86 March — Socrates. 



but its action in northern countries is much feebler than 

 in the warmer climate of the Mediterranean. The Athe- 

 nians added poppy-juice to the infusion of hemlock, that 

 the approach of death might be painless ; and it is said 

 by Valerius Maximus that the civil authorities of Mar- 

 seilles kept a supply of this drink always ready for 

 weary ones who had obtained the permission of the 

 Senate to lay down the burden of existence. Those in- 

 deed were waters of oblivion ; and it is astonishing how 

 easily, in certain conditions of society, men have come 

 to look on death as a deliverer, to be invoked whenever 

 life is felt to be unpleasantly painful, or even simply 

 ennnyeuse. But the death of Socrates, half voluntary, 

 was grander than their death which was wholly volun- 

 tary. His dignity seemed to him incompatible with 

 flight, and he awaited the fatal cup with that perfect 

 mental clearness which is so well known to us. He died 

 for having preached the philosophy of the conscience, 

 which the Athenians instinctively felt to be opposed to 

 the antique religion of the State, however careful he 

 might be in external conformity to its rites.* 



In the same old abandoned garden where the hem- 

 lock grows on the walls there remain a few fruit-trees, 



* 'En vain prenait-il soin d'assister a toutes les fetes et de prendre 

 part aux sacrifices ; ses croyances et ses paroles dementaient sa con- 

 duite. II fondait une religion nouvelle, qui etait le contraire de la relig- 

 ion de la cite. On l'accusa avec verite "de ne pas adorer les dieux 

 que l'etat adorait." On le fit perir pour avoir attaque les coutumes et 

 les croyances des ancGtres, ou, comme on disait, pour avoir corrompu 

 la generation presente.' — La Citi antique, by M. Fustel de Cou- 



LANGES. 



