X E N 



X E N 



receive as facred, and which is illuftrated by innumerable 

 commentaries. 



The doftrine which Xekias dehvert-d towards the clofe 

 of his life to his efoteric difciples was very different. 

 Vacuum, or void, was, according to his iiiitrnftion, the 

 principle and end of all things, fimple, infinite, eternal, but 

 deftitute of power, intelligence, or any other fimilar attri- 

 bute ; and that to be like this principle, by extinguilhing 

 all pafilon and affeftion, and remaining abforbed in the 

 moil profound contemplation, without any exercife of the 

 reafoning faculty, ia tlie pcrfeftion of happinefs. The 

 firft principle in this fyllem cannot be pure nihility, 

 which admits of no properties ; probably, it is Firil 

 Matter, without variable qualities, whence all things are 

 fuppofed to arife, which is not to be perceived by the 

 fenfes, but contemplated as the latent divinity, infinitely 

 diftant from the nature of vifible things, yet the origin of 

 all fubftanccs. The emanations front this fountain became, 

 in the popular theology, objefts of the groffeft fuperftition 

 and idolatry. 



The doftrine of Foe, or Xekias, was embraced by innu- 

 merable difciples. Among thefe, one of his moft eminent 

 fucceffors wasTamo, aChinefe, who was fo entirely devoted 

 to contemplative enthufiafm, that he fpent nine whole years 

 in profound meditation, and was on this account deified. 



According to the Bramins, Xekias had neither father 

 nor mother ; and as no Indian city claims the honour of 

 his birth, he was probably a foreigner, who migrated to 

 the fouthern part of India from fome neighbouring maritime 

 country, perhaps from Lybia ; whither he came with fome 

 Egyptian colony, and who had been inftrufted in the 

 Egyptian myfteries. It is not improbable, that at the 

 time when Cambyfes conquered Egypt, and difperfed 

 almoft the whole nation, tliis impoftor might have pafftd 

 over into India, and propagating his doftrine among an 

 ignorant and fuperftitious people, became an objeft of 

 univerfal veneration. Brucker's Philof. by Enfield, vol. ii. 

 Appendix. See Boodh, Brachmans, China, Japan, 

 &c. 



XEL, in the Materia Medka of the jinclenti, a name 

 given to the fruit yJ'/. 



XELSA, in Geography, a town of Spain, anciently a 

 Roman colony, called Julia Celfa. 

 XELVA. SeeCHELVA. 



XENDAY, a towo of Japan, in the ifland of Niphon ; 

 115 miles N.N.E. of Jedo. N. lat. 39". E. long. 

 14.1° 52'. 



XENEXTON, a word ufed by Paracelfus, to exprefs a 

 fort of amulet to be worn about the neck, to preferve 

 people from infeftion in the plague. 



XENIA, Hr.via, q. d. gifts, in fome Ancient Cujloms, were 

 gifts, or prefents, made to the governors of provinces, by 

 the inhabitants thereof. 



The word occurs pretty frequently in charters of privi- 

 leges ; where quielos ejfe a xeniis denotes an exemption 

 from making fuch prefents to kings and queens, upon their 

 travelling through fuch precinfts. 



Xenia, in Geography, a town{hip of Ohio, in the 

 county of Greene, with 1429 inhabitants. 



XENIL, a river of Spain, which rifes in Grenada, and 

 runs into the Guadalquivir, about three miles below Ecija. 

 ■ XENINEPHIDEI, a word ufed to exprefs a fort of 

 imaginary fpirits, mentioned by the adepts, as dehghting to 

 difcover the occult qualities of bodies to men. 



XENISMl, EEyi3-;uoi, in Antiquity, facrifices offered at 

 the Athenian fedival Anaceia. 



XENOCRATES, in Biography, a famous Grecian phi- 



lofopher, was born at Chalcedon, in the firft year of the 96th 

 Olympiad (B.C. 396), and attached himfelf at firft to iEf- 

 chines, but afterwards became a follower of Plato, and fuc- 

 ceeded Speufippusin the chair of the old academy (B.C. 339). 

 His temper was gloomy, his afpeft fevere, and his manner* 

 were httle tinftured with urbanity. Plato took pains to 

 correft thefe obliquities of his difpofition and charafter ; 

 and as he highly refpefted his mafter, he probably improved 

 by his inftruftion, fo that he was reckoned as one of his 

 nioft efteemed difciples. Xenocrates was held in fuch efti- 

 mation among the Athenians for his virtues, and efpecially 

 his integrity, as well as his wifdom, that in a public trial his 

 fimple affeveration was accepted inftead of an oath, which was 

 ufually required ; and that even Philip of Macedon found it 

 impoffible to corrupt him. Dreading his influence, and the 

 temptation of a bribe, he declined all private intercourfe with 

 the Macedonian fovereign, and was honoured by him with 

 this teftimony ; that of all perfons who had come to him on 

 embaffies from foreign ttates, Xenocrates was the only- 

 one whofe friend (hip he was not able to purchafe. On oc- 

 cafion of being employed as an ambaffador to the court of 

 Antipater, for the redemption of feveral Athenian captives, 

 he waved the honour of accepting the invitation of this 

 prince to fit down with him at fupper, in the words of 

 Ulyffes to Circe, cited from Homer's Odyff. (1. x. v. 383); 

 thus tranflated, — 



" What man, whofe bofom burns with gen'rous worth, 

 His friends enthrall'd, and banifli'd from his fight. 

 Would tafte a felfifh, foUtary joy ?" 



The patriotic fpirit expreffed in this appropriate paffage 

 gratified Antipater fo much, that he immediately releafed 

 the prifoners. As another example of his moderation, it is 

 alleged, that when Alexander, wifhing to mortify Arifto- 

 tle, on account of fome accidental pique, fent Xenocrates a 

 magnificent prefent of 50 talents ; he accepted only 30 

 minas, returning the refidue to the donor with this meffage ; 

 that the whole fum was more than he (hould have been able 

 to fpend during his whole life. In thisinftance, he alfo mani- 

 fcfted a fuperiority to that kind of jealoufy and revenge which 

 might have aftuated meaner minds, when it is confidered 

 that Ariftotle had inftituted a fchool in the Lyceum, in 

 oppofition to the academy over which Xenocrates prefided. 

 In the ufe of food he was fingularly abftemious ; his chaf- 

 tity was invincible by the feducing arts of Phryne, a cele- 

 brated Athenian courtefan ; and his humanity was teftified 

 by the fhelter which he afforded to a fparrow that was pur- 

 fued by a hawk, and fled into his bofom, where he allowed 

 it to remain till its enemy was out of fight, alleging that he 

 would never betray a fuppliant. In the employment of his 

 time, he allotted a certain portion of each day to its proper 

 bufinefs, one of which he devoted to filent meditation. 

 His high fenfe of the importance and utility of mathemati- 

 cal itudies was fufficiently evinced by his refufing to admit 

 into his academy a young man who was ignorant of geome- 

 try and aftronomy, becaufe he was deftitute of the handles 

 of philofophy. Upon the whole, Xenocrates was eminent, 

 both for his purity of morals, and his acquaintance with 

 fcience ; and he fupported the reputation of the Platonic 

 fchool by his leftures, his writings, and his condnft. His 

 life was prolonged to the third year of the 1 16th Olympiad 

 (B.C. 314), or the 82d year of his age, when he acciden- 

 tally fell in the dark into a refervoir of water. 



His philofophic tenets were Platonic ; but in his leftures 

 he adopted the language of the Pythagoreans. In his fyf- 

 tem, unity and diverfity were principles in nature, or gods ; 

 the former being the father, and the latter the mother of the 



univerfe. 



