PLATO. 
634 
Such is the fubftanceof thearguments for the immortality 
of the foul, contained in the celebrated dialogue of the 
Phasdo. It is happy for mankind, that their belief of 
this important doftrine refts upon firmer grounds than 
fuch futile reafonings. 
Plato, notwithftanding his predile&ion for abftraft fpe- 
culation, did not, however, negleft, in his writings, to 
deliver precepts of Practical Philofophy. On the fubjefts 
of policy and morals, he prefcribes rules, which are in¬ 
tended for the dire&ion of focieties and individuals in 
the offices of life, but which would be much more 
valuable were they lefs tinftured with his theoretical 
doftrines. Concerning policy, Plato has written at large 
in his Republic and in his Dialogue on Laws. He was 
fo much enamoured with his own conceptions on this 
fubjefl, that it was chiefly the hope of having an oppor¬ 
tunity to realize his plan of a republic, which induced 
him to vifit the court of Dionyfius. But they who are 
converfant with mankind, and capable of calmly in- 
veftigating the fprings of human aftion, will eafily perceive 
that his projects were chimerical, and could only have 
originated in a mind replete with philofophical en- 
thufiafm. Of this nothing can be a clearer proof, than 
the defign of admitting in his republic a community of 
women, in order to give reafon an entire controul over 
defire. The main object of his political inftitutions 
appears to have been, the fubjugation of thepaflions and 
appetites by means of the abftraft contemplation of ideas. 
A fyftem of policy, raifed upon fuch fanciful grounds, 
cannot merit a more dillinft confideration. 
The chief heads of Plato’s moral do&rine, as it may be 
gathered from detached pafl'ages in his writings (for 
he feldom treats direftly on any moral topic), are thefe : 
Our higheft good confifts in the contemplation and know¬ 
ledge of the firft good, which is mind, or God. All 
thofe things which are called good by men, are in reality 
fuch, only fo far as they are derived from the firft and 
higheft good. The only power in human nature, which 
can acquire a refemblance to the fupreme good, is reafon. 
The minds of philofophers are fraught with valuable 
treafures ; and, after the death of the body, they fhall be 
admitted to divine entertainments ; fo that, whilft with 
the gods they are employed in furveying the fields of 
truth, they will look down with contempt upon the folly 
of thofe who are contented with earthly fhadows. Good- 
nefs and beauty confift in the knowledge of the firft good, 
and the firft fair. That only which is becoming, is 
good : therefore virtue is to be purfued for its own fake; 
and, becaufe it is a divine attainment, it cannot be taught, 
but is the gift of God. He alone, who has attained the know¬ 
ledge of the firft good, is happy. The end of this knowledge 
is, to render man as like to God as the condition of human 
nature will permit. This likenefs confifts in prudence; 
juftice, fandity, temperance. In order to attain this 
ftate, it is neceflary to be convinced that the body is a 
prifon, from which the foul muft be releafed, before it can 
arrive at the knowledge of thofe things which are real 
and immutable. Virtue is the moft perfeft habit of mind, 
which adorns the man, and renders him firm, refolute, 
and confident, in aftion and fpeecb, in folitude and 
fociety. The virtues are fo nearly allied, that they 
cannot be feparated; they are perfeft, and therefore 
capable neither of increafe nor of diminution. The 
paflions are motions of the foul, excited by fome appa¬ 
rent good or evil: they originate in the irrational parts of 
the foul, and muft be regulated and fubdued by reafon. 
Friendfhip is, ftrictly fpeaking, reciprocal benevolence, 
which inclines each party to be as folicitous for the 
welfare of the other, as for his own. This equality of 
affediion is created and preferved by a fimilarity of dif- 
pofition and manners. 
On the whole, although many juft and fublime fen- 
timents on moral fubjefts are to be found in the writings 
of Plato, it will appear, upon an impartial examination, 
that his ethical doftrine is in fome particulars defeftive, 
and in others extravagant and abfurd. The fanciful 
notions which he entertained concerning the divine 
nature, the w'orld of ideas, and matter, feem to have 
given a romantic and enthufiaftic turn to his conceptions 
on morals ; a defedt which may be in part afcribed to his 
connexion with the Pythagorean fchool, but which was, 
perhaps, chiefly owing to the peculiar propenfity of his 
genius towards metaphyfical fidtion. 
After the death of Plato, two of his principal difciples, 
Ariftotle and Xenocrates, continuing his office, and 
teaching, the one in the Academy, and the other in the 
Lyceum, founded two fedfs, under different names, 
though in other refpedls the fame ; the one retaining the 
denomination of Acadamics, the other affuming that of 
Peripatetics. The Academic fed! fell into general 
negledl under the Roman emperors ; partly becaufeit was 
treated with contempt by the Dogmatifts, and partly on 
account of the reviving credit of the Sceptic fedf, in 
which the peculiar tenets of the Middle Academy were 
embraced. Neverthelefs, the true dodtrine of Plato, 
which had formerly obtained fuch high efteem among 
philofophers, and which had been lately rellored at 
Athens by Antiochus, refumed its honours. Among 
the genuine followers of Plato, we find, at this period, 
feveral illuftrious names. Under the emperors Auguftus 
and Tiberius, flourifhed Thrafybulus, a Mendefian, who, 
though an eminent Platonift, fo far conformed to the 
practice of the Pythagoreans as to become an adept in 
the art of aftrology. Not long after his time lived Thfeon 
of Smyrna ; to whofe aftronomical obfervations, Ptolemy 
the aftronomer, who flourifhed 'under Antoninus Pius, 
has referred, and whofe mathematical treatifes, elucidating 
the writings of Plato, proved that he belonged to the 
Platonic fchool. At the fame time, his difcourfes in 
geometry, arithmetic, mufic, aftronomy, and the harmony 
of the univerfe, ferve to call fome light upon the Pytha¬ 
gorean fyftem. Aicinous, whofe age is uncertain, but 
commonly placed about the beginning of the fecond 
century, wrote an introduction to Plato, containing a 
fummary of his dodtrine, which fhows him to have been 
well acquainted with his philofophy. Favorinus, a native 
of Arles, lived in the reigns of Trajan and Adrian, and 
was well inftrudted in the precepts of philofophy by 
Epidtetus, the illuftrious ornament of the Stoical fchool; 
but none of his writings are extant. Under the reign of 
Antoninus Pius flourifhed Calvifius Taurus of Beryta, 
and he is mentioned as a Platonift of fome note. He wrote 
feveral pieces, chiefly to illuftrate the Platonic philofophy; 
he lived at Athens, and taught, not in the fchools, but 
at his table. Aulus Gellius was frequently one of his 
guefts, and in his Nodtes Atticas has given an account of 
the manner in which thefe philofophical entertainments 
were condudied. The fame period produced Lucius 
Apuleius. Another Platonift, who flourifhed under M. 
Aurelius Antoninus, was Atticus; chiefly memorable 
for the laudable pains with which he endeavoured to 
afcertain the exadt points of difference between the 
dodfrines of Plato and Ariftotle. Numenius of Apamea 
in Syria belonged to the fame clafs of writers with 
Atticus; and Maximus Tyrius, though chiefly diftin- 
guifhed by his eloquence, obtained fome degree of ce¬ 
lebrity as a philofopher; and his elegant Differtations 
are for the moft part written upon Platonic principles, 
though they fometimes incline towards fcepticifm. 
Plutarch and Galen are alfo commonly ranked among 
the Platonirts. 
In later times, about the firft ages of the Chriftian 
church, the followers of Plato abandoned the title of 
Academics or Academifts, and aflumed that of Platonifts. 
It is fuppofed to have been at Alexandria in Egypt, 
that they firft affumed their new title, after having re- 
ftored the ancient Academy, and re-eftablifhed Plato’s 
fentiments ; many of which, in procefs of time, had been 
laid afide. Among the Greek Platonifts, thofe who ac¬ 
quired the greateft reputation were Porphyry, Plotinus, 
lamblichus, Proclus, and Plutarch; and among the 
Latins, Apuleius and Chalcidius. Among the Hebrews, 
Philo 
