Chapter 24

449Enn., V., ix.450Enn., IV., viii.451Enn., V., ix., 2.452Readers of Pope’sEssay on Manwill recognise this argument. It was, in fact, borrowed from Plotinus by Leibnitz, and handed on through Bolingbroke to Pope. There is no better introduction to Neo-Platonism than this beautiful poem.453Kirchner,Ph. d. Plot., p. 35. The triad of body, soul, and spirit is still to be met with in modern popular philosophy; but, contrary to the Greek order of priority, there is a noticeable tendency to rank soul, as the seat of emotion, higher than spirit or pure reason, particularly among persons whose opinions receive little countenance from the last-mentioned faculty.454Rep., VI., 508, C ff.; VII., 517, C.455Vol. I., p. 229.456Ibid., p. 235.457Aristot.,Metaph., I., vi.458Enn., V., iv., 2; Kirchh., I., p. 72, l. 8.459This is the method of Fichte’sWissenschaftslehre, which seems to show that Fichte was acquainted with Neo-Platonism, probably at second-hand.460Enn., IV., ix.461Ibid., 3; Kirchh., I., p, 75, l. 24.462Enn., VI., ix., 1.463Enn., VI., ix., 3; Kirchh., I., pp. 81 ff.464In the introductory essay prefixed to his workDe l’École d’Alexandrie.465οὕτω δὲ καλῶν ἀμφοτέρων ὄντων, γνώσεώς τε καὶ ἀληθείας, ἄλλο καὶ κάλλιον ἔτι τούτων.—Rep., 508, E. οὐκ οὐσίας ὄντος τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, ἀλλ’ ἔτι ἐπέκεινα τῆς οὐσίας πρεσβείᾳ καὶ δυνάμει ὑπερέχοντος.—Ibid., 509, B. The first of these passages is bracketed by Stallbaum, but not the second.466Symp., 211, E f.467Enn., V., i.468Enn., VI., ix., 3,sub fin.;ibid., 6, p. 764, E. (Kirchh., I., p. 87, l. 16);Enn., V., v., 6, p. 525, D. (Kirchh., II., p. 24, l. 24).469Enn., VI., ix., 9,sub fin.470Ibid., V., ii., I, p. 494, A. (Kirchh., I., p. 109, l. 7).471Ibid., V., i., 5, p. 487, C. (Kirchh., I., p. 101, l. 32).472Enn., V., i., 6, p. 487, B. (Kirchh., I., p. 101, l. 21).473Enn., V., i., 4, p. 485, E (Kirchh., I., pp. 99 f.).474Enn., V., ii., 1, p. 494, A; VI., ix., 2, p. 759, A; II., iv., 5, p. 162, A.475Enn., IV., iv., 16, p. 409, C (Kirchh., I., p. 283, l. 31).476Enn., V., ii., 2.477Enn., II., iv.478Aristot.,Metaph., VII., x.,sub fin.479Tim., 48, E, ff.480Ibid., 47, E.481Enn., II., iv., 5, p. 161, E (Kirchh., I., p. 114, l. 1).482Enn., II., iv., 11,sub fin.483Enn., III., vi., 14 f.484Enn., II., iv., 15, p. 169, A (Kirchh., I., p. 124, l. 17).485Ibid., 5, p. 162, A (Kirchh., I., p. 114, l. 12).486Ibid., III., ix., 3, p. 358, A (Kirchh., I., p. 128, l. 22).487Enn., III., iv., i.488Enn., II., iv., 15, p. 169, B (Kirchh., I., p. 124, l. 22).489Enn., IV., iii,, 9, p. 379, A (Kirchh., I., p. 244, l. 17). In one of his latest essays (Enn., I., viii., 7) Plotinus for a moment accepts the Platonic theory that evil must necessarily coexist with good as its correlative opposite, but quickly returns to the alternative theory that evil results from the gradual diminution and extinction of good (cp. Zeller,Ph. d. Gr., III., b, p. 549).490Enn., III., viii., 4 and 8.491Our own word ‘paragon’ is a curious record of the theory in question. It is derived from the Greek participial substantive ὁ παράγων, the producer. Now, according to Neo-Platonism, in the hierarchic series of existences, the product always strives, or should strive, to model itself on the producer, hence παράγων came to be used in the double sense of a cause and an exemplar. As such, it is one of the technical terms employed throughout theInstitutiones Theologicaeof Proclus. But, in time, the second or derivative meaning became so much the more important as to gain exclusive possession of the word on its adoption into modern languages.492Enn., III., iv., 2.493Enn., I., ii., 1.494Ibid., 3.495Enn., I., ii., 6,sub fin.496Ibid., 5.497Ibid., ix.498Enn., I., iii.499Rep., VI., 511.500See the conclusion of thePosterior Analytics.501Enn., III., vii., 1, p. 325, C (Kirchh., II., p. 282, l. 13).502Zeller’s last volume, giving a full account of the Neo-Platonic school, has recently reached a third edition, but it belongs to a connected work, and contains, in addition, a mass of information possessing special interest for theologians. It has not, however, been translated into English, nor apparently is there any intention of translating it. Our own literature on the subject is represented by a worthless book of Kingsley’s, entitledAlexandria and her Schools, and a novel by a lady, called theWards of Plotinus.503Enn., VI., ix.,sub fin.504Enn., III., ii., 15, p. 266, E (Kirchh., II., p. 336, l. 31). M. Renan talks of the period from 235 to 284 as ‘cet enfer d’un demi-siècle où sombre toute philosophie, toute civilité, toute délicatesse’ (Marc-Aurèle, p. 498). As, however, this epoch produced Neo-Platonism, the expression ‘toute philosophie’ is rather misplaced.505Enn., IV., iv., 17, p. 410, B. (Kirchh., I., p. 285, l. 1).506Ph. d. Gr., III., b, pp. 69 ff, 419 ff.507Op. cit., pp. 419 ff.508Zeller, p. 447.509Enn., V., v., p. 520, A. (Kirchh., II., p. 18, l. 3). This is the only passage in theEnneadswhere the Sceptics seem to be alluded to.510Loc. cit.511Vita, x.,sub fin.512For specimens of his treatment, see Zeller, pp. 622 ff.513For the theology of Plotinus see Zeller, pp. 619 ff, and for the daemons, p. 570. In our opinion, Zeller attributes a much stronger religious faith to Plotinus than can be proved from the passages to which he refers.514Enn., V., vii.515Enn., V., vii., I, p. 539, B. (Kirchh., I., p. 145, l. 23).516For references, see Zeller, pp. 588 ff.517Enn., VI., ii., 3, p. 598, A. (Kirchh., II., p. 227).518Enn., II., ix.519Ibid., cap. 6.520Ibid., 14.521Enn., II., ix., 15.522Kirchner,Die Ph. d. Plot., pp. 1-24, 175-208. Cp. Steinhart,Meletemata Plotiniana, p. 4.523Two other popular misconceptions may be traced back, in part at least, to the exclusively transcendental interpretation of Plato’s philosophy. By drawing away attention from the Socratic dialogues, it broke the connexion between Socrates and his chief disciple, thus leaving the former to be estimated exclusively from Xenophon’s view of his character as a moral and religious teacher. True, Xenophon himself supplies us with the data which prove that Socrates was, above all things, a dialectician, but only in the reflex light of Plato’s subsequent developments can their real significance be perceived. On the other hand, the attempt to combine Aristotle with Plato led to a serious misunderstanding of the actual relation between the two. When the whole ideal element of his philosophy had been drawn off and employed to heighten still further the transcendentalism of his master’s teaching, the Stagirite came to be judged entirely by the residual elements, by the logical, physical, and critical portions of his system. On the strength of these, he was represented as the type of whatever is most opposed to Plato, and, in particular, of a practical, prosaic turn of mind, which was quite alien from his true character.524Χαλεπὸν μὲν γνωσθῆναι ... γιγνωσκόμενον δὲ μᾶλλον τῷ ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ γεννήματι τῇ οὐσίᾳ. (Enn., VI., ix., 5, p. 763, B.) Πᾶν τὸ θεῖον αὐτὸ μὲν διὰ τὴν ὑπερούσιον ἕνωσιν ἄρρητόν ἐστι καὶ ἄγνωστον πᾶσι τοῖς δευτέροις· ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν μετεχόντων ληπτόν ἐστι καὶ γνωστόν. (Proclus,Institutiones Theologicae, cxxiii.), cp. Proclus,ibid., clxii.525De Princip., ii., quoted by Ritter and Preller, p. 536 f.526Inst. Theol., lxxii., cp. Zeller, p. 808, where it is denied, wrongly, as we think, that Plotinus held the same view.527The following sketch is based on the accounts given of the period to which it relates in the works of Zeller and Vacherot.528De Civit. Dei, VIII., v., quoted by Kirchner, p. 208.529Enn., II., ix., 18, p. 217, C; for Syrianus and Proclus, see Zeller, p. 738. The Emperor Constantine is said to have remained a sun-worshipper all his life (Vacherot, II., p. 153); and even Philo Judaeus speaks of the stars as visible gods (Zeller, p. 393).530Quoted by Ritter and Preller, p. 539.531Compare the report of Agathias with the series of questions put to Priscian, quoted in the Dissertation by M. Quicherat, prefixed to Dübner’s edition of Priscian’sSolutiones(printed after Plotinus in Didot’s edition, pp. 549 ff).532M. Vacherot says (II., p. 400), without giving any authority for his statement, that the Neo-Platonists were driven from Persia by the persecution of the Magi; and that they returned home ‘furtivement,’ which is certainly incorrect. They returned openly, under the protection of a treaty between Persia and Rome.533Repub., IX.,sub fin.534Hauréau,Histoire de la Philosophie Scolastique, I., p. 372.535For Gilbert de la Porrée see Hauréau, I., chap. xviii.536Jourdain,Recherches critiques sur les Traductions latines d’Aristote.537The term Nominalist is here used in the wide sense given to it by Hauréau. See the last chapter of his work on the Scholastic Philosophy.538WorksI., p. 405 in Ellis and Spedding’s edition.539‘Historia naturalis ... materia prima philosophiae.’De Aug., II., iii.540The ‘notions and conceptions’ of theAdvancement of Learning(Works, III., p. 356) is rendered by ‘axiomata’ in theDe Augmentis(I., p. 567), where in both instances the question is entirely about Forms. Cp. § 8 of Prof. Fowler’s Introduction to theNovum Organum.541Analyt. Prior., II., xxx.542Prof. Bain, after mentioning that the second book of theTopics‘sets forth in a crude condition the principal canons of inductive logic,’ goes on to say that ‘these statements cannot be called germs for they never germinated’ (Grote’sMinor Works, p. 14). May they not have germinated in theNovum Organum?543Descartes showed a much deeper insight into the scientific conditions of industrial progress than Bacon. His words are, ‘On peut trouver une philosophie pratique par laquelle connoissant la force et les actions du feu, de l’eau, de l’air, des astres, des cieux, et de tous les autres corps qui nous environnent, aussi distinctement que nous connoissons les divers mestiers de nos artisans, nous les pourrions employer en même façon à tous les usages auxquels ils sont propres, et ainsi nous rendre comme maistres et possesseurs de la Nature.’Discours de la Méthode, Sixième Partie. This passage has been recently quoted by Dr. Bridges (‘Comte’s Definition of Life,’Fortnightly Reviewfor June 1881, p. 684) to illustrate what seems a very questionable position. He says that the Copernican astronomy, by revealing the infinitude of the universe, made men despair of comprehending nature in her totality, and thus threw them back on enquiries of more directly human interest and practical applicability; particularly specifying ‘the lofty utilitarianism of theNovum Organumand of theDiscours de la Méthode,’ as ‘one of the first concomitants’ ‘of this intellectual revolution.‘ There seems to be a double misconception here: for, in the first place, Bacon could hardly have been influenced by a theory which he persistently rejected; and, in the next place, neither Bacon nor Descartes showed a trace of the positivist tendency to despair of attaining absolute and universal knowledge. Both of them expected to discover the inmost essences of things; and neither of them imagined that a different set of conditions might come into play outside the boundaries of the visible universe. In fact they believed themselves to be enlarging instead of restricting the field of mental vision; and it was from this very enlargement that they anticipated the most momentous practical results. It was with Locke, as we shall see hereafter, that the sceptical or agnostic movement began. In this same article, Dr. Bridges repeats, probably on Comte’s authority, the incredible statement that ‘Thales taught the Egyptian priests those two or three elementary truths as to the laws of triangles, which enabled them to tell the height of the pyramid by measuring its shadow.’ Comte’s ignorance or carelessness in relating this story as a well-attested fact was long ago noticed with astonishment by Grote. (Life of George Grote, p. 204.)544Whewell notices this ‘Stationary Interval’ (History of the Inductive Sciences, Bk. XVI., chapter iii., sect. 3), but without determining either its just limits or its real cause.545Compreso che sarà il moto di quest’ astro mondano in cui siamo ... s’aprirà la porta de l’intelligenza de li principi veri di cose naturali.De l’Infinito Universo e Mondi, p. 51, Wagner’s Ed.546‘Sono amputate radici che germogliano, son cose antiche che rivegnono.Ibid., p. 82.547Principio Causa et Uno, p. 225. For David of Dinan, whose opinions are known only through the reports of Albertus and Aquinas, see Hauréau, II., iv.548Galileo’s words are:—‘Il moto circulare è naturale del tutto e delle parti mentre sono in ottima disposizione.’Dialoghi sui Massimi Sistemi.Opere, Vol. I., p. 265; see also p. 38.549Dialoghi, p. 211.550‘Non posso trovar termine all’ammirazione mia come abbia possuto in Aristarco e nel Copernico far la ragione tanta violenza al senso che contro a questo ella si sia fatta padrona della loro credulità.’Dialoghi, p. 358.551Ibid., p. 370.552‘Kepler était persuadé de l’existence de ces lois en suivant cette pensée de Platon: que Dieu, en créant le monde, avait dû faire de la géometrie.’ Arago,ŒuvresIII., p. 212.553De Aug., III., v.Works, I., p. 571.554This is well brought out in a remarkable series of articles on the Philosophy of Hobbes recently published by Tönnies in theVierteljahrsschrift fur wissenschaftliche Philosophie.555Leviathan, chap. xv.,sub fin.556Leviathan, chap. xi.,sub fin.557Leviathan, chap. vi.558Spaccio della Bestia Trionfante, sub in.559Advancement of Learning, Ellis and Spedding, III., p. 428.560Republic, VI., 511, Jowett’s Trans. III., p. 398.561Plotinus himself expresses a doubt as to whether the One is, properly speaking, all things or not (Enn., V., ii.,sub in.); but in his essay on Substance and Quality, he defines qualities as energies of the substance to which they belong (Enn., II., vi. 3). Now all things are, according to his philosophy, energies of the One. There would, therefore, be no difficulty in considering it as their substance.[562]—— Quia multimodis, multis, mutata, per omneEx infinito vexantur percita plagis,Omne genus motus, et coetus experiundo,Tandem deveniunt in taleis disposituras,Qualibus haec rebus consistit summa creata. (I., 1023-7.)563V., 853; IV., 780-800; V., 1025.564Just the same remark applies to the monads of Leibnitz. Each monad reflects all the others, and infers that its reflections represent a reality from the infinite creative power of God. Descartes’ appeal to the divine veracity represents the same method in a less developed stage. The root-idea here is to be sought for, not in Greek thought but in the Christian doctrine of a supernatural revelation.565The formal cause of a thing is its species, the concept under which it is immediately subsumed; the efficient cause is what brings it into existence. Thus the formal cause of a man is humanity, the efficient cause, his father.566Eth., I., prop. xvi.; II., prop. iii.; prop. v.; prop. xviii., schol.; prop. xxviii.; prop. xl., schol. ii.; V., prop. xxix., schol.; prop. xl., schol. (The passage last referred to is the clearest and most decisive.)567See the passage from theRepublicquoted above.568The tendency of logicians is now, contrariwise, to force reasoning into parallelism with mathematical physics by interpreting the proposition as an equation between subject and predicate.569III., prop. ii., schol.570II., vii., schol.571III., ix. and xi.572Greek tragedy is just the reverse—an expansion of the old patriarchal relations into a mould fitted to receive the highest thought and feeling of a civilised age.573For the whole subject of Spinoza’s mathematical method, see Windelband’s paper on Spinoza in theVierteljahrsschrift für wissenschaftliche Philosophie, 1877. Some points in the last paragraph were suggested by Mr. Pollock’sSpinoza(pp. 255, 264).574Essay, Bk. iv., ch. 12.575See the references to Epictêtus,supra, p. 21.576What Aristotle has written on the subject is not ethics but natural history.577‘Ne remarque-t-on comment chaque recherche analytique de Laplace a fait ressortir dans notre globe et dans l’univers des conditions d’ordre et de durée?’—Arago,Œuvres, III., p. 496.

449Enn., V., ix.

450Enn., IV., viii.

451Enn., V., ix., 2.

452Readers of Pope’sEssay on Manwill recognise this argument. It was, in fact, borrowed from Plotinus by Leibnitz, and handed on through Bolingbroke to Pope. There is no better introduction to Neo-Platonism than this beautiful poem.

453Kirchner,Ph. d. Plot., p. 35. The triad of body, soul, and spirit is still to be met with in modern popular philosophy; but, contrary to the Greek order of priority, there is a noticeable tendency to rank soul, as the seat of emotion, higher than spirit or pure reason, particularly among persons whose opinions receive little countenance from the last-mentioned faculty.

454Rep., VI., 508, C ff.; VII., 517, C.

455Vol. I., p. 229.

456Ibid., p. 235.

457Aristot.,Metaph., I., vi.

458Enn., V., iv., 2; Kirchh., I., p. 72, l. 8.

459This is the method of Fichte’sWissenschaftslehre, which seems to show that Fichte was acquainted with Neo-Platonism, probably at second-hand.

460Enn., IV., ix.

461Ibid., 3; Kirchh., I., p, 75, l. 24.

462Enn., VI., ix., 1.

463Enn., VI., ix., 3; Kirchh., I., pp. 81 ff.

464In the introductory essay prefixed to his workDe l’École d’Alexandrie.

465οὕτω δὲ καλῶν ἀμφοτέρων ὄντων, γνώσεώς τε καὶ ἀληθείας, ἄλλο καὶ κάλλιον ἔτι τούτων.—Rep., 508, E. οὐκ οὐσίας ὄντος τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, ἀλλ’ ἔτι ἐπέκεινα τῆς οὐσίας πρεσβείᾳ καὶ δυνάμει ὑπερέχοντος.—Ibid., 509, B. The first of these passages is bracketed by Stallbaum, but not the second.

466Symp., 211, E f.

467Enn., V., i.

468Enn., VI., ix., 3,sub fin.;ibid., 6, p. 764, E. (Kirchh., I., p. 87, l. 16);Enn., V., v., 6, p. 525, D. (Kirchh., II., p. 24, l. 24).

469Enn., VI., ix., 9,sub fin.

470Ibid., V., ii., I, p. 494, A. (Kirchh., I., p. 109, l. 7).

471Ibid., V., i., 5, p. 487, C. (Kirchh., I., p. 101, l. 32).

472Enn., V., i., 6, p. 487, B. (Kirchh., I., p. 101, l. 21).

473Enn., V., i., 4, p. 485, E (Kirchh., I., pp. 99 f.).

474Enn., V., ii., 1, p. 494, A; VI., ix., 2, p. 759, A; II., iv., 5, p. 162, A.

475Enn., IV., iv., 16, p. 409, C (Kirchh., I., p. 283, l. 31).

476Enn., V., ii., 2.

477Enn., II., iv.

478Aristot.,Metaph., VII., x.,sub fin.

479Tim., 48, E, ff.

480Ibid., 47, E.

481Enn., II., iv., 5, p. 161, E (Kirchh., I., p. 114, l. 1).

482Enn., II., iv., 11,sub fin.

483Enn., III., vi., 14 f.

484Enn., II., iv., 15, p. 169, A (Kirchh., I., p. 124, l. 17).

485Ibid., 5, p. 162, A (Kirchh., I., p. 114, l. 12).

486Ibid., III., ix., 3, p. 358, A (Kirchh., I., p. 128, l. 22).

487Enn., III., iv., i.

488Enn., II., iv., 15, p. 169, B (Kirchh., I., p. 124, l. 22).

489Enn., IV., iii,, 9, p. 379, A (Kirchh., I., p. 244, l. 17). In one of his latest essays (Enn., I., viii., 7) Plotinus for a moment accepts the Platonic theory that evil must necessarily coexist with good as its correlative opposite, but quickly returns to the alternative theory that evil results from the gradual diminution and extinction of good (cp. Zeller,Ph. d. Gr., III., b, p. 549).

490Enn., III., viii., 4 and 8.

491Our own word ‘paragon’ is a curious record of the theory in question. It is derived from the Greek participial substantive ὁ παράγων, the producer. Now, according to Neo-Platonism, in the hierarchic series of existences, the product always strives, or should strive, to model itself on the producer, hence παράγων came to be used in the double sense of a cause and an exemplar. As such, it is one of the technical terms employed throughout theInstitutiones Theologicaeof Proclus. But, in time, the second or derivative meaning became so much the more important as to gain exclusive possession of the word on its adoption into modern languages.

492Enn., III., iv., 2.

493Enn., I., ii., 1.

494Ibid., 3.

495Enn., I., ii., 6,sub fin.

496Ibid., 5.

497Ibid., ix.

498Enn., I., iii.

499Rep., VI., 511.

500See the conclusion of thePosterior Analytics.

501Enn., III., vii., 1, p. 325, C (Kirchh., II., p. 282, l. 13).

502Zeller’s last volume, giving a full account of the Neo-Platonic school, has recently reached a third edition, but it belongs to a connected work, and contains, in addition, a mass of information possessing special interest for theologians. It has not, however, been translated into English, nor apparently is there any intention of translating it. Our own literature on the subject is represented by a worthless book of Kingsley’s, entitledAlexandria and her Schools, and a novel by a lady, called theWards of Plotinus.

503Enn., VI., ix.,sub fin.

504Enn., III., ii., 15, p. 266, E (Kirchh., II., p. 336, l. 31). M. Renan talks of the period from 235 to 284 as ‘cet enfer d’un demi-siècle où sombre toute philosophie, toute civilité, toute délicatesse’ (Marc-Aurèle, p. 498). As, however, this epoch produced Neo-Platonism, the expression ‘toute philosophie’ is rather misplaced.

505Enn., IV., iv., 17, p. 410, B. (Kirchh., I., p. 285, l. 1).

506Ph. d. Gr., III., b, pp. 69 ff, 419 ff.

507Op. cit., pp. 419 ff.

508Zeller, p. 447.

509Enn., V., v., p. 520, A. (Kirchh., II., p. 18, l. 3). This is the only passage in theEnneadswhere the Sceptics seem to be alluded to.

510Loc. cit.

511Vita, x.,sub fin.

512For specimens of his treatment, see Zeller, pp. 622 ff.

513For the theology of Plotinus see Zeller, pp. 619 ff, and for the daemons, p. 570. In our opinion, Zeller attributes a much stronger religious faith to Plotinus than can be proved from the passages to which he refers.

514Enn., V., vii.

515Enn., V., vii., I, p. 539, B. (Kirchh., I., p. 145, l. 23).

516For references, see Zeller, pp. 588 ff.

517Enn., VI., ii., 3, p. 598, A. (Kirchh., II., p. 227).

518Enn., II., ix.

519Ibid., cap. 6.

520Ibid., 14.

521Enn., II., ix., 15.

522Kirchner,Die Ph. d. Plot., pp. 1-24, 175-208. Cp. Steinhart,Meletemata Plotiniana, p. 4.

523Two other popular misconceptions may be traced back, in part at least, to the exclusively transcendental interpretation of Plato’s philosophy. By drawing away attention from the Socratic dialogues, it broke the connexion between Socrates and his chief disciple, thus leaving the former to be estimated exclusively from Xenophon’s view of his character as a moral and religious teacher. True, Xenophon himself supplies us with the data which prove that Socrates was, above all things, a dialectician, but only in the reflex light of Plato’s subsequent developments can their real significance be perceived. On the other hand, the attempt to combine Aristotle with Plato led to a serious misunderstanding of the actual relation between the two. When the whole ideal element of his philosophy had been drawn off and employed to heighten still further the transcendentalism of his master’s teaching, the Stagirite came to be judged entirely by the residual elements, by the logical, physical, and critical portions of his system. On the strength of these, he was represented as the type of whatever is most opposed to Plato, and, in particular, of a practical, prosaic turn of mind, which was quite alien from his true character.

524Χαλεπὸν μὲν γνωσθῆναι ... γιγνωσκόμενον δὲ μᾶλλον τῷ ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ γεννήματι τῇ οὐσίᾳ. (Enn., VI., ix., 5, p. 763, B.) Πᾶν τὸ θεῖον αὐτὸ μὲν διὰ τὴν ὑπερούσιον ἕνωσιν ἄρρητόν ἐστι καὶ ἄγνωστον πᾶσι τοῖς δευτέροις· ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν μετεχόντων ληπτόν ἐστι καὶ γνωστόν. (Proclus,Institutiones Theologicae, cxxiii.), cp. Proclus,ibid., clxii.

525De Princip., ii., quoted by Ritter and Preller, p. 536 f.

526Inst. Theol., lxxii., cp. Zeller, p. 808, where it is denied, wrongly, as we think, that Plotinus held the same view.

527The following sketch is based on the accounts given of the period to which it relates in the works of Zeller and Vacherot.

528De Civit. Dei, VIII., v., quoted by Kirchner, p. 208.

529Enn., II., ix., 18, p. 217, C; for Syrianus and Proclus, see Zeller, p. 738. The Emperor Constantine is said to have remained a sun-worshipper all his life (Vacherot, II., p. 153); and even Philo Judaeus speaks of the stars as visible gods (Zeller, p. 393).

530Quoted by Ritter and Preller, p. 539.

531Compare the report of Agathias with the series of questions put to Priscian, quoted in the Dissertation by M. Quicherat, prefixed to Dübner’s edition of Priscian’sSolutiones(printed after Plotinus in Didot’s edition, pp. 549 ff).

532M. Vacherot says (II., p. 400), without giving any authority for his statement, that the Neo-Platonists were driven from Persia by the persecution of the Magi; and that they returned home ‘furtivement,’ which is certainly incorrect. They returned openly, under the protection of a treaty between Persia and Rome.

533Repub., IX.,sub fin.

534Hauréau,Histoire de la Philosophie Scolastique, I., p. 372.

535For Gilbert de la Porrée see Hauréau, I., chap. xviii.

536Jourdain,Recherches critiques sur les Traductions latines d’Aristote.

537The term Nominalist is here used in the wide sense given to it by Hauréau. See the last chapter of his work on the Scholastic Philosophy.

538WorksI., p. 405 in Ellis and Spedding’s edition.

539‘Historia naturalis ... materia prima philosophiae.’De Aug., II., iii.

540The ‘notions and conceptions’ of theAdvancement of Learning(Works, III., p. 356) is rendered by ‘axiomata’ in theDe Augmentis(I., p. 567), where in both instances the question is entirely about Forms. Cp. § 8 of Prof. Fowler’s Introduction to theNovum Organum.

541Analyt. Prior., II., xxx.

542Prof. Bain, after mentioning that the second book of theTopics‘sets forth in a crude condition the principal canons of inductive logic,’ goes on to say that ‘these statements cannot be called germs for they never germinated’ (Grote’sMinor Works, p. 14). May they not have germinated in theNovum Organum?

543Descartes showed a much deeper insight into the scientific conditions of industrial progress than Bacon. His words are, ‘On peut trouver une philosophie pratique par laquelle connoissant la force et les actions du feu, de l’eau, de l’air, des astres, des cieux, et de tous les autres corps qui nous environnent, aussi distinctement que nous connoissons les divers mestiers de nos artisans, nous les pourrions employer en même façon à tous les usages auxquels ils sont propres, et ainsi nous rendre comme maistres et possesseurs de la Nature.’Discours de la Méthode, Sixième Partie. This passage has been recently quoted by Dr. Bridges (‘Comte’s Definition of Life,’Fortnightly Reviewfor June 1881, p. 684) to illustrate what seems a very questionable position. He says that the Copernican astronomy, by revealing the infinitude of the universe, made men despair of comprehending nature in her totality, and thus threw them back on enquiries of more directly human interest and practical applicability; particularly specifying ‘the lofty utilitarianism of theNovum Organumand of theDiscours de la Méthode,’ as ‘one of the first concomitants’ ‘of this intellectual revolution.‘ There seems to be a double misconception here: for, in the first place, Bacon could hardly have been influenced by a theory which he persistently rejected; and, in the next place, neither Bacon nor Descartes showed a trace of the positivist tendency to despair of attaining absolute and universal knowledge. Both of them expected to discover the inmost essences of things; and neither of them imagined that a different set of conditions might come into play outside the boundaries of the visible universe. In fact they believed themselves to be enlarging instead of restricting the field of mental vision; and it was from this very enlargement that they anticipated the most momentous practical results. It was with Locke, as we shall see hereafter, that the sceptical or agnostic movement began. In this same article, Dr. Bridges repeats, probably on Comte’s authority, the incredible statement that ‘Thales taught the Egyptian priests those two or three elementary truths as to the laws of triangles, which enabled them to tell the height of the pyramid by measuring its shadow.’ Comte’s ignorance or carelessness in relating this story as a well-attested fact was long ago noticed with astonishment by Grote. (Life of George Grote, p. 204.)

544Whewell notices this ‘Stationary Interval’ (History of the Inductive Sciences, Bk. XVI., chapter iii., sect. 3), but without determining either its just limits or its real cause.

545Compreso che sarà il moto di quest’ astro mondano in cui siamo ... s’aprirà la porta de l’intelligenza de li principi veri di cose naturali.De l’Infinito Universo e Mondi, p. 51, Wagner’s Ed.

546‘Sono amputate radici che germogliano, son cose antiche che rivegnono.Ibid., p. 82.

547Principio Causa et Uno, p. 225. For David of Dinan, whose opinions are known only through the reports of Albertus and Aquinas, see Hauréau, II., iv.

548Galileo’s words are:—‘Il moto circulare è naturale del tutto e delle parti mentre sono in ottima disposizione.’Dialoghi sui Massimi Sistemi.Opere, Vol. I., p. 265; see also p. 38.

549Dialoghi, p. 211.

550‘Non posso trovar termine all’ammirazione mia come abbia possuto in Aristarco e nel Copernico far la ragione tanta violenza al senso che contro a questo ella si sia fatta padrona della loro credulità.’Dialoghi, p. 358.

551Ibid., p. 370.

552‘Kepler était persuadé de l’existence de ces lois en suivant cette pensée de Platon: que Dieu, en créant le monde, avait dû faire de la géometrie.’ Arago,ŒuvresIII., p. 212.

553De Aug., III., v.Works, I., p. 571.

554This is well brought out in a remarkable series of articles on the Philosophy of Hobbes recently published by Tönnies in theVierteljahrsschrift fur wissenschaftliche Philosophie.

555Leviathan, chap. xv.,sub fin.

556Leviathan, chap. xi.,sub fin.

557Leviathan, chap. vi.

558Spaccio della Bestia Trionfante, sub in.

559Advancement of Learning, Ellis and Spedding, III., p. 428.

560Republic, VI., 511, Jowett’s Trans. III., p. 398.

561Plotinus himself expresses a doubt as to whether the One is, properly speaking, all things or not (Enn., V., ii.,sub in.); but in his essay on Substance and Quality, he defines qualities as energies of the substance to which they belong (Enn., II., vi. 3). Now all things are, according to his philosophy, energies of the One. There would, therefore, be no difficulty in considering it as their substance.

[562]—— Quia multimodis, multis, mutata, per omneEx infinito vexantur percita plagis,Omne genus motus, et coetus experiundo,Tandem deveniunt in taleis disposituras,Qualibus haec rebus consistit summa creata. (I., 1023-7.)

[562]

—— Quia multimodis, multis, mutata, per omneEx infinito vexantur percita plagis,Omne genus motus, et coetus experiundo,Tandem deveniunt in taleis disposituras,Qualibus haec rebus consistit summa creata. (I., 1023-7.)

—— Quia multimodis, multis, mutata, per omne

Ex infinito vexantur percita plagis,

Omne genus motus, et coetus experiundo,

Tandem deveniunt in taleis disposituras,

Qualibus haec rebus consistit summa creata. (I., 1023-7.)

563V., 853; IV., 780-800; V., 1025.

564Just the same remark applies to the monads of Leibnitz. Each monad reflects all the others, and infers that its reflections represent a reality from the infinite creative power of God. Descartes’ appeal to the divine veracity represents the same method in a less developed stage. The root-idea here is to be sought for, not in Greek thought but in the Christian doctrine of a supernatural revelation.

565The formal cause of a thing is its species, the concept under which it is immediately subsumed; the efficient cause is what brings it into existence. Thus the formal cause of a man is humanity, the efficient cause, his father.

566Eth., I., prop. xvi.; II., prop. iii.; prop. v.; prop. xviii., schol.; prop. xxviii.; prop. xl., schol. ii.; V., prop. xxix., schol.; prop. xl., schol. (The passage last referred to is the clearest and most decisive.)

567See the passage from theRepublicquoted above.

568The tendency of logicians is now, contrariwise, to force reasoning into parallelism with mathematical physics by interpreting the proposition as an equation between subject and predicate.

569III., prop. ii., schol.

570II., vii., schol.

571III., ix. and xi.

572Greek tragedy is just the reverse—an expansion of the old patriarchal relations into a mould fitted to receive the highest thought and feeling of a civilised age.

573For the whole subject of Spinoza’s mathematical method, see Windelband’s paper on Spinoza in theVierteljahrsschrift für wissenschaftliche Philosophie, 1877. Some points in the last paragraph were suggested by Mr. Pollock’sSpinoza(pp. 255, 264).

574Essay, Bk. iv., ch. 12.

575See the references to Epictêtus,supra, p. 21.

576What Aristotle has written on the subject is not ethics but natural history.

577‘Ne remarque-t-on comment chaque recherche analytique de Laplace a fait ressortir dans notre globe et dans l’univers des conditions d’ordre et de durée?’—Arago,Œuvres, III., p. 496.

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