_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.