SOCRATES. 45 



worship of the gods, and the reverence due to parents; that it is 

 reasonable to conclude that these laws have the divine sanction, be- 

 cause the violation of them carries with it its own punishment, a pro- 

 vision surpassing the wisdom and power of a human legislator. (This 

 argument is insisted upon by Bishop Butler, in the second chapter of 

 his ' Analogy '). 



In the course of a life spent in disseminating the principles of truth His Politics, 

 and morality, as discoverable by the light of nature, Socrates delivered 

 maxims and rules for the conduct of men in every relation of civil 

 and social life. Those which are recorded by Xenophon are marked 

 by that sound and practical common sense which was the leading 

 feature of his philosophy. With regard to politics, the peculiar con- 

 stitution of the Athenian polity, and the temper of the times, made 

 him cautious in delivering his sentiments. Yet he said enough, at 

 different times, to make his countrymen suspect that he disliked the 

 existing constitution of Athens. He remarked (at least JElian tells 

 us that he remarked) that democracy is tyrannical, and abounds with 

 the evils of monarchy. It was urged by his enemies that he rendered 

 his hearers disaffected towards the democracy; and indeed, although 

 he was too good a citizen to promote sedition and political violence, it 

 was not possible that he should approve of the manner in which the 

 Athenian government was conducted. He wished, as Mr. Mitford 

 has remarked, for wholesale changes by gentle means ; and it seems 

 to have been an object which he never lost sight of, in all his teaching, 

 to infuse those principles into the Athenian youth, which might insen- 

 sibly produce the wished-for change. Although he took no part in 

 politics himself, he endeavoured to obtain an influence over those young 

 men, who were most likely, from their wealth, their talents, and their 

 ambition to bear sway in the popular assemblies. Thus employed, and 

 courted as he was by many of the richest and most powerful of the 

 Athenian youth, it is no wonder, if the vulgar demagogues considered 

 him as a dangerous rival, and were desirous of exciting popular jealousy 

 against him. 



Socrates was about forty-six years of age when he was introduced Socrates held 

 by Aristophanes in his comedy of ' The Clouds,' and held up to Jg^jJ 

 public derision. It is well known, that what is called the old comedy. Clouds of 

 the leading writers of which were Eupolis, Cratinus, and Aristophanes, Anst P hai 

 introduced, without scruple, living personages upon the stage, not only 

 exhibiting the peculiarities of their moral and political characters, but 

 representing, by means of masks and dresses, their personal appear- 

 ance. The great object of the comic poets was, to please a popular 

 audience, and to obtain their suffrages for the prize awarded to the 

 most deserving. But they not unfrequently had a higher object in view : 

 Aristophanes in particular directed his wit against the mischievous, 

 but too popular demagogues of his time, with the truest patriotism ; 



laws enacted for the common good, and the unwritten laws, the violation of which 

 brings with it acknowledged disgrace. So also Demosthenes, de Coron. 83. 



