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    things , and I will ( ell you the reason : I am not yet able , according to the Del p hic injunction , to know myself ; and it appears to me very ridiculous , while ignorant of myself , to inquire into what I am not concerned in . I therefore leave these things alone , and believe with the vulgar ; not searching into such matters , but into myself and inquiring whether I am a beast , of a more complicated structure and more savage than Typhon , or a tamer and simpler animal , whose nature partakes of divinity .

    Saying these tilings , they arrive at the spot which Fhaedrus had selected for sitting down to read the manuscript . Socrates begins to look about him with wonder , and praises the beauty of the place . Phaedrus laughs at him , and tells him that he is more like a stranger than a native , and never goes out of the town at all . Socrates begs to

    be pardoned for the omission ; for , says he , I like to learn : the fields and trees cannot teach me any thing , the men in the town can . But you have found a cure for this fault of mine : for , as they lead hungry cattle by carrying a branch of a tree before them , so , by holding a book in your hand , you might make me follow you all oveor Attica .

    After these preliminaries Phaedrus reads the discourse ; which is in in the form of a love-letter , if that can be called a love-letter which disclaims love . The following is the substance , and almost an exact translation : — ' You know how it is with me , and that J think this affair would be advantageous to us : but I claim , not to be rejected because I dp not love you . A lover , when his desire ceases , repents of all that he has

    done for you : the other has no cause for repentance , for tjie good he does you was not done from irresistible impulse , but from choice , and d e liberation . A lover , too , reckons up the benefits he has conferred upon you , the trouble and anxiety he has undergone for your sake , the damage which he has suffered in his private affairs by reason of his love , and thinks that by all this he has long ago made a sufficient return to you for your favours ; but he who does not love , can neither pretend tp have neglected his own concerns on accpunt of hi a love , nor to have

    undergone labour or anxiety , nor to have quarrelled with his relations , so thsit nothing is left but to be eager and assiduous in doing whatever will give you pleasure . Again , if it is a reason for valuing a lover , that he is more attached to the person whom he loves than to any person else , and is ready botb by word and deed to incur the enmity of others , in order to gratify the object of his love , it clearly follows that if he should afterwards lav * another , he will do aa much for that other .

    a . nd will be willing , for the gratification of the other , to quarrel \* i | h hi * fjrst Jove . And hpy ? can it be reasonable to grant such a favqur to qne who U under a calamity , which they who know what it is will pot eyen attempt to cure ? for the rnen themselves confess that ( bey are in an unsound state of mind , and know their own fully , but c * niK > t conquer it . How then can they , when they come ( p their sense * , judge that to be well done which they determined upon when iu such a aUte ? Further , if you select from among your lovers even the very twtt , your clipice must be made from a araall number ; but if you , choojte from

    Wong all persons whatever , except lovera , the one vvho \* nnoqt suitable to yourself , there ia a . much greater chance of your finding a person 4 $ &vinf of your ^ Uclu ^^ t .

    Untitled Article

    406 Pteto ' i LtiaJogues tfy Phadru * .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1834, page 406, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2634/page/24/