2 79^' HISTORY OF A FORTUXATE IDLER. 87 



May I not, Mr, Editor, with great truth fubfcriba 

 myfelf 



A Fortunate Son of Idleness. 



On the Hijlory of Authors hy Frofejfwn. 



No. IV. 



I HAVE remarked, in the concluflon of the laft'number, 

 that there is a fact in the hillory of the Greek philofo- 

 phers, which evinces, that they liave undergone the 

 fame changes in their condition, as the modern pro- 

 fefl'ors of literature. Their change, I fix at the period 

 when they avowedly and regularly began to receive mo- 

 ney for their public leftures ; and I ailert, that anterior 

 to that period, they Tnujl have depended on the patronage 

 of private individuals ; and that pofterior to zV, they, 

 like modern authors, depended on the price paid hj the 

 public for their produBions. To piove the lirll of thefe 

 pofitions, I Hiall neither have recourfe to Laertius, 

 to Stanley, or to Brucker. I fliall neither urge the 

 connexion of Anaxagoras with Pericles, that of Socr-u 

 tes with Alcibiades, that of Aritlotle with Philip, nor 

 the voyages of Plato and Ariflippus to the Court of Di- 

 onyiius. I lliall felect a more fimple mode of argument, 

 Thefe philofophers were not men of hereditary for- 

 tunes ; they did not cultivate any enriching profellioiis ^ 

 they profefTed to gain nothing by that literature to 

 which they dedicated their lives. How then were they 

 fupported, all in the conveniences, fome in the indul- 

 gencics and luxuries of life ? Undoubtedly by the muniji- 

 (ence of patrons. The queftion admits no other i;n- 

 *v\'er;— the f'acl admits no other explanation. 



Till the moment, then, that we find them giving 

 public le£lures for money, we mu(f conclude the lite- 

 "^'iti of Greece to have fubfifted in a ftate of patronage, 



