dem Qu crates his Predeceffors, had been confin'd to the Study A Socrate of external Nature; but Socrates ftudied Him- omnis que eft de vita felf, endeavouring rather to cultivate his Heart & moribus than his Reason, and to frame his Manners than philofoto refine his Wit. He had the Happiness of a phia ma most admirable Difpofition to Vertue. For to- navit. Igether with a deep and vaft Capacity, he had Tufc. fuch a Modesty and Simplicity, as render'd him Divinum amiable to all the World. That peculiar Spirit quoddam, which Apuleius term'd The God of Socrates, has quod Somuch exercis'd the Enquiries of the Learned, as Damonihaving a great Influence on the Morals of this um appel Philofopher. Plato would perfuade us, That it lat, cui was an invisible Angel, or Genius, that was his femper ip conftant Guide and Director. Tertullian and La-Se paruerit, nuna Etantius affirm it to have been an evil Dæmon. quam im Plutarch fays, 'Twas no more than a Way of pellenti Sneezing to the Right, or Left, which ferv'd fæpe revo him for an aufpicious, or inaufpicious Omen, in canti. all that he undertook. Maximus Tyrius thinks it Divin. was a fecret Inftinct of Confcience, which car- Tertull. ried him towards Good, and diverted him from in Apol. Evil. Pomponatius pretends that 'twas nothing Lactant.le elfe but a lucky Planet, that had the Afcendant 11. C. 24. at his Nativity. And Montagne will have it to de Socrat have been a Sort of Enthusiasm, or fudden and In rebus violent Impulse of his Will, which ferv'd him incertis by Way of Forefight in Surprizes, of Admoni- profpector, tion in Doubts, and of Defence in Dangers. præmoniBut without fo nice a Scrutiny of this Secret, it tor, in pefeems probable that Socrates's Genius, which riculofis conducted him in all his Actions, was really no viator. more than his habitual Prudence, which he had Apul. de gain'd by his Experience of Things, and his Re- crat. flections upon their Events, in which he was Eff. 1. to Plutarch in dubiis Deo So C. II. Que res Homerum impulit, ut principibus beroum, Ulyffi, Agamem noni, Achilli, certos deos periculorum comites adjungeret. Cic. de Nat Deor. feldom mistaken. So that the World believ'd of him what Homer would make us believe of his Heroes and Great Men, in his Poem, to each of whom he affigns a Deity for their Guide and Guardian, to lead them fafe thro' the difficult Adventures to which their Virtue was expos'd. In a word, Socrates's Morality was his Dæmon, and he had no other fecret Art but that of Prudence and Discretion. He fuffer'd Death upon the most unjust Charge of Impiety, while his Piety (as Plutarch obferves) was indeed his Crime: For that which made him fufpected of Irreligion, was his Design of ftill Reforming and Purging Pythagoras's Philofophy, by retrenching thofe Fables and Superftitions which had crept into it, and had made it fo ridiculous to his own Scholars; that, by this Means he might render it at length a juft and rational SySocrates ftem. Indeed, Socrates had fuch a profound and phonti awful Regard to religious Worship, that when confulenti Xenophon came to ask his Advice about embarkfequeretur ing in the Expedition with Cyrus, his Answer ne Cy- was to this Effect, "Human Counfels are unrum; no- certain; you ought to apply your felf to the ftrum "Divine. "To be brief, the Doctrine of Socrates inquit, was one continued Leffon of Virtue, of which bumanum the other Philofophers fcarce ever spoke a Word, eft: de re- except out of Policy or Oftentation. That Air bus incer of Railery which he put on, was only a Stratapollinem gem to procure Attention. His Morals, which cenfeo in their native Rigour might have deterr'd Men referen- from embracing them, gain'd Admittance by a feeming Eafinefs and Agreeablenefs; and this Mixture of Pleafantry with which he feafon'd the Driness of his Maxims, fecur'd them a more favourable Entertainment with the Publick. BeDulcis, facetus,fefti. fides, he avoided by this means, that arrogant Xeno confilium, tis ad A dum? Cic. de vi fermo nis atque in omni oratione, fimulator Socrates. Cic. de Off. 1. and and magifterial Stile, then in Ufe among the Sophifts, which he look'd on as an odious Yoak, and Bondage of Reafon. He establish'd it as a Rule of Discourse, to treat of the most ferious Subjects without an Air of too much Seriousness, knowing that to please was the furest Method to perfuade. III. Plato ftill improv'd upon the Draught of Morality which Socrates had left him; for, by mixing his Ideas as the univerfal Principle of Philofophy through the whole Defign, he carried each Virtue to its laft Heighth and Accomplishment. In his Phadon, he explains the Nature of Moral Virtue, the great end of which is to clear the Understanding from the Falfhood and Obfcurity of the Imagination, by the Help of philofophical Reflection. After all, the greatest Part of his Dialogues are but fo many fine Speeches without Principles; yet fuch as do not fail to attain their End, and to inftru&t after their Manner: For the Morality of this Philofopher abounds with good Leffons, tending either to the authorizing of Virtue, or the difcrediting of Vice; and this Morality is diffus'd through his Writings, which yet has nothing in it of a very peculiar Character. It has been pretended, that Apuleius's Metamorphofis of the Golden Afs, is but an allegorical Explication of Plato's Morals, the Defign of which is to fhew, the use of Philofophy in purifying the Mind, and curing it of thofe Paffions and grofs Perceptions, which debafe a Man to the Likenefs of Brutes. For my part, I cannot come into this Judgment, the Notions of Apuleius being fo libertine and impure. There reign'd at Athens in Plato's time, a falfe Tafte and Character, introduc'd by the Sophifts, which tended alike to the CorFf3 rup Cynico- inimica dia. Cic. Off, 1. ruption of Morality and of Reafon. If Protagoras was a Sophift in his Difcourfe, Diogenes was 'no lefs fo in his Manners; for these were utterly falfe; his Probity was no better than Pride, and he was never modeft, but out of Vain-glory. He commenc'd fevere upon a Pique against Plato, whofe Eafinefs and Gentility he defign'd to expose by an Affectation of Rigour. The Edge of his Philofophy was commonly turn'd against Vertue or Greatnefs. He defpis'd the King of Perfia for being too rich, and pronounced Alexander unhappy, in being too powerful: Merit and good Fortune always put him into an ill Humour. Diogenes's Morals, therefore, could not but be very extravagant, as being built upon no other Foundation, than a vain Haughtinefs and Morofenefs of Temper: He was a grand Comedian, and had much more of the Bully than of the Philofopher. So that 'twas an eafy Task for Plato, by the Solidity of his Doctrine, and Strictnefs of his Vertue, to devirtute ftroy thefe falfe Morals of the Cynicks, who laudanda $5 in bowere the Difciples of Antifthenes, and profefs'd minibus Enemies to Modefty and Civility. It was Plato, ad virtu- likewife, that first rectified the Doctrine of the ftudium Immortality of the Soul, which Socrates had cobortan- learnt from Pythagoras, Pythagoras from the Egyp mebatur. tians, and the Egyptians from the Hebrews, by Cic. Qu. the Travels and Converfe of Abraham. This he Acad. 1. eftablish'd as the most important Principle of Pagan Morality, obliging Men to the Practice of Virtue, by the Hopes and Fears of future non folum Rewards and Punishments. Plato's Doctrine had idem fenfit a near Alliance with that of the Stoicks, as apac Pytha Platonis oratio in dis confu Plato de @ternitate animorum, geras, fed & orationem attulit. Cic. Tufc. Qu. 1. Plato multa dicit de immortalitate animorum, & reliqua poft mortem tranquillitate bonorum penis impiorum. Cic. de Leg. 2. pears pears from the Hiftory of Antiochus, of Afcalon, who join'd himself to the Stoa, after having been educated in the Academy. Cicero gives us the Stoicorum Reason of this, when he obferves, that the moft mirabilia excellent of Zeno's Precepts were all borrow'd Socratica from Socrates's Fund. IV. funt pleraque. 1. Qu. Acad. rum expe Communis cepta qua Tho' the Morals of Ariftotle have the fame idem finis. Foundation, the fame Principles, the fame erat uOeconomy with those of Plato; and tho', as Tully trifque, remarks, there's no effential Difference between eadem rethe one and the other; yet it must be confefs'd, tendarumthat Ariftotle form'd this whole Doctrine into que partia more regular Body; not only by diftinguifh-tio. Cic.1. ing the Characters of publick and private Ver. Qu. Acad. tue, the Prudence of a Civil Government, and that of the Master of a Family; but likewife by finis.id.ib. utrifque establishing in his Books to Nicomachus, the two Cùm terthings which make the very Life and Soul oftia pars Morality, a laft End or Happiness, and the philofoMeans of attaining it. In the firft Book, he phia pra proves, that there is fuch an ultimate Happiness reret non which Man is capable of enjoying. In the next folùm ad eight which follow, he fhews the Way how to private arrive at this Happinefs. And in the tenth and laft, he declares that this Happiness confifts etiam ad onem, fed in the most noble Action of human Nature, as rerum converfant about the most excellent Object.publicaThese are Ariftotle's Morals; the most accurate, rum rectiand compleat, and the best methodiz'd of all the ta. Cic. heathen Systems. Every Thing is there difpos'd 1. 5. de in fo artful a Manner, and the feveral Parts are Fin. fo nicely connected with each other, and have all fo direct a Tendency to the main End, that this must be acknowledg'd for one of the most accomplish'd Pieces of Antiquity. For it turns altogether on that admirable Method of Analyfis, fo familiar to this great Author, who by that Ff 4 Art vitæ rati onem rela |