one of the greatest philosophers of antiquity, was born at Abdera, a town of Thrace, about the 80th Olympiad; that is, about 460 years before Christ. His father, says Valerius Maximus, was able to entertain the army of Xerxes; and Diogenes Laertius adds, upon the testimony of Herodotus, that the king, in requital, presented him with some Magi and Chaldeans. From these Magi and Chaldeans Democritus received the first part of his education; and from them, whilst yet a boy, he learned theology and astronomy. He next applied to Leucippus, and learned from him the system of atoms and a vacuum. His father dying, the three sons, for so many there were, divided the estate. Democritus made choice of that part which consisted in money, as being, though the least share, the most convenient for travelling; and it is said, that his portion amounted to above 100 talents, which is near 20,000l. sterling. His extraordinary inclination for the sciences and for knowledge, induced him to travel into all parts of the world where he hoped to find learned men. He went to visit the priests of Egypt, from whom he learned geometry; he consulted the Chaldeans and the Perisan philosophers; and it is said that he penetrated even into India and Ethiopia, to confer with the Gymnosophists. In these travels he wasted his substance; after which, at his return, he was obliged to be maintained by his brother; and if he had not given proofs of the greatest understanding, and thereby procured to himself the highest honours, and the strongest interest of his country, he would have incurred the penalty of that law which denied interment in the family-fepulchre to those who had spent their patrimony. After his return from travelling, he lived at Abdera, and governed there in a most absolute manner, by virtue of his consummate wisdom. The magistrates of that city made him a present of 500 talents, and erected statues to him even in his lifetime: but being naturally more inclined to contemplation than delighted with public honours and employments, he withdrew into solitude and retirement. Democritus incessantly laughed at human life, as a continued farce, which made the inhabitants of Abdera think he was mad; on which they sent Hippocrates to cure him; but that celebrated physician having discoursed with the philosopher, told the Abderians, that he had a great veneration for Democritus; and that in his opinion, those who esteemed themselves the most healthy were the most distempered. Democritus died, according to Diogenes Laertius, in the 361st year before the Christian era, aged 109. It is said that he put out his eyes, in order that he might meditate more profoundly on philosophical subjects; but this has little probability. He was the author of many books, which are lost; and from these Epicurus borrowed his philosophy.