[510] Pre-con-certˊ-ed, arranged beforehand.
[511] Caiˊ-tiff, a villain; a knave.
[512] Headsˊ-man, one who beheads.
[513] Nethˊ-er, lower.
LXX.—THE PRESUMPTION OF YOUTH.
ROLLIN.
Charles Rollin was born at Paris, January 30, 1661, and died September 14, 1741. His father, who was a cutler, intended him to follow his own trade; but through the kindness of a Benedictine monk, he was educated at the college of Plesseis. He afterward became Rector of the University of Paris. His “Ancient History,” a work of considerable merit, continues still to be republished and extensively read.
1. The young people of Athens, amazed at the glory of Themistocles,[514] of Cimon[515] of Pericles,[516] and full of a foolish ambition, after having received some lessons from the sophists,[517] who promised to render them very great politicians, believed themselves capable of every thing, and aspired to fill the highest places. One of them, named Glaucon, took it so strongly in his head that he had a peculiar genius for public affairs, although he was not yet twenty years of age, that no person in his family, nor among his friends, had the power to divert him from a notion so little befitting his age and capacity.
2. Socrates, who liked him on account of Plato,[518] his brother, was the only one who succeeded in making him change his resolution. Meeting him one day, he accosted[519] him with so dexterous a discourse that he induced[520] him to listen. He had already gained much influence over him. “You have a desire to govern the republic?” said Socrates. “True,” replied Glaucon. “You can not have a finer design,” said the philosopher,[521] “since, if you succeed in it, you will be in a state to serve your friends, to enlarge your house, and to extend the limits of your native country.”