people. Next to him, both for credit and capacity, I may well reckon my friend PHILEMON, whom I have often mentioned in the course of these dispatches, and I can add nothing farther now concerning him, than that he wishes most ardently to close his eyes with the satisfaction of having contributed towards uniting the Greeks. I do not in the least doubt, that CLEON and his faction will throw all the obstacles possible in the way of these negotiations. But the question is, whether the true interest of this republick, supported, as it is, by the friends of peace, will not prevail in the struggle! nor can any thing prevent it, unless the Athenians, flushed with success, insist upon terms to which the Lacedæmonians cannot agree, consistently with their own honour and that of their allies.

If I may have the permission to open myself freely to thee, I should think nothing would tend more to advance the king's affairs in these parts, than to keep embassadors resident with the principal commonwealths. Those who act by publick authority can take their measures on the spot with boldness, can lay hold of every favourable opportunity to set on foot an useful negotiation, and are not ashamed or afraid to raise up friends to their sovereign, and act in concert with them; whilst an unauthorized agent, like myself, is unable to take one step without innumerable precautions and reserves; can barely suggest fit occasions to his court, which pass by unprofitably before they can be turned to account; and, were he observed to form parties in the state, or declare himself for one prince more than another, suspicions would be raised, his own safety endangered, and his life, perhaps, sacrificed to the malice of his enemies and the severity of the laws. Imagine not, potent lord, that I would decline any difficulties or hazards in the discharge of my duty here. Whatever instructions I may receive in this critical juncture (which I expect with impatience) shall be performed with

the

the utmost exactness.

I hope you will have made some progress in the conferences with the Lacedæmonian embassadors, before the news of these changes can reach them.

I shall not lengthen out this dispatch, by entering into any detail of the affairs in other places, to which the Athenians themselves, at this time, give but little attention. They are not much concerned at the loss of Eione in Thrace, which was taken by SIMONIDES, their general, at the beginning of the spring; nor with the revolt of Messina in Sicily from their alliance, though a town of importance. There have been two naval engagements between the Syracusian and Athenian squadrons in the Streights of Sicily, of no great consequence to either side, unless that the latter are retired to Rhegium, and expect orders to return home, and leave the inhabitants of Sicily to decide their controversies amongst themselves. I refer the event of ZOPYRUS's attempt on Caunus to the relations of the governor of Caria, being persuaded it is a subject equally disagreeable to us both. The giddy youth, intoxicated with pride, paid no regard to my friendly admonitions, and has thrown away his life and reputation in the chimerical projects of rash adventurers. He had certainly parts to have deserved better of his sovereign. May he be the last instance of disloyalty ARTAXERXES may experience during the course of a reign, for the conclusion of which, I sincerely wish the youngest man in the empire may not live to see his household fire extinguished. Adieu,

1

P.

LETTER CXLIII.

ORSAMES to CLEANDER.

TEASPES, who had so civilly complied with my request, continued his discourse in the following manner: "In the theory I am going to advance, you must not think it strange, if I as much dis"sent from the Ægyptians and Phoenicians, as I have hitherto held "with them in their historical accounts, against the uncertain and "fabulous traditions of the Greeks. I can no more understand how

a wind inclosed in the cavities of unshapen matter could be the "active principle to work out of it an organized body, than I can "believe the original production of men and other animals to have "been from the slime of the Nile, impregnated by the heat of that "climate, without recurring to an higher cause. The human body,

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we allow, was formed out of the earth, and blended with the "other elements; but we inquire after that intelligent plastick power, which could produce so excellent a fabrick. Without it, "we have a great deal to account for, before we come to the pro"duction of a being endowed with life and sense. Let us suppose "then the elements in a state of chaos, or lying together in one undistinguished mass. By what innate powers shall they be sepa"rated; and what shall dispose them in that excellent order and harmony which we so justly admire in the arrangement of the "universe? Let us suppose, if you please, for mere amusement, a dark troubled air, hovering over a watery mixture, or a wind causing a great ferment in the general mucilage of matter. Then, "in the violent agitation, the fiery particles are to find their lightness, " and

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" and mount up to the higher regions; and by that means, out "of this mót, or troubled mixture, the sun and stars are to shine "out. The grosser matter, by reason of its weight, must sink as "low as possible; and the humid parts being lighter, should consequently rise and float above it. What lucky chance then pre"pared that great chasm and profundity to contain them? And "when the waters were taught to know their bounds, what fixed "the radiant MITHRAS at such an equal distance, as to dry, but "not burn up, by his parching heat, the drained earth? What, in "the mean while, supported the whole fabrick? Or, when the sepa"ration of the elements first began, what assigned them height or depth in the boundless circumscribing space? And what gave the "terraqueous globe, when formed, its perpetual rolling motion; "by which every part by turns is made to partake of the genial in"fluence from that luminary? How infinitely perplexed and embar"rassed are our notions, when we would establish effects without "a cause, and suppose a master-piece of design and contrivance not "to have been produced by an intelligent author? But let us pro"ceed in examining this hopeful formation of the mundane system. "We are to suppose things endued with vegetative and animal life, "and at last intelligent animals produced from principles, without "either sense or intelligence. How do those skilful Cosmogonists "acquit themselves of this arduous task? Why, they tell you of "violent thunders and lightnings, at the stroke of which the inani"mate organized forms were awakened into life, and roused and frightened with the sound, began to stir and look about them. If you inquire further, how these chance productions came to be ready formed and organized, I will, with ORSAMES's leave, make "free with the recondite wisdom of his Ægyptian friends." "I "thought, (said I,) TEASPES, you had entertained a better opinion "of me, than to believe me a convert to any of their doctrines;

"

"much

"much less to that which, without the mention of a divine artist, "attempts to account for the origin of his creatures." "Pardon

me, (replied TEASPES,) I would by no means insinuate, that you deserve this imputation; the most that can be said is, that "you differ from us a little as to the solemnity of the six seasons, "which by ZOROASTER we are commanded to keep holy, in com"memoration of the creation. For this, I know, you consider as an "exoterick representation of it, accommodated to the apprehension "of the vulgar. But I am satisfied you entirely agree with us in "the essentials of our belief, although you may think it was as easy for the power of OROMASDES to have raised this great theatre "of the universe in an instant, as by the slower progress of many "months. The Ægyptians (I was going then to say) maintain, "that as the muddy earth became incrusted by the heat of the sun, "the moisture underneath fermenting, bubbled up in many places, "and appeared as so many pustules, wrapt up in thin and slender "coats and skins; and this lasted till the fœtuses arrived at perfect age, when their shelly prisons growing dry and breaking, made

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way for their delivery. This might be well reckoned among "those absurd conceits which are more wisely contemned than con"futed. But they appeal, in this case, from the arbitration of reason, to example and matter of fact, and instance in the produc"tion of mice and other vermin, at this day, from the slime cast upon the land by the overflowing of the Nile. Of these they pretend, some are perfect, others half-formed, cleaving to the soil "whence they are produced; which you, ORSAMES, have often "observed to be a very ridiculous mistake, and an imposition too

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gross to pass upon people who have their eyes open. They con"olude from hence, that in the beginning of things, when the earth "was perfectly fertile and succulent, various living creatures might

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proceed from it in like manner. But granting that certain species

"of