admire, that "whilst this star approaches and removes so slowly, the two "extremities arrive by almost insensible degrees?. Is it pos "sible not to discover, in this disposition of the seasons of the year, a providence and goodness, not only attentive to our "necessities, but even our delights and enjoyments ?"

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Ωρας ἀρμτολέσας πρὸς τῦτο παρέχειν, ὅτι ἡμῖν ου μόνον ὧν δεόμεθα πολα βαρά καὶ παντοῖα παρασκευάζεσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἷς ἐκφραινόμενα

"All these things," said Euthydemus, make me doubt, "whether the gods have any other employment than to shower "down their gifts and graces upon mankind. There is one "point, however, that puts me to a stand, which is, that the "brute animals partake of all these blessings as well as our "selves." "Yes," replied Socrates: "but you do but observe, "that all these animals subsist only for man's service? The "strongest and most vigorous of them he subjects at his will, "he makes them tame and gentle, and uses them successfully "in his wars, his labours, and the other occasions of life."

"What if we consider man in himself?" Here Socrates examines the diversity of the senses, by the ministry of which man enjoys all that is best and most excellent in nature; the vivacity of his wit, and the force of his reason, which exalt him infinitely above all other animals; the wonderful gift of speech, by the means of which we communicate our thoughts reciprocally, publish our laws, and govern states.

"From all this," says Socrates, "it is easy to discern that "there are gods, and that they have man in their parti"cular care, though he cannot discover them by his senses. "Do we perceive the thunder, whilst it strikes through all "things which oppose it? Do we distinguish the winds, whilst "they are tearing up all before them in our view? Our soul "itself, with which we are so intimate, which moves and acts us, is it visible? can we behold it? It is the same with re"gard to the gods, of whom none are visible in the distri "bution of their favours. The GREAT GOD himself," (these words are remarkable, and demonstrate that Socrates acknowledged one supreme God, the author of all being, and superior to all others, who were only the ministers of his will), "this great God, who has formed the universe, and supports "the stupendous work, whose every part is finished with the utmost goodness and harmony; he who preserves them per"petually in immortal vigour, and causes them to obey him "with a never-failing punctuality, and a rapidity not to be fol"lowed by our imagination; this God makes himself suffici"ently visible by the endless wonders of which he is author; "but continues always invisible in himself. Let us not then "refuse to believe even what we do not see, and let us supply "the defect of our corporeal eyes, by using those of the soul; "but especially let us learn to render the just homage of re"spect and veneration to the divinity, whose will it seems to "be, that we should have no other perception of him than by "his effects in our favour. Now this adoration, this homage, "consists in pleasing him, and we can only please him in doing "his will."

* In this manner Socrates instructed youth; these are the principles and sentiments he inspired into them; on the one side, a perfect submission to the laws and magistrates, in which he made justice consist on the other, a profound regard for the Divinity, which constitutes religion. In things surpassing our understanding, he advises us to consult the gods; and as they impart themselves only to those that please them, he recommends above all things the making of them propitious by a wise regularity of conduct. "The gods are wise," says he," and it depends upon them either to grant what we ask, "or to give us the directly reverse of it." He cites an excellent prayer from an anonymous poet: "Great God, give us, "we beseech thee, those good things of which we stand in "need, whether we crave them or not; and remove from us "all those which may be hurtful to us, though we implore "them of you." The vulgar imagined that there are things which the gods observe, and others of which they take no notice but Socrates taught, that the gods observe all our actions and words; that they penetrate into our most secret thoughts, are present in all our deliberations, and that they inspire us in all our actions.

SECTION V.

SOCRATES APPLIES HIMSELF TO DISCREDIT THE SOPHISTS IN THE OPINION OF THE YOUNG ATHENIANS.

SOCRATES found it necessary to prejudice the young people against a bad taste, which had prevailed for some time in Greece. A sect of assuming men arose, who, ranking themselves as the first sages of Greece, were entirely the reverse in their conduct; for, instead of being infinitely remote from all avarice and ambition, like Pittacus, Bias, Thales, and the others who made the study of wisdom their principal occupa tion, these men were ambitious and covetous, entered into the intrigues and affairs of the world, and made a trade of their pretended knowledget. They were called sophists, and, wandered from city to city. They caused themselves to be cried up as oracles, and walked about attended by crowds of their disciples, who, through a kind of enchantment, abandoned the embraces of their parents, to follow these proud teachers, to whom they paid a great price for their instruction.

* Xenoph. Memorab. I. iv. p. 803 et 805.

† Ἐπὶ θ' οἷς ἐσὶν, οἶμαι, ὡς καὶ διδόναι ἀντ ̓ ἂν τις ευχόμενος τυγχάνη, καὶ Tavavría TT. Plut, in Alcib. I. ii. p. 148.

Sic enim appellantur hi, qui ostentationis aut quæstus causa phủ. losophantur. Cic. in Lucul: n. 129.

Plat. in Apolog. p. 19, 20.

There was nothing these masters did not profess: theology, physics, ethics, arithmetic, astronomy, grammar, music, poetry, Thetoric, and history. They knew every thing, and could teach every thing. Their greatest supposed skill lay in philosophy and eloquence. Most of them, like Gorgias, valued themselves upon giving immediate answers to all questions that could be proposed to them. Their young disciples acquired nothing from their precepts, but a silly esteem for themselves, and an universal contempt for every body else; so that not a scholar quitted these schools, but was more impertinent than when he first entered them.

*

It was necessary to decry the false cloquence and bad logic of these proud teachers in the sense of the young Athenians. To attack them in front, and dispute with them in a direct manner by a continued discourse, was what Socrates could well have done, for he possessed in a supreme degree the talents of speaking and reasoning; but this was no means to succeed against great haranguers, whose sole aim was to dazzle their auditors with a vain glitter and rapid flow of words. He therefore took another course; and employing the turns and address of irony, which he knew how to apply with wonderful art and delicacy, he chose to conceal, under the appearance of simplicity and the affectation of ignorance, all the beauty and great force of his genius. Nature, which had given him so fine a soul, seemed to have formed his outside expressly for supporting the ironic character. He was very ugly, and, besides that, had something very blockish and stupid in his physiognomy. The whole air of his person, which had nothing but what was very common and very poor in it, perfectly corresponded with that of his countenance.

When he happened to be in the company of some one of the sophists, he proposed his doubts with a diffident and modest air, asked simple questions in a plain manner, and, as if

* Socrates in ironia dissimulantiaque louge omnibus lepore atque humanitate præstitit. Cie. I. ii. de orat. n. 270.

Zopyrus physiognomon—stupidum esse Socratem dixit, et bardum. Cic. de Fat. n. 10.

Socrates de se ipse detrahens in disputatione, plus tribuebat iis, quos volebat refellere. Ira, cum aliud diceret atque sentiret, libenter uti solitus est illa dissimulatione, quam Græci gwvav vocant. Cic. Acad. Quæst. I. iv. n. 15.

Sed et illum quem nominavi (Gorgiam) et cæteros sophistas, ut e Platone intelligi potest, lusos videmus a Socrate. Is enim percontando atque interrogando elicere solebat eorum opiniones quibuscum differebat, ut ad ea, quæ ii respondissent, si quid videretur, diceret. Cic. de Finib. l. ii. n. 2.

VOL. IV. G