Part I I

Counfellor i Anaxagoras uncovering his Face, faid. They, Pericles^ who would ufe a Lamp, tuuft fupply it with Oyl.
Archelaus^Son of Apo//odorus,-w3.sDlk.i^\e to Amixagoras^ and, as Laertius affirms, called the Natural Philofopher for firft bringing that kind of Learning to Athens ^ but now that confifts with his Relation to Anaxagoras^ who, as he ac- knowledgeth, Studied Natural Philolophy thir¬ ty years in Athens^ Cafaubon juftly queftions.
* His words _ Euripides^ ^ as the writer of his Life affirms, ^ Son of Mnefarchus^ born at the firft time of
Sefe ; ^ ^ Xerxes^s Expedition into Greece^ the fame day JinKu 'n J'i that the Grecians overthrew the Ferfians^ was
firft a Painter, then an Auditor of Anaxagoras but feeing him Perfecuted for his Opinions, laft- 7i' converted himfelf to Tragick Poefie.
*T£5t'!7n Socrates^ Son of Sophronifcus^ was, accord-
ing to Arijioxenus^zn Auditor oi' Anaxagoras till Jjtf. — r- ^j^g anfi thereupon apply’d himfelf
to Arche/aus^whkh. Forphyrus reckons above the 17 th. year of his Age, or rather the nineteenth.
Democritus alfo is by fome affirmed, being younger then Anaxagoras forty years, to have applied himfelf to him ^ but Laertius affirms he could not endure Democritus^ and ftiunn’d his Converfation •, Fhavorinus likewife attefts, that Lecaufe he would not admit him^Democritus pro- fefs’d himfelf his Enemy, and denied his Opini¬ ons of the Sun and Moon, but faid they were ancient, and that heftole them, as likewife his , Defcription of the World, and the affertion concerning the Mind.
Aletrodorus of Lampfacim is likewife men¬ tioned by Laertius as friend to Anaxagoras.
fTfaTn
$Jitr yarBizip TtC Ji
Jiy
Vit. PerUU
CHAP. V.
Of his Lrial.^ Deaths Sentences.^ and Writings.
a
I >>ert.
y his Trial, faith Laertius there are feve- ral Reports. Sotion in his Treatife of the Succeflion ot Philofophers faith, he was accu- fed by Cleon of Impiety, for afterting the Sun to be a burning Plate -, but being defended by Feri- cles his Scholar, he was Fined five Talents and Baniftied. ,
Satyrus., that he was Cited to the Court by Thucydides.^ who was of the contrary Faflion of Fericles.^ accufed not only of Impiety, but of holding Intelligence with the Ferfians.^ and in his Abfence Condemned to Death j when news . was brought him at the fame time both of the c/c. r«rf. ijxrf/?. death of his Sons, which (according to JElian) FhtiJc ira Were two, all that he had, and his own Condem¬ nation, bt the latter, he faid, Nature long fince Condemned both them and me to Death. Of his “ Sons ‘ (with a calnf Look) ^ lou tell me nothing neto or unexpeHed ^ I knew that I begat in them mort a f ’iNhkh totnQ afcribe to S^>/w, others to Xenofhdn''% Demttrius faith, he bu¬
ried them with his own hands.
• g UermippM., he wasIn1prifon*d to be put to JDeath, but appearing before the Judges,
aisked if.' they knew any thing in -his Life that they could accufe? to which they anfwered no¬ thing-, but I, faith he, am his Difciple, then be not ttanfpdrted by Lalimnies to kill the Man, but believe rtie and fct him at Liberty-, fb he
was difmifled, but not able to brook the dif* grace, he killed himfelf
*' hieronymus faith, that brought him Laert^
into the Court in poor Garments extenuated with Sicknefs, an Objefl fitter for Compaffioii than Juftice, And thus much idixh Laertius of' his Trial.
Suidas^ that he was caft into Prifon by the A- thenians for introducing a new Opinion concern¬ ing God, and Banifh’d the City, tho’ Fericles undertook to plead his Caufe, and that going to Lampfacim.^ he there ftai ved himfelf to Death.
JofephusfLat the Athenians believing the Sun to be God, which he affirmed to be without Senfe and Knowledge, he was by the Votes of a few of them Condemned to Death.
But if we credit ’ Flutarch.^ he was neither Condemned nor Accufed but by Fericles.^ who feared the Ordinance of Diopithes., which Cited thole which heldPropIiane or Sublime Opinions Pent out of the City. ^ Yet elfewhere he con-k DcW- felTeth he was accufed, • fiit.
His departure from Athens being thirty years after his coming thither, falls the third year of the eighty fecond Olympiad, the fixty third of his Age. Thence he went to Lampfacum.^ where he continued the reft of his Age, which extended to twenty two more, fo little mind¬ ful of Athens or of his Country, as to one, who told him that he was deprived of the Athe¬ nians he anfwered, no, but they of me ^ and ‘ to his Friends who, when he fell lick, asked if ov. r«/c-. he would be carried toGlazomon£ his Country • 1.
no, laid he, there is no need, the way to the Grave is alike every where. ■" Before he died, a ^ the Magiftrates of the City asked him if .he firuS. Poliu would they Ihould do any thing for him ; he anfwered, that his only Requeft was, that the Boys might have leave to play yearly on that day of the Month, whereon he died ^ which Cuftom (laith Laertius) is continued to this time. Thole of Lampfacim Buried him Magni¬ ficently, with this Epitaph.
Here lies., who thro' the trueflFaths did pafs
O'tlf World Celefial.^ Anaxagoras.
AElian mentions two Altars ere£led to him 5 one infcribed to the Mind, the other to Truth.
Laertius concludes his Life with this Epigram.
Earned Anaxagoras the Sun defin'd
A burning Tlate.^ for which to die, defigifd'.
Sav'd by his Scholar Pericles but he
Abandon'd Life to feek Fhilofoply, * miM.
cohib,
* Par. hifl. 3.
Plut. confoh ad A^lon.
* Sjmplic. Epitfet.
* Val.Max.
5. 10.
g Laert.
t He is obferved never to have been feen ei- f Laert. ther to laugh or Imile.
Being demanded if the Mountains of Laert.
facum would in time become Sea he anlwered, yes, if time fail not firft.
t Beholding the Tomb of Alaufolus, he faid, f Laert. a fumptuous Monument was align thelubftance was turned into Stone.
^ He firft affirmed the Poefie of Homer to con- * lift of Vertueand Juftice y to which Metrodorus added, that the Poet was skilful in Natural Philolophy.
“ He conceived that there were two Lefibns “ stoL of Death, the time before our Birth, and Sleep.
Laertius
P A R T. II, " ARC H E L A V S.
® ?/;>/. I. 5. plut. Georg, p Hip. mai.
1 Lib, 2.
'Laertius and Clemens Alexandrinus aflert him firfl: of the Philolbphers that put forth a Book. He writ
Of Natural Lhihfo^hy,^ out of which Arijiotle cites the fragments, All thefe things voere toge¬ ther : which was the beginning of the Book ; and, To be fuch is to be changed. “ Flato this, the Alind is the difpofer and cauj'e of all things. ^ Athe'nceus this, what is commonly called the Milk of the Hen^ is the White of the Egg. Elato Cenfures the Book as not ufing the Mind at all, nor afligning
any Caufe of the Order of Things, but Aerial, ^therial, and Aquatick Natures, and the like incredible things for Caufes.
The ^ladrature of the Circle ^ which Tfearife,
' Plutarch faith, ' he Compofed during his Impri- » De exd. fbnment.
' There three more of the fame Name ^ ‘ the firft an Orator, follower of Ifocrates : the fccond a Statuary, mentioned by Antigonus : the lAi d.Grammarian fd)C\\ohii to Zenodotus.
ARCHELAU S
Laert.
^Stoh,
A
RC H EL AU S was either anvlz/jm- an or a A1 He fan ^ his Father Apol- lodorus^ or according to fome, Aly- lon-^ he was ^chohiX to Anaxagoras., Mafter to Socrates. He firft transferr’d Natural Philofbphy out of Ionia to Athens ( but how that can be, when Anaxagoras his Mafter taught there thirty years, Cafaubon juftly queftions) and therefore was called the Natural Philofo- pber : In him Natural Philofophy endedfocrates his Scholar introducing Morality *, but he feems alfb to have touched Moral Philofophy, for he treated of Laws, of things Honeft and Juft •, from whom Socrates receiving his Learning, be- caufe he encreafed it, is therefore thought to have invented it^ whereas as Gajfendus obferves. Moral Philofophy was far more Ancient, that bemg the principal ground of the Attribute of Wife conferred upon the Seven, whofe Learning lay chiefly that way : but Socrates is called the Author thereof, becaufe he firft reduced .it to a Science. Archelaus aflerted.
That Principles of all things are twbfold., one incorporeaf t the Mindfnot Maker of the World) the corporeal^ infinite in number., and diffmiliar * plut. plac. ^ which is the Air, and its rarefablion and conden ■ phil. 1. 3. fat ion, whereof one is Eire, the other Water*
That the Umverfe is infinitCi
That the Caufes of Generation are two •, heat and cold.
That the Stqrs are burning Iron Plates.
That the Sun is the greateji of Stars.
That the Sea is made by percolation of the hol¬ low parts of the Earth.
That living Creatures are Generated of SUnte \ or warm Earth, emitting a milky kind of Slime like ■ the 'Chile -, that this humid matter being difiolved , by the Eire, that o£iL.whicb fettles into a fiery 1 fiibflance is Earth, '^u^hich evaporates is Ain.
That the Winds get^g into the hollow places Sen.Nat. qu of -the Earth, filling all the fpaces,the Aircon-^y j
denjed^s much an pojfible, the Wind that comes ' - next prejfeth the firfl, forcing and diflurbing it by frequent impulfions. Tins Wind fe eking a Room , through the narrow places, endeavour eth to break Prifon, whereby it happens the Wind flrugling for Pa If age, that the Earth is, moved. .
Of the definition of the 'Eo'ice, hf Plutarch attributed to Anaxagoras, Laertius makes Ar- chelaus the Author, defcribing it a percuffion of the Air.
That what is Jufl, or Djjhonefl is defined by Law, not by Nature.
t Thefe five, Thales, Anaximander, Anaxime- 1 nes, Anaxagoras, Archelaus, by continulDefcent fucceeding one another, compleat the L/r/V^Seft.
gspniii’/ ^oiIt 'i''.'
.p., ' - - '
'•diiwjOii
O '.'. ft u . .-'jj.i'itlJ L , : 'Aifl O'T'
, , the
,, ’J
v v. Ah- E'-: - ‘‘'d
V V'.'ivA'l 1 iK
/
Part. III.
SOCRATES.
THE
HISTORY of philosophy.
pntU
Containing the Socratick Philofophers.
SOCV^TES .
V n tf, I.
H f^^^Coumry, Barents, and time of Birth,
S born i/jUol ^ Country an Athenian,
^lopece, a Town, according to Sui- as and Fhavonnus, belonging to the Antiochian
.Tribe. This was one of thole Imall Villages icattered through ./lr//V
the People within the Walls of a City, which
notwith-
i
i
'.'■5
i-i
'i
‘4.
I .
PA Rt III.
SOCK
Plat. Thent, Alcib,
** Libatt.
« Laert.
Val. Max, mamorarm, theatet. De ipnof. 5
notwithftanding his Decree, were not deferred, but continued and preferv'^ed by their Inhabi tants.
His Parents Were very mean j * Sophronjfcus ( an Athenian) his Father, ‘ a Statuary, or Carver of Images in Stone ; Phatnareta.^ his Mo¬ ther a Midwife, a Woman of a Bold, Generous and qu ick Spirit, as is implied by the Charafter Plato gives her, f though wrelled by e A- then.tus) of which Profeffions of his Parents, he is ^ obferved to have been lb far from being ’f' Liban. Apol. afhamed, that he often took occafion to men¬ tion them.
Apollodonus.^ Laertius and Suidas affirm he was born in the fourth year of the feventy fe- venth Olympiad ^ which may likewife be col- leffed from the Marble at which
faith, he died vchen Laches zvas Archon.^ and reckons feventy years of his Life, which was complect, bccaufe ^ Plato fays kjovtu and from s Detnetrius Phalereus ( who Was himfelf Archon the fourth year of the hun¬ dred and feventeenth Olympiad J who faith, he died the fit' ji year of the ninety fifth Olympiad^ when he had lived feventy years, the feventi- eth year inclufively upwards, is, the fourth of the feventy feve nth Olympiad, when Apfephion., ( or, as fbme call him, Aphepfion) was Archon, of whole Name, in ^ Diodorus Siculus.^ no more is left than* which fhould be but hath been incufioufly alter’d into
* Apokg. c Laert.
^Lib. II.
f Dialog, de , feript. Soar.
Laert.
which iff A/[eurfius had obferved, he had not correQed without caufe, nor he and
A//^/z//r^bllowed the miff ake o? Scaligerfwhom they term Anonytnus) in placing Aphepfion in the tomth year of the feventy fourth Olympiad.
The day of Socr at e s Birth, was ^ according to Apollodorus, the fixth of the Month Tharge- lion, memorable (faith Laertius) for the birth of Diana, according to the Traditions of the De¬ lians, upon which ihQ Athenians m yearly mlfrate their City. Many other good Fortunes
f Var. htfl. 2. Recorded by ‘ man. The day following^
the feventhof this Month was the Birth day of Plato, both which were kept with much Solem- * Porphyr. vit. tijty by the Greek Philofophers ( * even to the /• o Plotinus) as is affirmed by ^ Plutarch-
sjmpoi. 8.1. who thereupon obferves it as the effeft rather of Providence, than of Chance, that their Birth¬ days fhould be fo near, and that of the Maffer precede the Scholars.
To accommodate this time with our Account is neither eafie nor certain, yet in refpea it may give fome fatisfaftion by way of conie- tture, we fliall found it upon thefe Hypothe-
fes, taking that order of Months which Peta- vius gives.
That after the Olympiads, the beginning ox the Grecian year was always on the firff of tiecatomboeon, and Olympick Games on the fif teenth.
f Neomenia of Hecatomb^on, did
(at lealt m the times wherein we enquire) ne- ver precede the Solftice, being then about the Calends, ot pridie Calendar urn Julii, they fup- poiing them in odavA fignorum, it did not pre- cede the ninth oi july. This poflulatum, tho’ it be doubly queffiond by Petavius, yet none of his Arguments pretend beyond Meton'^ iim^^
hJu fuppofitionTiFsv^iw
hath rightly Order’d the Neomenia in hisOlym pickPmqd (againff which Petavius hrin^s^ no one Sufficient Argument) and confequently the
certainly eSi-
1-i^ liecatomb
that Petavws diiputQs ffie Period of feventy fix years, as having never been ufed till Calippus
th? Ptolepticffly,
4. That this being after Solon's time, the Civil ‘ year was Lunary (and confiffed of Months .^^^^^l^ernately of twenty nine, and
ty days, ) at Athens, though divers places of Greece, efpecially the more remote from thence, did not for a long time after part with their tricenary Months. *
Thefe things fuppofed the fixth omargelion (will, 2'^uording to the Julian Account, taken prpleptically) fall upon Tuefday the twentieth ^ • according to the Gregorian, upon
the thirtieth of May, in the year^of the Julian Period 4247, before the Incarnation 4 venth Olympiad, at which time Socrates^ born.
CHAP. II.
HA firfi Education.
P Wi raith,^ that as foon as he was born, . p,
1 Sophronifeus h\s Father confulting the racle, was by it advis’d to fuffer his Son to do
u u compelling him to do
what he dilliked, nor diverting him ffom that whereto he was enclined^ to give thanks for him by Sacrifice to Jupner Agoraus and the Mufes ; to be no farther felicitous for him he
within him, better
than five hundred Mafters Bm hisFathp not obfervant of the Oracle’s Direaion apply’d him to his own Trade of Carving Statues, contrary to his inclination, whereupon t fome have argued him of Difo-x . -a
when Yfis^futSot. Father bad him work, he refufed, and went a- de Gr^c.affeti. way, following his own will. cur. lib. 12.
His Father djrijg, left him (according to Libamus) fourfeore Minat , v^hich beins en- » .f. / o trufted with a Friend for Improvement, ^hey milcarned. This Lofs ("though it were of all his Stock, and he thereby reduced ' to incredible Poverty) Socrates pafs’d over with SUence, but was thereupon neceffitated to continue his Trade for ordinary Subfiftence. f This Sutdas inti + Laert. mates when he faith he was firft a Statuary.
Dtirts, t Paufanias, and the Scholiaft of .d-* r;t « riflophanes plftm three Statues of the Graces fwf* cloathed, (for fb they were moft anciently made not naked) fet up before the entrance into the Tower at Athens, were his Work. Paufanias implieth as much of a Statue of Alercury in the fame place j which t Pli/ty feems not to have + underftood, who faith, they were made by a " certain Perfon named Socrates, but not the Paint*
Hence Timon.
3^. J.
er
K
From
.71
SOCRATES.
.i pART. JIJ
Froifi thefe the fluent Stasuary came., _ ’ : : Honoured through GxesQ^, who did ag'ainjl the Name
Of Orator Ahufwely declahn. .
But being naturally avcrle from this ProfeflTi- on, he only' followed it whin neceflfity enforced him : Ar 'tjtoxenus fairhj^he wrought for Money, and laid up what he' got till it came to a little Stock, which being ipent, he betook himl'elf again to the fame courle.
Thei^ cintermiflions • of his Trade were- be¬ llowed upon Philofdphy •, whereunto he was naturally addifled, which being obierved by Crito a Rich Philofopher of Athem t he took him from his Shop, being much in Love with his Candor and Ingenuity, and inftrufled, 6f ra¬ ther gave hii'n the means to be inflrufled by o- fhers-, taking fo ^ much care of him, that he never fuffered him to want necefiaries. And though his Poverty vvere at firlt fo great as to * t Mian. var. be brought by + Ibme into a Proverb, yet he fe;/?. 2. F/«^. flfe became at' lull, as ^ Demetrius affirms. Mailer
of a Houle, and fourlcore Minat, which. Crito a put out to Interell : But hl'S Aiind ( laith f Li- 1 ^ \ haniuTJ 'vDi raifed far above his fortune.^ and more to the advantage of - hts Country \ not aiming at Wealthy or the acguifition thereof by fordid Arts he conjtdcr'ed that ofalftlnngs zchich Aian can call his.
t Laert.
* Laert. Xiit. Crit.
util, virtut.
^ Plutarch, comparat, vit, Ariftk. Ca- ton.
t -^olog.
AJpaJia w^s a laraous Milefian Woman, not
only excellent her felf in Rhetorick, but brought many Scholars to great Perfebtion In it,of whom were Lericles the Athenian, and ( t as' himfelft piut. imoc. acknowledgeth) Socrates. i
^ Of Euenushic learn’d Poetry, of Ichomachus, j^yiat.^a^- Husbandry, of t oi'Tkeodorus Geometry. . tet.
Ariftagorasd. Alelian, is named likeWileashis I ^ Mafler. ■ ■
Lart in hisCatalogue isConwis.. t ^ ry ‘9- 22.
fidicen, as Cicero terms him, which Art Socrates learn’d of him in his Old age, t forvvhich theA tiumtil.. Boys derided Connus, and called him the Old Dr Man’s Mailer.
t Plat.Enthyd.
CHAP. IV.
^Of his School and manner of Teachings,
That Socrates had a proper Schodjr, may be argued from t Arijiophanes, who de- 1 rides fome particulars in it, and calls it his Phron- erium.
^ Plato and Phddrus mention
NuE
as places fre- ^
quented by him and his Auditors , the Academy Lyc£um,anda pie of ant A\eadow without the City fk. on the fide of iheRiver Iliirus,w/;Fr£’^r^’a; a very 7 , ■ , \ fiirPlainPree. Phence, accordingto the f able, PtQ-
the Soul the chief ‘■that he^nly ts truly | fnatclTd awayOiii\ivji,to whom,three furlongs
^‘^PPy-i who purifies that jrornA ice Thfi the only thence was a Temple, and another Diana.
means conducing thereto, is ly jdom, in purfuit — ■"
whereof he neglePted all other ways of Profit and Pledfure. '
Memor. J.
* Laerc.
jj Clc. Tufc. quaft. $.
* Laert.'
Xenophon affirms, he was continually abrod, that in the Alorning he vifitedthe places ffipublick walking and exercife-, when it voas full the Fo¬ rum •, and the refi oj the day he fought out the moji populous Aleet ings, where he Difputed openly for every one to hear that he would. .
he did only teach, faith t Plutarch, when the utrum. Cent Benches were prepar'd, andhimfelf in the Chair, ger. vcjp. ' or in Jet hours of Reading and Dijcourfe, or ap¬ pointments of walking with his friends, but even vohen he played, whenhe eat, or drank,when he was in the Camp or Alarket-, finally, when he was in Prifon-phus he made every place a School ofVertue.
His manner of Teaching was anfwerable to his Opinion, that the Soul pre-exillent to the Body, in her firll leparate condition, endowed with per* febl knowledge, by immerlion into matter, be- llupified, and in a manner loll, until a-
came
f r/^f.
^ Piet, Men,
, C H A P. III.
His Alafier.
The fill! Mailer of Socrates was Anaxa- 'igoriis^ whereby, amongll other Circum- flantes,''‘it4s derrionltrable, tliat the account of Laertius isconvepx.,. Anaxagoras not dying in the leventy eighth, but eighty eighth Olympiad.
Ariftonhis. fiith, that as, loon as Anaxagoras left the^ity, he applied himfelf to \ArchcJaus, which, according to Porphyrius, was in the le- venteeth year of his age. ^ Of him he was much beloved,' and Travelled with him to Samos, to Pytho, and to the Ifihmus.
He was . Scholar likewife to Damon, whom Plato calls' a moll pleafing teacher of Mulick, and_ all other things that he would teach him- lelf, to young Men. Damon was Scholar ro A- Mailer to PmVZfx, C/inias and others^ intimate With • He was Banilhed by'
tht unpii '^PfiraeiJm of the Athenians lor his exellence in Mufick.
He heard alfo (’f- as he acknowledgeth) Pro- Socrates, who was for that reafon called tigar-, that dicus the Scmhill a whom Eujebius ranks in ' is, one that perfonates an unlearned Alan, and the eighty ftxth Olynoplad, contemporary with ; is an admirer of others as Wife, t In this Irony t Lie Orat. %, ^ ^ ~ . ' (jydtCicei'o) and Diffimulat ion he far exceeded all
Men in pleafantnefs and urbanity', it is a very E- /egant,Jvoeet andjacete kind fpeech acute with Gravity, accommodated with TRhetorick.,words, and p leaf ant fpeeches-, he det railed from himfelf in • cuer. Acad.-
wakened by difeourfe from fenfible objeblsj whereby by degrees fhe recovers her firft know¬ ledge ^ for this reafon he taught only by Irony and InduSion : The firft ^ ^lintilian defiiies an abfo- lute diffimulation of the Will more apparent than * conjefiffio as in that, the words are different from the words, in this the Senfe from the Speech,whiljl the whole confirmation of the Caufe, even the whole Life feems to carry an \xot\y, fuch was the Life of
Gdiffias, Hjppias, and Hippocrates AxQPhylWvcm.
To theifb add Diotyma. and. Afjiafia, 'l^fomen excdlently Learned., the firft fuppofed to have been inlpired with a Prophetical Spirit. By her 'he affirmed that he was inftrubled concerning •Loye, Iw Corporeal Beauty to find out that of, rhe'Souft of the Angelical Mind, of God. See | Plato's Phadrus, and that long Difeourfe in his Sympofium upon this SubjeH, which Socrates confeffeth to be owing to her,-
dfpute./ind attributedmore to thefehe meanttocon' 4.
futeffo, when he faid,or thought another thing, he freely ufed that diffimulation which the Greeks call Irony which Annius alfo faith,was in Africanus.
InduHion
P A R- T HI.
SO OR ATE s.
t De iinient. i. Indidlion is by ^ Cicero defined ^ manner oj 'Difcourfe^ which' gains the ajfent of him with whom It is held, to things not doubtful, by which ajfent s it caufeth that he yield to a doubtful thing, by rcajon of the likenejs it hath to thofe things whereunto he afi'ented : This kindofSpeechSocm- . tes mcjl ufed, becaufe he would not himfelfufe any argument of perfwafton, but rather phofe towork fome thing out of that which he granted him with who)}! he difputed, wjpich he, by reafon of that Tohichhe already yielded unto, muji necejfarily ap¬ prove of which he gives a large example in Pla¬ to’s b Meno. Thus, whojoever difputed with him of what fubje^l focver, (f his end being only to promote NQiXMtfutas at la ft brought round about to give an account of his Life pafi and prefent, where into being once entred, he 'never gave him over till he hadfujficiently examinedthofe things, and never lei them go (a Proteus like) till they came at lafi to the }nf elves.
For this realbii « he uled to fay, his skill had foine affinity with that of his Mother, he being like a Midwife, tho’ barren (as he modeltly a&ms) in himlelf' endeavour’d with a par¬ ticular gift in affifting others, to bring forth what they had within themfelves j ^ and this was one reafon why he refufed to take Mony, affirming that he knew nothing him¬ lelf, and that s he was never Matter to any.
Thele difputes of Socrates were committed to writing by his Scholars, wherein h Zenophon. gave example to the reft, in doing it firtt,as alfo with moft punctualnels , as Tlato with mott Liberty, intermixing fo much of his own, as it is not eafie to dittinguifh the Matter from the Scholar j ‘ whence Socrates hearing him recite his^ Lyfis, laid, how many things dotli this young Man feign of me? And ^ Xenophon denying Socrates ever difputed of Heaven, or of natural Caufes , or the other Difciplines which the Greeks call faith,they, who afcribe fuch differ tations to hint, lyefalfely, where¬ in ( as ‘ tI. Gellius obferves,) he intends Plato, | whofe Books Socrates difcourfeth of Hatural Thi- lofopy, Mufick, and Geometry.
CHAP. V.
Of his Thilofuphy.
b Pluti Lach. e Liban.
Apol.
a plat. Enthy- phyr.
e Plut.Thutet. Flutarch. quxji. Platon.i.
fScM. A) i‘ ftoph. in nub. f.
129.
g plat Apol.
h Laert. Vit. Tfi.enph.
{ Lmt. vit. pint.
k Epifl. ad Ephin.
‘quence variety, and copioufnefs, to whatfoe- ‘ ver part he gave himfelf, he was without ex- ‘ ception, Prince of all
Having fearched. into all kinds of Science, ■ he qbferved thele inconveniences and imper- fe£lions : c Firtt, That it was improper to leave c xen. mem. i. thofe affairs which concern Mankind, to 7^=’*
quire into things without us. Secondly, That thefe things are above the reach 'of Man , whence .are occafioned all difputes and oppofi- tions, Ibme acknowledging no G6d, others worttiipping Stocks and Stones- IbVrie affert- ing one fimple Being,, others infinite •, feme that all things are moved, others, that all things are immoveable. And thirdly, that thele things, if attained, could not be pradifed, for he who contemplating divine Mytteries ,'‘'efiquires by what necelfity things were made, cahnOt him- felt make any thing, or upon occafion produce Winds,Water, Sealbns, or the like. '
Thus elfeeming Ipeculative knowledge as far only a^ it conduceth to pradice, he cut off in all Sciences what he conceived of leaf! ule:
d in Arithm'etickfis, approved only as much as tdenoph.mmt was neceffary. e (Plato inftanceth in i|Vlerchan- , dile and Tadicks) but to proceed to uielels ope-* ^ rations he difallowed. In Geometry he allow’d that part which teacheth Meafuring, as no lefs ealie than uleful ^ but to proceed to infinite propolitions and demonttrations he dilallow’d, as wholly unprofitable. In Aflrology he appro¬ ved the knowledge of the Stars, and oblervation of the Night, Months, and Seafons, as being ealily learned, and very beneficial in Naviga- tion;,and to thofe who hunt by Night ^ but to , examine the difference of Spheres, diftance of ^
Stars from the Earth , and their Circles, he ' diffwaded as uielels.
f Finally, Noting how little advantage Spe- fiaeri, dilation brought to the Life and Converfation of M.ankind,he reduced her to ablion. He yi>/?, laith g Cicero, called Philofophy away from things in-eAcad.qMf.i, volved by Nature in hecrecy, wherein, until his time all Philofophers had been employed, and brought her to commonLife, to enquire ofl^rtues, and Vices, Good and Evil.
Man, who was the foie fubjed of his Phi¬ lofophy, having a twofold relation of di¬ vine Speculation, and humane Converfation, his Dodrines.were in the former refped Aletaphy- fical, 4n the latter Moral.
* mflor.Ecclef. -T^Orphyrius ( who was fo abufive, as a Ni- X cephorus oblerves, that he traduced Socrates with no Icfs bitternefs,than as if he endeavour’d to out-do his accufers, Anytm and Melitus) af¬ firms ^ b ‘ He was ingenious in nothing,unlearn’d b Tkeodoret. c ali^fcarce able to write, which when upon any
‘occafion he did, it was to derifion, and that he ‘ could read no better than a Hammering School- ‘ boy : To which we lhall oppole thefe Autho¬ rities .- Xenophon who attetts he was excellent in all kinds of Learning, inftanceth in Arithme- tick. Geometry, and Aftrology ^ Plato, in Na¬ tural Philofophy *, Idomeneus, in Rhetorick ; La¬ ertius in Medicine ; In a word, Cicero averts, ‘ That by the tettimony of learned Men, and the ‘ Judgment of all Greece, as well in Wifdom, ‘ acutenefs,' politenels and fubtilty, as iii elo-
Sed. I. Metaphyficks.
I S Metaphyfical Opinions are thus colle-p^^^^ ded and abridged out of Plato,Xenophon,
Plutarch, arid others.
‘ Philofophy is the way to true Happinels,
‘ the Offices whereof are two, to contemplate ‘ God, and to abftrad the Soul from corporeal
‘ There are three Principles of all things,G(?^, phit‘if^.^‘^‘ ‘ Matter, and Idea^ j God is the univerfal intel- ‘ led •, Aiatter the Subjed of Generation and ‘ Corruption ^ Idea an incorporeal fubftance,the ‘ Intelled of God •, God the Intelled of the ‘World. *
‘ God is one, ri h
‘ KdMt » "^©’iperfed in himfelf, giv- Plat, phad,
ing-
78
SOCRATES.
‘ ing the being, and well-being of every Crea- ‘ ture j what he is, (faith he) I know not, what he is not, I know.
*Xen.memor.u ‘ ^ That God, not chance, made the World ‘ and all Creatures, is demonftrable from the ‘ reafonable difpofition of their parts, as well ‘ for ufe as defence-, from their Care topreferve ‘ themfelves, and continue their Species, that he ‘ particularly regards Man in his Body, from ‘ the excellent upright form thereof, fiom the ‘ gift of Speech, from allowance ms 'mr ‘ nJhfds in his Soul, from
‘the excellency thereof above others 5 in both ‘ for divinations, predifting dangers j that he
* regards particulars ^ from his care of the
* whole Species ^ that he will reward fuch as ‘ pleafe him, and punifh fuch asdifpleafe him •
‘ from his Power to do it, from the belief he ‘ hath imprinted in a Man, that he will do it ^ ‘ profeff by the moft wife and civilized Cities’
‘ and Ages ; that he at once feeth all things ‘ from the inftances of the Eye, which at once ' over-runs many Miles ; and of the Mind, which ‘ at once confidereth things done in the moft ‘ diftant places. Finally, that he is fuch, and ‘ fo great, that he at once fees all, hears all
‘ is every where, and orders all. This is the fum of his Difcourle with Arijiodemus^^to which we may annex what is cited under his name (if not miftaken) by Stob^us^ ^