is not permitted to the limited powers of the most exalted intellect to disperse. The difficulties multiply in proportion as we ascend, and if we imagine that we have arrived at certainty, and venture to give definite form and shape to our abstractions, we shall soon learn the mortifying lesson, how little our system will influence the practical belief of others, or even our own, when opposed to the more common motives and instinctive impressions of our nature. Those who have reflected most on such subjects will perhaps assent to the opinion, that if we would discover truth, we must pursue it in some lower region, in which the light of our moral feelings and faculties may be allowed to cheer and direct our path. These reflections, while they teach humility to ourselves, may assist us to form a

Warburton speaks with contempt of such inferences, as proper only to poetical metaphysicians and metaphysical poets; yet Aristotle, at least as sober a reasoner as himself, attributes to no argument more weight than to one grounded on our natural desires. Divine Legation, vol. iii. p. 632. Aristot. Ethic. book i. chap. 2. Rhet. book ii. chap. 19.

right estimate as to the actual belief of the ancient philosophers on the subject of a future existence. It is not because they give way to doubts and misgivings; (on such a subject how could it be otherwise?) it is not because we meet with unintelligible theories; this has been the history of metaphysics in all ages and under all religions: it is not because these theories might lead to consequences inconsistent with their positive declarations, that we are to come at once to the conclusion that they had no belief in what they asserted, and that Socrates and Plato' (for we have no certain

y If the misgivings of Socrates at one time are brought forward, let us remember the strength and confidence of his assertions at others. Vid. Phædo, p. 120.

Sequitur ex his nobile Socraticæ scholæ dogma; animum esse immortalem et habere post mortem præmia virtutis: quod morte sua obsignavit et confirmavit Socrates. Videtur non tam de animorum post hanc vitam felicitate dubitasse quam de ejus conditione et loco, quo referenda sunt, si vere sunt Socratis quæ apud Antonium et Maximum ei tribuuntur, interrogatum quænam in altero mundo sint obvia, respondisse, se neque ipsum ibi unquam fuisse neque cum ullo eorum qui inde rediissent colloquutum esse. Hist. Crit. Phil. Brucker, vol. i. pp. 563, 564.

z Warburton and others attempt to separate the opin

C

criterion by which we can separate the opinions of the one from those of the other,) made it the sole business of their lives to deceive those whom they pretended to teach. The general tone and temper pervading their discussions is at variance with such an opinion. It is a striking feature in the character of Socrates, and which well entitles him to the admiration even of Christians, that, surrounded with mysteries which he could not explain, and in the midst of darkness which he could not pene

Whether the fact

ions of Socrates from those of Plato. be so or not, we have no means of distinguishing between them. As far as Plato's own evidence is available, the contrary is the case. Διὰ ταῦτα οὐδὲν πώποτ ̓ ἐγὼ περὶ τού των γέγραφα, οὐδ ̓ ἔστι σύγγραμμα ΠΛΑΤΩΝΟΣ οὐδὲν οὐδ ̓ ἔσται, τὰ δὲ νῦν λεγόμενα ΣΩΚΡΑΤΟΥΣ ἐστί. Plat. 2 Epist. ad Dionys. p. 406.

I do not wish to insist on the positive testimony of this passage, on account of the obvious advantage it must have been to the philosopher to convey his instructions freely to his friend, through the medium of another's name; I am speaking of course of their opinions on moral subjects. It is well known that Plato discussed physical questions, which Socrates did not: Zwxpárous dè περὶ μὲν τὰ ἠθικὰ πραγματευομένου περὶ δὲ τῆς ὅλης φύσεως οὐδέν. Aristot. Metaphys. lib. i. cap. 6.

a

Appendix, note G.

trate, he seems to have reposed implicit confidence in the benevolence of the Deity even unto death", and to have believed in

b Socrates is full of expressions indicating that implicit confidence in the justice and benevolence of the Deity, which is the root and foundation of all religious faith.

In the Theætetus, Θεὸς οὐδαμῇ οὐδαμῶς ἄδικος, ἀλλ' ὡς οἷόν τε δικαιότατος, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτῷ· ὁμοιότερον οὐδὲν ἢ ὃς ἂν ἡμῶν αὖ γένηται ὅτι δικαιότατος. Bekker, pars ii. vol. i. p. 247. In the Gorgias, Μὴ γὰρ τοῦτο μὲν, τὸ ζῆν ὁποσονδὴ χρόνον, τόν γε ὡς ἀληθῶς ἄνδρα εὐκτέον ἐστὶ καὶ οὐ φιλοψυχη τέον, ἀλλ ̓ ἐπιτρεψάντα περὶ τούτων τῷ Θεῷ. Bekker, pars ii. vol. i. p. 142. Again, in the same treatise, speaking of the unjust and intemperate mar, Οὔτε γὰρ ἂν ἄλλῳ ἀνθρώπῳ προσφιλὴς ἂν εἴη ὁ τοιοῦτος οὔτε Θεῷ. Bekker, pars ii. vol. i. p. 133. In the Theages, a treatise ascribed to Plato, 'Eav μὲν τῷ Θεῷ φίλον ᾖ, πάνυ πολὺ ἐπιδώσεις καὶ ταχὺ, εἰ δὲ μὴ, οὔ. Bekker, pars ii. vol. iii. p. 280. In the Apologia, Οὐδὲ ἀμελεῖται ὑπὸ Θεῶν τὰ τούτου πράγματα. Bekker, pars i. vol. ii. p. 139. Vide also Alcibiades I. if this dialogue was really written by Plato, which admits of some doubt. SOC. Οὐ καλῶς λέγεις, Ὦ ̓Αλκιβιάδη.

ALC. ̓Αλλὰ πῶς χρὴ λέγειν ;

SOC. Ὅτι ἐὰν Θεὸς ἐθέλῃ, p. 373.

SOC. Ὁ ἐπίτροπος ὁ ἐμὸς βελτίων ἐστὶ καὶ σοφώτερος ἢ Περικλῆς ὁ σός.

Ρ.

ALC. Τίς οὗτος, ὦ Σώκρατες ;

SOC. Θεός, ὦ ̓Αλκιβιάδη, κ. τ. λ. Bekker, pars ii. vol. iii. 345.

It may be worth mentioning also, that Socrates considered suicide a criminal act of disobedience to the Deity: because we are here at our post assigned us by the gods,

him as a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, in spite of all the doubts that confounded his understanding, and the wrongs and oppressions which he endured. Whatever were his views on the abstract question of the universal soul, he is uniform in teaching that no happiness in this life was perfect, and that our happiness in another would depend upon our conduct during our present existence. He reasoned as Hooker reasoned, that no sensible, no moral and civil perfection, was sufficient to satisfy the desires which nature had implanted. He exhorted men to aspire (to

and may not leave without their permission. Τόδε γέ μοι δοκεῖ, ὦ Κέβης, εὖ λέγεσθαι, τὸ Θεοὺς εἶναι ἡμῶν τοὺς ἐπιμελομévous. Phædo, p. 13.

c In the Convivium of Plato, Socrates is represented as making celestial love the source of every duty towards gods and men; and admonishing his hearers, that all the labours and desires of the soul ought to aim at that supreme archetype of beauty and truth, which is perfect in itself, uniform and unchangeable, and in the possession of which alone complete happiness can be found. Convivium, pars ii. vol. ii. Plato, Bekker, p. 444, &c.

Sentences like these remind us of bishop Butler's sermon on the Love of God; and some of the most beautiful passages in the earlier parts of Hooker's Ecclesiastical