[188] Convivium: end.

[189] Convivium, § xxxix., part ii., vol. ii., p. 452, ed. Bekker.

[190] Xen. Conviv., c. 3. So in the Protagoras of Plato, part i., chap. 92, vol. ii., p. 221, ed. Bekker. “Such meetings as these, when they occupy men such as most of us here profess to be, require no stranger’s voice, and no poets, whom it is impossible to question about the meaning of what they relate ... but such men seek the company of each other for their own sakes, giving and making trial of each other in their conversation.”

[191] Plat. Laches, § 14, part i., vol. i., p. 270, ed., Bekker.

[192] Convivium, § 44, part ii., vol. ii., p. 465, ed., Bekker.

[193] It would seem to be, in reference to this sort of feeling, that Plato puts these words into the mouth of Socrates, after sentence passed on him near the end of the Apology: “For now you have done this, thinking that you should be liberated from the necessity of giving an account of your life;” a necessity which, to take Socrates’ own account of his conduct, they may have been very glad to be liberated from. “For if you should put me to death, you will not easily find such another (though the comparison is ridiculous) whom Divinity has united to this city as to a generous and great horse; but sluggish through his magnitude, and requiring to be excited by some fly. In like manner, Divinity appears to have united me, being somewhat like this (i. e., the fly) to the city, that I might not cease exciting, persuading, and reproving each of you, and everywhere settling on you all day long.”—Apol. ed., Bekk., part i., vol ii., chap. 18, p. 118. Nobody, however, ever heard that the horse was grateful to the fly. Again, “As to what I before observed, that there is great enmity towards me amongst the vulgar, you may be well assured that it is true. And this it is which will condemn me, if I should be condemned—the hatred of the multitude, and not Melitus or Anytus.”—Part i., vol. ii., chap. 16, p. 112, ed., Bekk.

[194] Solon appointed a set of officers, ten in number, who were called ῥέτορες, speakers, to argue and explain to the people the merits of public questions, for a certain fee. Their qualifications were to be made the subject of a very close inquiry, according to his laws. Whether in later times the appellation was confined to these recognized speakers, or whether all who were ready to speak and plead causes, as Lysias, Isocrates, &c., were so called, the author has not been able to ascertain to his satisfaction; but he believes the latter to be the case, which is not incompatible with the term still retaining its special meaning, as the title of an officer. Demosthenes calls himself a ῥέτωρ (De Cor. 301). In later times they acquired much more importance. Demosthenes was a sort of prime minister. In his time, he says, the orators and generals ran in couples; one to plan and defend, the other to perform (ῥέτωρ ἡγεμὼν, καὶ στρατηγὸς ὡπὸ τούτῳ, De Rep. Ord., 173). In earlier times, on the contrary, all the leaders in Athens were men of action, Themistocles, Cimon, Pericles, &c., down to Nicias and Alcibiades, though most of them cultivated eloquence at the same time. Even Cleon thought it necessary to pretend to military renown.

[195] The passage of Ælian (iii., 17), quoted both by Mitford and Mitchell, as giving the true solution of the cause of Socrates’ death, contains no solution at all of that problem: it merely tells us, what we knew on better authority, that Socrates did not like democracy. Xenophon, Mem. i., c. 2, does more to support this opinion; for he states distinctly that the avowed dislike of Socrates to the practice of choosing magistrates by lot, the bad character of his pupils Alcibiades and Critias, and his alleged perversion of passages in the poets, to teach his pupils “to be evil–doers and supporters of tyrannies,” were topics insisted on by his accusers in the speech for the prosecution. Nor is it improbable that such topics had their weight with many in the multitude of judges who composed the court, a body too numerous to discriminate and weigh evidence.

[196] Apol., c. x., part i., vol. ii., p. 103, ed., Bekker.

[197] “Seeing Anytus pass by, he said, ‘In truth this man is self–important, as if he would have done some great and noble action, in having procured my death, because I said that it was not expedient that he should educate his son about hides, seeing that he himself was held in the highest esteem by the commonwealth.’”—Apol. Xen., § 29. In the Menon of Plato, Anytus is represented as taking great offence with Socrates, for showing that neither Aristides nor Pericles, nor other great statesmen, had been able to educate their sons so as to impart to them their own great abilities (he omits to mention Miltiades, who had a son more eminent than himself, Cimon): a ground of offence which seems odd enough, unless we suppose Anytus to have felt that Socrates was talking at him all the time. Anytus concludes his share in the dialogue with a caution to the philosopher against his freedom of speech, and a hint that in all places it is readier to do harm than good to a man, and of all places, most especially in Athens. ‘No wonder,’ Socrates replies, ‘that Anytus is angry, since he thinks that I am abusing men, of whom he esteems himself to be one’ (Ed., Bekker, part ii., vol. i., p. 378, § 34). These men are the πολιτικὸι (see § 42;) so that Anytus was both πολιτικὸς, and (as being a leather–dealer) δημιουργὸς; the two terms used in the passage quoted from the Apology, and in both capacities it would seem that Socrates had offended him. One of the commentators on Plato (Forster, Apol. as above) tells us that the tradesmen of Athens thought that Socrates corrupted the youth of Athens, because he disapproved of educating young men, as Anytus is said to have brought up his son solely to the lucrative crafts of their fathers, and because he led them into the idle habit of thinking and talking. It may be observed that the character of Anytus did not stand quite clear; since, according to Diodorus, having been sent with a fleet to relieve Pylos, and having failed to do so, as he alleged, from the badness of the weather, he was accused of treachery, “and, being in great danger, bought himself off, being the first of the Athenians, as it appears, who ever bribed a court of justice” (Diod., xiii. 64).

[198] See p. 203, ante.

[199] Mitford, chap. xxxi. 2.

[200] Plat. Apol., § 3, part i., vol. ii. p. 93, ed. Bekker.

[201] The Apology of Plato, though commonly printed without any division, consists of three parts: Socrates’ defence of himself; his second speech, as to the amount of punishment, which begins at § 25 (part i., vol. ii., p. 128, ed. Bekker); and his address to the judges after sentence of death was passed, which begins at § 29 (part i., vol. ii., p. 133).

[202] This public maintenance (σιτεῖσθαι ἐν πρυτανείῳ) was esteemed one of the highest honours that the state could confer.

[203] Athenian magistrates, who had the charge of executing criminals.

[204] ταυρηδὸν ὑποβλέψας, looking up like a bull.

[205] That is, profusely.

[206] The Greeks thought it of much consequence that any momentous business should be undertaken under favourable omens. Sounds of lamentation were ill–omened; even the direct mention of death was avoided when a periphrasis would serve. The tragic poets abound in instances of this sort of euphemism.

[207] Taylor’s translation of Plato. Some slight alterations have been made where the translator seemed to have gone unnecessarily far from the language of the original.

[208] “Socrates, though it was the common practice for criminals at the bar to address the passions, and to flatter and entreat their judges, and by such means often to obtain acquittals, would, on no account, do any of those things which, contrary to law, were continually done in the courts; but though he might readily have gained his acquittal from his judges if he had done such things even in a moderate degree, chose rather to die, abiding by the laws, than to live by transgressing them.”—(Xen. Mem., c. iv., p. 4.)

[209] Hist. of Greece, chap. xxii., § 3.

[210] Hist. of Church, p. 587.

[211] L’Enfant. Hist. de Concile de Constance, liv. 1.

[212] He caused this document to be published at Nuremberg: “Master John Huss goes to Constance, there to declare the faith which he has always held, holds now, and, by God’s grace, will hold unto death. As he has given public notice throughout the kingdom of Bohemia that he was willing before his departure to give account of his faith at a general synod of the Archbishopric of Prague, to answer all the objections which could be made to it, so he notifies in this imperial city of Nuremberg, that if any one has any error or heresy to object to him, such person has only to repair to the Council of Constance, since it is there that he is ready to give account of his faith” (L’Enfant. liv. i. p. 39).

[213] Hist. Bohemica, c. xxxv.

[214] L’Enfant, liv. i. pp. 36, 37.

[215] L’Enfant, liv. i. p. 40.

[216] Sigismond is said to have blushed when Huss fixed his eyes on him; as he declared to the Council that he had come willingly under the pledged protection of the Emperor there present. Charles V., when pressed to arrest Luther at the Diet of Worms, is said, in allusion to this circumstance, to have used the following expression; “I do not mean to blush with my predecessor Sigismond.” The conduct of the two emperors towards Huss and Luther is well contrasted throughout; and Charles was not a less zealous Catholic than his predecessor.

[217] Hist. of Church, p. 594.

[218] Animam tuam devovemus infernis diabolis. Æn. Sylv.

[219] Æneas Sylvius, Hist. Bohemica, c. xxxvi.

[220] The murder of Archbishop Sharpe is the most celebrated and remarkable of these instances of perverted enthusiasm, mistaken applications of the Old Testament, and determination to see a special Providence in passing events. Burley, Rathillet, and their associates, when they met on the Magus Muir, had no thought of harming Sharpe: but when his coach passed that way, they concluded that the Lord had delivered him into their hands; and therefore they killed him. For the effect of the persecution, see Fox’s Hist. of James II. “This system of government, and especially the rigour with which those concerned in the late insurrections, the excommunication of the king, or the other outrages complained of, were pursued and hunted, sometimes by blood–hounds, sometimes by soldiers almost equally savage, and afterwards shot like wild beasts, drove some of those sectaries who were styled Cameronians, and other proscribed persons, to measures of absolute desperation. They made a declaration, which they caused to be affixed to different churches, importing that they would use the law of retaliation, and ‘we will,’ said they, ‘punish as enemies to God, and to the Covenant, such persons as shall make it their work to imbrue their hands in our blood; and chiefly, if they shall continue obstinately and with habitual malice to proceed against us:’ with more to the like effect. Upon such an occasion, the interference of government became necessary. The government did indeed interfere, and by a vote of council ordered, that whoever owned, or refused to disown, the declaration on oath, should be put to death, in the presence of two witnesses, though unarmed when taken. The execution of this massacre, in the twelve counties which were principally concerned, was committed to the military, and exceeded, if possible, the order itself. The disowning the declaration was required to be made in a particular form prescribed. Women obstinate in their fanaticism, lest female blood should be a stain upon the swords of soldiers engaged in this honourable employment, were drowned. The habitations, as well of those who had fled to save themselves, as of those who suffered, were burnt and destroyed. Such members of the families of the delinquents as were above twelve years old, were imprisoned for the purpose of being afterwards transported. The brutality of the soldiers was such as might be expected from an army let loose from all restraint, and employed to execute the royal justice, as it was called, upon wretches. Graham, who has been mentioned before, and who, under the title of Lord Dundee (a title which was probably conferred on him by James for these or similar services), was afterwards esteemed such a hero among the Jacobite party, particularly distinguished himself. Of six unarmed fugitives whom he seized, he caused four to be shot in his presence, nor did the remaining two experience any other mercy from him than a delay of their doom; and at another time, having intercepted the flight of one of these victims, he had him shown to his family, and then murdered in the arms of his wife. The example of persons of such high rank, and who must be presumed to have had an education in some degree corresponding to their station, could not fail of operating upon men of a lower order in society. The carnage became every day more general, and more indiscriminate; and the murder of peasants at their houses, or while employed in their usual work in the fields, by the soldiers, was not only not reproved or punished, but deemed a meritorious service by their superiors.” Chap. ii. p. 128–30.

[221] The following passage, with other interesting particulars relative to these times, is to be found in Scott’s ‘Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.’ It is hardly necessary to refer to ‘Old Mortality,’ as a most vivid and affecting picture of this interesting period of our history, though coloured by the author’s prejudices in favour of the dominant party.

[222] Wodrow says that the soldiers hesitated, or refused to fire, and that Claverhouse shot Brown with his own hands.

[223] We give an abstract, to show both the number and nature of the crimes which were punished with death.

Jan. 23. Six persons shot, surprised in prayer, in the parish of Monigaff, Galloway.

Jan. 31. One person shot, taken in hiding, in Durisdeer, Nithsdale.

Jan. 31. Four shot, for refusing the oath of abjuration. Straiton, Ayrshire.

Feb. 19. Four shot and two hanged, taken in hiding. Orr, Galloway.

Feb. 21. Five killed at Kirkonnel.

Feb. 28. One killed at Barr, in Carrick.

Ten others killed in the above month, at different times, dates uncertain, facts certain. And so on, through the year, but especially the first half. All these, it will be observed, are military executions solely, not men slain in fighting, nor men condemned by the civil power. Wodrow, book iii. chap. 9. § 6.

[224] Instructions to General–Lieutenant Drummond for marching to the southern and western shires. Edinb. April 21, 1685.

“1mo. You are to employ all his majesties standing forces, in the southern and western shires, or so many of them as you shall find expedient, for pursuing, suppressing, and utterly destroying all such fugitive rebels as resist, and disturb the peace and quiet of his majesties government: and you are to cause immediately shoot such of them to death, as you immediately find in arms.

“2do. You shall give order to apprehend all persons suspect for harbourers, or resetters of rebels, and fugitive vagabonds: and punish such as you find guilty, according to law.”

He is farther warranted to take free quarters, for all persons under his command (not being of his majesty’s forces), in all places where rebels, and fugitives, and vagabonds are suspected of being reset, harboured, or connived at.

There is something at once ludicrous and revolting in the following complaint, and the remedy applied to the grievance. It is a good specimen of the way in which the Council exercised their inquisitorial functions:—

“July 14. The magistrates of Glasgow present a petition to the council, showing that their tolbooth is pestered with many silly old women, who are a great charge to the town. The council order them to be whipped and burnt on the cheek severely, who are guilty of reset and converse; and such as are guilty of ill principles, that they be whipped and all dismissed.” Wodrow, Hist. of Sufferings of Church of Scotland, vol. iii. chap. ix. § 3.

Reset and converse are the harbouring and intercourse with proscribed persons: guilty of ill principles is a phrase of convenient latitude; but must be understood to signify affection to the kirk and covenant.

[225] Wodrow, book i., chap. 2, § 4.

[226] Burnet says, “he gave no advantage to those that wished to have saved him, by the least step towards any submission, but much to the contrary. I saw him suffer. He was so far from showing any fear, that he rather expressed a contempt of death. He spoke an hour on the ladder with the composedness of one that was delivering a sermon, rather than his last words. He justified all that had been done, and exhorted all people to adhere to the Covenant, which he magnified highly.” Burnet, Hist. of his own Times.

[227] Wodrow, book i. chap. 2.

[228] Wodrow, book i. chap. 2.

[229] Last Days of Pompeii.

[230] Heber’s ‘Life of Bishop Taylor,’ the worthy descendant of this excellent man.

[231] By a singular specimen of ignorance, our ancestors, who held the Mahometans in pious abomination, chose to consider that sect, which holds images in abomination, as idolaters. Hence the word mawmet, or maumet, and maumetry, are continually used in our early writers for idol, and idolatry. “Unleful worschipping of mawmetis.”—Wiclif, 1 Pet. iv. 3. “When the Byshop Amphiarax sodeynly fell down into hell,” according to Lydgate, Story of Thebes, it was the

“Mede of ydolatrie,

Of rightes olde, and false mammentrye.”—Caxton’s edition.

[232] The principal question argued in this letter is the marriage of priests. The following extract, which is of Taylor’s own writing, gives a good notion of the way in which such examinations might be carried on:—

“Then my Lord Chancellor said, ‘Diddest thou never read the book that I set forth of the sacrament?’ I answered, ‘That I had read it.’ Then hee said, ‘How likest thou that book?’ With that one of the Councell (whose name I know not),(a) said, ‘My Lord, that is a good question, for I am sure that book stoppeth all their mouths.’ Then said I, ‘My Lord, I think many things be farre wide of the truth of God’s word in that book.’

“Then my Lord said, ‘Thou art a very varlet.’ To that I answered, ‘That is as bad as Racha, or Fatue.’(b) Then my Lord said, ‘thou art an ignorant beetlebrow.’

“To that I answered, ‘I have read over and over again the Holy Scriptures, and St. Augustine’s works through, and Cyprian, Eusebius, Origene, Gregory Nazianzene, with divers other books, through once; therefore I thank God I am not utterly ignorant. Besides these, my Lord, I professed the Civill Laws, as your Lordship did, and I have read over the Canon Law also.’

“Then my Lord said, ‘With a corrupt judgment thou readest all things. Touching my profession, it is divinity, in which I have written diverse bookes.’ ‘Then,’ said I, ‘my Lord, ye did write one booke, De vera obedientia: I would ye had been constant in that; for indeed ye did never declare a good conscience, that I heard of, but in that one booke.’

“Then my Lord said, ‘Tut, tut, tut, I wrote against Bucer in Priests’ marriages; but such bookes please not such wretches as thou art, which hast been married many yeares.’

“To that I answered, ‘I am married indeed, and I have had nine children in holy matrimony, I thank God: and this I am sure of, that your proceedings now at present in this realme, against priests’ marriages, is the maintenance of the doctrine of divells, against naturall law, civill law, canon law, generall councells, canons of the Apostles, ancient Doctors, and God’s lawes.’

“Then my Lord Chancellor said, ‘Thou falsifiest the generall councell: for there is express mention in the said decree, that priests should be divorced from their wives, which be married.’

“‘Then,’ said I, ‘if those words be there, as you say, then am I content to lose this great head of mine. Let the book be fetched.’”

(a) “His right name might bee Sir John Clawbacke.”—Fox’s marginal note.

(b) Taylor had once before twitted the Bishop with his turn for calling hard names.

[233] The garments of a Roman Catholic priest, which were to be put on that he might be stripped of them, and thus symbolically deprived of his pastoral office. The scraping mentioned below was performed on the parts which were anointed in the Roman ritual of ordination.