All his works except his republic, and his defence of Socrates, are compofed in the lively form of dialogues. He delighted to blend the tenets of the Socratic fchool with the fubtle refinements of the Sophifts. In his philofophical refearches he did not confine himself like Socrates, to "the bufy haunts of Men," but gave way to the efforts of his fancy, and foared to the vifionary regions of abstract ideas. He often leads us into a labyrinth of argument, where we are agreeably bewildered, and fcatters around us the flowers of imagination. With a fingular inconfiftency he banished poets from his republic, and yet of all philofophers he is the moft poetical. Some of his dialogues, it must be confeffed, are more calculated to display the subtle diftinction of words, and the arts of cafuiftry, than to inculcate ufeful truths: yet dignity is the characteristic of Plato, and never was there a heathen Philofopher who gave a more exalted idea of the intellectual principle of Man.

Had he left no other work than his Phedon, which he reprefents as the final difcourfe of Socrates, it would have been fufficient to prove the fublimity of his fpeculations. This dialogue combines the collected opinions of the great heathen philofophers upon the immortality of the foul. All the arguments are ingenious, and fome of them are folid. The foul of Man is of a nature fimple and indivifible, divine and immortal, and as it is not compounded like the body, it cannot like the body be fubject to diffolution and decay. The ideas

about which it is converfant, are spiritual and incorruptible, and fo is the foul itfelf; as life is the union of the foul with the body, death is nothing more than their feparation. The fouls of the philofophers, who had made a preparation for death the ruling concern of their lives, and had kept themfelves unpolluted by the indulgence of their paffions, depart after their deceafe, to the fupreme, wife, and good Being, and enjoy with him an eternal exiftence. The fouls of the wicked defcend to the dreary regions of Tartarus, and there fuffer punishment according to the nature and degree of their crimes,

Who is there but muft admire the heathen fage, who thus proceeded by the mere guidance of Reafon to fuch noble conclufions as to the final destiny of man? Guided by the light of nature alone, he could advance no farther than to establish reasonablenefs of the awful and fublime doctrine of the immortality of the foul: the certain proofs of its truth, could only be given to the world by the great Author of the Chriftian Religion.

XENOPHON was eminent as an historian, a Philofopher and a General. Enlightened by the inftructions of Socrates, he efpoufed the cause of the younger Cyrus, against his Brother Artaxerxes, King of Perfia, and when in that disastrous campaign the Greeks had loft their General, he conducted them acrofs rapid rivers, through vaft de

ferts,

ferts, and over tracklefs mountains, harraffed, continually by numerous affailants, and preffed by various difficulties, in fafety from Babylon to the Euxine fea. On his return to Greece he joined the Army of Agefilaus King of Sparta, and fought with him against the Thebans at the battle of Cheronea. He was honoured with the friendship of this Monarch, as he had been by that of Cyrus in the Court of Sardis. The Athenians difpleafed with the part he had taken in the caufe of that unfortunate Prince, banished him from his native country. The grateful Spartans afforded him a retreat, and allowed him to purchase an eftate near Scillus, famed for the beauties of the country, and its vicinity to Olympia, where the games of Greece were celebrated. Combining the charms of fiction with the traditions of antiquity, he wrote in eight books the Cyropædia, or hiftory of Cyrus the elder, and prefented the model of a perfect King and a perfect Government, in an hiftorical romance. In feven books he compofed the Anabafis, or retreat of the ten thousand Greeks, every part of which bears the ftamp of actual obfervation. None of his works are more conducive to his fame than the Memorabilia of Socrates. In the lively form of dialogue he reprefents his great Preceptor converfing with his pupils and friends. He feems to introduce us into his company, and we may imagine we are liftening to his inftructive difcourfes. He wrote the Hellenica, or hiftory of the affairs of Greece, beginning where Thucydides had concluded his work, and embracing a period A a 3

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of nearly forty years from the return of Alcibiades into Attica to the battle of Mantinea. He was the Author of various fmaller pieces ftill extant, the Banquet of the Philofophers, the Economics, Hiero, or a difcourfe on Tyranny, the praife of Agefilaus, the Republic of Athens, the Republic and laws of Sparta: On Taxes, on the office of á Mafter of the Horfe, and on Hunting.

Xenophon has conveyed to us the pure and unfophifticated doctrines of the Socratic School. His works are replete with juft obfervations of ǎ moral kind his ftile is fimple and pure. It flows like the pellucid ftream, at the bottom of which every object may be diftinctly feen. It is the moft perfect model of attic elegance in profe, and yet beautiful as is his ftile, it is furpaffed by the beauties of his fentiments. Thus, according to the pleafing mythology of his country, Venus was attired by the Graces,

ARISTOTLE, a native of Stagyra in Thrace, the moft eminent Scholar of Plato, was the founder of the Peripatetic fect. He was appointed preceptor to Alexander the great, and the epiftle written to him on that occafion by Philip King of Macedon, did equal honour to the Monarch and the Philofopher,

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PHILIP TO ARISTOTLE

"Know that a fon is born to us. We thank the Gods for beftowing this gift at a time when

Ariftotle

Ariftotle lives; affuring ourselves, that being educated by you he will be worthy of us, and worthy of inheriting our Kingdom."

Ariftotle fhared the friendship both of Philip and his Queen Olympias; and Alexander was fo fully fenfible of the advantages he had derived from his Tutor, as to declare, that to his father he was indebted for his life, but to Ariftotle for paffing that life well, During his expedition into the Eaft he honoured Ariftotle with his corref pondence. This privilege he ufed for the promotion of his favourite ftudies, and in order to affift his researches into the nature of Animals, Alexander caused birds, beafts, and fishes to be fent to him. Preferring the calm purfuits of philofophy to the buftle of a camp, or the intrigues of a court, he established his School in the fhady groves of the Lyceum near Athens, and his Scholars were called Peripatetics, from the cuftom of walking during their philofophical difcuffions. He died at the age of 63. B. C. 322.

So prolific was the invention, and indefatigable the diligence of Ariftotle, that according to the authority of Diogenes Laertius he wrote 400 Treatifes. Moft of them have perished, but a fufficient number ftill remain to prove the comprehensive powers of his mind, the profundity as well as the acuteness of his understanding, the extenfive refearches of his induftry, and the wide compafs of his learning. His works may be claffed under the general

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