A N A C H A R S I S. monev : but the philof'pher anfwercd, that he was " come " to Greece to learn the laws and manners (,f that country , " that he had no occafion for gold or filvcr ; and that it '* would fuffice for him to return to Scythia a wifcr and n " intelligent man than he came from thence." After {Liv- ing long in Greece, he prepared to return home: and palling thiough Cyzicum, he found that city celebrating very folemnly the feaft ofCybele, and vowed to do the lame, it" he mould get home in fafety. Upon his arrival in Scythia, he attempted to change the ancient cultorns of his couirry, aiid to eftablifli thole of Greece; which proved extremely ihlagreeable to the Scythians, and at length deftruclive to hirnlelf. For, entering one day a thick wood, to perform hi- vow to Cybele as lecretly as might be, he was dilcovered in the midft of the folemnity, and fhot dead with an arrow by the king himielf. Laertius lays, that he was fhot by his brother as he was hunting, and expired with thcfe words :
- < I lived in peace and fatety in Greece, whither I went for
- ' inftruction ; and envy has deltroyed me here at homc."Herodot.
Such is but too often the fate of men, who are ?.ealous to' 1 - '4* reform the manners, and amend the laws and euiroms of their country. There are many beautiful apophthegms of this philofopher, preferved by Laertiu^, Plutarch, and other writers, lie ufed to fay, that *' the vine produced three forts of graphs, " the firfl of pleafure, the fecond of drunkennefs, the third
- ' of repentance." Struck with the Demagogic;)! fyfrem of
government at Athens, he exprefTed his furprife, that " in " all their public aflemblies wi'e men (hould dehate matiers, " and fools determine them." One would fufpecl from this, that he would not have liked our Englifh juries. JIc uled to compare laws to cobwebs, and toridiculo Solo;i, who pretended to reftrain the pailions of men by pieces of writ- ing. He was afloniihed at the Greek?, for ulir.r; I::,..!! ulaflesat the beo-'mnin^of their entertainments, and large en. s t* ** O towards the clofe of them. He often re, eated, tiiat every m -a fliouid labour particularly to make h.iiulelf mafter of liis tongue and his belly; and he himielf prae'iifed mod lig.dly what he thus prclcribed to others, being both prudent in converfativjn, and temperate in diet. An Athenian one djy re- roachinghim with being a Scythian, ** 'J'ruL'," lays he, <l country dif^races me ; buc you ; Sir, are a dilgrace to country." &C. Sec. ANACREON
