people to put him to death, on the charge of denying the gods, and corrupting the youth. And this too, after he had done all he could for them, in peace and war.

H. War! Jane? Did Socrates ever fight?

J. Yes, it seems he was obliged like all other citizens to go to war; and he was as good a soldier, as he was a philosopher. But this did not save him.

Mrs H. And Aristophanes, of whom I told you, was one who did a great deal to persuade the people to condemn him, unfounded as the charges were.

J. He was allowed to choose what death he would die; but he would not choose, because that, he said, would be acknowledging his guilt. His judges therefore, ordered him to drink poison. While he was in prison, his friends hired the jailor to let him escape, and provided a vessel and a place of retreat: but when they thought they had got everything ready, Socrates would not go. He said he had spent his life teaching the Athenians to obey the laws, and now should he break them himself? No! He would not go,' though they all begged, and cried, and did all they could to persuade him to save his life. And he staid there, and took the cup of poison in his hand and drank it as calmly as he would a draught of water; then walk

ed about the room till he began to feel the poison affect his limbs; then he lay down on the bed and died like a person going to sleep. Now, mama, when he knew nothing of the Bible, or of going to heaven, what made him feel so willing to die?

Mrs H. That is a very natural question, my dear. But Socrates knew nothing of sin, or of its punishment; and he thought his own righteousness was sufficient to insure his happiness in the next world, whatever should be the way in which he should enjoy it. And although he believed the soul would live after the death of the body, and be punished or rewarded for its good or bad actions; and although he really despised the foolish rites of the heathen, and believed there was but one God; yet he did not let the fear of that God influence his whole conduct; for he feared to let his belief be known, and continued to the last, to worship those whom he believed to be no gods. The last thing he said, was, to direct one of his friends to pay for him, a vow which he had made to one of these heathen deities. We must then conclude that Socrates, like Cyrus, and many more, had light and instruction enough to know that there was but one God, and yet they lived in the constant practice of the most absurd idolatry.

H. When you come to the time in which

CHAPTER X.

HISTORY OF THE GRECIANS.

Mrs H. There are a few more Grecian characters with whom I wish you to be acquainted, and then we will pass to another part of their history.

J. These are not all the great men who lived there, are they?

Mrs H. By no means. But you would not recollect them all, if I should tell you, and there are many, whose histories are so connected with the history of their country that we shall attend to them in their proper place. Greece, between the periods of, from four to six hundred years before Christ, abounded with men, eminent either for their courage and ability as warriors, or their taste as poets, or their skill as artists, or their learning in general as philosophers. When you are older, you must become more acquainted with their characters and their works. I will tell you now a little about Plato.

He was a scholar of Socrates, and Rollin says ' if he had had no other scholar, Plato himself would have been a world.' Another

author says, 'he possessed a mind almost unrivalled for its completeness.' Upon the death of his master, he left Athens, and afterwards went to Syracuse on the island of Sicily, at the pressing request of its king, Dionysius the Younger. This prince, if he had possessed the advantage of a good education, would have been an excellent monarch. But his father was so great a tyrant, that he could not bear to see good qualities, even in his own children, and took pains to have Dionysius badly educated.

F. Who ever heard of such a monster!

Mrs H. His name has been held in detestation ever since. His son, however, had some good qualities left, and Dion, his uncle, and the only one of his counsellors, who was not full of all evil, took a great deal of pains to excite his love for something better than feasting and drunkenness; and it was through his exertions, that Plato was sent for to the court. He was received with unbounded joy by the young king, who listened to his discourses with the greatest delight, and the palace soon became a school room, strewed with geometricial figures and other apparatus of the like nature.

The

dissipated courtiers, however, soon grew tired of this new employment; and at last they persuaded the king to send away Dion, under pretence that he was trying to keep