PLATO, 79 



cumstanced. For the human mind is so constituted, that virtue brings 

 with it its own satisfactions and consolations ; and indeed, the course 

 of human affairs, irregular as it may seem, is so tempered, that virtue 

 will sooner or later prevail, whilst vice brings with it not only its own 

 stings, but also inherent seeds of decay and downfal. 1 To despair 

 under any circumstances is a mark of self-willedness and of disloyalty 

 to Providence. The good being will never eventually desert that 

 spirit which has aspired as far as its faculties would permit, to assimi- 

 late itself in goodness to its great original, or suffer it when thus puri- 

 fied and advanced to a congenial nature, to undergo any real calamity. 

 The virtuous, therefore, may rely in confidence, that, whatever the ap- 

 pearances of things may be, real worth will never prejudice its pos- 

 sessor ; for that it is a general law of nature, that the destinies of men 

 are, in some respect or other, accommodated to their deficiencies or to 

 their qualifications. The virtuous must ultimately attain conditions 

 where their virtues will have suitable scope and energy; and the 

 vicious may congratulate themselves if visited with speedy punish- 

 ment, that they are provided with early means and opportunities of 

 being reclaimed from their errors, and disciplined to better habits ; but 

 those, on the other hand, are deserving of commiseration who have the 

 misfortune to succeed in purposes of mischief, and who become rooted 

 in the delusion of vice. 2 For it is an eternal and immutable law, the 

 operation of which pervades the entire universe, and from which no 

 created being can soar so high as to escape by his elevation, or shrink 

 so low as to screen himself by his obscurity. That virtue will even- 

 tually be rewarded and vice punished. 3 



It is very difficult to obtain a clear view of Plato's physical system. His Physical 

 He seems to have considered all the qualities of the visible world as s y stern> 

 compounded of two different and, indeed, opposite ingredients : per- 

 manent and invariable essences, and fleeting accidents. His essences 

 seem to have been endued by him with some inherent j)owers of 

 motion, and his accidents with the property of being acted upon. All 



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