s proved to him that he was greatly mistaken if he thought
that happiness depended on wealth or finery; and that, poor as he might
seem to him, he was in fact happier than he. "I consider," said he,
"that as to want nothing is the exclusive prerogative of the gods, so
the fewer wants a man has, the nearer he approaches to the condition of
the gods."

It was impossible that virtue so pure as that of Socrates should have no
effect in exciting admiration, especially in a city such as Athens,
where that example must have appeared very extraordinary. For those very
persons who have not the happiness to follow virtue themselves, cannot
refrain from doing justice to those who do follow it. This soon gained
Socrates the universal esteem of his fellow-citizens, and attracted to
him many scholars of every age; by whom the advantages of listening to
his instructions, and engaging in conversation with him, were preferred
to the most fascinating pleasure and the most agreeable amusements.

What rendered the manner of Socrates peculiarly engaging was, that
though in his own practice he maintained the most rigid severity, yet to
others he was in the highest degree gentle and complaisant. The first
principle with which he wished to inspire his youthful auditors was
piety and reverence for the gods; he then allured them as much as
possible to observe temperance, and to avoid voluptuousness;
representing to them how the latter deprives a man of liberty, the
richest treasure of which he is possessed.

His manner of treating the science of morals was the more insinuating,
as he always conducted his subject in the way of conversation and
without any apparent method. For without proposing any point for
discussion, he kept by that which chance first presented. Like one who
himself wished information, he first put a question, and then, profiting
by the concessions of his respondent, brought him to a proposition
subversive of that which in the beginning of the debate had been
considered as a first principle. He spent one part of the day in
conferences of this kind, on _morals_. To these everyone was welcome,
and according to the testimony of Xenophon, none departed from them
without becoming _a better man_.

Though Socrates has left us nothing in writing, yet by what we find in
the works of Plato and Xenophon, it is easy to judge both of the
principles of his ethical knowledge and of the manner in which he
communicated them. The uniformity