Plate food, and more exercise. In the last fortnight, he must have dried oats, that have been hulled by beating. Af Platina. ter this they are to be wetted in a quantity of whites of eggs beaten up, and then laid out in the sun to dry; and when as dry as before, the horse is to have them. This sort of food is very light of digestion, and very good for the creature's wind. The beans in this time should be given more sparingly, and the bread should be made of three parts wheat and one part beans. If he should become costive under this course, he must then have some ale and whites of eggs beaten together; this will cool him, and keep his body moist.

In the last week the mash is to be omitted, and barley-water given him in its place, every day, till the day before the race he should have his fill of bay; then he must have it given him more sparingly, that he may have time to digest it; and in the morning of the race day he must have a toast or two of white bread soaked in sack, and the same just before he is let out to the field. This is an excellent method, because the two extremes of fullness and fasting are at this time to be equally avoided the one hurting his wind, and the other occasioning faintness that may make him lose. After he has had his food, the litter is to be shook up, and the stable kept quiet, that he may be disturbed by nothing till he is taken out to run..

PLATFORM, in the military art, an elevation of earth, on which cannon is placed to fire on the enemy; such are the mounts in the middle of curtains. On the ramparts there is always a platform, where the cannon are mounted. It is made by the heaping up of earth on the rampart, or by an arrangement of madriers, rising insensibly, for the cannon to roll on, either in a casemate or on attack in the outworks. All practitioners are agreed, that no shot can be depended on, unless the piece can be placed on a solid platform; for if the platform shakes with the first impulse of the powder, the piece must likewise shake, which will alter its direction, and render the shot uncertain.

PLATFORM, in Architecture, is a row of beams which support the timber-work of a roof, and lie on the top of a wall where the entablature ought to be raised.

This term is also used for a kind of terrace or broad smooth open walk at the top of a building, from whence a fair prospect may be taken of the adjacent country. Hepce an edifice is said to be covered with a platform, when it is flat at top, and has no ridge. Most of the oriental buildings are thus covered, as were all those of the ancients.

PLATFORM, OF Orlop, in a man of war, a place on the lower deck, abaft the main-mast, between it and the cockpit, and round about the main capstan, where provision is made for the wounded men in time of action.. PLATINA is a metallic substance, the name of which has an allusion to its colour. It is a diminutive of plata, and signifies "little silver." From its great specific gravity, and other resemblances which it has to gold, it has been called or blanc, or white gold; from its refractory nature, diabolus metallorum; from some doubts entertained of its character as a metal, juon blanco, white jack, white rogue, or white mock metal. It has also received the appellation of the eighth metal: and, probably from some district which affords it, has gotten the name of platina del Pinto. For an ac

count of its properties, and for its natural history, see Platina, CHEMISTRY; MINERALOGY; and ORES, Reduction of. Plating. PLATING is the art of covering baser metals with a thin plate of silver either for use or for ornament. It is said to have been invented by a spur-maker, not for show but for real utility. Till then the more elegant spurs in common use were made of solid silver, and from the flexibility of that metal they were liable to be bent into inconvenient forms by the slightest accident. To remedy this defect, a workman at Birmingham contrived to make the branches of a pair of spurs hollow, and to fill that hollow with a slender rod of steel or iron. Finding this a great improvement, and being desirous to add cheapness to utility, he continued to make the hollow larger, and of course the iron thicker and thicker, till at last he discovered the means of coating an iron spur with silver in such a manner as to make it equally elegant with those which were made wholly of that metal. The invention was quickly applied to other purposes; and to numberless utensils which were formerly made of brass or iron are now given the strength of these metals, and the elegance of silver, for a small additional expence.

The silver plate is generally made to adhere to the baser metal by means of solder; which is of two kinds, the soft and the hard, or the tin and silver solders. The former of these consists of tin alone, the latter generally of three parts of silver and one of brass. When a buckle, for instance, is to be plated by means of the soft solder, the ring, before it is bent, is first tinned, and then the silver-plate is gently hammered upon it, the hammer employed being always covered with a piece of cloth. The silver now forms, as it were, a mould to the ring, and whatever of it is not intended to be used is cut off. This mould is fastened to the ring of the buckle by two or three cramps of small ironwire; after which the buckle, with the plated side undermost, is laid upon a plate of iron sufficiently hot. to melt the tin, but not the silver. The buckle is then covered with powdered resin or anointed with turpentine; and lest there should be a deficiency of tin, a small portion of rolled tin is likewise melted on it. The buckle is now taken off with a tongs, and commonly laid on a bed of sand, where the plate and the ring, while the solder is yet in a state of fusion, are more closely compressed by a smart stroke with a block of wood The buckle is afterwards bent and finished.

Sometimes the melted tin is poured into the silver mould, which has been previously rubbed over with some flux. The buckle ring is then put among the melted tin, and the plating finished. This is called by the workmen filling up.

When the hard solder is employed, the process is in many respects different. Before the plate is fitted to the iron or other metal, it is rubbed over with a solution of borax. Stripes of silver are placed along the joinings of the plate; and instead of two or three cramps, as in the former case, the whole is wrapped round with small wire; the solder and joinings are again rubbed with the borax, and the whole put into coal fire till the solder be in fusion. When taken out, the wire is instantly removed, the plate is cleaned by the application of some acid, and afterwards made smooth by the strokes of a hammer,

char

Metal.

Metal plating is when a bar of silver and copper are taken of at least one equal side. The equal sides are made smooth, and the two bars fastened together by wire wrapped round them. These bars are then sweated in a charcoal fire, and after sweating, they adhere as closely together as if they were soldered. After this they are flattened into a plate between two rollers, when the copper appears on one side and the silver on the other. This sort of plate is named plated metal. French plating is when silver-leaf is burnished on a piece of metal in a certain degree of heat.

When silver is dissolved in aquafortis, and precipitated upon another metal, the process is called silvering. See SOLDERING.

it

PLATO, an illustrious philosopher of antiquity, was by descent an Athenian, though the place of his birth was the island of Egina. His lineage through his father is traced back to Codrus the last king of Athens, and through his mother to Solon the celebrated legislator. The time of his birth is commonly placed in the beginning of the 88th Olympiad ; but Dr Enfield thinks may be more accurately fixed in the third year of the 87th Olympiad, or 430 years before the Christian era. He gave early indications of an extensive and original genius, and had an education suitable to his high rank, being instructed in the rudiments of letters by the grammarian Dionysius, and trained in athletic exercises by Aristo of Argos. He applied with great diligence to the study of the arts of painting and poetry; and made such proficiency in the latter, as to produce an epic poem, which, upon comparing it with the poems of Homer, be committed to the flames. At the age of 20 he com. posed a dramatic piece; but after he had given it to the performers, happening to attend upon a discourse of Socrates, he was so captivated by his eloquence, that he reclaimed his tragedy, without suffering it to be acted, renounced the muses, burnt all his poems, and applied himself wholly to the study of wisdom.

It is thought that Plato's first masters in philosophy were Cratylus and Hermogenes, who taught the systems of Heraclitus and Parmenides; but when he was 20 years old, he attached himself wholly to Socrates, with whom he remained eight years in the relation of a scholar. During this period, he frequently displeased his -companions, and sometimes even his master, by grafting upon the Socratic system opinions which were taken from some other stock. It was the practice of the scholars of Socrates to commit to writing the substance of their master's discourses. Plato wrote them in the form of dialogues; but with so great additions of his own, that Socrates, hearing him recite his Lysis, cried out, "O Hercules! how many things does this young man feign of me !"

Plato, however, retained the warmest attachment to his master. When that great and good man was summoned before the senate, his illustrious scholar undertook to plead his cause, and began a speech in his defence; but the partiality and violence of the judges would not permit him to proceed. After the condemnation, he presented his master with money sufficient to redeem his life; which, however, Socrates refused to accept. During his imprisonment, Plato attended him, and was present at a conversation which he held with this friends concerning the immortality of the soul; the

substance of which he afterwards committed to writing Plato. in the beautiful dialogue intitled Phado, not, however, without interweaving his own opinions and language.

The philosophers who were at Athens were so alarmed at the death of Socrates, that most of them fled from the city to avoid the injustice and cruelty of the government. Plato, whose grief upon this occasion is said by Plutarch to have been excessive, retired to Megara, where he was kindly entertained by Euclid, who had been one of Socrates's first scholars, till the storm was over. Afterwards he determined to travel in pursuit of knowledge; and from Megara he went to Italy, where he conferred with Eurytus, Philolaus, and Archytas. These were the most celebrated of the followers of Pythagoras, whose doctrine was then become famous in Greece; and from these the Pythagoreans have affirmed that he had all his natural philosophy. He dived into the most profound and mysterious secrets of the Pythagoric doctrines; and perceiving other knowledge to be connected with them, he went to Cyrene, where he learned geometry of Theodorus the mathematician. From thence he pas sed into Egypt, to acquaint himself with the theology of their priests, to study more nicely the proportions of geometry, and to instruct himself in astronomical obser vations; and having taken a full survey of all the country, he settled for some time in the province of Sais, learning of the wise men there, what they held concerning the universe, whether it had a beginning, whether it moved wholly or in part, &c.; and Pausanias affirms, that he learned from these the immortality, and also the transmigration, of souls. Some of the fathers will have it, that he had communication with the books of Moses, and that he studied under a learned Jew of Heliopolis; but there is nothing that can be called evidence for these assertions. St Austin once believed that Plato had some conference with Jeremiah; but afterwards discovered, that that prophet must have been dead at least 60 years before Plato's voyage to Egypt.

Plato's curiosity was not yet satisfied. He travelled into Persia to consult the magi about the religion of that country: and he designed to have penetrated even to the Indies, and have learned of the Brachmans their manners and customs; but the wars in Asia prevented him.

"He then returned into Italy, to the Pythagorean school at Tarentum, where he endeavoured to improve his own system, by incorporating with it the doctrine of Pythagoras, as it was then taught by Archytas, Timæus, and others. And afterwards, when he visited Sicily, he retained such an attachment to the Italic school, that, through the bounty of Dionysius, he purchased at a vast price several books which contained the doctrine of Pythagoras, from Philolaus, one of his followers.

"Returning home richly stored with knowledge of various kinds, Plato settled in Athens, and executed the design, which he had doubtless long had in contemplation, of forming a new school for the instruction of youth in the principles of philosophy. The place which he made choice of for this purpose was a public grove, called the Academy, from Hecademus, who left it to the citizens for the purpose of gymnastic exercises. Adorned with statues, temples, and sepulchres, planted with lofty plane-trees, and intersected by a gentle stream, it afforded a delightful retreat for philosophy and the muses, Of this delightful retreat Horace speaks:

Atque

Atque inter sylvas Academi quærere verum.
"'Midst Academic groves to search for truth.”

Within this inclosure he possessed, as a part of his humble patrimony, purchased at the price of three thousand drachmas, a small garden, in which he opened a school for the reception of those who might be inclined to attend bis instructions. How much Plato valued mathematical studies, and how necessary a preparation he thought them for higher speculations, appears from the inscription which he placed over the door of his school: Ουδείς αγεω έτρητος εισίτω. "Let no one who is unacquainted with geometry enter here."

"This new school soon became famous, and its master was ranked among the most eminent philosophers. His travels into distant countries, where learning and wisdom flourished, gave him celebrity among his brethren of the Socratic sect. None of these had ventured to institute a school in Athens except Aristippus; and he had confined his instructions almost entirely to ethical subjects, and had brought himself into some discredit by the freedom of his manuers. Plato alone remained to inherit the patrimony of public esteem which Socrates had left his disciples; and he possessed talents and learning adequate to his design of extending the study of philosophy beyond the limits within which it had been inclosed by his master. The consequence was, not only that young men crowded to his school from every quarter, but that people of the first distinction in every department frequented the academy. Even females, disguised in men's clothes, often attended his lectures. Among the illustrious names which appear in the catalogue of his followers are Dion the Syracusan prince, and the orators Hyperides, Lycurgus, Demosthenes, and Isocrates.

"Greatness was never yet exempted from envy. The distinguished reputation of Plato brought upon him the hatred of his former companions in the school of Socrates, and they loaded him with detraction and obloquy. It can only be ascribed to mutual jealousy, that Xenophon and he, though they relate the discourses of their common master, studiously avoid mentioning one another. Diogenes the Cynic ridiculed Plato's doctrine of ideas and other abstract speculations. In the midst of these private censures, however, the public fame of Plato daily increased; and several states, among which were the Arcadians and Thebans, sent ambassadors with carnest requests that he would come over, not only to instruct the young men in philosophy, but also to prescribe them laws of government. The Cyrenians, Syracusans, Cretans, and Eleans, sent also to him he did not go to any of them, but gave laws and rules of governing to all. He lived single, yet soberly and chastely. He was a man of great virtues, and exceedingly affable; of which we need no greater proof, than his civil manner of conversing with the philosophers of his own times, when pride and envy were at their height. His behaviour to Diogenes is always mentioned in his history. The Cynic.was vastly offended, it seems, at the politeness and fine taste of Plato, and used to catch all opportunities of snarling at him. He dined one day at his table with other company, and trampling upon the tapestry with his dirty feet, uttered this brutish sarcasm," I trample upon the pride of Plato;" to which Plato wisely reparteed, "With greater pride."

The fame of Plato drew disciples to him from all parts; among whom were Speusippus an Athenian, his sister's son, whom he appointed his successor in the academy, and the great Aristotle.

The admiration of this illustrious man was not con-fined to the breasts of a few philosophers. He was- in high esteem with several princes, particularly Archelaus king of Macedon, and Dionysius tyrant of Sicily. At three different periods he visited the court of this latter prince, and made several bold but unsuccessful attempts to subdue his haughty and tyrannical spirit. A brief. relation of the particulars of these visits to Sicily may serve to cast some light upon the character of our philosopher; and we shall give it in the words of Dr Enfield, from whose elegant history of philosophy we have extracted by much the most valuable parts of this ar-ticle.

"The professed object of Plato's first visit to Sicily, which happened in the 40th year of his age, during the reign of the elder Dionysius the son of Hermocrates, was, to take a survey of the island, and particularly to observe the wonders of Mount Etna. Whilst he was resident at Syracuse, he was employed in the instruction of Dion, the king's brother-in-law, who possessed excellent abilities, though hitherto restrained by the terrors of a tyrannical government, and relaxed by the luxuries of a licentious court. Disgusted by the debauch-ed manners of the Syracusans, he endeavoured to rescue his pupil from the general depravity. Nor did Dion disappoint his preceptor's expectations. No sooner had he received a taste of that philosophy which leads to virtue, than he was fired with an ardent love of wisdom. Entertaining an hope that philosophy might produce the same effect upon Dionysius, he took great pains to procure an interview between Plato and the tyrant. In the course of the conference, whilst Plato was discoursing on the security and happiness of virtue, and the miseries attending injustice and oppression, Dionysius, perceiving that the philosopher's discourse was levelled against the vices and cruelties of his reign, dismissed him with bigh displeasure from his presence, and conceived a design against his life. It was not without great difficulty that Plato, by the assistance of Dion, made his escape. A vessel which had brought over Pollis, a delegate from Sparta, was fortunately at that time returning to Greece.. Dion engaged Pollis to take the charge of the philosopher, and land him safely in his native country; but Dionysius discovered the design, and obtained a promise from Pollis, that he would either put him to death or sell him as a slave upon the passage. Pollis accordingly sold him in the island of Ægina; the inhabitants of which were then at war with the Athenians. Plato could not long remain unnoticed: Anicerris, a Cyrenaic philosopher, who happened to be at that time in the island, discovered the stranger, and thought himself happy in an opportunity of showing his respect for so illustrious a philosopher; he purchased his freedom for 30 minæ, or 841. 10s. sterling money, and sent him home to Athens. Repayment being afterwards offered to Anicerris by Plato's relations, he refused the money, saying, with that generous spirit which true philosophy always inspires, that he saw no reason why the relations of Plato should engross to themselves the honour of serving him."

After a short interval, Dionysius repented of his illplaced

of Plate

through the mere decay of nature, in the first year the hundred and eighth Olympiad. He passed his whole life in a state of celibacy, and therefore left no natural heirs, but transferred his effects by will to his friend Adiamantus, The grove and garden, which had been the scene of his philosophical labours, at last afforded him a sepulchre. Statues and altars were erected to his memory; the day of his birth long continued to be celebrated as a festival by his followers; and his portrait is to this day preserved in gems: but the most lasting monuments of his genius are his writings, which have been transmitted, without material injury, to the present times.

Plato. placed resentment, and wrote to Plato, earnestly requesting him to repair his credit by returning to Syracuse; to which Plato gave this high-spirited answer, that phi1030phy would not allow him leisure to think of Dionysius. He was, however, prevailed upon by his friend Dion to accept of the tyrant's invitation to return to Syracuse, and take upon him the education of Dionysius the younger, who was heir apparent to the monarchy. He was received by Dionysins the reigning sovereign with every possible appearance of respect; but after seeing his friend banished, and being himself kept as a prisoner at large in the palace, he was by the tyrant sent back into his own country, with a promise that both he and Dion should be recalled at the end of the war in which the Sicilians were then engaged. This promise was not fulfilled. The tyrant wished for the return of Plato, but could not resolve to recal Dion. At last, however, having probably promised that the philosopher should meet his friend at the court of Syracuse, he prevailed upon Plato to visit that capital a third time. When he arrived, the king met him in a magnificent chariot, and conducted him to his palace. The Sicilians too rejoiced in his return; for they hoped that the wisdom of Plato would at length triumph over the tyrannical spirit of the prince. Dionysius seemed wholly divested of his former resentments, listened with apparent pleasure to the philosopher's doctrine, and, among other expressions of regard, presented him with eighty talents. of gold. In the midst of a numerous train of philosophers, Plato now possessed the chief influence and authority in the court of Syracuse. Whilst Aristippus was enjoying himself in splendid luxury; whilst Diogenes was freely indulging his acrimonious humour; and whilst Æschines was gratifying his thirst after riches;-Plato supported the credit of philosophy with an air of dignity, which his friends regarded as an indication of superior wisdom, but which his enemies imputed to pride. After all, it was not in the power of Plato to prevail upon Dionysius to adopt his system of policy, or to recal Dion from his exile. Mutual distrust, after a short interval, arose between the tyrant and the philosopher; each suspected the other of evil designs, and each endevoured to conceal his suspicion under the disguise of respect. Dionysius attempted to impose upon Plato by condescending attentions, and Plate to deceive Dionysius by an appearance of confidence. At length, the philosopher became so much dissatisfied with his situation, that he earnestly requested permission to return to Greece, which was at last granted him, and he was sent home loaded with rich presents. On his way to Athens, passing through Elis during the celebration of the Olympic games, he was present at this general assembly of the Greeks, and engaged universal attention.

From this narrative it appears, that if Plato visited the courts of princes, it was chiefly from the hope of seeing his ideal plan of a republic realized; and that his talents and attainments rather qualified him to shine in the academy than in the council or the senate.

The character of this philosopher has always been high. Besides the advantages of a noble birth, he had a large and comprehensive understanding, a vast fund of wit and good taste, great evenness and sweetness of temper, all cultivated and refined by education and travel; so that it is no wonder if he was honoured by his coun trymen, esteemed by strangers, and adored by his scholars. The ancients thought more highly of Plato than of all their philosophers: they always called him the Divine Plato; and they seemed resolved that his descent should be more than human." There are (says Apuleius) who assert Plato to have sprung from a more sublime conception; and that his mother Perictione, who was a very beautiful woman, was impregnated by Apollo in the shape of a spectre." Plutarch, Suidas, and others, affirm this to have been the common report at Athens. When he was an infant, his father Aristo went to Hymettus, with his wife and child, to sacrifice to the muses; and while they were busied in the divine rites, a swarm of bees came and distilled their honey upon his lips. This, says Tully, was considered as a presage of his future eloquence. Apuleius relates, that Socrates, the night before Plato was recommended to him, dreamed that a young swan fled from Cupid's altar in the academy, and settled in his lap; thence soared to heaven, and delighted the gods with its music: and when Aristo the next day presented Plato to him, "Friends (says Socrates), this is the swan of Cupid's academy." The Greeks loved fables: they show however in the present case, what exceeding respect was paid to the memory of Plato. Tully perfectly adored him; tells us, how he was justly called by Panatius the divine, the most wise, the most sacred, the Homer of Philosophers; entitled him to Atticus, Deus ille noster; thinks, that if Jupiter had spoken Greek, he would have spoken in Plato's language, and made him so implicitly his guide in wisdom and philosophy, as to declare, that he had rather err with Plato than be right with any one else. But, panegyric aside, Plato was certainly a very wonderful man, of a large and comprehensive mind, an imagination infinitely fertile, and of a most flowing and copious eloquence. Nevertheless, the strength and heat of fancy prevailing in his composition over judgment, he was to apt to soar beyond the limits of eathly things, to range in the imaginary regions of general and abstracted ideas; and on which account, though there is always a greatness and sublimity in his manner, he did not philoso phize so much according to truth and nature as Ari totle, though Cicero did not scruple to give him the preference.

The writings of Plato are all in the way of dialogue; where he seems to deliver nothing from himself, but every thing

Plato

thing as the sentiments and opinions of others, of Socrates chiefly, of Timæus, &c. He does not mention Platonism. himself anywhere, except once in his Phædo, and another time in his Apology for Socrates. His style, as Aristotle observed, is betwixt prose and verse: on which account, some have not scrupled to rank him with the poets. There is a better reason for so doing than the elevation and grandeur of his style: his matter is oftentimes the offspring of imagination, instead of doctrines or truths deduced from nature. The first edition of Plato's work in Greek was put out by Aldus at Venice in 1513; but a Latin version of him by Marsilius Ficinus had been printed there in 1491. They were reprinted together at Lyons in 1588, and at Francfort in 1602. The famous printer Henry Stephens, in 1578, gave a most beautiful and correct edition of Plato's works at Paris, with a new Latin version by Serranus, in three volumes folio; and this deservedly passes for the best edition of Plato: yet Serranus's edition is very exceptionable, and in many respects, if not in all, inferior to that of Ficinus.

PLATONIC, something that relates to Plato, his school-philosophy, opinions, or the like. Thus, platonic love denotes a pure spiritual affection, for which Plato was a great advocate, subsisting between the different sexes, abstracted from all carnal appetites, and regarding no other object but the mind and its beauties; or it is even a sincere disinterested friendship subsisting between persons of the same sex, abstracted from any selfish views, and regarding no other object than the person, if any such love or friendship has aught of a foundation in nature.

PLATONIC Year, or the Great Year, is a period of time determined by the revolution of the equinoxes, or the space wherein the stars and constellations return to their former places in respect of the equinoxes. The platonic year, according to Tycho Brahe, is 25816, according to Ricciolus 25910, and according to Cassini 24800 years.

This period once accomplished, it was an opinion among the ancients that the world was to begin anew, and the same series of things to turn over again.

PLATONISM, the philosophy of Plato, which was divided into three branches, theology, physics, and mathematics Under theology were comprehended metaphysics and ethics, or that which in modern language is called moral philosophy. Plato wrote likewise on dialectics, but with such inferiority to his pupil Aristotle, that his works in that department of science are seldom mentioned.

Timæus. We agree with Dr Enfield in thinking, that Platonism, in this dialogue, which comprehends his whole doctrine *Hist. of

lib. i c. 6.

Lib. i. Cap. 12.

on the subject of the formation of the universe, matter Philosophy. is so manifestly spoken of as eternally co-existing with God, that this part of his doctrine could not have been mistaken by so many learned and able writers, had they not been seduced by the desire of establishing a coincidence of doctrine between the writings of Plato and Moses. It is certain that neither Cicero †, nor Apu- † Ac. Qu leius ‡, nor Alcinou- §, nor even the later commentator Chalcidius, understood their master in any other sense than as admitting two primary and incorruptible principles, God and matter; to which we shall afterwards see reason to add a third, namely ideas. The passages quoted by those who maintain the contrary opinion are by no means sufficient for their purpose. Plato, it is true, in his Timæus, calls God the parent of the universe, and in his Sophista speaks of him as "forming animate and inanimate beings, which did not before exist:" but these expressions do not necessarily imply that this offspring of Deity was produced from nothing, or that no prior matter existed from which these new beings were formed. Through the whole dialogue of the Timæus, Plato supposes two eternal and independent causes of all things; one, that by which all things are made, which is God; the other, that from which all things are made, which is matter. He distinguishes between God, matter, and the universe, and supposes the architect of the world to have formed it out of a mass of pre-existent matter. Matter, according to Plato, is an eternal and infinite principle. His doctrine on this head is thus explained by Cicero ." Matter, from which all things Ac. Qu. are produced and formed, is a substance without form quality, but capable of receiving all forms, and undergoing every kind of change; in which, however, it never suffers annihilation, but merely a solution of its parts, which are in their nature infinitely divisible, and move in portions of space which are also infinitely divisible. When that principle which we call quality is moved, and acts upon matter, it undergoes an entire change, and these forms are produced, from which arises the diversified and coherent system of the universe." This doctrine Plato unfolds at large in his Timæus, and particularly insists upon the notion, that matter has originally no form, but is capable of receiving any. He calls it the mother and receptacle of forms, by the union of which with matter the universe becomes perceptible to the senses; and maintains, that the visible world owes its form to the energy of the divine intellectual

nature.

or

lib. i. e. 8.

t

that God framed heaven and earth, and the inferior deities; and that as he fashioned, so he pervades all nature. He observes, that Cicero denominates the god of 4 L

Plato