Page images
PDF
EPUB

Light from above, from the fountain of light,
No other doctrine needs, though granted true;
But these are false, or little else but dreams,
Conjectures, fancies, built on nothing firm.
The first and wisest of them all profess'd
To know this only, that he nothing knew;
The next to fabling fell and smooth conceits;

giveth to all men liberally, &c. Dunster.

293. The first and wisest of them all] Socrates professed to know this only, that he nothing knew. Hic in omnibus fere sermonibus, qui ab iis, qui illum audierunt, perscripti varie, copiose sunt, ita disputat, ut nihil adfirmet ipse, refellat alios: nihil se scire dicat, nisi id ipsum: eoque præstare ceteris, quod illi quæ nesciant scire se putent; ipse, se nihil scire, id unum sciat. Cicero Academic. i. 4.

290

295

[merged small][ocr errors]

guity, are apparently the unfit"test signs in the world to ex"press the train of any man's "thoughts to another: for be"sides that they carry in them "no intelligible affinity to the "notices which they were deIsigned to intimate, the powers of imagination are so great, " and the instances in which one thing may resemble another are so many, that there is scarce any thing in nature, in "which the fancy cannot find

[ocr errors]

66

[ocr errors]

66

293. Είδεναι μεν μηδεν, πλην αυτο τουτο ειδεναι was what Socrates frequently said of himself, according to Diogenes Laertius, Vit. Socrat. And so Plato makes him" compare himself with some great pretender to wisdom, (see the Apology of Socrates, ed. Serran. vol. i. p. 21.) οὗτος μεν οίεται τι ειδεναι, ουκ είδως· εγω δε, ώσπερ ουν ουκ οίδα, ουδε οιομαι εοικα γουν τουτου γε σμικρῳ τινι αυτῷ τούτῳ σοφωτέρος είναι, ότι ο μη οιδα, ουδε ονομαι είδεται Dunster.

295. The next to fabling fell and smooth conceits;] See Parker's Free and impartial censure of the Platonic philosophy. Oxford 1667. p. 71. "Plato and his "followers have communicated "their notions by emblems, "fables, symbols, parables, heaps

VOL. III.

or make a variety of such sym"bolizing resemblances; so that " emblems, fables, symbols, alle"gories, though they are pretty "poetic fancies, are infinitely "unfit to express philosophical "notions and discoveries of the "natures of things.-The end "of philosophy is to search into, " and discover the nature of "things; but I believe you un"derstand not how the nature "of any thing is at all discovered "by making it the theme of allegorical and dark discourses." Calton.

[ocr errors]

The fictions of this philosopher were noticed in early times.

A third sort doubted all things, though plain sense;
Others in virtue plac'd felicity,

But virtue join'd with riches and long life;
In corporal pleasure he, and careless ease;

Diogenes Laertius cites a verse of Timon to this purpose,

S25 averλaos ПλaTV TIK ματα είδως.

[ocr errors]

Peripateticorum, ut finem bonorum dicerent, secundum naturam vivere, id est, virtute adhibita, frui primis à natura datis. De

What wondrous fictions learned Fin. ii. 11.
Plato fram'd!

Compare the conclusion of Mil-
ton's Latin poem De Idea Pla-
tonica.-Smooth conceits are the
Italian concetti; by which term
an Italian writer would, I ap-
prehend, characterise any far-
fetched or fine-spun allegories.
Dunster.

296. A third sort doubted all things, though plain sense;] These were the Sceptics or Pyrrhonians, the disciples of Pyrrho, who asserted nothing, neither honest nor dishonest, just nor unjust, and so of every thing; that there is nothing indeed such, but that men do all things by law and custom; that in every thing this is not rather than that. This was called the Sceptic philosophy, from its continual inspection, and never finding; and Pyrrhonian from Pyrrho. See Stanley's Life of Pyrrho, who takes his account from Diogenes Laertius.

297. Others in virtue &c.] These were the old Academics, and the Peripatetics the scholars of Aristotle. Honeste autem vivere, fruentem rebus iis, quas primas homini natura conciliet, et vetus Academia censuit, et Aristoteles: ejusque amici nunc proxime videntur accedere. Cicero Academic. ii. 42. Ergo nata est sententia veterum Academicorum et

297. Cic. de Fin. ii. 6. Multi enim et magni philosophi hæc ultima bonorum juncta fecerunt, ut Aristoteles, qui virtutis usum cum vitæ perfectæ prosperitate conjunxit. Dunster.

299. In corporal pleasure he, and careless ease;] Epicurus. Confirmat autem illud vel maxime, quod ipsa natura, ut ait ille, adsciscat et reprobet, id est, voluptatem et dolorem: ad hæc, et quæ sequamur et quæ fugiamus, refert omnia. Cicero de Fin. i. 7.

299. The he is here contemptuously emphatical. Compare Par. Lost, i. 93. And so Demosthenes, in the opening of his first Philippic, refers to Philip, whom he had not mentioned by name, xa тn vvv iegu TOYTOY, di ὕβρει ΤΟΥΤΟΥ, δι'

TagaтToμela. As to the principles of Epicurus, see his Epistle to Menæceus, preserved by Diogenes Laertius, where he points out as the only essential and truly interesting objects of a wise man's attention Tay TOU ONμATOS ὑγιειαν, και την της ψυχης αταραξίαν - τουτο του μακαρίως ζην εστι τέλος . . . and sometimes he explicitly places the To Tov asos αγαθον in τας δια χυλων ήδονας, τας δι' αφροδισίων, τας δι' ακροαμάτων, και τας δια μορφης κατ' οψιν ήδειας κινησεις. The passage is preserved in Athenæus, 1. viii. and Dioge

The Stoic last in philosophic pride,
By him call'd virtue; and his virtuous man,

nes Laertius, 1. x. Cicero exhibits the sense of it, Tusc. Disp. 1. x. c. 20. See also Lucretius, ii. 16. and Lucian, Necyomant. p. 460. Ed. Reitz. where also see the account of the Stoics and Peripatetics. Dunster.

300. The Stoic last &c.] The reason why Milton represents our Saviour taking such particular notice of the Stoics above the rest, was probably because they made pretensions to a more refined and exalted virtue than any of the other sects, and were at that time the most prevailing party among the philosophers, and the most revered and esteemed for the strictness of their morals, and the austerity of their lives. The picture of their virtuous man is perfectly just, as might easily be shewn from many passages in Seneca and Antoninus, and the defects and insufficiency of their scheme could not possibly be set in a stronger light than they are by our author in the lines following. Thyer.

300. The Stoics were held in esteem not only among the philosophers of antiquity, but among some of the earlier writers on Christianity. Clemens Alexandrinus in many parts of his works professes himself a Stoic. St. Jerome in his Commentary on Isaiah, c. 10. acknowledges that the Stoics in most points of doctrine agree with the Christians, "Stoici cum nostro dogmate in plerisque concordant." Hence the greater propriety in bringing forward, and censuring in this place, the exceptionable doctrines

300

of this sect. They maintained that the end or purpose of man was to live conformably to nature, (see Diogenes Laertius in his life of Zeno,) and that this consisted in an absolute perfection of the soul, of which they believed human nature to be capable; a doctrine which might tempt even the best of men to philosophic pride. See Mrs. Carter's preface to her translation of Epictetus. Plutarch mentions their arrogance and assumption of superiority over the Academics. De Stoicorum Contrarietatibus. Of their virtuous man, wise, perfect in himself and all possessing, see Cicero de Finibus, iii. 7. where Cato is introduced summing up the principles of the Stoic philosophy; cum ergo hoc sit extremum (quod rλos Græcus dicat,) congruenter naturæ convenienterque vivere, necessario sequitur omnes sapientes semper feliciter, absolute, fortunate vivere, nullâ re impediri, nullâ prohiberi, nulla egere. This is to ascribe to their wise man many positive attributes of divinity; but Seneca spaks more fully, and equals hi to God, Epist. lxxxvii. Quæris quæ res sapientem efficit? quæ Deum. See also epist. lix. lxxiii. xcii. Indeed he every where abounds with such passages. Epictetus also says, (1. i. c. 12.) Ov fixus ouv καθ' ά ίσος εν τοις Θεοις, εκεί που τι rodas to ayatov; oft shames not to prefer; Seneca, epist. liii. Est aliquid quo sapiens antecedat Deum; ille naturæ beneficio non timet, suo sapiens. See also, De

Wise, perfect in himself, and all possessing,
Equals to God, oft shames not to prefer,

As fearing God nor man, contemning all

Wealth, pleasure, pain or torment, death and life, 305 Which when he lists he leaves, or boasts he can,

For all his tedious talk is but vain boast,

Or subtle shifts conviction to evade.

Alas what can they teach, and not mislead,
Ignorant of themselves, of God much more,
And how the world began, and how man fell
Degraded by himself, on grace depending?
Much of the soul they talk, but all awry,
And in themselves seek virtue, and to themselves

Provident. c. 6. Ferte fortiter, hoc est quo Deum antecedatio. Ille extra patientiam malorum est, vos supra patientiam. As fearing God nor man. Seneca de Beneficiis, iv. 19. Deos nemo sanus timet. Furor est enim metuere salutaria, nec quisquam amat quos timet; and again, 1. vii. 1. Si animus Deorum hominumque formidinem ejecit, et scit non multum esse ab homine timendum, a Deo nihil, &c.— contemning all, wealth, pleasure, &c. These are the well known doctrines of the Stoics; our author in all probability had here in his mind the conclusion of Seneca de Providentia-contemnite paupertatem, &c. contemnite dolorem-fortunam-mortempatet exitus. Si pugnare non vultis licet fugere &c. Exactly similar to which last passage is the language of Epictetus, 1. iv. c. 10. ει ούτω ταλας ειμι, λιμήν το αποθανειν δια τουτο ουδέν των εν τῷ βια χαλεπον εστιν· όταν θέλης εξήλθες.

[ocr errors]

310

and of Seneca again, epist. lxx. Dunster.

303. Equals to God,] In Milton's own edition, and all following, it is Equal to God: but I cannot but think this an error of the press, the sense is so much improved by the addition only of a single letter.

Equals to God, oft shames not to prefer.

307. For all his tedious talk is but vain boast, Or subtle shifts] Vain boasts relate to the Stoical paradoxes, and subtle shifts to their dialectic, which this sect so much cultivated, as to be as well known by the name Dialectici as Stoici. Warburton.

313. Much of the soul they talk, but all awry,] See what Mr. Warburton has said upon this subject in the first volume of the Divine Legation.

314. And in themselves seek virtue, and to themselves.

All glory arrogate, to God give none,
Rather accuse him under usual names,
Fortune and Fate, as one regardless quite
Of mortal things. Who therefore seeks in these
True wisdom, finds her not, or by delusion
Far worse, her false resemblance only meets,
An empty cloud. However many books,
Wise men have said, are wearisome; who reads
Incessantly, and to his reading brings not

All glory arrogate, to God give none,]

Cicero speaks the sentiments of ancient philosophy upon this point in the following words:propter virtutem enim jure laudamur, et in virtute recte gloriamur: quod non contingeret, si id donum a Deo, non a nobis haberemus. At vero aut hono. ribus aucti, aut re familiari, aut si aliud quippiam nacti sumus fortuiti boni, aut depulimus mali, cùm Diis gratias agimus, tum nihil nostræ laudi assumptum arbitramur. Num quis, quòd bonus vir esset, gratias Diis egit unquam? At quòd dives, quòd honoratus, quòd incolumis.-Ad rem autem ut redeam, judicium hoc omnium mortalium est, fortunam à Deo petendam, à se ipso sumendam esse sapientiam. De Nat. Deor. iii. 36. Warburton.

316. under usual names ; Fortune and Fate,] Several of the ancient philosophers, but especially the Stoics, thus characterised the Deity. Sic hunc naturam vocas, fatum, fortunam; omnia ejusdem Dei nomina sunt, varie utentis suâ potestate. De Beneficiis, iv. 8.

315

320

and Nat. Quæst. ii. 45. and Seneca, the tragic poet, Edip. 980. The Stoic poet, Lucan, frequently terms the Deity, fate, or fortune, as Pharsal. i. 87. iii. 96. Dunster.

321. An empty cloud,] A metaphor taken from the fable of Ixion, who embraced an empty cloud for a Juno

322. Wise men have said,] Alluding to Eccles. xii. 12. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

322. Aiunt enim, says the younger Pliny; multum legendum esse non multa, 1. viii. ep. 9. It is indeed a Stoical precept, anv de Bibλiwv difv prev. Antonin. Meditat. 1. xi. 3. And Seneca has the same sentiment, ep. ii. and De Tranquillitate Animi, c. 9. Dunster.

322. who reads
Incessantly, &c.]

See the same just sentiment in
Paradise Lost, vii. 126.

But knowledge is as food, and needs no less

Her temp❜rance over appetite, &c.

Thyer.

« PreviousContinue »