patiently employed in the service of truth. The views of Socrates, whose character and knowledge have secured him the admiration of posterity, are here entitled to particular notice, and especially as they may be supposed to represent the opinions of Plato, his distinguished disciple, together with a numerous body of philosophers belonging to the same celebrated school. That which comforted the mind of this renowned and virtuous sage in the closing scenes of life, was the hope of leaving the world to mingle in the society of the great and good of every age. In the admirable address which he delivered to his judges and persecutors, after receiving the fatal sentence, which made him the victim of their bigotry, he dwells upon the subject in a strain of animated expression. "If,” said he, "the common opinion be true, that death conveys us to those regions which are inhabited by the spirits of departed men, will it not be unspeakably happy to escape from the hands of mere nominal judges, to appear before those who truly deserve the name; such as Minos, Rhadamanthus, Eacus, and Triptolemus, and to associate with all who have maintained the cause of truth and rectitude? Is it possible for you to look upon this as an unimportant journey? Is it nothing to converse with Orpheus, Musæus, Homer, and Hesiod? Believe me, I would cheerfully suffer many a death on the condition of realizing such a privilege.

With what pleasure could I leave the world to hold communion with Palamedes, Ajax, and others, who, like me, have had an unjust sentence pronounced against them. Then would I explore the wisdom of Ulysses and Sisyphus, and that illustrious chief who led out the vast forces of the Grecian army against the city of Troy. Nor should I be condemned to death for indulging, as I have done here, in free inquiry."*

In the disquisition into which he entered with his disciples on the immortality of the soul, he expresses repeatedly the same hope; and declared that it was the only ground of confidence and consolation to him in the prospect of death. And, cheered by this expectation, he received with a placid countenance the fatal cup administered to him; exhibiting, in his last extremity, an example of patience and fortitude, which will not fail to secure to him the admiration of the latest ages, and to stamp upon the conduct of his enemies the broad mark of indelible disgrace. †

It is well known that Cicero cherished the same hope, and his powerful mind and extensive acquaintance with the philosophy of the ancients, render his testimony peculiarly valuable. In his discourse upon old age, where his own feelings and

* Cicero Tusc. Disp. aut Socrat. Apol. apud Plato.
+ Plat. Phæd.

opinions are expressed through the medium of fictitious personages, he represents Cato the elder as kindling into ecstacy, and breaking forth into rapturous language in the anticipation of escaping from a depraved and disordered world, and joining his beloved son in the society of virtuous and congenial intelligences. * The vision of Scipio, in which he has ingeniously allegorized some of the most important opinions of the Platonic and Pythagorean schools, contains much beautiful illustration of the same subject. Scipio is there represented to meet with his grandsire Africanus in the abode of blessed spirits, which is described to be a spacious and splendid residence, placed in the highest regions of space, from which all sublunary objects dwindle into insignificance, and are scarcely discernible to the human eye. The astonished youth listens to an admonitory and prophetic discourse concerning his own destiny, and is informed, amongst other things, that death is only the escape of the soul from the prison-house of its body, and that the great and renowned of the virtuous were possessing, not as on earth a mortal existence, but the reality and plenitude of life. In confirmation of this statement, his attention is arrested by the appearance of his venerated parent, who affectionately embraces him, and recommends

*Cicero de Suec.

the practice of virtue as the only means of ser ating an admission into the society để tâm, 15%, whi were freed from the shackles of mortality, ind were dwelling in the world whose z tres sande around him.*

But if the notion of perpetuated friendship be supported by the joint testimony of pagan poets and sages, it has always been no less agremat e ta the current of popular feeling and opinion. Heute the tendency to give credit to alleged apparta and to conceive of departed friends as ming.n with the living objects, and as deeply interested the scenes which were once known to engage ther affections. The rude ancestors of our sea-2-7 isle abandoned themselves to the bewitching power of this sentiment, and peopled their mountains, clouds, and solitary retreats with the shades of the heroic dead. The lover heard the voice of his lamented mistress whisper to him in the breeze, and the warrior listened to that of renowned heroes, addressing him in the responsive echo which issued from the glen and rocky caThe supposed presence of beloved and disembodied spirits awoke the harp of the bard to sounds of sweet and plaintive melody, and inspired the chief and his warlike vassa's with

vern.

* Cicero Frag. Somnium Scipionis.

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the soul of wild eloquence and romantic enterprise, And the muse still indulges the conceptions and visions of the "olden times," and assures

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the spirits of the dead descend,
To watch the silent slumbers of a friend;
To hover round his evening walk unseen,
And hold sweet converse on the dusky green;
To hail the spot where first their friendship grew,
And heaven and nature opened to their view!
Oft, when he trims his cheerful hearth, and sees
A smiling circle emulous to please;
There may these gentle guests delight to dwell,
And bless the scene they loved in life so well!”

With these sentiments on the subject of perpetuated intercourse, the opinions and feelings of the heathen in modern times perfectly harmonize. It is an indisputable fact, that there prevails almost universally among the tribes of the pagan world, however sunk in ignorance, and however widely separated from one another, a settled persuasion that death does not make an irreparable breach in the friendships of social life. It is, on the contrary, most firmly believed, that the stroke of mortality eventually cements and improves the attachments subsisting among them. Many of their superstitious customs and funeral rites are the consequences of this fondly cherished hope.