Part 8

[45] The honours which we pay to divinity can be of no advantage to him, but benefit us; but the honours which we pay to our parents are beneficial to them. And in this sense, and in this only, the latter are to be honoured more than the former.

[46] This reminds me of what Pope, no less piously than pathetically says, respecting his mother, in the following most beautiful lines:

“Me let the tender office long engage, To rock the cradle of reposing age, With lenient arts extend a mothers breath, Make languor smile, and smooth the bed of death; _Explore the thought, explain the asking eye_, And keep awhile one parent from the sky.” _See his Seventh Epistle, near the end._

[47] The following extract from Sir William Jones, as given by Moor in his Hindu Pantheon, p. 421, demonstrates the great antiquity of this precept:

“Our divine religion has no need of such aids as many are willing to give it; by asserting that the wisest men of this world were ignorant of the two great maxims—that _we must act in respect of others as we should wish them to act in respect of ourselves_—and that, _instead of returning evil for evil, we should confer benefits on those who injure us_. But the first rule is implied in a speech of Lysias, and expressed in distinct phrases by Thales and Pittacus; and I have even seen it word for word, in the original of Confucius, which I carefully compared with the Latin translation. If the conversion, therefore, of the _Pandits_ and _Maulavis_, in India, shall ever be attempted by protestant missionaries, they must beware of asserting, while they teach the gospel, what those _Pandits_ and _Maulavis_ would know to be false. The former would cite the beautiful _Arya_ couplet, which was written at least three centuries before our era, and which pronounce the duty of a good man, even in the moment of destruction, to consist, _not only in forgiving, but even in a desire of benefiting his destroyer_—as _the sandal tree, in the instant of its overthrow, sheds perfume on the axe which fells it_. And the latter would triumph, in repeating the verse of SADI, who represents _a return of good for good as a slight reciprocity_; but says to the virtuous man, ‘_Confer benefits on him who has injured thee_:’ using an _Arabic_ sentence, and a maxim apparently of the ancient Arabs. Nor would the _Mussulmans_ fail to recite four distichs of _Hafiz_, who has illustrated that maxim with fanciful but elegant allusions:—

“Learn from yon orient shell to love thy foe, And store with pearls the hand that brings thee woe: Free, like yon rock, from base vindictive pride, Emblaze with gems the wrist that rends thy side. Mark where yon tree rewards the stony shower With fruit nectarious, or the balmy flower: All nature calls aloud—‘Shall man do less Than heal the smiter, and the railer bless?’” _As. Res. Vol. IV._

[48] viz. Such circumstances as induced Plato, Plotinus, Proclus, and many other ancient philosophers, not to engage in wedlock, because they found that they could give greater assistance to philosophy by continuing single; but Pythagoras and Socrates, though they rank among the wisest men that ever lived, did not find a married life incompatible with the cultivation of philosophy in the highest perfection possible to man. Wedlock, therefore, is never to be avoided from any sordid and selfish motives.

[49] Hence Diogenes, in perfect conformity with that dignified independence of character which he so eminently possessed, and which is to be found more or less in the conduct of all the ancient philosophers, when a certain wealthy and ostentatious man brought him to a fine house which he had built, and desired him not to spit, as he perceived he begun to hawk, spit in the man’s face, observing at the same time, that he could not find a worse place to spit in.

[50] Odyss. lib. 7, v. 183.

[51] This admirable passage is so conformable to the following beautiful lines in Pope’s Essay on Man, that it is most probably the source from whence they were derived. The lines are these:

“Self love but serves the virtuous mind to wake, As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake, The centre moved, a circle straight succeeds, Another still, and still another spreads, Friend, parent, neighbour first it will embrace, His country next, and next all human race; Wide and more wide th’ o’erflowings of the mind, Take every creature in of every kind.”

In Hierocles, however, the circles are scientifically detailed; but in Pope they are synoptically enumerated. Pope, too, has added another circle to that which is the outermost with Hierocles, viz. the circle which embraces every creature of every kind. But as Hierocles in this fragment is only speaking of our duties to kindred, among which the whole human race is, in a certain respect, included, he had no occasion to introduce another circle, though the Platonic doctrine of benevolence is as widely extended as that of Pope.

As the selflove, however, mentioned here by our poet is of a virtuous nature, and is wholly different from that selflove which is reprehensible, and is possessed by the vulgar, I shall present the reader with what Aristotle says concerning the former in the 9th book of his Nicomachean Ethics, as the distinction between the two is at present but little known.

Aristotle, therefore, having observed, that the selflove of the multitude leads them to distribute to themselves the greater part in wealth and honours, and corporeal pleasures, and that in consequence of vindicating to themselves more of these things than is fit, they are subservient to desires and passions, and the irrational part of the soul, adds as follows:

“He who always earnestly endeavours to act justly or temperately, or to act according to any other of the virtues, the most of all things, and, in short, who always vindicates to himself that which is beautiful in conduct; such a man will never be called by any one a lover of himself, nor will he be blamed by any one. It would seem, however, that such a man as this is, in a greater degree, a lover of himself; for he distributes to himself things which are most eminently beautiful and good, is gratified in his most principal part [intellect], and in all things is obedient to it. But as that which is the most principal thing in a city appears to be most eminently the city, and this is the case in every other system of things; thus, also, that which is most principal in man is especially the man. He, therefore, who loves this principal part of himself, is especially a lover of himself, and is gratified with this. That every man, therefore, is principally intellect, and that the worthy man principally loves this is not immanifest. Hence, he will be especially a lover of himself, according to a different species of selflove from that which is disgraceful, and differing as much from it as to live according to reason differs from living according to passion, and as much as the desire of that which is beautiful in conduct differs from the desire of that which appears to be advantageous. Hence it is necessary that a good man should be a lover of himself; for he himself is benefited by acting well, and he also benefits others. But it is not proper that a depraved man should be a lover of himself; for he will hurt both himself and his neighbours, in consequence of being subservient to base passions. With the depraved man, therefore, there is a dissonance between what he ought to do and what he does; but _with the worthy man, those things which he ought to do he also does_.”

Conformably to what Aristotle asserts in this last sentence, Seneca also says, “Sapiens nihil facit quod non debet, et nihil prætermittit quod debet.” i.e. “_The wise man does nothing which he ought not to do, and omits nothing which he ought to do._”

[52] There is a deficiency here in the original, which I have endeavoured to supply in the translation by the words in the brackets. It appears to me, therefore, that the words χρησθαι καλως are wanting.

[53] For ενστασεως, in this place in the original, I read επιστασεως.

* * * * *

THE FOLLOWING IS A LIST

OF

TRANSLATIONS AND ORIGINAL WORKS

BY T. TAYLOR.

Translations. FROM THE GREEK.

THE HYMNS OF ORPHEUS, 12mo. 2_s._ 6_d._ _sewn_.

PLOTINUS ON THE BEAUTIFUL, 12mo. 1_s._ 6_d._ _sewn_.

PROCLUS ON EUCLID, and his Elements of Theology, in which the principal Dogmas of a Theology coeval with the Universe are unfolded. 2 vols. 4to. 2_l._ 10_s._ _boards_.

FOUR DIALOGUES OF PLATO, _viz._ the Cratylus, Phædo, Parmenides, and Timæus, 8vo. 7_s._ 6_d._ _boards_.

THE PHÆDRUS OF PLATO, 4to. 6_s._ _boards_.

SALLUST ON THE GODS AND THE WORLD. 8vo. 3_s._ _boards_.

TWO ORATIONS OF THE EMPEROR JULIAN, one to the Sovereign Sun, and the other to the Mother of the Gods. 8vo. 3_s._ _boards_.

FIVE BOOKS OF PLOTINUS, _viz._ on Felicity; on the Nature and Origin of Evil; on Providence; on Nature. Contemplation, and _the One_; and on the Descent of the Soul. 8vo. 5_s._ _boards_.

PAUSANIAS’S DESCRIPTION OF GREECE, with copious Notes, in which much of the Mythology of the Greeks is unfolded from genuine ancient sources. 3 vols. 8vo. 18_s._ _boards_.

ARISTOTLE’S METAPHYSICS, with copious Notes, in which the Platonic Doctrine of Ideas is largely unfolded. 4to. 2_l._ 2_s._ _boards_.

THE DISSERTATIONS OF MAXIMUS TYRIUS. 2 vols. 12mo. 12_s._ _boards_.

THE WORKS OF PLATO, in which the Substance is given of nearly all the existing Greek MSS., Commentaries and Scholia on Plato, and his most abstruse Dogmas are unfolded. 5 vols. 4to. 10_l._ 10_s._ _boards_.

THE WORKS OF ARISTOTLE, accompanied with copious Elucidations from the best of his Greek Commentators, viz. Alexander Aphrodisiensis, Syrianus, Ammonius Hermæas, Priscianus, Olympiodorus, Simplicius, &c. 9 vols. 4to. 47_l._ 5_s._ _boards_.

THE SIX BOOKS OF PROCLUS ON THE THEOLOGY OF PLATO, to which a Seventh Book is added by the Translator, in order to supply the deficiency of another Book on this subject, which was written by Proclus, but since lost. Also Proclus’s Elements of Theology. 2 vols. 4to. 5_l._ 10_s._ _boards_.

SELECT WORKS OF PLOTINUS, and Extracts from Synesius on Providence. 8vo. 18_s._ _boards_.

IAMBLICHUS’ LIFE OF PYTHAGORAS, or Pythagoric Life. Accompanied by Fragments of the Ethical Writings of certain Pythagoreans, in the Doric Dialect; and a Collection of Pythagoric Sentences from Stobæus and others, which are omitted by Gale in his Opuscula Mythologica, and have not been noticed by any Editor. 8vo. 14_s._ _boards_.

THE COMMENTARIES OF PROCLUS ON THE TIMÆUS OF PLATO. In the translation of this admirable work, which is most deservedly intitled A TREASURY OF ALL ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY, upwards of eleven hundred _necessary_ emendations of the text are given by the Translator. The mathematical also, as well as the philosophical reader, will find these Commentaries replete with information of a most interesting nature, which has hitherto escaped the notice of all modern writers; such as that the Atlantic Ocean, beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, was marshy and full of breakers in the time of Plato and Aristotle, owing to the subsidency of the Atlantic Island; that the fixed stars have periodic revolutions on their axis, unknown to us; that every planet has a multitude of satellites; and many other equally admirable and interesting particulars. 2 vols. royal 4to. 5_l._ 5_s._ _boards_.

IAMBLICHUS ON THE MYSTERIES OF THE EGYPTIANS, CHALDÆANS, AND ASSYRIANS. 8vo. 16_s._

POLITICAL PYTHAGORIC FRAGMENTS, and ETHICAL FRAGMENTS OF HIEROCLES, preserved by Stobæus. 8vo. 6_s._

FROM THE LATIN.

THE FABLE OF CUPID AND PSYCHE FROM APULEIUS, with an Introduction explaining the Meaning of the Fable, and proving that it alludes to the Descent of the Soul. 8vo. 5_s._ _boards_.

PROCLUS ON PROVIDENCE AND FATE; Extracts from his Treatise entitled Ten Doubts concerning Providence; and Extracts from his Treatise on the Subsistence of Evil; as preserved in the Bibliotheca Gr. of Fabricius. See Proclus on the Theology of Plato.

Original Works.

HISTORY OF THE RESTORATION OF THE PLATONIC THEOLOGY, by the genuine Disciples of Plato. See the second vol. of Proclus on Euclid.

A DISSERTATION ON THE ELEUSINIAN AND BACCHIC MYSTERIES, in which much new and important Information, relative to those most venerable and august Institutions, is given from Greek Manuscripts. 8vo. 5_s._ A Second Edition of this Work is printed in Nos. XV. and XVI. of the PAMPHLETEER.

A COMPLETE COLLECTION OF ALL THE EXISTING CHALDÆAN ORACLES, with concise Explanations. See the third vol. of the Old Monthly Magazine; Nos. XXXII. XXXIII. and XXXIV. of the CLASSICAL JOURNAL.

A DISSERTATION ON NULLITIES AND DIVERGING SERIES, in which Nullities are proved to be infinitely small quantities, and the Platonic Doctrine of το εν, or _the One_, is illustrated. See the end of the first edition of the Translation of Aristotle’s Metaphysics.

AN ANSWER to Dr. Gillies’s Supplement to his Translation of Aristotle’s Ethics and Politics, in which the _extreme_ Unfaithfulness of that Translation is unfolded. 12mo. 2_s._ 6_d._ _sewn_.

A POETICAL PARAPHRASE on the SPEECH OF DIOTIMA ON THE BEAUTIFUL, in the Banquet of Plato. See the Translation of the Fable of Cupid and Psyche.

HYMNS. See the before-mentioned Sallust, Julian, Plotinus, and Cupid and Psyche.

A new edition of HEDERIC’S GREEK LEXICON, in which many words are inserted, not found in other modern Lexicons, and an Explanation is given of some words agreeably to the Platonic Philosophy. 4to. 1803. 2_l._ 2_s._ _boards_.

THE ELEMENTS OF THE TRUE ARITHMETIC OF INFINITES, in which all the Propositions in the Arithmetic of Infinites invented by Dr. Wallis, relative to the Summation of Infinite Series, and also the Principles of the Doctrine of Fluxions, are demonstrated to be false; and the Nature of Infinitesimals is unfolded. 4to. 5_s._ _sewn_.

MISCELLANIES IN PROSE AND VERSE; containing the Triumph of the Wise Man over Fortune, according to the Doctrine of the Stoics and Platonists; The Creed of the Platonic Philosopher; A Panegyric on Sydenham, &c. &c. 12mo. 2_s._ 6_d._ _boards_.

A DISSERTATION ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF ARISTOTLE, in four Books; in which his principal Physical and Metaphysical Dogmas are unfolded; and it is shown from indubitable evidence, that his Philosophy has not been accurately known since the destruction of the Greeks. The insufficiency also of the Philosophy that has been substituted by the Moderns for that of Aristotle is demonstrated. This volume was written as an Introduction to the Translation of Aristotle’s Works. 4to. 5_l._ 5_s._ _boards_.

THEORETIC ARITHMETIC, in three Books; containing the Substance of all that has been written on this Subject by Theo of Smyrna, Nicomachus, Iamblichus, and Bœtius.—Together with some remarkable particulars respecting perfect, amicable, and other Numbers, which are not to be found in the writings of any ancient or modern Mathematicians. Likewise a Specimen of the manner in which the Pythagoreans philosophized about Numbers; and a Developement of their mystical and theological Arithmetic, 8vo. 14_s._ _boards_.

ORPHIC FRAGMENTS, hitherto inedited. See No. XXXIII. of the CLASSICAL JOURNAL.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources.

Some hyphens in words have been silently removed, some added, when a predominant preference was found in the original book.

Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.

Pg 14: ‘rulers that excell’ replaced by ‘rulers that excel’. Pg 81: ‘to be seperated’ replaced by ‘to be separated’. Pg 98: ‘external af-affairs’ replaced by ‘external affairs’. Footnote 51 (Pg 107): “the’ o’erflowings” replaced by “th’ o’erflowings”. Catalog: ‘EGYPTIANS, CHALDEANS’ replaced by ‘EGYPTIANS, CHALDÆANS’.