"The memory of the just is blessed."

Among the philosophers of antiquity none is more venerable than Socrates. He spent his life and laid it down to make men better; and they of succeeding times have requited this benefit by holding in everlasting remembrance the morality he taught, and the example he left.

2. Socrates was an Athenian-his father was Sophroniscus, a sculptor, and the son, for a time, followed that occupation. The effect produced upon the stone by the chisel of the artist, suggested to Socrates the possibility of improving his fellow-men. The marble is at first a rude mass, but meditation and labour give it any form which the sculptor designs. Socrates thought living men more suitable objects of his forming care than in

animate matter, and he gave his whole mind to discover how he could improve the age he lived in.

3. His face is said to have been ugly, and his temper was not originally mild and amiable; but to make himself a teacher of virtue, it was neces→ sary that his conduct should exemplify it, so he gave his whole heart to the correction of his faults; and as knowledge is the "one thing needful" to an instructor, he resorted to all the means by which he could improve his understanding."The examination of nature, the accurate sciences, and the agreeable arts by turns engaged his attention."

4. Socrates thought it the noblest attribute of man's nature, that he could conceive of God, but he knew that our best conceptions of the divine nature are imperfect, and though he had probably never heard of the Hebrew Scriptures, he comprehended the sense of that passage-" How can a man find out God, or know the Almighty to perfection," and he also knew that the pervading Divinity of the universe is not far from any thing that he has made.-He spoke of God as 66 the gods." It was then the manner of speaking of the Deity: perhaps most people believed as their words expressed, that there were many gods.

5. Plato has related of Socrates, that he gave these instructions to the Athenians-" Adore the gods, reverence your parents; do good to those who do good to you; return not evil for evil.Conform to the public worship of your country, but the most acceptable homage which a good man can offer his Maker, is to perform his duty according to his station. The statesman who labours for the good of his fellow-citizens, or the husband

man who fertilizes the soil, does each a service acceptacle to God.

6. "The presence of the gods enlightens and fills the world the desert and the solitary place. Piety is a sentiment which never grows cold. The pious man always praises the divine goodness, always trusts in it, always hopes for its favours, always begins every undertaking with consulting the will of his Maker."

7. He taught also the wisdom of moderate wishes, and moderate indulgences; and he endeavoured to persuade his followers that true honour belonged to the mind, and not to the condition of life; that idleness was degrading, and useful labour respectable. All his instructions, like those of our Saviour, tended to make men love God and purify their own hearts; nor did he neglect the lowest class of the people, but taught all who would listen to him, that to be a good parent, a good friend, and a good citizen, was every man's duty and happiness.

8. Socrates did not presume that his countrymen would improve by his instructions, but he hoped that their children might learn from him, and he took care that his example should resemble his advice. Though he conformed his manners and appearance to his humble fortune, he did not disregard neatness, decorum, and order; and there was an elegance in his conversation that recommended him to the society of Aspasia, Pericles, and Euripides. The first was the most accomplished female of her time; the second, an eloquent crator, and a man of genius; and the third, an exquisite poet.

9. Socrates was human, and therefore not with

out faults; he was not free from superstition, and believed that a spirit communicated to him the will of the gods. He often spoke of this, his belief, and called the imaginary spirit, his Genius. At the same time he disapproved of many superstitious practices. The Athenians did not permit the least disrespect to the gods, and always listened readily to the charge of sacrilege when made against any man. Many wicked men felt themselves reproved by the discourses of Socrates against the vices which they practised, and some of them resolved to revenge themselves upon him. When he had passed his seventieth year, the following accusation was presented to a magistrate of Athens:

10. Melitus, the son of Melitus of the borough of Pithos, presents a criminal accusation against Socrates, the son of Sophroniscus, of the borough of Alopece. Socrates offends against the laws by not acknowledging our gods, and by introducing new divinities under the name of Genii; he likewise offends against the laws by corrupting the youth of Athens :-the punishment Death!

11. Socrates had frequently offered sacrifices to the gods before his house, and had taken part in the public services of religion, bnt he could not endure that the vices of men should be imputed to the gods, and he had endeavoured to make people sincere in rational piety. It was easy to call this, dishonouring the gods, and equally easy, to prove that a man who would improve the character of the young meant to corrupt them.

12. The friends of Socrates entreated him to prepare a defence against his accusers, but conscious as he was of doing and meaning well, he

had small hope to find justice in his judges, nor was he deceived. The tribunal of the Heliastæ. before which Socrates was called, consisted of five hundred persons who determined by vote the punishment or acquittal of the accused persons brought before them. They at first judged Socrates to be guilty, and left to him the choice of fine, banishment, or perpetual imprisonment.

13. Socrates, upon this, addressed his judges, and said, that to specify a punishment would be to acknowledge himself guilty; that he had rendered the greatest services to the state, and deserved to be maintained, not persecuted, by his fellow-citizens. This exasperated his judges, eighty of them who had before voted for him now joined the adverse party, and judgment of death by poison was pronounced against him.

14. Socrates received this sentence with tranquillity, but his friends were deeply afflicted. As he walked from the court to prison, his disciples, who accompanied him, melted into tears, but he gently reproved them, saying, "Were you ignorant that when Nature bestowed life upon me she also commanded me to resign it?" "I am in despair," replied a youth among them, “that you should die innocent." "Would you rather choose," asked Socrates, smiling, " that I should die guilty?" At that moment, seeing one of his accusers pass, he said to his friends, "How proud is that man of his triumph! He knows not that the virtuous man is always victorious."