would be sent to a subterranean place, there to endure punishments they had deserved; others would ascend to their kindred stars, to enjoy themselves in a manner corresponding to the life they had lived as men. At the end of one thousand years, all of them would return, with liberty to select a second life on earth agreeable to their own desire. Their choice would be influenced by the degree to which they had allowed themselves to become imbruted, and the processes of purification they had undergone. Those who thrice chose to devote themselves to a life in which they could sincerely seek wisdom and love beautiful realities, would fly away to their primeval abode of glory, at the end of three thousand years. But those who did not, through three successive lives, "philosophize sincerely, and love beautiful forms," would have to wait ten thousand years, before they regained their lost wings. This was sometimes called "The soul's orbit of necessity."

Plato, in common with most of the philosophic minds of Greece, was troubled with the stories told by Homer, and other popular poets, concerning the gods; because he considered such descriptions calculated to promote irreverence toward divine natures. But he strove to reconcile the faith of his childhood with the requirements of his spiritual growth, by allegorical interpretations, which transformed them from imaginative legends into significant myths. He discountenanced, as dangerous, any attempts to change established modes of worship. Those who despised oaths, omitted sacrifices, and neglected the gods, he thought ought to be put to death if they were deliberate and rational. If they did it in a kind of madness, he thought they ought to be imprisoned not less than five years, and the citizens not allowed to communicate with them. He believed that men had gradually degenerated from a primeval state of innocence and equality, and that the world would be alternately destroyed and renewed, after the lapse of vast astronomical cycles. He favoured the popular idea that spirits of the dead often hovered round the ashes of their

old bodies, waiting until the new forms were ready for their reception.

Like all other poets and philosophers, he looked back upon a Golden Past, and hoped for a Golden Future. He thus describes the reign of Saturn: "God was then the Prince and common Father of all. He then governed the world by himself; whereas he now governs it by the agency of inferior deities. In those happy days, the fertile fields yielded fruit and corn without tillage. Men had no need of clothing, for there was no inclemency in the seasons. They took their rest on beds of moss perpetually verdant. Cruelty and anger, war and sedition, were unknown. There were no magistrates or civil policy, as now. men were governed by reason and the love of order."

All

After that, Saturn was hurled from his throne, and "hid himself in an inaccessible retreat. The foundations of the world were shaken by motions contrary to its first principles, and its beauty and order were lost. Then were good and evil blended together."

"In the end, lest the world should be plunged into an eternal abyss of confusion, the Author of Primitive Order will appear again, and resume the reins of empire. He will change, amend, embellish, and restore the whole frame of nature, and put an end to decay, disease, and death."

The following sayings may be found scattered through the writings of Plato:

"The soul, withdrawn from the influence of the Muses and Graces, sinks into disorder, loses its moral harmony, and often requires the aid of music to attune its jarring strings."

"To say that the gods are easily appeased, is to compare them to dogs or wolves, which are pacified by giving them a portion of the plunder."

"The divine race of stars must be considered as celestial creatures, with most beautiful bodies and happy souls. That they have souls, is evident from the regularity of their motions.'

"All see the body of the sun; but the Soul, that ani

mates it, is not the object of any of our senses; it is perceived by the mind only."

"It is impossible that there should be much happiness in this life; but there is great hope, that after death every person may obtain the things he most wishes for. This is not new, but is known both to Greeks and barbarians."

"The universe belongs to the Deity, and he will not neglect what is his own. He cannot be called a wise physician who only attends to the body in general, and not to particular parts. Nor do governors of cities, or masters of families, neglect small things. Let us not then suppose that God, who is wisest of all, is less wise than men. He is the Shepherd of mankind, taking the same care of them that a shepherd does of his sheep and oxen. He provides for all things, the smallest as well as the greatest."

"He is the Architect of the World, the Father of the Universe, the Creator of Nature, the Sovereign Beauty, and the Supreme Good, the Ruling Mind, which orders all things, and penetrates all things."

"He made the heavens, the earth, and the gods. He is the original life and force of all things in the ethereal regions, upon the earth and under the earth."

"He is the Being, the Unity, the Good, pre-eminently the same in the world of Intelligences that the sun is in the visible world."

"He is Truth, and Light is his shadow."

"What light and sight are in this visible world, truth and intelligence are in the real, unchangeable world."

"The One, better than intellect, from whom all things flow, and to whom they all ultimately tend, is The Good."

"The end and aim of all things should be to attain to The First Good; of whom the sun is but the type, and the material world, with all its host of ministering Spirits, is but the manifestation and the shadow."

"As light and vision resemble the sun, but are not the sun, so knowledge and truth resemble The Good, but are not The Good; which is itself something more venerable." "As nothing is like the sun, except through solar influ

ences, so nothing can resemble The Good, but by an ema nation of his divine light into the soul."

"To be like the Deity, is to be holy, just, and wise. This is the end of man's being born, and should be his aim in studying philosophy."

"He alone is truly happy who has attained to the divine science of the Deity. To arrive at this state, it is necessary to be convinced that the body is a prison, from which the soul must be released, before it can arrive at the knowledge of those things which are real and immutable."

"The light and spirit of Deity are as wings to the soul, raising it into communion with himself, and above the earth, with which the mind of man is prone to bemire itself."

"The soul of each of us is an immortal Spirit, and goes to other gods to give an account of its actions."

"Pure souls, who here below have sought to withdraw themselves from terrestrial stains, enter after death into an invisible place, unknown to us, where the pure unites itself to the pure, and our immortal essence is united with the Divine Essence."

"The perfectly just man would be he who should love justice for its own sake, not for the honours and advantages that attend it; who would be willing to pass for unjust, while he practised the most exact justice; who would not suffer himself to be moved by disgrace or distress, but would continue steadfast in the love of justice, not because it is pleasant, but because it is right."

"Prayer is the ardent turning of the soul toward God; not to ask any particular good, but good itself; the universal, supreme good. We often mistake what is pernicious and dangerous for what is useful and desirable. Therefore remain silent before the gods, till they remove the clouds from thy eyes, and enable thee to see, by their light, not what appears good to thyself, but what is really good."

"Beauty ought to be loved for itself, the Source and Centre of all beauty, the Creator, Ruler, and Preserver of all things. It has no similitude on the earth, or in the

heavens. Whatever is beautiful, is so merely by participation of the Supreme Beauty. All other beauty may increase, decay, change, or perish; but this is the same through all time, and in all places. By raising our thoughts above all inferior beauties, we at length reach the Supreme Beauty, which is simple, pure, and immutable, without form, colour, or human qualities. It is the splendour of the divine image. It is the Deity himself. Love of this Supreme Beauty renders a man divine. When the soul rises above herself, and becomes united with it, she brings forth, not the shadows of virtues, but the virtues themselves. She becomes immortal, and the friend of God. There is no one so bad, but love can make a god of him by virtue; so that his soul becomes like unto the Supreme Beauty."

"Look at the sun, and the stars, and the moon! at the earth, with its changing seasons, and all its beauties! Are they not in themselves a power beyond you? a power more grand, more permanent, more lovely, than anything you can create? Is not the very essence of religion, the acknowledgment of such a power? The external world. may be but a shadow of the Deity; a symbol of a far higher Power beyond it; a veil to hide his presence; a school to lead you up to him. But in itself it is divine; therefore, there is a Deity, and all mankind believe it."

"How can we, without indignation, reason against men, who compel us to argue, to prove the existence of Deity? In infancy, when lying on the breast, they used to hear, from their nurses and mothers, stories told to soothe or awe them, and repeated, like charms, above their cradles. At the altar they heard these stories blended with prayers, and with all the pomps and ceremonials so fair to the eye of childhood. They saw those same parents offering up their sacrifices with all solemnity, and heard them earnestly and reverently praying for themselves and their children, and with vows and supplications holding communion with Deity, as indeed a living Spirit. When the sun and the moon rose and set, they witnessed all around them the kneeling or prostrate forms of both Greeks and barbarians; all men, VOL. I.-31