Part III.

* Mtnnxixl.
lib. 1.
dren well, but dying lioneilly , his friends would take the more care of them: mat whatfoever inconvenience might ^Ine , no thing was to be preferred before Juitice *, that if he fhould efcapeby Treachery, the remaiu- der of his Life would be never the more hap¬ py nor himfelf after Death better entertain d in the next World. Thefe things (faith hej I hear like the Corybanuan Pipes, the iouna of thefe Woids makes me deaf to every thing elfe^ therefore whatever you (hall fay to the contrary, will be to no purpofe ^ but it you have any other Bufinels, fpeak. an-
fwering , he had not any elfe 5 as tor this then (concludes he ) fpeak no triore ot it, let us go the way which God points out to
us.
CHAP. XII.
'The time and manner of hk Death.-
TH E time of Socrates's Death is formerly touched^ the Marble at Arundel- Houfe.^ laith he, died when Laches was Archon, aged leventy years, which (according to Plato) compleat, for he faith iCfo/Mino/Ja.. De¬ metrius Phalcrius laith, he died the firit of the ninety fifth O^mpiad, having lived Seventy Years, f Diodorus Siculus avers, it W'US done in that Year, Laches being Ar
chon. 1 ■ , . •
Although there be not any thing in the Greek Story fettled by better Authority , than the Years of Socrates-.^ Leo Allatim viHLvaMch. Confidence, and little Reafoh, controverts the re'''eived Chronology of his Life and Death, the cccafion is this ^ the fourteenth of the So- cratick Epiftles publifhed by him, mentioneth an Oration of Polycrates^ as fpoken at the Arraignment of Socrates •, but the Walls of Athens xQmvsed by Conon fix Years after t^he Death of Socrates, being fpoken of in that Oration, the Epiftle is thereby rendred fufpici- ous the Truth feems to be this ^ Aftenhe death of Socrates, it became an ordinary Theme in the Schools of Khetorick (which was at that time muchftudiedat Athens) to fpeak for and againft Socrates. Polycrates, a Sophifter, to ex- ercife his wit, wrote, an InveHive : a
famous Orator, who died about the hundredth Olympiad, had written ( as we have almady faid ) an Apologetick, which is by the Scho- liaft of Ariftides cited in anfwer to Poly crates. Apologies were in like manner written by Plato, ^ Xenophon, and (long after by) Lihamus -, al¬ though Ifocrates admonilhcd Polycrates of cer¬ tain Errors in his Oration againft S^ratesy yet the Anachronifm continued , for Chronology was not yet ftudied in Athens •, and thence it is that P/J^^ himfelf is in that refped fo much reprehended by AihcMus. ArjMe! JHacrohm zA others; The Writer of the Socnitical E- piftle admits Polycrates as the Accufei at the Trial, and the Oration as then,and there fpoken, fo alfo doth Hermippus w'hom Laertius cites to the fameEffetf •, but Phavorinus, a Ciitick of later times, when Chronology was more exa^, deteCcs the Error by Computation 0
times: Allatius will by no means liave the critfcifm of Phavorinus allowed, and labours to introduce an uncertainty of the time, to the end he may perfwade that Socrates lived be¬ yond the reparation of the Walls of the great Engine wherewith he labours to de- molifh all that hath been afferted by the Anci¬ ents, is the Teftimony of Suidas, who (I know not upon what Authority ) faith, he lived Eighty Years: His fmaller -Artillery are the groundlels emendation of Meurfius, and the miftake of Scaliger hofoio noted j the abfurd Metachronifm of the Chronicum Alexandri- mm, which makes Socrates die in the one hundred and fourth Olympiad, and in the nine¬ tieth Year of his Age j the anittorefie of the unknown Writers of Arijiotle's Life, who fuppofeth him in the feventeenth Year of his Age, to have heard Socrates three Years, and which is moft ridiculous, the notorious Ana- ehronifras of Plato muft ferve as irrefragable Arguments to impugn 'the Truth. With thefe proofs in the Sophiftical difguife of a Dia¬ logue, he endeavours to, puzzle the unwary ■ Reader.
The manner of his Death receive from Plato in the Perfon of Phacdo an Eye-witnefs ^ ‘ Every ‘ day ( faith he ) I went with other Friends ‘ of his to vifit him ; we met in the Court ‘ where he was tried, it being near the Priibn ‘ where we entertained our lelves with difcourle ‘ till the Prifon was opened, then went in unto ‘him and fpent many times the whole day ‘ with him. But that day we met fooner than ‘ordinary, for the Evening before as we came ‘ out of the Prifon, we heard the Ship was ‘ come from Delos, and thereupon we appoint- ‘ ed to meet early the next Morning at the u- ‘ fual place, where being come, the Porter came ‘ out to us, and told us that we muft ftay a ‘ while before we could be admitted, for the ‘ eleven Officers were there taking off his ‘ Fetters having brought him word that he ‘ muft die to day : Not long after he came ■ out again, and .told us we might go in, where ‘when we came, we found Socrates's Fet- ‘ ters newly taken off, and Xantippe fitting ‘ by him with a Child in her Arms: She as I- foon as (he faw us , burft forth into Tears,
and cried out. Ah; Socrates^ this is the
‘laft time thy Friends (hall ever fpeak to ‘ thee, or thou to them. Crito (faith Socrates, ‘ addrefling himlelf to^ him) let fon^ body ‘ carry her home •, whereupon fome ot Crito s ‘ fervants led her away exclaiming, and beat- ‘ ing her Breaft. Socrates who was fitting up- ‘ on the Bed, drew up his Leg and rubbed it, ‘ faying the whilft,How ftrange a thing,Friends, ‘ is that which Men call Pleafure, how near ^ a Kin to Pain, to which it feems fo contrary > ’ They arrive not indeed together, but he that ‘ takes one, is immediately overtaken by the ‘ other, as if they were tied together : If .M- ’■fop had obferved this, certainly he wtould ^ have made fome Fable of it, as if God wil- ‘ ling to compofe their difference, had join- ‘ ed them by the end, not being able to make ‘ them ablolutely one •, fo that wholbever hath ‘ cne, muft ftraight have the other alfo -, as ‘ it happens to ms at this time, the Pain my
tetters
r
%
I
‘S'
/■
PART. IIL
SOCRATES.
93
*■ Fetters even now gave me, is now turned to ‘ a kind of Pleafure, dnd tickles me. You have ‘ opportunely (faid Cehs) put me in mind to ‘ ask why fince your Iraprifbnment (which tyou^ever did before) you have writ Po- ‘ems a Hymn to Apllo^ and JEJofs Fables ‘ rendred into Verfe ^ many have queftioned ‘ me about it, particularly Euenus •, if he repeat ‘ this demand, what anlwer flialll give him ? ‘ Tell him ( anfwers Socrates ) that truly I did ‘ it not to contend with him and his Verfes, ‘ but to comply with a Dream (which I have ‘ had more than once) enjoyning me to pra- ‘ Sife Mufick •, in obedience whereunto I hrft ‘ made Verfes in honour of the God whofe ‘ Feaft this was; Then, conceiving it effential ‘ to a Poet to write Fiftions, which of my felf, ‘lufe not, I made ufe of fome of jEfop\ ‘ which I had in memory, as they firff came
‘ of good Courage, hoping that fornjthing of ‘ Man fubfilts after Death, and that it is then much better with the good than with the bad. Here Crito interrupting him, told him ‘ that he who was to adminilter the Poyibn,
‘ advifed^ him to Ipeak little, and not heat him- ‘ felf with dilpute, for it agreed not with that ^ kind of Poifon , which ibme neglebfing,
‘ had been conftrained to take it two or three ‘ times : Miiid him not, faid Socraies^ let him ^ provide as much as may ferve twice or thrice,
‘ if need be. Then' he proceeded in a large ' Difeourfe to declare that the chief office of a Philofopher is to meditate on Death ; there¬ fore he ought not to fear the approach of it ; That as Death is the Solution of the Soul from the Body, fo is it the office of a Philo- Ibpher to free the Soul from Corporeal AffeSions ;• That if we underhand the bet- into fancy ; tell this, and bid him from I ter, the more the Soul is dif engaged from
me farewel, and if he be wife, follow me, for Senfe , wp fhall underhand moh perfeffly it feems I muh go hence to day, the Athenians I when (he is wholly freed from the Body by have fb ordered it. What is that, laid SintmasA Death, whichFerfeflion of Knowledge is the which you bid Euenus do ? I have bffen con- fbl£ end of Philofophy.
‘ verfed with him, but as far as I underhand ‘ him, he will not be at all ready to be rul’d by ‘ you ; what, faith he, is he not a Piiilofo- ‘ pher ? He feems fo, anfwers Simmias 5 then ‘he will (replied Socrates ) and fo will all ‘ who deferve that name ; but perhaps he will ‘not lay violent hands upon himlelf, that is ‘ not Lawful : And as hewaslpeaking thus, he ‘ fet down his Leg again to the Ground, and ‘ fitting fo, continued all the reh of the di- ‘ fpute. Then asking why, how it could ^ be that it fhould be prohibited to ones felf , ‘yet that a Philofopher ought to defire to ‘ follow a dying Perfon ? He anlwered , Men
This part of the Difeourfe ended, Cehes oc- cafions the renewing of it by the defiring him to prove the immortality of the Soul, which he doth firft from the neceffary - fucceffion of Generation and Corruption as contraries, the ground of the Pythagorean Tranfmigration; next from the Soul's manner of realbning, which being only by reminifcence argues it had a Being before the Body (when it had perfeif knowledge of thole Ideas which upon occafi- on of fenfible objebfs it recovers ) and conle- quently (hall fubfift after it ; much more is fpoken by Plato under his name, whereof al- moft all is manifeftly Plato'’s own , nor is it
‘ are the Pofieffions of God, would you not be poffible to leleff that which is not from the ‘ angry if your Slave Ihould kill himlelf againft reftj the conclufion of hi^Difeourfe (as con-
‘ your will , and if it were in your Power pu- ‘ nilh him ^ We muff expefl a Summons from ‘ God, an inevitable neceflity ffuch as I have ‘ at this time )^ to take us hence. This is truth,
‘ replied Cebes , but what you alTerted even ‘ now Is inconfiftent with it ; God taking care ‘ of u§ as his PolTelfions, can a wife Man de- ‘ fire to be out of his Proteftion ? He cannot ‘ think to mend his condition by freeing himlelf ‘from fo excellent a Government. Socrates ‘ leeraed much plealed with the fubtlety of ‘ Cebes.^ and turning to us laid, Cebes is always ‘ inquilitive, nor will eafily admit any thing : [
‘ To me, faid Simmias.^ what he hath laid feems ‘ reafon, how can wife Men endure , much ‘ lels endeavour to part with thofe that ard lb ‘much better than themfelves? But CebeshQiQ- ‘ in refie£fs upon you , who are fo ready to ‘ leave us, and the Gods whom you acknow- ‘ ledge good Governours : You lay well, an- ‘ fwers Socrates.^ I fuppofe you would have ‘ me anlwer as in a Court of Judicature ; by all ‘ means, laith Simmiai'\, well then, replies he,
'■ I will endeavour to deferid my lelf better a- ‘ gainlf you than I did before the Judges ; Tru-
■ ly did I not believe I Ihould and to Men better than any
■ inexcu table for contemning Death but I am | ‘ it bell to walh berore I take the Poifon, that fure to go to the Gods, very good Mailers, j ‘ I may fave the Women the Labour of walking
‘ and hope to meet with good Men, and am 1 ‘ me when I am dead.
i When
trabfed by Cicero) ‘ That there are monfe. ‘ways, and a twofold courfe of Souls when ^27, ‘ they go out of the Bodjj^: For fuch as have ‘ defiled themfelves with humane Vices given ‘ over to Pleafures wherewith they are blind- ‘ ed, according as they are polluted with do- ‘ meftick Sins, or have ufed inexpiable deceits ‘ to wrong the Publick , take 2r by-way feci.u- ‘ ded from the Counfel of the Gods: But they ‘who have preferved themfelves intire and ‘ chafie from the leaf! Contagion of their Bodies,
‘ having always withdrawn themfelves from ‘ them, and in humane fielh imitated the Lives ‘ of Gods, find a ready way open for them ,
‘ leading them to thofe from whom they came :
‘ and as Swans are ( not without reafon) la- ‘ cred to Apollo , becaufe they leem to have ‘ learnt Divination from him, whereby fbrefee- ‘ ing the good that is in Death, they dye with ‘ Songs and delight •, fo ought all good and ‘ knowing Perfons to do : ^ Let every one '
‘ therefore prepare for this Journey againft the ‘ time that Fate lhall call him away ; \om Sim- ‘ mias , Cebes^ and the reft here prelent lhall go ‘ at your appointed Hour, me fate now fum-
. go 'to juft gods, ‘ mons (as the Tragedian laith) and perhaps y living, I were ‘ it is time that I go into the Bath, fbr I think
94
j When he had made an end ot ipeaking, Crito asked him what Direftions he would ' ‘ leave concerning his Sons and other Affairs.
" and if they could do any thing that might ‘be acceptable to him? I delire no more ‘ (faith he; than what I have often told you, ‘ if you take care of your lelves, whatfoever ‘ you do will be acceptable to me and mine, ‘ though you promile nothing j il you neg- ‘ left your lelves and Vertue, you can do no- } ‘ thing acceptable to us, though you pro-
‘ mife never fo much that, anlwered Crito^ ‘ we fhall oblerve^ hut how will you beBu- ‘ ried ? as you think good, faith he, if you can ‘ catch me, and that I give you not the flip, ‘ then with a Smile applying himfelf to us, 1 ‘ cannot perfwade Crito^ faith he, that I am ‘ any thing more than the Carkals you will a- ‘ non behold, and therefore he takes this care ‘ for my Enterrment*, it feems that what ‘ eVen now I told him that as loon as I have ta- ‘ ken the Poifon, I fhall go to the Joys of the ‘ Bleffed, hath been to little pufpofej he was ‘ my Bail, bound to the Judges for my Appear- ‘ ance, you mult now be my Sureties to liim that ‘ I am departed-, let him not fay that Socrates is ‘ carried to. the Grave, or laid under Ground, ‘ for know, dear Crito^ fuch a miftake were a ‘ wrong to ray Soul -, be not dejefted, tell the « ‘ World my Body only is Buried, and that af-
‘ ter what manner thou pleafeft.. This faid, he ‘ arofe and retired into an inward Room, ta- ‘ king Crito with him, leaving us difcourfing ‘ upon our own Mifery, fhortly to be deprived ‘ like Orphans of fo dear a Father. After his ‘ Bathing, came his Wife and the other Wo- ‘ men of his Family with his Sons, two of . *■ them Children, one a Youth j when he had ^ taken Order with thefe about his Domeftick ‘ Affairs, he dilinilt them and came out to us.
^ It was now Sun-fet ( for he had Raid long ‘ within) when the Officer entred, and after a ‘ little paufe faid, I ^lave not, Socrates^ obferv'd ^ that Carriage in ^u which I have found in ‘ others, but as I thought you the moft generous ‘ the mildeft and belt of all Men that ever came in to this place, fo I now fee you hate me, not ‘ for that whereof others are the caufe : you ‘ know the Meffitge I bring, farewell-, bear what ‘ you cannot remedy ; with that he departed weeping, and fare thee well, ( faid Socrates)
I will : how Civil is this Man ? I found him ‘ the fame all the time of my Imprifonment, he ‘ would often Vifit me, Difcourfe with me, ufed ‘ me always Courteoufly, and' now fee how kind- ‘ ly he weeps for me ; but come, Crito^ let us do "^as he bids us, if the Poifon be ready, let it be * brought in ^ the Sun is yet fcarce Set, anfwers ‘ Crito : others take it late after a plentiful Sup- per and full Cups j make not fo much hafte, there is time enough; he replies, they who do ‘ fo think they gain time, but what fliall I gain, by drinking it late.^ only deceive my felf as ‘ covetous of life, and fparing of that which is no longer mine ; pray let it be as I fay ; then Crito lent one of the Attendants, who imme- ‘ diately returned, and with him the Man that ‘ was to adminifter the Poifon, bringing a Cup in his hand, to whom Socrates^ prethee honelt ‘ friend ( f>r_ thou art well verR in thefe bufi-
Part. III.
‘ nelies ) what mult 1 do ? nothing, laid he, but
‘ as foon as you have drunk, walk till you ‘ find your Legs begin to fail, then lie down,
‘ and in fo faying, he gave him the Cup, Socra- ‘ tes took it chearfuily, not changing either Countenance or Colour, and looking pleafantly ‘ upon him, demanded whether he might fpill ‘ any of it in libation, who anfwered, he had ‘ made no more than would jufl lerve ; yet,
‘ ikii\i.Socrates^ I may pray to God, and will,
‘ that my paffage hence may be happy, wffiich I befeech him to grant, and in the' fame in- ‘ Rant drank it off eafily without any diRur- bance ; many of us who till now had refrained ‘ from Tears, when we faw him put the Cup ‘ to his Mouth and drink off the Poifon, were ‘ not able to contain any longer -, which Socrates '' obferving, friend^ (faith hej what mean you ^ for this reafon I fent army the Women left they Should be fo unquiet'. 1 have heard we fhoulddte with gratulation and applaufe.^ he quiet then and take it patiently ; ‘ Thefe words made us with ‘ fhame fupprefs our Tears ; when he had walk- ‘ ed a while, perceiving his Legs to fail, he lay ‘ down on his back as the Executioner direQea him, who looking on his feet pinched them ‘ hard, asked him if he felt it, he anfwer- ‘ ed no, he did the like to his legs, andfhewing ‘ us how every part fucceffively grew cold and ‘ ftilf, told us when that chilnefs came at his heart he would die ; not long after he fpake thefe his laR words, 0 Crito.^ I owe .^fculapius a Cock., pay it., negleU it not. It fhall be done,
‘ faith Cr 'ito -, will you have any thing elfe ? He ‘made noanfwer, lay ftillawhile, thenflretch- ‘ ed himfelf forth ; with that the Executioner ‘ uncovered him, his Eyes were let, Crito doled ‘ them. This (faith ^lato) was the end of ‘ the beR, the wifeR, and mofl juR of Men :
‘ A Story, which Cicero profelleth, he never ‘ read without Tears.
Arijiotle laith, that a Magus coming from Syria to Athens., not only reprehended Socrates for many things, but foretold him alfo that he fhould die a violent Death. Laertius cloleth his Life with this Epigram,
I
Drink Socrates with ]ow.,next whom enthroned., ^
By Gods., andWifdonfs felf as wifeji owtfd. \
Thee., the Athenians a Lois' not/s draught., ^
But firft the fame they from thy Lips had quaft
_ A
CHAP. XIV.
What hapned after his Death. ■.
A
He was Buried, with Tears and much So- f
lemnity , ( contrary to his own diredion ) by his Friends, amongR whom t the exceflive f Plut.(le vkt. " Grief of Flato is obferved by Flutarch., and^""''* the Mourning Habit of If cerates: As loon they had perfornaed that laR Service, fearing the Cruelty of the Tyrants, they Role out of the City, the greater part to Alegara to Euclid, where they were kindly received, t the reR to t Lihini other Parts.
Soon
SOCRATES.