PLATONIC, pertaining to Plato, his school, philosophy, opinions. &e. The leading characteristic of the mind of Plato is its comprehensiveness. This quality discovers itself equally in the form in which his philosophy is commu nicated, and in that philosophy itself. The form to which we allude is, it is well known, that of the dialogue. The Dia logues of Plato are at once vivid repre sentations of Athenian life and character, and constituent parts of it system of uni versal philosophy ; the harmonious pro ductions of a genius which combined the dramatic imagination with the scientific intellect in a degree which has never be fore nor since been equalled. it is in this. circumstance that we must seek alike for the influence which Plato's writings have exerted, and for the difficulty of rightly apprehending their meaning. What has been said of history in general may with equal truth be applied to the Platonic dialogues—that they are " philosophy teaching by examples." In place of a formal refutation of sophistry, we are introduced to living sophists; in the room of an elaborate system of philosophy, we meet the greatest philosophers of his day, reasoning and conversing with dis ciples eager in the pursuit of knowledge- with Athenians full of national preju dices, with men abounding with individ ual pcculiarities.—Platonic lave denotes
a pure spiritual affection, for which Plato was a great advocate, subsisting between the different sexes, unmixed with carnal affections, and regarding no other object but the mind and its excellencies. It is also sometimes understood as a sincere dis interested friendship subsisting between persons of the same sex, abstracted from any selfish views, and regarding no other object than the individual so esteemed.— Platonic year, or the great year, a period of tunic determined by the revolution of the equinoxes, or the space of time in which the stars and constellations return to their former places in respect to the equinoxes. This revolution, which is cal culated by the precession of the equinoxes, is accomplished in abon,t 25,000 years.