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perfume......they made themselves the ridicule of their audience.

At length I was drawn into action... A very powerful party was raised against a particular friend of mine...... they determined on his ruih.......yet he was not culpable.......but appearances were strongly against him.....and prepossession was still more his enemy..... His best friends shrank from him.... there was danger in believing his innocence.

Now was my time........I undertook his defence.

It was in every body's mouth...... Have you heard that Agathon..... "the son of Stratonicus.......means to plead the cause of Lysias?”

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I was beloved.......and public prejudice began to subside......the people of Athens almost adored me for this magnanimous determination. 1.

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"his exalted birth,........the virtues of "his forefathers are implanted in his "noble soul......What courage !.......a

youth like him to oppose the tide "of public opinion......to become the "advocate of a man struggling against "the current of popular virulence..... "to leap into the stream, and bear "him safe to shore....."

All wished me success!

"Alas!"...said Proteus, interrupting Agathon....." to be the friend of indi

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gent merit.....to wipe the tear from "affliction's cheek......to soothe the "miseries of a deserted, helpless, hu"man Being....is magnanimous in"deed!.....but it is obsolete,.....and "little known in modern practice."

Agathon continued.....The enemies of Lysias, alarmed at this sudden turn of fortune.....put off the trial till the ferment my conduct raised among the people, had subsided...meanwhile,

every engine was put in play to disappoint my hopes........They failed.

On the appointed day I entered the Assembly, amid the most encouraging plaudits.....This cheered me......I arose ...My cause was injured innocence.... My pleadings were firm......manly..... and persuasive....my gesture animated ........my perseverance unalterable.

Truth flowed from my lips, and gave confidence to my undertaking...., I gained every heart........Lysias was acquitted......and Agathon was carried home in triumph.

I now appeared frequently in public ...popular esteem and approbation followed all my steps,..and encouraged me to take an active part in state. affairs.

Fortune continued at my elbow...... and so rapidly did she assist me to climb upwards......that in a little time no Man's interest in Athens was more powerful than mine. !

Unhappily, my father died, just at this critical moment, when I most wanted his friendship and advice....... I was launched into the dangerous sea of politics.......the tempest of envy trowled at a distance.........quicksands surrounded me ;.....and inexperience was my pilot.

I became possessed of immense riches.......which my father's moderation had increased.....But I wanted his prudence.........Every Citizen of Athens partook my purse, whose misfortunes were unavoidable.......My house was the asylum of the arts ;..... my table the seat of hospitality. This liberality proved my ruin! Had my fortune been devoted to courtesans.......had my interest been subservient to the degeneracy of power.........had sumptuous entertainments been lavished on court favorites .......then had I still been the idol of the Athenians!

Jealousy, however, was obliged to sleep quietly in the bosoms of my secret enemies......The people, who had began to love me.......ended by deifying me......A report was circulated, that my mother had inflamed the great Apollo with a passion....that I was the offspring of their loves...... that I was inspired by the God, at Delphos,........and destined to make Athens mistress of the world.

They demanded that I should be invested with supreme authority.

The Athenians were mad to exalt their favorite...it was expected that I should revive the golden age...... 'abolish all distinction of persons............... and establish a happy system of idleness.

Meanwhile, the Island of Cubæa... and other dependencies of the Athe'nian Republic......sore with the 'galVing yoke which bowed them down...

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