other celestial bodies. He taught also, that at death the human soul is reunited to the yux rov Cooμov, as to the source from which it originally came.' Such is the third person of the Platonic triad, as we find his nature and attributes accurately stated by Dr. Ogilvie. That his doctrine on this subject should be inaccurate and erroneous can excite no wonder; whilst it must be confessed to have such a resemblance to the truth, and to be so incapable of being proved by reasoning from effects to causes, that we could not doubt of his having inherited it by tradition, even though we had not complete evidence that something very similar to it was taught long before him, not only by Pythagoras and Parmenides, but by the philosophers of the east. In Plato's cosmogony there is another principle, more mysterious if possible than any thing yet mentioned. This is his intellectual system of ideas, which, it is not easy to collect from his writings, whether he considered as independent existences, or only as archetypal forms, which had subsisted from eternity in the Xoyog or divine intellect. On this subject he writes with such exceeding obscurity that men of the first eminence, both among the ancients and the moderns, have differed about his real meaning.

The following is an abstract of Plato's physiological creed: it is cautiously expressed, for the philosopher lived and wrote among a people nursed in ignorance, intoxicated with power, and jealous of their national superstitions.

Speech, says he, should bear some proportion to the subjects described; but, as no words can fully express their essence or reach their substance and internal nature, we must be content if we can deliver some likeness or image that may convey a shadow or semblance of the truth. If, therefore, my friend! of the numberless doctrines which many have advanced concerning the nature of the gods and the creation of the world, we are not able to make out an exact and consistent scheme, you must not be surprised, but be pleased if we can reach a probable one; remembering that both I who speak and you who hear and judge have no divine but an imperfect human nature: it, therefore, becomes us, upon such high subjects, to rest satisfied with probable accounts, without captious enquiry into the matter. Let us then declare for what reason the Author of Being and Creator of the World at first composed the wondrous frame.

He is good; and envy or ill-will is in no respect incident to the good. Exempt from these it was His will that all things should be made as like himself as possible. With this intention, find ng all visible matter not in a state of rest, but tossed to and fro in a wild irregular motion, He first brought order out of confusion as the preferable state; for it was and is utterly impossible that the best of beings should produce any thing, and that thing be not the best and fairest, of which the materials will admit. Wherefore contemplating, He saw that even among material objects, nothing void of thought, could, in whole or in part, ever compare for excellency with what was possessed of intelligence; and then, that it was impossible that thought should reside in any substance but in mind and spirit.

He, therefore, endowed a mind with intelligence, and, conjoining that mind to the immense material frame, finished the mighty work, the fabric of the world, with the highest beauty and perfection of which it was capable. Thus, in a probable way of reasoning, we must needs conclude that the universe is in truth, animated thinking substance, so formed by the fore-knowledge of God.

Plato then proceeds to give an account of the composition of the elements, the formation of the heavens, the spherical figure of the universe, and of the harmonious proportions concurring in the production of the immaterial thinking substance which animates the whole. This, as its father who begat it, being perceived to be self-moved, and self-subsistent, and the image of the eternal God, He approved, and was glad, and went on to liken it still more to the original model. Wherefore, as it is an eternal animated substance, He resolved to render the whole creation, as far as possible, the same but, since the nature of an immortal substance cannot be perfectly adapted to generated matter, the great Architect contrived a certain moving semblance of endless duration. Having, therefore, put the heavens in order,-duration or eternity continuing the self-same individual thing,-He framed a progressive imitation of it, perpetually increasing by number and quantity, which men call time: for days, and nights, and months, and years, did not exist, until the heavens were made, and were by him ordained to co-exist with the heavens, how soon they were set in motion. It is true that men, when they speak of past and future, improperly and inadvertently apply these parts of created time to eternal duration. In sound reason, however, we can with propriety only say of the latter, that it is; while it was and it will be should be solely applied to progressive existence, advancing step by step in time. The expressions it was and it will be denote successive movements; but the other, eternul duration or existence, is for ever the same, indivisible, immovable, without possibility of its becoming older or younger, or that it should be said to be now past, or that it is yet to come. In a word, nothing can be applied to it which generation, or the receiving the beginning of existence, makes us apply to sensible objects; these last being all portions of time which revolve in successive periods and only imitate eternity. Time, therefore, began with the heavens, that, as they took rise together, they may be together dissolved, if such dissolution shall ever happen. It was formed upon the model of the eternal nature, and made as like to it as possible; the model having existed from all eternity, and the copy being to exist for all time, of which alone it can be said that it was, it is, and will hereafter be.

He afterwards describes the creation of the remaining animated parts of the universe: they were of four sorts,-the celestial race of the gods,

the winged inhabitants of the sky,-the finny shoals of the waters, and the animals of the dry land. Having explained the igneous composition of the first, whom he calls visible or begotten gods, he subjoins the following remark

able passage-that, as for the other deities, besides these heavenly bodies, it was above his capacity to describe their nature or comprehend their generation; but we must believe those inspired persons, who, as they themselves say, are descendants of the gods, and who, some way or other, have come at a clear knowledge of their progenitors. No matter, he adds, though what they say be destitute of probable or necessary proof; we cannot refuse assent to these children of the gods, both as they prefer to relate their family concerns, and likewise in due obedience to the laws. But the Sovereign Creator, having finished the production of his celestial progeny, assembled them all together and spoke in this

manner:

Gods of the gods! whose maker I am, and author of your powers which, proceeding from me, if I so will, shall never be dissolved! Whatever hath been tied can be loosed; but to undo what has been well done, or to destroy an harmonious frame, is malicious and evil: wherefore as you have received a being, immortal indeed and indissolvable you are not; yet shall you never be dissolved nor taste the destiny of death; my unchangeable will being a greater and more authentic security than the bonds of life in which you were bound at your creation. Now, then, attend and learn what I appoint and enjoin. Three species of creatures are yet to be made. While these are wanting the heavens will be imperfect; it would not contain every kind of living creature, as it must do to be entirely complete. Were they, however, to be generated by me, and receive under my hand the sources of life, they must likewise prove immortal and be on a level with the gods. In order, therefore, that they may both be mortal, and that the whole may be perfect, do you according to your natures undertake the work, and, imitating my power in the production of yourselves, finish the animal creation. As for that which is to be styled immortal and divine, and which will be the leading principle in such of them as endeavour always to follow Right, and Us, that I myself will create and deliver over to you: then, for what remains, do you, interweaving the mortal with immortality, form and generate animals, nourish them with food, and receive them to your bosom when fallen to decay.

Thus God spake; and, turning to the eternal mould in which he had mixed and tempered the soul of the universe, he poured in the remains of the celestial creation, and mixing them together in nearly the same mauner, but now not so pure and genuine as the former, nor all equally so, but of a first, second, and third alloy, he compounded the mighty mass and distributed minds equal in number to the stars,-a mind to every star and, having placed them in these as in a chariot, he showed them the nature of the whole of things and fixed their irrevocable laws. First, that one common origin should be allotted to all, that no one might have less than another at the hands of his maker; but that, when they were disseminated each into the organ of time,-the heavenly body,-proper to them, they should produce the most religious and godlike of all mortal creatures,-man. But, as the human nature

was to be twofold, the better sex was to be called the male; and, since they were of course to be transplanted into bodies, now in contact and now at a distance from surrounding objects, in the first place, one general sense must be natural to all, especially a perception of external violence;— next, mutual love, but mixed with pleasure and pain, and along with these fear and anger, with all their consequences and all their contraries. These passions if they can command, they shall live in justice and felicity; but if commanded by them, in wrong and misery.. Whosoever, therefore, lives well his allotted time shall, after death, return to the habitation of his congenial star and there lead a blessed life; but failing, he must at his next birth assume the female nature. Both male and female, after 1000 years, shall by lot enter upon a second state, and choose what kind of life each pleases to lead.

With almost every ancient theist of Greece, Plato believed in an order of beings called dæmons, which were superior to the souls of men, and struck off by the Demiurgus from the soul of the world. Of these the reader will find some account under DÆMON. We mention them here because they make an important appearance in Plato's system of physics, which was built upon them. He taught that, in the formation of the visible and tangible world, fire and earth were first formed, and were afterwards united by means of air and water; that from perfect parts one perfect whole was produced, of a spherical figure, as most beautiful in itself, and best suited to contain all other figures; that the elementary parts of the world are of regular geometrical forms, the particles of earth being cubical, those of fire pyramidical, those of air in the form of an octohedron, and those of water in that of an icosohedron; that these are adjusted in number, measure, and power, in perfect conformity to the geometrical laws of proportion; that the soul which pervades this sphere is the cause of its revolution round its centre; and, lastly, that the world will remain for ever, but that, by the action of its animating principle, it accomplishes certain periods, within which every thing returns to its ancient place and state. This periodical revolution of nature is called the Platonic or great year. Plato, preparatory to the study of all philosophy, required from his disciples a knowledge of the elements of mathematics. In his Republic, he makes Glaucus, one of the speakers, recommend them for their usefulness in human life. Concerning policy, Plato has written at large in his Republic, and in his Dialogue on Laws. He was so fond of his own ideas on this subject, that it was chiefly the hope of having an opportunity to realise his plan of a republic, which induced him to visit the court of Dionysius. But they who are conversant with mankind, and capable of calmly investigating the springs of human actions, will easily perceive that his projects were chimerical, and could only have originated in a mind replete with philosophical enthusiasm. Of this nothing can be a clearer proof than the design of admitting in his republic a community of women, to give reason an entire control over desire. The main object of his political institutions appears to have been

the subjugation of the passions and appetites, by means of the abstract contemplation of ideas. A system of policy, raised upon such fanciful grounds, cannot merit a more distinct consideration. Such is genuine Platonism as it was taught in the old academy by the founder of the school and his immediate followers; but, when Arcesilaus was placed at the head of the academies, great innovations were introduced both into their doctrines and mode of teaching. This man was therefore considered as the founder of what was afterwards called the middle academy. Being a professed sceptic, he carried his maxim of uncertainty to such a height as to alarm the general body of philosophers, offend the governors of the state, and bring just odium upon the very name of the academy. At length Carneades, one of the disciples of this school, relinquishing some of the more obnoxious tenets of Arcesilaus, founded what has been called the new academy with very little improvement on the principles of the middle. Under one or other of these forms Platonism found its way into the Roman republic. Cicero was a Platonist, and one of the greatest ornaments of the school. A school of Platonists was likewise founded in Alexandria in the second century of the Christian era; but their doctrines differed in many particulars from those taught in the three academies. They professed to seek truth wherever they could find it, and to collect their dogmas from every school. They endeavoured to bend some of the principles of Plato into a conforinity with the doctrines of the gospel; and they incorporated with the whole many of the maxims of Aristotle and Zeno, and not a few of the fictions of the east. Their system was therefore extremely heterogeneous, and seldom so rational as that of the philosopher after whose name they were called, and of whose doctrines we have given so copious a detail.

PLATOON', n. s. Fr. peloton. A small square body of musketeers, drawn out of a battalion of foot, to strengthen the angles of a square. See below.

In comely wounds shall bleeding worthies stand, Webb's firm platoon, and Lumly's faithful band.

Tickle.

PLATOON, in military affairs, was formerly a small body of men, in a battalion of foot, &c., that fired alternately. A battalion was then generally divided into sixteen platoons, exclusive of the grenadiers, which formed platoons, as occasion required. At present the battalion is generally divided into wings, grand divisions, divisions (or companies), subdivisions, and sections; and the word platoon is seldom used, except to denote a number (from ten to twenty) of recruits assembled for the purpose of instruction; in which case it may be considered synonymous with company.

PLATTER, n. s. From plate. A large dish, of earth or wood generally.

The servants wash the platter, scour the plate, Then blow the fire. Dryden's Juvenal. Satira is an adjective, to which lanx, a charger, or large platter, is understood. Dryden.

PLATYPUS, in zoology, a genus of mammalia, the generic character of which is that the

mouth is shaped like the bill of a duck; feet palmate. There is but a single species, P. anatinus, a native of Australasia, of which Dr. Shaw gives the following description:-'Of all the mammalia,' says he, yet known, it seems the most extraordinary in its conformation; exhibiting the perfect resemblance of the beak of a duck, engrafted on the head of a quadruped. So accurate is the similitude that at first view it naturally excites the idea of some deceptive preparation by artificial means: the very epidermis, proportion, serratures, manner of opening, and other particulars of the beak of a shoveller, or other broad-billed species of duck, presenting themselves to the view: nor is it without the most minute and rigid examination that we can persuade ourselves of its being the real beak or snout of a quadruped.

The body is depressed, and has some resemblance to that of an otter in miniature: it is covered with a very thick, soft, and beaver-like fur, and is of a moderately dark brown above, and of a subferruginous white beneath. The head is flattish, and rather small than large the mouth, or snout, as before observed, so exactly resembles that of some broad-billed species of duck that it might be mistaken for such; round the base is a flat circular membrane, somewhat deeper or wider below than above; viz. below near the fifth of an inch, and above about an eighth. The tail is flat, furry like the body, rather short and obtuse, with an almost bifid termination; it is broader at the base, and gradually lessens to the tip, and is about three inches in length: its color is similar to that of the body. The length of the whole animal, from the tip of the beak to that of the tail, is thirteen inches; of the beak an inch and a half. The legs are very short, terminating in a broad web, which on the fore feet extends to a considerable distance beyond the claws; but on the hind feet reaches no farther than the roots of the claws. On the fore feet are five claws, straight, strong, and sharp-pointed; the two exterior ones somewhat shorter than the three middle ones. On the hind-feet are six claws, longer and more inclined to a curved form than those of the fore feet; the exterior toe and claw are considerably shorter than the four middle ones; the interior or sixth is seated much higher up than the rest, and resembles a strong sharp spur. All the legs are hairy above; the fore-feet are naked both above and below; but the hind-feet are naked above and hairy below. The internal edges of the under mandible (which is narrower than the upper), are serrated or channelled with numerous striæ, as in a duck's bill. The nostrils are small and round, and are situated about a quarter of an inch from the tip of the bill, and are about the eighth of an inch distant from each other. There is no appearance of teeth; the palate is removed, but seems to have resembled that of a duck; the tongue also is wanting in the specimen. The ears or auditory foramina are placed about half an inch beyond the eyes; they appear like a pair of oval holes, of the eighth of an inch in diameter, there being no external ear. On the upper part of the head, on cach side, a little beyond the beak, are situated

Go you to Angelo, answer his requiring with a plausible obedience, agree with his demands to the point. Shakspeare. His plausive words

two smallish oval white spots, in the lower part of each of which are imbedded the eyes, or at least the parts allotted to the animal for some kind of vision; for, from the thickness of the fur and smallness of the organs, they seem to have been but obscurely calculated for distinct vision, and are probably like those of moles, and some other animals of that tribe; or perhaps even subcutaneous; the whole apparent diameter of the cavity in which they were placed not exceeding the tenth of an inch.

'When we consider the general form of this animal, and particularly its bill and webbed feet, we shall readily perceive that it must be a resident in watery situations; that it has the habits of digging or burrowing in the banks of rivers, or under ground; and that its food consists of aquatic plants and animals. This is all that can at present be reasonably guessed at; future observations, made in its native regions, will, it is hoped, afford us more ample information, and will make us fully acquainted with the natural history of an animal which differs so widely from all other quadrupeds, and which verifies in a most striking manner the observation of Buffon; viz. that whatever it was possible for nature to produce has actually been produced. On a subject so extraordinary as the present, a degree of scepticism is not only pardonable but laudable; and I ought, perhaps, to acknowledge that I almost doubt the testimony of my own eyes with respect to the structure of this animal's beak; yet must confess that I can perceive no appearance of any deceptive preparation; and the edges of the rictus, the insertion, &c., when tried by the test of maceration in water, so as to render every part completely moveable, seem perfectly natural; nor can the most accurate examination of expert anatomists discover any deception in this particular.'

Dr. Shaw observes, in a subsequent volume, as the result of more accurate experiments, that on laying open the parts beyond the base of the bill, it appears that the platypus, like the anteaters, is furnished with small bony processes, resembling grinding-teeth, imbedded in the gum, but not fastened or rooted in the jaw of these processes there are two on each side, both of the upper and under jaw.' PLAU'DIT, n. s. Lat. plaudite (the old PLAU DITE. demand of applause made by the player, when he left the stage). Applause.

Some men find more melody in discord than in the angelic quires; yet even these can discern music in a concert of plaudits, eulogies given themselves. Decay of Piety.

True wisdom must our actions so direct,

Not only the last plaudit to expect. Denham. She would so shamefully fail in the last act, that instead of a plaudite, she would deserve to be hissed off the stage.

PLAUSIBLE, adj. PLAUSIBILITY, n. s. PLAUSIBLENESS, PLAUSIBLY, adv. PLAU'SIVE, adj.

More.

Fr. plausible, plausibilité; from Lat. plaudo. Apparently deserving of praise; such as gains praise; specious; taking; popular plausive is an obsolete adjective of the same signification, and all the other words follow the above senses.

Id.

He scattered not in ears; but grafted them To grow there and to bear. Judges ought to be more reverend than plausible, and more advised than confident. Bacon. They found that plausible and popular pretext of raising an army to fetch in delinquents.

King Charles. These were all plausible and popular arguments, in which they, who most desired peace, would insist upon many condescensions. Clarendon.

I hope they will plausibly receive our attempts, or Browne. candidly correct our misconjectures. The notion of man's free will, and the nature of sin, bears with it a commendable plainness and plau

sibleness.

More. No treachery so plausible as that which is covered with the robe of a guide. L'Estrange. The case is doubtful, and may be disputed with plausible arguments on either side. South.

Thou canst plausibly dispute, Supreme of seers, of angel, man, and brute.

Prior.

Two pamphlets, called the management of the war, are written with some plausibility, much artifice, and direct falsehoods. Swift.

PLAUTUS (Marcus Accius), a comic writer of ancient Rome, born at Umbria, in Italy. He is said to have acquired the Agnomen of Plautus from having splay feet. His parentage appears to have been mean; some say he was the son of a slave. Few facts have come down to us to illustrate his life. He came to Rome, and obtained not only fame but emolument from his dramatic compositions, which were represented about a century and a half before the Christian

era.

Plautus is said to have acquired considerable property, and to have been tempted, in order to increase it, to engage in trade, but that, like many other literary speculators, he succeeded so ill that he was reduced to so great poverty as to hire himself as a laborer to grind in a mill. Yet even in this toilsome situation his mind remained undepressed, and he composed three comedies. He died in the first year of the elder Cato's censorship, about A. U. C. 569, and A. A. C. 184. There are twenty of his plays extant, though not all entire. The best edition of his works is the Variorum of Gronovius. PLAY', v. n., v. a., & n. s. Saxon plezan; PLAY BOOK, 1. s. Teut. belaichen; Mod. Goth. bilaiken. To sport; frolic; wanton; toy; trifle; mock; practise trick or illusion; hence personate another in drama or otherwise; act in any marked or particular character; touch a musical

PLAY'DAY, PLAY DEBT, PLAYER, PLAY FELLOW, PLAYFUL, PLAY GAME, PLAY HOUSE, PLAY PLEASURE, PLAY'SOME, adj. PLAY SOMENESS, n. s. PLAY THING, n. s. PLAY WRIGHT.

instrument as a verb neuter, to use such an instrument; exhibit dramatically; act; perform: a play is, sport; amusement; assumed appearance or conceit; game; practice of gaming; action; employment; office; agitation or motion; liberty of action or motion; a dramatic composition a play debt is used particularly for a debt contracted in gaming: a play-wright for an author of a dramatic piece or pieces: the other compounds are sufficiently obvious in their meaning.

The people sat down to eat, and to drink, and rose up to play.

Exodus.

Command thy servants to seek out a man who is a cunning player on the harp. 1 Samuel xvi. 16. Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people.

2 Samuel x. 12. Doubt would fain have played his part in her mind, and called in question how she should be assured that Zelmane was not Pyrocles.

Sidney.

Determining, as after I knew, in secret manner, not to be far from the place where we appointed to meet, to prevent any foul play that might be offered

unto me.

Id.

Ev'n kings but play; and when their part is done, Some other, worse or better, mount the throne. Id. A play ought to be a just image of human nature, representing its humours and the changes of fortune to which it is subject, for the delight and instruction of mankind.

The senseless plea of right by providence Can last no longer than the present sway; But justifies the next who comes in play.

Id.

Id

Thine be the laurel; then; support the stage, Which so declines, that shortly we may see Players and plays reduced to second infancy. Id. Thus said the player god; and adding art, Of voice and gesture, so performed his part, She thought, so like her love the shade appears, That Ceyx spake the words.

Id. I am a sufficient theatre to myself of ridiculous actions, without expecting company either in a court or playhouse. Id.

When they can make nothing else on't, they find it the best of their play to put it off with a jest. L'Estrange.

Locke.

In arguing, the opponent uses comprehensive and equivocal terms, to involve his adversary in the doubtfulness of his expression, and therefore the answer on his side makes it his play to distinguish as much as he can. That liberty alone gives the true relish to their ordinary playgames. Id. A child knows his nurse, and by degrees the playthings of a little more advanced age. Id.

The joints are let exactly into one another, that they have no play between them, lest they shake upwards or downwards.

Moron.