n the decline of life, when his
mental powers were not only considerably impaired by age, but greatly
injured by calamity. His life had been very stormy; his circumstances, for
many years preceding his death, were indigent; his patrons were by no means
liberal; and his real friends were neither numerous nor affluent. He began
the study of Plato, as he himself informed me, when he had considerably
passed the meridian of life, and with most unfortunate prejudices against
his best disciples, which I attempted to remove during my acquaintance with
him, and partly succeeded in the attempt; but infirmity and death prevented
its completion. Under such circumstances it was not to be expected that he
would fathom the profundity of Plato's conceptions, and arrive at the
summit of philosophic attainments. I saw, however, that his talents and his
natural disposition were such as might have ranked him among the best of
Plato's interpreters, if he had not yielded to the pressure of calamity, if
he had not nourished such baneful prejudices, and if he had not neglected
philosophy in the early part of life. Had this happened, my labors would
have been considerably lessened, or perhaps rendered entirely unnecessary,
and his name would have been transmitted to posterity with undecaying
renown. As this unfortunately did not happen, I have been under the
necessity of diligently examining and comparing with the original all
those parts of the dialogues which he translated, that are more deeply
philosophical, or that contain any thing of the theology of Plato. In
these, as might be expected, I found him greatly deficient; I found him
sometimes mistaking the meaning through ignorance of Plato's more sublime
tenets, and at other times perverting it, in order to favor some opinions
of his own. His translation however of other parts which are not so
abstruse is excellent. In these he not only presents the reader faithfully
with the matter, but likewise with the genuine manner of Plato. The notes
too which accompany the translation of these parts generally exhibit just
criticism and extensive learning, an elegant taste, and a genius naturally
philosophic. Of these notes I have preserved as much as was consistent with
the limits and design of the following work.

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[29] In the notes on the above-mentioned nine dialogues, those written
by Mr. Sydenham are signed S., and those by myself T.
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Of the translation of the