s o c 



s o c 



after all that I have faid to convince you that I am going 

 to the fociety of the happy, that Crito ftill thinks this 

 body, which vifill foon be a hfelefs corpfe, to be Socrates ? 

 Let him difpofe of my body as he pleafes, but let him not, 

 at its interment, mourn over it, as If it vi'ere Socrates." 



Towards the clofe of the day, Socrates retired into an 

 adjoining apartment to bathe ; his friends, in the mean time, 

 exprefling to one another their grief, at the profpeft of 

 lofing fo excellent a father, and being left to pafs the reft 

 of their days in the folitary ftate of orphans. After a (hort 

 interval, during which he gave fome necell'ary inftruftions 

 to his domeilics, and took his laft leave of his children, the 

 attendant of tiie prifon informed him, that the time for 

 drinking tlie poifon was come. The executioner, though 

 accuftomed to fuch fcenes, (hed tears, as he prefented the 

 fata! cup. Socrates received it without change of coun- 

 tenance, or the Icail appearance of perturbation: then, 

 oifering up a prayer to the gods, that they would grant 

 him a profperous pafTage into the invifible world, with 

 perfect cornpofure he fwallowed the poifonous draught. 

 His friends around him burfl into tears. Socrates alone 

 remained unmoved. He upbraided their pufiUanimity, 

 and entreated them to exercife a manly conftancy, worthy 

 of the friends of virtue. He continued walking, till 

 the chilling operation of the hemlock obliged him to 

 lie down upon iiis bed. After remaining, for a fhort 

 time, filent, he requefted Crito (probably in order to refute 

 a calumny which might prove injurious to his friends 

 after his deceafe), not to negleft the offering of a cock, 

 which he had vowed to Efculapius. Then covering himfelf 

 with his cloak, he expired Such was the fate of the vir- 

 tuous Socrates i a ftory, fays Cicero, which I never read 

 without tears. 



The friends and difciples of this illuftrious teacher of 

 wifdom were deeply afflifted by his death, and attended 

 his funeral with every expreffion of grief. Apprehenfive, 

 however, for their own iafety, they, foon afterwards, pri- 

 vately withdrew from the city, and took up their refidence 

 in dillant places. Several of them vifited the philofopher 

 Euclid, of Megara, by whom they were kindly received. 



No fooncr was the unjnft condemnation of Socrates 

 known througli Greece, than a general indignation was 

 kindled in the minds of good men, who univerfally regretted 

 that fo dillingnifhed an advocate for virtue fhould have 

 fallen a facrifice to jealoufy and envy. The Athenians 

 themfelves, fo remarkable for their caprice, who never 

 knew the value of their great men till after their death, 

 foon became fenfible of the folly, as well as criminality, of 

 putting to death the man who had been the chief ornament 

 of their city, and of the age, and turned their indignation 

 againft his accufers. Melitus was condemned to death, 

 and Anytus, to efcape a limilar fate, went into voluntary 

 <"xile. To give a farther proof of the fincerity of their 

 regret, the Athenians, for a while, interrupted public 

 bufinefs ; decreed a general mourning ; recalled the exiled 

 friends of Socrates ; and erefted a ftatue to his memory in 

 one of the moll frequented parts of the city. His death 

 happened in the firlt year of the ninety-fixth Olympiad, 

 and in the 70th year of his age. Brucker's Hilt. Phil, by 

 Enfield, vol. i. 



Socrates, an ecclefiaftical hiftorian, was born and edu- 

 cated at Conftantinople ; and having ftudied under the 

 grammarians Helladius and Ammonius, he commenced 

 his career at the bar. But after fome time he relinquilhed 

 the profeflion of a law-pleader, and engaged in writing his 

 ecclefiaftical hiftorj', which comprehends, in feven books, the 

 interval of about 133 years, from the year 306, when Con- 



ftantine was declared emperor, to the feventeenth confulfhip 

 of Theodofius, A.D. 439, in which year Cave reprefents him 

 as flourifhing. Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret, may be 

 confidered as continuators of Eufebius of Caefarea ; and 

 thefe three writers, who lived in the time of Theodofius the 

 younger, whofe reign extended from the year 408 to 450, 

 publiftied their refpeftive hittones, which are valuable mo- 

 numents of antiquity, about the fame time, near the end 

 of this reign. Socrates feems to have been diftinguifhed by 

 his moderation and candour, which we may infer from the 

 freedom with which he cenfures the fquabbles and conten- 

 tions that fublifted amongft the Chriftian clergy in thofe 

 times, and condemns the perfecution that occurred in the 

 reign of Julian. From the candid manner in which he ex- 

 prefles his fentiments concerning the Novatian<, fome per- 

 fons have erroneoufly concluded that he was one of their 

 number. 



As an hiftorian, Socrates has the merit of being judicious 

 in his obfervations upon men and things, and generally accu- 

 rate in his chronology. He fpeaks with great refpedt of the 

 fcriptures of the Old and New Teftaments ; and has ex- 

 prefsly quoted the Acls of the Apoftles, and tiie Epiftles to 

 the Romans, the Corinthians, the Galatians, the Coloflians, 

 and the Hebrews : he likewife takes notice of a various 

 reading in i John, iv. 3. The work of Socrates was tranflated 

 into Latin by thofe who made verfions of the other Greek 

 ecclefiaftical hiftorians, and is ufually printed with them. 

 Thebeft editions are thofe of Valefius, fol. Paris, 1668, and 

 of Reading, fol. Cant. 1720. Dupin. Lardner. 



SOCRATIC Induction, in Rhetoric. See Induc- 

 tion. 



SocRATic Philoftphy, the doftrines and opinions, with 

 regard to morality and religion, maintained and taught by 

 Socrates. 



As Socrates left nothing in writing, we are indebted to 

 his illuftrious pupils, Xenophon and Plato, for what is known 

 both of his opinions and manner of teaching ; and more 

 efpecially to the former, whofe memoirs of Socrates contain 

 more accurate information than the dialogues of Plato, be- 

 caufe he intermixes his own conceptions and diftion with the 

 ideas and language of hismafter. Accordingly it is related, 

 that when Socrates heard Plato recite his Lyfis, he faid, 

 " How much does this young man make me fay, which I never 

 conceived !" The diftinguilhing charadler of Socrates was 

 that of a moral philofopher ; and to this purpofe Xenophon 

 denies that he ever taiijjht natural philofophy, or any mathe- 

 matical fcience, and charges with mifreprefentation and 

 falfehood thofe who had afcribed to him didertations of 

 this kind, probably in this charge referring to Plato, in 

 whofe works Socrates is introduced as difcourfing on thefe 

 fubjefts. 



The doftrine of Socrates concerning God and religion is 

 rather practical than fpeculative. But he did not negleA 

 to build the ftrufture of religious faith upon the firm found- 

 ation of an appeal to natural appearances. He taught, that 

 the Supreme Being, though invifible, is clearly feen in his 

 works, which at once demonftrate his exiftence, and his wife 

 and benevolent providence. This point is eftablifhed, with 

 great perfpicuity and force of reafoning, in his conferences 

 with Ariftodemus, and with Euthydemus. " Refteft," fays 

 he, " that your own mind direfts your body by its volitions, 

 and you muft be convinced that the intelligencer of the uni- 

 verfe difpofes all things according to his pleafure. — Can you 

 imagine, that your eye i: capable of difcerning diftant ob- 

 jeAs, and that the eye of God cannot, at tlie fame inftant, 

 fee all things ; or that, whilft your mind contemplates the 

 affairs of different countriesj the underftanding of God can- 

 not 



