_Hypatia_ is esteemed and caressed by the Publick; is consulted by the
Magistrates in all important Cases, and sometimes sat among them.
All this, some will say, we readily grant, that _Hypatia_ was a Lady of
most eminent Learning, and that _Synesius_, with probably not a few of
her other Disciples, esteemed her to be a Miracle of Virtue and
Prudence; but what did the rest of the World think of her Conduct, what
Marks of Approbation or Favour did she receive from the Publick? To this
Inquiry, which is very natural in this Place, we answer; that never
Woman was more caressed by the Publick, and yet that never Woman had a
more unspotted Character. She was held an Oracle for her Wisdom, which
made her be consulted by the Magistrates in all important Cases; and
this frequently drew her among the greatest Concourse of Men, without
the least Censure of her Manners. The Proof of so rare a Felicity we
chuse to give in the Words of the Historian _Socrates_. “By reason of
the Confidence and Authority (says he) which she had acquired by her
Learning, she sometimes came to the Judges with singular Modesty; nor
was she any thing abashed, to appear thus among a Croud of Men; for all
Persons, on the Score of her extraordinary Discretion, did at the same
Time both reverence and admire her.” The same Things are confirmed by
_Niceforus Callistus_, _Suidas_, _Hesychius Illustris_, and indeed by
whom not? So far was she from that blameable Timidity, which is
contracted from a wrong Education; or from that conscious Backwardness,
which is inspired by Guilt. That the Governors and Magistrates of
_Alexandria_ regularly visited her, that all the City (as _Damascius_
and _Suidas_ relate) paid Court to her, is a Distinction with which no
Women was ever honoured before. And to say all in a Word, when
_Nicephorus Gregoras_, above quoted, intended to pass the highest
Compliment, on the Princess _Eudocia_, he thought he could not better
hit, than by calling her _another Hypatia_.