In the second place, that this disciple may ask such things as are expedient for him, he shews him, that it is absolutely neces sary to apply himself to the study of true wisdom, and to the knowledge of that which is his chief good, and the most suitable to the excellency of his nature,

In the third and last place, he informs him, that the best methods he could make use of to draw down blessings upon him. self, and to render his prayers acceptable, would be to live in a constant practice of his duty towards the gods, and towards men. Under this head he very much recommends a form of prayer the Lacedemonians made use of, in which they petition the gods, 'to give them all good things so long as they are virtuous.' Under this head, likewise, he gives a very remarkable account of an oracle to the following purpose.

When the Athenians, in the war with the Lacedemonians, received many defeats both by sea and land, they sent a message to the oracle of Jupiter Ammon, to ask the reason why they, who erected so many temples to the gods, and adorned them with such costly offerings; why they, who had instituted so many festivals, and accompanied them with such pomps and ceremonies; in short, why they, who had slain so many hecatombs at their altars, should be less successful than the Lacedemonians, who fell so short of them in all these particulars. To this, says he, the oracle made the following reply: 'I am better pleased with the prayers of the Lacedemonians, than with all the oblations of the Greeks.' As this prayer implied and encouraged virtue in those who made it, the philosopher proceeds to shew how the most vicious man might be devout, so far as victims could make him, but that his offerings were regarded by the gods as bribes, and his petitions as blasphemies. He likewise quotes on this occasion two verses out of Homer, in which the poet says, that the scent of the Trojan sacrifices was carried up to heaven by the winds;

but that it was not acceptable to the gods, who were displeased with Priam and all his people.'

2

The conclusion of this dialogue is very remarkable. Socrates having deterred Alcibiades from the prayers and sacrifices which he was going to offer, by setting forth the above-mentioned difficulties of performing that duty as he ought, adds these words: 'We must therefore wait till such time as we may learn how to behave ourselves towards the gods, and towards men.' But when will that time come, (says Alcibiades,) and who is it that will instruct us? for I would fain see this man, whoever he is. It is one (says Socrates) who takes care of you; but as Homer tells us, that Minerva removed the mist from Diomedes his eyes, that he might plainly discover both gods and men; so the darkness that hangs upon your mind must be removed, before you are able to discern what is good and what is evil. Let him remove from my mind (says Alcibiades) the darkness, and what else he pleases; I am determined to refuse nothing he shall order me, whoever he is, so that I may become the better man by it. The remaining part of this dialogue is very obscure there is something in it that would make us think Socrates hinted at himself, when he spoke of this divine teacher who was to come into the world; did not he own that he himself was in this respect as much at a loss, and in as great distress as the rest of mankind.

Some learned men look upon this conclusion as a prediction of our Saviour, or at least that Socrates, like the high-priest, prophesied unknowingly, and pointed at that divine teacher who was to come into the world some ages after him. However that may be, we find that this great philosopher saw, by the light of reason, that it was suitable to the goodness of the divine nature, to send a person into the world who should instruct man1 Iliad viii. 548, &c.-C.

2 Iliad v. 127.-C

kind in the duties of religion, and, in particular, teach them how

to pray.

Whoever reads this abstract of Plato's discourse on prayer, will, I believe, naturally make this reflection, That the great founder of our religion, as well by his own example, as in the form of prayer which he taught his disciples, did not only keep up to those rules which the light of nature had suggested to this great philosopher, but instructed his disciples in the whole extent of this duty, as well as of all others. He directed them to the proper object of adoration, and taught them, according to the third rule above-mentioned, to apply themselves to him in their closets, without show or ostentation, and to worship him in spirit and in truth. As the Lacedemonians in their form of prayer, implored the gods in general to give them all good things, so long as they were virtuous, we ask, in particular, 'that our offences may be forgiven, as we forgive those of others.' If we look into the second rule which Socrates has prescribed, namely, That we should apply ourselves to the knowledge of such things as are best for us, this too is explained at large in the doctrines of the Gospel, where we are taught in several instances to regard those things as curses, which appear as blessings in the eye of the world; and, on the contrary, to esteem those things as blessings, which to the generality of mankind appear as curses. Thus in the form which is prescribed to us, we only pray for that happiness which is our chief good, and the great end of our exist ence, when we petition the Supreme Being for 'the coming of his kingdom,' being solicitous for no other temporal blessing but our daily sustenance.' On the other side, we pray against nothing but sin, and against 'evil' in general, leaving it with Omniscience to determine what is really such. If we look into the first of Socrates his rules of prayer, in which he recommends the above-mentioned form of the ancient poet, we find that form not

only comprehended, but very much improved, in the petition, wherein we pray to the Supreme Being that his 'will may be done;' which is of the same force with that form which our Saviour used, when he prayed against the most painful and most ignominious of deaths. Nevertheless not my will, but thine be done.' This comprehensive petition is the most humble, as well as the most prudent, that can be offered up from the creature to his Creator, as it supposes the Supreme Being wills nothing but what is for our good, and that he knows better than ourselves what is so.

L.

No. 209. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30.

Γυναικὸς οὐδὲ χρῆμ ̓ ἀνὴρ ληίζεται
Εσθλῆς ἄμεινον, οὐδὲ ῥίγιον κακῆς.

SIMONIDES.

Of earthly goods, the best is a good wife;
A bad, the bitterest curse of human life.

THERE are no authors I am more pleased with, than those who shew hnman nature in a variety of views, and describe the several ages of the world in their different manners. A reader cannot be more rationally entertained, than by comparing the virtues and vices of his own times, with those which prevailed in the times of his fore-fathers; and drawing a parallel in his mind between his own private character, and that of other persons, whether of his own age, or of the ages that went before him. The contemplation of mankind under these changeable colours, is apt to shame us out of any particular vice, or animate us to any particular virtue; to make us pleased or displeased with ourselves in the most proper points, to clear our minds of preju

dice and prepossession, and rectify that narrowness of temper which inclines us to think amiss of those who differ from our selves.

If we look into the manners of the most remote ages of the world, we discover human nature in her simplicity; and the more we come downward towards our own times, may observe her hiding herself in artifices and refinements, polished insensibly out of her original plainness, and at length entirely lost under form and ceremony, and (what we call) good-breeding. Read the accounts of men and women as they are given us by the most ancient writers, both sacred and profane, and you would think you were reading the history of another species.

Among the writers of antiquity, there are none which instruct us more openly in the manners of their respective times in which they lived, than those who have employed themselves in satire, under what dress soever it may appear; as there are no other authors whose province it is to enter so directly into the ways of men, and set their miscarriages in so strong a light.

Simonides, a poet famous in his generation, is I think author of the oldest satire that is now extant; and, as some say, of the first that was ever written. This poet flourished about four hundred years after the siege of Troy; and shews, by his way of writing, the simplicity, or rather coarseness, of the age in which he lived. I have taken notice, in my hundred and sixty-first speculation, that the rule of observing what the French call the Bienséance, in an allusion, has been found out of late years; and that the ancients, provided there was a likeness in their similitudes, did not much trouble themselves with the decency of the comparison. The satires or iambics of Simonides, with which I shall entertain my readers in the present paper, are a remarkable instance of what I formerly advanced. The subject of this satire is woman. He describes the sex in their several cha