for believing the soul immortal, and refutes all the objections against it, which are very nearly the same as are made at this day.

When Socrates had done speaking, Crito desired him to give him, and the rest of his friends, his last instructions, in regard to his children and other affairs, that, by executing them, they might have the consolation of doing him some pleasure. I shall recommend nothing to you this day, replied Socrates, more than I have already done, which is to take care of yourselves. You cannot do yourselves a greater service, nor do me and my family a greater pleasure.

Crito having asked him, afterwards, in what manner he thought fit to be buried: "As you please," said Socrates, "if you can lay hold of me, and I not escape out of your hands." At the same time, looking on his friends with a smile, I can never persuade Crito, that Socrates is he who converses with you, and disposes the several parts of his discourse, for he always imagines that I am what he is going to see dead in a little while; he confounds me with my carcass, and therefore asks me how I would be interred.

In finishing these words, he rose up, and went to bathe himself, in a chamber adjoining. After he came out of the bath, his children were brought to him, for he had three, two very little, and the other grown up. He spoke to them for some time, gave his orders to the women who took care of them, then dismissed them, and, having returned into his chamber, he laid himself down upon his bed. The servant of the eleven entered, at the same instant, and, having informed him that the time for drinking the hemlock was come, (which was at sunset) the servant was so much afflicted with sorrow, that he turned his back, and fell weeping. 66 See," said Socrates," the good heart of this man: since my imprisonment, he has often come to see me, and to converse with me: he is more worthy than all his fellows; how heartily the poor man weeps for me!"

This is a remarkable example, and might teach those in an office of this kind, how they ought to behave to all prisoners, but more especially to persons of merit, when they are so unhappy as to fall into their hands. The fatal cup was brought. Socrates asked what it was necessary for him to do? Nothing more, replied the servant, than, as soon as you have drunk off the draught, to walk about, till you find your legs grow weary, and afterwards to lie down upon your bed.

He took the cup, without any emotion, or change in his colour or countenance; and, regarding the man with a steady and assured look: "Well," said he, "what say you of this

drink; may one make a libation out of it?" Upon bein, cold that there was only enough for one dose: "At least," continued he, 66 we may say our prayers to the gods, as it is our duty, and implore them to make our exit from this world, and our last stage happy; which is what I most ardently beg of them." After having spoken these words, he kept silence for some time, and then drank off the whole draught, with an amazing tranquillity and serenity of aspect, not to be expressed or conceived.

Till then, his friends, with great violence to themselves, had refrained from tears; but, after he had drunk the potion, they were no longer their own masters, and wept abundantly. Apollodorus, who had been in tears during almost the whole conversation, began then to raise great cries, and to lament, with such excessive grief, as pierced the hearts of all that were present. Socrates alone remained unmoved, and even reproved his friends, though with his usual mildness and good nature.

"What are you doing:" said he, to them. "I admire at you! Oh! what is become of your virtue? Was it not for this, I sent away the women, that they might not fall into these weaknesses: for I have always heard, that we ought to die peaceably, and blessing the gods. Be at ease, I beg you, and show more constancy and resolution." He then obliged them to restrain their tears.

In the mean time, he, kept walking to and fro; and when he found his legs grow weary, he lay down upon his back, as he had been directed. The poison then operated more and more.

When Socrates found it began to gain upon the heart, uncovering his face, which had been covered, without doubt to prevent any thing from disturbing him in his last moments, Crito," said he, we owe a cock to Esculapius; discharge that vow for me, and pray do not forget it." Soon after which, he breathed his last. Crito went to the body, and closed his mouth and eyes.

Such, was the end of Socrates, in the first year of the ninety-fifth Olympiad, and the seventieth of his age.

It was not till some time after the death of this great man, that the people of Athens perceived their mistake, and began to repent of it; their hatred being satisfied, their prejudices expired; and time having given them an opportunity for reflection, the notorious injustice of the sentence appeared in all its horrors. Nothing was heard throughout the city, but discourses in favour of Socrates. The Academy, the Lycæum, private houses, public walks, and market places, seemed still

to re-echo the sound of his loved voice. "Here," said they, 'he formed our youth, and taught our children to love their country, and to honour their parents. In this place, he gave us his admirable lessons, and sometimes made us seasonable reproaches, to engage us more warmly in the pursuit of virtue. Alas! how have we rewarded him, for such important services !"

Athens was in universal mourning and consternation. The schools were shut up, and all exercises suspended.

The accusers were called to account for the innocent blood they had caused to be shed. Melitus was condemned to die, and the rest banished. Plutarch observes, that those who had any share in this atrocious act, were in such abomination among the citizens, that no one would give them fire, answer them any question, nor go into the same bath with them, lest they should be polluted by touching it; which drove them into such despair, that many of them killed themselves.

The Athenians, not contented with having punished his accusers, caused a statue of brass to be erected to him, of the workmanship of the celebrated Lysippus, and placed it in one of the most conspicuous parts of the city. Their respect and gratitude rose even to a religious veneration: they dedicated a chapel to him, as to a hero and a demigod; which they called the Chapel of Socrates.

CHAPTER XII.

From the Death of Socrates, to the Death of Epaminondas. HITHERTO, we have pursued the Athenians, both in their successes and their defeats, with peculiar attention: while they took the lead in the affairs of Greece, it was necessary to place them on the fore-ground of the picture; but now we must change the scene; and, leaving the Athenians acting an obscure part, go to those states which successively took the lead after their downfall.

Sparta seems to be the first state, now, that gave laws to the rest of the Greeks: their old jealousies began to revive against the petty states which had formerly sided against them; and the Eleans were the first upon whom they fell, under a pretence, that they were not admitted, by that state, to the Olympic games, as well as the rest of the Grecians.

Having formally declared war, and being upon the point of plundering the city of Elis, they were taken into the alliance of Sparta; and the conquerors now assumed and enjoyed the title of the protectors and arbitrators of Greece. Soon after.

wards, Agesilaus (the second) who was chosen king of Sparta, was sent into Asia with an army, under pretence of freeing the Grecian cities: he gained a signal victory over Tissaphernes, near the river Pactolus; where he forced the enemy's camp, and found considerable plunder.

This success induced the Persian monarch, instead of meet ing Agesilaus openly in the field, to subvert his interest among the Grecian states, by the power of bribery: indeed, this confederacy was now so weakened, its concord and unanimity so totally destroyed, that they were open to every offer: the love of money was now rooted in their affections; and the Spartans were the only people that, for a while, seemed to disdain it. But the contagion still spreading, even they, at last, yielded to its allurements; and every man sought his own emolument, without attending to the good of his country.

The Thebans, as they were the first gained over to the Persian interest, so they were the most active in promoting it.

To strengthen their alliance, they sent ambassadors to the Athenians, with a long representation of the present pos ture of affairs, wherein they artfully insinuated their zeal and affection to their state: from thence, they took occasion to inveigh against the tyranny of Sparta; and concluded with telling them, that now was the time to throw off the yoke, and to recover their former splendour and authority. The Athenians, though they had no share of the Persian money, needed not many arguments to engage them in a rupture of this kind, for which they had been long waiting a fit opportunity.

Agesilaus, who had carried on the war in Persia with success, received news of the war having again broken out in Greece, with orders, at the same time, for him to return home. He had set his heart upon the entire conquest of Persia, and was preparing to march farther into the country; but, such was his deference to the laws, and such his submission to the Ephori, that he instantly obeyed their mandate, but left four thousand men in Asia, to maintain his successes there.

The Spartans, however, could not wait his arrival: they found confederacies thicken on their hands, and they were ready to be attacked on all sides. The Athenians, Argives, Thebans, Corinthians, and Euboeans, joined against them, and made up a body of twenty-four thousand men: both sides encamped near Sicyon, at a small distance from each other; and soon came to a regular engagement. The Spartan allies, at first, were entirely routed; but the Spartans themselves turned the scale of victory, by their single valour, and came off conquerors, with the loss of but eight men.

This victory, however, was, in some measure, overbalanced, by a loss at sea, which the Spartans sustained near Cnidus. Conon, the Athenian general, being appointed to command the Persian fleet against them, took fifty of their ships, and pursued the rest into port. Agesilaus, on the other hand, gained a considerable victory over the Athenians and their allies, upon the plains of Coronea. Thus, was the war continued by furious but undecisive engagements, in which neither side was a gainer; and, in this manner, did the Spartans maintain themselves and their allies, without any considerable increase or diminution of their power.

In this general shock, the Athenians seemed, for a while, to recover their former spirit. Being assisted by Persian money, and conducted by Conon, an excellent general, they took the field with ardour, and even rebuilt the walls of their city. From the mutual jealousies of these petty states, all were weakened, and the Persian monarch became arbitrator of Greece. In this manner, after a fluctuation of successes and intrigues, all parties began to grow tired of a war, and a peace ensued, in the second year of the 98th Olympiad ;* which, from the many stipulations in favour of Persia, Plutarch terms, "The reproach and ruin of Greece."

The Spartans, thus freed from the terrors of a powerful foreign enemy, went on to spread terror among the petty states of Greece. They gave peremptory orders to the Mantineans to throw down their walls, and compelled them to obedience. They obliged the Corinthians to withdraw the garrison from Argosi; and some other little states they treated with an air of superiority, which plainly marked, that they expected obedience. They marched also against the Olynthians, who had lately grown into power, and effectually subdued them. They interposed, likewise, in a domestic quarrel which was carried on at Thebes. Phæbides having seized upon the citadel, they turned him out, and placed a garrison of their own in that fortress. They then procured articles of accusation to be exhibited against Ismenias, his antagonist, for having taken money of the Persians, and holding intelligence with them; and for having been a principal promoter of their intestine broils: upon which, he underwent a formal trial, before the commissioners deputed from Sparta, and one from each of the other great cities of Greece; and was condemned to death.

Thus, having secured Thebes, and, by a tedious war, humbled the Olynthians, they went on to chastise the Philiasians,

* An Olympiad is a certain space of time (four years) which elapsed between the cele bration of the Olympic games. The first Olympiad occurred 779 years before Christ, and 82 before the building of Rome.