courage, moderation, and wisdom; we have seen him saving the life of Alcibiades in battle; refusing to concur in the edict which unjustly doomed the six Athenian generals to death, withstanding the proceedings of the thirty tyrants; and, in a word, expressing his detestation of every thing which he deemed inconsistent with the principles of honour and justice. Possessed, as he always was, of the most unbounded philanthropy, he was ready to forgive those vices in others, from which he himself was in a great measure free. He seemed, says Libanus, the common father of the republic, so attentive was he to the happiness and welfare of every individual of the state. But knowing how difficult it is to reform the old, and to make people change those principles, which from their earliest infancy they have been accustomed to hold sacred, he applied himself chiefly to the instruction of youth, in order to sow the seeds of virtue in a soil more likely to produce the fruits of it. He had, howno open school like the rest of the philosophers, nor set times for his lessons; he had no benches prepared, nor ever mounted a professor's chair; he was the philosopher of all times and seasons; he taught in all places, and upon all occasions; in walking, conversation, at meals, in the army, in the midst of the camp, and in the public assemblies of the people. Such was the man whom a faction in the city

ever,

had long devoted to destruction: he had been, for many years before his death, the object of their satire and ridicule. Aristophanes, the comic poet, was engaged to expose him upon the stage. He composed a play, called the Clouds, in which he' introduced the philosopher in a basket, uttering the most ridiculous absurdities. Socrates, who was present at the exhibition of his own character, seemed not to feel the least emotion; and as some strangers were present who desired to know the ori ginal for whom the play was intended, he rose from his seat, and showed himself during the whole representation. This was the first blow struck at him; and it was not till twenty years after, that Melitus appeared in a more formal manner as his accuser, and entered a regular process against him. The two chief crimes of which he accused him, were, that he did not admit the gods acknowledged by the republic, and introduced new divinities; and that he corrupted the youth of Athens: and he therefore concluded with inferring, that sentence of death ought to be passed upon him.

The second charge was evidently groundless. How far the first was founded on truth we cannot, at this distance of time, pretend to determine. It is not likely, indeed, that amidst so much zeal and superstition as then prevailed in Athens, he would venture openly to oppose the received religion;

but it is very probable, from the discourses he frequently held with his friends, that in his heart he despised and laughed at their monstrous opinions and ridiculous mysteries, as having no other foundation than the fables of the poets, and that he had attained to the notion of the one true God, the creator and preserver of the universe.

As soon as the conspiracy broke out, the friends of Socrates prepared for his defence. Lysias, the most able orator of his time, brought him an elaborate discourse of his own composing, in which he vindicated the conduct of Socrates with great force of reasoning, and interspersed the whole with tender and pathetic strokes, capable of moving the most obdurate hearts. Socrates read it with pleasure, and approved of it very much; but as it was more conformable to the rules of rhetoric, than the sentiments and fortitude of a philosopher, he told him plainly that it did not suit him. Lysias asked him how it was possible for it to be well done, and not to suit him. In the same manner said he, using, according to his custom, a vulgar comparison, that an excellent workman might bring me magnificent apparel, or shoes embroidered with gold, to which nothing would he wanting on his part, but which, however, would not suit me. He persisted, therefore, inflexibly in the resolution not to demean himself, by begging suffrages

in the low abject manner common at that time. He employed neither artifice nor the glitter of eloquence; he had recourse to no entreaties; he brought neither his wife nor children to incline the judges in his favour by their sighs and tears. Nevertheless though he refused to make use of any other voice but his own in his defence, or to ap pear before his judges in the submissive posture of a suppliant, he did not behave in that manner, out of pride, or contempt of the tribunal : it was from a noble and intrepid assurance, resulting fron greatness of soul, and a consciousness of his own innocence; so that his defence had nothing weak or timorous in it: his discourse was bold, manly, generous, without passion, without emotion; full of the noble sentiments of a philosopher, with no other ornament than that of truth, and brightened throughout with the characters and language of innocence. Plato, who was present, transcribed it afterwards, and, without any addition, formed from it the work which he calls the apology of Socrates, one of the most masterly compositions of antiquity. I shall here make an extract from it.

Upon the day appointed, the proceedings began in the usual form; the parties appeared before the judges, and Melitus spoke the worse his cause, and the less provided it was with proofs, the more occasion had he for art and address to cover its

weakness; he omitted nothing that might render the adverse party odious; and instead of reasons, which he could not produce, he substituted the glitter of a pompous declamation. Socrates, in observing that he could not tell what impression the discourse of his accuser had made upon the judges, owns, that, for his own part, he scarce knew how it had affected himself; Melitus had given such artful colouring and likelihood to his arguments, though there was not one word of truth in all he had advanced.

I am accused » said he,» of corrupting the youth, and of instilling dangerous maximis into them, as well in regard to the worship of the gods, as the rules of government. You know, Athenians, that I never made it my profession to teach; nor can envy, however violent against me, reproach me with ever having sold my instructions. I have an undeniable evidence for me in this respect, which is my poverty. Always equally ready to communicate my thoughts to the rich and poor, and to give them leisure to question or answer me, I lend myself to every one who is desirous of becoming virtuous; and if, amongst those who hear me, there are any that prove either good or bad, neither the virtues of the one, nor the vices of the other, to which I have not contributed, are to be ascribed to me. My whole employment