king to battle. The shock was exceedingly violent and bloody. Leonidas himself was one of the first that fell. The endeavors of the Lacedæmonians to defend his dead body, were incredible. At length, not vanquished, but oppressed by numbers, they all fell except one man, who escaped to Sparta, where he was treated as a coward and traitor to his country, and nobody would keep company or converse with him. But soon afterwards, he made a glorious amend for his fault, at the battle of Platea, where he distinguished himself in an extraordinary manner.-Xerxes, enraged to the last degree against Leonidas, for daring to make head against him, caused his dead body to be hung upon a gallows, and made the intended dishonor of his enemy his own immortal disgrace.

6. Xerxes lost in that affair above 20,000 men, among whom were two of the king's brothers. He was very sensible, that so great a loss, which was a manifest proof of the courage of their enemies, was capable of alarming and discouraging his soldiers. In order, therefore, to conceal the knowledge of it from them, he caused all his men that were killed in that action, except 1,000, whose bodies he ordered to be left upon the field, to be thrown together into large holes, which were secretly made, and covered over afterwards with earth and herbs. This stratagem succeeded very ill; for when the soldiers in the fleet, being curious to see the field of battle, obtained leave to come thither for that pur pose, it served rather to discover his own littleness of soul, than to conceal the number of the slain.

7. Dismayed with a victory that had cost him so dear, he asked Demaratus, if the Lacedæmonians had many such sol diers. That prince told him, that the Spartan republic had a great many cities belonging to it, of which all the inhabitants were exceeding brave; but that the inhabitants of Lacedæmon, who were properly called Spartans, and who were about 8,000 in number, surpassed all the rest in valor, and were all of them such as those who had fought under Leonidas.

8. The action of Leonidas, with his 300 Spartans, was not the effect of rashness or despair; but was a wise and noble conduct, as Diodorus Siculus has taken care to observe, in

What did Xerxes cause to be done with the dead body of Leonidas? -How many men had Xerxes slain in the battle of Thermopyle?

The magnificent encomium upon that famous engagement, to which he ascribes the success of all the ensuing victories ind campaigns. Leonidas, knowing that Xerxes marched it the head of the forces of the east, in order to overwhelm and crush a little country by the dint of his numbers, rightly conceived, from the superiority of his genius and understanding, that if they pretended to make the success of that war consist in opposing force to force, and numbers to numbers, all the Grecian nations together would never be able to equal the Persians, or to dispute the victory with them; that it was therefore necessary to point out to Greece another means of safety and preservation, whilst she was under these alarms; and that they ought to show the whole universe, who had all their eyes upon them, what glorious things may be done, when greatness of mind is opposed to force of body, true courage and bravery against blind impetuosity, the love of liberty against tyrannical oppression, and a few disciplined veteran troops against a confused multitude, though ever so

numerous.

9. These brave Lacedæmonians thought it became them, who were the choicest soldiers of the chief people of Greece, to devote themselves to certain death, in order to make the Persians sensible how difficult it is to reduce freemen to slavery; and to teach the rest of Greece, by their example, either to vanquish or to perish. The event proved the justness of such sentiments. That illustrious example of courage astonished the Persians, and gave a new spirit and vigor to the Greeks. The lives then of this heroic leader and his brave troops were not thrown away, but usefully employed; and their death was attended with a double effect, more great and lasting than themselves had imagined.

10. On one hand, it was in a manner the seed of their ensuing victories, which made the Persians for ever after lay side all thoughts of attacking Greece; so that, during the seven or eight succeeding reigns, there was neither any prince, who durst entertain such a design, nor any flatterer in his court who durst propose the thing to him. On the other hand, such a signal and exemplary instance of intrepidity made an indelible impression upon all the rest of he Grecians, and left a persuasion deeply rooted in their hearts, that they were able to subdue the Persians, and subert their vast empire. Cimon was the man who made the

first attempt of that kind with success. Agesilaus afterward pushed that design so far, that he made the great monarc tremble in his palace at Susa. Alexander at last accon plished it with incredible facility. He never had the lea doubt, no more than the Macedonians who followed him, ‹ the whole country of Greece that chose him general in the expedition, but that with 30,000 men he could reduce th Persian empire, 300 Spartans having been sufficient to chec the united forces of the whole east.

11. The brave will love the brave, and deep revere ; Let freemen honor with a brother's tear

That king of freedom and his Spartan band,
Who nobly fought to save their native land.
No love of conquest urg'd them to invade ;
They fought th' invader, and they fell betray'd.

Should foemen fill our country with alarms,
Think of Thermopylæ, and rouse to arms.

SOCRATES.

1. SOCRATES, the famous Greek philosopher, was born at Athens, about 451 years before Christ. He gave early proofs of his valor in the service of his country; but chiefly applied himself to the study of philosophy, and was a person of irresistible eloquence and accomplished virtue. His distinguishing characteristic was a perfect tranquillity of mind, which enabled him to support, with patience, the most troublesome accidents of life. He used to beg of those with whom he usually conversed, to put him on his guard, the moment they perceived in him the first emotions of anger; and when they did so, he instantly resumed perfect composure and complacency. His wife, Xantippe, a woman of the most whimsical and provoking temper, afforded him sufficient opportunity of exercising his patience, by the revilings and abuse with which she was constantly loading him.

2. Socrates possessed, in a superior degree, the talent of reasoning. His principal employment was the instruction

Where and when was Socrates born?