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diff --git a/31345-h/31345-h.htm b/31345-h/31345-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d4d674f --- /dev/null +++ b/31345-h/31345-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,22031 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, Volume I (of 2), by John William Draper</title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 19%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +p.ind { text-indent: -1em; + padding-left: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +.lhlsp { line-height: 1.5em; + letter-spacing: .2em; + text-align: center; +} + +.cpad { text-align: center; + padding-top: 4em; +} + +.spacing { letter-spacing: .2em; + text-align: center; +} + +hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +hr.pad { width: 25%; + margin-top: 4em; + margin-bottom: 4em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +/* table fix part 1 */ + div.centered { text-align: center; +} + +/* table fix part 2 */ + div.centered table { margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + text-align: left; +} + +td.cen { text-align: center;} + +.pagenum { /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; left: 2%; + font-size: 90%; + text-align: right; + color: silver; +} + +.blockquot { margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%; +} + +.sidenote { position: absolute; left: 82%; + right: 100%; width: 16%; font-size: 9pt; + text-align: left; font-weight: bold; + padding-left: 1%; + +} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.bigger {font-size: 130%;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + padding-top: 3em; + padding-bottom: 3em; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i4 { + display: block; + margin-left: 4em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.ind10 {width: 30%; text-align: left;} +.ind15 {width: 30%; text-align: right; position: absolute; right: 0; padding-right: 25%;} + + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 85%;} + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, History of the Intellectual Development of +Europe, Volume I (of 2), by John William Draper</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, Volume I (of 2)</p> +<p> Revised Edition</p> +<p>Author: John William Draper</p> +<p>Release Date: February 21, 2010 [eBook #31345]<br /> +Most recently updated: October 9, 2010</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPE, VOLUME I (OF 2)***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by the<br /> + Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Project Gutenberg also has Volume II of this two-volume work. + See<br /><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34051"> + http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34051</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1>HISTORY</h1> + +<p class='center'><small>OF THE</small></p> + +<h1>INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT</h1> + +<p class='center'><small>OF</small></p> + +<h1>EUROPE.</h1> + +<p class='center'><br /><br /><span class="smcap">By</span> JOHN WILLIAM DRAPER, M.D., LL.D.,</p> + +<p class='center'>Professor of Chemistry in the University of New York, Author of a<br /> +"Treatise on Human Physiology," "Civil Policy of America,"<br /> +"History of the American Civil War," &c.</p> + +<p class='center'><br /><br /><i>REVISED EDITION, IN TWO VOLUMES.</i></p> + +<p class='center'><br />VOL. I.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 200px;"> +<img src="images/title-200.png" width="200" height="142" alt="publishers device" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class='lhlsp'>NEW YORK:<br /> +HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS,<br /> +<small>FRANKLIN SQUARE.</small></p> + +<p class='cpad'>Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by<br /> +<span class='spacing'>HARPER & BROTHERS</span>,<br /> +In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. +</p> + +<hr class='pad' /> + +<h2>PREFACE.</h2> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</a></span> +<span class="smcap">At</span> the meeting of the British Association for the Advancement +of Science, held at Oxford in 1860, I read an abstract +of the physiological argument contained in this work +respecting the mental progress of Europe, reserving the +historical evidence for subsequent publication.</p> + +<p>This work contains that evidence. It is intended as the +completion of my treatise on Human Physiology, in which +man was considered as an individual. In this he is +considered in his social relation.</p> + +<p>But the reader will also find, I think, that it is a +history of the progress of ideas and opinions from a point +of view heretofore almost entirely neglected. There are +two methods of dealing with philosophical questions—the +literary and the scientific. Many things which in a +purely literary treatment of the subject remain in the +background, spontaneously assume a more striking position +when their scientific relations are considered. It is the +latter method that I have used.</p> + +<p>Social advancement is as completely under the control of +natural law as is bodily growth. The life of an individual +is a miniature of the life of a nation. These propositions +it is the special object of this book to demonstrate.</p> + +<p>No one, I believe, has hitherto undertaken the labour of +arranging the evidence offered by the intellectual history +of Europe in accordance with physiological principles, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</a></span> +so as to illustrate the orderly progress of civilization, +or collected the facts furnished by other branches of +science with a view of enabling us to recognize clearly +the conditions under which that progress takes place. +This philosophical deficiency I have endeavoured in the +following pages to supply.</p> + +<p>Seen thus through the medium of physiology, history +presents a new aspect to us. We gain a more just and +thorough appreciation of the thoughts and motives of men +in successive ages of the world.</p> + +<p>In the Preface to the second edition of my Physiology, +published in 1858, it was mentioned that this work was +at that time written. The changes that have been since +made in it have been chiefly with a view of condensing it. +The discussion of several scientific questions, such as that +of the origin of species, which have recently attracted +public attention so strongly, has, however remained untouched, +the principles offered being the same as presented +in the former work in 1856.</p> + +<p style='margin-left: 2em;'><i>New York, 1861.</i></p> + +<hr class='pad' /> + +<h2>PREFACE TO THE REVISED EDITION.</h2> + +<p><span class="smcap">Many</span> reprints of this work having been issued, and +translations published in various foreign languages, +French, German, Russian, Polish, Servian, &c., I have +been induced to revise it carefully, and to make additions +wherever they seemed to be desirable. I therefore hope +that it will commend itself to the continued approval +of the public.</p> + +<p style='margin-left: 2em;'><i>November, 1875.</i></p> + +<hr class='pad' /> + +<div class='centered table'> +<table border='0' cellpadding='0' width='60%' cellspacing='0' summary='CONTENTS'> +<tr> +<td><h2>CONTENTS.</h2></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><span class='bigger'>CHAPTER I.</span></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'>ON THE GOVERNMENT OF NATURE BY LAW. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><p class='ind'><i>The subject of this Work proposed.—Its difficulty.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Gradual Acquisition of the Idea of Natural Government by Law.—Eventually +sustained by Astronomical, Meteorological, and Physiological +Discoveries.—Illustrations from Kepler's Laws, the Trade-winds, +Migrations of Birds, Balancing of Vegetable and Animal Life, +Variation of Species and their Permanence.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Individual Man is an Emblem of Communities, Nations, and Universal +Humanity.—They exhibit Epochs of Life like his, and, like him, are +under the Control of Physical Conditions, and therefore of Law.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Plan of this Work.—The Intellectual History of Greece.—Its Five +characteristic Ages.—European Intellectual History.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Grandeur of the Doctrine that the World is governed by Law.</i></p> + +<p><span class="ind10"> </span><span class="ind15"><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><small>Page</small> 1</a></span></p> +</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><span class='bigger'>CHAPTER II.</span></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'>OF EUROPE: ITS TOPOGRAPHY AND ETHNOLOGY.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><small>ITS PRIMITIVE MODES OF THOUGHT, AND THEIR PROGRESSIVE +VARIATIONS, MANIFESTED IN THE GREEK AGE OF CREDULITY.</small></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><p class='ind'><i>Description of Europe: its Topography, Meteorology, and secular +Geological Movements.—Their Effect on its Inhabitants.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Its Ethnology determined through its Vocabularies.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Comparative Theology of Greece; the Stage of Sorcery, the Anthropocentric +Stage.—Becomes connected with false Geography and +Astronomy.—Heaven, the Earth, the Under World.—Origin, continuous +Variation and Progress of Greek Theology.—It introduces Ionic +Philosophy.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span> +<i>Decline of Greek Theology, occasioned by the Advance of Geography and +Philosophical Criticism.—Secession of Poets, Philosophers, Historians.—Abortive +public Attempts to sustain it.—Duration of its Decline.—Its +Fall.</i></p> + +<p><span class="ind10"> </span><span class="ind15"><a href="#Chapter_II">23</a></span></p> +</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><span class='bigger'>CHAPTER III.</span></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'>DIGRESSION ON HINDU THEOLOGY AND EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td><p class='ind'><i>Comparative Theology of India; its Phase of Sorcery; its Anthropocentric +Phase.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Vedaism</span> <i>the Contemplation of Matter, or Adoration of Nature, set +forth in the Vedas and Institutes of Menu.—The Universe is God.—Transmutation +of the World.—Doctrine of Emanation.—Transmigration.—Absorption.—Penitential +Services.—Happiness in Absolute +Quietude.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Buddhism</span> <i>the Contemplation of Force.—The supreme impersonal Power.—Nature +of the World—of Man.—The Passage of every thing to +Nonentity.—Development of Buddhism into a vast monastic System +marked by intense Selfishness.—Its practical Godlessness.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Egypt</span> <i>a mysterious Country to the old Europeans.—Its History, great +public Works, and foreign Relations.—Antiquity of its Civilization and +Art.—Its Philosophy, hieroglyphic Literature, and peculiar Agriculture.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Rise of Civilization in rainless Countries.—Geography, Geology, and +Topography of Egypt.—The Inundations of the Nile lead to +Astronomy.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Comparative Theology of Egypt.—Animal Worship, Star Worship.—Impersonation +of Divine Attributes.—Pantheism.—The Trinities of +Egypt.—Incarnation.—Redemption.—Future Judgment.—Trial of +the Dead.—Rituals and Ceremonies.</i></p> +<p><span class="ind10"> </span><span class="ind15"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">56</a></span></p> +</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><span class='bigger'>CHAPTER IV.</span></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'>GREEK AGE OF INQUIRY.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><small>RISE AND DECLINE OF PHYSICAL SPECULATION.</small></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Ionian Philosophy</span>, <i>commencing from Egyptian Ideas, identifies in +Water, or Air, or Fire, the First Principle.—Emerging from the Stage +of Sorcery, it founds Psychology, Biology, Cosmogony, Astronomy, and +ends in doubting whether there is any Criterion of Truth.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span> +<span class="smcap">Italian Philosophy</span> <i>depends on Numbers and Harmonies.—It +reproduces the Egyptian and Hindu Doctrine of Transmigration.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Eleatic Philosophy</span> <i>presents a great Advance, indicating a rapid +Approach to Oriental Ideas.—It assumes a Pantheistic Aspect.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Rise of Philosophy in European Greece.</span>—<i>Relations and Influence of +the Mediterranean Commercial and Colonial System.—Athens attains +to commercial Supremacy.—Her vast Progress in Intelligence and Art.—Her +Demoralization.—She becomes the Intellectual Centre of the +Mediterranean.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Commencement of the Athenian higher Analysis.—It is conducted by</i> <span class="smcap">The +Sophists</span>, <i>who reject Philosophy, Religion, and even Morality, and end +in Atheism.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Political Dangers of the higher Analysis.—Illustration from the Middle +Ages.</i></p> + +<p><span class="ind10"> </span><span class="ind15"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">94</a></span></p> +</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><span class='bigger'>CHAPTER V.</span></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'>THE GREEK AGE OF FAITH.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><small>RISE AND DECLINE OF ETHICAL PHILOSOPHY.</small></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Socrates</span> <i>rejects Physical and Mathematical Speculations, and asserts +the Importance of Virtue and Morality, thereby inaugurating an Age +of Faith.—His Life and Death.—The schools originating from his +Movement teach the Pursuit of Pleasure and Gratification of Self.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Plato</span> <i>founds the Academy.—His three primal Principles.—The Existence +of a personal God.—Nature of the World and the Soul.—The +ideal Theory, Generals or Types.—Reminiscence.—Transmigration.—Plato's +political Institutions.—His Republic.—His Proofs of the +Immortality of the Soul.—Criticism on his Doctrines.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Rise of the Sceptics</span>, <i>who conduct the higher Analysis of Ethical +Philosophy.—Pyrrho demonstrates the Uncertainty of Knowledge.—Inevitable +Passage into tranquil Indifference, Quietude, and Irreligion, +as recommended by Epicurus.—Decomposition of the Socratic and +Platonic Systems in the later Academies.—Their Errors and Duplicities.—End +of the Greek Age of Faith.</i></p> + +<p><span class="ind10"> </span><span class="ind15"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">143</a></span></p> +</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><span class='bigger'>CHAPTER VI.</span></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span> +THE GREEK AGE OF REASON.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><small>RISE OF SCIENCE.</small></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><p class='ind'><span class="smcap">The Macedonian Campaign.</span>—<i>Disastrous in its political Effects to +Greece, but ushering in the Age of Reason.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Aristotle</span> <i>founds the Inductive Philosophy.—His Method the Inverse of +that of Plato.—Its great power.—In his own hands it fails for want +of Knowledge, but is carried out by the Alexandrians.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Zeno.</span>—<i>His Philosophical Aim is the Cultivation of Virtue and Knowledge.—He +is in the Ethical Branch the Counterpart of Aristotle in +the Physical.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Foundation of the Museum of Alexandria.</span>—<i>The great Libraries, +Observatories, Botanical Gardens, Menageries, Dissecting Houses.—Its +Effect on the rapid Development of exact Knowledge.—Influence of +Euclid, Archimedes, Eratosthenes, Apollonius, Ptolemy, Hipparchus, +on Geometry, Natural Philosophy, Astronomy, Chronology, Geography.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Decline of the Greek Age of Reason.</i></p> + +<p><span class="ind10"> </span><span class="ind15"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">171</a></span></p> +</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><span class='bigger'>CHAPTER VII.</span></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'>THE GREEK AGE OF INTELLECTUAL DECREPITUDE.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><small>THE DEATH OF GREEK PHILOSOPHY.</small></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><p class='ind'><i>Decline of Greek Philosophy: it becomes Retrospective, and in Philo +the Jew and Apollonius of Tyana leans on Inspiration, Mysticism, +Miracles.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Neo-Platonism</span> <i>founded by Ammonius Saccas, followed by Plotinus, +Porphyry, Iamblicus, Proclus.—The Alexandrian Trinity.—Ecstasy.—Alliance +with Magic, Necromancy.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>The Emperor Justinian closes the philosophical Schools.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Summary of Greek Philosophy.—Its four Problems: 1. Origin of the +World; 2. Nature of the Soul; 3. Existence of God; 4. Criterion of +Truth.—Solution of these Problems in the Age of Inquiry—in that of +Faith—in that of Reason—in that of Decrepitude.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span> +<i>Determination of the Law of Variation of Greek Opinion.—The +Development of National Intellect is the same as that of Individual.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Determination of the final Conclusions of Greek Philosophy as to God, +the World, the Soul, the Criterion of Truth.—Illustrations and +Criticisms on each of these Points.</i></p> + +<p><span class="ind10"> </span><span class="ind15"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">207</a></span></p> +</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><span class='bigger'>CHAPTER VIII.</span></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'>DIGRESSION ON THE HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHICAL INFLUENCES OF ROME.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><small>PREPARATION FOR RESUMING THE EXAMINATION OF THE INTELLECTUAL PROGRESS OF EUROPE.</small></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><p class='ind'><i>Religious Ideas of the primitive Europeans.—The Form of their Variations +is determined by the Influence of Rome.—Necessity of Roman +History in these Investigations.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Rise and Development of Roman Power, its successive Phases, territorial +Acquisitions.—Becomes Supreme in the Mediterranean.—Consequent +Demoralization of Italy.—Irresistible Concentration of Power.—Development +of Imperialism.—Eventual Extinction of the true Roman +Race.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Effect on the intellectual, religious, and social Condition of the Mediterranean +Countries.—Produces homogeneous Thought.—Imperialism +prepares the Way for Monotheism.—Momentous Transition of the +Roman World in its religious Ideas.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Opinions of the Roman Philosophers.—Coalescence of the new and old +Ideas.—Seizure of Power by the Illiterate, and consequent Debasement +of Christianity in Rome.</i></p> +<p><span class="ind10"> </span><span class="ind15"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">239</a></span></p> +</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><span class='bigger'>CHAPTER IX.</span></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'>THE EUROPEAN AGE OF INQUIRY.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><small>THE PROGRESSIVE VARIATION OF OPINIONS CLOSED BY THE INSTITUTION OF +COUNCILS AND THE CONCENTRATION OF POWER IN A PONTIFF.<br /> +RISE, EARLY VARIATIONS, CONFLICTS, AND FINAL ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRISTIANITY.</small></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><p class='ind'><i>Rise of Christianity.—Distinguished from ecclesiastical Organization.—It +is demanded by the deplorable Condition of the Empire.—Its brief +Conflict with Paganism.—Character of its first Organization.—Variations +of Thought and Rise of Sects: their essential Difference in +the East and West.—The three primitive Forms of Christianity: the +Judaic Form, its End—the Gnostic Form, its End—the African +Form, continues.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span> +<i>Spread of Christianity from Syria.—Its Antagonism to Imperialism; +their Conflicts.—Position of Affairs under Diocletian.—The Policy of +Constantine.—He avails himself of the Christian Party, and through it +attains supreme Power.—His personal Relations to it.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>The Trinitarian Controversy.—Story of Arius.—The Council of Nicea.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>The Progress of the Bishop of Rome to Supremacy.—The Roman +Church; its primitive subordinate Position.—Causes of its increasing +Wealth, Influence, and Corruptions.—Stages of its Advancement +through the Pelagian, Nestorian, and Eutychian Disputes.—Rivalry +of the Bishops of Constantinople, Alexandria, and Rome.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Necessity of a Pontiff in the West and ecclesiastical Councils in the East.—Nature +of those Councils and of pontifical Power.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>The Period closes at the Capture and Sack of Rome by Alaric.—Defence +of that Event by St. Augustine.—Criticism on his Writings.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Character of the Progress of Thought through this Period.—Destiny of +the three great Bishops.</i></p> + +<p><span class="ind10"> </span><span class="ind15"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">266</a></span></p> +</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><span class='bigger'>CHAPTER X.</span></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'>THE EUROPEAN AGE OF FAITH.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><small>AGE OF FAITH IN THE EAST.</small></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><p class='ind'><i>Consolidation of the Byzantine System, or the Union of Church and +State.—The consequent Paganization of Religion and Persecution of +Philosophy.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Political Necessity for the enforcement of Patristicism, or Science of the +Fathers.—Its peculiar Doctrines.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Obliteration of the Vestiges of Greek Knowledge by Patristicism.—The +Libraries and Serapion of Alexandria.—Destruction of the latter by +Theodosius.—Death of Hypatia.—Extinction of Learning in the East +by Cyril, his Associates and Successors.</i></p> +<p><span class="ind10"> </span><span class="ind15"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">308</a></span></p> +</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><span class='bigger'>CHAPTER XI.</span></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'>PREMATURE END OF THE AGE OF FAITH IN THE EAST.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><small>THE THREE ATTACKS, VANDAL, PERSIAN, ARAB.</small></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><p class='ind'><span class="smcap">The Vandal Attack</span> <i>leads to the Loss of Africa.—Recovery of that +Province by Justinian after great Calamities.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span> +<span class="smcap">The Persian Attack</span> <i>leads to the Loss of Syria and Fall of Jerusalem.—The +true Cross carried away as a Trophy.—Moral Impression of +these Attacks.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">The Arab Attack.</span>—<i>Birth, Mission, and Doctrines of Mohammed.—Rapid +Spread of his Faith in Asia and Africa.—Fall of Jerusalem.—Dreadful +Losses of Christianity to Mohammedanism.—The Arabs +become a learned Nation.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Review of the Koran.—Reflexions on the Loss of Asia and Africa by +Christendom.</i></p> + +<p><span class="ind10"> </span><span class="ind15"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">326</a></span></p> +</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><span class='bigger'>CHAPTER XII.</span></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'>THE AGE OF FAITH IN THE WEST.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td><p class='ind'><i>The Age of Faith in the West is marked by Paganism.—The Arabian +military Attacks produce the Isolation and permit the Independence of +the Bishop of Rome.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Gregory the Great</span> <i>organizes the Ideas of his Age, materializes Faith, +allies it to Art, rejects Science, and creates the Italian Form of +Religion.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>An Alliance of the Papacy with France diffuses that Form.—Political +History of the Agreement and Conspiracy of the Frankish Kings and +the Pope.—The resulting Consolidation of the new Dynasty in France, +and Diffusion of Roman Ideas.—Conversion of Europe.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>The Value of the Italian Form of Religion determined from the papal +Biography.</i></p> + +<p><span class="ind10"> </span><span class="ind15"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">349</a></span></p> +</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><span class='bigger'>CHAPTER XIII.</span></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'>DIGRESSION ON THE PASSAGE OF THE ARABIANS TO THEIR AGE OF REASON.</td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><small>INFLUENCE OF MEDICAL IDEAS THROUGH THE NESTORIANS AND JEWS.</small></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><p class='ind'><i>The intellectual Development of the Arabians is guided by the Nestorians +and the Jews, and is in the Medical Direction.—The Basis of this +Alliance is theological.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Antagonism of the Byzantine System to Scientific Medicine.—Suppression +of the Asclepions.—Their Replacement by Miracle-cure.—The +resulting Superstition and Ignorance.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[xii]</a></span> +<i>Affiliation of the Arabians with the Nestorians and Jews.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>1st. The Nestorians, their Persecutions, and the Diffusion of their +Sectarian Ideas.—They inherit the old Greek Medicine.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Sub-digression on Greek Medicine.—The Asclepions.—Philosophical +Importance of Hippocrates, who separates Medicine from Religion.—The +School of Cnidos.—Its Suppression by Constantine.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Sub-digression on Egyptian Medicine.—It is founded on Anatomy and +Physiology.—Dissections and Vivisections.—The Great Alexandrian +Physicians.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>2nd. The Jewish Physicians.—Their Emancipation from Superstition.—They +found Colleges and promote Science and Letters.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>The contemporary Tendency to Magic, Necromancy, the Black Art.—The +Philosopher's Stone, Elixir of Life, etc.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>The Arabs originate scientific Chemistry.—Discover the strong Acids, +Phosphorus, etc.—Their geological Ideas.—Apply Chemistry to the +Practice of Medicine.—Approach of the Conflict between the Saracenic +material and the European supernatural System.</i></p> + +<p><span class="ind10"> </span><span class="ind15"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">383</a></span></p> +</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><span class='bigger'>CHAPTER XIV.</span></td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'>THE AGE OF FAITH IN THE WEST—(<i>Continued</i>).</td></tr> +<tr> +<td> </td></tr> +<tr> +<td class='cen'><small>IMAGE-WORSHIP AND THE MONKS.</small></td></tr> +<tr> +<td><p class='ind'><i>Origin of</i> <span class="smcap">Image-worship</span>.—<i>Inutility of Images discovered in Asia and +Africa during the Saracen Wars.—Rise of Iconoclasm.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>The Emperors prohibit Image-worship.—The Monks, aided by court +Females, sustain it.—Victory of the latter.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Image-worship in the West sustained by the Popes.—Quarrel between the +Emperor and the Pope.—The Pope, aided by the Monks, revolts and +allies himself with the Franks.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">The Monks.</span>—<i>History of the Rise and Development of Monasticism.—Hermits +and Cœnobites.—Spread of Monasticism from Egypt over +Europe.—Monk Miracles and Legends.—Humanization of the monastic +Establishments.—They materialize Religion, and impress their Ideas +on Europe.</i></p> + +<p><span class="ind10"> </span><span class="ind15"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">413</a></span></p> +</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<hr class='pad' /> + +<h2 style='line-height: 150%'>THE INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF<br /> +EUROPE.</h2> + +<hr class='pad' /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span> +ON THE GOVERNMENT OF NATURE BY LAW.</p> + +<div class='blockquot'><p class='ind'><i>The subject of this Work proposed.—Its difficulty.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Gradual Acquisition of the Idea of Natural Government by Law.—Eventually +sustained by Astronomical, Meteorological, and Physiological +Discoveries.—Illustrations from Kepler's Laws, the Trade-winds, +Migrations of Birds, Balancing of Vegetable and Animal Life, +Variation of Species and their Permanence.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Individual Man is an Emblem of Communities, Nations, and Universal +Humanity.—They exhibit Epochs of Life like his, and, like him are +under the Control of Physical Conditions, and therefore of Law.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Plan of this Work.—The Intellectual History of Greece.—Its Five +characteristic Ages.—European Intellectual History.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Grandeur of the Doctrine that the World is governed by Law.</i></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote">The subject proposed.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">I intend</span>, in this work, to consider in what manner the +advancement of Europe in civilization has taken +place, to ascertain how far its progress has been +fortuitous, and how far determined by primordial law.</p> + +<p>Does the procession of nations in time, like the erratic +phantasm of a dream, go forward without reason or order? +or, is there a predetermined, a solemn march, in which +all must join, ever moving, ever resistlessly advancing, +encountering and enduring an inevitable succession of +events?</p> + +<p>In a philosophical examination of the intellectual and +political history of nations, an answer to these questions +is to be found. But how difficult it is to master the mass +of facts necessary to be collected, to handle so great an +accumulation, to place it in the clearest point of view; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> +how difficult it is to select correctly the representative +<span class="sidenote">Its difficulty and grandeur.</span> +men, to produce them in the proper scenes, and +to conduct successfully so grand and complicated +a drama as that of European life! Though in +one sense the subject offers itself as a scientific problem, +and in that manner alone I have to deal with it; in +another it swells into a noble epic—the life of humanity, +its warfare and repose, its object and its end.</p> + +<p>Man is the archetype of society. Individual development +is the model of social progress.</p> + +<p>Some have asserted that human affairs are altogether +determined by the voluntary action of men, some that the +Providence of God directs us in every step, some that all +events are fixed by Destiny. It is for us to ascertain how +far each of these affirmations is true.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Individual life of a mixed kind.</div> + +<p>The life of individual man is of a mixed nature. In +part he submits to the free-will impulses of +himself and others, in part he is under the +inexorable dominion of law. He insensibly +changes his estimate of the relative power of each of these +influences as he passes through successive stages. In the +confidence of youth he imagines that very much is under +his control, in the disappointment of old age very little. +As time wears on, and the delusions of early imagination +vanish away, he learns to correct his sanguine views, and +prescribes a narrower boundary for the things he expects +to obtain. The realities of life undeceive him at last, and +there steals over the evening of his days an unwelcome +conviction of the vanity of human hopes. The things he +has secured are not the things he expected. He sees that +a Supreme Power has been using him for unknown ends, +that he was brought into the world without his own +knowledge, and is departing from it against his own will.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">It foreshadows social life.</div> + +<p>Whoever has made the physical and intellectual history +of individual man his study, will be prepared to admit in +what a surprising manner it foreshadows social +history. The equilibrium and movement of +humanity are altogether physiological phenomena. +Yet not without hesitation may such an opinion be +frankly avowed, since it is offensive to the pride, and to +many of the prejudices and interests of our age. An author +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> +who has been disposed to devote many years to the labour +of illustrating this topic, has need of the earnest support +of all who prize the truth; and, considering the extent +and profundity of his subject, his work, at the best, must +be very imperfect, requiring all the forbearance, and even +the generosity of criticism.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="sidenote">First opinions of savage life.</span> +In the intellectual infancy of a savage state, Man +transfers to Nature his conceptions of himself, +and, considering that every thing he does is +determined by his own pleasure, regards all passing +events as depending on the arbitrary volition of a superior +but invisible power. He gives to the world a constitution +like his own. His tendency is necessarily to superstition. +Whatever is strange, or powerful, or vast, impresses +his imagination with dread. Such objects are only +the outward manifestations of an indwelling spirit, and +therefore worthy of his veneration.</p> + +<p>After Reason, aided by Experience, has led him forth +from these delusions as respects surrounding things, he +still clings to his original ideas as respects objects far +removed. In the distance and irresistible motions of the +stars he finds arguments for the supernatural, and gives +to each of those shining bodies an abiding and controlling +genius. The mental phase through which he is passing +permits him to believe in the exercise of planetary +influences on himself.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Fetichism displaced by star-worship.</div> + +<p>But as reason led him forth from fetichism, so in due +time it again leads him forth from star-worship. +Perhaps not without regret does he abandon the +mythological forms he has created; for, long +after he has ascertained that the planets are nothing more +than shining points, without any perceptible influence on +him, he still venerates the genii once supposed to vivify +them, perhaps even he exalts them into immortal gods.</p> + +<p>Philosophically speaking, he is exchanging by ascending +degrees his primitive doctrine of arbitrary volition for the +doctrine of law. As the fall of a stone, the flowing of a +river, the movement of a shadow, the rustling of a leaf, +have been traced to physical causes, to like causes at last +are traced the revolutions of the stars. In events and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +scenes continually increasing in greatness and grandeur, +<span class="sidenote">The idea of government by law.</span> +he is detecting the dominion of law. The goblins, and +genii, and gods who successively extorted his +fear and veneration, who determined events by +their fitful passions or whims, are at last displaced +by the noble conception of one Almighty Being, +who rules the universe according to reason, and therefore +according to law.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Its application to the solar system.</div> + +<p>In this manner the doctrine of government by law is +extended, until at last it embraces all natural events. It +was thus that, hardly two centuries ago, that doctrine +gathered immense force from the discovery of Newton that +Kepler's laws, under which the movements of the +planetary bodies are executed, issue as a mathematical +necessity from a very simple material +condition, and that the complicated motions of the solar +system cannot be other than they are. Few of those who +read in the beautiful geometry of the 'Principia' the demonstration +of this fact, saw the imposing philosophical consequences +which must inevitably follow this scientific +discovery. And now the investigation of the aspect of +the skies in past ages, and all predictions of its future, +rest essentially upon the principle that no arbitrary volition +ever intervenes, the gigantic mechanism moving +impassively in accordance with a mathematical law.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">And to terrestrial events.</div> + +<p>And so upon the earth, the more perfectly we understand +the causes of present events, the more plainly are they +seen to be the consequences of physical conditions, and +therefore the results of law. To allude to one +example out of many that might be considered, +the winds, how proverbially inconstant, who can tell +whence they come or whither they go! If any thing +bears the fitful character of arbitrary volition, surely it is +these. But we deceive ourselves in imagining that atmospheric +events are fortuitous. Where shall a line be +drawn between that eternal trade-wind, which, originating +in well-understood physical causes, sweeps, like the breath +of Destiny, slowly, and solemnly, and everlastingly over +the Pacific Ocean, and the variable gusts into which it +degenerates in more northerly and southerly regions—gusts +which seem to come without any cause, and to pass +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> +away without leaving any trace? In what latitude is it +that the domain of the physical ends, and that of the +supernatural begins?</p> + +<p>All mundane events are the results of the operation of +law. Every movement in the skies or upon the earth +proclaims to us that the universe is under government.</p> + +<p>But if we admit that this is the case, from the mote +that floats in the sunbeam to multiple stars revolving +round each other, are we willing to carry our principles to +their consequences, and recognise a like operation of law +among living as among lifeless things, in the organic as +well as the inorganic world? What testimony does +physiology offer on this point?</p> + +<div class="sidenote">And to the organic world.</div> + +<p>Physiology, in its progress, has passed through the same +phases as physics. Living beings have been considered +as beyond the power of external influences, and, conspicuously +among them, Man has been affirmed +to be independent of the forces that rule the +world in which he lives. Besides that immaterial principle, +the soul, which distinguishes him from all his +animated companions, and makes him a moral and responsible +being, he has been feigned, like them, to possess +another immaterial principle, the vital agent, which, in a +way of its own, carries forward all the various operations +in his economy.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Especially to man.</div> + +<p>But when it was discovered that the heart of man is +constructed upon the recognised rules of hydraulics, and +with its great tubes is furnished with common mechanical +contrivances, valves; when it was discovered +that the eye has been arranged on the most refined +principles of optics, its cornea, and humours, and +lens properly converging the rays to form an image—its +iris, like the diaphragm of a telescope or microscope, shutting +out stray light, and also regulating the quantity +admitted; when it was discovered that the ear is furnished +with the means of dealing with the three characteristics +of sound—its tympanum for intensity, its cochlea for +pitch, its semicircular canals for quality; when it was +seen that the air brought into the great air-passages by +the descent of the diaphragm, calling into play atmospheric +pressure, is conveyed upon physical principles into +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +the ultimate cells of the lungs, and thence into the blood, +producing chemical changes throughout the system, disengaging +heat, and permitting all the functions of organic +life to go on; when these facts and very many others of +a like kind were brought into prominence by modern +physiology, it obviously became necessary to admit that +animated beings do not constitute the exception once +supposed, and that organic operations are the result of +physical agencies.</p> + +<p>If thus, in the recesses of the individual economy, these +natural agents bear sway, must they not operate in the +social economy too?</p> + +<div class="sidenote">In social as well as individual life.</div> + +<p>Has the great shadeless desert nothing to do with the +habits of the nomade tribes who pitch their tents +upon it—the fertile plain no connection with +flocks and pastoral life—the mountain fastnesses +with the courage that has so often defended them—the sea +with habits of adventure? Indeed, do not all our expectations +of the stability of social institutions rest upon our +belief in the stability of surrounding physical conditions? +From the time of Bodin, who nearly three hundred years +ago published his work 'De Republica,' these principles +have been well recognized: that the laws of Nature cannot +be subordinated to the will of Man, and that government +must be adapted to climate. It was these things which +led him to the conclusion that force is best resorted to for +northern nations, reason for the middle, and superstition +for the southern.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Effects of the seasons on animals and plants.</div> + +<p>In the month of March the sun crosses the equator, +dispensing his rays more abundantly over our northern +hemisphere. Following in his train, a wave of verdure +expands towards the pole. The luxuriance is in +proportion to the local brilliancy. The animal +world is also affected. Pressed forward, or +solicited onward by the warmth, the birds of +passage commence their annual migration, keeping pace +with the developing vegetation beneath. As summer +declines, this orderly advance of light and life is followed +by an orderly retreat, and in its turn the southern hemisphere +presents the same glorious phenomenon. Once +every year the life of the earth pulsates; now there is an +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> +abounding vitality, now a desolation. But what is the +cause of all this? It is only mechanical. The earth's +axis of rotation is inclined to the plane of her orbit of +revolution round the sun.</p> + +<p>Let that wonderful phenomenon and its explanation be +a lesson to us; let it profoundly impress us with the +importance of physical agents and physical laws. They +intervene in the life and death of man personally and +socially. External events become interwoven in our +constitution; their periodicities create periodicities in us. +Day and night are incorporated in our waking and +sleeping; summer and winter compel us to exhibit cycles +in our life.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Individual existence depends on physical conditions.</div> + +<p>They who have paid attention to the subject have long +ago ascertained that the possibility of human +existence on the earth depends on conditions +altogether of a material kind. Since it is only +within a narrow range of temperature that life +can be maintained, it is needful that our planet should be +at a definite mean distance from the source of light and +heat, the sun; and that the form of her orbit should be +so little eccentric as to approach closely to a circle. If +her mass were larger or less than it is, the weight of all +living and lifeless things on her surface would no longer +be the same; but absolute weight is one of the primary +elements of organic construction. A change in the time +of her diurnal rotation, as affecting the length of the day +and night, must at once be followed by a corresponding +modification of the periodicities of the nervous system of +animals; a change in her orbitual translation round the +sun, as determining the duration of the year, would, in like +manner, give rise to a marked effect. If the year were +shorter, we should live faster and die sooner.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Animal and vegetable life interbalanced by material +conditions.</div> + +<p>In the present economy of our globe, natural agents are +relied upon as the means of regulation and of +government. Through heat, the distribution +and arrangement of the vegetable tribes are +accomplished; through their mutual relations +with the atmospheric air, plants and animals are interbalanced, +and neither permitted to obtain a superiority. +Considering the magnitude of this condition, and its +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +necessity to general life, it might seem worthy of incessant +Divine intervention, yet it is in fact accomplished +automatically.</p> + +<p>Of past organic history the same remark may be made. +The condensation of carbon from the air, and its inclusion +in the strata, constitute the chief epoch in the organic +<span class="sidenote">And also appearances and extinctions determined.</span> +life of the earth, giving a possibility for the +appearance of the hot-blooded and more intellectual +animal tribes. That great event was +occasioned by the influence of the rays of the +sun. And as such influences have thus been connected +with the appearance of organisms, so likewise have they +been concerned in the removal. Of the myriads of species +which have become extinct, doubtless every one has passed +away through the advent of material conditions incompatible +with its continuance. Even now, a fall of half-a-dozen +degrees in the mean temperature of any latitude +would occasion the vanishing of the forms of warmer +climates, and the advent of those of the colder. An +obscuration of the rays of the sun for a few years would +compel a redistribution of plants and animals all over the +earth; many would totally disappear, and everywhere +new comers would be seen.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Permanence +of organisms +due to immobility +of external +conditions.</div> + +<p>The permanence of organic forms is altogether dependent +on the invariability of the material conditions +under which they live. Any variation therein, +no matter how insignificant it might be, would +be forthwith followed by a corresponding variation +in the form. The present invariability +of the world of organization is the direct consequence of +the physical equilibrium, and so it will continue as long +as the mean temperature, the annual supply of light, the +composition of the air, the distribution of water, oceanic +and atmospheric currents, and other such agencies remain +unaltered; but if any one of these, or of a hundred other +incidents that might be mentioned, should suffer modification, +in an instant the fanciful doctrine of the immutability +of species would be brought to its true value. +The organic world appears to be in repose, because natural +influences have reached an equilibrium. A marble may +remain for ever motionless upon a level table; but let the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +surface be a little inclined, and the marble will quickly +run off. What should we say of him, who, contemplating +it in its state of rest, asserted that it was impossible for it +ever to move?</p> + +<p>They who can see no difference between the race-horse +and the Shetland pony, the bantam and the Shanghai fowl, +the greyhound and the poodle dog, who altogether deny +that impressions can be made on species, and see in the long +succession of extinct forms, the ancient existence of which +they must acknowledge, the evidences of a continuous and +<span class="sidenote">Orderly sequence of conditions is followed +by orderly organic changes.</span> +creative intervention, forget that mundane effects +observe definite sequences, event following event +in the necessity of the case, and thus constituting +a chain, each link of which hangs on a preceding, +and holds a succeeding one. Physical +influences thus following one another, and bearing to each +other the inter-relation of cause and effect, stand in their +totality to the whole organic world as causes, it representing +the effect, and the order of succession existing +among them is perpetuated or embodied in it. Thus, in +those ancient times to which we have referred, the sunlight +acting on the leaves of plants disturbed the chemical +constitution of the atmosphere, gave rise to the accumulation +of a more energetic element therein, diminished the +mechanical pressure, and changed the rate of evaporation +from the sea, a series of events following one another so +necessarily that we foresee their order, and, in their turn, +making an impression on the vegetable and animal +economy. The natural influences, thus varying in an +orderly way, controlled botanical events, and made them +change correspondingly. The orderly procedure of the +one must be imitated in the orderly procedure of the other. +And the same holds good in the animal kingdom; the +recognized variation in the material conditions is copied in +the organic effects, in vigour of motion, energy of life, +intellectual power.</p> + +<p>When, therefore, we notice such orderly successions, we +must not at once assign them to a direct intervention, the +issue of wise predeterminations of a voluntary agent; we +must first satisfy ourselves how far they are dependent on +mundane or material conditions, occurring in a definite +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> +and necessary series, ever bearing in mind the important +principle that an orderly sequence of inorganic events necessarily +involves an orderly and corresponding progression +of organic life.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Universal +control of +physical +agents over +organisms.</div> + +<p>To this doctrine of the control of physical agencies over +organic forms I acknowledge no exception, not +even in the case of man. The varied aspects he +presents in different countries are the necessary +consequences of those influences.</p> + +<p>He who advocates the doctrine of the unity of the +human race is plainly forced to the admission of the +absolute control of such agents over the organization of +man, since the originally-created type has been brought to +exhibit very different aspects in different parts of the +world, apparently in accordance with the climate and other +purely material circumstances. To those circumstances it +is scarcely necessary to add manner of life, for that itself +<span class="sidenote">The case of man.</span> +arises from them. The doctrine of unity demands +as its essential postulate an admission of +the paramount control of physical agents over the human +aspect and organization, else how could it be that, proceeding +from the same stock, all shades of complexion in +the skin, and variety in the form of the skull, should have +arisen? Experience assures us that these are changes +assumed only by slow degrees, and not with abruptness; +they come as a cumulative effect. They plainly enforce +the doctrine that national type is not to be regarded as a +definite or final thing, a seeming immobility in this +particular being due to the attainment of a correspondence +with the conditions to which the type is exposed. Let +those conditions be changed, and it begins forthwith to +change too. I repeat it, therefore, that he who receives +the doctrine of the unity of the human race, must also +accept, in view of the present state of humanity on various +parts of the surface of our planet, its necessary postulate, +the complete control of physical agents, whether natural, +or arising artificially from the arts of civilization and the +secular progress of nations toward a correspondence with +the conditions to which they are exposed.</p> + +<p>To the same conclusion also must he be brought who +advocates the origin of different races from different +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +centres. It comes to the same thing, whichever of those +doctrines we adopt. Each brings us to the admission of +the transitory nature of typical forms, to their transmutations +and extinctions.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Human variations.</div> + +<p>Variations in the aspect of men are best seen when an +examination is made of nations arranged in a northerly +and southerly direction; the result is such as +would ensue to an emigrant passing slowly along +a meridional track; but the case would be quite different +if the movement were along a parallel of latitude. In +this latter direction the variations of climate are far less +marked, and depend much more on geographical than on +astronomical causes. In emigrations of this kind there is +never that rapid change of aspect, complexion, and intellectual +power which must occur in the other. Thus, +though the mean temperature of Europe increases from +Poland to France, chiefly through the influence of the +great Atlantic current transferring heat from the Gulf of +Mexico and tropical ocean, that rise is far less than would +be encountered on passing through the same distance to +the south. By the arts of civilization man can much more +easily avoid the difficulties arising from variations along a +parallel of latitude than those upon a meridian, for the +simple reason that in that case those variations are less.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Their political +result.</div> + +<p>But it is not only complexion, development of the brain, +and, therefore, intellectual power, which are thus affected. +With difference of climate there must be differences of +manners and customs, that is, differences in the modes of +civilization. These are facts which deserve our +most serious attention, since such differences are +inevitably connected with political results. If homogeneousness +be an element of strength, an empire that lies +east and west must be more powerful than one that lies +north and south. I cannot but think that this was no +inconsiderable cause of the greatness and permanence of +Rome and that it lightened the task of the emperors, often +hard enough, in government. There is a natural tendency to +homogeneousness in the east and west direction, a tendency +to diversity and antagonism in the north and south, and +hence it is that government under the latter circumstances +will always demand the highest grade of statesmanship.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Nature of +transitional +forms.</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +The transitional forms which an animal type is capable +of producing on a passage north and south are much more +numerous than those it can produce on a passage east and +west. These, though they are truly transitional as +respects the type from which they have proceeded, +are permanent as regards the locality in +which they occur, being, in fact, the incarnation +of its physical influences. As long, therefore, as those influences +remain without change the form that has been +produced will last without any alteration. For such a +permanent form in the case of man we may adopt the +designation of an ethnical element.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Conditions of +change in an +ethnical element.</div> + +<p>An ethnical element is therefore necessarily of a dependent +nature; its durability arises from its +perfect correspondence with its environment. +Whatever can affect that correspondence will +touch its life.</p> + +<p>Such considerations carry us from individual man to +groups of men or nations. There is a progress for races of +men as well marked as the progress of one man. There +<span class="sidenote">Progress of nations like +that of individuals.</span> +are thoughts and actions appertaining to specific +periods in the one case as in the other. Without +difficulty we affirm of a given act that it +appertains to a given period. We recognize the +noisy sports of boyhood, the business application of maturity, +the feeble garrulity of old age. We express our +surprise when we witness actions unsuitable to the epoch +of life. As it is in this respect in the individual, so it is +in the nation. The march of individual existence shadows +forth the march of race-existence, being, indeed, its +representative on a little scale.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Communities, +like families, +exhibit members +in different +stages of +advance.</div> + +<p>Groups of men, or nations, are disturbed by the same +accidents, or complete the same cycle as the individual. +Some scarcely pass beyond infancy, some are +destroyed on a sudden, some die of mere old +age. In this confusion of events, it might seem +altogether hopeless to disentangle the law which +is guiding them all, and demonstrate it clearly. +Of such groups, each may exhibit, at the same moment, +an advance to a different stage, just as we see in the same +family the young, the middle-aged, the old. It is thus +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +that Europe shows in its different parts societies in very +different states—here the restless civilization of France +and England, there the contentment and inferiority of +Lapland. This commingling might seem to render it +difficult to ascertain the true movement of the whole +continent, and still more so for distant and successive +periods of time. In each nation, moreover, the contemporaneously +different classes, the educated and illiterate, +the idle and industrious, the rich and poor, the +intelligent and superstitious, represent different contemporaneous +stages of advancement. One may have +made a great progress, another scarcely have advanced at +all. How shall we ascertain the real state of the case? +Which of these classes shall we regard as the truest and +most perfect type?</p> + +<p>Though difficult, this ascertainment is not impossible. +The problem is to be dealt with in the same manner that +we should estimate a family in which there are persons of +every condition from infancy to old age. Each member +of it tends to pursue a definite course, though some, cut off +in an untimely manner, may not complete it. One may be +enfeebled by accident, another by disease; but each, if +his past and present circumstances be fully considered, +will illustrate the nature of the general movement that +all are making. To demonstrate that movement most satisfactorily, +certain members of such a family suit our purpose +better than others, because they more closely represent +its type, or have advanced farthest in their career.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The intellectual +class the +true representative +of a +community.</div> + +<p>So in a family of many nations, some are more mature, +some less advanced, some die in early life, some are worn +out by extreme old age; all show special peculiarities. +There are distinctions among kinsmen, whether +we consider them intellectually or corporeally. +Every one, nevertheless, illustrates in his own +degree the march that all are making, but some +do it more, some less completely. The leading, the intellectual +class, is hence always the true representative of +a state. It has passed step by step through the lower +stages, and has made the greatest advance.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Interstitial +change and +death the condition +of individual +life.</div> + +<p>In an individual, life is maintained only by the production +and destruction of organic particles, no portion of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +the system being in a state of immobility, but each +displaying incessant change. Death is, therefore, +necessarily the condition of life, and the +more energetic the function of a part—or, if we +compare different animals with one another—the +more active the mode of existence, correspondingly, +the greater the waste and the more numerous the deaths +of the interstitial constituents.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Particles in +the individual +answer to +persons in the +state.</div> + +<p>To the death of particles in the individual answers the +death of persons in the nation, of which they +are the integral constituents. In both cases, in +a period of time quite inconsiderable, a total +change is accomplished without the entire system, +which is the sum of these separate parts, losing its identity. +Each particle or each person comes into existence, +discharges an appropriate duty, and then passes away, +perhaps unnoticed. The production, continuance, and +death of an organic molecule in the person answers to the +production, continuance, and death of a person in the +nation. Nutrition and decay in one case are equivalent to +well-being and transformation in the other.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Epochs in +national the +same as in individual +life.</div> + +<p>In the same manner that the individual is liable to +changes through the action of external agencies, +and offers no resistance thereto, nor any indication +of the possession of a physiological inertia, +but submits at once to any impression, so likewise +it is with aggregates of men constituting nations. +A national type pursues its way physically and intellectually +through changes and developments answering +to those of the individual, and being represented by +Infancy, Childhood, Youth, Manhood, Old Age, and Death +respectively.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Disturbance +through emigration.</div> + +<p>But this orderly process may be disturbed exteriorly or +interiorly. If from its original seats a whole +nation were transposed to some new abode, in +which the climate, the seasons, the aspect of +nature were altogether different, it would appear spontaneously +in all its parts to commence a movement to +come into harmony with the new conditions—a movement +of a secular nature, and implying the consumption of many +generations for its accomplishment. During such a period +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +of transmutation there would, of course, be an increased +waste of life, a risk, indeed, of total disappearance or +national death; but the change once completed, the +requisite correspondence once attained, things would go +forward again in an orderly manner on the basis of the +new modification that had been assumed. When the +change to be accomplished is very profound, involving +extensive anatomical alterations not merely in the appearance +of the skin, but even in the structure of the skull, +long periods of time are undoubtedly required, and many +generations of individuals are consumed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">And through +blood admixture.</div> + +<p>Or, by interior disturbance, particularly by blood admixture, +with more rapidity may a national +type be affected, the result plainly depending +on the extent to which admixture has taken +place. This is a disturbance capable of mathematical +computation. If the blood admixture be only of limited +amount, and transient in its application, its effect will +sensibly disappear in no very great period of time, though +never, perhaps, in absolute reality. This accords with +the observation of philosophical historians, who agree in +the conclusion that a small tribe intermingling with a +larger one will only disturb it in a temporary manner, +and, after the course of a few years, the effect will cease to +be perceptible. Nevertheless, the influence must really +continue much longer than is outwardly apparent; and +the result is the same as when, in a liquid, a drop of some +other kind is placed, and additional quantities of the first +liquid then successively added. Though it might have +been possible at first to detect the adulteration without +trouble, it becomes every moment less and less possible to +do so, and before long it cannot be done at all. But the +drop is as much present at last as it was at first: it is +merely masked; its properties overpowered.</p> + +<p>Considering in this manner the contamination of a +numerous nation, a trifling amount of foreign blood admixture +would appear to be indelible, and the disturbance, +at any moment, capable of computation by the ascertained +degree of dilution that has taken place. But it must not +be forgotten that there is another agency at work, +energetically tending to bring about homogeneity: it +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +is the influence of external physical conditions. The +intrusive adulterating element possesses in itself no +physiological inertia, but as quickly as may be is brought +into correspondence with the new circumstances to which +it is exposed, herein running in the same course as the +element with which it had mingled had itself antecedently +gone over.</p> + +<p>National homogeneity is thus obviously secured by +the operation of two distinct agencies: the first, gradual +but inevitable dilution; the second, motion to come into +harmony with the external natural state. The two +conspire in their effects.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Secular variations +of +nations.</div> + +<p>We must therefore no longer regard nations or groups +of men as offering a permanent picture. Human affairs +must be looked upon as in continuous movement, +not wandering in an arbitrary manner +here and there, but proceeding in a perfectly +definite course. Whatever may be the present state, it is +altogether transient. All systems of civil life are therefore +necessarily ephemeral. Time brings new external +conditions; the manner of thought is modified; with +thought, action. Institutions of all kinds must hence +<span class="sidenote">Their institutions must +correspondingly change.</span> +participate in this fleeting nature, and, though they may +have allied themselves to political power, and gathered +therefrom the means of coercion, their permanency is but +little improved thereby; for, sooner or later, the population +on whom they have been imposed, following +the external variations, spontaneously outgrows +them, and their ruin, though it may have been +delayed, is none the less certain. For the +permanency of any such system it is essentially +necessary that it should include within its own organization +a law of change, and not of change only, but change +in the right direction—the direction in which the society +interested is about to pass. It is in an oversight of this last +essential condition that we find an explanation of the +failure of so many such institutions. Too commonly do +we believe that the affairs of men are determined by a +spontaneous action or free will; we keep that overpowering +influence which really controls them in the background. +In individual life we also accept a like deception, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +living in the belief that every thing we do is determined +by the volition of ourselves or of those around us; nor is +it until the close of our days that we discern how great is +the illusion, and that we have been swimming—playing +and struggling—in a stream which, in spite of all our +voluntary motions, has silently and resistlessly borne us to +a predetermined shore.</p> + +<p>In the foregoing pages I have been tracing analogies +between the life of individuals and that of nations. There +is yet one point more.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The death of +nations.</div> + +<p>Nations, like individuals, die. Their birth presents an +ethnical element; their death, which is the most +solemn event that we can contemplate, may +arise from interior or from external causes. Empires are +only sand-hills in the hour-glass of Time; they crumble +spontaneously away by the process of their own growth.</p> + +<p>A nation, like a man, hides from itself the contemplation +of its final day. It occupies itself with expedients +for prolonging its present state. It frames laws and +constitutions under the delusion that they will last, forgetting +that the condition of life is change. Very able +modern statesmen consider it to be the grand object of +their art to keep things as they are, or rather as they +were. But the human race is not at rest; and bands with +which, for a moment, it may be restrained, break all the +more violently the longer they hold. No man can stop +the march of destiny.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">There is nothing +absolute +in time.</div> + +<p>Time, to the nation as to the individual, is nothing +absolute; its duration depends on the rate of +thought and feeling. For the same reason that +to the child the year is actually longer than to +the adult, the life of a nation may be said to be no longer +than the life of a person, considering the manner in which +its affairs are moving. There is a variable velocity of +existence, though the lapses of time may be equable.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Nations are +only transitional +forms.</div> + +<p>The origin, existence, and death of nations depend thus +on physical influences, which are themselves the +result of immutable laws. Nations are only +transitional forms of humanity. They must +undergo obliteration as do the transitional forms offered +by the animal series. There is no more an immortality +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> +for them than there is an immobility for an embryo in +any one of the manifold forms passed through in its +progress of development.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Their course +is ever advancing, +never retrograde.</div> + +<p>The life of a nation thus flows in a regular sequence, +determined by invariable law, and hence, in estimating +different nations, we must not be deceived by the casual +aspect they present. The philosophical comparison +is made by considering their entire +manner of career or cycle of progress, and not +their momentary or transitory state. Though +they may encounter disaster, their absolute course can +never be retrograde; it is always onward, even if tending +to dissolution. It is as with the individual, who is +equally advancing in infancy, in maturity, in old age. +Pascal was more than justified in his assertion that "the +entire succession of men, through the whole course of ages, +must be regarded as one man, always living and incessantly +learning." In both cases, the manner of advance, +though it may sometimes be unexpected, can never be +abrupt. At each stage events and ideas emerge which +not only necessarily owe their origin to preceding events +<span class="sidenote">Variable rapidity +of national life.</span> +and ideas, but extend far into the future and influence it. +As these are crowded together, or occur more widely +apart, national life, like individual, shows a +variable rapidity, depending upon the intensity +of thought and action. But, no matter how +great that energy may be, or with what rapidity modifications +may take place—since events are emerging as +consequences of preceding events, and ideas from preceding +ideas—in the midst of the most violent intellectual +oscillations, a discerning observer will never fail to detect +that there exists a law of continuous variation of human +opinions.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Plan of this +work.</div> + +<p>In the examination of the progress of Europe on which +we now enter, it is, of course, to intellectual +phenomena that we must, for the most part, +refer; material aggrandisement and political power offering +us less important though still valuable indications, and +serving our purpose rather in a corroborative way. There +are five intellectual manifestations to which we may +resort—philosophy, science, literature, religion, government. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Selection among European +communities.</span> +Our obvious course is, first, to study the progress +of that member of the European family, the +eldest in point of advancement, and to endeavour +to ascertain the characteristics of its mental +unfolding. We may reasonably expect that the +younger members of the family, more or less distinctly, +will offer us illustrations of the same mode of advancement +that we shall thus find for Greece; and that the +whole continent, which is the sum of these different +parts, will, in its secular progress, comport itself in like +manner.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Our investigation limited +to the intellectual, and commencing with Greece.<br /> +From thence we pass to the +examination of all Europe.</div> + +<p>Of the early condition of Europe, since we have to +consider it in its prehistoric times, our information must +necessarily be imperfect. Perhaps, however, we may be +disposed to accept that imperfection as a sufficient token +of its true nature. Since history can offer us no aid, our +guiding lights must be comparative theology and comparative +philology. Proceeding from those times, +we shall, in detail, examine the intellectual or +philosophical movement first exhibited in Greece, +endeavouring to ascertain its character at successive +epochs, and thereby to judge of its +complete nature. Fortunately for our purpose, +the information is here sufficient, both in amount and +distinctness. It then remains to show that the mental +movement of the whole continent is essentially +of the same kind, though, as must necessarily be +the case, it is spread over far longer periods of +time. Our conclusions will constantly be found +to gather incidental support and distinctness from illustrations +presented by the aged populations of Asia, and the +aborigines of Africa and America.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The five ages +of European +life.</div> + +<p>The intellectual progress of Europe being of a nature +answering to that observed in the case of Greece, +and this, in its turn, being like that of an individual, +we may conveniently separate it into +arbitrary periods, sufficiently distinct from one another, +though imperceptibly merging into each other. To these +successive periods I shall give the titles of—1, the Age of +Credulity; 2, the Age of Inquiry; 3, the Age of Faith; +4, the Age of Reason; 5, the Age of Decrepitude; and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +shall use these designations in the division of my subject +in its several chapters.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><span class="sidenote">The world is ruled by law.</span> +From the possibility of thus regarding the progress of +a continent in definite and successive stages, answering +respectively to the periods of individual life—infancy, +childhood, youth, maturity, old age—we may gather an +instructive lesson. It is the same that we have learned +from inquiries respecting the origin, maintenance, distribution, +and extinction of animals and plants, their balancing +against each other; from the variations of aspect and form +of an individual man as determined by climate; from his +social state, whether in repose or motion; from the secular +variations of his opinions, and the gradual +dominion of reason over society: this lesson is, +that the government of the world is accomplished by +immutable law.</p> + +<p>Such a conception commends itself to the intellect of +man by its majestic grandeur. It makes him discern the +eternal in the vanishing of present events and through +the shadows of time. From the life, the pleasures, the +sufferings of humanity, it points to the impassive; from +our wishes, wants, and woes, to the inexorable. Leaving +the individual beneath the eye of Providence, it shows +society under the finger of law. And the laws of Nature +never vary; in their application they never hesitate nor +are wanting.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">And yet there +is free-will for +man.</div> + +<p>But in thus ascending to primordial laws, and asserting +their immutability, universality, and paramount control in +the government of this world, there is nothing inconsistent +with the free action of man. The appearance +of things depends altogether on the point of +view we occupy. He who is immersed in the +turmoil of a crowded city sees nothing but the acts of +men, and, if he formed his opinion from his experience +alone, must conclude that the course of events altogether +depends on the uncertainties of human volition. But he +who ascends to a sufficient elevation loses sight of the +passing conflicts, and no longer hears the contentions. +He discovers that the importance of individual action is +diminishing, as the panorama beneath him is extending. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +And if he could attain to the truly philosophical, the +general point of view, disengaging himself front all terrestrial +influences and entanglements, rising high enough +to see the whole globe at a glance, his acutest vision would +fail to discover the slightest indication of man, his free-will, +or his works. In her resistless, onward sweep, in the +clock-like precision of her daily and nightly revolution, in +the well-known pictured forms of her continents and seas, +now no longer dark and doubtful, but shedding forth +a planetary light, well might he ask what had become of +all the aspirations and anxieties, the pleasures and agony +of life. As the voluntary vanished from his sight, and +the irresistible remained, and each moment became more +and more distinct, well might he incline to disbelieve his +own experience, and to question whether the seat of so +much undying glory could be the place of so much human +uncertainty, whether beneath the vastness, energy, and +immutable course of a moving world, there lay concealed +the feebleness and imbecility of man. Yet it is none the less +true that these contradictory conditions co-exist—Free-will +and Fate, Uncertainty and Destiny, It is only the point +of view that has changed, but on that how much has +depended! A little nearer we gather the successive ascertainments +of human inquiry, a little further off we realize +the panoramic vision of the Deity. A Hindu philosopher +has truly remarked, that he who stands by the banks of +a flowing stream sees, in their order, the various parts as +they successively glide by, but he who is placed on an +exalted station views, at a glance, the whole as a +motionless silvery thread among the fields. To the one +there is the accumulating experience and knowledge of +man in time, to the other there is the instantaneous the +unsuccessive knowledge of God.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Changeability +of forms and +unchangeability +of law.</div> + +<p>Is there an object presented to us which does not +bear the mark of ephemeral duration? As +respects the tribes of life, they are scarcely +worth a moment's thought, for the term of the +great majority of them is so brief that we +may say they are born and die before our eyes. If we +examine them, not as individuals, but as races, the same +conclusion holds good, only the scale is enlarged from a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +few days to a few centuries. If from living we turn to +lifeless nature, we encounter again the evidence of brief +continuance. The sea is unceasingly remoulding its +shores; hard as they are, the mountains are constantly +yielding to frost and to rain; here an extensive tract of +country is elevated, there depressed. We fail to find any +thing that is not undergoing change.</p> + +<p>Then forms are in their nature transitory, law is everlasting. +If from visible forms we turn to directing law +how vast is the difference. We pass from the finite, +the momentary, the incidental, the conditioned—to the +illimitable, the eternal, the necessary, the unshackled.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The object of +this book is to +assert the control +of law in +human affairs.</div> + +<p>It is of law that I am to speak in this book. In a +world composed of vanishing forms I am to +vindicate the imperishability, the majesty of +law, and to show how man proceeds, in his +social march, in obedience to it. I am to lead +my reader, perhaps in a reluctant path, from the outward +phantasmagorial illusions which surround us, and so +ostentatiously obtrude themselves on our attention, to +something that lies in silence and strength behind. I am to +draw his thoughts from the tangible to the invisible, from +the limited to the universal, from the changeable to the +invariable, from the transitory to the eternal; from the +expedients and volitions so largely amusing the life of +man, to the predestined and resistless issuing from the +fiat of God. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="Chapter_II" id="Chapter_II"></a>Chapter II.</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> +OF EUROPE: ITS TOPOGRAPHY AND ETHNOLOGY.</p> + +<p class='center'><small>ITS PRIMITIVE MODES OF THOUGHT, AND THEIR PROGRESSIVE VARIATIONS, +MANIFESTED IN THE GREEK AGE OF CREDULITY.</small></p> + +<div class='blockquot'><p class='ind'><i>Description of Europe: its Topography, Meteorology, and secular +Geological Movements.—Their Effect on its Inhabitants.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Its Ethnology determined through its Vocabularies.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Comparative Theology of Greece; the Stage of Sorcery, the Anthropocentric +Stage.—Becomes connected with false Geography and +Astronomy.—Heaven, the Earth, the Under World.—Origin, continuous +Variation and Progress of Greek Theology.—It introduces Ionic +Philosophy.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Decline of Greek Theology, occasioned by the Advance of Geography and +Philosophical Criticism.—Secession of Poets, Philosophers, Historians.—Abortive +public Attempts to sustain it.—Duration of its Decline.—Its +Fall.</i></p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">Europe</span> is geographically a peninsula, and historically a +dependency of Asia.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Description of +Europe.</div> + +<p>It is constructed on the western third of a vast +mountain axis, which reaches in a broken and +irregular course from the Sea of Japan to the +Bay of Biscay. On the flanks of this range, peninsular +slopes are directed toward the south, and extensive +plateaus to the north. The culminating point in Europe +is Mont Blanc, 16,000 feet above the level of the sea. +The axis of elevation is not the axis of figure; the incline +to the south is much shorter and steeper than that to the +north. The boundless plains of Asia are prolonged +through Germany and Holland. An army may pass from +the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean, a distance of more than +six thousand miles, without encountering any elevation of +more than a few hundred feet. The descent from Asia +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +into Europe is indicated in a general manner by the mean +<span class="sidenote">The great path-zone.</span> +elevation of the two continents above the level of the sea; +that for Asia being 1132 feet, that for Europe 671. +Through the avenue thus open to them, the Oriental +hordes have again and again precipitated themselves +on the West. With an abundance of +springs and head-waters, but without any stream capable +of offering a serious obstacle, this tract has a temperature +well suited to military movements. It coincides generally +with the annual isothermal line of 50°, skirting the +northern boundary beyond which the vine ceases to grow, +and the limiting region beyond which the wild boar does +not pass.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Exterior and +interior accessibility.</div> + +<p>Constructed thus, Europe is not only easily accessible +from Asia, a fact of no little moment in its +ancient history, but it is also singularly accessible +interiorly, or from one of its parts to +another. Still more, its sea-line is so broken, it has so +many intrusive gulfs and bays, that, its surface considered, +its maritime coast is greater than that of any other continent. +In this respect it contrasts strikingly with +Africa. Europe has one mile of coast-line for every 156 +square miles of surface, Africa has only one for every 623. +This extensive maritime contact adds, of course, greatly +to its interior as well as exterior accessibility.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Distribution +of heat in +Europe.</div> + +<p>The mean annual temperature of the European countries +on the southern slope of the mountain axis is from 60° to +70° F., but of those to the north the heat gradually +declines, until, at the extreme limit on the shores of +Zembla, the ground is perpetually frozen. As on other +parts of the globe, the climate does not correspond +to the latitude, but is disturbed by several +causes, among which may be distinguished the +great Atlantic current—the Gulf Stream coming +from America—and the Sahara Desert. The latter gives +to the south of Europe an unduly high heat, and the +former to Ireland, England, and the entire west a genial +temperature. Together they press into higher latitudes +the annual isothermal lines. If in Europe there are no +deserts, there are none of those impenetrable forests seen +in tropical countries. From the westerly shores of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> +Portugal, France, and Ireland, the humidity diminishes as +we pass to the east, and, indeed, if we advance into Asia, +it disappears in the desert of Gobi. There are no vast +homogeneous areas as in Asia, and therefore there is no +widespread uniformity in the races of men.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">And the quantity +of rain.</div> + +<p>But not only is the temperature of the European continent +elevated by the Gulf Stream and the south-west +wind, its luxuriance of vegetation depends on them; +for luxuriance of vegetation is determined, among other +things, by the supply of rain. A profusion of +water gives to South America its amazing forests; +a want inflicts on Australia its shadeless trees, with their +shrunken and pointed leaves. With the diminished +moisture the green gardens of France are replaced in Gobi +by ligneous plants covered with a gray down. Physical +circumstances control the vegetable as well as the animal +world.</p> + +<p>The westerly regions of Europe, through the influence of +the south-west wind, the Gulf Stream, and their mountain +ranges, are supplied with abundant rains, and have a +favourable mean annual temperature; but as we pass to +the eastern confines the number of rainy days diminishes, +the absolute annual quantity of rain and snow is less, and +the mean annual temperature is lower. On the Atlantic +face of the mountains of Norway it is perpetually raining: +the annual depth of water is there 82 inches; but on the +opposite side of those mountains is only 21 inches. +For similar reasons, Ireland is moist and green, and in +Cornwall the laurel and camellia will bear a winter +exposure.</p> + +<p>There are six maximum points of rain—Norway, Scotland, +South-western Ireland and England, Portugal, +North-eastern Spain, Lombardy. They respectively correspond +to mountains. In general, the amount of rain +diminishes from the equator toward the poles; but it is +greatly controlled by the disturbing influence of elevated +ridges, which in many instances far more than compensate +for the effects of latitude. The Alps exercise an influence +over the meteorology of all Europe.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The number +of rainy days;</div> + +<p>Not only do mountains thus determine the absolute +quantity of rain, they also affect the number of rainy days +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +in a year. The occurrence of a rainy season depends on +the amount of moisture existing in the air; and hence its +frequency is greater at the Atlantic sea-board than in the +interior, where the wind arrives in a drier state, much of +its moisture having been precipitated by the mountains +forcing it to a great elevation. Thus, on the +eastern coast of Ireland it rains 208 days in a +year; in England, about 150; at Kazan, 90; and in +Siberia only 60 days.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">and of snowy +days.</div> + +<p>When the atmospheric temperature is sufficiently low, +the condensed water descends under the form of snow. In +general, the annual depth of snow and the number of +snowy days increase toward the north. In Rome the +snowy days are 1½; in Venice, 5½; in Paris, 12; +in St. Petersburgh, 171. Whatever causes interfere +with the distribution of heat must influence the +precipitation of snow; among such are the Gulf Stream +and local altitude. Hence, on the coast of Portugal, snow +is of infrequent occurrence; in Lisbon it never snowed +from 1806 to 1811.</p> + +<p>Such facts teach us how many meteorological contrasts +Europe presents, how many climates it contains. Necessarily +it is full of modified men.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Vibrations of +the isothermal +lines.</div> + +<p>If we examine the maps of monthly isothermals, we +observe how strikingly those lines change, becoming +convex to the north as summer approaches, +and concave as winter. They by no means +observe a parallelism to the mean, but change their flexures, +assuming new sinuosities. In their absolute transfer +they move with a variable velocity, and through spaces +far from insignificant. The line of 50° F., which in +January passes through Lisbon and the south of the +Morea, in July has travelled to the north shore of Lapland, +and incloses the White Sea. As in some grand +musical instrument, the strings of which vibrate, the +isothermal lines of Europe and Asia beat to and fro, but it +takes a year for them to accomplish one pulsation.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Europe is full +of meteorological +contrasts, +and +therefore of +modified men.</div> + +<p>All over the world physical circumstances control the +human race. They make the Australian a savage; incapacitate +the negro, who can never invent an alphabet +or an arithmetic, and whose theology never passes beyond +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> +the stage of sorcery. They cause the Tartars to delight +in a diet of milk, and the American Indian to +abominate it. They make the dwarfish races of +Europe instinctive miners and metallurgists. An +artificial control over temperature by dwellings, +warm for the winter and cool for the summer; +variations of clothing to suit the season of the year, and +especially the management of fire, have enabled man to +maintain himself in all climates. The invention of artificial +light has extended the available term of his life; by +giving the night to his use, it has, by the social intercourse +it encourages, polished his manners and refined his tastes, +perhaps as much as any thing else has aided in his intellectual +progress. Indeed, these are among the primary +conditions that have occasioned his civilization. Variety +of natural conditions gives rise to different national types, +artificial inventions occasion renewed modifications. Where +there are many climates there will be many forms of men. +Herein, as we shall in due season discover, lies the explanation +of the energy of European life, and the development +of its civilization.</p> + +<p>Would any one deny the influence of rainy days on our +industrial habits and on our mental condition even in a +civilized state? With how much more force, then, must +such meteorological incidents have acted on the ill-protected, +ill-clad, and ill-housed barbarian! Would any one deny +the increasing difficulty with which life is maintained as +we pass from the southern peninsulas to the more rigorous +climates of the north? There is a relationship between +the mean annual heat of a locality and the instincts of its +inhabitants for food. The Sicilian is satisfied with a light +farinaceous repast and a few fruits; the Norwegian requires +a strong diet of flesh; to the Laplander it is none +the less acceptable if grease of the bear, or train oil, or the +blubber of whales be added. Meteorology to no little +extent influences the morals; the instinctive propensity +to drunkenness is a function of the latitude. Food, houses, +clothing, bear a certain relation to the isothermal lines.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">But, through +artificial inventions, +it +tends to homogeneousness +in modern +times.</div> + +<p>For similar reasons, the inhabitants of Europe each +year tend to more complete homogeneity. Climate and +meteorological differences are more and more perfectly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> +equalized by artificial inventions; nor is it alone a similarity +of habits, a similarity of physiological constitution +also ensues. The effect of such inventions +is to equalize the influences to which men are +exposed; they are brought more closely to the +mean typical standard, and—especially is it to be +remembered—with this closer approach to each other in +conformation, comes a closer approach in feelings and +habits, and even in the manner of thinking.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Mediterranean +peninsulas.</div> + +<p>On the southern slope of the mountain axis project the +historic peninsulas, Greece, Italy, Spain. To +the former we trace unmistakably the commencement +of European civilization. The first +Greeks patriotically affirmed that their own climate was +the best suited for man; beyond the mountains to the +north there reigned a Cimmerian darkness, an everlasting +winter. It was the realm of Boreas, the shivering tyrant. +In the early ages man recognized cold as his mortal enemy. +Physical inventions have enabled him to overcome it, and +now he maintains a more difficult and doubtful struggle +with heat.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Mediterranean +Sea.</div> + +<p>Beyond these peninsulas, and bounding the continent on +the south, is the Mediterranean, nearly two +thousand miles in length, isolating Europe from +Africa socially, but uniting them commercially. The +Black Sea and that of Azof are dependencies of it. It has, +conjointly with them, a shore-line of 13,000 miles, and +exposes a surface of nearly a million and a quarter of +square miles. It is subdivided into two basins, the eastern +and western, the former being of high interest historically, +since it is the scene of the dawn of European intelligence; +the western is bounded by the Italian peninsula, Sicily, +and the African promontory of Cape Bon on one side, and +at the other has as its portal the Straits of Gibraltar. +The temperature is ten or twelve degrees higher than the +Atlantic, and, since much of the water is removed by +evaporation, it is necessarily more saline than that ocean. +Its colour is green where shallow, blue where deep.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Secular geological +movement +of Europe +and Asia, +and its social +consequences.</div> + +<p>For countless centuries Asia has experienced a slow upward +movement, not only affecting her own topography, +but likewise that of her European dependency. There +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span> +was a time when the great sandy desert of Gobi was the +bed of a sea which communicated through the +Caspian with the Baltic, as may be proved not +only by existing geographical facts, but also +from geological considerations. It is only necessary, +for this purpose, to inspect the imperfect +maps that have been published of the Silurian and even +tertiary periods. The vertical displacement of Europe, +during and since the latter period, has indisputably been +more than 2000 feet in many places. The effects of such +movements on the flora and fauna of a region must, in the +course of time, be very important, for an elevation of 350 +feet is equal to one degree of cold in the mean annual temperature, +or to sixty miles on the surface northward. Nor has +this slow disturbance ended. Again and again, in historic +times, have its results operated fearfully on Europe, by +forcibly precipitating the Asiatic nomades along the great +path-zone; again and again, through such changes of level, +have they been rendered waterless, and thus driven into a +forced emigration. Some of their rivers, as the Oxus and +Jaxartes, have, within the records of history, been dry for +several years. To these topographical changes, rather +than to political influences, we must impute many of the +most celebrated tribal invasions. It has been the custom +to refer these events to an excessive overpopulation periodically +occurring in Central Asia, or to the ambition of +warlike chieftains. Doubtless those regions are well +adapted to human life, and hence liable to overpopulation, +considering the pursuits man there follows, and doubtless +there have been occasions on which those nations have +been put in motion by their princes; but the modern +historian cannot too carefully bear in mind the laws which +regulate the production of men, and also the body of +evidence which proves that the crust of the earth is not +motionless, but rising in one place and sinking in another. +The grand invasions of Europe by Asiatic hordes have +been much more violent and abrupt than would answer to +a steady pressure resulting from overpopulation, and too +extensive for mere warlike incitement; they answer more +completely to the experience of some irresistible necessity +arising from an insuperable physical cause, which could +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> +drive in hopeless despair from their homes the young and +the old, the vigorous and feeble, with their cattle, and +waggons, and flocks. Such a cause is the shifting of the +soil and disturbance of the courses of water. The tribes +compelled to migrate were forced along the path-zone, +their track being, therefore, on a parallel of latitude, and +not on a meridian; and hence, for the reasons set forth in +the preceding chapter, their movements and journey of +easier accomplishment.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Rate and extent +of these +movements.</div> + +<p>These geological changes then enter as an element in +human history, not only for Asia, of which the +great inland sea has dwindled away to the +Caspian, and lost its connection with the Baltic, +but for Europe also. The traditions of ancient deluges, +which are the primitive facts of Greek history, refer to +such movements, perhaps the opening of the Thracian +Bosphorus was one of them. In much later times we are +perpetually meeting with incidents depending on geological +disturbances; the caravan trade of Asia Minor was destroyed +by changes of level and the accumulation of sands +blown from the encroaching deserts; the Cimbri were +impelled into Italy by the invasion of the sea on their +possessions. There is not a shore in Europe which does +not give similar evidence; the mouths of the Rhine, as +they were in the Roman times, are obliterated; the +eastern coast of England has been cut away for miles. +In the Mediterranean the shore-line is altogether changed; +towns, once on the coast, are far away inland; others have +sunk beneath the sea. Islands, like Rhodes, have risen +from the bottom. The North Adriatic, once a deep gulf, +has now become shallow; there are leaning towers and +inclining temples that have sunk with the settling of the +earth. On the opposite extremity of Europe, the Scandinavian +peninsula furnishes an instance of slow secular +motion, the northern part rising gradually above the sea +at the rate of about four feet in a century. This elevation +is observed through a space of many hundred miles, increasing +toward the north. The southern extremity, on +the contrary, experiences a slow depression.</p> + +<p>These slow movements are nothing more than a continuation +of what has been going on for numberless ages. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +Since the tertiary period two-thirds of Europe have been +lifted above the sea. The Norway coast has been elevated +600 feet, the Alps have been upheaved 2000 or 3000, the +Apennines 1000 to 2000 feet. The country between Mont +Blanc and Vienna has been thus elevated since the adjacent +seas were peopled with existing animals. Since the +Neolithic age, the British Islands have undergone a great +change of level, and, indeed, have been separated from the +continent through the sinking of England and the rising +of Scotland.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Early inhabitants +of +Europe.</div> + +<p>At the earliest period Europe presents us with a double +population. An Indo-Germanic column had entered it +from the east, and had separated into two portions the +occupants it had encountered, driving one to the north, the +other to the south-west. These primitive tribes betray, +physiologically, a Mongolian origin; and there +are indications of considerable weight that they +themselves had been, in ancient times, intruders, +who, issuing from their seats in Asia, had invaded and +dislocated the proper autochthons of Europe. In the +Pleistocene age there existed in Central Europe a rude +race of hunters and fishers, closely allied to the Esquimaux. +Man was contemporary with the cave bear, the cave lion, +the amphibious hippopotamus, the mammoth. Caves that +have been examined in France or elsewhere have furnished +for the stone age, axes, knives, lance and arrow points, +scrapers, hammers. The change from what has been +termed the chipped, to the polished stone period, was very +gradual. It coincides with the domestication of the dog, +an epoch in hunting life. The appearance of arrow heads +indicates the invention of the bow, and the rise of man +from a defensive to an offensive mode of life. The introduction +of barbed arrows shows how inventive talent was +displaying itself; bone and horn tips, that the huntsman +was including smaller animals, and perhaps birds, in his +chase; bone whistles, his companionship with other huntsmen, +or with his dog. The scraping knives of flint, indicate +the use of skin for clothing, and rude bodkins and +needles, its manufacture. Shells perforated for bracelets +and necklaces, prove how soon a taste for personal adornment +was acquired, the implements necessary for the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +preparation of pigments suggest the painting of the body, +and perhaps, tattooing; and batons of rank bear witness to +the beginning of a social organization.</p> + +<p>We have thus as our starting-point a barbarian population, +believers in sorcery, and, in some places, undoubtedly +cannibals, maintaining, in the central and northern parts +of Europe, their existence with difficulty by reason of the +severity of the climate. In the southern, more congenial +conditions permitted a form of civilization to commence, +of which the rude Cyclopean structures here and there +met with, such as the ruins of Orchomenos, the lion gate +of Mycenæ, the tunnel of Lake Copais, are perhaps the +vestiges.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Their social +condition.</div> + +<p>At what period this intrusive Indo-Germanic column +made its attack cannot be ascertained. The national +vocabularies of Europe, to which we must resort for +evidence, might lead us to infer that the condition of civilization +of the conquering people was not very +advanced. They were acquainted with the use +of domestic animals, farming implements, carts, and +yokes; they were also possessed of boats, the rudder, oars, +but were unacquainted with the movement of vessels by +sails. These conclusions seem to be established by the +facts that words equivalent to boat, rudder, oar, are +common to the languages of the offshoots of the stock, +though located very widely asunder; but those for mast +and sails are of special invention, and differ in adjacent +nations.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Their civil +state deduced +from their vocabularies.</div> + +<p>In nearly all the Indo-Germanic tongues, the family +names, father, mother, brother, sister, daughter, are the +same respectively. A similar equivalence may +be observed in a great many familiar objects, +house, door, town, path. It has been remarked, +that while this holds good for terms of a peaceful +nature, many of those connected with warfare and +the chase are different in different languages. Such +facts appear to prove that the Asiatic invaders followed +a nomadic and pastoral life. Many of the terms +connected with such an avocation are widely diffused. +This is the case with ploughing, grinding, weaving, cooking, +baking, sewing, spinning; with such objects as corn, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +flesh, meat, vestment; with wild animals common to +Europe and Asia, as the bear and the wolf. So, too, of +words connected with social organization, despot, rex, +queen. The numerals from 1 to 100 coincide in Sanscrit, +Greek, Latin, Lithuanian, Gothic; but this is not the case +with 1000, a fact which has led comparative philologists +to the conclusion that, though at the time of the emigration +a sufficient intellectual advance had been made to +invent the decimal system, perhaps from counting upon +the fingers, yet that it was very far from perfection. To +the inhabitants of Central Asia the sea was altogether +unknown; hence the branches of the emigrating column, +as they diverged north and south, gave it different names. +But, though unacquainted with the sea, they were familiar +with salt, as is proved by the recurrence of its name. +Nor is it in the vocabularies alone that these resemblances +are remarked; the same is to be said of the grammar. +M. Max Müller shows that in Sanscrit, Zend, Lithuanian, +Doric, Slavonic, Latin, Gothic, the forms of the auxiliary +verb <i>to be</i> are all varieties of one common type, and that +"the coincidences between the language of the Veda and +the dialect spoken at the present day by the Lithuanian +recruits at Berlin are greater by far than between French +and Italian, and that the essential forms of grammar had +been fully framed and established before the first separation +of the Aryan family took place."</p> + +<p>But it should not be overlooked that such interesting +deductions founded on language, its vocabularies and +grammar, must not be pressed too closely. The state of +civilization of the Indo-Germanic column, as thus ascertained, +must needs have been inferior to that of the centre +from which it issued forth. Such we observe to be the +case in all migratory movements. It is not the more +intellectual or civilized portions of a community which +voluntarily participate therein, but those in whom the +physical and animal character predominates. There may +be a very rough offshoot from a very polished stock. Of +course, the movement we are here considering must have +taken place at a period chronologically remote, yet not so +remote as might seem to be indicated by the state of civilization +of the invaders, used as an indication of the state +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +of civilization of the country from which they had come. +In Asia, social advancement, as far back as we can discover, +has ever been very slow; but, at the first moment that we +encounter the Hindu race historically or philologically, it +is dealing with philosophical and theological questions of +the highest order, and settling, to its own satisfaction, +problems requiring a cultivated intellect even so much as +to propose. All this implies that in its social advancement +there must have already been consumed a very long +period of time.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Commingling +of blood and +of ideas.</div> + +<p>But what chiefly interests us is the relation which must +have been necessarily maintained between the intrusive +people and those whom they thus displaced, the commingling +of the ideas of the one with those of +the other, arising from their commingling of +blood. It is because of this that we find coexisting +in the pre-Hellenic times the sorcery of the Celt and +the polytheism of the Hindu. There can be no doubt +that many of the philosophical lineaments displayed by +the early European mythology are not due to indigenous +thought, but were derived from an Asiatic source.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Climate-modification +of +Asiatic intruders.</div> + +<p>Moreover, at the earliest historic times, notwithstanding +the disturbance which must have lasted long after the +successful and perhaps slow advance of the Asiatic column, +things had come to a state of equilibrium or repose, not +alone socially, but also physiologically. It takes a long +time for the conqueror and conquered to settle together, +without farther disturbance or question, into their relative +positions; it takes a long time for the recollection of +conflicts to die away. But far longer does it take for a +race of invaders to come into unison with the climate of +the countries they have seized, the system of +man accommodating itself only through successive +generations, and therefore very slowly, +to new physical conditions. It takes long before +the skin assumes its determinate hue, and the skull +its destined form. A period amply sufficient for all such +changes to be accomplished in Europe had transpired at +the very dawn of history, and strands of population in conformity +with meteorological and geographical influences, +though of such origin as has been described, were already +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> +distributed upon it. A condition of ethnical equilibrium +had been reached. Along each isothermal or climatic band +were its correspondingly modified men, spending their +lives in avocations dictated by their environment. These +strands of population were destined to be dislocated, and +some of them to become extinct, by inventing or originating +among themselves new and unsuitable artificial physical +conditions.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">First gleams +of civilization</div> + +<p>Already Europe was preparing a repetition of those +events of which Asia from time immemorial has been the +scene. Already among the nations bordering on the +Mediterranean, inhabitants of a pleasant climate, in which +life could be easily maintained—where the isothermal of +January is 41° F., and of July 73½° F.—civilization +was commencing. There was an improving +agriculture, an increasing commerce, and, the necessary +consequence thereof, germs of art, the accumulation of +wealth. The southern peninsulas were offering to the +warlike chieftains of middle Europe a tempting prize.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">and first religious +opinions.</div> + +<p>Under such influences Europe may be considered as +emerging from the barbarian state. It had lost +all recollection of its ancient relations with India, +which have only been disclosed to us by a study of the +vocabularies and grammar of its diverse tongues. Upon +its indigenous sorcery an Oriental star-worship had been +ingrafted, the legends of which had lost their significance. +What had at first been feigned of the heavenly bodies had +now assumed an air of personality, and had become +attributed to heroes and gods.</p> + +<p>The negro under the equinoctial line, the dwarfish Laplander +beyond the Arctic Circle—man everywhere, in his +barbarous state, is a believer in sorcery, witchcraft, enchantments; +he is fascinated by the incomprehensible. +Any unexpected sound or sudden motion he refers to +invisible beings. Sleep and dreams, in which one-third +of his life is spent, assure him that there is a spiritual +world. He multiplies these unrealities; he gives to every +grotto a genius; to every tree, spring, river, mountain, a +divinity.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Localization of +the invisible.</div> + +<p>Comparative theology, which depends on the law of +continuous variation of human thought, and is indeed one +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> +of its expressions, universally proves that the moment +man adopts the idea of an existence of invisible +beings, he recognizes the necessity of places for +their residence, all nations assigning them habitations +beyond the boundaries of the earth. A local heaven and +a local hell are found in every mythology. In Greece, +as to heaven, there was a universal agreement that it was +situated above the blue sky; but as to hell, much difference +of opinion prevailed. There were many who thought that +it was a deep abyss in the interior of the earth, to which +certain passages, such as the Acherusian cave in Bithynia, +led. But those who with Anaximenes considered the +earth to be like a broad leaf floating in the air, and who +accepted the doctrine that hell was divided into a Tartarus, +or region of night on the left, and an Elysium, or region +of dawn on the right, and that it was equally distant from +all parts of the upper surface, were nearer to the original +conception, which doubtless placed it on the under or +shadowy side of the earth. The portals of descent were +thus in the west, where the sun and stars set, though here +and there were passages leading through the ground to +the other side, such as those by which Hercules and +Ulysses had gone. The place of ascent was in the east, +and the morning twilight a reflection from the Elysian +Fields.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The anthropocentric +stage +of thought.</div> + +<p>The picture of Nature thus interpreted has for its centre +the earth; for its most prominent object, man. +Whatever there is has been made for his pleasure, +or to minister to his use. To this belief that +every thing is of a subordinate value compared with himself, +he clings with tenacity even in his most advanced +mental state.</p> + +<p>Not without surprise do we trace the progress of the +human mind. The barbarian, as a believer in sorcery, lives +in incessant dread. All Nature seems to be at enmity with +him and conspiring for his hurt. Out of the darkness he +cannot tell what alarming spectre may emerge; he may, +with reason, fear that injury is concealed in every stone, +and hidden behind every leaf. How wide is the interval +from this terror-stricken condition to that state in which +man persuades himself of the human destiny of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +universe! Yet, wonderful to be said, he passes that +interval at a single step.</p> + +<p>In the infancy of the human race, geographical and +astronomical ideas are the same all over the world, for +they are the interpretation of things according to outward +appearances, the accepting of phenomena as they are presented, +without any of the corrections that reason may +offer. This universality and homogeneity is nothing +more than a manifestation of the uniform mode of action +of human organization.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">From homogeneous ideas +the comparative sciences emerge.</div> + +<p>But such homogeneous conclusions, such similar pictures, +are strictly peculiar to the infancy of humanity. +The reasoning faculty at length inevitably makes +itself felt, and diversities of interpretation ensue. +Comparative geography, comparative astronomy, +comparative theology thus arise, homogeneous at first, but +soon exhibiting variations.</p> + +<p>To that tendency for personification which marks the +early life of man are due many of the mythologic conceptions. +It was thus that the Hours, the Dawn, and Night +with her black mantle bespangled with stars, +<span class="sidenote">Introduction +of personified forms.</span> +received their forms. Many of the most beautiful +legends were thus of a personified astronomical +origin; many were derived from terrestrial or +familiar phenomena. The clouds were thus made to be +animated things; a moving spirit was given to the storm, +the dew, the wind. The sun setting in the glowing clouds +of the west became Hercules in the fiery pile; the morning +dawn extinguished by the rising sun was embodied in +the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. These legends still +survive in India.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The gradual and affiliated +advance of Greek theological ideas.</div> + +<p>But it must not be supposed that all Greek mythology +can be thus explained. It is enough for us to examine the +circumstances under which, for many ages, the European +communities had been placed, to understand that they had +forgotten much that their ancestors had brought +from Asia. Much that was new had also spontaneously +arisen. The well-known variations of +their theogony are not merely similar legends +of different localities, they are more frequently the successive +improvements of one place. The general theme upon +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +which they are based requires the admission of a primitive +chaotic disturbance of incomprehensible gigantic powers, +brought into subjection by Divine agency, that agency +dividing and regulating the empire it had thus acquired +in a harmonious way. To this general conception was +added a multitude of adventitious ornaments, some of +which were of a rude astronomical, some of a moral, some, +doubtless, of a historical kind. The primitive chaotic +conflicts appear under the form of the war of the Titans; +their end is the confinement of those giants in Tartarus; +whose compulsory subjection is the commencement of order: +<span class="sidenote">The composite nature +of the resulting mythology.</span> +thus Atlas, the son of Iapetos, is made to sustain the vault +of heaven in its western verge. The regulation of empire +is shadowed forth in the subdivision of the universe +between Zeus and his brothers, he taking the +heavens, Poseidon the sea, and Hades the under +world, all having the earth as their common +theatre of action. The moral is prefigured by +such myths as those of Prometheus and Epimetheus, the +fore-thinker and the after-thinker; the historical in the +deluge of Deucalion, the sieges of Thebes and of Troy. A +harmony with human nature is established through the +birth and marriage of the gods, and likewise by their +sufferings, passions, and labours. The supernatural is +gratified by Centaurs, Gorgons, Harpies, and Cyclops.</p> + +<p>It would be in vain to attempt the reduction of such a +patchwork system to any single principle, astronomical +or moral, as some have tried to do—a system originating +from no single point as to country or to time. The +gradual growth of many ages, its diversities are due to +many local circumstances. Like the romances of a later +period, it will not bear an application of the ordinary rules +of life. It recommended itself to a people who found +pleasure in accepting without any question statements no +matter how marvellous, impostures no matter how preposterous. +Gods, heroes, monsters, and men might figure +together without any outrage to probability when there +was no astronomy, no geography, no rule of evidence, no +standard of belief. But the downfall of such a system was +inevitable as soon as men began to deal with facts; as soon +as history commenced to record, and philosophy to discuss. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +Yet not without reluctance was the faith of so many +centuries given up. The extinction of a religion is not +the abrupt movement of a day, it is a secular process of +many well-marked stages—the rise of doubt among the +candid; the disapprobation of the conservative; the defence +of ideas fast becoming obsolete by the well-meaning, who +hope that allegory and new interpretations may give renewed +probability to what is almost incredible. But +dissent ends in denial at last.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Primitive astronomy +and geography.</div> + +<p>Before we enter upon the history of that intellectual +movement which thus occasioned the ruin of the ancient +system, we must bring to ourselves the ideas of the Greek +of the eighth century before Christ, who thought that the +blue sky is the floor of heaven, the habitation of the +Olympian gods; that the earth, man's proper +abode, is flat and circularly extended like a +plate beneath the starry canopy. On its rim is +the circumfluous ocean, the source of the rivers, which all +flow to the Mediterranean, appropriately in after ages so +called, since it is in the midst, in the centre of the expanse +of the land. "The sea-girt disk of the earth supports the +vault of heaven." Impelled by a celestial energy, the sun +and stars, issuing forth from the east, ascend with difficulty +the crystalline dome, but down its descent they +more readily hasten to their setting. No one can tell +what they encounter in the land of shadows beneath, nor +what are the dangers of the way. In the morning the +dawn mysteriously appears in the east, and swiftly spreads +over the confines of the horizon; in the evening the +twilight fades gradually away. Besides the celestial +bodies, the clouds are continually moving over the sky, +for ever changing their colours and their shape. No one +can tell whence the wind comes or whither it goes; +perhaps it is the breath of that invisible divinity who +launches the lightning, or of him who rests his bow +against the cloud. Not without delight men contemplated +the emerald plane, the sapphire dome, the border of +silvery water, ever tranquil and ever flowing. +<span class="sidenote">The under world and its +spectres.</span> +Then, in the interior of the solid earth, or perhaps +on the other side of its plane—under world, +as it was well termed—is the realm of Hades or Pluto, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +the region of Night. From the midst of his dominion, that +divinity, crowned with a diadem of ebony, and seated on +a throne framed out of massive darkness, looks into the +infinite abyss beyond, invisible himself to mortal eyes, but +made known by the nocturnal thunder which is his +weapon. The under world is also the realm to which +spirits retire after death. At its portals, beneath the +setting sun, is stationed a numerous tribe of spectres—Care, +Sorrow, Disease, Age, Want, Fear, Famine, War, +Toil, Death and her half-brother Sleep—Death, to whom +it is useless for man to offer either prayers or sacrifice. +In that land of forgetfulness and shadows there is the +unnavigable lake Avernus, Acheron, Styx, the groaning +Cocytus, and Phlegethon, with its waves of fire. There +are all kinds of monsters and forms of fearful import: +Cerberus, with his triple head; Charon, freighting his +boat with the shades of the dead; the Fates, in their +garments of ermine bordered with purple; the avenging +Erinnys; Rhadamanthus, before whom every Asiatic must +render his account; Æacus, before whom every European; +and Minos, the dread arbiter of the judgment-seat. There, +too, are to be seen those great criminals whose history is a +warning to us: the giants, with dragons' feet extended in +the burning gulf for many a mile; Phlegyas, in perpetual +terror of the stone suspended over him, which never falls; +Ixion chained to his wheel; the daughters of Danaus still +vainly trying to fill their sieve; Tantalus, immersed in +water to his chin, yet tormented with unquenchable +thirst; Sisyphus despairingly labouring at his ever-descending +stone. Warned by such examples, we may learn +not to contemn the gods. Beyond these sad scenes, extending +far to the right, are the plains of pleasure, the +Elysian Fields; and Lethe, the river of oblivion, of which +whoever tastes, though he should ascend to the eastern +boundary of the earth, and return again to life and day, +forgets whatever he has seen.</p> + +<p>If the interior or the under side of the earth is thus +occupied by phantoms and half-animated shades of the +dead, its upper surface, inhabited by man, has also its +wonders. In its centre is the Mediterranean Sea, as we +have said, round which are placed all the known countries, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +each full of its own mysteries and marvels. Of these how +<span class="sidenote">The Argonautic voyage.</span> +many we might recount if we followed the wanderings of +Odysseus, or the voyage of Jason and his heroic +comrades in the ship <i>Argo</i>, when they went +to seize the golden fleece of the speaking ram. We +might tell of the Harpies, flying women-birds of obscene +form; of the blind prophet; of the Symplegades, self-shutting +rocks, between which, as if by miracle, the +Argonauts passed, the cliffs almost entrapping the stern of +their vessel, but destined by fate from that portentous +moment never to close again; of the country of the +Amazons, and of Prometheus groaning on the rock to +which he was nailed, of the avenging eagle for ever +hovering and for ever devouring; of the land of Æêtes, +and of the bulls with brazen feet and flaming breath, and +how Jason yoked and made them plough, of the enchantress +Medea, and the unguent she concocted from +herbs that grew where the blood of Prometheus had +dripped; of the field sown with dragons' teeth, and the +mail-clad men that leaped out of the furrows; of the +magical stone that divided them into two parties, and +impelled them to fight each other; of the scaly dragon +that guarded the golden fleece, and how he was lulled +with a charmed potion, and the treasure carried away; of +the River Phasis, through whose windings the <i>Argo</i> +sailed into the circumfluous sea, of the circumnavigation +round that tranquil stream to the sources of the Nile; of +the Argonauts carrying their sentient, self-speaking ship +on their shoulders through the sweltering Libyan deserts, +of the island of Circe, the enchantress; of the rock, with +its grateful haven, which in the height of a tempest rose +out of the sea to receive them; of the arrow shot by +Apollo from his golden bow; of the brazen man, the work +of Hephæstos, who stood on the shore of Crete, and hurled at +them as they passed vast fragments of stone; of their combat +with him and their safe return to Iolcos; and of the translation +of the ship <i>Argo</i> by the goddess Athene to heaven.</p> + +<p>Such were some of the incidents of that celebrated +voyage, the story of which enchanted all Greece before the +Odyssey was written. I have not space to tell of the +wonders that served to decorate the geography of those +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +times. On the north there was the delicious country of +the Hyperboreans, beyond the reach of winter; +<span class="sidenote">Union of the geographical +and the marvellous.</span> +in the west the garden of the Hesperides, in +which grew apples of gold; in the east the +groves and dancing-ground of the sun; in the +south the country of the blameless Ethiopians, whither +the gods were wont to resort. In the Mediterranean +itself the Sirens beguiled the passers-by with their songs +near where Naples now stands; adjoining were Scylla and +Charybdis; in Sicily were the one-eyed Cyclops and +cannibal Læstrygons. In the island of Erytheia the +three-headed giant Geryon tended his oxen with a double-headed +dog. I need not speak of the lotus-eaters, whose +food made one forget his native country; of the floating +island of Æolus; of the happy fields in which the horses +of the sun were grazing; of bulls and dogs of immortal +breed; of hydras, gorgons, and chimeras; of the flying +man Dædalus, and the brazen chamber in which Danae +was kept. There was no river, no grotto that had not its +genius; no island, no promontory without its legend.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Earliest Greek +theological +ideas indicate +a savage state.</div> + +<p>It is impossible to recall these antique myths without +being satisfied that they are, for the most part, truly +indigenous, truly of European growth. The seed may +have been brought, as comparative philologists assert, from +Asia, but it had luxuriantly germinated and developed +under the sky of Europe. Of the legends, many are far +from answering to their reputed Oriental source; their +barbarism and indelicacy represent the state of +Europe. The outrage of Kronos on his father +Uranos speaks of the savagism of the times; +the story of Dionysos tells of man-stealing and +piracy; the rapes of Europa and Helen, of the abduction +of women. The dinner at which Itys was served +up assures us that cannibalism was practised; the +threat of Laomedon that he would sell Poseidon and +Apollo for slaves shows how compulsory labour might be +obtained. The polygamy of many heroes often appears in +its worst form under the practice of sister-marriage, a +crime indulged in from the King of Olympus downward. +Upon the whole, then, we must admit that Greek mythology +indicates a barbarian social state, man-stealing, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +piracy, human sacrifice, polygamy, cannibalism, and crimes +of revenge that are unmentionable. A personal interpretation, +such as man in his infancy resorts to, is embodied +in circumstances suitable to a savage time. It was +not until a later period that allegorical phantasms, such +as Death, and Sleep, and Dreams were introduced, and +still later when the whole system was affected by Lydian, +Phrygian, Assyrian, and Egyptian ideas.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Their gradual +improvement +in the historic +times.</div> + +<p>Not only thus from their intrinsic nature, but also from +their recorded gradual development, are we warranted in +imputing to the greater part of the myths an +indigenous origin. The theogony of Homer is +extended by Hesiod in many essential points. +He prefixes the dynasty of Uranos, and differs +in minor conceptions, as in the character of the Cyclops. +The Orphic theogony is again another advance, having +new fictions and new personages, as in the case of +Zagreus, the horned child of Jupiter by his own daughter +Persephone. Indeed, there is hardly one of the great and +venerable gods of Olympus whose character does not +change with his age, and, seen from this point of view, +the origin of the Ionic philosophy becomes a necessary +step in the advance. That philosophy, as we +shall soon find, was due not only to the expansion +of the Greek intellect and the necessary +<span class="sidenote">The inevitable tendency is to +the Ionic philosophy.</span> +improvement of Greek morals; an extraneous +cause, the sudden opening of the Egyptian ports, 670 <small>B.C.</small>, +accelerated it. European religion became more mysterious +and more solemn. European philosophy learned the +error of its chronology, and the necessity of applying +a more strict and correct standard of evidence for ancient +events.</p> + +<p>It was an ominous circumstance that the Ionian Greeks, +who first began to philosophize, commenced their labours +by depersonifying the elements, and treating not of Zeus, +Poseidon, and Hades, but of Air, Water, Fire. The +destruction of theological conceptions led irresistibly to +the destruction of religious practices. To divinities +whose existence he denied, the philosopher ceased to +pray. Of what use were sacrificial offerings and entreaties +directed to phantasms of the imagination? but advantages +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +might accrue from the physical study of the impersonal +elements.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Inevitable +destruction of +Greek religious +ideas</div> + +<p>Greek religion contained within itself the principles of +its own destruction. It is for the sake of thoroughly +appreciating this that I have been led into a detail of +what some of my readers may be disposed to +regard as idle and useless myths. Two circumstances +of inevitable occurrence insured the +eventual overthrow of the whole system; they +were geographical discovery and the rise of philosophical +criticism. Our attention is riveted by the fact that, two +thousand years later, the same thing again occurred on a +greater scale.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">by geographical +discovery.</div> + +<p>As to the geographical discovery, how was it possible +that all the marvels of the Mediterranean and +Black Seas, the sorcerers, enchanters, giants, +and monsters of the deep, should survive when those seas +were daily crossed in all directions? How was it possible +that the notion of a flat earth, bounded by the horizon +and bordered by the circumfluous ocean, could maintain +itself when colonies were being founded in Gaul, and +the Phœnicians were bringing tin from beyond the +Pillars of Hercules? Moreover, it so happened that many +of the most astounding prodigies were affirmed to be in +the track which circumstances had now made the chief +pathway of commerce. Not only was there a certainty of +the destruction of mythical geography as thus presented +on the plane of the earth looking upward to day; there +was also an imminent risk, as many pious persons foresaw +and dreaded, that what had been asserted as respects the +interior, or the other face looking downward into night, +would be involved in the ruin too. Well, therefore, might +they make the struggle they did for the support of the +ancient doctrine, taking the only course possible to them, +of converting what had been affirmed to be actual events +into allegories, under which, they said, the wisdom of +ancient times had concealed many sacred and mysterious +things. But it is apparent that a system forced to this +necessity is fast hastening to its end.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Fictitious +marvels replaced +by +grand actualities.</div> + +<p>Nor was it maritime discovery only that thus removed +fabulous prodigies and gave rise to new ideas. In due +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +course of time the Macedonian expedition opened a new +world to the Greeks and presented them with real wonders; +climates in marvellous diversity, vast deserts, +mountains covered with eternal snow, salt seas +far from the ocean, colossal animals, and men of +every shade of colour and every form of religion. +The numerous Greek colonies founded all over Asia gave +rise to an incessant locomotion, and caused these natural +objects to make a profound and permanent impression on +the Hellenic mind. If through the Bactrian empire +European ideas were transmitted to the far East, through +that and other similar channels Asiatic ideas found their +way to Europe.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Development +of Mediterranean +commerce.</div> + +<p>At the dawn of trustworthy history, the Phœnicians were +masters of the Mediterranean Sea. Europe was +altogether barbarous. On the very verge of +Asiatic civilization the Thracians scalped their +enemies and tattooed themselves; at the other +end of the continent the Britons daubed their bodies with +ochre and woad. Contemporaneous Egyptian sculptures +show the Europeans dressed in skins like savages. It +was the instinct of the Phœnicians everywhere to establish +themselves on islands and coasts, and thus, for a long time, +they maintained a maritime supremacy. By degrees a +spirit of adventure was engendered among the Greeks. +In 1250 <span class="smcap">B.C</span>. they sailed round the Euxine, giving rise to +the myth of the Argonautic voyage, and creating a +profitable traffic in gold, dried fish, and corn. They had +also become infamous for their freebooting practices. +From every coast they stole men, women, and children, +thereby maintaining a considerable slave-trade, the relic +of which endures to our time in the traffic for Circassian +women. Minos, King of Crete, tried to suppress these +piracies. His attempts to obtain the dominion of the +Mediterranean were imitated in succession by the Lydians, +Thracians, Rhodians, the latter being the inventors of the +first maritime code, subsequently incorporated into Roman +law. The manner in which these and the inhabitants of +other towns and islands supplanted one another shows on +what trifling circumstances the dominion of the eastern +basin depended. Meantime Tyrian seamen stealthily +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +sailed beyond the Pillars of Hercules, visiting the Canaries +and Azores, and bringing tin from the British Islands. +They used every precaution to keep their secret to themselves. +The adventurous Greeks followed those mysterious +navigators step by step; but in the time of Homer they +were so restricted to the eastern basin that Italy may be +said to have been to them an unknown land. The +Phocæans first explored the western basin; one of their +colonies built Marseilles. At length Coleus of Samos +passed through the frowning gateway of Hercules into +the circumfluous sea, the Atlantic Ocean. No little +interest attaches to the first colonial cities; they dotted +the shores from Sinope to Saguntum, and were at once +trading depôts and foci of wealth. In the earliest times +the merchant was his own captain, and sold his commodities +by auction at the place to which he came. The +primitive and profitable commerce of the Mediterranean +was peculiar—it was for slaves, mineral products, and +articles of manufacture; for, running coincident with +parallels of latitude, its agricultural products were not +very varied, and the wants of its populations the same. +But tin was brought from the Cassiterides, amber from +the Baltic, and dyed goods and worked metals from Syria. +Wherever these trades centred, the germs of taste and +intelligence were developed; thus the Etruscans, in whose +hands was the amber trade across Germany, have left many +relics of their love of art. Though a mysterious, they +were hardly a gloomy race, as a great modern author has +supposed, if we may judge from their beautiful remains.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Effect of +philosophical +criticism.</div> + +<p>Added to the effect of geographical discovery was the +development of philosophical criticism. It is +observed that soon after the first Olympiad the +Greek intellect very rapidly expanded. Whenever +man reaches a certain point in his mental progress, +he will not be satisfied with less than an application of +existing rules to ancient events. Experience has taught +him that the course of the world to-day is the same as it +was yesterday; he unhesitatingly believes that this will +also hold good for to-morrow. He will not bear to +contemplate any break in the mechanism of history; he +will not be satisfied with a mere uninquiring faith, but +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +insists upon having the same voucher for an old fact that +he requires for one that is new. Before the face of History +Mythology cannot stand.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Secession of +literary men +from the +public faith.</div> + +<p>The operation of this principle is seen in all directions +throughout Greek literature after the date that has been +mentioned, and this the more strikingly as the +time is later. The national intellect became +more and more ashamed of the fables it had +believed in its infancy. Of the legends, some are +allegorized, some are modified, some are repudiated. The +great tragedians accept the myths in the aggregate, but +decline them in particulars; some of the poets transform +or allegorize them; some use them ornamentally, as graceful +decorations. It is evident that between the educated +and the vulgar classes a divergence is taking place, +that the best men of the times see the necessity of +either totally abandoning these cherished fictions to the +lower orders, or of gradually replacing them with something +more suitable. Such a frittering away of sacred +things was, however, very far from meeting with public +approbation in Athens itself, although so many people in +that city had reached that state of mental development in +which it was impossible for them to continue to accept the +national faith. They tried to force themselves to believe +that there must be something true in that which had been +believed by so many great and pious men of old, which +had approved itself by lasting so many centuries, and of +which it was by the common people asserted that absolute +demonstration could be given. But it was in vain; +intellect had outgrown faith. They had come into that +condition to which all men are liable—aware of the fallacy +of their opinions, yet angry that another should remind +them thereof. When the social state no longer permitted +them to take the life of a philosophical offender, they +found means to put upon him such an invisible pressure +as to present him the choice of orthodoxy or beggary. +Thus they disapproved of Euripides permitting his characters +to indulge in any sceptical reflections, and discountenanced +the impiety so obvious in the 'Prometheus Bound' +of Æschylus. It was by appealing to this sentiment that +Aristophanes added no little to the excitement against +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> +Socrates. They who are doubting themselves are often +loudest in public denunciations of a similar state in +others.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Secession of the +philosophers.</div> + +<p>If thus the poets, submitting to common sense, had so +rapidly fallen away from the national belief, the philosophers +pursued the same course. It soon became the universal +impression that there was an intrinsic opposition +between philosophy and religion, and herein +public opinion was not mistaken; the fact that polytheism +furnished a religious explanation for every natural event +made it essentially antagonistic to science. It was the +uncontrollable advance of knowledge that overthrew Greek +religion. Socrates himself never hesitated to denounce +physics for that tendency; and the Athenians extended +his principles to his own pursuits, their strong common +sense telling them that the philosophical cultivation of +ethics must be equally bad. He was not loyal to science, +but sought to support his own views by exciting a theological +odium against his competitors—a crime that +educated men ought never to forgive. In the tragedy that +ensued the Athenians only paid him in his own coin. The +immoralities imputed to the gods were doubtless strongly +calculated to draw the attention of reflecting men, but the +essential nature of the pursuit in which the Ionian and +Italian schools were engaged bore directly on the doctrine +of a providential government of the world. It not only +turned into a fiction the time-honoured dogma of the +omnipresence of the Olympian divinities—it even struck +at their very existence, by leaving them nothing to do. +For those personifications it introduced impersonal nature +or the elements. Instead of uniting scientific interpretations +to ancient traditions, it modified and moulded the +old traditions to suit the apparent requirements of science. +We shall subsequently see what was the necessary issue of +this—the Divinity became excluded from the world he had +made, the supernatural merged in natural agency; Zeus +was superseded by the air, Poseidon by the water; and +while some of the philosophers received in silence the +popular legends, as was the case with Socrates, or, like +Plato, regarded it as a patriotic duty to accept the public +faith, others, like Xenophanes, denounced the whole as +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +an ancient blunder, converted by time into a national +imposture.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Antagonism of +science and +polytheism.</div> + +<p>As I shall have occasion to speak of Greek philosophy in +a detailed manner, it is unnecessary to enter into other +particulars here. For the present purpose it is +enough to understand that it was radically +opposed to the national faith in all countries +and at all times, from its origin with Thales down to +the latest critic of the Alexandrian school.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Secession of +historians.</div> + +<p>As it was with philosophers, so it was with historians; +the rise of true history brought the same result +as the rise of true philosophy. In this instance +there was added a special circumstance which gave +to the movement no little force. Whatever might be +the feigned facts of the Grecian foretime, they were +altogether outdone in antiquity and wonder by the actual +history of Egypt. What was a pious man like Herodotus +to think when he found that, at the very period he had +supposed a superhuman state of things in his native +country, the ordinary passage of affairs was taking place +on the banks of the Nile? And so indeed it had been for +untold ages. To every one engaged in recording recent +events, it must have been obvious that a chronology +applied where the actors are superhuman is altogether +without basis, and that it is a delusion to transfer the +motives and thoughts of men to those who are not men. +Under such circumstances there is a strong inducement to +decline traditions altogether; for no philosophical mind +will ever be satisfied with different tests for the present +and the past, but will insist that actions and their sequences +were the same in the foretime as now.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Universal disbelief +of the +learned.</div> + +<p>Thus for many ages stood affairs. One after another, +historians, philosophers, critics, poets, had given up the +national faith, and lived under a pressure perpetually laid +upon them by the public, adopting generally, as their +most convenient course, an outward compliance with the +religious requirements of the state. Herodotus +cannot reconcile the inconsistencies of the Trojan +War with his knowledge of human actions; +Thucydides does not dare to express his disbelief of it; +Eratosthenes sees contradictions between the voyage of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> +Odysseus and the truths of geography; Anaxagoras is +condemned to death for impiety, and only through the +exertions of the chief of the state is his sentence mercifully +commuted to banishment. Plato, seeing things from a very +general point of view, thinks it expedient, upon the whole, +to prohibit the cultivation of the higher branches of physics. +Euripides tries to free himself from the imputation of +heresy as best he may. Æschylus is condemned to be +stoned to death for blasphemy, and is only saved by his +brother Aminias raising his mutilated arm—he had lost his +hand in the battle of Salamis. Socrates stands his trial, and +has to drink hemlock. Even great statesmen like Pericles +had become entangled in the obnoxious opinions. No one +has anything to say in explanation of the marvellous disappearance +of demigods and heroes, why miracles are +ended, or why human actions alone are now to be seen in +the world. An ignorant public demands the instant punishment +of every suspected man. In their estimation, to +distrust the traditions of the past is to be guilty of treason +to the present.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Attempts at a +reformation.</div> + +<p>But all this confusion and dissent did not arise without +an attempt among well-meaning men at a reformation. +Some, and they were, perhaps, the +most advanced intellectually, wished that the priests should +abstain from working any more miracles; that relics +should be as little used as was consistent with the +psychical demands of the vulgar, and should be gradually +abandoned; that philosophy should no longer be outraged +with the blasphemous anthropomorphisms of the Olympian +deities. Some, less advanced, were disposed to reconcile +all difficulties by regarding the myths as allegorical; some +wished to transform them so as to bring them into harmony +with the existing social state; some would give them +altogether new interpretations. With one, though the +fact of a Trojan War is not to be denied, it was only the +eidolon of Helen whom Paris carried away; with another +expressions, perhaps once intended to represent actual +events, are dwindled into mere forms of speech. Unwilling +to reject the attributes of the Olympian divinities, +their human passions and actions, another asserts that +they must once have all existed as men. While one +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +denounces the impudent atheists who find fault with the +myths of the Iliad, ignorant of its allegorical meaning, +another resolves all its heroes into the elements; and still +another, hoping to reconcile to the improved moral sense +of the times the indecencies and wickednesses of the gods, +imputes them all to demons; an idea which found much +favour at first, but became singularly fatal to polytheism +in the end.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Inveterate superstition +of the vulgar.</div> + +<p>In apparent inconsistency with this declining state of +belief in the higher classes, the multitude, without +concern, indulged in the most surprising superstitions. +With them it was an age of relics, of +weeping statues, and winking pictures. The +tools with which the Trojan horse was made might still +be seen at Metapontum, the sceptre of Pelops was still +preserved at Chæroneia, the spear of Achilles at Phaselis, +the sword of Memnon at Nicomedia; the Tegeates could +still show the hide of the Calydonian boar, very many +cities boasted their possession of the true palladium from +Troy. There were statues of Athene that could brandish +spears, paintings that could blush, images that could +sweat, and numberless shrines and sanctuaries at which +miracle-cures were performed. Into the hole through +which the deluge of Deucalion receded the Athenians still +poured a customary sacrifice of honey and meal. He +would have been an adventurous man who risked any +observation as to its inadequate size. And though the +<span class="sidenote">Their jealous +intolerance of doubts.</span> +sky had been proved to be only space and stars, and not +the firm floor of Olympus, he who had occasion to refer to +the flight of the gods from mountain tops into +heaven would find it to his advantage to make +no astronomical remark. No adverse allusions +to the poems of Homer, Arctinus, or Lesches were +tolerated; he who perpetrated the blasphemy of depersonifying +the sun went in peril of death. It was not +permitted that natural phenomena should be substituted +for Zeus and Poseidon; whoever was suspected of believing +that Helios and Selene were not gods, would do well +to purge himself to public satisfaction. The people vindicated +their superstition in spite of all geographical and +physical difficulties, and, far from concerning themselves +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +with the contradictions which had exerted such an +influence on the thinking classes, practically asserted the +needlessness of any historical evidence.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Slowness of the decline +and fall of Polytheism.</div> + +<p>It is altogether erroneous to suppose that polytheism +maintained its ground as a living force until the +period of Constantine and Julian. Its downfall +commenced at the time of the opening of the +Egyptian ports. Nearly a thousand years were +required for its consummation. The change first occurred +among the higher classes, and made its way slowly +through the middle ranks of society. For many centuries +the two agencies—geographical discovery, arising from +increasing commerce and the Macedonian expedition, +and philosophical criticism—silently continued their incessant +work, and yet it does not appear that they could +ever produce a change in the lowest and most numerous +division of the social grade. In process of time, a third +influence was added to the preceding two, enabling them +to address themselves even to the humblest rank of life; +<span class="sidenote">The secondary +causes of its downfall.</span> +this influence was the rise of the Roman power. +It produced a wonderful activity all over the +Mediterranean Sea and throughout the adjoining +countries. It insured perpetual movements in all directions. +Where there had been only a single traveller there +were now a thousand legionaries, merchants, government +officials, with their long retinues of dependents and slaves. +Where formerly it was only the historian or philosopher +in his retirement who compared or contrasted the laws +and creeds, habits and customs of different nations +incorrectly reported, now the same things were vividly +brought under the personal observation of multitudes. +The crowd of gods and goddesses congregated in Rome +served only to bring one another into disrepute and +ridicule.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The alarm of +good and religious men.</div> + +<p>Long, therefore, previous to the triumph of Christianity, +paganism must be considered as having been irretrievably +ruined. Doubtless it was the dreadful social prospect +before them—the apparent impossibility of preventing +the whole world from falling into a +totally godless state, that not only reconciled so +many great men to give their support to the ancient system, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +but even to look without disapprobation on that physical +violence to which the uneducated multitude, incapable of +judging, were so often willing to resort. They never +anticipated that any new system could be introduced +which should take the place of the old, worn-out one; +they had no idea that relief in this respect was so close at +hand; unless, perhaps, it might have been Plato, +who, profoundly recognizing that, though it is a +<span class="sidenote">Plato's remedy +for the evil.</span> +hard and tedious process to change radically the +ideas of common men, yet that it is easy to persuade them +to accept new names if they are permitted to retain old +things, proposed that a regenerated system should be +introduced, with ideas and forms suited to the existing +social state, prophetically asserting that the world would +very soon become accustomed to it, and give to it an +implicit adhesion.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Greek +movement has +been repeated +on a greater +scale by all +Europe.</div> + +<p>In this description of the origin and decline of Greek +religion I have endeavoured to bring its essential features +into strong relief. Its fall was not sudden, as many have +supposed, neither was it accomplished by extraneous +violence. There was a slow, and, it must be emphatically +added, a spontaneous decline. But, if the affairs of men +pass in recurring cycles—if the course of events with one +individual has a resemblance to the course of +events with another—if there be analogies in +the progress of nations, and circumstances reappear +after due periods of time, the succession +of events thus displayed before us in the +intellectual history of Greece may perhaps be recognised +again in grander proportions on the theatre of all Europe. +If there is for the human mind a predetermined order +of development, may we not reasonably expect that the +phenomena we have thus been noticing on a small scale in +a single nation will reappear on the great scale in a +continent; that the philosophical study of this history of +the past will not only serve as an interpretation of many +circumstances in the history of Europe in the Dark and +Middle Ages, but will also be a guide to us in pointing +out future events as respects all mankind? For, though +it is true that the Greek intellectual movement was +anticipated, as respects its completion, by being enveloped +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +and swallowed up in the slower but more gigantic movements +of the southern European mind, just as a little +expanding circle upon the sea may be obliterated and +borne away by more imposing and impetuous waves, so +even the movement of a continent may be lost in the +movement of a world. It was criticism and physical +discovery, and intellectual activity, arising from political +concentration, that so profoundly affected the modes of +Grecian thought, and criticism and discovery have within +the last four hundred years done the same in all Europe. +To one who forms his expectations of the future from the +history of the past—who recalls the effect produced by the +establishment of the Roman empire, in permitting free +personal intercommunication among all the Mediterranean +nations, and thereby not only destroying the ancient +forms of thought which for centuries had resisted all +other means of attack, but also replacing them by a homogeneous +idea—it must be apparent that the wonderfully +increased facilities for locomotion, the inventions of our +own age, are the ominous precursors of a vast philosophical +revolution.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The organization +of hypocrisy.</div> + +<p>Between that period during which a nation has been +governed by its imagination and that in which it submits +to reason, there is a melancholy interval. The constitution +of man is such that, for a long time after +he has discovered the incorrectness of the ideas +prevailing around him, he shrinks from openly +emancipating himself from their dominion, and, constrained +by the force of circumstances, he becomes a +hypocrite, publicly applauding what his private judgment +condemns. Where a nation is making this passage, +so universal do these practices become that it may be +truly said hypocrisy is organized. It is possible that +whole communities might be found living in this deplorable +state. Such, I conceive, must have been the case +in many parts of the Roman empire just before the introduction +of Christianity. Even after ideas have given +way in public opinion, their political power may outlive +their intellectual vigour, and produce the disgraceful effect +we here consider.</p> + +<p>It is not to be concealed, however, that, to some extent, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +this evil is incident to the position of things. Indeed, it +would be unfortunate if national hypocrisy could not find +a better excuse for itself than in that of the individual. In +civilized life, society is ever under the imperious necessity +of moving onward in legal forms, nor can such forms be +avoided without the most serious disasters ensuing. To +absolve communities too abruptly from the restraints of +ancient ideas is not to give them liberty, but to throw +them into political vagabondism, and hence it is that +great statesmen will authorize and even compel observances +the essential significance of which has disappeared, +and the intellectual basis of which has been +undermined. Truth reaches her full action by degrees, +and not at once; she first operates upon the reason, the +influence being purely intellectual and individual; she +then extends her sphere, exerting a moral control, particularly +through public opinion; at last she gathers for +herself physical and political force. It is in the time +consumed in this gradual passage that organized hypocrisy +prevails. To bring nations to surrender themselves to +new ideas is not the affair of a day. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +DIGRESSION ON HINDU THEOLOGY AND EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION.</p> + +<div class='blockquot'><p class='ind'><i>Comparative Theology of India; its Phase of Sorcery; its Anthropocentric +Phase.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Vedaism</span> <i>the Contemplation of Matter, or Adoration of Nature, set +forth in the Vedas and Institutes of Menu.—The Universe is God.—Transmutation +of the World.—Doctrine of Emanation.—Transmigration.—Absorption.—Penitential Services.—Happiness in Absolute +Quietude.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Buddhism</span> <i>the Contemplation of Force.—The supreme impersonal Power.—Nature +of the World—of Man.—The Passage of every thing to +Nonentity.—Development of Buddhism into a vast monastic System +marked by intense Selfishness.—Its practical Godlessness.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Egypt</span> <i>a mysterious Country to the old Europeans.—Its History, great +public Works, and foreign Relations.—Antiquity of its Civilization and +Art.—Its Philosophy, hieroglyphic Literature, and peculiar Agriculture.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Rise of Civilization in rainless Countries.—Geography, Geology, and +Topography of Egypt—The Inundations of the Nile lead to +Astronomy.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Comparative Theology of Egypt.—Animal Worship, Star Worship.—Impersonation +of Divine Attributes—Pantheism.—The Trinities of +Egypt.—Incarnation.—Redemption.—Future Judgment.—Trial of +the Dead.—Rituals and Ceremonies.</i></p></div> + +<p><span class="smcap">At</span> this stage of our examination of European intellectual +development, it will be proper to consider briefly two +foreign influences—Indian and Egyptian—which affected +it.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Of Hindu +philosophy.</div> + +<p>From the relations existing between the Hindu and +European families, as described in the preceding chapter, +a comparison of their intellectual progress +presents no little interest. The movement of +the elder branch indicates the path through which the +younger is travelling, and the goal to which it tends. In +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> +the advanced condition under which we live we notice +Oriental ideas perpetually emerging in a fragmentary way +from the obscurities of modern metaphysics—they are the +indications of an intellectual phase through which the +Indo-European mind must pass. And when we consider +the ready manner in which these ideas have been adopted +throughout China and the entire East, we may, perhaps, +extend our conclusion from the Indo-European family to +the entire human race. From this we may also infer how +unphilosophical and vain is the expectation of those who +would attempt to restore the aged populations of Asia to +our state. Their intellectual condition has passed onward, +never more to return. It remains for them only to +advance as far as they may in their own line and to die, +leaving their place to others of a different constitution and +of a renovated blood. In life there is no going back; the +morose old man can never resume the genial confidence of +maturity; the youth can never return to the idle and useless +occupations, the frivolous amusements of boyhood; +even the boy is parted by a long step from the innocent +credulity of the nursery.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The phase of +sorcery, and +anthropocentric +phase.</div> + +<p>The earlier stages of the comparative theology of India +are now inaccessible. At a time so remote as to be +altogether prehistoric the phase of sorcery had +been passed through. In the most ancient +records remaining the Hindu mind is dealing +with anthropocentric conceptions, not, however, +so much of the physical as of the moral kind. Man had +come to the conclusion that his chief concern is with himself. +"Thou wast alone at the time of thy birth, thou wilt be +alone in the moment of death; alone thou must answer at +the bar of the inexorable Judge."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Comparative +theology advances +in two +directions—Matter, +Force.<br /> +Vedaism contemplates +matter, Buddhism +force.</div> + +<p>From this point there are two well-marked steps of +advance. The first reaches the consideration +of material nature; the second, which is very +grandly and severely philosophical, contemplates +the universe under the conceptions of space and +force alone. The former is exemplified in the Vedas and +Institutes of Menu, the latter in Buddhism. In neither of +these stages do the ideas lie idle as mere abstractions; they +introduce a moral plan, and display a constructive power +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +not equalled even by the Italian papal system. They take +charge not only of the individual, but regulate +society, and show their influence in accomplishing +political organizations, commanding our +attention from their prodigious extent, and +venerable for their antiquity.</p> + +<p>I shall, therefore, briefly refer, first, to the older, Vedaism, +and then to its successor, Buddhism.</p> + +<p>Among a people possessing many varieties of climate, +and familiar with some of the grandest aspects of Nature—mountains +the highest upon earth, noble rivers, a vegetation +<span class="sidenote">Vedaism is the adoration of Nature.</span> +incomparably luxuriant, periodical rains, tempestuous +monsoons, it is not surprising that there should have been +an admiration for the material, and a tendency +to the worship of Nature. These spectacles leave +an indelible impression on the thoughts of man, +and, the more cultivated the mind, the more profoundly +are they appreciated.</p> + +<p>The Vedas, which are the Hindu Scriptures, and of +which there are four, the Rig, Yagust, Saman and Atharvan, +are asserted to have been revealed by +Brahma. The fourth is, however, rejected by +some authorities and bears internal evidence of +<span class="sidenote">The Vedas and their doctrines.</span> +a later composition, at a time when hierarchical power +had become greatly consolidated. These works are written +in an obsolete Sanscrit, the parent of the more recent +idiom. They constitute the basis of an extensive literature, +Upavedas, Angas, &c., of connected works and commentaries. +For the most part they consist of hymns suitable +for public and private occasions, prayers, precepts, legends, +and dogmas. The Rig, which is the oldest, is composed +chiefly of hymns, the other three of liturgical formulas. +They are of different periods and of various authorship, +internal evidence seeming to indicate that if the later +<span class="sidenote">The Veda doctrine +of God,</span> +were composed by priests, the earlier were the production +of military chieftains. They answer to a state of society +advanced from the nomad to the municipal condition. +They are based upon an acknowledgment of a universal +Spirit pervading all things. Of this God they +therefore necessarily acknowledge the unity: +"There is in truth but one Deity, the Supreme Spirit, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +Lord of the universe, whose work is the universe." "The +God above all gods, who created the earth, the +<span class="sidenote">and of the world.</span> +heavens, the waters." The world, thus considered +as an emanation of God, is therefore a part of him; +it is kept in a visible state by his energy, and would +instantly disappear if that energy were for a moment +withdrawn. Even as it is, it is undergoing unceasing +transformations, every thing being in a transitory condition. +The moment a given phase is reached, it is departed +from, or ceases. In these perpetual movements the present +can scarcely be said to have any existence, for as the Past +is ending the Future has begun.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Its transformation.</div> + +<p>In such a never-ceasing career all material things are +urged, their forms continually changing, and returning +as it were, through revolving cycles to similar states. +For this reason it is that we may regard our earth, and +the various celestial bodies, as having had a +moment of birth, as having a time of continuance, +in which they are passing onward to an inevitable destruction, +and that after the lapse of countless ages similar +progresses will be made, and similar series of events will +occur again and again.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">It is the visi-semblance +of +God.</div> + +<p>But in this doctrine of universal transformation there is +something more than appears at first. The theology of +India is underlaid with Pantheism. "God is One because +he is All." The Vedas, in speaking of the relation +of nature to God, make use of the expression +that he is the Material as well as the Cause of +the universe, "the Clay as well as the Potter." They +convey the idea that while there is a pervading spirit +existing everywhere of the same nature as the soul of +man, though differing from it infinitely in degree, visible +nature is essentially and inseparably connected therewith; +that as in man the body is perpetually undergoing changes, +perpetually decaying and being renewed, or, as in the case +of the whole human species, nations come into existence +and pass away, yet still there continues to exist what may +be termed the universal human mind, so for ever associated +and for ever connected are the material and the spiritual. +And under this aspect we must contemplate the Supreme +Being, not merely as a presiding intellect, but as illustrated +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +by the parallel case of man, whose mental principle shows +no tokens except through its connexion with the body; +so matter, or nature, or the visible universe, is to be looked +upon as the corporeal manifestation of God.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The nature of +mundane +changes.</div> + +<p>Secular changes taking place invisible objects, especially +those of an astronomical kind, thus stand as the gigantic +counterparts both as to space and time of the +microscopic changes which we recognize as +occurring in the body of man. However, in +adopting these views of the relations of material nature +and spirit, we must continually bear in mind that matter +"has no essence independent of mental perception; that +existence and perceptibility are convertible terms; that +external appearances and sensations are illusory, and +would vanish into nothing if the divine energy which +alone sustains them were suspended but for a moment."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Of the soul of +man.</div> + +<p>As to the relation between the Supreme Being and man, +the soul is a portion or particle of that all-pervading +principle, the Universal Intellect or +Soul of the World, detached for a while from its primitive +source, and placed in connexion with the bodily frame, +but destined by an inevitable necessity sooner or later to +be restored and rejoined—as inevitably as rivers run +<span class="sidenote">Its final absorption in God.</span> +back to be lost in the ocean from which they arose. +"That Spirit," says Varuna to his son, "from which all +created beings proceed, in which, having proceeded, they +live, toward which they tend, and in which they +are at last absorbed, that Spirit study to know: +it is the Great One." Since a multitude of moral +considerations assure us of the existence of evil in the world, +and since it is not possible for so holy a thing as the spirit +of man to be exposed thereto without undergoing contamination, +it comes to pass that an unfitness may be contracted +for its rejoining the infinitely pure essence from which it +<span class="sidenote">Of purifying penances,</span> +was derived, and hence arises the necessity of its undergoing +a course of purification. And as the life of +man is often too short to afford the needful opportunity, +and, indeed, its events, in many instances, tend +rather to increase than to diminish the stain, the season +of purification is prolonged by perpetuating a connexion +of the sinful spirit with other forms, and permitting its +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +transmigration to other bodies, in which, by the penance +it undergoes, and the trials to which it is exposed, +its iniquity may be washed away, and +satisfactory preparation be made for its absorption +in the ocean of infinite purity. Considering thus the +<span class="sidenote">and transmigration of souls.</span> +relation in which all animated nature stands to us, being +a mechanism for purification, this doctrine of the transmigration +of the soul leads necessarily to other doctrines of +a moral kind, more particularly to a profound respect for +life under every form, human, animal, or insect.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The religious +use of animal +life.</div> + +<p>The forms of animal life, therefore, furnish a grand +penitential mechanism for man. Such, on these +principles, is their teleological explanation. In +European philosophy there is no equivalent or +counterpart of this view. With us animal life is purposeless. +Hereafter we shall find that in Egypt, though the +doctrine of transmigration must of course have tended to +similar suggestions, it became disturbed in its practical +application by the base fetich notions of the indigenous +African population. Hence the doctrine was cherished by +the learned for philosophical reasons, and by the multitude +for the harmony of its results with their idolatries.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Of proper +modes of devotion.</div> + +<p>From such theological dogmas a religious system obviously +springs having for its object to hasten the purification +of the soul, that it may the more quickly enter on +absolute happiness, which is only to be found in absolute +rest. The methods of shortening its wanderings and bringing +it to repose are the exercises of a pious +life, penance, and prayer, and more especially +a profound contemplation of the existence +and attributes of the Supreme Being. In this profound +contemplation many holy men have passed their lives.</p> + +<p>Such is a brief statement of Vedic theology, as exhibited +in the connected doctrines of the Nature of God, Universal +Animation, Transmutation of the World, Emanation of +the Soul, Manifestation of Visible Things, Transmigration, +Absorption, the uses of Penitential Services, and Contemplation +for the attainment of Absolute Happiness in +Absolute Rest. The Vedas also recognize a series of +creatures superior to man, the gods of the elements and +stars; they likewise personify the attributes of the Deity. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +The three Vedic divinities, Agni, Indra, and Surya, are +<span class="sidenote">Minor Vedic doctrine.</span> +not to be looked upon as existing independently, for all +spirits are comprehended in the Universal Soul. +The later Hindu trinity, Brahma, Vishnu, and +Siva, is not recognized by them. They do not authorize +the worship of deified men, nor of images, nor of any +visible forms. They admit the adoration of subordinate +spirits, as those of the planets, or of the demigods who +inhabit the air, the waters, the woods; these demigods +are liable to death. They inculcate universal charity—charity +even to an enemy: "The tree doth not withdraw +its shade from the woodcutter." Prayers are to be made +thrice a day, morning, noon, evening; fasting is ordained, +and ablution before meals; the sacrificial offerings consist +of flowers, fruits, money. Considered as a whole their +religious tendency is selfish: it puts in prominence the +baser motives, and seeks the gratification of the animal +appetites, as food, pleasure, good fortune. They suggest +no proselyting spirit, but rather adopt the principle that +all religions must be equally acceptable to God, since, if it +were otherwise, he would have instituted a single one, +and, considering his omnipotence, none other could have +possibly prevailed. They contain no authorization of the +division of castes, which probably had arisen in the necessities +of antecedent conquests, but which have imposed a +perpetual obstacle to any social progress, keeping each +class of society in an immovable state, and concentrating +knowledge and power in a hierarchy. Neither in them, +nor, it is affirmed, in the whole Indian literature, is there +a single passage indicating a love of liberty. The Asiatics +cannot understand what value there is in it. They have +balanced Freedom against Security; they have deliberately +preferred the latter, and left the former for Europe +to sigh for. Liberty is alone appreciated in a life of +action; but the life of Asia is essentially passive, its +desire is for tranquillity. Some have affirmed that this +imbecility is due to the fact that that continent has no true +temperate zone, and that thus, for ages, the weak nations +have been in contact with the strong, and therefore the +hopeless aspirations for personal freedom have become extinct. +But nations that are cut off from the sea, or that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +have accepted the dogma that to travel upon it is unholy, +can never comprehend liberty. From the general tenor +of the Vedas, it would appear that the condition of women +was not so much restrained as it became in later times, +and that monogamy was the ordinary state. From the +great extent of these works, their various dates and +authorship, it is not easy to deduce from them consistent +principles, and their parts being without any connexion, +complete copies are very scarce. They have undergone +mutilation and restoration, so that great discordances +have arisen.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Institutes +of Menu.</div> + +<p>In the Institutes of Menu, a code of civil and religious +law, written about the ninth century before +Christ, though, like the Vedas, betraying a +gradual origin, the doctrine of the Divine unity becomes +more distinctly mixed up with Pantheistic ideas. They +present a description of creation, of the nature of God, and +contain prescribed rules for the duty of man in every +station of life from the moment of birth to death. Their +imperious regulations in all these minute details are a +sufficient proof of the great development and paramount +power to which the priesthood had now attained, but +their morality is discreditable. They indicate a high +civilization and demoralization, deal with crimes and a +policy such as are incident to an advanced social condition. +Their arbitrary and all-reaching spirit reminds one of the +papal system; their recommendations to sovereigns, their +authorization of immoralities, recall the state of Italian +society as reflected in the works of Machiavelli. They +hold learning in the most signal esteem, but concede to +the prejudices of the illiterate in a worship of the gods +with burnt-offerings of clarified butter and libations +of the juices of plants. As respects the constitution of +man, they make a distinction between the soul and the vital +principle, asserting that it is the latter only which expiates +sin by transmigration. They divide society into four +castes—the priests, the military, the industrial, the servile. +They make a Brahmin the chief of all created things, and +order that his life shall be divided into four parts, one to +be spent in abstinence, one in marriage, one as an anchorite, +and one in profound meditation; he may then "quit the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +body as a bird leaves the branch of a tree." They vest +the government of society in an absolute monarch, having +seven councillors, who direct the internal administration +by a chain of officials, the revenue being derived from a +share of agricultural products, taxes on commerce, imposts +on shopkeepers, and a service of one day in the month +from labourers.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Both the +Vedas and +Institutes are +pantheistic.</div> + +<p>In their essential principles the Institutes therefore +follow the Vedas, though, as must be the case in every +system intended for men in the various stages of intellectual +progress from the least advanced to the highest, they +show a leaning toward popular delusions. Both +are pantheistic, for both regard the universe as +the manifestation of the Creator; both accept +the doctrine of Emanation, teaching that the +universe lasts only for a definite period of time, and then, +the Divine energy being withdrawn, absorption of everything, +even of the created gods, takes place, and thus, in +great cycles of prodigious duration, many such successive +emanations and absorptions of universe occur.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Disappearance +of the +philosophical +classes, and +consequent +prominence of +anthropocentric +ideas.</div> + +<p>The changes that have taken place among the orthodox +in India since the period of the Institutes are in consequence +of the diminution or disappearance of the highly +philosophical classes, and the comparative predominance +of the vulgar. They are stated by +Mr. Elphinstone as a gradual oblivion of monotheism, +the neglect of the worship of some gods +and the introduction of others, the worship of +deified mortals. The doctrine of human deification is +carried to such an extent that Indra and other mythological +gods are said to tremble lest they should be +supplanted by men. This introduction of polytheism and +use of images has probably been connected with the fact +that there have been no temples to the Invisible God, and +the uneducated mind feels the necessity of some recognizable +form. In this manner the Trinitarian conception +of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, with fourteen other chief +gods, has been introduced. Vishnu and Siva are never +mentioned in the Institutes, but they now engross the +public devotions; besides these there are angels, genii, +penates, and lares, like the Roman. Brahma has only one +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +temple in all India, and has never been much worshipped. +Chrishna is the great favourite of the women. The doctrine +of incarnation has also become prevalent; the incarnations +of Vishnu are innumerable. The opinion has also been +spread that faith in a particular god is better than contemplation, +ceremonial, or good works. A new ritual, +instead of the Vedas, has come into use, these scriptures +being the eighteen Puranas, composed between the eighth +and sixteenth centuries. They contain theogonies, accounts +of the creation, philosophical speculations, fragmentary +history, and may be brought to support any sectarian +view, having never been intended as one general body, +but they are received as incontrovertible authority. In +former times great efficacy was attached to sacrifice and +religious austerities, but the objects once accomplished in +that way are now compassed by mere faith. In the +Baghavat Gita, the text-book of the modern school, the +sole essential for salvation is dependence on some particular +teacher, which makes up for everything else. The efficacy +which is thus ascribed to faith, and the facility with which +sin may be expiated by penance, have led to great mental +debility and superstition. Force has been added to the +doctrine of a material paradise of trees, flowers, banquets, +hymns; and to a hell, a dismal place of flames, thirst, +torment, and horrid spectres.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The philosophical +schools.</div> + +<p>If such has been the gradual degradation of religion, +through the suppression or disappearance of the most +highly cultivated minds, the tendency of philosophy is not +less strikingly marked. It is said that even in +ancient times not fewer than six distinct philosophical +schools may be recognized: 1, the prior Mimansa; +2, the later Mimansa, or Vedanta, founded by Vyasa about +1400 <small>B.C.</small> having a Vedanta literature of prodigious +extent; 3, the Logical school, bearing a close resemblance +to that of Aristotle, even in its details; 4, the Atomic +school of Canade; 5, the Atheistical school of Capila; 6, +the Theistical school of Patanjali.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The rise of +Buddhism.</div> + +<p>This great theological system, enforced by a tyrannical +hierarchy, did not maintain itself without a +conflict. Buddhism arose as its antagonist. +By an inevitable necessity, Vedaism must pass onward +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> +to Buddhism. The prophetic foresight of the great founder +of this system was justified by its prodigious, its unparalleled +and enduring success—a success that rested on +the assertion of the dogma of the absolute equality of all +men, and this in a country that for ages had been +oppressed by castes. If the Buddhist admits the existence +of God, it is not as a Creator, for matter is equally +eternal; and since it possesses a property of inherent +organization, even if the universe should perish, this +quality would quickly restore it, and carry it on to new +regenerations and new decays without any external agency. +It also is endued with intelligence and consciousness. The +Buddhists agree with the Brahmins in the doctrine of +Quietism, in the care of animal life, in transmigration. +They deny the Vedas and Puranas, have no castes, and, +agreeably to their cardinal principle, draw their priests +from all classes like the European monks. They live in +monasteries, dress in yellow, go barefoot, their heads and +beards being shaved; they have constant services in their +chapels, chanting, incense, and candles; erect monuments +and temples over the relics of holy men. They place an +especial merit in celibacy; renounce all the pleasures of +sense; eat in one hall; receive alms. To do these things +is incident to a certain phase of human progress.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Life of Arddha +Chiddi.</div> + +<p>Buddhism arose about the tenth century before Christ, +its founder being Arddha Chiddi, a native of Capila, near +Nepaul. Of his epoch there are, however, many statements. +The Avars, Siamese, and Cingalese fix it <small>B.C.</small> 600; +the Cashmerians, <small>B.C.</small> 1332; the Chinese, Mongols, +and Japanese, <small>B.C.</small> 1000. The Sanscrit +words occurring in Buddhism attest its Hindu origin, +Buddha itself being the Sanscrit for intelligence. After +the system had spread widely in India, it was carried by +missionaries into Ceylon, Tartary, Thibet, China, Japan, +Burmah, and is now professed by a greater portion of the +human race than any other religion. Until quite recently, +the history of Arddha Chiddi and the system he taught +have, notwithstanding their singular interest, been very +imperfectly known in Europe. He was born in affluence +and of a royal family. In his twenty-ninth year he retired +from the world, the pleasures of which he had tasted, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> +and of which he had become weary. The spectacle of a +gangrened corpse first arrested his thoughts. Leaving +his numerous wives, he became a religious mendicant. It +is said that he walked about in a shroud, taken from the +body of a female slave. Profoundly impressed with the +vanity of all human affairs, he devoted himself to philosophical +meditation, by severe self-denial emancipating +himself from all worldly hopes and cares. When a man +has brought himself to this pass he is able to accomplish +great things. For the name by which his parents had +called him he substituted that of Gotama, or "he who kills +the senses," and subsequently Chakia Mouni, or the Penitent +of Chakia. Under the shade of a tree Gotama was +born; under the shade of a tree he overcame the love of +the world and the fear of death; under the shade of a tree +he preached his first sermon in the shroud; under the +shade of a tree he died. In four months after he commenced +his ministry he had five disciples; at the close of +the year they had increased to twelve hundred. In the +twenty-nine centuries that have passed since that time, +they have given rise to sects counting millions of souls, +outnumbering the followers of all other religious teachers. +The system still seems to retain much of its pristine vigour; +yet religions are perishable. There is no country, except +India, which has the same religion now that it had at the +birth of Christ.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The organization +of Buddhism.</div> + +<p>Gotama died at the advanced age of eighty years; his +corpse was burnt eight days subsequently. But several +years before this event his system must be considered as +thoroughly established. It shows how little depends upon +the nature of a doctrine, and how much upon effective +organization, that Buddhism, the principles of +which are far above the reach of popular thought, +should have been propagated with so much rapidity, +for it made its converts by preaching, and not, like +Mohammedanism, by the sword. Shortly after Gotama's +death, a council of five hundred ecclesiastics assembled for +the purpose of settling the religion. A century later a +second council met to regulate the monastic institution; +and in <small>B.C.</small> 241, a third council, for the expulsion of fire-worshippers. +Under the auspices of King Asoka, whose +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +character presents singular points of resemblance to that +of the Roman emperor who summoned the Council of +Nicea, for he, too, was the murderer of his own family, +and has been handed down to posterity, because of the +success of the policy of his party, as a great, a virtuous, +and a pious sovereign—under his auspices missionaries +were sent out in all directions, and monasteries richly +endowed were everywhere established. The singular efficacy +of monastic institutions was rediscovered in Europe +many centuries subsequently.</p> + +<p>In proclaiming the equality of all men in this life, the +Buddhists, as we have seen, came into direct collision with +the orthodox creed of India, long carried out into practice +in the institution of castes—a collision that was embittered +by the abhorrence the Buddhists displayed for any distinction +between the clergy and laity. To be a Brahmin +a man must be born one, but a Buddhist priest might +voluntarily come from any rank—from the very dregs of +society. In the former system marriage was absolutely +<span class="sidenote">Contest between the Brahmans and Buddhists.</span> +essential to the ecclesiastical caste; in the latter it was +not, for the priestly ranks could be recruited without it. +And hence there followed a most important advantage, +that celibacy and chastity might be extolled as the +greatest of all the virtues. The experience of +Europe, as well as of Asia, has shown how +powerful is the control obtained by the hierarchy +in that way. In India there was, therefore, +no other course for the orthodox than to meet the +danger with bloody persecutions, and in the end, the +Buddhists, expelled from their native seats, were scattered +throughout Eastern Asia. Persecution is the mother of +proselytes.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Buddhism is founded on the conception of Power or Force.</div> + +<p>The fundamental principle of Buddhism is that there is +a supreme power, but no Supreme Being. From +this it might be inferred that they who adopt +such a creed cannot be pantheists, but must be +atheists. It is a rejection of the idea of Being, +an acknowledgment of that of Force. If it admits the +existence of God, it declines him as a Creator. It asserts +an impelling power in the universe, a self-existent and +plastic principle, but not a self-existent, an eternal, a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +personal God. It rejects inquiry into first causes as being +unphilosophical, and considers that phenomena +alone can be dealt with by our finite minds. +Not without an air of intellectual majesty, it +tolerates the Asiatic time-consecrated idea of a trinity, +pointing out one not of a corporeal, but of an impersonal +kind. Its trinity is the Past, the Present, the Future. +<span class="sidenote">It does not recognize a personal God,</span> +For the sake of aiding our thoughts, it images the Past +with his hands folded, since he has attained to rest, but +the others with their right hands extended in token of +activity. Since he has no God, the Buddhist cannot +expect absorption; the pantheistic Brahmin looks forward +to the return of his soul to the Supreme Being as a drop +of rain returns to the sea. The Buddhist has no religion, +but only a ceremonial. How can there be a religion where +there is no God?</p> + +<div class="sidenote">nor a providential government,</div> + +<p>In all this it is plain that the impersonal and immaterial +predominates, and that Gotama is contemplating +the existence of pure Force without +any association of Substance. He necessarily +denies the immediate interposition of any such agency as +Providence, maintaining that the system of nature, +once arising, must proceed irresistibly according to the +laws which brought it into being, and that from this +point of view the universe is merely a gigantic engine. +<span class="sidenote">but refers all +events to resistless law.</span> +To the Brahman priesthood such ideas were particularly +obnoxious; they were hostile to any philosophical system +founded on the principle that the world is +governed by law, for they suspected that its +tendency would be to leave them without any +mediatory functions, and therefore without any claims on +the faithful. Equally does Gotama deny the existence of +chance, saying that that which we call chance is nothing +but the effect of an unknown, unavoidable cause. As to +<span class="sidenote">Doubts the +actual existence of the visible world.</span> +the external world, we cannot tell how far it is a phantasm, +how far a reality, for our senses possess no +trustworthy criterion of truth. They convey to +the mind representations of what we consider to +be external things, by which it is furnished +with materials for its various operations; but, unless it +acts in conjunction with the senses, the operation is lost, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> +as in that absence which takes place in deep contemplation. +It is owing to our inability to determine what +share these internal and external conditions take in producing +a result that the absolute or actual state of nature +is incomprehensible by us. Nevertheless, conceding to +our mental infirmity the idea of a real existence of visible +nature, we may consider it as offering a succession of +impermanent forms, and as exhibiting an orderly series +of transmutations, innumerable universes in periods of +inconceivable time emerging one after another, and creations +and extinctions of systems of worlds taking place +according to a primordial law.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Of the nature +of man.</div> + +<p>Such are his doctrines of a Supreme Force, and of the +origin and progress of the visible world. With like +ability Gotama deals with his inquiry into the +nature of man. With Oriental imagery he bids +us consider what becomes of a grain of salt thrown into +the sea; but, lest we should be deceived herein, he +tells us that there is no such thing as individuality or +personality—that the Ego is altogether a nonentity. In +these profound considerations he brings to bear his conception +of force, in the light thereof asserting that all +sentient beings are homogeneous. If we fail to follow him +in these exalted thoughts, bound down to material ideas +by the infirmities of the human constitution, and inquire +of him how the spirit of man, which obviously displays so +much energy, can be conceived of as being without form, +without a past, without a future, he demands of us what +has become of the flame of a lamp when it is blown out, or +to tell him in what obscure condition it lay before it was +kindled. Was it a nonentity? Has it been annihilated? +By the aid of such imagery he tries to depict the nature of +existence, and to convey a vivid idea of the metamorphoses +it undergoes. Outward things are to him phantasms; the +impressions they make on the mind are phantasms too. +In this sense he receives the doctrine of transmigration, +conceiving of it very much as we conceive of the accumulation +of heat successively in different things. In one sense +it may be the same heat which occupies such objects one +after another, but in another, since heat is force and +not matter, there can be no such individuality. Viewed, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +however, in the less profound way, he is not unwilling to +adopt the doctrine of the transmigration of the +<span class="sidenote">Of transmigration +and penance,</span> +soul through various forms, admitting that there +may accumulate upon it the effect of all those +influences, whether of merit or demerit, of good or of evil, +to which it has been exposed. The vital flame is handed +down from one generation to another, it is communicated +from one animated form to another. He thinks it may +carry with it in these movements the modifications which +may have been impressed on it, and require opportunity +for shaking them off and regaining its original state. At +this point the doctrine of Gotama is assuming the aspect +of a moral system, and is beginning to suggest means of +deliverance from the accumulated evil and consequent +demerit to which the spirit has been exposed. He will +not, however, recognize any vicarious action. Each one +must work out for himself his own salvation, remembering +that death is not necessarily a deliverance from worldly +ills, it may be only a passage to new miseries. But yet, +as the light of the taper must come at last to an end, so +there is at length, though it may be after many transmigrations, +an end of life. That end he calls Nirwana, a +word that has been for nearly three thousand years of +solemn import to countless millions of men;—Nirwana, +the end of successive existences, that state which has no +relation to matter, or space, or time, to which +<span class="sidenote">and the +passage to nonentity.</span> +the departing flame of the extinguished taper +has gone. It is the supreme end, Nonentity. +The attaining of this is the object to which we ought to +aspire, and for that purpose we should seek to destroy +within ourselves all cleaving to existence, weaning ourselves +from every earthly object, from every earthly +pursuit. We should resort to monastic life, to penance, to +self-denial, self-mortification, and so gradually learn to +sink into perfect quietude or apathy, in imitation of that +state to which we must come at last, and to which, by +such preparation, we may all the more rapidly approach. +The pantheistic Brahman expects absorption in God; the +Buddhist, having no God, expects extinction.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Philosophical +estimate of +Buddhism.</div> + +<p>India has thus given to the world two distinct philosophical +systems: Vedaism, which takes as its resting-point +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +the existence of matter, and Buddhism, of which +the resting-point is force. The philosophical +ability displayed in the latter is very great; +indeed it may be doubted whether Europe has +produced its metaphysical equivalent. And yet, if I have +correctly presented its principles, it will probably appear +that its primary conception is not altogether consistently +carried out in the development of the details. Great as +was the intellectual ability of its author—so great as to +extort our profoundest, though it may be reluctant admiration—there +are nevertheless moments in which it appears +that his movement is becoming wavering and unsteady—that +he is failing to handle his ponderous weapon with +self-balanced power. This is particularly the case in that +point at which he is passing from the consideration of +pure force to the unavoidable consideration of visible +nature, the actual existence of which he seems to be +obliged to deny. But then I am not sure that I have +caught with precision his exact train of thought, or have +represented his intention with critical correctness. Considering +the extraordinary power he elsewhere displays, +it is more probable that I have failed to follow his +meaning, than that he has been, on the points in question, +incompetent to deal with his task.</p> + +<p>The works of Gotama, under the title of "Verbal +Instructions," are published by the Chinese government +in four languages—Thibetan, Mongol, Mantchou, Chinese—from +the imperial press at Pekin, in eight hundred large +volumes. They are presented to the Lama monasteries—a +magnificent gift.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Displacement +of its higher +ideas by base +ones.<br /> +Its anthropocentric +phase +remains, its +philosophical +declining.</div> + +<p>In speaking of Vedaism, I have mentioned the manner +in which its more elevated conceptions were +gradually displaced by those of a base grade +coming into prominence; and here it may be +useful in like manner to speak of the corresponding +debasement of Buddhism. Its practical working +was the introduction of an immense monastic system, +offering many points of resemblance to the subsequent one +of Europe. Since its object was altogether of a personal +kind, the attainment of individual happiness, it was not +possible that it should do otherwise than engender +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +extreme selfishness. It impressed on each man to secure +his own salvation, no matter what became of all +others. Of what concern to him were parents, +wife, children, friends, country, so long as he +attained Nirwana!</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Its legends +and miracles.</div> + +<p>Long before Buddhism had been expelled from India +by the victorious Brahmins, it had been overlaid with +popular ornaments. It had its fables, legends, +miracles. Its humble devotees implicitly believed +that Mahamia, the mother of Gotama, an immaculate +virgin, conceived him through a divine influence, and +that thus he was of the nature of God and man conjoined; +that he stood upon his feet and spoke at the moment of +his birth; that at five months of age he sat unsupported +in the air; that at the moment of his conversion he was +attacked by a legion of demons, and that in his penance-fasting +he reduced himself to the allowance of one pepper-pod +a day; that he had been incarnate many times before, +and that on his ascension through the air to heaven he +left his footprint on a mountain in Ceylon; that there is a +paradise of gems, and flowers, and feasts, and music for +the good, and a hell of sulphur, and flames, and torment +for the wicked; that it is lawful to resort to the worship +of images, but that those are in error who deify men, or +pay respect to relics; that there are spirits, and goblins, +and other superhuman forms; that there is a queen of +heaven; that the reading of the Scriptures is in itself an +actual merit, whether its precepts are followed or not; +that prayer may be offered by saying a formula by rote, +or even by turning the handle of a mill from which +invocations written on paper issue forth; that the revealer +of Buddhism is to be regarded as the religious head of the +world.</p> + +<p>The reader cannot fail to remark the resemblance of +these ideas to some of those of the Roman Church. When +a knowledge of the Oriental forms of religion was first +brought into Europe, and their real origin was not understood, +it was supposed that this coincidence had arisen +through the labours of Nestorian, or other ancient missionaries +from the West, and hopes were entertained that the +conversion of Eastern Asia would be promoted thereby. But +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +this expectation was disappointed, and that which many +good men regarded as a preparation for Christianity +proved to be a stumbling-block in its way. It is not +improbable that the pseudo-Christianity of the Chinese +revolters, of which so much has recently been said, is of +the same nature, and will end with the same result.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The great +diffusion of +Buddhism.</div> + +<p>Decorated with these extraneous but popular recommendations, +Buddhism has been embraced by two-fifths of +the human race. It has a prodigious literature, great +temples, many monuments. Its monasteries are +scattered from the north of Tartary almost to +the equinoctial line. In these an education is +imparted not unlike that of the European monasteries +of the Middle Ages. It has been estimated that in +Tartary one-third of the population are Lamas. There +are single convents containing more than two thousand +individuals; the wealth of the country voluntarily pours +into them. Elementary education is more widely diffused +than in Europe: it is rare to meet with a person who +cannot read. Among the priests there are many who are +<span class="sidenote">Its practical +godlessness.</span> +devout, and, as might be expected, many who are impostors. +It is a melancholy fact that, in China, Buddhism +has led the entire population not only into +indifferentism, but into absolute godlessness. +They have come to regard religion as merely a fashion, to +be followed according to one's own taste; that as professed +by the state it is a civil institution necessary for the +holding of office, and demanded by society, but not to be +regarded as of the smallest philosophical importance; that +a man is entitled to indulge his views on these matters +just as he is entitled to indulge his taste in the colour and +fashion of his garments; that he has no more right, however, +to live without some religious profession than he has +a right to go naked. The Chinese cannot comprehend +how there should be animosities arising on matters of +such doubtful nature and trivial concern. The formula +under which they live is: "Religions are many; reason is +one; we are brothers." They smile at the credulity of +the good-natured Tartars, who believe in the wonders of +miracle-workers, for they have miracle-workers who can +perform the most supernatural cures, who can lick red-hot +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +iron, who can cut open their bowels, and, by passing their +hand over the wound, make themselves whole again—who +can raise the dead. In China, these miracles, with all +their authentications, have descended to the conjurer, and +are performed for the amusement of children. The +common expressions of that country betray the materialism +and indifferentism of the people, and their consequent immorality. +"The prisons," they say, "are locked night and +day, but they are always full; the temples are always +open, and yet there is nobody in them." Of the dead they +say, with an exquisite refinement of euphemism, "He has +saluted the world." The Lazarist Huc, on whose authority +many of these statements are made, testifies that they die, +indeed, with incomparable tranquillity, just as animals +die; and adds, with a bitter, and yet profoundly true +sarcasm, they are what many in Europe are wanting to be.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>From the theology of India I turn, in the next place, to +the civilization of Egypt.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Egypt a mysterious +country to Europe.</div> + +<p>The ancient system of isolation which for many thousand +years had been the policy of Egypt was overthrown +by Psammetichus about <small>B.C.</small> 670. Up to that time the +inhabitants of that country had been shut out from all +Mediterranean or European contact by a rigorous exclusion +exceeding that until recently practised in China and +Japan. As from the inmates of the happy valley, in +Rasselas, no tidings escaped to the outer world, so, to the +European, the valley of the Nile was a region +of mysteries and marvels. At intervals of centuries, +individuals, like Cecrops and Danaus, +had fled to other countries, and had attached the +gratitude of posterity to their memories for the religion, +laws, or other institutions of civilization they had conferred. +The traditions connected with them served only +<span class="sidenote">Its reported wonders.</span> +to magnify those uncertain legends met with all over +Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, Sicily, of the prodigies and +miracles that adventurous pirates reported they +had actually seen in their stealthy visits to +the enchanted valley—great pyramids covering acres of +land, their tops rising to the heavens, yet each pyramid +nothing more than the tombstone of a king; colossi +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> +sitting on granite thrones, the images of Pharaohs who +lived in the morning of the world, still silently looking +upon the land which thousands of years before they had +ruled; of these, some obedient to the sun, sainted his +approach when touched by his morning rays; obelisks +of prodigious height, carved by superhuman skill from a +single block of stone, and raised by superhuman power +erect on their everlasting pedestals, their faces covered +with mysterious hieroglyphs, a language unknown to the +vulgar, telling by whom and for what they had been constructed; +temples, the massive leaning and lowering walls +of which were supported by countless ranges of statues; +avenues of sphinxes, through the shadows of which, grim +and silent, the portals of fanes might be approached; +catacombs containing the mortal remains of countless +generations, each corpse awaiting, in mysterious embalmment, +a future life; labyrinths of many hundred +chambers and vaults, into which whoso entered without +a clue never again escaped, but in the sameness and +solitude of those endless windings found his sepulchre. +It is impossible for us to appreciate the sentiment of +religious awe with which the Mediterranean people looked +upon the enchanted, the hoary, the civilized monarchy +on the banks of the Nile. As Bunsen says, "Egypt +was to the Greeks a sphinx with an intellectual human +countenance."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Its history: +the old empire; +the +Hycksos; the +new empire.</div> + +<p>Her solitude, however, had not been altogether unbroken. +After a duration of 1076 years, and +the reign of thirty-eight kings, illustrated by +the production of the most stupendous works +ever accomplished by the hand of man, some of +which, as the Pyramids, remain to our times, the old +empire, which had arisen from the union of the upper +and lower countries, had been overthrown by the Hycksos, +or shepherd kings, a race of Asiatic invaders. These, +in their turn, had held dominion for more than five +centuries, when an insurrection put an end to their +power, and gave birth to the new empire, some of the +monarchs of which, for their great achievements, are still +remembered. In the middle period of this new empire +those events in early Hebrew history took place—the visit +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +of Abram and the elevation of Joseph—which are related +with such simplicity in the Holy Scriptures. With varied +prosperity, the new empire continued until the time of +Psammetichus, who, in a civil war, having attained +supreme power by the aid of Greek mercenaries, overthrew +<span class="sidenote">Opening of +the Egyptian ports.</span> +the time-honoured policy of all the old dynasties, and +occasioned the first grand impulse in the intellectual +life of Europe by opening the ports of +Egypt, and making that country accessible to +the blue-eyed and red-haired barbarians of the North.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">This compels Egypt to +become a maritime state,</div> + +<p>It is scarcely possible to exaggerate the influence of this +event upon the progress of Europe. An immense extension +of Greek commerce by the demand for the products of the +Euxine as well as of the Mediterranean was the smallest part +of the advantage. As to Egypt herself, it entailed a complete +change in her policy, domestic and foreign. +In the former respect, the employment of the +mercenaries was the cause of the entire emigration +of the warrior caste, and in the latter +it brought things to such a condition, that, if Egypt +would continue to exist, she must become a maritime +state. Her geographical position for the purposes of +commerce was excellent; with the Red Sea on the east +and the Mediterranean on the north, she was the natural +entrepôt between Asia and Europe, as was shown by the +prosperity of Alexandria in later ages. But there was a +serious difficulty in the way of her becoming a naval +power; no timber suitable for ship-building grew in the +country—indeed, scarcely enough was to be found to +satisfy the demands for the construction of houses and +coffins for the dead. The early Egyptians, like the +Hindus, had a religious dread of the sea, but their +exclusiveness was, perhaps, not a little dependent on +their want of material for ship-building. Egypt was +therefore compelled to enter on a career of foreign conquest, +<span class="sidenote">and brings on collisions with the Babylonians.</span> +and at all hazards possess herself of the timber-growing +districts of Syria. It was this urgent necessity +which led to her collisions with the Mesopotamian +kings, and drew in its train of consequence +the sieges, sacks, and captivities of Jerusalem, +the metropolis of a little state lying directly between +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +the contending powers, and alternately disturbed by each. +Of the necessity of this course of policy in the opinion of +the Egyptian kings, we can have no better proof than the +fact that Psammetichus himself continued the siege of +<span class="sidenote">Opening of the Suez Canal.</span> +Azotus for twenty-nine years; that his son Necho reopened +the canal between the Nile at Bubastes +and the Red Sea at Suez—it was wide enough for +two ships to pass—and on being resisted therein by the +priests, who feared that it might weaken the country +strategically, attempted the circumnavigation of Africa, +and actually accomplished it. In those times such expeditions +were not undertaken as mere matters of curiosity. +Though this monarch also despatched investigators to +ascertain the sources of the Nile, and determine the causes +of its rise, it was doubtless in the hope of making such +<span class="sidenote">Circumnavigation of Africa.</span> +knowledge of use in a material or economical point of +view, and therefore it may be supposed that the circumnavigation +of Africa was undertaken upon the +anticipated or experienced failure of the advantages +expected to arise from the reopening of the canal; +for the great fleets which Necho and his father had built +could not be advantageously handled unless they could be +transferred as circumstances required, either by the circumnavigation +or by the canal, from one sea to the other. +The time occupied in passing round the continent, which +appears to have been three years, rendered the former +method of little practical use. But the failure experienced, +so far from detracting from the estimation +in which we must hold those kings who could thus +display such a breadth of conception and vigour of +execution, must even enhance it. They resumed the +policy of the conqueror Rameses II., who had many +centuries before possessed the timber-growing countries, +<span class="sidenote">History of the Great Canal.</span> +and whose engineers originally cut the canal from the +Nile to the Red Sea, though the work cost 120,000 +lives and countless treasuries of money. The +canal of Rameses, which, in the course of so many centuries, +has become filled up with sand, was thus cleaned +out, as it was again in the reign of the Ptolemies, and +again under the khalifs, and galleys passed from sea to sea. +The Persians, under Darius Hystaspes, also either repaired +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +it, or, as some say, attempted a new work of the kind; +but their engineering must have been very defective, for +they were obliged to abandon their enterprise after +carrying it as far as the bitter lakes, finding that salt water +would be introduced into the Delta. The Suez mouth of +the canal of Rameses was protected by a system of hydraulic +works, to meet difficulties arising from the variable levels +of the water. It was reserved for the French engineer +Lesseps in the nineteenth century to cut the direct canal +from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, an exploit +which the Pharaohs and Ptolemies had considered to be +impossible.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Attempts of +the Asiatics +on the south +Mediterranean +shore.</div> + +<p>The Egyptian policy continued by Pharaoh Hophra, who +succeeded in the capture of Sidon, brought on hostilities +with the Babylonian kings, who were now thoroughly +awakened to what was going on in Egypt—a collision +which occasioned the expulsion of the Egyptians from +Syria, and the seizure of the lower country by Nebuchadnezzar, +who also took vengeance on King Zedekiah for the +assistance Jerusalem had rendered to the Africans in their +projects: that city was razed to the ground, +the eyes of the king put out, and the people +carried captive to Babylon, <small>B.C.</small> 568. It is a +striking exemplification of the manner in which +national policy will endure through changes of dynasties, +that after the overthrow of Babylon by the Medes, and +the transference of power to the Persians, the policy of +controlling the Mediterranean was never for an instant +lost sight of. Attempts were continually made, by operating +alternately on the southern and northern shores, to +push westward. The subsequent history of Rome shows +what would have been the consequences of an uncontrolled +possession of the Mediterranean by a great +<span class="sidenote">Egypt overthrown +by Cambyses.</span> +maritime power. On the occasion of a revolt of +Egypt, the Persian King Cambyses so utterly +crushed and desolated it, that from that day to this, though +twenty-four centuries have intervened, it has never been +able to recover its independence. The Persian advance on +the south shore toward Carthage failed because of the indisposition +of the Phœnicians to assist in any operations +against that city. We must particularly remark that the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +ravaging of Egypt by Cambyses was contemporaneous +with the cultivation of philosophy in the southern Italian +towns—somewhat more than five hundred years before +Christ.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Fall of +Tyre.</div> + +<p>Among the incidents occurring during the struggles +between the Egyptian and Babylonian kings there is one +deserving to be brought into conspicuous prominence, +from the importance of its consequences in European +history. It was the taking of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar. +So long as that city dominated in +the Mediterranean, it was altogether impossible for Greek +maritime power to be developed. The strength of Tyre +is demonstrated by her resistance to the whole Babylonian +power for thirteen years, "until every head was bald and +every shoulder peeled." The place was, in the end, utterly +destroyed. It was made as bare as the top of a rock on +which the fisherman spreads his nets. The blow thus +struck at the heart of Tyrian commerce could not but be +felt at the utmost extremities. "The isles of the sea +were troubled at her departure." It was during this +time that Greece fairly emerged as a Mediterranean naval +power. Nor did the inhabitants of New Tyre ever recover +the ancient position. Their misfortunes had given them +a rival. A re-establishment in an island on the coast was +not a restoration of their supremacy. Carrying out what +Greece instinctively felt to be her national policy, one of +the first acts of Alexander's Asiatic campaign, two hundred +and fifty years subsequently, was the siege of the new +city, and, after almost superhuman exertions, its capture, +by building a mole from the mainland. He literally +levelled the place to the ground; a countless multitude +was massacred, two thousand persons were crucified, and +Tyrian influence disappeared for ever.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Foreign +epochs in +Greek history.</div> + +<p>In early Greek history there are, therefore, two leading +foreign events: 1st, the opening of the Egyptian +ports, <small>B.C.</small> 670; 2nd, the downfall of Old Tyre, +573. The effect of the first was chiefly intellectual; +that of the second was to permit the commencement +of commercial prosperity and give life to Athens.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Antiquity of +civilization +and art in +Egypt.</div> + +<p>At the dawn of European civilization, Egypt was, +therefore, in process of decadence, gradually becoming less +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +and less able to resist its own interior causes of destruction, +or the attempts of its Asiatic rivals, who +eventually brought it to ruin. At the first +historical appearance of the country of the Nile +it is hoary and venerable with age. The +beautiful Scripture pictures of the journey of Abram and +Sarai, in the famine, the going down of Joseph, the exodus +of the Israelites, all point to a long-settled system, a +tranquil and prosperous state. Do we ask any proof of +the condition of art to which the Egyptians had attained +at the time of their earliest monuments? The masonry +of the Great Pyramid, built thirty-four hundred years +before Christ, has never yet been surpassed. So accurately +was that wonder of the world planned and +constructed, that at this day the variation of the compass +may actually be determined by the position of its sides; +yet, when Jacob went into Egypt, that pyramid had been +built as many centuries as have intervened from the birth +of Christ to the present day. If we turn from the monuments +to their inscriptions, there are renewed evidences of +antiquity. The hieroglyphic writing had passed through +all its stages of formation; its principles had become +ascertained and settled long before we gain the first +glimpse of it; the decimal and duodecimal systems of +arithmetic were in use; the arts necessary in hydraulic +engineering, massive architecture, and the ascertainment +of the boundaries of land, had reached no insignificant +degree of perfection. Indeed, there would be but very +little exaggeration in affirming that we are practically as +near the early Egyptian ages as was Herodotus himself. +Well might the Egyptian priests say to the earliest Greek +philosophers, "You Greeks are mere children, talkative +and vain; you know nothing at all of the past."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Prehistoric +life of Egypt.</div> + +<p>Traces of the prehistoric, premonumental life of Egypt +are still preserved in the relics of its language, +and the well-known principles of its religion. +Of the former, many of the words are referable to Indo-Germanic +roots, an indication that the country at an early +period must have been conquered from its indigenous +African possessors by intrusive expeditions from Asia; +and this is supported by the remarkable principles of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +Egyptian religion. The races of Central Asia had at a +very early time attained to the psychical stage of monotheism. +Africa is only now emerging from the basest +fetichism; the negro priest is still a sorcerer and rain-maker. +The Egyptian religion, as is well known, provided for the +vulgar a suitable worship of complex idolatry, but for +those emancipated from superstition it offered true and +even noble conceptions. The coexistence of these apparent +incompatibilities in the same faith seems incapable of +any other explanation than that of an amalgamation of +two distinct systems, just as occurred again many ages +subsequently under Ptolemy Soter.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Influence of +Egypt on the +knowledge +and art of +Europe.</div> + +<p>As a critical attention is being bestowed by modern +scholars upon Egyptian remains, we learn more +truly what is the place in history of that +venerable country. It is their boast that the +day is not distant when there will be no more +difficulty in translating a page of hieroglyphics than +in translating one of Latin or Greek. Even now, +what a light has been thrown on all branches of ancient +literature, science, art, mythology, domestic life, by researches +which it may be said commenced only yesterday! +From Egypt, it now appears, were derived the prototypes +of the Greek architectural orders, and even their ornaments +and conventional designs; thence came the models of the +Greek and Etruscan vases; thence came many of the +ante-Homeric legends—the accusation of the dead, the +trial before the judges of hell; the reward and punishment +of every man, from the Pharaoh who had descended from +his throne to the slave who had escaped from his chain; +the dog Cerberus, the Stygian stream, the Lake of +Oblivion, the piece of money, Charon and his boat, the +fields of Aahlu or Elysium, and the islands of the blessed; +thence came the first ritual for the dead, litanies to the +sun, and painted or illuminated missals; thence came the +dogma of a queen of heaven. What other country can +offer such noble and enduring edifices to the gods; temples +with avenues of sphinxes; massive pylons adorned with +obelisks in front, which even imperial Rome and modern +Paris have not thought it beneath them to appropriate; +porticoes and halls of columns, on which were carved the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +portraits of kings and effigies of the gods? On the walls of +the tombs still remain Pthah, the creator, and Neph, the +divine spirit, sitting at the potters wheel, turning clay to +form men; and Athor, who receives the setting sun into +her arms; and Osiris, the judge of the dead. The granite +statues have outlived the gods!</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The hieroglyphics.</div> + +<p>Moreover, the hieroglyphics furnish intrinsic evidence +that among this people arose the earliest +attempts at the perpetuation and imparting of +ideas by writing. Though doubtless it was in the beginning +a mere picture-writing, like that of the Mexicans, it +had already, at the first moment we meet with it, undergone +a twofold development—ideographic and phonetic; +the one expressing ideas, the other sounds. Under the +Macedonian kings the hieroglyphics had become restricted +to religious uses, showing conclusively that the old priesthood +had never recovered the terrible blows struck against +it by Cambyses and Ochus. From that time forth they +were less and less known. It is said that one of the +Roman emperors was obliged to offer a reward for the +translation of an obelisk. To the early Christian the +hieroglyphic inscription was an abomination, as full of +the relics of idolatry, and indicating an inspiration of the +devil. He defaced the monuments wherever he could make +them yield; and in many cases has preserved them for us +by plastering them over to hide them from his sight.</p> + +<p>In those enigmatical characters an extensive literature +once existed, of which the celebrated books of Hermes +were perhaps a corruption or a relic; a literature embracing +compositions on music, astronomy, cosmogony, geography, +medicine, anatomy, chemistry, magic, and many +other subjects that have amused the curiosity of man. +Yet of those characters the most singular misconceptions +have been entertained almost to our own times. Thus, in +1802, Palin thought that the papyri were the Psalms of +David done into Chinese, Lenoir that they were Hebrew +documents; it was even asserted that the inscriptions in +the temple of Denderah were the 100th Psalm, a pleasant +ecclesiastical conceit, reminding one who has seen in +Egyptian museums old articles of brass and glass, of the +stories delivered down from hand to hand, that brass was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +first made at the burning of Corinth, and glass first discovered +by shipwrecked mariners, who propped their +kettle, while it boiled, on pieces of nitre.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Antiquity of +the Egyptian +monarchy.</div> + +<p>Thousands of years have passed since the foundation of +the first Egyptian dynasty. The Pyramids +have seen the old empire, the Hycksos monarchs, +the New Empire, the Persian, the Macedonian, +the Roman, the Mohammedan. They have stood +while the heavens themselves have changed. They were +already "five hundred years old when the Southern Cross +disappeared from the horizon of the countries of the +Baltic." The pole-star itself is a newcomer to them. +Humboldt, referring to these incidents, remarks that "the +past seems to be visibly nearer to us when we thus connect +its measurement with great and memorable events." +No country has had such a varied history as this birthplace +of European civilization. Through the darkness of +fifty centuries we may not be able to discern the motives +of men, but through periods very much longer we can +demonstrate the conditions of Nature. If nations, in one +sense, depend on the former, in a higher sense they depend +on the latter. It was not without reason that the Egyptians +<span class="sidenote">Causes of the +rise of civilization.</span> +took the lead in Mediterranean civilization. +The geographical structure of their country surpasses +even its hoary monuments in teaching us +the conditions under which that people were placed. +Nature is a surer guide than the traces of man, whose +works are necessarily transitory. The aspect of Egypt +has changed again and again; its structure, since man +has inhabited it, never. The fields have disappeared, but +the land remains.</p> + +<p>Why was it that civilization thus rose on the banks of +the Nile, and not upon those of the Danube or Mississippi? +Civilization depends on climate and agriculture. In +Egypt the harvests may ordinarily be foretold and controlled. +Of few other parts of the world can the same be +said. In most countries the cultivation of the soil is +uncertain. From seed-time to harvest, the meteorological +variations are so numerous and great, that no skill can +predict the amount of yearly produce. Without any premonition, +the crops may be cut off by long-continued +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +droughts, or destroyed by too much rain. Nor is it sufficient +that a requisite amount of water should fall; to +produce the proper effect, it must fall at particular periods. +The labour of the farmer is at the mercy of the winds and +clouds.</p> + +<p>With difficulty, therefore, could a civilized state originate +under such circumstances. So long as life is a scene of +uncertainty, the hope of yesterday blighted by the realities +of to day, man is the maker of expedients, but not of laws. +In his solicitude as to his approaching lot, he has neither +time nor desire to raise his eyes to the heavens to watch +and record their phenomena; no leisure to look upon himself, +and consider what and where he is. In the imperious +demand for a present support, he dares not venture on +speculative attempts at ameliorating his state; he is +doomed to be a helpless, isolated, spell-bound savage, or, +if not isolated, the companion of other savages as care-worn +as himself. Under such circumstances, however, if +once the preliminary conditions and momentum of civilization +be imparted to him, the very things which have +hitherto tended to depress him produce an opposite effect. +Instead of remaining in sameness and apathy, the vicissitudes +to which he is now exposed urge him onward; and +thus it is that, though the civilization of Europe depended +for its commencement on the sameness and stability of an +African climate, the conquests of Nature which mark its +more advanced stage have been made in the trying life of +the temperate zone.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Agriculture +in a rainless +country.</div> + +<p>There is a country in which man is not the sport of the +seasons, in which he need have no anxieties +for his future well-being—a country in which +the sunshines and heats vary very little from +year to year. In the Thebaid heavy rain is said to be a +prodigy. But, at the time when the Dog-star rises with +the sun, the river begins to swell; a tranquil inundation +by degrees covering the land, at once watering and enriching +it. If the Nilometer which measures the height of +the flood indicates eight cubits, the crops will be scanty; +but if it reaches fourteen cubits, there will be a plentiful +harvest. In the spring of the year it may be known how +the fields will be in the autumn. Agriculture is certain +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +in Egypt, and there man first became civilized. The date-tree, +moreover, furnishes to Africa a food almost without +expense. The climate renders it necessary to use, for +the most part, vegetable diet, and but little clothing is +required.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Rainless +countries of +the West.</div> + +<p>The American counterpart of Egypt in this physical condition +is Peru, the coast of which is also a rainless +district. Peru is the Egypt of civilization +of the Western continent. There is also a rainless +strand on the Pacific coast of Mexico. It is an incident +full of meaning in the history of human progress, that, in +regions far apart, civilization thus commenced in rainless +countries.</p> + +<p>In Upper Egypt, the cradle of civilization, the influence +of atmospheric water is altogether obliterated, for, in +an agricultural point of view, the country is rainless. +Variable meteorological conditions are there eliminated.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Inundations +of the Nile.</div> + +<p>Where the Nile breaks through the mountain gate at +Essouan, it is observed that its waters begin to +rise about the end of the month of May, and in +eight or nine weeks the inundation is at its height. This +flood in the river is due to the great rains which have +fallen in the mountainous countries among which the +Nile takes its rise, and which have been precipitated from +the trade-winds that blow, except where disturbed by the +monsoons, over the vast expanse of the tropical Indian +Ocean. Thus dried, the east wind pursues its solemn +course over the solitudes of Central Africa, a cloudless +and a rainless wind, its track marked by desolation and +deserts. At first the river becomes red, and then green, +because the flood of its great Abyssinian branch, the Blue +Nile, arrives first; but, soon after, that of the White Nile +makes its appearance, and from the overflowing banks not +<span class="sidenote">Gradual rise +of the whole country.</span> +only water, but a rich and fertilizing mud, is discharged. +It is owing to the solid material thus brought +down that the river in countless ages has raised +its own bed, and has embanked itself with +shelving deposits that descend on either side toward the +desert. For this reason it is that the inundation is seen on +the edge of the desert first, and, as the flood rises, the whole +country up to the river itself is laid under water. By the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +middle of September the supply begins to fail and the +waters abate; by the end of October the stream has +returned to its usual limits. The fields are left covered +with a fertile deposit, the maximum quantity of which is +about six inches thick in a hundred years. It is thought +that the bed of the river rises four feet in a thousand +years, and the fertilized land in its width continually +encroaches on the desert. Since the reign of Amenophis +III. it has increased by one-third. He lived <small>B.C.</small> 1430. +There have accumulated round the pedestal of his Colossus +seven feet of mud.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Geological +age of Egypt.</div> + +<p>In the recent examinations made by the orders of the +Viceroy of Egypt, close by the fallen statue of Rameses +II., at Memphis, who reigned, according to +Lepsius, from <small>B.C.</small> 1394 to <small>B.C.</small> 1328, a shaft +was sunk to more than 24 feet. The water which then +infiltrated compelled a resort to boring, which was continued +until 41 feet 4½ inches were reached. The whole +consisted of Nile deposits, alternate layers of loam and +sand of the same composition throughout. From the +greatest depth a fragment of pottery was obtained. +Ninety-five of these borings were made in various places, +but on no occasion was solid rock reached. The organic +remains were all recent; not a trace of an extinct fossil +occurred, but an abundance of the residues of burnt bricks +and pottery. In their examination from Essouan to +Cairo, the French estimated the mud deposit to be five +inches for each century. From an examination of the +results at Heliopolis, Mr. Horner makes it 3·18 inches. +The Colossus of Rameses II. is surrounded by a sediment +nine feet four inches deep, fairly estimated. Its date of +erection was about 3215 years ago, which gives 3½ inches +per century. But beneath it similar layers continue to +the depth of 30 feet, which, at the same rate, would give +13,500 years, to <small>A.D.</small> 1854, at which time the examination +was made. Every precaution seems to have been taken to +obtain accurate results.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Its geography +and topography.</div> + +<p>The extent of surface affected by the inundations of the +Nile is, in a geographical point of view, altogether +insignificant; yet, such as it was, it constituted +Egypt. Commencing at the Cataract of Essouan, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +at the sacred island of Philæ, on which to this day here +and there the solitary palm-tree looks down, it reached to +the Mediterranean Sea, from 24° 3Ž N. to 31° 37Ž N. The +river runs in a valley, bounded on one side by the eastern +and on the other by the Libyan chain of mountains, and +of which the average breadth is about seven miles, the +arable land, however, not averaging more than five and a +half. At the widest place it is ten and three-quarters, at +the narrowest two. The entire surface of irrigated and +fertile land in the Delta is 4500 square miles; the arable +land of Egypt, 2255 square miles; and in the Fyoom, 340 +square miles, an insignificant surface, yet it supported +seven millions of people.</p> + +<p>Here agriculture was so precise that it might almost be +pronounced a mathematical art. The disturbances arising +from atmospheric conditions were eliminated, and the +variations, as connected with the supply of river-water, +ascertained in advance. The priests proclaimed how the +flood stood on the Nilometer, and the husbandman made +corresponding preparations for a scanty or an abundant +harvest.</p> + +<p>In such a state of things, it was an obvious step to +improve upon the natural conditions by artificial means; +dykes, and canals, and flood-gates, with other hydraulic +apparatus, would, even in the beginning of society, +unavoidably be suggested, that in one locality the water +might be detained longer; in another, shut off when +there was danger of excess; in another, more abundantly +introduced.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Control of +agriculture by +the government.</div> + +<p>There followed, as a consequence of this condition of +things, the establishment of a strong government, +having a direct control over the agriculture +of the state by undertaking and supporting +these artificial improvements, and sustaining +itself by a tax cheerfully paid, and regulated in +amount by the quantity of water supplied from the river +to each estate. Such, indeed, was the fundamental +political system of the country. The first king of the old +empire undertook to turn the river into a new channel he +made for it, a task which might seem to demand very able +engineering, and actually accomplished it. It is more +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +than five thousand years since Menes lived. There must +have preceded his times many centuries, during which +knowledge and skill had been increasing, before such a +work could even have been contemplated.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Topographical +changes occasioned +by the +Nile.</div> + +<p>I shall not indulge in any imaginary description of the +manner in which, under such favourable circumstances, +the powers of the human mind were +developed and civilization arose. In inaccessible +security, the inhabitants of this valley were +protected on the west by a burning sandy desert, on the +east by the Red Sea. Nor shall I say anything more of +those remote geological times when the newly-made river +first flowed over a rocky and barren desert on its way to +the Mediterranean Sea; nor how, in the course of ages, it +had by degrees laid down a fertile stratum, embanking +itself in the rich soil it had borne from the tropical +mountains. Yet it is none the less true that such was the +slow construction of Egypt as a habitable country; such +were the gradual steps by which it was fitted to become +the seat of man. The pulse of its life-giving artery makes +but one beat in a year; what, then, are a few hundreds +of centuries in such a process?</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The inundations +lead to +the study of +astronomy.</div> + +<p>The Egyptians had, at an early period, observed that +the rising of the Nile coincided with the +heliacal rising of Sirius, the Dog-star, and hence +they very plausibly referred it to celestial +agencies. Men are ever prone to mistake +coincidences for causes; and thus it came to pass that the +appearance of that star on the horizon at the rising of the +sun was not only viewed as the signal, but as the cause +of the inundations. Its coming to the desired position +might, therefore, be well expected, and it was soon +observed that this took place with regularity at periods of +about 360 days. This was the first determination of the +length of the year. It is worthy of remark, as showing +how astronomy and religious rites were in the beginning +connected, that the priests of the mysterious temple of +Philæ placed before the tomb of Osiris every morning +360 vases of milk, each one commemorating one +day, thus showing that the origin of that rite was in +those remote ages when it was thought that the year was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> +360 days long. It was doubtless such circumstances that +led the Egyptians to the cultivation of historical habits. +In this they differed from the Hindus, who kept no +records.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The philosophy +of star-worship.</div> + +<p>The Dog-star Sirius is the most splendid star in the +heavens; to the Egyptian the inundation was +the most important event upon earth. Mistaking +a coincidence for a cause, he was led to +the belief that when that brilliant star emerged in the +morning from the rays of the sun, and began to assert its +own inherent power, the sympathetic river, moved thereby, +commenced to rise. A false inference like this soon +dilated into a general doctrine; for if one star could in +this way manifest a direct control over the course of +terrestrial affairs, why should not another—indeed, why +should not all? Moreover, it could not have escaped +notice that the daily tides of the Red Sea are connected +with the movements and position of the sun and moon, +following those luminaries in the time of their occurrence, +and being determined by their respective position as +to amount at spring and at neap. But the necessary +result of such a view is no other than the admission of the +astrological influence of the heavenly bodies; first, as +respects inanimate nature, and then as respects the +fortune and fate of men. It is not until the vast distance +of the starry bodies is suspected that man begins to feel +the necessity of a mediator between him and them, and +star-worship passes to its second phase.</p> + +<p>To what part of the world could the Egyptian travel +without seeing in the skies the same constellations? Far +from the banks of the Nile, in the western deserts, in +Syria, in Arabia, the stars are the same. They are +omnipresent; for we may lose sight of the things of the +earth, but not of those of the heavens. The air of fate-like +precision with which their appointed movements are +accomplished, their solemn silence, their incomprehensible +distances, might satisfy an observer that they are far +removed from the influences of all human power, though, +perhaps, they may be invoked by human prayer.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Principles of +Egyptian +theology.</div> + +<p>Thus star-worship found for itself a plausible justification. +The Egyptian system, at its highest development, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> +combined the adoration of the heavenly bodies—the sun, +the moon, Venus, &c., with the deified attributes +of God. The great and venerable divinities, +as Osiris, Pthah, Amun, were impersonations of +such attributes, just as we speak of the Creator, the +Almighty. It was held that not only has God never +appeared upon earth in the human form, but that such +is altogether an impossibility, since he is the animating +principle of the entire universe, visible nature being only +a manifestation of him.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">God. +Trinities and +their persons.</div> + +<p>These impersonated attributes were arranged in various +trinities, in each of which the third member is a +procession from the other two, the doctrine and +even expressions in this respect being full of +interest to one who studies the gradual development of +comparative theology in Europe. Thus from Amun by +Maut proceeds Khonso, from Osiris by Isis proceeds Horus, +from Neph by Saté proceeds Anouké. While, therefore, +it was considered unlawful to represent God except by his +attributes, these trinities and their persons offered abundant +means of idolatrous worship for the vulgar. It was +admitted that there had been terrestrial manifestations of +these divine attributes for the salvation of men. Thus +Osiris was incarnate in the flesh: he fell a sacrifice to the +evil principle, and, after his death and resurrection, +became the appointed judge of the dead. In his capacity +of President of the West, or of the region of the setting +stars, he dwells in the under world, which is traversed by +the sun at night.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Incarnations; +fall of man; +redemption.</div> + +<p>The Egyptian priests affirmed that nothing is ever +annihilated; to die is therefore only to assume a new +form. Herodotus says that they were the first to discover +that the soul is immortal, their conception of it being +that it is an emanation from or a particle of the universal +soul, which in a less degree animates all animals and +plants, and even inorganic things. Their dogma that +there had been divine incarnations obliged +them to assert that there had been a fall of +man, this seeming to be necessary to obtain a +logical argument in justification of prodigies so great. +For the relief of the guilty soul, they prescribed in this +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +life fasts and penances, and in the future a transmigration +<span class="sidenote">The future judgment.</span> +through animals for purification. At death, the merits of +the soul were ascertained by a formal trial +before Osiris in the shadowy region of Amenti—the +under world—in presence of the four genii of that +realm, and of forty-two assessors. To this judgment the +shade was conducted by Horus, who carried him past +Cerberus, a hippopotamus, the gaunt guardian of the gate. +He stood by in silence while Anubis weighed his heart in +the scales of justice. If his good works preponderated, he +was dismissed to the fields of Aahlu—the Elysian Fields; +if his evil, he was condemned to transmigration.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The trial of +the dead.</div> + +<p>But that this doctrine of a judgment in another world +might not decline into an idle legend, it was enforced by +a preparatory trial in this—a trial of fearful and living +import. From the sovereign to the meanest subject, every +man underwent a sepulchral inquisition. As +soon as any one died, his body was sent to the +embalmers, who kept it forty days, and for thirty-two +in addition the family mourned, the mummy, in its coffin, +was placed erect in an inner chamber of the house. Notice +was then sent to the forty-two assessors of the district; +and on an appointed day, the corpse was carried to the +sacred lake, of which every nome, and, indeed, every large +town, had one toward the west. Arrived on its shore, the +trial commenced; any person might bring charges against +the deceased, or speak in his behalf; but woe to the false +accuser. The assessors then passed sentence according to +the evidence before them: if they found an evil life, +sepulture was denied, and, in the midst of social disgrace, +the friends bore back the mummy to their home, to be +redeemed by their own good works in future years; or, if +<span class="sidenote">Origin of the Greek Hades.</span> +too poor to give it a place of refuge, it was buried on the +margin of the lake, the culprit ghost waiting +and wandering for a hundred years. On these +Stygian shores the bones of some are still dug up in our +day: they have remained unsepulchred for more than +thirty times their predestined century. Even to wicked +kings a burial had thus been denied. But, if the verdict +of the assessors was favourable, a coin was paid to the +boatman Charon for ferriage; a cake was provided for the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +hippopotamus Cerberus; they rowed across the lake in the +baris, or death-boat, the priest announcing to Osiris and +the unearthly assessors the good deeds of the deceased. +Arriving on the opposite shore, the procession walked in +solemn silence, and the mummy was then deposited in its +final resting-place—the catacombs.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Ceremonies, +creeds, +oracles, +prophecy.</div> + +<p>From this it may be gathered that the Egyptian religion +did not remain a mere speculative subject, but was +enforced on the people by the most solemn ceremonies. +Moreover, in the great temples, grand processional +services were celebrated, the precursors +of some that still endure. There were sacrifices +of meat-offerings, libations, incense. The national +double creed, adapted in one branch to the vulgar, +in the other to the learned, necessarily implied mysteries; +some of these were avowedly transported to Greece. The +machinery of oracles was resorted to. The Greek oracles +were of Egyptian origin. So profound was the respect +paid to their commands that even the sovereigns were +obliged to obey them. It was thus that a warning from +the oracle of Amun caused Necho to stop the construction +of his canal. For the determination of future events, +omens were studied, entrails inspected, and nativities were +cast.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +GREEK AGE OF INQUIRY.</p> + +<p class='center'><small>RISE AND DECLINE OF PHYSICAL SPECULATION.</small></p> + +<div class='blockquot'><p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Ionian Philosophy</span>, <i>commencing from Egyptian Ideas, identifies in +Water, or Air, or Fire, the First Principle.—Emerging from the Stage +of Sorcery, it founds Psychology, Biology, Cosmogony, Astronomy, and +ends in doubting whether there is any Criterion of Truth.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Italian Philosophy</span> <i>depends on Numbers and Harmonies.—It +reproduces the Egyptian and Hindu Doctrine of Transmigration.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Eleatic Philosophy</span> <i>presents a great Advance, indicating a rapid +Approach to Oriental Ideas.—It assumes a Pantheistic Aspect.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Rise of Philosophy in European Greece.</span>—<i>Relations and Influence of +the Mediterranean Commercial and Colonial System.—Athens attains +to commercial Supremacy.—Her vast Progress in Intelligence and Art.—Her +Demoralization.—She becomes the Intellectual Centre of the +Mediterranean.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Commencement of the Athenian higher Analysis.—It is conducted by</i> <span class="smcap">The +Sophists</span>, <i>who reject Philosophy, Religion, and even Morality, and end +in Atheism.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Political Dangers of the higher Analysis.—Illustration from the Middle +Ages.</i></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote">Origin of +Greek philosophy.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> Chapter II. I have described the origin and decline of +Greek Mythology; in this, I am to relate the +first European attempt at philosophizing. The +Ionian systems spring directly out of the contemporary +religious opinions, and appear as a phase in +Greek comparative theology.</p> + +<p>Contrasted with the psychical condition of India, we +cannot but be struck with the feebleness of these first +European efforts. They correspond to that period in +which the mind has shaken off its ideas of sorcery, but +has not advanced beyond geocentral and anthropocentral +conceptions. As is uniformly observed, as soon as man has +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Its imperfections.</span> +collected what he considers to be trustworthy data, he forthwith +applies them to a cosmogony, and develops +pseudo-scientific systems. It is not until a later +period that he awakens to the suspicion that we have no +absolute knowledge of truth.</p> + +<p>The reader, who might, perhaps, be repelled by the +apparent worthlessness of the succession of Greek opinions +now to be described, will find them assume an interest, if +considered in the aggregate, or viewed as a series of steps +or stages of European approach to conclusions long before +arrived at in Egypt and India. Far in advance of anything +that Greece can offer, the intellectual history of +India furnishes systems at once consistent and imposing—systems +not remaining useless speculations, but becoming +inwoven in social life.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Commences +in Asia Minor.</div> + +<p>Greek philosophy is considered as having originated +with Thales, who, though of Phœnician descent, +was born at Miletus, a Greek colony in Asia +Minor, about <small>B.C.</small> 640. At that time, as related in the last +chapter, the Egyptian ports had been opened to foreigners +by Psammetichus. In the civil war which that monarch +had been waging with his colleagues, he owed his success +to Ionian and other Greek mercenaries whom he had +employed; but, though proving victor in the contest, his +political position was such as to compel him to depart +from the maxims followed in his country for so many +thousand years, and to permit foreigners to have access to +it. Hitherto the Europeans had been only known to the +Egyptians as pirates and cannibals.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Doctrine of +Thales<br /> +is derived +from Egypt.</div> + +<p>From the doctrine of Thales, it may be inferred that, +though he had visited Egypt, he had never been +in communication with its sources of learning, +but had merely mingled among the vulgar, from whom he +had gathered the popular notion that the first principle is +water. The state of things in Egypt suggests +that this primitive dogma of European philosophy +was a popular notion in that country. With but +little care on the part of men the fertilizing Nile-water +yielded those abundant crops which made Egypt the +granary of the Old World. It might therefore be said, +both philosophically and facetiously, that the first principle +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Importance of water in Egypt.</span> +of all things is water. The harvests depended on it, and, +through them, animals and man. The government +of the country was supported by it, for +the financial system was founded on a tax paid by the +proprietors of the land for the use of the public sluices +and aqueducts. There was not a peasant to whom it was +not apparent that water is the first principle of all things, +even of taxation; and, since it was not only necessary to +survey lands to ascertain the surface that had been +irrigated, but to redetermine their boundaries after the +subsidence of the flood, even the scribes and surveyors +might concede that geometry itself was indebted for its +origin to water.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Thales asserts +that water is +the first +principle.</div> + +<p>If, therefore, in any part of the Old World, this doctrine +had both a vulgar and a philosophical significance, that +country was Egypt. We may picture to ourselves the +inquisitive but ill-instructed Thales carried in some pirate-ship +or trading-bark to the mysterious Nile, respecting +which Ionia was full of legends and myths. He saw the +aqueducts, canals, flood-gates, the great Lake Mœris, dug +by the hand of man as many ages before his day as have +elapsed from his day to ours; he saw on all sides the +adoration paid to the river, for it had actually become +deified; he learned from the vulgar, with whom +alone he came in contact, their universal belief +that all things arise from water—from the vulgar +alone, for, had he ever been taught by the +priests, we should have found traces in his system of the +doctrines of emanation, transmigration, and absorption, +which were imported into Greece in later times. We may +interpret the story of Thales on the principles which +would apply in the case of some intelligent Indian who +should find his way to the outposts of a civilized country. +Imperfectly acquainted with the language, and coming in +contact with the lower class alone, he might learn their +vulgar philosophy, and carry back the fancied treasure to +his home.</p> + +<p>As to the profound meaning which some have been +disposed to extract from the dogma of Thales, we shall, +perhaps, be warranted in rejecting it altogether. It +has been affirmed that he attempted to concentrate all +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +supernatural powers in one; to reduce all possible agents +to unity; in short, out of polytheism to bring forth monotheism; +to determine the invariable in the variable; and +to ascertain the beginning of things: that he observed +how infinite is the sea; how necessary moisture is to +growth; nay, even how essential it was to the well-being +of himself; "that without moisture his own body would +not have been what it was, but a dry husk falling to +pieces." Nor can we adopt the opinion that the intention +of Thales was to establish a coincidence between philosophy +and the popular theology as delivered by Hesiod, who +affirms that Oceanus is one of the parent-gods of Nature. +The imputation of irreligion made against him shows at +what an early period the antagonism of polytheism and +scientific inquiry was recognized. But it is possible to +believe that all things are formed out of one primordial +substance, without denying the existence of a creative +power. Or, to use the Indian illustration, the clay may +not be the potter.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Other doctrines +of Thales.</div> + +<p>Thales is said to have predicted the solar eclipse which +terminated a battle between the Medes and Lydians, but +it has been suggestively remarked that it is not stated that +he predicted the day on which it should occur. +He had an idea that warmth originates from or +is nourished by humidity, and that even the sun and stars +derived their aliment out of the sea at the time of their +rising and setting. Indeed, he regarded them as living +beings; obtaining an argument from the phenomena of +amber and the magnet, supposed by him to possess a living +soul, because they have a moving force. Moreover, he +taught that the whole world is an insouled thing, and that +it is full of dæmons. Thales had, therefore, not completely +passed out of the stage of sorcery.</p> + +<p>His system obtained importance not only from its own +plausibility, but because it was introduced under favourable +auspices and at a favourable time. It came into Asia +Minor as a portion of the wisdom of Egypt, and therefore +with a prestige sufficient to assure for it an attentive reception. +But this would have been of little avail had not +the mental culture of Ionia been advanced to a degree +suitable for offering to it conditions of development. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +Under such circumstances the Egyptian dogma formed the +starting-point for a special method of philosophizing.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">They constitute +the starting-point +of +Ionian philosophy.</div> + +<p>The manner in which that development took place +illustrates the vigour of the Grecian mind. In Egypt a +doctrine might exist for thousands of years, protected +by its mere antiquity from controversy +or even examination, and hence sink with the +lapse of time into an ineffectual and lifeless +state; but the same doctrine brought into a young +community full of activity would quickly be made productive +and yield new results. As seeds taken from the coffins of +mummies, wherein they have been shut up for thousands +of years, when placed under circumstances favourable for +development in a rich soil, and supplied with moisture, +have forthwith, even in our own times, germinated, borne +flowers, and matured new seeds, so the rude philosophy of +Thales passed through a like development. Its tendency is +shown in the attempt it at once made to describe the universe, +even before the parts thereof had been determined.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Anaximenes +asserts that +air is the first +principle.</div> + +<p>But it is not alone the water or ocean that seems to be +infinite, and capable of furnishing a supply for the origin +of all other things. The air, also, appears to reach as far +as the stars. On it, as Anaximenes of Miletus remarks, +"the very earth itself floats like a broad leaf." Accordingly, +this Ionian, stimulated doubtless by +the hope of sharing in or succeeding to the +celebrity that Thales had enjoyed for a century, +proposed to substitute for water, as the primitive +source of things, atmospheric air. And, in truth, there +seem to be reasons for bestowing upon it such a pre-eminence. +To those who have not looked closely into the +matter, it would appear that water itself is generated from +it, as when clouds are formed, and from them rain-drops, +and springs, and fountains, and rivers, and even the sea. +He also attributes infinity to it, a dogma scarcely requiring +any exercise of the imagination, but being rather the +expression of an ostensible fact; for who, when he looks +upward, can discern the boundary of the atmosphere. +<span class="sidenote">It is also the soul.</span> +Anaximenes also held that even the human soul +itself is nothing but air, since life consists in +inhaling and exhaling it, and ceases as soon as that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +process stops. He taught also that warmth and cold arise +from mere rarefaction and condensation, and gave as a +proof the fact that when we breathe with the lips drawn +together the air is cold, but it becomes warm when we +breathe through the widely-opened mouth. Hence he +concluded that, with a sufficient rarefaction, air might +turn into fire, and that this probably was the origin of the +sun and stars, blazing comets, and other meteors; but if by +chance it should undergo condensation, it would turn into +wind and clouds, or, if that operation should be still more +increased, into water, snow, hail, and, at last, even into +earth itself. And since it is seen from the results of +<span class="sidenote">The air is God.</span> +breathing that the air is a life-giving principle to man, +nay, even is actually his soul, it would appear to +be a just inference that the infinite air is God +and that the gods and goddesses have sprung from it.</p> + +<p>Such was the philosophy of Anaximenes. It was the +beginning of that stimulation of activity by rival schools +which played so distinguished a part in the Greek intellectual +movement. Its superiority over the doctrine of +Thales evidently consists in this, that it not only assigns +a primitive substance, but even undertakes to show by +observation and experiment how others arise from it, and +transformations occur. As to the discovery of the obliquity +of the ecliptic by the aid of a gnomon attributed to Anaximenes, +it was merely a boast of his vainglorious countrymen, +and altogether beyond the scientific grasp of one +who had no more exact idea of the nature of the earth +than that it was "like a broad leaf floating in the air."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Diogenes +asserts that +air is the soul +of the world.</div> + +<p>The doctrines of Anaximenes received a very important +development in the hands of Diogenes of Apollonia, who +asserted that all things originate from one essence, which, +undergoing continual changes, becoming different at different +times, turns back again to the same state. He +regarded the entire world as a living being, spontaneously +evolving and transforming itself, and +agreed with Anaximenes that the soul of man +is nothing but air, as is also the soul of the +world. From this it follows that the air must be eternal, +imperishable, and endowed with consciousness. "It knows +much; for without reason it would be impossible for all to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +be arranged so duly and proportionately as that all should +maintain its fitting measure, winter and summer, night +and day, the rain, the wind, and fair weather; and whatever +object we consider will be found to have been ordered +in the best and most beautiful manner possible." "But +that which has knowledge is that which men call air; it +is it that regulates and governs all, and hence it is the use +of air to pervade all, and to dispose all, and to be in all, +for there is nothing that has not part in it."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Difficulty of +rising above +fetichism.</div> + +<p>The early cultivator of philosophy emerges with difficulty +from fetichism. The harmony observed +among the parts of the world is easily explained +on the hypothesis of a spiritual principle residing +in things, and arranging them by its intelligent volition. +It is not at once that he rises to the conception that all +this beauty and harmony are due to the operation of law. +We are so prone to judge of the process of external things +from the modes of our own personal experience, our acts +being determined by the exercise of our wills, that it is +with difficulty we disentangle ourselves from such notions +in the explanation of natural phenomena. Fetichism may +be observed in the infancy of many of the natural sciences. +Thus the electrical power of amber was imputed to a soul +residing in that substance, a similar explanation being also +given of the control of the magnet over iron. The movements +of the planetary bodies, Mercury, Venus, Mars, were +attributed to an intelligent principle residing in each, +<span class="sidenote">Astronomy and chemistry have passed +beyond the fetich stage.</span> +guiding and controlling the motions, and ordering all +things for the best. It was an epoch in the history of the +human mind when astronomy set an example to all other +sciences of shaking off its fetichism, and showing that +the intricate movements of the heavenly bodies +are all capable not only of being explained, +but even foretold, if once was admitted the +existence of a simple, yet universal, invariable, +and eternal law.</p> + +<p>Not without difficulty do men perceive that there is nothing +inconsistent between invariable law and endlessly +varying phenomena, and that it is a more noble view +of the government of this world to impute its order to +a penetrating primitive wisdom, which could foresee +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> +consequences throughout a future eternity, and provide for +them in the original plan at the outset, than to invoke the +perpetual intervention of an ever-acting spiritual agency +for the purpose of warding off misfortunes that might +happen, and setting things to rights. Chemistry furnishes +us with a striking example—an example very opportune +in the case we are considering—of the doctrine of Diogenes +of Apollonia, that the air is actually a spiritual being; for, +on the discovery of several of the gases by the earlier experimenters, +they were not only regarded as of a spiritual +nature, but actually received the name under which they +pass to this day, gheist or gas, from a belief that they were +ghosts. If a labourer descended into a well and was suffocated, +as if struck dead by some invisible hand; if a lamp +lowered down burnt for a few moments with a lurid flame, +and was then extinguished; if, in a coal mine, when the +unwary workman exposed a light, on a sudden the place +was filled with flashing flames and thundering explosions, +tearing down the rocks and destroying every living thing +in the way, often, too, without leaving on the dead any +marks of violence; what better explanation could be given +of such catastrophes than to impute them to some supernatural +agent? Nor was there any want, in those times, +of well-authenticated stories of unearthly faces and forms +seen in such solitudes.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Origin of +psychology.</div> + +<p>The modification made by Diogenes in the theory of +Anaximenes, by converting it from a physical +into a psychological system, is important, as +marking the beginning of the special philosophy of +Greece. The investigation of the intellectual development +of the universe led the Greeks to the study of the +intellect itself. In his special doctrine, Diogenes imputed +the changeability of the air to its mobility; a property in +which he thought it excelled all other substances, because +it is among the rarest or thinnest of the elements. It is, +however, said by some, who are disposed to transcendentalize +his doctrine, that he did not mean the common +atmospheric air, but something more attenuated and warm; +and since, in its purest state, it constitutes the most perfect +intellect, inferior degrees of reason must be owing to +an increase of its density and moisture. Upon such a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> +principle, the whole earth is animated by the breath of life; +the souls of brutes, which differ from one another so +much in intelligence, are only air in its various conditions +of moisture and warmth. He explained the production of +the world through condensation of the earth from air by +cold, the warmth rising upward and forming the sun; in +the stars he thought he recognized the respiratory organs +of the world. From the preponderance of moist air in the +constitution of brutes, he inferred that they are like the +insane, incapable of thought, for thickness of the air +impedes respiration, and therefore quick apprehension. +From the fact that plants have no cavities wherein to +receive the air, and are altogether unintelligent, he was +led to the principle that the thinking power of man arises +from the flowing of that substance throughout the body in +the blood. He also explained the superior intelligence of +men from their breathing a purer air than the beasts, +which carry their nostrils near the ground. In these +crude and puerile speculations we have the beginning of +mental philosophy.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Modern discoveries +as to +the relations +of the air.</div> + +<p>I cannot dismiss the system of the Apollonian without +setting in contrast with it the discoveries of +modern science respecting the relations of the +air. Toward the world of life it stands in a position +of wonderful interest. Decomposed into its +constituents by the skill of chemistry, it is no longer +looked upon as a homogeneous body; its ingredients have +not only been separated, but the functions they discharge +have been ascertained. From one of these, carbonic acid, +all the various forms of plants arise; that substance being +decomposed by the rays of the sun, and furnishing to +vegetables carbon, their chief solid ingredient. All those +beautifully diversified organic productions, from the +mosses of the icy regions to the palms characteristic of +the landscapes of the tropics—all those we cast away as +worthless weeds, and those for the obtaining of which we +<span class="sidenote">Inter-dependence of animals +and plants.</span> +expend the sweat of our brow—all, without any exception, +are obtained from the atmosphere by the influence +of the sun. And since without plants +the life of animals could not be maintained, they +constitute the means by which the aërial material, vivified, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +as it may be said, by the rays of the sun, is conveyed even +into the composition of man himself. As food, they serve +to repair the waste of the body necessarily occasioned in +the acts of moving and thinking. For a time, therefore, +these ingredients, once a part of the structure of plants, +enter as essential constituents in the structure of animals. +Yet it is only in a momentary way, for the essential condition +of animal activity is that there shall be unceasing +interstitial death; not a finger can be lifted without the +waste of muscular material; not a thought arise without +the destruction of cerebral substance. From the animal +system the products of decay are forthwith removed, often +by mechanisms of the most exquisite construction; but +their uses are not ended, for sooner or later they find their +way back again into the air, and again serve for the origination +of plants. It is needless to trace these changes in +all their details; the same order or cycle of progress holds +good for the water, the ammonia; they pass from the +inorganic to the living state, and back to the inorganic +again; now the same particle is found in the air next +aiding in the composition of a plant, then in the body of an +animal, and back in the air once more. In this perpetual +<span class="sidenote">Agency of the sun.</span> +revolution material particles run, the dominating influence +determining and controlling their movement being in +that great centre of our system, the sun. From +him, in the summer days, plants receive, and, as +it were, store up that warmth which, at a subsequent time, +is to reappear in the glow of health of man, or to be rekindled +in the blush of shame, or to consume in the burning +fever. Nor is there any limit of time. The heat we +derive from the combustion of stubble came from the sun +as it were only yesterday; but that with which we +moderate the rigour of winter when we burn anthracite or +bituminous coal was also derived from the same source in +the ultra-tropical climate of the secondary times, perhaps a +thousand centuries ago.</p> + +<p>In such perpetually recurring cycles are the movements +of material things accomplished, and all takes place under +the dominion of invariable law. The air is the source +whence all organisms have come; it is the receptacle to +which they all return. Its parts are awakened into life, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +not by the influence of any terrestrial agency or principle +concealed in itself, as Diogenes supposed, but by a star +which is ninety millions of miles distant, the source, +direct or indirect, of every terrestrial movement, and the +dispenser of light and life.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Heraclitus asserts +that fire +is the first +principle.</div> + +<p>To Thales and Diogenes, whose primordial elements +were water and air respectively, we must add Heraclitus +of Ephesus, who maintained that the first +principle is fire. He illustrated the tendency +which Greek philosophy had already assumed +of opposition to Polytheism and the idolatrous +practices of the age. It is said that in his work, ethical, +political, physical, and theological subjects were so confused, +and so great was the difficulty of understanding his +meaning, that he obtained the surname of "the Obscure." +In this respect he has had among modern metaphysicians +many successors. He founds his system, however, upon +the simple axiom that "all is convertible into fire, and +fire into all." Perhaps by the term fire he understood +what is at present meant by heat, for he expressly says that +<span class="sidenote">The fictitious permanence +of successive forms.</span> +he does not mean flame, but something merely dry and +warm. He considered that this principle is in a state of +perpetual activity, forming and absorbing every +individual thing. He says, "All is, and is not; +for though it does in truth come into being, yet +it forthwith ceases to be." "No one has ever been +twice on the same stream, for different waters are constantly +flowing down. It dissipates its waters and gathers them +again; it approaches and recedes, overflows and fails." And +to teach us that we ourselves are changing and have +changed, he says, "On the same stream we embark and +embark not, we are and we are not." By such illustrations +he implies that life is only an unceasing motion, and we +cannot fail to remark that the Greek turn of thought is fast +following that of the Hindu.</p> + +<p>But Heraclitus totally fails to free himself from local +conceptions. He speaks of the motion of the primordial +principle in the upward and downward directions, in the +higher and lower regions. He says that the chief accumulation +thereof is above, and the chief deficiency below: +and hence he regards the soul of a man as a portion of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +fire migrated from heaven. He carries his ideas of the +transitory nature of all phenomena to their last consequences, +and illustrates the noble doctrine that all which +appears to us to be permanent is only a regulated and +self-renewing concurrence of similar and opposite motions +by such extravagances as that the sun is daily destroyed +and renewed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Physical and +physiological +doctrines of +Heraclitus.</div> + +<p>In the midst of many wild physical statements many +true axioms are delivered. "All is ordered by reason and +intelligence, though all is subject to Fate." +Already he perceived what the metaphysicians +of our own times are illustrating, that "man's +mind can produce no certain knowledge from its +own interior resources alone." He regarded the organs of +sense as being the channels through which the outer life +of the world, and therewith truth, enters into the mind, +and that in sleep, when the organs of sense are closed, we +are shut out from all communion with the surrounding +universal spirit. In his view every thing is animated and +insouled, but to different degrees, organic objects being +most completely or perfectly so. His astronomy may be +anticipated from what has been said respecting the sun, +which he moreover regarded as being scarcely more than a +foot in diameter, and, like all other celestial objects, a +mere meteor. His moral system was altogether based upon +the physical, the fundamental dogma being the excellence +of fire. Thus he accounted for the imbecility of the +drunkard by his having a moist soul, and drew the +inference that a warm or dry soul is the wisest and best; +with justifiable patriotism asserting that the noblest souls +must belong to a climate that is dry, intending thereby to +indicate that Greece is man's fittest and truest country. +There can be no doubt that in Heraclitus there is a strong +tendency to the doctrine of a soul of the world. If the +divinity is undistinguishable from heat, whither can we go +to escape its influences? And in the restless activity and +incessant changes it produces in every thing within our +reach, do we not recognize the tokens of the illimitable +and unshackled?</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The puerility +of Ionian +philosophy.</div> + +<p>I have lingered on the chief features of the early Greek +philosophy as exhibited in the physical school of Ionia. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +They serve to impress upon us its intrinsic imperfection. +It is a mixture of the physical, metaphysical, and mystical +which, upon the whole, has no other value than +this, that it shows how feeble were the beginnings +of our knowledge—that we commenced with +the importation of a few vulgar errors from Egypt. In +presence of the utilitarian philosophy of that country and +the theology of India, how vain and even childish are +these germs of science in Greece! Yet this very imperfection +is not without its use, since it warns us of the inferior +position in which we stand as respects the time of our +civilization when compared with those ancient states, and +teaches us to reject the assertion which so many European +scholars have wearied themselves in establishing, that +Greece led the way to all human knowledge of any value. +Above all, it impresses upon us more appropriate, because +more humble views of our present attainments and position, +and gives us to understand that other races of men not +only preceded us in intellectual culture, but have equalled, +and perhaps surpassed every thing that we have yet done +in mental philosophy.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Anaximander's +doctrine of the +Infinite.</div> + +<p>Of the other founders of Ionic sects it may be observed +that, though they gave to their doctrines different forms, +the method of reasoning was essentially the same in them +all. Of this a better illustration could not be given than +in the philosophy of Anaximander of Miletus, who was +contemporary with Thales. He started with the +postulate that things arose by separation from +a universal mixture of all: his primordial principle +was therefore chaos, though he veiled it in the metaphysically +obscure designation "The Infinite." The want +of precision in this respect gave rise to much difference of +opinion as to his tenets. To his chaos he imputed an +internal energy, by which its parts spontaneously separated +from each other; to those parts he imputed absolute +unchangeability. He taught that the earth is of a cylindrical +form, its base being one-third of its altitude; it +is retained in the centre of the world by the air in an +equality of distance from all the boundaries of the universe; +that the fixed stars and planets revolved round it, each +being fastened to a crystalline ring; and beyond them, in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +like manner, the moon, and, still farther off, the sun. He +<span class="sidenote">Origin of cosmogony.</span> +conceived of an opposition between the central +and circumferential regions, the former being +naturally cold, and the latter hot; indeed, in his opinion, +the settling of the cold parts to the centre, and the +ascending of the hot, gave origin, respectively, to the +formation of the earth and shining celestial bodies, the +latter first existing as a complete shell or sphere, which, +undergoing destruction, broke up into stars. Already we +perceive the tendency of Greek philosophy to shape itself +into systems of cosmogony, founded upon the disturbance +<span class="sidenote">Origin of biology.</span> +of the chaotic matter by heat and cold. Nay, more, +Anaximander explained the origin of living +creatures on like principles, for the sun's heat, +acting upon the primal miry earth, produced filmy +bladders or bubbles, and these, becoming surrounded with +a prickly rind, at length burst open, and, as from an egg, +animals came forth. At first they were ill-formed and +imperfect, but subsequently elaborated and developed. As +to man, so far from being produced in his perfect shape, +he was ejected as a fish, and under that form continued in +the muddy water until he was capable of supporting +himself on dry land. Besides "the Infinite" being thus +the cause of generation, it was also the cause of destruction: +"things must all return whence they came, according to +destiny, for they must all, in order of time, undergo due +penalties and expiations of wrong-doing." This expression +obviously contains a moral consideration, and is an exemplification +of the commencing feeble interconnection between +physical and moral philosophy.</p> + +<p>As to the more solid discoveries attributed to this philosopher, +we may dispose of them in the same manner that +we have dealt with the like facts in the biographies of his +predecessors—they are idle inventions of his vainglorious +countrymen. That he was the first to make maps is +scarcely consistent with the well-known fact that the +Egyptians had cultivated geometry for that express +purpose thirty centuries before he was born. As to his +inventing sun-dials, the shadow had gone back on that of +Ahaz a long time before. In reality, the sun-dial was a +very ancient Oriental invention. And as to his being the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +first to make an exact calculation of the size and distance of +the heavenly bodies, it need only be remarked that those +who have so greatly extolled his labours must have overlooked +how incompatible such discoveries are with a +system which assumes that the earth is cylindrical in +shape, and kept in the midst of the heavens by the atmosphere; +that the sun is farther off than the fixed stars; +and that each of the heavenly bodies is made to revolve +by means of a crystalline wheel.</p> + +<p>The philosopher whose views we have next to consider +is Anaxagoras of Clazomene, the friend and master of +Pericles, Euripides, and Socrates. Like several of his +predecessors, he had visited Egypt. Among his disciples +were numbered some of the most eminent men of those +times.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Anaxagoras +teaches the +unchangeability +of the +universe.</div> + +<p>The fundamental principle of his philosophy was the +recognition of the unchangeability of the universe as a +whole, the variety of forms that we see being +produced by new arrangements of its constituent +parts. Such a doctrine includes, of course, the +idea of the eternity of matter. Anaxagoras says, +"Wrongly do the Greeks suppose that aught begins or +ceases to be, for nothing comes into being or is destroyed, +but all is an aggregation or secretion of pre-existent things, +so that all becoming might more correctly be called becoming-mixed, +and all corruption becoming-separate." In +such a statement we cannot fail to remark that the Greek +is fast passing into the track of the Egyptian and the +Hindu. In some respects his views recall those of the +chaos of Anaximander, as when he says, "Together were +<span class="sidenote">The primal intellect.</span> +all things infinite in number and smallness; nothing was +distinguishable. Before they were sorted, while all was +together, there was no quality noticeable." To +the first moving force which arranged the parts +of things out of the chaos, he gave the designation of "the +Intellect," rejecting Fate as an empty name, and imputing +all things to Reason. He made no distinction between +the Soul and Intellect. His tenets evidently include a +dualism indicated by the moving force and the moved +mass, an opposition between the corporeal and mental. +This indicated that for philosophy there are two separate +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +routes, the physical and intellectual. While Reason is thus +the prime mover in his philosophy, he likewise employed +many subordinate agents in the government of things—for +instance, air, water, and fire, being evidently unable to +explain the state of nature in a satisfactory way by the +<span class="sidenote">Cosmogony of Anaxagoras.</span> +operation of the Intellect alone. We recognize +in the details of his system ideas derived from +former ones, such as the settling of the cold and dense +below, and the rising of the warm and light above. In +the beginning the action of Intellect was only partial; +that which was primarily moved was only imperfectly +sorted, and contained in itself the capability of many +separations. From this point his system became a cosmogony, +showing how the elements and fogs, stones, +stars, and the sea, were produced. These explanations, as +mighty be anticipated, have no exactness. Among his +primary elements are many incongruous things, such as +cold, colour, fire, gold, lead, corn, marrow, blood, &c. This +doctrine implied that in compound things there was not a +formation, but an arrangement. It required, therefore, +many elements instead of a single one. Flesh is made of +fleshy particles, bones of bony, gold of golden, lead of +leaden, wood of wooden, &c. These analogous constituents +are homœomeriæ. Of an infinite number of kinds, they +composed the infinite all, which is a mixture of them. +From such conditions Anaxagoras proves that all the parts +of an animal body pre-exist in the food, and are merely collected +therefrom. As to the phenomena of life, he explains +it on his doctrine of dualism between mind and matter; +he teaches that sleep is produced by the reaction of the +latter on the former. Even plants he regards as only +rooted animals, motionless, but having sensations and +desires; he imputes the superiority of man to the mere +fact of his having hands. He explains our mental perceptions +upon the hypothesis that we have naturally within +us the contraries of all the qualities of external things; +and that, when we consider an object, we become aware +of the preponderance of those qualities in our mind which +are deficient in it. Hence all sensation is attended with +pain. His doctrine of the production of animals was +founded on the action of the sunlight on the miry earth. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> +The earth he places in the centre of the world, whither it +was carried by a whirlwind, the pole being originally in +the zenith; but, when animals issued from the mud, its +position was changed by the Intellect, so that there might +be suitable climates. In some particulars his crude guesses +present amusing anticipations of subsequent discoveries. +Thus he maintained that the moon has mountains, and +valleys like the earth; that there have been grand epochs +in the history of our globe, in which it has been successively +modified by fire and water; that the hills of +Lampsacus would one day be under the sea, if time did +not too soon fail.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Doubts +whether we +have any criterion +of +truth.</div> + +<p>As to the nature of human knowledge, Anaxagoras, asserted +that by the Intellect alone do we become +acquainted with the truth, the senses being altogether +untrustworthy. He illustrated this by +putting a drop of coloured liquid into a quantity +of clear water, the eye being unable to recognize any change. +Upon such principles also he asserted that snow is not +white, but black, since it is composed of water, of which +the colour is black; and hence he drew such conclusions +as that "things are to each man according as they seem to +him." It was doubtless the recognition of the unreliability +of the senses that extorted from him the well-known complaint: +"Nothing can be known; nothing can be learned; +nothing can be certain; sense is limited; intellect is weak; +life is short."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Anaxagoras is +persecuted.</div> + +<p>The biography of Anaxagoras is not without interest. +Born in affluence, he devoted all his means to philosophy, +and in his old age encountered poverty and want. He +was accused by the superstitious Athenian populace of +Atheism and impiety to the gods, since he asserted that +the sun and moon consist of earth and stone, and that the +so-called divine miracles of the times were nothing more +than common natural effects. For these reasons, and also +because of the Magianism of his doctrine—for he taught +the antagonism of mind and matter, a dogma of the +detested Persians—he was thrown into prison, +condemned to death, and barely escaped through +the influence of Pericles. He fled to Lampsacus, where he +ended his days in exile. His vainglorious countrymen, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +however, conferred honour upon his memory in their +customary exaggerated way, boasting that he was the first +to explain the phases of the moon, the nature of solar and +lunar eclipses, that he had the power of foretelling future +events, and had even predicted the fall of a meteoric +stone.</p> + +<p>From the biography of Anaxagoras, as well as of several +of his contemporaries and successors, we may learn that a +popular opposition was springing up against philosophy, +not limited to a mere social protest, but carried out into +political injustice. The antagonism between learning and +Polytheism was becoming every day more distinct. Of +the philosophers, some were obliged to flee into exile, some +suffered death. The natural result of such a state of +things was to force them to practise concealment and +mystification, as is strikingly shown in the history of the +Pythagoreans.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Pythagoras, +biography of.</div> + +<p>Of Pythagoras, the founder of this sect, but little is +known with certainty; even the date of his +birth is contested, probably he was born at +Samos about <small>B.C.</small> 540. If we were not expressly told so, +we should recognize from his doctrines that he had been in +Egypt and India. Some eminent scholars, who desire on +all occasions to magnify the learning of ancient Europe, +depreciate as far as they can the universal testimony of +antiquity that such was the origin of the knowledge of +Pythagoras, asserting that the constitution of the Egyptian +priesthood rendered it impossible for a foreigner to become +initiated. They forget that the ancient system of that +country had been totally destroyed in the great revolution +which took place more than a century before those times. +If it were not explicitly stated by the ancients that +Pythagoras lived for twenty-two years in Egypt, there is +sufficient internal evidence in his story to prove that he +had been there a long time. As a connoisseur can detect the +hand of a master by the style of a picture, so one who has +devoted attention to the old systems of thought sees, at a +glance, the Egyptian in the philosophy of Pythagoras.</p> + +<p>He passed into Italy during the reign of Tarquin the +Proud, and settled at Crotona, a Greek colonial city on the +Bay of Tarentum. At first he established a school, but, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> +favoured by local dissensions, he gradually organized from +the youths who availed themselves of his instructions a +secret political society. Already it had passed into a +maxim among the learned Greeks that it is not advantageous +to communicate knowledge too freely to the people—a +bitter experience in persecutions seemed to demonstrate +that the maxim was founded on truth. The step from a +secret philosophical society to a political conspiracy is but +short. Pythagoras appears to have taken it. The disciples +who were admitted to his scientific secrets after a +period of probation and process of examination constituted +a ready instrument of intrigue against the state, the issue +of which, after a time, appeared in the supplanting of the +ancient senate and the exaltation of Pythagoras and his +club to the administration of government. The actions of +men in all times are determined by similar principles; and +as it would be now with such a conspiracy, so it was then; +for, though the Pythagorean influence spread from Crotona +to other Italian towns, an overwhelming reaction soon set +in, the innovators were driven into exile, their institutions +destroyed, and their founder fell a victim to his enemies.</p> + +<p>The organization attempted by the Pythagoreans is an +exception to the general policy of the Greeks. The philosophical +schools had been merely points of reunion for +those entertaining similar opinions; but in the state they +can hardly be regarded as having had any political +existence.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">His miracles.</div> + +<p>It is difficult, when the political or religious feelings of +men have been engaged, to ascertain the truth of events in +which they have been concerned; deception, and falsehood, +seem to be licensed. In the midst of the troubles befalling +Italy as the consequence of these Pythagorean machinations, +it is impossible to ascertain facts with certainty. +One party exalts Pythagoras to a superhuman state; it +pictures him majestic and impassive, clothed in robes of +white, with a golden coronet around his brows, listening +to the music of the spheres, or seeking relaxation in the +more humble hymns of Homer, Hesiod, and Thales; lost +in the contemplation of Nature, or rapt in ecstasy in his +meditations on God; manifesting his descent from Apollo +or Hermes by the working of miracles, predicting future +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> +events, conversing with genii in the solitude of a dark +cavern, and even surpassing the wonder of speaking +simultaneously in different tongues, since it +was established, by the most indisputable testimony, that he +had accomplished the prodigy of being present with and +addressing the people in several different places at the +same time. It seems not to have occurred to his disciples +that such preposterous assertions cannot be sustained by +any evidence whatsoever; and that the stronger and clearer +such evidence is, instead of supporting the fact for which +it is brought forward, it the more serves to shake our confidence +in the truth of man, or impresses on us the conclusion +that he is easily lead to the adoption of falsehood, and +is readily deceived by imposture.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">His character.</div> + +<p>By his opponents he was denounced as a quack, or, at +the best, a visionary mystic, who had deluded +the young with the mummeries of a free-masonry; +had turned the weak-minded into shallow enthusiasts +and grim ascetics; and as having conspired +against a state which had given him an honourable refuge, +and brought disorder and bloodshed upon it. Between +such contradictory statements, it is difficult to determine +how much we should impute to the philosopher and how +much to the trickster. In this uncertainty, the Pythagoreans +reap the fruit of one of their favourite maxims, "Not +unto all should all be made known." Perhaps at the +bottom of these political movements lay the hope of establishing +a central point of union for the numerous Greek +colonies of Italy, which, though they were rich and highly +civilized, were, by reason of their isolation and antagonism, +essentially weak. Could they have been united +in a powerful federation by the aid of some political or +religious bond, they might have exerted a singular influence +on the rising fortunes of Rome, and thereby on +humanity.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Pythagoras +asserts that +number is the +first principle.</div> + +<p>The fundamental dogma of the Pythagoreans was that +"number is the essence or first principle of +things." This led them at once to the study +of the mysteries of figures and of arithmetical +relations, and plunged them into the wildest fantasies when +it took the absurd form that numbers are actually things.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +The approval of the doctrines of Pythagoras so generally +expressed was doubtless very much due to the fact that +they supplied an intellectual void. Those who had been +in the foremost ranks of philosophy had come to the +conclusion that, as regard external things, and even ourselves, +we have no criterion of truth; but in the properties +of numbers and their relations, such a criterion does +exist.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Pythagorean +philosophy.</div> + +<p>It would scarcely repay the reader to pursue this system +in its details; a very superficial representation of it is +all that is necessary for our purpose. It recognizes two +species of numbers, the odd and even; and since one, or +unity, must be at once both odd and even, it must be the +very essence of number, and the ground of all other +numbers; hence the meaning of the Pythagorean expression, +"All comes from one;" which also took form in the +mystical allusion, "God embraces all and actuates all, and +is but one." To the number ten extraordinary importance +was imputed, since it contains in itself, or arises from the +addition of, 1, 2, 3, 4—that is, of even and odd numbers +together; hence it received the name of the grand tetractys, +because it so contains the first four numbers. Some, however, +assert that that designation was imposed on the +number thirty-six. To the triad the Pythagoreans +likewise attached much significance, since it has +a beginning, a middle, and an end. To unity, or one, they +gave the designation of the even-odd, asserting that it +contained the property both of the even and odd, as is +plain from the fact that if one be added to an even number +it becomes odd, but if to an odd number it becomes even. +They arranged the primary elements of nature in a table +of ten contraries, of which the odd and even are one, and +light and darkness another. They said that "the nature +and energy of number may be traced not only in divine +and dæmonish things, but in human works and words +everywhere, and in all works of art and in music." They +even linked their arithmetical views to morality, through +the observation that numbers never lie; that they are +hostile to falsehood; and that, therefore, truth belongs to +their family: their fanciful speculations led them to infer +that in the limitless or infinite, falsehood and envy must +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +reign. From similar reasoning, they concluded that the +number one contained not only the perfect, but also the +imperfect; hence it follows that the most good, most +beautiful, and most true are not at the beginning, but that +they are in the process of time evolved. They held that +whatever we know must have had a beginning, a middle, +and an end, of which the beginning and end are the +boundaries or limits; but the middle is unlimited, and, as +a consequence, may be subdivided <i>ad infinitum</i>. They +therefore resolved corporeal existence into points, as is set +forth in their maxim that "all is composed of points or +spacial units, which, taken together, constitute a number." +Such being their ideas of the limiting which constitutes +the extreme, they understood by the unlimited the intermediate +space or interval. By the aid of these intervals +they obtained a conception of space; for, since the units, +or monads, as they were also called, are merely geometrical +points, no number of them could produce a line, but +by the union of monads and intervals conjointly a line +can arise, and also a surface, and also a solid. As to the +interval thus existing between monads, some considered it +as being mere aërial breath, but the orthodox regarded it +as a vacuum; hence we perceive the meaning of their +absurd affirmation that all things are produced by a +vacuum. As it is not to be overlooked that the monads +are merely mathematical points, and have no dimensions +or size, substances actually contain no matter, and are +nothing more than forms.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Pythagorean +cosmogony.</div> + +<p>The Pythagoreans applied these principles to account +for the origin of the world, saying that, since its very +existence is an illusion, it could not have any +origin in time, but only seemingly so to human +thought. As to time itself, they regarded it as "existing +only by the distinction of a series of different moments, +which, however, are again restored to unity by the limiting +moments." The diversity of relations we find in the +world they supposed to be occasioned by the bond of harmony. +"Since the principles of things are neither similar +nor congenerous, it is impossible for them to be brought +into order except by the intervention of harmony, whatever +may have been the manner in which it took place. Like +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +and homogeneous things, indeed, would not have required +harmony; but, as to the dissimilar and unsymmetrical, +such must necessarily be held together by harmony if they +are to be contained in a world of order." In this manner +they confused together the ideas of number and harmony, +regarding the world not only as a combination of contraries, +but as an orderly and harmonical combination thereof. +To particular numbers they therefore imputed great significance, +asserting that "there are seven chords or harmonies, +seven pleiads, seven vowels, and that certain parts +of the bodies of animals change in the course of seven +years." They carried to an extreme the numerical +doctrine, assigning certain numbers as the representatives +of a bird, a horse, a man. This doctrine may be illustrated +<span class="sidenote">Modern Pythagorisms in chemistry.</span> +by facts familiar to chemists, who, in like manner, attach +significant numbers to the names of things. Taking +hydrogen as unity, 6 belongs to carbon, 8 to +oxygen, 16 to sulphur. Carrying those principles +out, there is no substance, elementary or compound, +inorganic or organic, to which an expressive number +does not belong. Nay, even an archetypal form, as of man +or any other such composite structure, may thus possess a +typical number, the sum of the numbers of its constituent +parts. It signifies nothing what interpretation we give +to these numbers, whether we regarded them as atomic +weights, or, declining the idea of atoms, consider them as +the representatives of force. As in the ancient philosophical +doctrine, so in modern science, the number is invariably +connected with the name of a thing, of whatever +description the thing may be.</p> + +<p>The grand standard of harmonical relation among the +Pythagoreans was the musical octave. Physical qualities, +such as colour and tone, were supposed to appertain to the +surface of bodies. Of the elements they enumerated five—earth, +air, fire, water, and ether, connecting therewith the +fact that man has five organs of sense. Of the planets +they numbered five, which, together with the sun, moon, +and earth, are placed apart at distances determined by a +musical law, and in their movements through space give +rise to a sound, the harmony of the spheres, unnoticed by +us because we habitually hear it. They place the sun +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Pythagorean +physics and psychology.</span> +in the centre of the system, round which, with the other +planets, the earth revolves. At this point the +geocentric doctrine is being abandoned and the +heliocentric takes its place. As the circle is the +most perfect of forms, the movements of the planets are +circular. They maintained that the moon is inhabited, and +like the earth, but the people there are taller than men, in +the proportion as the moon's periodic rotation is greater +than that of the earth. They explained the Milky Way as +having been occasioned by the fall of a star, or as having +been formerly the path of the sun. They asserted that the +world is eternal, but the earth is transitory and liable to +change, the universe being in the shape of a sphere. They +held that the soul of man is merely an efflux of the +universal soul, and that it comes into the body from without. +From dreams and the events of sickness they inferred +the existence of good and evil dæmons. They supposed +that souls can exist without the body, leading a kind of +dream-life, and identified the motes in the sunbeam with +them. Their heroes and dæmons were souls not yet become +embodied, or who had ceased to be so. The doctrine of +transmigration which they had adopted was in harmony +with such views, and, if it does not imply the absolute +immortality of the soul, at least asserts its existence after +the death of the body, for the disembodied spirit becomes +incarnate again as soon as it finds a tenement which fits +it. To their life after death the Pythagoreans added a +doctrine of retributive rewards and punishments, and, in +this respect, what has been said of animals forming a +penitential mechanism in the theology of India and Egypt, +holds good for the Pythagoreans too.</p> + +<p>Of their system of politics nothing can now with certainty +be affirmed beyond the fact that its prime element +was an aristocracy; of their rule of private life, but little +beyond its including a recommendation of moderation in +all things, the cultivation of friendship, the observance of +faith, and the practice of self-denial, promoted by ascetic +exercises. It was a maxim with them that a right education +is not only of importance to the individual, but also +to the interests of the state. Pythagoras himself, as is +well known, paid much attention to the determination of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +extension and gravity, the ratios of musical tones, astronomy, +and medicine. He directed his disciples, in their +orgies or secret worship, to practise gymnastics, dancing, +music. In correspondence with his principle of imparting +to men only such knowledge as they were fitted to receive, +he communicated to those who were less perfectly prepared +exoteric doctrines, reserving the esoteric for the privileged +few who had passed five years in silence, had endured +humiliation, and been purged by self-denial and sacrifice.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Eleatic +philosophy.</div> + +<p>We have now reached the consideration of the Eleatic +philosophy. It differs from the preceding in its neglect of +material things, and its devotion to the supra-sensible. +It derives its name from Elea, a Greek +colonial city of Italy, its chief authors being Xenophanes, +Parmenides, and Zeno.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Xenophanes +represents a +great philosophical +advance.</div> + +<p>Xenophanes was a native of Ionia, from which having +been exiled, he appears to have settled at last in Elea, after +leading for many years the life of a wandering rhapsodist. +He gave his doctrines a poetical form for the +purpose of more easily diffusing them. To the +multitude he became conspicuous from his opposition +to Homer, Hesiod, and other popular poets, +whom he denounced for promoting the base polytheism of +the times, and degrading the idea of the divine by the +immoralities they attributed to the gods. He proclaimed +God as an all-powerful Being, existing from eternity, and +without any likeness to man. A strict monotheist, he +denounced the plurality of gods as an inconceivable error, +asserting that of the all-powerful and all-perfect there +could not, in the nature of things, be more than one; for, +if there were only so many as two, those attributes could +not apply to one of them, much less, then, if there were +many. This one principle or power was to him the same as +the universe, the substance of which, having existed from +all eternity, must necessarily be identical with God; for, +since it is impossible that there should be two Omnipresents, +so also it is impossible that there should be two +Eternals. It therefore may be said that there is a tincture +of Orientalism in his ideas, since it would scarcely be +possible to offer a more succinct and luminous exposition of +the pantheism of India.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">He approaches +the Indian +ideas.</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +The reader who has been wearied with the frivolities of +the Ionian philosophy, and lost in the mysticisms +of Pythagoras, cannot fail to recognize that here +we have something of a very different kind. To +an Oriental dignity of conception is added an extraordinary +clearness and precision of reasoning.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Theology of +Xenophanes.</div> + +<p>To Xenophanes all revelation is a pure fiction; the +discovery of the invisible is to be made by the intellect +of man alone. The vulgar belief which imputes to the +Deity the sentiments, passions, and crimes of +man, is blasphemous and accursed. He exposes +the impiety of those who would figure the Great Supreme +under the form of a man, telling them that if the ox or +the lion could rise to a conception of the Deity, they +might as well embody him under their own shape; that +the negro represents him with a flat nose and black face; +the Thracian with blue eyes and a ruddy complexion. +"There is but one God; he has no resemblance to the +bodily form of man, nor are his thoughts like ours." He +taught that God is without parts, and throughout alike; +for, if he had parts, some would be ruled by others, and +others would rule, which is impossible, for the very notion +of God implies his perfect and thorough sovereignty. +Throughout he must be Reason, and Intelligence, and +Omnipotence, "ruling the universe without trouble by +Reason and Insight." He conceived that the Supreme +understands by a sensual perception, and not only thinks, +but sees and hears throughout. In a symbolical manner +he represented God as a sphere, like the heavens, which +encompass man and all earthly things.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">His physical +views.</div> + +<p>In his natural philosophy it is said that he adopted the +four elements, Earth, Air, Fire, Water; though by some +it is asserted that, from observing fossil fish, on the tops of +mountains, he was led to the belief that the +earth itself arose from water; and generally, +that the phenomena of nature originate in combinations +of the primary elements. From such views he inferred +that all things are necessarily transitory, and that men, +and even the earth itself, must pass away. As to the +latter, he regarded it as a flat surface, the inferior region +of which extends indefinitely downward, and so gives a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> +solid foundation. His physical views he, however, held +with a doubt almost bordering on scepticism: "No mortal +man ever did, or ever shall know God and the universe +thoroughly; for, since error is so spread over all things, it +is impossible for us to be certain even when we utter the +true and the perfect." It seemed to him hopeless that +man could ever ascertain the truth, since he has no other +aid than truthless appearances.</p> + +<p>I cannot dismiss this imperfect account of Xenophanes, +who was, undoubtedly, one of the greatest of the Greek +philosophers, without an allusion to his denunciation of +Homer, and other poets of his country, because they had +aided in degrading the idea of the Divinity; and also to +his faith in human nature, his rejection of the principle of +concealing truth from the multitude, and his self-devotion +in diffusing it among all at a risk of liberty and life. +He wandered from country to country, withstanding +polytheism to its face, and imparting wisdom in rhapsodies +and hymns, the form, above all others, calculated most +quickly in those times to spread knowledge abroad. To +those who are disposed to depreciate his philosophical conclusions, +it may be remarked that in some of their most +striking features they have been reproduced in modern +times, and I would offer to them a quotation from the +<span class="sidenote">Some of his thoughts +reappear in Newton.</span> +General Scholium at the end of the third book of the +Principia of Newton: "The Supreme God exists +necessarily, and by the same necessity he exists +<i>always</i> and <i>everywhere</i>. Whence, also, he is all +similar, all eye, all ear, all brain, all arm, all +power to perceive, to understand, and to act, but in a +manner not at all human, not at all corporeal; in a manner +utterly unknown to us. As a blind man has no idea of +colours, so have we no idea of the manner by which the all-wise +God perceives and understands all things. He is utterly +void of all body and bodily figure, and can therefore neither +be seen, nor heard, nor touched, nor ought to be worshipped +under the representation of any corporeal thing. We have +ideas of his attributes, but what the real substance of +anything is we know not."</p> + +<p>To the Eleatic system thus originating with Xenophanes +is to be attributed the dialectic phase henceforward so +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> +prominently exhibited by Greek philosophy. It abandoned, +for the most part, the pursuits which had occupied +the Ionians—the investigation of visible nature, +the phenomena of material things, and the laws presiding +over them; conceiving such to be merely deceptive, and +attaching itself to what seemed to be the only true knowledge—an +investigation of Being and of God. By the +Eleats, since all change appeared to be an impossibility, +the phenomena of succession presented by the world were +<span class="sidenote">Parmenides on reason and opinion.</span> +regarded as a pure illusion, and they asserted that Time, +and Motion, and Space are phantasms of the imagination, +or vain deceptions of the senses. They therefore separated +reason from opinion, attributing to the former +conceptions of absolute truth, and to the latter +imperfections arising from the fictions of sense. +It was on this principle that Parmenides divided his +work on "Nature" into two books, the first on Reason, the +second on Opinion. Starting from the nature of Being, the +uncreated and unchangeable, he denied altogether the idea +of succession in time, and also the relations of space, and +pronounced change and motion, of whatever kind they +<span class="sidenote">Philosophy becoming Pantheism.</span> +may be, mere illusions of opinion. His pantheism appears +in the declaration that the All is thought and +intelligence; and this, indeed, constitutes the +essential feature of his doctrine, for, by thus +placing thought and being in parallelism with each other, +and interconnecting them by the conception that it is for +the sake of being that thought exists, he showed that they +must necessarily be conceived of as one.</p> + +<p>Such profound doctrines occupied the first book of the +poem of Parmenides; in the second he treated of opinion, +which, as we have said, is altogether dependent on the +senses, and therefore untrustworthy, not, however, that it +must necessarily be absolutely false. It is scarcely possible +for us to reconstruct from the remains of his works the +details of his theory, or to show his approach to the Ionian +doctrines by the assumption of the existence in nature of +two opposite species—ethereal fire and heavy night; of +an equal proportion of which all things consist, fire being +the true, and night the phenomenal. From such an unsubstantial +and delusive basis it would not repay us, even if +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +we had the means of accomplishing it, to give an exposition +of his physical system. In many respects it degenerated +into a wild vagary; as, for example, when he placed an +overruling dæmon in the centre of the phenomenal world. +Nor need we be detained by his extravagant reproduction of +the old doctrine of the generation of animals from miry clay, +nor follow his explanation of the nature of man, who, since +he is composed of light and darkness, participates in both, +and can never ascertain absolute truth. By other routes, +and upon far less fanciful principles, modern philosophy +has at last come to the same melancholy conclusion.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Doctrines of +Parmenides +carried out +by Zeno;</div> + +<p>The doctrines of Parmenides were carried out by Zeno +the Eleatic, who is said to have been his adopted +son. He brought into use the method of refuting +error by the <i>reductio ad absurdum</i>. His compositions +were in prose, and not in poetry, as +were those of his predecessors. As it had been the +object of Parmenides to establish the existence of +"the One," it was the object of Zeno to establish the +non-existence of "the Many." Agreeably to such principles, +he started from the position that only one thing +really exists, and that all others are mere modifications or +appearances of it. He denied motion, but admitted the +appearance of it; regarding it as a name given to a series +of conditions, each of which is necessarily rest. This +dogma against the possibility of motion he maintained by +four arguments; the second of them is the celebrated +Achilles puzzle. It is thus stated: "Suppose Achilles to +run ten times as fast as a tortoise, yet, if the tortoise has +the start, Achilles can never overtake him; for, if they +are separated at first by an interval of a thousand feet, +when Achilles has run these thousand feet the tortoise will +have run a hundred, and when Achilles has run these +hundred the tortoise will have got on ten, and so on for +ever; therefore Achilles may run for ever without overtaking +the tortoise." Such were his arguments against the existence +of motion; his proof of the existence of One, the +indivisible and infinite, may thus be stated: "To suppose +that the one is divisible is to suppose it finite. If divisible, +it must be infinitely divisible. But suppose two things +to exist, then there must necessarily be an interval between +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +those two—something separating and limiting them. +What is that something? It is some <i>other</i> thing. But +then if not the <i>same</i> thing, <i>it also</i> must be separated and +limited, and so on <i>ad infinitum</i>. Thus only one thing can +exist as the substratum for all manifold appearances." +Zeno furnishes us with an illustration of the fallibility +of the indications of sense in his argument against +Protagoras. It may be here introduced as a specimen of +his method: "He asked if a grain of corn, or the ten +thousandth part of a grain, would, when it fell to the +ground, make a noise. Being answered in the negative, +he further asked whether, then, would a measure of corn. +This being necessarily affirmed, he then demanded whether +the measure was not in some determinate ratio to the +single grain; as this could not be denied, he was able to +conclude, either, then, the bushel of corn makes no noise on +falling, or else the very smallest portion of a grain does +the same."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">and by Melissus +of Samos.</div> + +<p>To the names already given as belonging to the Eleatic +school may be added that of Melissus of Samos, +who also founded his argument on the nature of +Being, deducing its unity, unchangeability, and indivisibility. +He denied, like the rest of his school, all change +and motion, regarding them as mere illusions of the senses. +From the indivisibility of being he inferred its incorporeality, +and therefore denied all bodily existence.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Biography of +Empedocles.</div> + +<p>The list of Eleatic philosophers is doubtfully closed by +the name of Empedocles of Agrigentum, who +in legend almost rivals Pythagoras. In the East +he learned medicine and magic, the art of working +miracles, of producing rain and wind. He decked himself +in priestly garments, a golden girdle, and a crown, proclaiming +himself to be a god. It is said by some that he +never died, but ascended to the skies in the midst of a +supernatural glory. By some it is related that he leaped +into the crater of Etna, that, the manner of his death being +unknown, he might still continue to pass for a god—an +expectation disappointed by an eruption which cast out one +of his brazen sandals.</p> + +<p>Agreeably to the school to which he belonged, he relied +on Reason and distrusted the Senses. From his fragments +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> +it has been inferred that he was sceptical of the guidance +of the former as well as of the latter, founding his distrust +on the imperfection the soul has contracted, and for +which it has been condemned to existence in this world, and +even to transmigration from body to body. Adopting the +Eleatic doctrine that like can be only known by like, fire +<span class="sidenote">He mingles +mysticism with philosophy.</span> +by fire, love by love, the recognition of the divine by man +is sufficient proof that the Divine exists. His primary +elements were four—Earth, Air, Fire, and Water; to these +he added two principles, Love and Hate. The +four elements he regarded as four gods, or divine +eternal forces, since out of them all things are +made. Love he regards as the creative power, the +destroyer or modifier being Hate. It is obvious, therefore, +that in him the strictly philosophical system of Xenophanes +had degenerated into a mixed and mystical view, in which +the physical, the metaphysical, and the moral were confounded +together; and that, as the necessary consequence +of such a state, the principles of knowledge were becoming +unsettled, a suspicion arising that all philosophical systems +were untrustworthy, and a general scepticism was already +setting in.</p> + +<p>To this result also, in no small degree, the labours of +Democritus of Abdera tended. He had had the advantages +derived from wealth in the procurement of knowledge, for +it is said that his father was rich enough to be able to +entertain the Persian King Xerxes, who was so gratified +thereby that he left several Magi and Chaldæans to complete +the education of the youth. On his father's death, +Democritus, dividing with his brothers the estate, took as +his portion the share consisting of money, leaving to them +the lands, that he might be better able to devote himself to +travelling. He passed into Egypt, Ethiopia, Persia, and +India, gathering knowledge from all those sources.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Democritus +asserts the untrustworthiness +of knowledge.</div> + +<p>According to Democritus, "Nothing is true, or, if so, is +not certain to us." Nevertheless, as, in his system sensation +constitutes thought, and, at the same time, +is but a change in the sentient being, "sensations +are of necessity true;" from which somewhat +obscure passage we may infer that, in the view +of Democritus, though sensation is true subjectively, it is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> +not true objectively. The sweet, the bitter, the hot, the +cold, are simply creations of the mind; but in the outer +object to which we append them, atoms and space alone +exist, and our opinion of the properties of such objects is +founded upon images emitted by them falling upon the +senses. Confounding in this manner sensation with +thought, and making them identical, he, moreover, included +Reflexion as necessary for true knowledge, Sensation by +itself being untrustworthy. Thus, though Sensation may +indicate to us that sweet, bitter, hot, cold, occur in bodies, +Reflexion teaches us that this is altogether an illusion, and +that, in reality, atoms and space alone exist.</p> + +<p>Devoting his attention, then, to the problem of perception—how +the mind becomes aware of the existence of +external things—he resorted to the hypothesis that they +constantly throw off images of themselves, which are +assimilated by the air through which they have to pass, +and enter the soul by pores in its sensitive organs. Hence +such images, being merely of the superficial form, are +necessarily imperfect and untrue, and so, therefore, must +be the knowledge yielded by them. Democritus rejected +the one element of the Eleatics, affirming that there must +<span class="sidenote">He introduces +the atomic theory.</span> +be many; but he did not receive the four of Empedocles, +nor his principles of Love and Hate, nor the homœomeriæ +of Anaxagoras. He also denied that the primary +elements had any sensible qualities whatever. +He conceived of all things as being composed of +invisible, intangible, and indivisible particles or atoms, +which, by reason of variation in their configuration, combination, +or position, give rise to the varieties of forms: to +the atom he imputed self-existence and eternal duration. +His doctrine, therefore, explains how it is that the many +can arise from the one, and in this particular he reconciled +<span class="sidenote">Destiny, Fate +and resistless law.</span> +the apparent contradictions of the Ionians and Eleatics. +The theory of chemistry, as it now exists, +essentially includes his views. The general +formative principle of Nature he regarded as +being Destiny or Fate; but there are indications that by +this he meant nothing more than irreversible law.</p> + +<p>A system thus based upon severe mathematical considerations, +and taking as its starting-point a vacuum and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +atoms—the former actionless and passionless; which +considers the production of new things as only new +aggregations, and the decay of the old as separations; +which recognizes in compound bodies specific arrangements +of atoms to one another; which can rise to the +conception that even a single atom may constitute a +world—such a system may commend itself to our attention +for its results, but surely not to our approval, when +we find it carrying us to the conclusions that even +<span class="sidenote">Is led to atheism.</span> +mathematical cognition is a mere semblance; that the +soul is only a finely-constituted form fitted into the +grosser bodily frame; that even for reason itself +there is an absolute impossibility of all certainty; +that scepticism is to be indulged in to that degree +that we may doubt whether, when a cone has been cut +asunder, its two surfaces are alike; that the final result +of human inquiry is the absolute demonstration that man +is incapable of knowledge; that, even if the truth be in +his possession, he can never be certain of it; that the +world is an illusive phantasm, and that there is no God.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Legends of +Democritus.</div> + +<p>I need scarcely refer to the legendary stories related of +Democritus, as that he put out his eyes with a +burning-glass that he might no longer be +deluded with their false indications, and more tranquilly +exercise his reason—a fiction bearing upon its face the +contemptuous accusation of his antagonists, but, by the +stolidity of subsequent ages, received as an actual fact +instead of a sarcasm. As to his habit of so constantly +deriding the knowledge and follies of men that he universally +acquired the epithet of the laughing philosopher, we +may receive the opinion of the great physician Hippocrates, +who being requested by the people of Abdera to +cure him of his madness, after long discoursing with him, +expressed himself penetrated with admiration, and even +with the most profound veneration for him, and rebuked +those who had sent him with the remark that they themselves +were the more distempered of the two.</p> + +<p>Thus far European Greece had done but little in the +cause of philosophy. The chief schools were in Asia +Minor, or among the Greek colonies of Italy. But the +time had now arrived when the mother country was to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Rise of philosophy +in European Greece.</span> +enter upon a distinguished career, though, it must be +confessed, from a most unfavourable beginning. +This was by no means the only occasion on +which the intellectual activity of the Greek colonies +made itself felt in the destinies of Europe. +The mercantile character in a community has ever been +found conducive to mental activity and physical adventure; +it holds in light esteem prescriptive opinion, +and puts things at the actual value they at the time +possess. If the Greek colonies thus discharged the +important function of introducing and disseminating +speculative philosophy, we shall find them again, five +hundred years later, occupied with a similar task on the +advent of that period in which philosophical speculation +was about to be supplanted by religious faith. For there +<span class="sidenote">Commercial communities +favourable to new ideas.</span> +can be no doubt that, humanly speaking, the cause of +the rapid propagation of Christianity, in its +first ages, lay in the extraordinary facilities +existing among the commercial communities +scattered all around the shores of the Mediterranean +Sea, from the ports of the Levant to those of +France and Spain. An incessant intercourse was kept up +among them during the five centuries before Christ; it +became, under Roman influence, more and more active, +and of increasing political importance. Such a state of +things is in the highest degree conducive to the propagation +of thought, and, indeed, to its origination, through +the constant excitement it furnishes to intellectual +activity. Commercial communities, in this respect, present +a striking contrast to agricultural. By their aid +speculative philosophy was rapidly disseminated everywhere, +as was subsequently Christianity. But the agriculturists +steadfastly adhered with marvellous stolidity to +their ancestral traditions and polytheistic absurdities, +until the very designation—paganism—under which their +system passes was given as a nickname derived from +themselves.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Philosophical +influence of +the Greek +colonies.</div> + +<p>The intellectual condition of the Greek colonies of Italy +and Sicily has not attracted the attention of critics in the +manner it deserves. For, though its political result may +appear to those whose attention is fixed by mere material +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +aggrandizement to have been totally eclipsed by the subsequent +power of the Roman republic, to one +who looks at things in a mere general way +it may be a probable inquiry whether the philosophy +cultivated in those towns has not, +in the course of ages, produced as solid and lasting results +as the military achievements of the Eternal City. The +relations of the Italian peninsula to the career of European +civilization are to be classified under three epochs, the +first corresponding to the philosophy generated in the +southern Greek towns: this would have attained the +elevation long before reached in the advanced systems of +India had it not been prevented by the rapid development +of Roman power; the second presents the military +influence of republican and imperial Rome; to the third +belongs the agency of ecclesiastical Rome—for the production +of the last we shall find hereafter that the +preceding two conspire. The Italian effect upon the +whole has therefore been philosophical, material, and +mixed. We are greatly in want of a history of the first, +for which doubtless many facts still remain to a painstaking +and enlightened inquirer.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Origin of the +Greek colonial +system.</div> + +<p>It was on account of her small territory and her +numerous population that Greece was obliged to colonize. +To these motives must be added internal dissensions, and +particularly the consequences of unequal marriages. So +numerous did these colonies and their offshoots become, that +a great Greek influence pervaded all the Mediterranean +shores and many of the most important +islands, attention more particularly being paid +to the latter, from their supposed strategical value; thus, +in the opinion of Alexander the Great, the command of +the Mediterranean lay in the possession of Cyprus. The +Greek colonists were filibusters; they seized by force the +women wherever they settled, but their children were +taught to speak the paternal language, as has been the +case in more recent times with the descendants of the +Spaniards in America. The wealth of some of these +Greek colonial towns is said to have been incredible. +Crotona was more than twelve miles in circumference; +and Sybaris, another of the Italiot cities, was so luxurious +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +and dissipated as even to give rise to a proverb. The +prosperity of these places was due to two causes: they +were not only the centres of great agricultural districts, +but carried on also an active commerce in all directions, the +dense population of the mother country offering them a +steady and profitable market; they also maintained an +active traffic with all the Mediterranean cities; thus, if +they furnished Athens with corn, they also furnished +Carthage with oil. In the Greek cities connected with +this colonial system, especially in Athens, the business of +ship-building and navigation was so extensively prosecuted +as to give a special character to public life. In +other parts of Greece, as in Sparta, it was altogether +different. In that state the laws of Lycurgus had abolished +private property; all things were held in common; +savage life was reduced to a system, and therefore there +was no object in commerce. But in Athens, commerce was +regarded as being so far from dishonourable that some of +the most illustrious men, whose names have descended to +us as philosophers, were occupied with mercantile pursuits. +Aristotle kept a druggist's shop in Athens, and Plato sold +oil in Egypt.</p> + +<p>It was the intention of Athens, had she succeeded in the +conquest of Sicily, to make an attempt upon Carthage, +foreseeing therein the dominion of the Mediterranean, as +was actually realized subsequently by Rome. The destruction +of that city constituted the point of ascendancy +in the history of the Great Republic. Carthage stood +upon a peninsula forty-five miles round, with a neck only +three miles across. Her territory has been estimated as +having a sea-line of not less than 1400 miles, and containing +300 towns; she had also possessions in Spain, in +Sicily, and other Mediterranean islands, acquired, not by +conquest, but by colonization. In the silver mines of +Spain she employed not less than forty thousand men. In +these respects she was guided by the maxims of her +Phœnician ancestry, for the Tyrians had colonized for +depôts, and had forty stations of that kind in the Mediterranean. +Indeed, Carthage herself originated in that +way, owing her development to the position she held at +the junction of the east and west basins. The Carthaginian +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> +merchants did not carry for hire, but dealt in their +<span class="sidenote">Carthaginian +supremacy in the Mediterranean.</span> +commodities. This implied an extensive system +of depôts and bonding. They had anticipated +many of the devices of modern commerce. They +effected insurances, made loans on bottomry, and +it has been supposed that their leathern money may have +been of the nature of our bank notes.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Attempts of +the Persians +at dominion +in the Mediterranean.</div> + +<p>In the preceding chapter we have spoken of the attempts +of the Asiatics on Egypt and the south shore of +the Mediterranean; we have now to turn to +their operations on the north shore, the consequences +of which are of the utmost interest in +the history of philosophy. It appears that the cities of +Asia Minor, after their contest with the Lydian kings, +had fallen an easy prey to the Persian power. It remained, +therefore, only for that power to pass to the +European continent. A pretext is easily found where the +policy is so clear. So far as the internal condition of +Greece was concerned, nothing could be more tempting to +an invader. There seemed to be no bond of union between +the different towns, and, indeed, the more prominent ones +<span class="sidenote">Contest between +them and the Greeks.</span> +might be regarded as in a state of chronic revolution. In +Athens, since <small>B.C.</small> 622, the laws of Draco had been supplanted +by those of Solon; and again and again the +government had been seized by violence or gained through +intrigue by one adventurer after another. Under these +circumstances the Persian king passed an army +into Europe. The military events of both this +and the succeeding invasion under Xerxes have +been more than sufficiently illustrated by the brilliant +imagination of the lively Greeks. It was needless, however, +to devise such fictions as the million of men who +crossed into Europe, or the two hundred thousand who lay +dead upon the field after the battle of Platæa. If there +<span class="sidenote">The fifty years' war, +and eventual supremacy of Athens.</span> +were not such stubborn facts as the capture and burning +of Athens, the circumstance that these wars +lasted for fifty years would be sufficient to inform +us that all the advantages were not on one +side. Wars do not last so long without bringing +upon both parties disasters as well as conferring +glories; and had these been as exterminating and over +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>whelming +as classical authors have supposed, our surprise +may well be excited that the Persian annals have preserved +so little memory of them. Greece did not perceive that, +if posterity must take her accounts as true, it must give +the palm of glory to Persia, who could, with unfaltering +perseverance, persist in attacks illustrated by such unparalleled +catastrophes. She did not perceive that the +annals of a nation may be more splendid from their exhibiting +a courage which could bear up for half a century +against continual disasters, and extract victory at last from +defeat.</p> + +<p>In pursuance of their policy, the Persians extended their +dominion to Cyrene and Barca on the south, as well as to +Thrace and Macedonia on the north. The Persian wars +gave rise to that wonderful development in Greek art +which has so worthily excited the admiration of subsequent +ages. The assertion is quite true that after those wars the +Greeks could form in sculpture living men. On the part +of the Persians, these military undertakings were not of +the base kind so common in antiquity; they were the +carrying out of a policy conceived with great ability, their +object being to obtain countries for tribute and not for +devastation. The great critic Niebuhr, by whose opinions +I am guided in the views I express of these events, admits +that the Greek accounts, when examined, present little +that was possible. The Persian empire does not seem to +have suffered at all; and Plato, whose opinion must be +considered as of very great authority, says that, on the +whole, the Persian wars reflect extremely little honour on +the Greeks. It was asserted that only thirty-one towns, +and most of them small ones, were faithful to Greece. +Treason to her seems for years in succession to have infected +all her ablest men. It was not Pausanias alone who +wanted to be king under the supremacy of Persia. Such a +satrap would have borne about the same relation to the +great king as the modern pacha does to the grand seignior. +However, we must do justice to those able men. A king +was what Greece in reality required; had she secured one +at this time strong enough to hold her conflicting interests +in check, she would have become the mistress of the world. +Her leading men saw this.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The consequence +is her +vast intellectual +progress.</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +The elevating effect of the Persian wars was chiefly felt +in Athens. It was there that the grand development of +pure art, literature, and science took place. As +to Sparta, she remained barbarous as she had +ever been; the Spartans continuing robbers and +impostors, in their national life exhibiting not a +single feature that can be commended. Mechanical art +reached its perfection at Corinth; real art at Athens, finding +a multitude not only of true, but also of new expressions. +Before Pericles the only style of architecture +was the Doric; his became at once the age of perfect +<span class="sidenote">Her progress in art.</span> +beauty. It also became the age of freedom in thinking +and departure from the national faith. In this +respect the history of Pericles and of Aspasia is +very significant. His, also, was the great age of oratory, +but of oratory leading to delusion, the democratical forms +of Athens being altogether deceptive, power ever remaining +in the hands of a few leading men, who did everything. +The true popular sentiment, as was almost always +the case under those ancient republican institutions, could +find for itself no means of expression. The great men +were only too prone to regard their fellow-citizens as a +rabble, mere things to be played off against one another, +and to consider that the objects of life are dominion and +lust, that love, self-sacrifice, and devotion are fictions; that +oaths are only good for deception.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The treaty +with Persia.</div> + +<p>Though the standard of statesmanship, at the period of +the Persian wars, was very low, there can be no doubt that +among the Greek leaders were those who clearly understood +the causes of the Asiatic attack; and hence, with an instinct +of self-preservation, defensive alliances were continually +maintained with Egypt. When their valour and +endurance had given to the Greeks a glorious +issue to the war, the articles contained in the final treaty +manifest clearly the motives and understandings of both +parties. No Persian vessel was to appear between the +Cyanean Rocks and Chelidonian Islands; no Persian army +to approach within three days' journey of the Mediterranean +Sea, <small>B.C.</small> 449.</p> + +<p>To Athens herself the war had given political supremacy. +We need only look at her condition fifty years after the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +battle of Platæa. She was mistress of more than a thousand +miles of the coast of Asia Minor; she held as dependencies +more than forty islands; she controlled the straits between +Europe and Asia; her fleets ranged the Mediterranean and +the Black Seas; she had monopolized the trade of all the +adjoining countries; her magazines were full of the most +valuable objects of commerce. From the ashes of the +Persian fire she had risen up so supremely beautiful that +her temples, her statues, her works of art, in +<span class="sidenote">She becomes the centre +of policy and philosophy.</span> +their exquisite perfection, have since had no +parallel in the world. Her intellectual supremacy +equalled her political. To her, as to a focal +point, the rays of light from every direction converged. +The philosophers of Italy and Asia Minor directed their +steps to her as to the acknowledged centre of mental +activity. As to Egypt, an utter ruin had befallen her +since she was desolated by the Persian arms. Yet we +must not therefore infer that though, as conquerors, the +Persians had trodden out the most aged civilization on the +globe, as sovereigns they were haters of knowledge, or +merciless as kings. We must not forget that the Greeks +of Asia Minor were satisfied with their rule, or, at all +events, preferred rather to remain their subjects than to +contract any permanent political connexions with the +conquering Greeks of Europe.</p> + +<p>In this condition of political glory, Athens became not +only the birthplace of new and beautiful productions of +art, founded on a more just appreciation of the true than +had yet been attained to in any previous age of the world +(which, it may be added, have never been surpassed, if, +indeed, they have been equalled since), she also became the +receptacle for every philosophical opinion, new and old. +Ionian, Italian, Egyptian, Persian, all were brought to +her, and contrasted and compared together. Indeed, the +philosophical celebrity of Greece is altogether due to +Athens. The rest of the country participated but little +in the cultivation of learning. It is a popular error that +Greece, in the aggregate, was a learned country.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">State of philosophy +at +this juncture.</div> + +<p>We have already seen how the researches of individual +inquirers, passing from point to point, had conducted them, +in many instances, to a suspicion of the futility of human +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +knowledge; and looking at the results reached by the +successive philosophical schools, we cannot fail +to remark that there was a general tendency to +scepticism. We have seen how, from the material +and tangible beginnings of the Ionians, the Eleatics land +us not only in a blank atheism, but in a disbelief of the +existence of the world. And though it may be said that +these were only the isolated results of special schools, it is +not to be forgotten that they were of schools the most +advanced. The time had now arrived when the name of +a master was no more to usurp the place of reason, as had +been hitherto the case; when these last results of the +different methods of philosophizing were to be brought +together, a criticism of a higher order established, and +conclusions of a higher order deduced.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Commencement +of the +higher analysis.</div> + +<p>Thus it will ever be with all human investigation. The +primitive philosophical elements from which we +start are examined, first by one and then by +another, each drawing his own special conclusions +and deductions, and each firmly believing +in the truth of his inferences. Each analyst has +seen the whole subject from a particular point of view, +without concerning himself with the discordances, contradictions, +and incompatibilities obvious enough when his +conclusions come to be compared with those of other analysts +as skilful as himself. In process of time, it needs must be +that a new school of examiners will arise, who, taking the +results at which their predecessors have arrived from an +examination of the primary elements, will institute a +secondary comparison; a comparison of results with results; +a comparison of a higher order, and more likely to lead to +absolute truth.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Illustration +from subsequent +Roman +history.</div> + +<p>Perhaps I cannot better convey what I here mean by +this secondary and higher analysis of philosophical questions +than by introducing, as an illustration, what +took place subsequently in Rome, through her +policy of universal religious toleration. The +priests and followers of every god and of every +faith were permitted to pursue without molestation their +special forms of worship. Of these, it may be supposed +that nearly all were perfectly sincere in their adherence to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +their special divinity, and, if the occasion had arisen, could +have furnished unanswerable arguments in behalf of his +supremacy and of the truth of his doctrines. Yet it is +very clear that, by thus bringing these several primary +systems into contact, a comparison of a secondary and of +a higher order, and therefore far more likely to approach to +absolute truth, must needs be established among them. It +is very well known that the popular result of this secondary +examination was the philosophical rejection of polytheism.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Sophists.</div> + +<p>So, in Athens the result of the secondary examination of +philosophical systems and deductions was scepticism as +regards them all, and the rise of a new order of +men—the Sophists—who not only rejected the +validity of all former philosophical methods, but carried +their infidelity to a degree plainly not warranted by the +facts of the case, in this, that they not only denied that +human reason had thus far succeeded in ascertaining anything, +but even affirmed that it is incapable, from its very +nature, as dependent on human organization, or the condition +under which it acts, of determining the truth at all; +nay, that even if the truth is actually in its possession, +since it has no criterion by which to recognize it, it cannot +so much as be certain that it is in such possession of it. +From these principles it follows that, since we have no +standard of the true, neither can we have any standard of +the good, and that our ideas of what is good and what is +evil are altogether produced by education or by convention. +Or, to use the phrase adopted by the Sophists, "it is might +that makes right." Right and wrong are hence seen to be +mere fictions created by society, having no eternal or +absolute existence in nature. The will of a monarch, or of +a majority in a community, declares what the law shall be; +the law defines what is right and what is wrong; and +these, therefore, instead of having an actual existence, are +mere illusions, owing their birth to the exercise of force. +It is might that has determined and defined what is right. +<span class="sidenote">They reject philosophy, +and even morality.</span> +And hence it follows that it is needless for a +man to trouble himself with the monitions of +conscience, or to be troubled thereby, for conscience, +instead of being anything real, is an +imaginary fiction, or, at the best, owes its origin to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> +education, and is the creation of our social state. Hence +the wise will give himself no concern as to a meritorious +act or a crime, seeing that the one is intrinsically neither +better nor worse than the other; but he will give himself +sedulous concern as respects his outer or external relations—his +position in society; conforming his acts to that +standard which it in its wisdom or folly, but in the +exercise of its might, has declared shall be regarded as +right. Or, if his occasions be such as to make it for his +interest to depart from the social rule, let him do it in +secrecy; or, what is far better, let him cultivate rhetoric, +that noble art by which the wrong may be made to +appear the right; by which he who has committed a crime +may so mystify society as to delude it into the belief that he +is worthy of praise; and by which he may prove that his +enemy, who has really performed some meritorious deed, +has been guilty of a crime. Animated by such considerations, +the Sophists passed from place to place, offering to +sell for a sum of money a knowledge of the rhetorical +art, and disposed of their services in the instruction of +the youth of wealthy and noble families.</p> + +<p>What shall we say of such a system and of such a state +of things? Simply this: that it indicated a complete +mental and social demoralization—mental demoralization, +for the principles of knowledge were sapped, and man +persuaded that his reason was no guide; social demoralization, +for he was taught that right and wrong, virtue and +vice, conscience, and law, and God, are imaginary fictions; +that there is no harm in the commission of sin, though +there may be harm, as assuredly there is folly, in being +detected therein; that it is excellent for a man to sell his +country to the Persian king, provided that the sum of +money he receives is large enough, and that the transaction +is so darkly conducted that the public, and particularly +his enemies, can never find it out. Let him never forget +that patriotism is the first delusion of a simpleton, and the +last refuge of a knave.</p> + +<p>Such were the results of the first attempt to correct the +partial philosophies, by submitting them to the measure +of a more universal one; such the manner in which, instead +of only losing their exclusiveness and imperfections by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +their contact with one another, they were wrested from +their proper object, and made subservient to the purpose +of deception. Nor was it science alone that was affected; +already might be discerned the foreshadowings of that +<span class="sidenote">They reject the national religion.</span> +conviction which many centuries later occasioned the final +destruction of polytheism in Rome. Already, in Athens, +the voice of philosophers was heard, that among so many +gods and so many different worships it was impossible +for a man to ascertain what is true. Already, +many even of the educated were overwhelmed +with the ominous suggestion that, if ever it had +been the will of heaven to reveal any form of faith to the +world, such a revelation, considering its origin, must +necessarily have come with sufficient power to override all +opposition; that if there existed only as many as two +forms of faith synchronous and successful in the world, +that fact would of itself demonstrate that neither of them +is true, and that there never had been any revelation from +an all-wise and omnipotent God. Nor was it merely +among the speculative men that these infidelities were +cherished; the leading politicians and statesmen had become +deeply infected with them. It was not Anaxagoras +alone who was convicted of atheism; the same charge was +made against Pericles, the head of the republic—he who +<span class="sidenote">Spread of their opinions among the +highest classes.</span> +had done so much for the glory of Athens—the +man who, in practical life, was, beyond all +question, the first of his age. With difficulty +he succeeded, by the use of what influence remained +to him, in saving the life of the guilty philosopher +his friend, but in the public estimation he was universally +viewed as a participator in his crime. If the foundations +of philosophy and those of religion were thus sapped, the +foundations of law experienced no better fate. The Sophists, +who were wandering all over the world, saw that each +nation had its own ideas of merit and demerit, and therefore +its own system of law; that even in different towns +there were contrary conceptions of right and wrong, and +therefore opposing codes. It is evident that in such examinations +they applied the same principles which had guided +them in their analysis of philosophy and religion, and that +the result could be no other than it was, to bring them to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +the conclusion that there is nothing absolute in justice or +in law. To what an appalling condition society has arrived, +when it reaches the positive conclusion that there is no +truth, no religion, no justice, no virtue in the world; that +the only object of human exertion is unrestrained physical +enjoyment; the only standard of a man's position, wealth; +that, since there is no possibility of truth, whose eternal +principles might serve for an uncontrovertible and common +guide, we should resort to deception and the arts of persuasion, +that we may dupe others for our purposes; that +there is no sin in undermining the social contract; no +crime in blasphemy, or rather there is no blasphemy at +all, since there are no gods; that "man is the measure of +all things," as Protagoras teaches, and that "he is the +criterion of existence;" that "thought is only the relation +of the thinking subject to the object thought of, and that +<span class="sidenote">They end +in blank atheism.</span> +the thinking subject, the soul, is nothing more than the +sum of the different moments of thinking." It is no wonder +that that Sophist who was the author of such doctrines +should be condemned to death to satisfy the clamours +of a populace who had not advanced sufficiently +into the depths of this secondary, this higher +philosophy, and that it was only by flight that +he could save himself from the punishment awaiting the +opening sentiment of his book: "Of the gods I cannot tell +whether they are or not, for much hinders us from knowing +this—both the obscurity of the subject and the shortness +of life." It is no wonder that the social demoralization +spread apace, when men like Gorgias, the disciple of +Empedocles, were to be found, who laughed at virtue, +made an open derision of morality, and proved, by metaphysical +demonstration, that nothing at all exists.</p> + +<p>From these statements respecting the crisis at which +ancient philosophy had arrived, we might be disposed to +believe that the result was unmitigated evil, for it scarcely +deserves mention that the quibbles and disputes of the +Sophists occasioned an extraordinary improvement of the +Greek language, introducing precision into its terms, and +a wonderful dialectical skill into its use. For us there may +be extracted from these melancholy conclusions at least +one instructive lesson—that it is not during the process of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +decomposition of philosophies, and especially of religions, +<span class="sidenote">Political dangers of +the higher analysis.</span> +that social changes occur, for such breakings-up +commonly go on in an isolated, and therefore +innocuous way; but if by chance the fragments +and decomposed portions are brought together, +and attempts are made by fusion to incorporate them anew, +or to extract from them, by a secondary analysis, what +truth they contain, a crisis is at once brought on, and—such +is the course of events—in the catastrophe that ensues +<span class="sidenote">Illustrations +from the Middle Ages.</span> +they are commonly all absolutely destroyed. It was doubtless +their foresight of such consequences that inspired the +Italian statesmen of the Middle Ages with a +resolute purpose of crushing in the bud every +encroachment on ecclesiastical authority, and +every attempt at individual interpretation of religious +doctrines. For it is not to be supposed that men of clear +intellect should be insensible to the obvious unreasonableness +of many of the dogmas that had been consecrated by +authority. But if once permission were accorded to human +criticism and human interpretation, what other issue could +there be than that doctrine upon doctrine, and sect upon +sect should arise; that theological principles should undergo +a total decomposition, until two men could scarcely be +found whose views coincided; nay, even more than that, +that the same man should change his opinion with the +changing incidents of the different periods of his life. No +matter what might be the plausible guise of the beginning, +and the ostensibly cogent arguments for its necessity, once +let the decomposition commence, and no human power +could arrest it until it had become thorough and complete. +Considering the prestige, the authority, and the mass of +fact to be dealt with, it might take many centuries for +this process to be finished, but that that result would at +length be accomplished no enlightened man could doubt. +The experience of the ancient European world had shown +that in the act of such decompositions there is but little +danger, since, for the time being, each sect, and, indeed, +each individual, has a guiding rule of life. But as soon +as the period of secondary analysis is reached a crisis must +inevitably ensue, in all probability involving not only +religion, but also the social contract. And though, by the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +exercise of force on the part of the interests that are disturbed, +<span class="sidenote">Danger of +intellect outgrowing formulas +of faith.</span> +aided by that popular sentiment which is abhorrent +of anarchy, the crisis might, for a time, be put +off, it could not be otherwise than that Europe +should be left in that deplorable state which +must result when the intellect of a people has +outgrown its formulas of faith. A fearful condition to +contemplate, for such a dislocation must also affect political +relations, and necessarily implies revolt against existing +law. Nations plunged in the abyss of irreligion must +necessarily be nations in anarchy. For a time their +tendency to explosion may be kept down by the firm application +of the hand of power; but this is simply an antagonism, +it is no cure. The social putrefaction proceeds, +working its way downward into classes that are lower and +lower, until at length it involves the institutions that are +relied on for its arrest. Armies, the machinery of compression, +once infected, the end is at hand, but no human +<span class="sidenote">Absolute necessity of preparing +communities for these changes.</span> +foresight can predict what the event shall be, especially if +the contemporaneous ruling powers have either +ignorantly or wilfully neglected to prepare +society for the inevitable trial it is about to +undergo. It is the most solemn of all the duties +of governments, when once they have become aware of +such a momentous condition, to prepare the nations for +its fearful consequences. For this it may, perhaps, be +lawful for them to dissemble in a temporary manner, as it +is sometimes proper for a physician to dissemble with his +patient; it may be lawful for them even to resort to the +use of force, but never should such measures of doubtful +correctness be adopted without others directed to a preparation +of the mass of society for the trials through which +it is about to pass. Such, doubtless, were the profound +views of the great Italian statesmen of the Middle Ages; +such, doubtless, were the arguments by which they justified +to themselves resistance against the beginning of the +evil—a course for which Europe has too often and unfairly +condemned them.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Summary of +the preceding +theories.</div> + +<p>It remains for us now to review the details presented in +the foregoing pages for the purpose of determining the +successive phases of development through which the Greek +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +mind passed. It is not with the truth or fallacy of these +details that we have to do, but with their order +of occurrence. They are points enabling us +to describe graphically the curve of Grecian +intellectual advance.</p> + +<p>The starting point of Greek philosophy is physical and +geocentral. The earth is the grand object of the universe, +and, as the necessary result, erroneous ideas are entertained +as to the relations and dimensions of the sea and air. +This philosophy was hardly a century old before it began +to cosmogonize, using the principles it considered itself +sure of. Long before it was able to get rid of local ideas, +such as upward and downward in space, it undertook to +explain the origin of the world.</p> + +<p>But, as advances were made, it was recognized that +creation, in its various parts, displays intention and +design, the adaptation of means to secure proposed ends. +This suggested a reasoning and voluntary agency, like +that of man, in the government of the world; and from a +continual reference to human habits and acts, Greek philosophy +passed through its stage of anthropoid conceptions.</p> + +<p>A little farther progress awakened suspicions that the +mind of man can obtain no certain knowledge; and the +opinion at last prevailed that we have no trustworthy +criterion of truth. In the scepticism thus setting in, the +approach to Oriental ideas is each successive instant more +and more distinct.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Approach to +Oriental ideas.</div> + +<p>This period of doubt was the immediate forerunner of +more correct cosmical opinions. The heliocentric mechanism +of the planetary system was introduced, the earth +deposed to a subordinate position. The doctrines, both +physical and intellectual, founded on geocentric ideas, +were necessarily endangered, and, since these had connected +themselves with the prevailing religious views, and were +represented by important material interests, the public +began to practise persecution and the philosophers hypocrisy. +Pantheistic notions of the nature of the world +became more distinct, and, as their necessary +consequence, the doctrines of Emanation, Transmigration, +and Absorption were entertained. From this +it is but a step to the suspicion that matter, motion, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +time are phantasms of the imagination—opinions embodied +in the atomic theory, which asserts that atoms and space +alone exist; and which became more refined when it +recognized that atoms are only mathematical points; and +still more so when it considered them as mere centres of +force. The brink of Buddhism was here approached.</p> + +<p>As must necessarily ever be the case where men are +coexisting in different psychical stages of advance, some +having made a less, some a greater intellectual progress, +all these views which we have described successively, were +at last contemporaneously entertained. At this point commenced +the action of the Sophists, who, by setting the +doctrines of one school in opposition to those of another, +and representing them all as of equal value, occasioned +the destruction of them all, and the philosophy founded +on physical speculation came to an end.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Uniformity +in the manner +of intellectual +progress.</div> + +<p>Of this phase of Greek intellectual life, if we compare +the beginning with the close, we cannot fail to observe +how great is the improvement. The thoughts +dealt with at the later period are intrinsically +of a higher order than those at the outset. From +the puerilities and errors with which we have +thus been occupied, we learn that there is a definite mode +of progress for the mind of man; from the history of later +times we shall find that it is ever in the same direction.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +THE GREEK AGE OF FAITH.</p> + +<p class='center'><small>RISE AND DECLINE OF ETHICAL PHILOSOPHY.</small></p> + +<div class='blockquot'><p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Socrates</span> <i>rejects Physical and Mathematical Speculations, and asserts +the Importance of Virtue and Morality, thereby inaugurating an Age +of Faith.—His Life and Death.—The schools originating from his +Movement teach the Pursuit of Pleasure and Gratification of Self.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Plato</span> <i>founds the Academy.—His three primal Principles.—The Existence +of a personal God.—Nature of the World and the Soul.—The +ideal Theory, Generals or Types.—Reminiscence.—Transmigration.—Plato's +political Institutions.—His Republic.—His Proofs of the +Immortality of the Soul.—Criticism on his Doctrines.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Rise of the Sceptics</span>, <i>who conduct the higher Analysis of Ethical +Philosophy.—Pyrrho demonstrates the Uncertainty of Knowledge.—Inevitable +Passage into tranquil Indifference, Quietude, and Irreligion, +as recommended by Epicurus.—Decomposition of the Socratic and +Platonic Systems in the later Academies.—Their Errors and Duplicities.—End +of the Greek Age of Faith.</i></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote">Greek philosophy +on the +basis of ethics.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Sophists had brought on an intellectual anarchy. It +is not in the nature of humanity to be contented +with such a state. Thwarted in its expectations +from physics, the Greek mind turned its attention +to morals. In the progress of life, it is but a step +from the age of Inquiry to the age of Faith.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Socrates: his +mode of +teaching.</div> + +<p>Socrates, who led the way in this movement, was born +<small>B.C.</small> 469. He exercised an influence in some respects felt +to our times. Having experienced the unprofitable results +arising from physical speculation, he set in contrast there +with the solid advantages to be enjoyed from +the cultivation of virtue and morality. His +life was a perpetual combat with the Sophists. +His manner of instruction was by conversation, in which, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +according to the uniform testimony of all who heard +him, he singularly excelled. He resorted to definitions, +and therefrom drew deductions, conveying his argument +under the form of a dialogue. Unlike his predecessors, +who sought for truth in the investigation of outward +things, he turned his attention inward, asserting the +supremacy of virtue and its identity with knowledge, and +the necessity of an adherence to the strict principles of +justice. Considering the depraved condition to which the +Sophists had reduced society, he insisted on a change in +the manner of education of youth, so as to bring it in +accordance with the principle that happiness is only to be +found in the pursuit of virtue and goodness. Thus, therefore, +he completely substituted the moral for the physical, +and in this essentially consists the philosophical revolution +he effected. He had no school, properly speaking, nor did +he elaborate any special ethical system; to those who +inquired how they should know good from evil and right +from wrong, he recommended the decisions of the laws of +<span class="sidenote">The doctrines of Socrates.</span> +their country. It does not appear that he ever +entered on any inquiry respecting the nature of +God, simply viewing his existence as a fact of which +there was abundant and incontrovertible proof. Though +rejecting the crude religious ideas of his nation, and +totally opposed to anthropomorphism, he carefully +avoided the giving of public offence by improper allusions +to the prevailing superstition; nay, even as a good +citizen, he set an example of conforming to its requirements. +In his judgment, the fault of the Sophists consisted +in this, that they had subverted useless speculation, +but had substituted for it no scientific evidence. Nevertheless, +if man did not know, he might believe, and +demonstration might be profitably supplanted by faith. +He therefore insisted on the great doctrines of the immortality +of the soul and the government of the world by +Providence; but it is not to be denied that there are plain +indications, in some of his sentiments, of a conviction that +the Supreme Being is the soul of the world. He professed +that his own chief wisdom consisted in the knowledge of +his own ignorance, and dissuaded his friends from the +cultivation of mathematics and physics, since he affirmed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Opposes mathematics and physics.</span> +that the former leads to vain conclusions, the latter to +atheism. In his system everything turns on +the explanation of terms; but his processes of +reasoning are often imperfect, his conclusions, +therefore, liable to be incorrect. In this way, he maintained +that no one would knowingly commit a wrong act, because +he that knew a thing to be good would do it; that it is +only involuntarily that the bad are bad; that he who +knowingly tells a lie is a better man than he who tells a +lie in ignorance; and that it is right to injure one's +enemies.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Superficiality +of his views.</div> + +<p>From such a statement of the philosophy of Socrates, we +cannot fail to remark how superficial it must +have been; it perpetually mistakes differences +of words for distinctions of things; it also possessed little +novelty. The enforcement of morality cannot be regarded +as anything new, since probably there has never been an +age in which good men were not to be found, who observed, +as their rule of life, the maxims taught by Socrates; and +hence we may reasonably inquire what it was that has +spread over the name of this great man such an unfading +lustre, and why he stands out in such extraordinary +prominence among the benefactors of his race.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Causes of the +celebrity of +Socrates.</div> + +<p>Socrates was happy in two things: happy in those who +recorded his life, and happy in the circumstances +of his death. It is not given to every great man +to have Xenophon and Plato for his biographers; +it is not given to every one who has overpassed the limit +of life, and, in the natural course of events, has but a little +longer to continue, to attain the crown of martyrdom in +behalf of virtue and morality. In an evil hour for the +glory of Athens, his countrymen put him to death. It +was too late when they awoke and saw that they could +give no answer to the voice of posterity, demanding why +they had perpetrated this crime. With truth Socrates +said, at the close of his noble speech to the judges who had +condemned him, "It is now time that we depart—I to die, +you to live; but which has the better destiny is unknown +to all except God." The future has resolved that doubt. +For Socrates there was reserved the happier lot.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The ostensible +accusations +against him.</div> + +<p>No little obscurity still remains as respects the true<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +nature of this dark transaction. The articles of accusation +were three: he rejects the gods of his country; +he introduces new ones; he perverts the education +of youth. With truth might his friends say +it was wonderful that he should be accused of impiety, the +whole tenor of whose life was reverence for God—a recognition +not only of the divine existence, but of the divine +superintendence. "It is only a madman," he would say, +"who imputes success in life to human prudence;" and as +to the necessity of a right education for the young, "It is +only the wise who are fit to govern men." We must conclude +that the accusations were only ostensible or fictitious, +and that beneath them lay some reality which could +reconcile the Athenians to the perpetration of so great a +crime.</p> + +<p>Shall we find in his private life any explanation of this +mystery? Unfortunately, the details of it which have +descended to us are few. To the investigations of classical +criticism we can scarcely look with any hope, for classical +criticism has hitherto been in a state of singular innocence, +so far as the actual affairs of life are concerned. It regards +Athenians and Romans not as men and women like ourselves, +but as the personages presented by fictitious +literature, whose lives are exceptions to the common laws +of human nature; who live in the midst of scenes of +endless surprises and occurrences ever bordering on the +marvellous.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The character +of Socrates in Athens.</div> + +<p>If we examine the case according to everyday principles, +we cannot fail to remark that the Socrates of our +imagination is a very different man from the +Socrates of contemporaneous Athenians. To us +he appears a transcendent genius, to whom the great +names of antiquity render their profound homage; a +martyr in behalf of principles, of which, if society be devoid, +life itself is scarcely of any worth, and for the defence of +which it is the highest glory that a man should be called +upon to die. To them Socrates was no more than an idle +lounger in the public places and corners of the streets; +grotesque, and even repulsive in his person; affecting in the +oddities of his walking and in his appearance many of the +manners of the mountebank. Neglecting the pursuit of an +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +honest calling, for his trade seems to have been that of a +stone-cutter, he wasted his time in discoursing with such +youths as his lecherous countenance and satyr-like person +could gather around him, leading them astray from the +gods of his country, the flimsy veil of his hypocrisy being +too transparent to conceal his infidelity. Nevertheless, he +was a very brave soldier, as those who served with him +testify. It does not appear that he was observant of those +cares which by most men are probably considered as paramount, +<span class="sidenote">Xantippe his wife.</span> +giving himself but little concern for the support of +his children and wife. The good woman Xantippe is, to +all appearance, one of those characters who are +unfairly judged of by the world. Socrates +married her because of her singular conversational powers; +and though he himself, according to universal testimony, +possessed extraordinary merits in that respect, he found to +his cost, when too late, so commanding were her excellencies, +that he was altogether her inferior. Among the +amusing instances related of his domestic difficulties were +the consequences of his invitations to persons to dine with +him when there was nothing in the house wherewith to +entertain them, a proceeding severely trying to the temper +of Xantippe, whose cause would unquestionably be defended +by the matrons of any nation. It was nothing but the +mortification of a high-spirited woman at the acts of a man +who was too shiftless to have any concern for his domestic +honour. He would not gratify her urgent entreaties by +accepting from those upon whom he lavished his time the +money that was so greatly needed at home. After his +condemnation, she carried her children with her to his +prison, and was dismissed by him, as he told his friends, +from his apprehension of her deep distress. To the last +we see her bearing herself in a manner honourable to a +woman and a wife. There is surely something wrong in +a man's life when the mother of his children is protesting +against his conduct, and her complaints are countenanced +by the community. In view of all the incidents of the +history of Socrates, we can come to no other conclusion +than that the Athenians regarded him as an unworthy, +and perhaps troublesome member of society. There can be +no doubt that his trial and condemnation were connected +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">He is really the victim of +political animosity.</span> +with political measures. He himself said that he should +have suffered death previously, in the affair of +Leon of Salamis, had not the government been +broken up. His bias was toward aristocracy, +not toward democracy. In common with his +party, he had been engaged in undertakings that could +not do otherwise than entail mortal animosities; and it is +not to be overlooked that his indictment was brought forward +by Anytus, who was conspicuous in restoring the +old order of things. The mistake made by the Athenians +was in applying a punishment altogether beyond the real +offence, and in adding thereto the persecution of those who +had embraced the tenets of Socrates by driving them into +exile. Not only admiration for the memory of their master, +but also a recollection of their own wrongs, made these +men eloquent eulogists. Had Socrates appeared to the +Athenians as he appears to us, it is not consistent with +human proceedings that they should have acted in so +barbarous and totally indefensible a manner.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Dæmon +of Socrates.</div> + +<p>If by the Dæmon to whose suggestions Socrates is said +to have listened anything more was meant +than conscience, we must infer that he laboured +under that mental malady to which those are liable who, +either through penury or designedly, submit to extreme +abstinence, and, thereby injuring the brain, fall into +hallucination. Such cases are by no means of infrequent +occurrence. Mohammed was affected in that manner.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Megaric school. The wise should +be insensible to pain.</div> + +<p>After the death of Socrates there arose several schools +professing to be founded upon his principles. +The divergences they exhibited when compared +with one another prove how little there was of +precision in those principles. Among these +imitators is numbered Euclid of Megara, who had been in +the habit of incurring considerable personal risk for the +sake of listening to the great teacher, it being a capital +offence for a native of Megara to be found in Athens. Upon +their persecution, Plato and other disciples of Socrates fled +to Euclid, and were well received by him. His system was +a mixture of the Eleatic and Socratic, the ethical preponderating +in his doctrine. He maintained the existence +of one Being, the Good, having various aspects—Wisdom, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +God, Reason, and showed an inclination to the tendency +afterward fully developed by the Cynical school in his +dogma that the wise man should be insensible to pain.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Cyrenaic school. Pleasure +is the object of life.</div> + +<p>With the Megaric school is usually classified the Cyrenaic +founded by Aristippus. Like Socrates, he held +in disdain physical speculations, and directed his +attention to the moral. In his opinion, happiness +consists in pleasure; and, indeed, he recognized +in pleasure and pain the criteria of external things. He +denied that we can know anything with certainty, our +senses being so liable to deceive us; but, though we may +not perceive things truly, it is true that we perceive. +With the Cyrenaic school, pleasure was the great end and +object of life.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Cynical school: a contempt +for others and gratification of self.</div> + +<p>To these may be added the Cynical school, founded +by Antisthenes, whose system is personal and +ferocious: it is a battle of the mind against the +body; it is a pursuit of pleasure of a mental kind, +corporeal enjoyment being utterly unworthy of a +man. Its nature is very well shown in the +character of its founder, who abandoned all the conveniences +and comforts of life, voluntarily encountering +poverty and exposure to the inclemency of the seasons. His +garments were of the meanest kind, his beard neglected, +his person filthy, his diet bordering on starvation. To the +passers-by this ragged misanthrope indulged in contemptuous +language, and offended them by the indecency of his +gestures. Abandoned at last by every one except Diogenes +<span class="sidenote">Antisthenes.</span> +of Sinope, he expired in extreme wretchedness. It had been +a favourite doctrine with him that friendship +and patriotism are altogether worthless; and in +his last agony, Diogenes asking him whether he needed a +friend, "Will a friend release me from this pain?" he inquired. +Diogenes handed him a dagger, saying, "This will." +"I want to be free from pain, but not from life." Into such +degradation had philosophy, as represented by the Cynical +school, fallen, that it may be doubted whether it is right to +include a man like Antisthenes among those who derive +their title from their love of wisdom—a man who condemned +the knowledge of reading and writing, who +depreciated the institution of marriage, and professed that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +he saw no other advantage in philosophy than that it +enabled him to keep company with himself.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Diogenes of Sinope.</div> + +<p>The wretched doctrines of Cynicism were carried to their +utmost application by Diogenes of Sinope. In early life +he had been accustomed to luxury and ease; +but his father, who was a wealthy banker, having +been convicted of debasing the coinage, Diogenes, who in +some manner shared in the disgrace, was in a very fit state +of mind to embrace doctrines implying a contempt for the +goods of the world and for the opinions of men. He may +be considered as the prototype of the hermits of a later +period in his attempts at the subjugation of the natural +appetites by means of starvation. Looking upon the body +as a mere clog to the soul, he mortified it in every possible +manner, feeding it on raw meat and leaves, and making it +dwell in a tub. He professed that the nearer a man approaches +to suicide the nearer he approaches to virtue. He +wore no other dress than a scanty cloak; a wallet, a stick, +and a drinking-cup completed his equipment: the cup he +threw away as useless on seeing a boy take water in the +hollow of his hand. It was his delight to offend every +idea of social decency by performing all the acts of life +publicly, asserting that whatever is not improper in itself +ought to be done openly. It is said that his death, which +occurred in his ninetieth year, was in consequence of +devouring a neat's foot raw. From his carrying the +Socratic notions to an extreme, he merits the designation +applied to him, "the mad Socrates." His contempt for the +opinions of others, and his religious disbelief, are illustrated +by an incident related of him, that, having in a +<span class="sidenote">His irreverence.</span> +moment of weakness made a promise to some friends that +he would offer a sacrifice to Diana, he repaired +the next day to her temple, and, taking a louse +from his head, cracked it upon her altar.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Decline of morality.</div> + +<p>What a melancholy illustration of the tendency of the +human mind do these facts offer. What a quick, yet +inevitable descent from the morality of Socrates. Selfishness +is enthroned; friendship and patriotism are +looked upon as the affairs of a fool; happy is the +man who stands in no need of a friend; still happier he +who has not one. No action is intrinsically bad; even +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +robbery, adultery, sacrilege, are only crimes by public +agreement. The sage will take care how he indulges in +the weakness of gratitude or benevolence, or any other such +sickly sentiment. If he can find pleasure, let him enjoy it; +if pain is inflicted on him, let him bear it; but, above all, +let him remember that death is just as desirable as life.</p> + +<p>If the physical speculations of Greece had ended in +sophistry and atheism, ethical investigations, it thus +appears, had borne no better fruit. Both systems, when +carried to their consequences, had been found to be not +only useless to society, but actually prejudicial to its best +interests. As far as could be seen, in the times of which +we are speaking, the prospects for civilization were dark +and discouraging; nor did it appear possible that any +successful attempts could be made to extract from philosophy +anything completely suitable to the wants of man. +Yet, in the midst of these discreditable delusions, one of +the friends and disciples of Socrates—indeed, it may be +said, his chief disciple, Plato, was laying the foundation of +another system, which, though it contained much that was +false and more that was vain, contained also some things +vigorous enough to descend to our times.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Birth of Plato.</div> + +<p>Plato was born about <small>B.C.</small> 426. Antiquity has often +delighted to cast a halo of mythical glory around +its illustrious names. The immortal works of +this great philosopher seemed to entitle him to more than +mortal honours. A legend, into the authenticity of which +we will abstain from inquiring, asserted that his mother +Perictione, a pure virgin, suffered an immaculate conception +through the influences of Apollo. The god declared +to Ariston, to whom she was about to be married, the +parentage of the child. The wisdom of this great writer +may justify such a noble descent, and, in some degree, +excuse the credulity of his admiring and affectionate +disciples, who gave a ready ear to the impossible story.</p> + +<p>To the knowledge acquired by Plato during the eight or +ten years he had spent with Socrates, he added all that +could be obtained from the philosophers of Egypt, Cyrene, +Persia, and Tarentum. With every advantage arising +from wealth and an illustrious parentage, if even it was +only of an earthly kind, for he numbered Solon among his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +ancestors, he availed himself of the teaching of the chief +philosophers of the age, and at length, returning to his +<span class="sidenote">His education and teaching.</span> +native country, founded a school in the grove of Hecademus. +Thrice during his career as a teacher he visited Sicily on +each occasion returning to the retirement of his +academy. He attained the advanced age of eighty-three +years. It has been given to few men to exercise so +profound an influence on the opinions of posterity, and yet +it is said that during his lifetime Plato had no friends. He +quarrelled with most of those who had been his fellow-disciples +of Socrates; and, as might be anticipated from the +venerable age to which he attained, and the uncertain +foundation upon which his doctrines reposed, his opinions +were very often contradictory, and his philosophy exhibited +many variations. To his doctrines we must now attend.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The doctrines of Plato. The +three primary principles.</div> + +<p>It was the belief of Plato that matter is coeternal with +God, and that, indeed, there are three primary +principles—God, Matter, Ideas; all animate +and inanimate things being fashioned by God +from matter, which, being capable of receiving +any impress, may be designated with propriety the +Mother of Forms. He held that intellect existed before +such forms were produced, but not antecedently to matter. +To matter he imputed a refractory or resisting quality, +the origin of the disorders and disturbances occurring in +the world; he also regarded it us the cause of evil, accounting +thereby for the preponderance of evil, which must exceed +the good in proportion as matter exceeds ideas. It is not +without reason, therefore, that Plato has been accused of +Magianism. These doctrines are of an Oriental cast.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">He asserts the existence of a +personal God.</div> + +<p>The existence of God, an independent and personal +maker of the world, he inferred from proofs of +intelligence and design presented by natural +objects. "All in the world is for the sake of +the rest, and the places of the single parts are so ordered +as to subserve to the preservation and excellency of the +whole; hence all things are derived from the operation of +a Divine intellectual cause." From the marks of unity in +that design he deduced the unity of God, the Supreme +Intelligence, incorporeal, without beginning, end, or +change. His god is the fashioner and father of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +universe, in contradistinction to impersonal Nature. In +one sense, he taught that the soul is immortal and imperishable; +in another, he denied that each individual +soul either has had or will continue to have an everlasting +duration. From what has been said on a former page, it +will be understood that this psychological doctrine is +<span class="sidenote">Nature of the soul.</span> +essentially Indian. His views of the ancient condition of +and former relations of the soul enabled Plato +to introduce the celebrated doctrine of Reminiscence, +and to account for what have otherwise been +termed innate ideas. They are the recollections of things +with which the soul was once familiar.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Plato's Ideal theory.</div> + +<p>The reason of God contemplates and comprehends the +exemplars or original models of all natural forms, whatever +they may be; for visible things are only fleeting shadows, +quickly passing away; ideas or exemplars are everlasting. +With so much power did he set forth this +theory of ideas, and, it must be added, with so +much obscurity, that some have asserted his belief in an +extramundane space in which exist incorporeal beings, the +ideas or original exemplars of all organic and inorganic +forms. An illustration may remove some of the obscurity +of these views. Thus all men, though they may present +different appearances when compared with each other, are +obviously fashioned upon the same model, to which they +all more or less perfectly conform. All trees +<span class="sidenote">Exemplars or types.</span> +of the same kind, though they may differ from +one another, are, in like manner, fashioned upon a common +model, to which they more or less perfectly conform. +To such models, exemplars, or types, Plato gave the +designation of Ideas. Our knowledge thereof is clearly +not obtained from the senses, but from reflection. Now +Plato asserted that these ideas are not only conceptions of +the mind, but actually perceptions or entities having a +real existence; nay, more, that they are the only real +existences. Objects are thus only material embodiments +of ideas, and in representation are not exact; for correspondence +between an object and its model is only so far as +circumstances will permit. Hence we can never determine +all the properties or functions of the idea from an examination +of its imperfect material representation, any more +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +than we can discover the character or qualities of a man +from pictures of him, no matter how excellent those +pictures may be.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Doctrine of Reminiscence.</div> + +<p>The Ideal theory of Plato, therefore, teaches that, +beyond this world of delusive appearances, this world of +material objects, there is another world, invisible, eternal, +and essentially true; that, though we cannot trust our +senses for the correctness of the indications they yield, +there are other impressions upon which we may fall back +to aid us in coming to the truth, the reminiscences +or recollections still abiding in the soul of +the things it formerly knew, either in the realm of pure +ideas, or in the states of former life through which it has +passed. For Plato says that there are souls which, in +<span class="sidenote">Recollections during transmigration.</span> +periods of many thousand years, have successively transmigrated +through bodies of various kinds. Of +these various conditions they retain a recollection, +more faintly or vividly, as the case may +be. Ideas seeming to be implanted in the human mind, +but certainly never communicated to us by the senses, are +derived from those former states. If this recollection of +ancient events and conditions were absolutely precise and +correct, then man would have an innate means for determining +the truth. But such reminiscences being, in their +nature, imperfect and uncertain, we never can attain to +absolute truth. With Plato, the Beautiful is the perfect +image of the true. Love is the desire of the soul for +Beauty, the attraction of like for like, the longing of the +divinity within us for the divinity beyond us; and the +Good, which is beauty, truth, justice, is God—God in his +abstract state.</p> + +<p>From the Platonic system it therefore followed that +science is impossible to man, and possible only to God; +that, however, recollecting our origin, we ought not to +despair, but elevate our intellectual aim as high as we +may; that all knowledge is not attributable to our present +senses; for, if that were the case, all men would be equally +wise, their senses being equal in acuteness; but a very +large portion, and by far the surest portion, is derived +from reminiscence of our former states; that each individual +soul is an idea; and that, of ideas generally, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">God is the sum of ideas.</span> +lower are held together by the higher, and hence, finally +by one which is supreme; that God is the sum +of ideas, and is therefore eternal and unchangeable, +the sensuous conditions of time and space having no +relation to him, and being inapplicable in any conception +of his attributes; that he is the measure of all things, +and not man, as Protagoras supposed; that the universe is +a type of him; that matter itself is an absolute negation, +and is the same as space; that the forms presented by our +senses are unsubstantial shadows, and no reality; that, so +far from there being an infinity of worlds, there is but +one, which, as the work of God, is neither +<span class="sidenote">The nature of the world and of the gods.</span> +subject to age nor decay, and that it consists of +a body and a soul; in another respect it may be +said to be composed of fire and earth, which can only be +made to cohere through the intermedium of air and water, +and hence the necessity of the existence of the four +elements; that of geometrical forms, the pyramid corresponds +to fire, the cube to earth, the octahedron to air, +these forms being produced from triangles connected by +certain numerical ratios; that the entire sum of vitality +is divided by God into seven parts, answering to the +divisions of the musical octave, or to the seven planets; +that the world is an animal having within it a soul; for +man is warm, and so is the world; man is made of various +elements, and so is the world; and, as the body of man +has a soul, so too must the world have one; that there is +a race of created, generated, and visible gods, who must +be distinguished from the eternal, their bodies being +composed for the most part of fire, their shape spherical; +that the earth is the oldest and first of the starry bodies, +its place being in the centre of the universe, or in the +axis thereof, where it remains, balanced by its own +equilibrium; that perhaps it is an ensouled being and a +generated god; that the mortal races are three, answering +to Earth, Air, and Water; that the male man was the first +made of mortals, and that from him the female, and +beasts, and birds, and fishes issued forth; that the superiority +of man depends upon his being a religious animal; +that each mortal consists of two portions, a soul and a +body—their separation constitutes death; that of the soul +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Triple constitution of the soul.</span> +there are two primitive component parts, a mortal and an +immortal, the one being made by the created gods, and +the other by the Supreme; that, for the purpose +of uniting these parts together, it is necessary +that there should be an intermedium, and that +this is the dæmonic portion or spirit; that our mental +struggles arise from this triple constitution of Appetite, +Spirit, and Reason; that Reason alone is immortal, and +the others die; that the number of souls in the universe +is invariable or constant; that the sentiment of pre-existence +proves the soul to have existed before the body; +that, since the soul is the cause of motion, it can neither +be produced nor decay, else all motion must eventually +cease; that, as to the condition of departed +<span class="sidenote">Transmigration and future rewards and punishments.</span> +souls, they hover as shades around the graves, +pining for restoration to their lifeless bodies, or +migrating through various human or brute +shapes, but that an unembodied life in God is reserved for +the virtuous philosopher; that valour is nothing but +knowledge, and virtue a knowledge of good; that the +soul, on entering the body, is irrational or in a trance, +and that the god, the star who formed its created part, +influences its career, and hence its fortunes may be +predicted by astrological computations; that there are +future rewards and punishments, a residence being appointed +for the righteous in his kindred star; for those +whose lives have been less pure there is a second birth +under the form of a woman, and, if evil courses are still +persisted in, successive transmigrations through various +brutes are in reserve—the frivolous passing into birds, +the unphilosophical into beasts, the ignorant into fishes; +that the world undergoes periodical revolutions by fire and +water, its destructions and reproductions depending upon +the coincidences of the stars. Of Plato's views of human +physiology I can offer no better statement than the +<span class="sidenote">The physiology of Plato.</span> +following from Ritter: "All in the human body +is formed for the sake of the Reason, after certain +determinate ends. Accordingly, first of all, a seat must +be provided for the god-like portion of the soul, the head, +viz., which is round, and similar to the perfect shape of +the whole, furnished with the organs of cognition, slightly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +covered with flesh, which impedes the senses. To the +head is given the direction of the whole frame, hence its +position at the top; and, since the animal creation +possesses all the six irregular motions, and the head ought +not to roll upon the ground, the human form is long, with +legs for walking and arms for serving the body, and the +anterior part is fashioned differently from the posterior. +Now, the reason being seated in the head, the spirit or +irascible soul has its seat in the breast, under the head, +in order that it may be within call and command of the +Reason, but yet separated from the head by the neck, that +it might not mix with it. The concupiscible has likewise +its particular seat in the lower part of the trunk, the +abdomen, separated by the diaphragm from that of the +irascible, since it is destined, being separate from both, +to be governed and held in order both by the spirit and +the Reason. For this end God has given it a watch, the +liver, which is dense, smooth, and shining, and, containing +in combination both bitter and sweet, is fitted to receive +and reflect, as a mirror, the images of thoughts. Whenever +the Reason disapproves, it checks inordinate desires by +its bitterness, and, on the other hand, when it approves, +all is soothed into gentle repose by its sweetness; moreover, +in sleep, in sickness, or in inspiration it becomes +prophetic, so that even the vilest portion of the body is in +a certain degree participant of truth. In other respects +the lower portion of the trunk is fashioned with equal +adaptation for the ends it has to serve. The spleen is +placed on the left side of the liver, in order to secrete and +carry off the impurities which the diseases of the body +might produce and accumulate. The intestines are coiled +many times, in order that the food may not pass too quickly +through the body, and so occasion again an immoderate +desire for more; for such a constant appetite would render +the pursuit of philosophy impossible, and make man disobedient +to the commands of the divinity within him."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">His ethical ideas.</div> + +<p>The reader will gather from the preceding paragraph how +much of wisdom and of folly, of knowledge and of ignorance, +the doctrines of Plato present. I may be permitted +to continue this analysis of his writings a little farther, +with the intention of exhibiting the manner in which he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +carried his views into practice; for Plato asserted that, +though the supreme good is unattainable by our +reason, we must try to resemble God as far as +it is possible for the changeable to copy the eternal; +remembering that pleasure is not the end of man, and, +though the sensual part of the soul dwells on eating and +drinking, riches and pleasure, and the spiritual on worldly +honours and distinctions, the reason is devoted to knowledge. +Pleasure, therefore, cannot be attributed to the +gods, though knowledge may; pleasure, which is not a +good in itself, but only a means thereto. Each of the +three parts of the soul has its own appropriate virtue, that +of reason being wisdom; that of the spirit, courage; that +of the appetite, temperance; and for the sake of perfection, +justice is added for the mutual regulation of the other +three.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">His proposed political institutions.</div> + +<p>In carrying his ethical conceptions into practice, Plato +insists that the state is everything, and that +what is in opposition to it ought to be destroyed. +He denies the right of property; strikes at the +very existence of the family, pressing his doctrines +to such an extreme as to consider women as public +property, to be used for the purposes of the state; he +teaches that education should be a governmental duty, +and that religion must be absolutely subjected to the +politician; that children do not belong to their parents, +but to the state; that the aim of government should not +be the happiness of the individual, but that of the whole; +and that men are to be considered not as men, but as +elements of the state, a perfect subject differing from a +slave only in this, that he has the state for his master. +He recommends the exposure of deformed and sickly +infants, and requires every citizen to be initiated into +every species of falsehood and fraud. Distinguishing +between mere social unions and true polities, and insisting +that there should be an analogy between the state and the +soul as respects triple constitution, he establishes a division +of ruler, warriors, and labourers, preferring, therefore, a +monarchy reposing on aristocracy, particularly of talent. +Though he considers music essential to education, his +opinion of the fine arts is so low that he would admit +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +into his state painters and musicians only under severe +<span class="sidenote">The Republic of Plato.</span> +restrictions, or not at all. It was for the sake of having +this chimerical republic realized in Sicily that +he made a journey to Dionysius; and it may be +added that it was well for those whom he hoped to have +subjected to the experiment that his wild and visionary +scheme was never permitted to be carried into effect. In +our times extravagant social plans have been proposed, +and some have been attempted; but we have witnessed +nothing so absurd as this vaunted republic of Plato. It +shows a surprising ignorance of the acts and wants of +man in his social condition.</p> + +<p>Some of the more important doctrines of Plato are +worthy of further reflection. I shall therefore detain +the reader a short time to offer a few remarks upon them.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Grandeur of +Plato's conceptions +of God</div> + +<p>It was a beautiful conception of this philosophy that +ideas are connected together by others of a higher +order, and these, in their turn, by others still +higher, their generality and power increasing as +we ascend, until finally a culminating point is reached—a +last, a supreme, an all-ruling idea, which is God. Approaching +in this elevated manner to the doctrine of an Almighty +Being, we are free from those fallacies we are otherwise +liable to fall into when we mingle notions derived from +time and space with the attributes of God; we also avoid +those obscurities necessarily encountered when we attempt +the consideration of the illimitable and eternal.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">and of the soul.</div> + +<p>Plato's views of the immortality of the soul offer a +striking contrast to those of the popular philosophy +and superstition of his time. They recall, +in many respects, the doctrines of India. In Greece, those +who held the most enlarged views entertained what might +be termed a doctrine of semi-immortality. They looked for +a continuance of the soul in an endless futurity, but gave +themselves no concern about the eternity which is past. +But Plato considered the soul as having already eternally +existed, the present life being only a moment in our +career; he looked forward with an undoubting faith to +the changes through which we must hereafter pass. As +sparks issue forth from a flame, so doubtless to his +imagination did the soul of man issue forth from the soul +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span> +of the world. Innate ideas and the sentiment of pre-existence +<span class="sidenote">The sentiment of pre-existence.</span> +indicate our past life. By the latter +is meant that on some occasion perhaps of trivial +concern, or perhaps in some momentous event, +it suddenly occurs to us that we have been in like circumstances, +and surrounded by the things at that instant +present on some other occasion before; but the recollection, +though forcibly impressing us with surprise, is +misty and confused. With Plato shall we say it was in one +of our prior states of existence, and the long-forgotten +transactions are now suddenly flashing upon us?</p> + +<div class="sidenote">But this arises from the anatomical +construction of the brain.</div> + +<p>But Plato did not know the double structure and the +double action of the brain of man; he did not remember +that the mind may lose all recognition of the lapse of +time, and, with equal facility, compress into the twinkling +of an eye events so numerous that for their occurrence +days and even years would seem to be required; +or, conversely, that it can take a single, a simple +idea, which one would suppose might be disposed +of in a moment, and dwell upon it, dilating or +swelling it out, until all the hours of a long +night are consumed. Of the truth of these singular effects +we have not only such testimony as that offered by those +who have been restored from death by drowning, who +describe the flood of memory rushing upon them in the +last moment of their mortal agony, the long train of all +the affairs in which they have borne a part seen in an +instant, as we see the landscape, with all its various +objects, by a flash of lightning at night, and that with +appalling distinctness, but also from our own experience +in our dreams. It is shown in my Physiology how the +phenomena of the sentiment of pre-existence may, upon +these principles, be explained, each hemisphere of the +brain thinking for itself, and the mind deluded as respects +the lapse of time, mistaking these simultaneous actions +for successive ones, and referring one of the two impressions +to an indistinct and misty past. To Plato such +facts as these afforded copious proofs of the prior existence +of the soul, and strong foundations for a faith in its future +life.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The double immortality, +past and future.</div> + +<p>Thus Plato's doctrine of the immortality of the soul +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +implies a double immortality; the past eternity, as well +as that to come, falls within its scope. In the national +superstition of his time, the spiritual principle +seemed to arise without author or generator, +finding its chance residence in the tabernacle +of the body, growing with its growth and +strengthening with its strength, acquiring for each period +of life a correspondence of form and of feature with its +companion the body, successively assuming the appearance +of the infant, the youth, the adult, the white-bearded +patriarch. The shade who wandered in the Stygian +fields, or stood before the tribunal of Minos to receive his +doom, was thought to correspond in aspect with the +aspect of the body at death. It was thus that Ulysses +recognized the forms of Patroclus and Achilles, and other +heroes of the ten years' siege; it was thus that the +peasant recognized the ghost of his enemy or friend. As +a matter of superstition, these notions had their use, but +in a philosophical sense it is impossible to conceive anything +more defective.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Relations of the past and +future to man.</div> + +<p>Man differs from a lifeless body or a brute in this, that +it is not with the present moment alone that +he has to deal. For the brute the past, when +gone, is clean gone for ever; and the future, +before it approaches, is as if it were never to be. Man, +by his recollection, makes the past a part of the present, +and his foreknowledge adds the future thereto, thereby +uniting the three in one.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Criticism on the Ideal theory.</div> + +<p>Some of the illustrations commonly given of Plato's +Ideal theory may also be instructively used for +showing the manner in which his facts are +dealt with by the methods of modern science. +Thus Plato would say that there is contained in every +acorn the ideal type of an oak, in accordance with which +as soon as suitable circumstances occur, the acorn will +develop itself into an oak, and into no other tree. In the +act of development of such a seed into its final growth +there are, therefore, two things demanding attention, the +intrinsic character of the seed and the external forces +acting upon it. The Platonic doctrine draws such a +distinction emphatically; its essential purpose is to assert +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +the absolute existence and independence of that innate +type and its imperishability. Though it requires the +agency of external circumstances for its complete realization, +its being is altogether irrespective of them. There +are, therefore, in such a case, two elements concerned—an +internal and an external. A like duality is perceived in +many other physiological instances, as in the relationship +of mind and matter, thought and sensation. It is the aim +of the Platonic philosophy to magnify the internal at the +expense of the external in the case of man, thereby +asserting the absolute supremacy of intellect; this being +the particular in which man is distinguished from the +brutes and lower organisms, in whom the external +relatively predominates. The development of any such +organism, be it plant or animal, is therefore nothing but a +manifestation of the Divine idea of Platonism. Many +instances of natural history offer striking illustrations, as +when that which might have been a branch is developed +into a flower, the parts thereof showing a disposition to +arrange themselves by fives or by threes. The persistency +with which this occurs in organisms of the same species, +is, in the Platonic interpretation, a proof that, though +individuals may perish, the idea is immortal. How else, +in this manner, could the like extricate itself from the +unlike; the one deliver itself from, and make itself +manifest among the many?</p> + +<p>Such is an instance of Plato's views; but the very +illustration, thus serving to bring them so explicitly +before us, may teach us another, and, perhaps, a more +correct doctrine. For, considering the duality presented +by such cases, the internal and external, the immortal +hidden type and the power acting upon it without, the +character and the circumstances, may we not pertinently +inquire by what authority does Plato diminish the +influence of the latter and enhance the value of the +former? Why are facts to be burdened with such +hypothetical creations, when it is obvious that a much +simpler explanation is sufficient? Let us admit, as our +best physiological views direct, that the starting-point of +every organism, low or high, vegetable or animal, or +whatever else, is a simple cell, the manner of development +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +of which depends altogether on the circumstances and +influences to which it is exposed; that, so long as those +circumstances are the same the resulting form will be the +same, and that as soon as those circumstances differ the +resulting form differs too. The offspring is like its parent, +not because it includes an immortal typical form, but +because it is exposed in development to the same conditions +as was its parent. Elsewhere I have endeavoured +to show that we must acknowledge this absolute dominion +of physical agents over organic forms as the fundamental +principle in all the sciences of organization; indeed, the +main object of my work on Physiology was to enforce this +very doctrine. But such a doctrine is altogether inconsistent +with the Ideal theory of Platonism. It is no latent +imperishable type existing from eternity that is dominating +in such developments, but they take place as the issue +of a resistless law, variety being possible under variation +of environment. Hence we may perhaps excuse ourselves +from that suprasensual world in which reside typical +forms, universals, ideas of created things, declining this +complex machinery of Platonism, and substituting for it +a simple notion of law. Nor shall we find, if from this +starting-point we direct our thoughts upward, as Plato +did from subordinate ideas to the first idea, anything +incompatible with the noble conclusion to which he eventually +came, anything incompatible with the majesty of God, +whose existence and attributes may be asserted with more +precision and distinctness from considerations of the operation +of immutable law than they can be from the starting-point +of fantastic, imaginary, ideal forms.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Rise of the Sceptics.</div> + +<p>We have seen how the pre-Socratic philosophy ended in +the Sophists; we have now to see how the post-Socratic +ended in the Sceptics. Again was repeated the same result +exhibited in former times, that the doctrines of +the different schools, even those supposed to be +matters of absolute demonstration, were not only essentially +different, but in contradiction to one another. Again, +therefore, the opinion was resumed that the intellect of +man possesses no criterion of truth, being neither able to +distinguish among the contradictions of the impressions of +the senses, nor to judge of the correctness of philosophical +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +deductions, nor even to determine the intrinsic morality +of acts. And, if there be no criterion of truth, there can +be no certain ground of science, and there remains nothing +for us but doubt. Such was the conclusion to which +Pyrrho, the founder of the Sceptics, came. He lived about +<small>B.C.</small> 300. His philosophical doctrine of the necessity of +suspending or refusing our assent from want of a criterion +of judgment led by a natural transition to the moral +doctrine that virtue and happiness consist in perfect +quiescence or freedom from all mental perturbation. This +doctrine, it is said, he had learned in India from the Brahmans, +whither he had been in the expedition of Alexander. +On his return to Europe he taught these views in his +school at Elis; but Greek philosophy, in its own order +of advancement, was verging on the discovery of these +conclusions.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Secondary analysis of +ethical philosophy.</div> + +<p>The Sceptical school was thus founded on the assertion +that man can never ascertain the true among phenomena, +and therefore can never know whether things are in +accordance or discordance with their appearances, for the +same object appears differently to us in different positions +and at different times. Doubtless it also appears differently +to various individuals. Among such appearances, how +shall we select the true one, and, if we make a selection, +how shall we be absolutely certain that we are right? +Moreover, the properties we impute to things, such as +colour, smell, taste, hardness, and the like, are dependent +upon our senses; but we very well know that our senses +are perpetually yielding to us contradictory indications, +and it is in vain that we expect Reason to enable +us to distinguish with correctness, or furnish us +a criterion of the truth. The Sceptical school +thus made use of the weapon which the Sophists +had so destructively employed, directing it, however, +chiefly against ethics. But let us ascend a step higher. +If we rely upon Reason, how do we know that Reason itself +is trustworthy? Do we not want some criterion for it? And, +even if such a criterion existed, must we not have for it, in +its turn, some higher criterion? The Sceptic thus justified +his assertion that to man there is no criterion of truth.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The doctrines of Pyrrho.</div> + +<p>In accordance with these principles, the Sceptics denied +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> +that we can ever attain to a knowledge of existence from a +knowledge of phenomena. They carried their +doubt to such an extreme as to assert that we +can never know the truth of anything that we have +asserted, no, not even the truth of this very assertion +itself. "We assert nothing," said they; "no, not even +that we assert nothing." They declared that the system of +induction is at best only a system of probability, for an +induction can only be certain when every one and all of +<span class="sidenote">No certainty in knowledge.</span> +the individual things have been examined and demonstrated +to agree with the universal. If one +single exception among myriads of examples be +discovered, the induction is destroyed. But how shall we +be sure, in any one case, that we have examined all the +individuals? therefore we must ever doubt. As to the +method of definitions, it is clear that it is altogether +useless; for, if we are ignorant of a thing, we cannot +define it, and if we know a thing, a definition adds nothing +to our knowledge. In thus destroying definitions and +inductions they destroyed all philosophical method.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The doctrines of Epicurus.</div> + +<p>But if there be this impossibility of attaining knowledge, +what is the use of man giving himself any trouble +about the matter? Is it not best to accept life as it comes, +and enjoy pleasure while he may? And this is what +Epicurus, <small>B.C.</small> 342, had already advised men to do. Like +Socrates, he disparages science, and looks upon pleasure +as the main object of life and the criterion of virtue. +Asserting that truth cannot be determined by Reason +alone, he gives up philosophy in despair, or regards it as +an inferior or ineffectual means of contributing to happiness. +In his view the proper division of philosophy is +into Ethics, Canonic, and Physics, the two latter +being of very little importance compared with +the first. The wise man or sage must seek in an Oriental +quietism for the chief happiness of life, indulging himself +in a temperate manner as respects his present appetite, +and adding thereto the recollection of similar sensual +pleasures that are past, and the expectation of new ones +reserved for the future. He must look on philosophy as +the art of enjoying life. He should give himself no concern +as to death or the power of the gods, who are only a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +delusion; none as respects a future state, remembering +that the soul, which is nothing more than a congeries of +atoms, is resolved into those constituents at death. There +can be no doubt that such doctrines were very well suited +to the times in which they were introduced; for so great +was the social and political disturbance, so great the uncertainty +of the tenure of property, that it might well be +suggested what better could a man do than enjoy his own +while it was yet in his possession? nor was the inducement +to such a course lessened by extravagant dissipations +when courtesans and cooks, jesters and buffoons, splendid +attire and magnificent appointments had become essential +to life. Demetrius Poliorcetes, who understood the condition +of things thoroughly, says, "There was not, in my +time, in Athens, one great or noble mind." In such a +<span class="sidenote">Tranquil indifference is best for man.</span> +social state, it is not at all surprising that Epicurus had +many followers, and that there were many who agreed +with him in thinking that happiness is best found in a +tranquil indifference, and in believing that there +is nothing in reality good or bad; that it is best +to decide upon nothing, but to leave affairs to +chance; that there is, after all, little or no difference between +life and death: that a wise man will regard philosophy +as an activity of ideas and arguments which may +tend to happiness; that its physical branch is of no other +use than to correct superstitious fancies as to death, and +remove the fear of meteors, prodigies, and other phenomena +by explaining their nature; that the views of Democritus +and Aristotle may be made to some extent available for +the procurement of pleasure; and that we may learn from +the brutes, who pursue pleasure and avoid pain, what +ought to be our course. Upon the whole, it will be found +that there is a connexion between pleasure and virtue, +especially if we enlarge our views and seek for pleasure, +not in the gratification of the present moment, but in the +aggregate offered by existence. The pleasures of the soul +all originate in the pleasures of the flesh; not only those +of the time being, but also those recollected in the past +and anticipated in the future. The sage will therefore +provide for all these, and, remembering that pain is in its +nature transient, but pleasure is enduring, he will not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +hesitate to encounter the former if he can be certain that +it will procure him the latter; he will dismiss from his +mind all idle fears of the gods and of destiny, for these are +fictions beneficial only to women and the vulgar; yet, +since they are the objects of the national superstition, it is +needless to procure one's self disfavour by openly deriding +them. It will therefore be better for the sage to treat +them with apparent solemnity, or at least with outward +respect, though he may laugh at the imposition in his +heart. As to the fear of death, he will be especially +careful to rid himself from it, remembering that death is +only a deliverer from the miseries of life.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Imperfections +of the Canonic of Epicurus,</div> + +<p>Under the title of Canonic Epicurus delivers his philosophical +views; they are, however, of a very +superficial kind. He insists that our sensuous +impressions are the criterion of truth, and that +even the sensations of a lunatic and a dreamer are true. +But, besides the impressions of the moment, memory is +also to be looked upon as a criterion—memory, which is +the basis of experience.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">and contradictions of his Physics.</div> + +<p>In his Physics he adopts the Atomic theory of Democritus, +though in many respects it ill accords +with his Ethics or Canonic; but so low is his +esteem of its value that he cares nothing for +that. Though atoms and a void are in their nature imperceptible +to the senses, he acknowledges their existence, +asserting the occurrence of an infinite number of atoms of +different kinds in the infinite void, which, because of their +weight, precipitate themselves perpendicularly downward +with an equable motion; but some of them, through an unaccountable +internal force, have deviated from their perpendicular +path, and, sticking together after their collision, +have given rise to the world. Not much better than these +vague puerilities are his notions about the size of the sun, +the nature of eclipses, and other astronomical phenomena; +but he justifies his contradictions and superficiality by +asserting that it is altogether useless for a man to know +such things, and that the sage ought to give himself no +trouble about them. As to the soul, he says that it must +be of a material or corporeal nature, for this simple reason, +that there is nothing incorporeal but a vacuum; he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> +inclines to the belief that it is a rarefied body, easily +movable, and somewhat of the nature of a vapour; he +divides it into four activities, corresponding to the four +elements entering into its constitution; and that, so far +from being immortal, it is decomposed into its integral +atoms, dying when the body dies. With the atomic +doctrines of Democritus, Epicurus adopts the notions of +that philosopher respecting sensation, to the effect that +eidola or images are sloughed off from all external objects, +and find access to the brain through the eye. In his +theology he admits, under the circumstances we have +mentioned, anthropomorphic gods, pretending to account +for their origin in the chance concourse of atoms, and +<span class="sidenote">His irreligion.</span> +suggesting that they display their quietism and blessedness +by giving themselves no concern about man +or his affairs. By such derisive promptings does +Epicurus mock at the religion of his country—its rituals, +sacrifices, prayers, and observances. He offers no better +evidence of the existence of God than that there is a +general belief current among men in support of such a +notion; but, when brought to the point, he does not +hesitate to utter his disbelief in the national theology, and +to declare that, in his judgment, it is blind chance that +rules the world.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Epicureans of modern times.</div> + +<p>Such are the opinions to which the name of Epicurus +has been attached; but there were Epicureans ages before +that philosopher was born, and Epicureans there will be +in all time to come. They abound in our own +days, ever characterized by the same features—an +intense egoism in their social relations, superficiality +in their philosophical views, if the term philosophical can +be justly applied to intellects so narrow; they manifest +an accordance often loud and particular with the religion +of their country, while in their hearts and in their lives +they are utter infidels. These are they who constitute +the most specious part of modern society, and are often +the self-proclaimed guardians of its interests. They are +to be found in every grade of life; in the senate, in the +army, in the professions, and especially in commercial +pursuits, which, unhappily, tend too frequently to the +development of selfishness. It is to them that society is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +indebted for more than half its corruptions, all its hypocrisy, +and more than half its sins. It is they who infuse +into it falsehood as respects the past, imposture as respects +the present, fraud as respects the future; who teach it by +example that the course of a man's life ought to be determined +upon principles of selfishness; that gratitude +and affection are well enough if displayed for effect, but +that they should never be felt; that men are to be looked +upon not as men, but as things to be used; that knowledge +and integrity, patriotism and virtue, are the delusions +of simpletons; and that wealth is the only object +which is really worthy of the homage of man.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Middle Academy of Arcesilaus.<br /><br /> +The New Academy of Carneades.</div> + +<p>It now only remains in this chapter to speak of the +later Platonism. The Old Academy, of which Plato was +the founder, limited its labours to the illustration +and defence of his doctrines. The Middle +Academy, originating with Arcesilaus, born +<small>B.C.</small> 316, maintained a warfare with the Stoics, developed +the doctrine of the uncertainty of sensual impressions +and the nothingness of human knowledge. The +New Academy was founded by Carneades, born +<small>B.C.</small> 213, and participated with the preceding +in many of its fundamental positions. On the one side +Carneades leans to scepticism, on the other he accepts +probability as his guide. This school so rapidly degenerated +that at last it occupied itself with rhetoric alone. +The gradual increase of scepticism and indifference +throughout this period is obvious enough; thus Arcesilaus +said that he knew nothing, not even his own ignorance, +and denied both intellectual and sensuous knowledge. +Carneades, obtaining his views from the old philosophy, +found therein arguments suitable for his purpose against +necessity, God, soothsaying; he did not admit that there +is any such thing as justice in the abstract, declaring that +<span class="sidenote">The duplicity of the later Academicians.</span> +it is a purely conventional thing; indeed, it +was his rhetorical display, alternately in praise +of justice and against it, on the occasion of his +visit to Rome, that led Cato to have him expelled from +the city. Though Plato had been the representative of an +age of faith, a secondary analysis of all his works, +implying an exposition of their contradictions, ended in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +scepticism. If we may undertake to determine the precise +aim of a philosophy whose representatives stood in such +an attitude of rhetorical duplicity, it may be said to be +the demonstration that there is no criterion of truth in +this world. Persuaded thus of the impossibility of philosophy, +Carneades was led to recommend his theory of +the probable. "That which has been most perfectly +analyzed and examined, and found to be devoid of +improbability, is the most probable idea." The degeneration +of philosophy now became truly complete, the labours +<span class="sidenote">The fourth and fifth Academies.</span> +of so many great men being degraded to rhetorical and +artistic purposes. It was seen by all that Plato had +destroyed all trust in the indications of the senses, and +substituted for it the Ideal theory. Aristotle had destroyed +that, and there was nothing left to the +world but scepticism. A fourth Academy was +founded by Philo of Larissa, a fifth by Antiochus +of Ascalon. It was reserved for this teacher to +attach the Porch to the Academy, and to merge the +doctrines of Plato in those of the Stoics. Such a heterogeneous +mixture demonstrates the pass to which speculative +philosophy had come, and shows us clearly that her +disciples had abandoned her in despair.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">End of the Greek age of Faith.</div> + +<p>So ends the Greek age of Faith. How strikingly does +its history recall the corresponding period of +individual life—the trusting spirit and the +disappointment of youth. We enter on it full +of confidence in things and men, never suspecting that +the one may disappoint, the other deceive. Our early +experiences, if considered at all, afford only matter of +surprise that we could ever have been seriously occupied +in such folly, or actuated by motives now seeming so +inadequate. It never occurs to us that, in our present +state, though the pursuits may have changed, they are +none the less vain, the objects none the less delusive.</p> + +<p>The second age of Greek philosophy ended in sophism, +the third in scepticism. Speculative philosophy strikes +at last upon a limit which it can not overpass. This is +its state even in our own times. It reverberates against +the wall that confines it without the least chance of +making its way through.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +THE GREEK AGE OF REASON.</p> + +<p class='center'><small>RISE OF SCIENCE.</small></p> + +<div class='blockquot'><p class='ind'><span class="smcap">The Macedonian Campaign.</span>—<i>Disastrous in its political Effects to +Greece, but ushering in the Age of Reason.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Aristotle</span> <i>founds the Inductive Philosophy.—His Method the Inverse of +that of Plato.—Its great power.—In his own hands it fails for want +of Knowledge, but is carried out by the Alexandrians.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Zeno.</span>—<i>His Philosophical Aim is the Cultivation of Virtue and Knowledge.—He +is in the Ethical Branch the Counterpart of Aristotle in +the Physical.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Foundation of the Museum of Alexandria.</span>—<i>The great Libraries, +Observatories, Botanical Gardens, Menageries, Dissecting Houses.—Its +Effect on the rapid Development of exact Knowledge.—Influence of +Euclid, Archimedes, Eratosthenes, Apollonius, Ptolemy, Hipparchus, +on Geometry, Natural Philosophy, Astronomy, Chronology, Geography.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Decline of the Greek Age of Reason.</i></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote">The Greek invasion of Persia.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great is a +most important event in European history. That adventurer, +carrying out the intentions of his father Philip, +commenced his attack with apparently very +insignificant means, having, it is said, at the +most, only thirty-four thousand infantry, four +thousand cavalry, and seventy talents in money. The +result of his expedition was the ruin of the Persian +empire, and also the ruin of Greece. It was not without +reason that his memory was cursed in his native country. +Her life-blood was drained away by his successes. In +view of the splendid fortunes to be made in Asia, Greece +ceased to be the place for an enterprising man. To such +an extent did military emigration go, that Greek recruits +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +were settled all over the Persian empire; their number +was sufficient to injure irreparably the country from +which they had parted, but not sufficient to Hellenize the +dense and antique populations among whom they had +settled.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Its ruinous effect on Greece.</div> + +<p>Not only was it thus by the drain of men that the +Macedonian expedition was so dreadfully disastrous to +Greece, the political consequences following +those successful campaigns added to the baneful +result. Alexander could not have more effectually +ruined Athens had he treated her as he did Thebes, +which he levelled with the ground, massacring six +thousand of her citizens, and selling thirty thousand for +slaves. The founding of Alexandria was the commercial +end of Athens, the finishing stroke to her old colonial +system. It might have been well for her had he stopped +<span class="sidenote">Injury to Athens from +the founding of Alexandria.</span> +short in his projects with the downfall of Tyre, destroyed, +not from any vindictive reasons, as is sometimes +said, but because he discovered that that city +was an essential part of the Persian system. It +was never his intention that Athens should +derive advantage from the annihilation of her Phœnician +competitor; his object was effectually carried out by the +building and prosperity of Alexandria.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Scientific tendency of +the Macedonian campaigns.</div> + +<p>Though the military celebrity of this great soldier may +be diminished by the history of the last hundred years, +which shows a uniform result of victory when European +armies are brought in contact with Asiatic, even under +the most extraordinary disadvantages, there cannot be +denied to him a profound sagacity and statesmanship +excelled by no other conqueror. Before he became intoxicated +with success, and, unfortunately, too frequently +intoxicated with wine, there was much that was noble +in his character. He had been under the instruction +of Aristotle for several years, and, on setting out on +his expedition, took with him so many learned men as +almost to justify the remark applied to it, that +it was as much a scientific as a military +undertaking. Among those who thus accompanied +him was Callisthenes, a relative and pupil +of Aristotle, destined for an evil end. Perhaps the assertion +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> +that Alexander furnished to his master 250,000<i>l.</i> and the +services of several thousand men, for the purpose of +obtaining and examining the specimens required in the +composition of his work on the "History of Animals" +may be an exaggeration, but there can be no doubt that +in these transactions was the real beginning of that +policy which soon led to the institution of the Museum at +<span class="sidenote">Origin of the influence of +Aristotle through Alexander.</span> +Alexandria. The importance of this event, +though hitherto little understood, admits of no +exaggeration, so far as the intellectual progress +of Europe is concerned. It gave to the works +of Aristotle their wonderful duration; it imparted to +them not only a Grecian celebrity, but led to their +translation into Syriac by the Nestorians in the fifth +century, and from Syriac by the Arabs into their tongue +four hundred years later. They exercised a living +influence over Christians and Mohammedans indifferently, +from Spain to Mesopotamia.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Scientific training and +undertakings of Alexander.</div> + +<p>If the letter quoted by Plutarch as having been written +by Alexander to Aristotle be authentic, it not only shows +how thoroughly the pupil had been indoctrinated into the +wisdom of the master, but warns us how liable we are to +be led astray in the exposition we are presently to give of +the Aristotelian philosophy. There was then, as unfortunately +there has been too often since, a private as well as +a public doctrine. Alexander upbraids the philosopher for +his indiscretion in revealing things that it was understood +should be concealed. Aristotle defends himself by asserting +that the desired concealment had not been broken. By +many other incidents of a trifling kind the attachment of +the conqueror to philosophy is indicated; thus Harpalus +and Nearchus, the companions of his youth, were +the agents employed in some of his scientific +undertakings, the latter being engaged in sea +explorations, doubtless having in the main a +political object, yet full of interest to science. Had +Alexander lived, Nearchus was to have repeated the +circumnavigation of Africa. Harpalus, while governor of +Babylon, was occupied in the attempt to exchange the +vegetation of Europe and Asia; he intertransplanted the +productions of Persia and Greece, succeeding, as is related, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +in his object of making all European plants that he tried, +except the ivy, grow in Mesopotamia. The journey to the +Caspian Sea, the expedition into the African deserts, +indicate Alexander's personal taste for natural knowledge; +nor is it without significance that, while on his death-bed, +and, indeed, within a few days of his decease, he found +consolation and amusement in having Nearchus by his +side relating the story of his voyages. Nothing shows +more strikingly how correct was his military perception +than the intention he avowed of equipping a thousand +ships for the conquest of Carthage, and thus securing his +supremacy in the Mediterranean. Notwithstanding all +this, there were many points of his character, and many +<span class="sidenote">His unbridled passions and iniquities.</span> +events of his life, worthy of the condemnation with which +they have been visited; the drunken burning +of Persepolis, the prisoners he slaughtered in +honour of Hephæstion, the hanging of Callisthenes, +were the results of intemperance and unbridled +passion. Even so steady a mind as his was incapable of +withstanding the influence of such enormous treasures as +those he seized at Susa; the plunder of the Persian +empire; the inconceivable luxury of Asiatic life; the +uncontrolled power to which he attained. But he was not +so imbecile as to believe himself the descendant of Jupiter +Ammon; that was only an artifice he permitted for the +sake of influencing those around him. We must not +forget that he lived in an age when men looked for +immaculate conceptions and celestial descents. These +Asiatic ideas had made their way into Europe. The +Athenians themselves were soon to be reconciled to the +appointment of divine honours to such as Antigonus and +Demetrius, adoring them as gods—saviour gods—and +instituting sacrifices and priests for their worship.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Greek age of Reason ushered in.</div> + +<p>Great as were the political results of the Macedonian +expedition, they were equalled by the intellectual. +The times were marked by the ushering in of a +new philosophy. Greece had gone through her +age of Credulity, her age of Inquiry, her age of Faith; +she had entered on her age of Reason, and, had freedom of +action been permitted to her, she would have given a +decisive tone to the forthcoming civilization of Europe. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +As will be seen in the following pages, that great destiny +did not await her. From her eccentric position at Alexandria +she could not civilize Europe. In her old +<span class="sidenote">Its inability to accomplish +the civilization of Europe.</span> +age, the power of Europe, concentrated in the +Roman empire, overthrew her. There are very +few histories of the past of more interest to +modern times, and none, unfortunately, more misunderstood, +than this Greek age of Reason manifested at Alexandria. +It illustrates, in the most signal manner, that affairs control +men more than men control affairs. The scientific associations +of the Macedonian conqueror directly arose from the +contemporaneous state of Greek philosophy in the act of +reaching the close of its age of faith, and these influences +ripened under the Macedonian captain who became King +of Egypt. As it was, the learning of Alexandria, though +diverted from its most appropriate and desirable direction +by the operation of the Byzantine system, in the course of +a few centuries acting forcibly upon it, was not without +an influence on the future thought of Europe. Even at +this day Europe will not bear to be fully told how great +that influence has been.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The writings of Aristotle +are its prelude.</div> + +<p>The age of Reason, to which Aristotle is about to introduce +us, stands in striking contrast to the preceding ages. +It cannot escape the reader that what was done by the +men of science in Alexandria resembles what is doing in +our own times; their day was the foreshadowing of ours. +And yet a long and dreary period of almost twenty centuries +parts us from them. Politically, Aristotle, through his +friendship with Alexander and the perpetuation +of the Macedonian influence in Ptolemy, +was the connecting link between the Greek age +of Faith and that of Reason, as he was also philosophically +by the nature of his doctrines. He offers us an easy +passage from the speculative methods of Plato to the scientific +methods of Archimedes and Euclid. The copiousness +of his doctrines, and the obscurity of many of them, might, +perhaps, discourage a superficial student, unless he steadily +bears in mind the singular authority they maintained for +so many ages, and the brilliant results in all the exact +parts of human knowledge to which they so quickly led. +The history of Aristotle and his philosophy is therefore +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +our necessary introduction to the grand, the immortal +achievements of the Alexandrian school.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Biography of Aristotle.</div> + +<p>Aristotle was born at Stagira, in Thrace, <small>B.C.</small> 384. His +father was an eminent author of those times on +subjects of Natural History; by profession he +was a physician. Dying while his son was yet quite +young, he bequeathed to him not only very ample means, +but also his own tastes. Aristotle soon found his way to +Athens, and entered the school of Plato, with whom it is +said he remained for nearly twenty years. During this +period he spent most of his patrimony, and in the end was +obliged to support himself by the trade of a druggist. At +length differences arose between them, for, as we shall +soon find, the great pupil was by no means a blind follower +of the great master. In a fortunate moment, Philip, the +King of Macedon, appointed him preceptor to his son +Alexander, an incident of importance in the intellectual +history of Europe. It was to the friendship arising +through this relation that Aristotle owed the assistance +he received from the conqueror during his Asiatic expedition +for the composition of "the Natural History," and also +gained that prestige which gave his name such singular +authority for more than fifteen centuries. He eventually +founded a school in the Lyceum at Athens, and, as it was +his habit to deliver his lectures while walking, his disciples +received the name of Peripatetics, or walking philosophers. +These lectures were of two kinds, esoteric and exoteric, the +former being delivered to the more advanced pupils only. +He wrote a very large number of works, of which about +one-fourth remain.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">He founds the inductive philosophy.</div> + +<p>The philosophical method of Aristotle is the inverse of +that of Plato, whose starting-point was universals, +the very existence of which was a matter +of faith, and from these he descended to particulars +or details. Aristotle, on the contrary, rose from +particulars to universals, advancing to them by inductions; +and his system, thus an inductive philosophy, was in +reality the true beginning of science.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">His method compared with that of Plato.</div> + +<p>Plato therefore trusts to the Imagination, Aristotle to +Reason. The contrast between them is best seen by the +attitude in which they stand as respects the Ideal theory. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +Plato regards universals, types, or exemplars as having an +actual existence; Aristotle declares that they +are mere abstractions of reasoning. For the +fanciful reminiscences derived from former experience +in another life by Plato, Aristotle substitutes the +reminiscences of our actual experience in this. These ideas +of experience are furnished by the memory, which enables +us not only to recall individual facts and events witnessed +by ourselves, but also to collate them with one another, +thereby discovering their resemblances and their differences. +Our induction becomes the more certain as our facts are +more numerous, our experience larger. "Art commences +when, from a great number of experiences, one general +conception is formed which will embrace all similar cases." +"If we properly observe celestial phenomena, we may +demonstrate the laws which regulate them." With Plato, +philosophy arises from faith in the past; with Aristotle, +reason alone can constitute it from existing facts. Plato +is analytic, Aristotle synthetic. The philosophy of Plato +arises from the decomposition of a primitive idea into particulars, +that of Aristotle from the union of particulars +into a general conception. The former is essentially an +idealist, the latter a materialist.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The results of Platonism and Aristotelism.</div> + +<p>From this it will be seen that the method of Plato +was capable of producing more splendid, though +they were necessarily more unsubstantial results; +that of Aristotle was more tardy in its operation, +but much more solid. It implied endless labour in the +collection of facts, the tedious resort to experiment and +observation, the application of demonstration. In its very +nature it was such that it was impossible for its author to +carry by its aid the structure of science to completion. +The moment that Aristotle applies his own principles we +find him compelled to depart from them through want of +a sufficient experience and sufficient precision in his facts. +The philosophy of Plato is a gorgeous castle in the air, +that of Aristotle is a solid structure, laboriously, and, with +many failures, founded on the solid rock.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Aristotle's logic</div> + +<p>Under Logic, Aristotle treats of the methods of arriving +at general propositions, and of reasoning from them. His +logic is at once the art of thinking and the instrument +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +of thought. The completeness of our knowledge depends +on the extent and completeness of our experience. +His manner of reasoning is by the +syllogism, an argument consisting of three propositions, +such that the concluding one follows of necessity from the +two premises, and of which, indeed, the whole theory of +demonstration is only an example. Regarding logic as +the instrument of thought, he introduces into it, as a fundamental +feature, the ten categories. These predicaments +are the genera to which everything may be reduced, and +denote the most general of the attributes which may be +assigned to a thing.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">and metaphysics.</div> + +<p>His metaphysics overrides all the branches of the physical +sciences. It undertakes an examination of the postulates +on which each one of them is founded, determining +their truth or fallacy. Considering that +all science must find a support for its fundamental conditions +in an extensive induction from facts, he puts at the +foundation of his system the consideration of the individual; +in relation to the world of sense, he regards four causes as +necessary for the production of a fact—the material cause, +the substantial cause, the efficient cause, the final cause.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Temporary failure of his system.</div> + +<p>But as soon as we come to the Physics of Aristotle we +see at once his weakness. The knowledge of his +age does not furnish him facts enough whereon +to build, and the consequence is that he is forced +into speculation. It will be sufficient for our purpose to +allude to a few of his statements, either in this or in his +metaphysical branch, to show how great is his uncertainty +and confusion. Thus he asserts that matter contains a +triple form—simple substance, higher substance, which is +eternal, and absolute substance, or God himself; that the +universe is immutable and eternal, and, though in relation +<span class="sidenote">The Peripatetic philosophy.<br /><br /> +Substance, Motion, Space, Time.</span> +with the vicissitudes of the world, it is unaffected +thereby; that the primitive force which gives +rise to all the motions and changes we see is +Nature; it also gives rise to Rest; that the world is a +living being, having a soul; that, since every +thing is for some particular end, the soul of man +is the end of his body; that Motion is the condition +of all nature; that the world has a definite boundary +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +and a limited magnitude; that Space is the immovable +vessel in which whatever is may be moved; that Space, +as a whole, is without motion, though its parts may move; +that it is not to be conceived of as without contents; that +it is impossible for a vacuum to exist, and hence there is +not beyond and surrounding the world a void which contains +the world; that there could be no such thing as +Time unless there is a soul, for time being the number of +motion, number is impossible except there be one who +numbers; that, perpetual motion in a finite right line +<span class="sidenote">The world.</span> +being impossible, but in a curvilinear path possible, the +world, which is limited and ever in motion, must +be of a spherical form; that the earth is its +central part, the heavens the circumferential: hence the +heaven is nearest to the prime cause of motion; that the +orderly, continuous, and unceasing movement of the celestial +bodies implies an unmoved mover, for the unchangeable +alone can give birth to uniform motion; that unmoved +existence is God; that the stars are passionless beings, +having attained the end of existence, and worthy above +other things of human adoration; that the fixed stars are +in the outermost heaven, and the sun, moon, and planets +beneath: the former receive their motion from the prime +moving cause, but the planets are disturbed by the stars; +that there are five elements—earth, air, fire, water, and +ether; that the earth is in the centre of the world, since +earthy matter settles uniformly round a central point; +that fire seeks the circumferential region, and intermediately +water floats upon the earth, and air upon water; +that the elements are transmutable into one another, and +hence many intervening substances arise; that each sphere +is in interconnection with the others; the earth is agitated +and disturbed by the sea, the sea by the winds, which are +movements of the air, the air by the sun, moon, and +planets. Each inferior sphere is controlled by its outlying +or superior one, and hence it follows that the earth, which +is thus disturbed by the conspiring or conflicting action of +all above it, is liable to the most irregularities; that, since +animals are nourished by the earth, it needs must enter +into their composition, but that water is required to hold +the earthy matters together; that every element must be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +looked upon as living, since it is pervaded by the soul of +the world; that there is an unbroken chain from the +simple element through the plant and animal up to man, +<span class="sidenote">Organic beings.</span> +the different groups merging by insensible shades into one +another: thus zoophytes partake partly of the +vegetable and partly of the animal, and serve as +an intermedium between them; that plants are inferior to +animals in this, that they do not possess a single principle +of life or soul, but many subordinate ones, as is shown by +the circumstance that, when they are cut to pieces, each +piece is capable of perfect or independent growth or life. +Their inferiority is likewise betrayed by their belonging +especially to the earth to which they are rooted, each root +being a true mouth; and this again displays their lowly +position, for the place of the mouth is ever an indication +of the grade of a creature: thus in man, who is at the +head of the scale, it is in the upper part of the body; that +in proportion to the heat of an animal is its grade higher; +thus those that are aquatic are cold, and therefore of very +little intelligence, and the same maybe said of plants; but +of man, whose warmth is very great, the soul is much +more excellent; that the possession of locomotion by an +organism always implies the possession of sensation; that +the senses of taste and touch indicate the qualities of things +in contact with the organs of the animal, but that those of +<span class="sidenote">Physiological conclusions.</span> +smell, hearing, and sight extend the sphere of its existence, +and indicate to it what is at a distance: that the place of +reception of the various sensations is the soul, +from which issue forth the motions; that the +blood, as the general element of nutrition, is essential to +the support of the body, though insensible itself: it is also +essential to the activity of the soul; that the brain is not the +recipient of sensations: that function belongs to the heart; +all the animal activities are united in the last; it contains +the principle of life, being the principle of motion: it is +the first part to be formed and the last to die; that the +brain is a mere appendix to the heart, since it is formed +after the heart, is the coldest of the organs and is devoid +of blood; that the soul is the reunion of all the functions +of the body: it is an energy or active essence; being +neither body nor magnitude, it cannot have extension, for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +thought has no parts, nor can it be said to move in space; +it is as a sailor, who is motionless in a ship which is moving; +that, in the origin of the organism, the male furnishes the +soul and the female the body; that the body being liable +to decay, and of a transitory nature, it is necessary for its +well-being that its disintegration and nutrition should +balance one another; that sensation may be compared to +the impression of a seal on wax, the wax receiving form +only, but no substance or matter; that imagination arises +from impressions thus made, which endure for a length of +time, and that this is the origin of memory; that man +alone possesses recollection, but animals share with him +memory—memory being unintentional or spontaneous, +but recollection implying voluntary exertion or a search; +that recollection is necessary for acting with design. It is +doubtful whether Aristotle believed in the immortality of +the soul, no decisive passage to that effect occurring in +such of his works as are extant.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Causes of Aristotle's +success and failure.</div> + +<p>Aristotle, with a correct and scientific method, tried to +build up a vast system when he was not in possession of +the necessary data. Though a very learned man, +he had not sufficient knowledge; indeed, there +was not sufficient knowledge at that time in the +world. For many of the assertions I have quoted +in the preceding paragraph there was no kind of proof; +many of them also, such as the settling of the heavy and +the rise of the light, imply very poor cosmic ideas. It is +not until he deals with those branches, such as comparative +anatomy and natural history, of which he had a personal +and practical knowledge, that he begins to write well. Of +his physiological conclusions, some are singularly felicitous; +his views of the connected chain of organic forms, from the +lowest to the highest, are very grand. His metaphysical +and physical speculations—for in reality they are nothing +but speculations—are of no kind of value. His successful +achievements, and also his failures, conspicuously prove the +excellence of his system. He expounded the true principles +of science, but failed to apply them merely for want +of materials. His ambition could not brook restraint. He +would rather attempt to construct the universe without +the necessary means than not construct it at all.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +Aristotle failed when he abandoned his own principles, +and the magnitude of his failure proves how just his +principles were; he succeeded when he adhered to them. +If anything were wanting to vindicate their correctness +and illustrate them, it is supplied by the glorious achievements +of the Alexandrian school, which acted in physical +science as Aristotle had acted in natural history, laying a +basis solidly in observation and experiment, and accomplishing +a like durable and brilliant result.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Biography of Zeno.</div> + +<p>From Aristotle it is necessary to turn to Zeno, for the +Peripatetics and Stoics stand in parallel lines. The social +conditions existing in Greece at the time of +Epicurus may in some degree palliate his +sentiments, but virtue and honour will make themselves +felt at last. Stoicism soon appeared as the antagonist of +Epicureanism, and Epicurus found in Zeno of Citium a +rival. The passage from Epicurus to Zeno is the passage +from sensual gratification to self-control.</p> + +<p>The biography of Zeno may be dismissed in a few words. +Born about <small>B.C.</small> 300, he spent the early part of his life in +the vocation of his father, who was a merchant, but, by a +fortunate shipwreck, happily losing his goods during a +voyage he was making to Athens, he turned to philosophy +for consolation. Though he had heretofore been somewhat +acquainted with the doctrines of Socrates, he became a +disciple of the Cynics, subsequently studying in the +Megaric school, and then making himself acquainted with +Platonism. After twenty years of preparation, he opened +a school in the stoa or porch in Athens, from which his +doctrine and disciples have received their name. He presided +over his school for fifty-eight years, numbering many +eminent men among his disciples. When nearly a hundred +years old he chanced to fall and break his finger, and, +receiving this as an admonition that his time was accomplished, +he forthwith strangled himself. The Athenians +erected to his memory a statue of brass. His doctrines long +survived him, and, in times when there was no other consolation +for man, offered a support in their hour of trial, and +an unwavering guide in the vicissitudes of life, not only +to many illustrious Greeks, but also to some of the great +philosophers, statesmen, generals, and emperors of Rome.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Intention of Stoicism.</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> +It was the intention of Zeno to substitute for the +visionary speculations of Platonism a system directed to +the daily practices of life, and hence dealing +chiefly with morals. To make men virtuous was +his aim. But this is essentially connected with knowledge, +for Zeno was persuaded that if we only know what is good +we shall be certain to practise it. He therefore rejected +Plato's fancies of Ideas and Reminiscences, leaning to the +common-sense doctrines of Aristotle, to whom he approached +in many details. With him Sense furnishes the data of +knowledge, and Reason combines them: the soul being +modified by external things, and modifying them in return, +he believed that the mind is at first, as it were, a blank +tablet, on which sensation writes marks, and that the distinctness +of sensuous impressions is the criterion of their +truth. The changes thus produced in the soul constitute +ideas; but, with a prophetic inspiration, he complained that +man will never know the true essence of things.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Physics of Zeno.</div> + +<p>In his Physics Zeno adopted the doctrine of Strato, that +the world is a living being. He believed that +nothing incorporeal can produce an effect, and +hence that the soul is corporeal. Matter and its properties +he considered to be absolutely inseparable, a property being +actually a body. In the world there are two things, +matter and God, who is the Reason of the world. Essentially, +however, God and matter are the same thing, which assumes +the aspect of matter from the passive point of view, +and God from the active; he is, moreover, the prime +moving force, Destiny, Necessity, a life-giving Soul, +evolving things as the vital force evolves a plant out of a +seed; the visible world is thus to be regarded as the +material manifestation of God. The transitory objects +which it on all sides presents will be reabsorbed after a +season of time, and reunited in him. The Stoics pretended +to indicate, even in a more definite manner, the process by +which the world has arisen, and also its future destiny; +for, regarding the Supreme as a vital heat, they supposed +that a portion of that fire, declining in energy, became +transmuted into matter, and hence the origin of the world; +but that that fire, hereafter resuming its activity, would +cause a universal conflagration, the end of things. During +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +the present state everything is in a condition of uncertain +mutation, decays being followed by reproductions, and reproductions +by decays; and, as a cataract shows from year +to year an invariable form, though the water composing it +is perpetually changing, so the objects around us are +nothing more than a flux of matter offering a permanent +form. Thus the visible world is only a moment in the life +of God, and after it has vanished away like a scroll that +is burned, a new period shall be ushered in, and a new +heaven and a new earth, exactly like the ancient ones, shall +arise. Since nothing can exist without its contrary, no +injustice unless there was justice, no cowardice unless there +was courage, no lie unless there was truth, no shadow +unless there was light, so the existence of good necessitates +that of evil. The Stoics believed that the development of +the world is under the dominion of paramount law, supreme +law, Destiny, to which God himself is subject, and that +hence he can only develop the world in a predestined way, +as the vital warmth evolves a seed into the predestined form +of a plant.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Exoteric philosophy of the Stoics.</div> + +<p>The Stoics held it indecorous to offend needlessly the +religious ideas of the times, and, indeed, they +admitted that there might be created gods like +those of Plato; but they disapproved of the +adoration of images and the use of temples, making amends +for their offences in these particulars by offering a semi-philosophical +interpretation of the legends, and demonstrating +that the existence, and even phenomenal display +of the gods was in accordance with their principles. +Perhaps to this exoteric philosophy we must ascribe the +manner in which they expressed themselves as to final +causes—expressions sometimes of amusing quaintness—thus, +that the peacock was formed for the sake of his tail, +and that a soul was given to the hog instead of salt, to +prevent his body from rotting; that the final cause of +plants is to be food for brutes, of brutes to be food for men, +though they discreetly checked their irony in its ascending +career, and abstained from saying that men are food for +the gods, and the gods for all.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Their opinions of the nature of the soul.</div> + +<p>The Stoics concluded that the soul is mere warm breath, +and that it and the body mutually interpervade one another. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +They thought that it might subsist after death until the +general conflagration, particularly if its energy +were great, as in the strong spirits of the virtuous +and wise. Its unity of action implies that it +has a principle of identity, the I, of which the physiological +seat is the heart. Every appetite, lust, or desire is +an imperfect knowledge. Our nature and properties are +forced upon us by Fate, but it is our duty to despise all +our propensities and passions, and to live so that we may +be free, intelligent, and virtuous.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Their ethical rules of wisdom.</div> + +<p>This sentiment leads us to the great maxim of Stoical +Ethics, "Live according to Reason;" or, since the world is +composed of matter and God, who is the Reason of the +world, "Live in harmony with Nature." As Reason is +supreme in Nature, it ought to be so in man. Our existence +should be intellectual, and all bodily pains +and pleasures should be despised. A harmony +between the human will and universal Reason +constitutes virtue. The free-will of the sage should guide +his actions in the same irresistible manner in which +universal Reason controls nature. Hence the necessity of +a cultivation of physics, without which we cannot distinguish +good from evil. The sage is directed to remember +that Nature, in her operations, aims at the universal, and +never spares individuals, but uses them as means for accomplishing +her ends. It is for him, therefore, to submit +to his destiny, endeavouring continually to establish the +supremacy of Reason, and cultivating, as the things necessary +to virtue, knowledge, temperance, fortitude, justice. +He is at liberty to put patriotism at the value it is worth +when he remembers that he is a citizen of the world; he +must train himself to receive in tranquillity the shocks of +Destiny, and to be above all passion and all pain. He +must never relent and never forgive. He must remember +that there are only two classes of men, the wise and the +fools, as "sticks can only either be straight or crooked, and +very few sticks in this world are absolutely straight."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="sidenote">Rise of Greek science.<br /><br /> +Political position of the Ptolemies.</div> + +<p>From the account I have given of Aristotle's philosophy, +it may be seen that he occupied a middle ground between +the speculation of the old philosophy and the strict science +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +of the Alexandrian school. He is the true connecting +link, in the history of European intellectual +progress, between philosophy and science. Under +his teaching, and the material tendencies of the Macedonian +campaigns, there arose a class of men in Egypt who gave +to the practical a development it had never before attained; +for that country, upon the breaking up of Alexander's +dominion, <small>B.C.</small> 323, falling into the possession of Ptolemy, +that general found himself at once the depositary +of spiritual and temporal power. Of the +former, it is to be remembered that, though the +conquest by Cambyses had given it a severe shock, it still +not only survived, but displayed no inconsiderable tokens +of strength. Indeed, it is well known that the surrender +of Egypt to Alexander was greatly accelerated by hatred +to the Persians, the Egyptians welcoming the Macedonians +as their deliverers. In this movement we perceive at +once the authority of the old priesthood. It is hard to +tear up by the roots an ancient religion, the ramifications +of which have solidly insinuated themselves among a +populace. That of Egypt had already been the growth of +more than three thousand years. The question for the intrusive +Greek sovereigns to solve was how to co-ordinate +this hoary system with the philosophical scepticism +<span class="sidenote">They co-ordinate Egyptian +idolatry and Greek scepticism.</span> +that had issued as the result of Greek +thought. With singular sagacity, they saw +that this might be accomplished by availing +themselves of Orientalism, the common point of contact of +the two systems; and that, by its formal introduction and +development, it would be possible not only to enable the +philosophical king, to whom all the pagan gods were alike +equally fictitious and equally useful, to manifest respect +even to the ultra-heathenish practices of the Egyptian +populace, but, what was of far more moment, to establish +an apparent concord between the old sacerdotal Egyptian +party—strong in its unparalleled antiquity; strong in its +reminiscences; strong in its recent persecutions; strong in +its Pharaonic relics, regarded by all men with a superstitious +or reverent awe—and the free-thinking and +versatile Greeks. The occasion was like some others in +history, some even in our own times; a small but energetic +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +body of invaders was holding in subjection an ancient and +populous country.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Museum of Alexandria.</div> + +<p>To give practical force to this project, a grand state +institution was founded at Alexandria. It became +celebrated as the Museum. To it, as to a +centre, philosophers from all parts of the world +converged. It is said that at one time not less than fourteen +thousand students were assembled there. Alexandria, in +confirmation of the prophetic foresight of the great soldier +who founded it, quickly became an immense metropolis, +abounding in mercantile and manufacturing activity. As +is ever the case with such cities, its higher classes were +prodigal and dissipated, its lower only to be held in +restraint by armed force. Its public amusements were +such as might be expected—theatrical shows, music, horse-racing. +In the solitude of such a crowd, or in the noise +of such dissipation, anyone could find a retreat—atheists +who had been banished from Athens, devotees from the +Ganges, monotheistic Jews, blasphemers from Asia Minor. +Indeed, it has been said that in this heterogeneous community +blasphemy was hardly looked upon as a crime; at +the worst, it was no more than an unfortunate, and, it +might be, an innocent mistake. But, since uneducated +men need some solid support on which their thoughts may +rest, mere abstract doctrines not meeting their wants, it +became necessary to provide a corporeal representation +<span class="sidenote">Establishment of the worship +of Serapis.</span> +for this eclectic philosophical Pantheism, and hence the +Ptolemies were obliged to restore, or, as some +say, to import the worship of the god Serapis. +Those who affirm that he was imported say that +he was brought from Sinope; modern Egyptian scholars, +however, give a different account. As setting forth the +Pantheistic doctrine of which he was the emblem, his +image, subsequently to attain world-wide fame, was made +of all kinds of metals and stones. "All is God." But +still the people, with that instinct which other nations and +ages have displayed, hankered after a female divinity, and +this led to the partial restoration of the worship of Isis. It +is interesting to remark how the humble classes never +shake off the reminiscences of early life, leaning rather to +the maternal than to the paternal attachment. Perhaps +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +it is for that reason that they expect a more favourable +attention to their supplications from a female divinity +than a god. Accordingly, the devotees of Isis soon out-numbered +those of Serapis, though a magnificent temple +had been built for him at Rhacotis, in the quarter adjoining +the Museum, and his worship was celebrated with more +than imperial splendour. In subsequent ages the worship +of Serapis diffused itself throughout the Roman empire, +though the authorities—consuls, senate, emperors—knowing +well the idea it foreshadowed, and the doctrine it was +meant to imply, used their utmost power to put it down.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Alexandrian libraries.</div> + +<p>The Alexandrian Museum soon assumed the character of +a University. In it those great libraries were collected, +the pride and boast of antiquity. Demetrius Phalareus +was instructed to collect all the writings in +the world. So powerfully were the exertions +of himself and his successors enforced by the government +that two immense libraries were procured. They +contained 700,000 volumes. In this literary and scientific +retreat, supported in ease and even in luxury—luxury, for +allusions to the sumptuous dinners have descended to our +times—the philosophers spent their time in mental culture +by study, or mutual improvement by debates. The king +himself conferred appointments to these positions; in later +times, the Roman emperors succeeded to the patronage, the +government thereby binding in golden chains intellect +that might otherwise have proved troublesome. At first, +in honour of the ancient religion, the presidency of the +establishment was committed to an Egyptian priest; but +in the course of time that policy was abandoned. It must +not, however, be imagined that the duties of the inmates +were limited to reading and rhetorical display; a far more +<span class="sidenote">Botanical gardens; menageries; +dissecting-houses; observatories.</span> +practical character was imparted to them. A +botanical garden, in connection with the Museum, +offered an opportunity to those who were interested +in the study of the nature of plants; a +zoological menagerie afforded like facilities to +those interested in animals. Even these costly establishments +were made to minister to the luxury of the times: in +the zoological garden pheasants were raised for the royal +table. Besides these elegant and fashionable appointments, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +another, of a more forbidding and perhaps repulsive kind, +was added; an establishment which, in the light of +our times, is sufficient to confer immortal glory on those +illustrious and high-minded kings, and to put to shame +the ignorance and superstition of many modern nations: it +was an anatomical school, suitably provided with means +for the dissection of the human body, this anatomical +school being the basis of a medical college for the education +of physicians. For the astronomers Ptolemy Euergetes +placed in the Square Porch an equinoctial and a solstitial +armil, the graduated limbs of these instruments being +divided into degrees and sixths. There were in the +observatory stone quadrants, the precursors of our mural +quadrants. On the floor a meridian line was drawn for the +adjustment of the instruments. There were also astrolabes +and dioptras. Thus, side by side, almost in the king's +palace, were noble provisions for the cultivation of exact +science and for the pursuit of light literature. Under the +same roof were gathered together geometers, astronomers, +chemists, mechanicians, engineers. There were also poets, +who ministered to the literary wants of the dissipated +city—authors who could write verse, not only in correct +<span class="sidenote">Life in the Museum.</span> +metre, but in all kinds of fantastic forms—trees, hearts, +and eggs. Here met together the literary dandy +and the grim theologian. At their repasts occasionally +the king himself would preside, enlivening the +moment with the condescensions of royal relaxation. Thus, +of Philadelphus it is stated that he caused to be presented +to the Stoic Sphærus a dish of fruit made of wax, so beautifully +coloured as to be undistinguishable from the natural, +and on the mortified philosopher detecting too late the fraud +that had been practised upon him, inquired what he now +thought of the maxim of his sect that "the sage is never +deceived by appearances." Of the same sovereign it is related +that he received the translators of the Septuagint +Bible with the highest honours, entertaining them at his +table. Under the atmosphere of the place their usual +religious ceremonial was laid aside, save that the king +courteously requested one of the aged priests to offer an +extempore prayer. It is naively related that the Alexandrians +present, ever quick to discern rhetorical merit, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +testified their estimation of the performance with loud +applause. But not alone did literature and the exact +sciences thus find protection. As if no subjects with which +the human mind has occupied itself can be unworthy of +investigation, in the Museum were cultivated the more +doubtful arts, magic and astrology. Philadelphus, who, +toward the close of his life, was haunted with an intolerable +dread of death, devoted himself with intense assiduity to +the discovery of the elixir of life and to alchemy. Such a +comprehensive organization for the development of human +knowledge never existed in the world before, and, considering +the circumstances, never has since. To be connected +with it was the passport to the highest Alexandrian society +and to court favour.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Septuagint translators.</div> + +<p>To the Museum, and, it has been asserted, particularly to +Ptolemy Philadelphus, the Christian world is thus under +obligation for the ancient version of the Hebrew Scriptures—the +Septuagint. Many idle stories have been +related respecting the circumstances under which +that version was made, as that the seventy-two +translators by whom it was executed were confined each in +a separate cell, and, when their work was finished, the +seventy-two copies were found identically the same, word +for word, from this it was supposed that the inspiration +of this translation was established. If any proof of that +kind were needed, it would be much better found in +the fact that whenever occasion arises in the New Testament +of quoting from the Old, it is usually done in the +words of the Septuagint. The story of the cells underwent +successive improvements among the early fathers, but is +now rejected as a fiction; and, indeed, it seems probable +that the translation was not made under the splendid +circumstances commonly related, but merely by the Alexandrian +Jews for their own convenience. As the Septuagint +grew into credit among the Christians, it lost favour among +the Jews, who made repeated attempts in after years to +supplant it by new versions, such as those of Aquila, of +Theodotion, of Symmachus, and others. From the first the +Syrian Jews had looked on it with disapproval; they even +held the time of its translation as a day of mourning, and +with malicious grief pointed out its errors, as, for instance, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> +they affirmed that it made Methusaleh live until after the +Deluge. Ptolemy treated all those who were concerned in +providing books for the library with consideration, remunerating +his translators and transcribers in a princely +manner.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Lasting influence of the Museum, +theological and scientific.</div> + +<p>But the modern world is not indebted to these Egyptian +kings only in the particular here referred +to. The Museum made an impression upon the +intellectual career of Europe so powerful and +enduring that we still enjoy its results. That +impression was twofold, theological and physical. The +dialectical spirit and literary culture diffused among the +Alexandrians prepared that people, beyond all others, for +the reception of Christianity. For thirty centuries the +Egyptians had been familiar with the conception of a +triune God. There was hardly a city of any note without +its particular triad. Here it was Amun, Maut, and +Khonso; there Osiris, Isis, and Horus. The apostolic +missionaries, when they reached Alexandria, found a people +ready to appreciate the profoundest mysteries. But with +these advantages came great evils. The Trinitarian disputes, +which subsequently deluged the world with blood, had +their starting-point and focus in Alexandria. In that city +Arius and Athanasius dwelt. There originated that +desperate conflict which compelled Constantine the Great +to summon the Council of Nicea, to settle, by a formulary +or creed, the essentials of our faith.</p> + +<p>But it was not alone as regards theology that Alexandria +exerted a power on subsequent ages; her influence was as +strongly marked in the impression it gave to science. +Astronomical observatories, chemical laboratories, libraries, +dissecting-houses, were not in vain. There went forth +from them a spirit powerful enough to tincture all future +times. Nothing like the Alexandrian Museum was ever +called into existence in Greece or Rome, even in their +palmiest days. It is the unique and noble memorial of the +dynasty of the Ptolemies, who have thereby laid the whole +human race under obligations, and vindicated their title to +be regarded as a most illustrious line of kings. The +Museum was, in truth, an attempt at the organization of +human knowledge, both for its development and its +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +diffusion. It was conceived and executed in a practical +manner worthy of Alexander. And though, in the night +through which Europe has been passing—a night full of +dreams and delusions—men have not entertained a right +estimate of the spirit in which that great institution was +founded, and the work it accomplished, its glories being +eclipsed by darker and more unworthy things, the time is +approaching when its action on the course of human events +will be better understood, and its influences on European +civilization more clearly discerned.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Museum was the issue +of the Macedonian campaigns.</div> + +<p>Thus, then, about the beginning of the third century +before Christ, in consequence of the Macedonian campaign, +which had brought the Greeks into contact with +the ancient civilization of Asia, a great degree +of intellectual activity was manifested in Egypt. +On the site of the village of Rhacotis, once held +as an Egyptian post to prevent the ingress of strangers, +the Macedonians erected that city which was to be the +entrepôt of the commerce of the East and West, and to +transmit an illustrious name to the latest generations. +Her long career of commercial prosperity, her commanding +position as respects the material interests of the world, +justified the statesmanship of her founder, and the intellectual +glory which has gathered round her has given an +enduring lustre to his name.</p> + +<p>There can be no doubt that the philosophical activity +here alluded to was the direct issue of the political and +military event to which we have referred it. The tastes +and genius of Alexander were manifested by his relations +to Aristotle, whose studies in natural history he promoted +by the collection of a menagerie; and in astronomy, by +transmitting to him, through Callisthenes, the records of +Babylonian observations extending over 1903 years. His +biography, as we have seen, shows a personal interest in +the cultivation of such studies. In this particular other +great soldiers have resembled him; and perhaps it may be +inferred that the practical habit of thought and accommodation +of theory to the actual purposes of life pre-eminently +required by their profession, leads them spontaneously +to decline speculative uncertainties, and to be +satisfied only with things that are real and exact.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +Under the inspiration of the system of Alexander, and +guided by the suggestions of certain great men who had +caught the spirit of the times, the Egyptian kings thus +created, under their own immediate auspices, the Museum. +State policy, operating in the manner I have previously +described, furnished them with an additional theological +reason for founding this establishment. In the Macedonian +campaign a vast amount of engineering and mathematical +talent had been necessarily stimulated into existence, for +great armies cannot be handled, great marches cannot be +made, nor great battles fought without that result. When +the period of energetic action was over, and to the military +operations succeeded comparative repose and temporary +moments of peace, the talent thus called forth found +occupation in the way most congenial to it by cultivating +mathematical and physical studies. In Alexandria, itself +a monument of engineering and architectural skill, soon +were to be found men whose names were destined for +<span class="sidenote">The great men it produced.</span> +futurity—Apollonius, Eratosthenes, Manetho. Of these, +one may be selected for the remark that, while +speculative philosophers were occupying themselves +with discussions respecting the criterion of +truth, and, upon the whole, coming to the conclusion that no +such thing existed, and that, if the truth was actually in the +possession of man, he had no means of knowing it, Euclid +of Alexandria was writing an immortal work, destined to +challenge contradiction from the whole human race, and to +make good its title as the representative of absolute and +undeniable truth—truth not to be gainsaid in any nation +or at any time. We still use the geometry of Euclid in +our schools.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The writings of Euclid.</div> + +<p>It is said that Euclid opened a geometrical school in +Alexandria about <small>B.C.</small> 300. He occupied himself not only +with mathematical, but also with physical investigation. +Besides many works of the former class supposed +to have been written by him, as on Fallacies, +Conic Sections, Divisions, Porisms, Data, there are imputed +to him treatises on Harmonics, Optics, and Catoptrics, the +two latter subjects being discussed, agreeably to the views of +those times, on the hypothesis of rays issuing from the eye +to the object, instead of passing, as we consider them to do, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +from the object to the eye. It is, however, on the excellencies +of his Elements of Geometry that the durable +reputation of Euclid depends; and though the hypercriticism +of modern mathematicians has perhaps successfully +maintained such objections against them as that they +might have been more precise in their axioms, that they +sometimes assume what might be proved, that they are +occasionally redundant, and their arrangement sometimes +imperfect, yet they still maintain their ground as a model +of extreme accuracy, of perspicuity, and as a standard of +exact demonstration. They were employed universally by +the Greeks, and, in subsequent ages, were translated and +preserved by the Arabs.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The writings and works of Archimedes.</div> + +<p>Great as is the fame of Euclid, it is eclipsed by that of +Archimedes the Syracusan, born <small>B.C.</small> 287, whose +connection with Egyptian science is not alone +testified by tradition, but also by such facts as +his acknowledged friendship with Conon of Alexandria, +and his invention of the screw still bearing his name, +intended for raising the waters of the Nile. Among his +mathematical works, the most interesting, perhaps, in his +own estimation, as we may judge from the incident that he +directed the diagram thereof to be engraved on his tombstone, +was his demonstration that the solid content of a +sphere is two-thirds that of its circumscribing cylinder. +It was by this mark that Cicero, when Quæstor of Sicily, +discovered the tomb of Archimedes grown over with weeds. +This theorem was, however, only one of a large number of +a like kind, which he treated of in his two books on the +sphere and cylinder in an equally masterly manner, and +with equal success. His position as a geometer is perhaps +better understood from the assertion made respecting him +by a modern mathematician, that he came as near to the +discovery of the Differential Calculus as can be done +without the aid of algebraic transformations. Among the +special problems he treated of may be mentioned the +quadrature of the circle, his determination of the ratio of +the circumference to the diameter being between: 3·1428 +and 3·1408, the true value, as is now known, being 3·1416 +nearly. He also wrote on Conoids and Spheroids, and upon +that spiral still passing under his name, the genesis of which +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +had been suggested to him by Conon. In his work entitled +"Psammites" he alludes to the astronomical system subsequently +established by Copernicus, whose name has been +given to it. He also mentions the attempts which had +been made to measure the size of the earth; the chief +object of the work being, however, to prove not only that +the sands upon the sea-shore can be numbered, but even +those required to fill the entire space within the sphere of +the fixed stars; the result being, according to our system +of arithmetic, a less number than is expressed by unity +followed by 63 ciphers. Such a book is the sport of a +geometrical giant wantonly amusing himself with his +strength. Among his mathematical investigations must +not be omitted the quadrature of the parabola. His fame +depends, however, not so much on his mathematical +triumphs as upon his brilliant discoveries in physics and +his mechanical inventions. How he laid the foundation +of Hydrostatics is familiar to everyone, through the story +of Hiero's crown. A certain artisan having adulterated +the gold given him by King Hiero to form a crown, +Archimedes discovered while he was accidentally stepping +into a bath, that the falsification might be detected, and +thereby invented the method for the determination of +specific gravity. From these investigations he was +naturally led to the consideration of the equilibrium of +floating bodies; but his grand achievement in the +mechanical direction was his discovery of the true theory +of the lever: his surprising merit in these respects is demonstrated +by the fact that no advance was made in theoretical +mechanics during the eighteen centuries intervening +between him and Leonardo da Vinci. Of minor matters +not fewer than forty mechanical inventions have been +attributed to him. Among these are the endless screw, +the screw pump, a hydraulic organ, and burning mirrors. +His genius is well indicated by the saying popularly attributed +to him, "Give me whereon to stand, and I will +move the earth," and by the anecdotes told of his exertions +against Marcellus during the siege of Syracuse; his +invention of catapults and other engines for throwing +projectiles, as darts and heavy stones, claws which, +reaching over the walls, lifted up into the air ships and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +their crews, and then suddenly dropped them into the sea; +burning mirrors, by which, at a great distance, the Roman +fleet was set on fire. It is related that Marcellus, honouring +his intellect, gave the strictest orders that no harm should +be done to him at the taking of the town, and that he was +killed, unfortunately, by an ignorant soldier—unfortunately, +for Europe was not able to produce his equal for +nearly two thousand years.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The writings and works of Eratosthenes.</div> + +<p>Eratosthenes was contemporary with Archimedes. He +was born at Cyrene, <small>B.C.</small> 276. The care of the library +appears to have been committed to him by +Euergetes; but his attention was more specially +directed to mathematical, astronomical, geographical, +and historical pursuits. The work entitled +"Catasterisms," doubtfully imputed to him, is a catalogue of +475 of the principal stars; but it was probably intended +for nothing more than a manual. He also is said to have +written a poem upon terrestrial zones. Among his important +geographical labours may be mentioned his +determination of the interval between the tropics. He +found it to be eleven eighty-thirds of the circumference. +He also attempted the measurement of the size of the +earth by ascertaining the distance between Alexandria +and Syene, the difference of latitude between which he +had found to be one-fiftieth of the earth's circumference. +It was his object to free geography from the legends with +which the superstition of ages had adorned and oppressed +it. In effecting this he well deserves the tribute paid to +him by Humboldt, the modern who of all others could +best appreciate his labours. He considered the articulation +and expansion of continents; the position of mountain +chains; the action of clouds; the geological submersion of +lands; the elevation of ancient sea-beds; the opening of the +Dardanelles and of the Straits of Gibraltar; the relations +of the Euxine Sea; the problem of the equal level of the +circumfluous ocean; and the necessary existence of a +mountain chain running through Asia in the diaphragm +of Dicæarchus. What an advance is all this beyond the +meditations of Thales! Herein we see the practical +tendencies of the Macedonian wars. In his astronomical +observations he had the advantage of using the armils +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span> +and other instruments in the Observatory. He ascertained +that the direction of terrestrial gravity is not +constant, but that the verticals converge. He composed a +complete systematic description of the earth in three +books—physical, mathematical, historical—accompanied +by a map of all the parts then known. Of his skill as a +geometer, his solution of the problem of two mean proportionals, +still extant, offers ample evidence; and it is +only of late years that the fragments remaining of his +Chronicles of the Theban Kings have been properly appreciated. +He hoped to free history as well as geography +from the myths that deform it, a task which the prejudices +and interests of man will never permit to be accomplished. +Some amusing anecdotes of his opinions in these respects +have descended to us. He ventured to doubt the historical +truth of the Homeric legends. "I will believe in it when +I have been shown the currier who made the wind-bags +which Ulysses on his homeward voyage received from +Æolus." It is said that, having attained the age of +eighty years, he became weary of life, and put an end to +himself by voluntary starvation.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Chronology of Eratosthenes.</div> + +<p>I shall here pause to make a few remarks suggested by +the chronological and astronomical works of +Eratosthenes. Our current chronology was the +offspring of erroneous theological considerations, the +nature of which required not only a short historical term for +the various nations of antiquity, but even for the existence +of man upon the globe. This necessity appears to have +been chiefly experienced in the attempt to exalt certain +facts in the history of the Hebrews from their subordinate +position in human affairs, and, indeed, to give the whole +of that history an exaggerated value. This was done in a +double way: by elevating Hebrew history from its true +grade, and depreciating or falsifying that of other nations. +Among those who have been guilty of this literary offence, +the name of the celebrated Eusebius, the Bishop of +Cæsarea in the time of Constantine, should be designated, +since in his chronography and synchronal tables he +purposely "perverted chronology for the sake of making +synchronisms" (Bunsen). It is true, as Niebuhr asserts, +"He is a very dishonest writer." To a great extent, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +superseding of the Egyptian annals was brought about by +his influence. It was forgotten, however, that of all +things chronology is the least suited to be an object of +inspiration; and that, though men may be wholly +indifferent to truth for its own sake, and consider it not +improper to wrest it unscrupulously to what they may +suppose to be a just purpose, yet that it will vindicate itself +at last. It is impossible to succeed completely in perverting +the history of a nation which has left numerous enduring +records. Egypt offers us testimonials reaching over five +thousand years. As Bunsen remarks, from the known +portion of the curve of history we may determine the +whole. The Egyptians, old as they are, belong to the +middle ages of mankind, for there is a period antecedent +to monumental history, or indeed, to history of any kind, +during which language and mythology are formed, for +these must exist prior to all political institutions, all art, +all science. Even at the first moment that we gain a +glimpse of the state of Egypt she had attained a high +intellectual condition, as is proved by the fact that her +system of hieroglyphics was perfected before the fourth +dynasty. It continued unchanged until the time of +Psammetichus. A stationary condition of language and +writing for thousands of years necessarily implies a long +and very remote period of active improvement and +advance. It was doubtless such a general consideration, +rather than a positive knowledge of the fact, which led +the Greeks to assert that the introduction of geometry +into Egypt must be attributed to kings before the times +of Menes. Not alone do her artificial monuments attest +for that country an extreme antiquity; she is herself her +own witness; for, though the Nile raises its bed only four +feet in a thousand years, all the alluvial portion of Egypt +has been deposited from the waters of that river. A +natural register thus re-enforces the written records, and +both together compose a body of evidence not to be +gainsaid. Thus the depth of muddy silt accumulated +round the pedestals of monuments is an irreproachable +index of their age. In the eminent position he occupied, +Eusebius might succeed in perverting the received book-chronology; +but he had no power to make the endless +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +trade-wind that sweeps over the tropical Pacific blow a +day more or a day less; none to change the weight of +water precipitated from it by the African mountains; +none to arrest the annual mass of mud brought down by +the river. It is by collating such different orders of +evidence together—the natural and the monumental, the +latter gaining strength every year from the cultivation of +hieroglyphic studies—that we begin to discern the true +Egyptian chronology, and to put confidence in the +fragments that remain of Eratosthenes and Manetho.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Astronomy of Eratosthenes.</div> + +<p>At the time of which we are speaking—the time of +Eratosthenes—general ideas had been attained to respecting +the doctrine of the sphere, its poles, axis, the equator, +arctic and antarctic circles, equinoctial points, +solstices, colures, horizon, etc. No one competent +to form an opinion any longer entertained a doubt +respecting the globular form of the earth, the arguments +adduced in support of that fact being such as are still +popularly resorted to—the different positions of the +horizon at different places, the changes in elevation of the +pole, the phenomena of eclipses, and the gradual disappearance +of ships as they sail from us. As to eclipses, +once looked upon with superstitious awe, their true causes +had not only been assigned, but their periodicities so well +ascertained that predictions of their occurrence could be +made. The Babylonians had thus long known that after +a cycle of 223 lunations the eclipses of the moon return. +<span class="sidenote">Attempts of Aristarchus to find the distance of the sun.</span> +The mechanism of the phases of that satellite +was clearly understood. Indeed, Aristarchus +of Samos attempted to ascertain the distance of +the sun from the earth on the principle of +observing the moon when she is dichotomized, a method +quite significant of the knowledge of the time, though in +practice untrustworthy; Aristarchus thus finding that the +sun's distance is eighteen times that of the moon, whereas +it is in reality 400. In like manner, in a general way, +pretty clear notions were entertained of the climatic +distribution of heat upon the earth, exaggerated, however, +in this respect, that the torrid zone was believed to be +too hot for human life, and the frigid too cold. Observations, +as good as could be made by simple instruments, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span> +had not only demonstrated in a general manner the +progressions, retrogradations and stations of the planets, +but attempts had been made to account for, or rather to +represent them, by the aid of epicycles.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Biography of the Ptolemies.</div> + +<p>It was thus in Alexandria, under the Ptolemies, that +modern astronomy arose. Ptolemy Soter, the founder +of this line of kings, was not only a patron of science, +but likewise an author. He composed a history of the +campaigns of Alexander. Under him the collection of the +library was commenced, probably soon after the +defeat of Antigonus at the battle of Ipsus, <small>B.C.</small> +301. The museum is due to his son Ptolemy Philadelphus, +who not only patronized learning in his own dominions, +but likewise endeavoured to extend the boundaries of +human knowledge in other quarters. Thus he sent an +expedition under his admiral Timosthenes as far as +Madagascar. Of the succeeding Ptolemies, Euergetes and +Philopator were both very able men, though the later was +a bad one; he murdered his father, and perpetrated many +horrors in Alexandria. Epiphanes, succeeding his father +when only five years old, was placed by his guardians +under the protection of Rome, thus furnishing to the +ambitious republic a pretence for interfering in the affairs +of Egypt. The same policy was continued during the +reign of his son Philometor, who, upon the whole, was an +able and good king. Even Physcon, who succeeded in +<small>B.C.</small> 146, and who is described as sensual, corpulent, and +cruel—cruel, for he cut off the head, hands, and feet of his +son, and sent them to Cleopatra his wife—could not resist +the inspirations to which the policy of his ancestors, +continued for nearly two centuries, had given birth, but +was an effective promoter of literature and the arts, and +himself the author of an historical work. A like inclination +was displayed by his successors, Lathyrus and +Auletes, the name of the latter indicating his proficiency +in music. The surnames under which all these Ptolemies +pass were nicknames, or titles of derision imposed upon +them by their giddy and satirical Alexandrian subjects. +The political state of Alexandria was significantly said to +be a tyranny tempered by ridicule. The dynasty ended +in the person of the celebrated Cleopatra, who, after the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> +battle of Actium, caused herself, as is related in the +legends, to be bitten by an asp. She took poison that she +might not fall captive to Octavianus, and be led in his +triumph through the streets of Rome.</p> + +<p>If we possessed a complete and unbiased history of +these Greek kings, it would doubtless uphold their title +to be regarded as the most illustrious of all ancient +sovereigns. Even after their political power had passed +into the hands of the Romans—a nation who had no regard +to truth and to right—and philosophy, in its old age, had +become extinguished or eclipsed by the faith of the later +Cæsars, enforced by an unscrupulous use of their power, so +strong was the vitality of the intellectual germ they had +fostered, that, though compelled to lie dormant for +centuries, it shot up vigorously on the first occasion that +favouring circumstances allowed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">They patronize literature +as well as science.</div> + +<p>This Egyptian dynasty extended its protection and +patronage to literature as well as to science. Thus +Philadelphus did not consider it beneath him to count +among his personal friends the poet Callimachus, +who had written a treatise on birds, and honourably +maintained himself by keeping a school in +Alexandria. The court of that sovereign was, +moreover, adorned by a constellation of seven poets, to +which the gay Alexandrians gave the nickname of the +Pleiades. They are said to have been Lycophron, Theocritus, +Callimachus, Aratus, Apollonius Rhodius, Nicander, +and Homer the son of Macro. Among them may be distinguished +Lycophron, whose work, entitled Cassandra, +still remains; and Theocritus, whose exquisite bucolics +prove how sweet a poet he was.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The writings of Apollonius.</div> + +<p>To return to the scientific movement. The school of +Euclid was worthily represented in the time of Euergetes +by Apollonius Pergæus, forty years later than +Archimedes. He excelled both in the mathematical +and physical department. His chief work was a +treatise on Conic Sections. It is said that he was the first +to introduce the words ellipse and hyperbola. So late as +the eleventh century his complete works were extant in +Arabic. Modern geometers describe him as handling his +subjects with less power than his great predecessor +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +Archimedes, but nevertheless displaying extreme precision +and beauty in his methods. His fifth book, on Maxima +and Minima, is to be regarded as one of the highest efforts +of Greek geometry. As an example of his physical inquiries +may be mentioned his invention of a clock.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The writings of Hipparchus.</div> + +<p>Fifty years after Apollonius, <small>B.C.</small> 160-125, we meet with +the great astronomer Hipparchus. He does not appear to +have made observations himself in Alexandria, but he uses +those of Aristyllus and Timochares of that place. Indeed, +his great discovery of the precession of the equinoxes was +essentially founded on the discussion of the Alexandrian +observations on Spica Virginis made by Timochares. In +pure mathematics he gave methods for solving all triangles +plane and spherical: he also constructed a table +of chords. In astronomy, besides his capital +discovery of the precession of the equinoxes just +mentioned, he also determined the first inequality of the +moon, the equation of the centre, and all but anticipated +Ptolemy in the discovery of the evection. To him also +must be attributed the establishment of the theory of +<span class="sidenote">The theory of epicycles and eccentrics.</span> +epicycles and eccentrics, a geometrical conception for the +purpose of resolving the apparent motions of the heavenly +bodies, on the principle of circular movement. In the case +of the sun and moon, Hipparchus succeeded in +the application of that theory, and indicated +that it might be adapted to the planets. Though +never intended as a representation of the actual motions of +the heavenly bodies, it maintained its ground until the era +of Kepler and Newton, when the heliocentric doctrine, and +that of elliptic motions, were incontestably established. +Even Newton himself, in the 37th proposition of the third +book of the "Principia," availed himself of its aid. Hipparchus +also undertook to make a register of the stars by the +method of alineations—that is, by indicating those which +were in the same apparent straight line. The number of +stars catalogued by him was 1,080. If he thus depicted the +aspect of the sky for his times, he also endeavoured to do +the same for the surface of the earth by marking the position +of towns and other places by lines of latitude and longitude.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The writings of Ptolemy.</div> + +<p>Subsequently to Hipparchus, we find the astronomers +Geminus and Cleomedes; their fame, however, is totally +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> +eclipsed by that of Ptolemy, <small>A.D.</small> 138, the author of the +great work "Syntaxis," or the mathematical construction +of the heavens—a work fully deserving +the epithet which has been bestowed upon it, "a noble exposition +of the mathematical theory of epicycles and +eccentrics." It was translated by the Arabians after the +Mohammedan conquest of Egypt; and, under the title of +Almagest, was received by them as the highest authority +on the mechanism and phenomena of the universe. It +maintained its ground in Europe in the same eminent +position for nearly fifteen hundred years, justifying the +<span class="sidenote">His great work: the mechanical +construction of the heavens.</span> +encomium of Synesius on the institution which gave it +birth, "the divine school of Alexandria." The Almagest +commences with the doctrine that the earth is +globular and fixed in space; it describes the +construction of a table of chords and instruments +for observing the solstices, and deduces the +obliquity of the ecliptic. It finds terrestrial latitudes by +the gnomon; describes climates; shows how ordinary may +be converted into sidereal time; gives reasons for preferring +the tropical to the sidereal year; furnishes the +solar theory on the principle of the sun's orbit being a +simple eccentric; explains the equation of time; advances +to the discussion of the motions of the moon; treats of the +first inequality, of her eclipses, and the motion of the node. +It then gives Ptolemy's own great discovery—that which +has made his name immortal—the discovery of the moon's +evection or second inequality, reducing it to the epicyclic +theory. It attempts the determination of the distances of +the sun and moon from the earth, with, however, only +partial success, since it makes the sun's distance but one-twentieth +of the real amount. It considers the precession +of the equinoxes, the discovery of Hipparchus, the full +period for which is twenty-five thousand years. It gives +a catalogue of 1,022 stars; treats of the nature of the +Milky Way; and discusses, in the most masterly manner, +the motions of the planets. This point constitutes +Ptolemy's second claim to scientific fame. His determination +of the planetary orbits was accomplished by comparing +his own observations with those of former astronomers, +especially with those of Timochares on Venus.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">His geography.</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> +To Ptolemy we are also indebted for a work on Geography +used in European schools as late as the fifteenth century. +The known world to him was from the Canary Islands +eastward to China, and from the equator northward +to Caledonia. His maps, however, are very +erroneous; for, in the attempt to make them correspond +to the spherical figure of the earth, the longitudes are +too much to the east; the Mediterranean Sea is twenty +degrees too long. Ptolemy's determinations are, therefore, +inferior in accuracy to those of his illustrious predecessor +Eratosthenes, who made the distance from the sacred +promontory in Spain to the eastern mouth of the Ganges +to be seventy thousand stadia. Ptolemy also wrote on +Optics, the Planisphere, and Astrology. It is not often +given to an author to endure for so many ages; perhaps, +indeed, few deserve it. The mechanism of the heavens, +from his point of view, has however, been greatly misunderstood. +Neither he nor Hipparchus ever intended +that theory as anything more than a geometrical fiction. +It is not to be regarded as a representation of the actual +celestial motions. And, as might be expected, for such is +the destiny of all unreal abstractions, the theory kept +advancing in complexity as facts accumulated, and was on +the point of becoming altogether unmanageable, when it +was supplanted by the theory of universal gravitation, +which has ever exhibited the inalienable attribute of a +true theory—affording an explanation of every new fact +as soon as it was discovered, without requiring to be +burdened with new provisions, and prophetically foretelling +phenomena which had not as yet been observed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The later Alexandrian geometers.</div> + +<p>From the time of the Ptolemies the scientific spirit of +the Alexandrian school declined; for though such mathematicians +as Theodosius, whose work on Spherical +Geometry was greatly valued by the Arab geometers; and +Pappus, whose mathematical collections, in eight +books, still for the most part remain; and Theon, +doubly celebrated for his geometrical attainments, +and as being the father of the unfortunate Hypatia, +<small>A.D.</small> 415, lived in the next three centuries, they were not +men like their great predecessors. That mental strength +which gives birth to original discovery had passed away. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> +The commentator had succeeded to the philosopher. No +new development illustrated the physical sciences; they +were destined long to remain stationary. Mechanics could +boast of no trophy like the proposition of Archimedes on +the equilibrium of the lever; no new and exact ideas like +those of the same great man on statical and hydrostatical +pressure; no novel and clear views like those developed in +his treatise on floating bodies; no mechanical invention +like the first of all steam-engines—that of Hero. Natural +<span class="sidenote">Decline of the Greek age of Reason.</span> +Philosophy had come to a stop. Its great, and hitherto +successfully cultivated department, Astronomy, exhibited +no farther advance. Men were content with +what had been done, and continued to amuse +themselves with reconciling the celestial phenomena +to a combination of equable circular motions. To +what are we to attribute this pause? Something had +occurred to enervate the spirit of science. A gloom had +settled on the Museum.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Causes of that decline.</div> + +<p>There is no difficulty in giving an explanation of this +unfortunate condition. Greek intellectual life had passed +the period of its maturity, and was entering on old age. +Moreover, the talent which might have been devoted to the +service of science was in part allured to another pursuit, +and in part repressed. Alexandria had sapped Athens, and +in her turn Alexandria was sapped by Rome. +From metropolitan pre-eminence she had sunk to +be a mere provincial town. The great prizes of life were +not so likely to be met with in such a declining city as in +Italy or, subsequently, in Constantinople. Whatever +affected these chief centres of Roman activity, necessarily +influenced her; but, such is the fate of the conquered, she +must await their decisions. In the very institutions by +which she had once been glorified, success could only be +attained by a conformity to the manner of thinking +fashionable in the imperial metropolis, and the best that +could be done was to seek distinction in the path so marked +out. Yet even with all this restraint Alexandria asserted +her intellectual power, leaving an indelible impress on the +new theology of her conquerors. During three centuries +the intellectual atmosphere of the Roman empire had been +changing. Men were unable to resist the steadily increasing +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +pressure. Tranquillity could only be secured by passiveness. +Things had come to such a state that the thinking of men +was to be done for them by others, or, if they thought at +all, it must be in accordance with a prescribed formula or +rule. Greek intellect was passing into decrepitude, and the +moral condition of the European world was in antagonism +to scientific progress.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +THE GREEK AGE OF INTELLECTUAL DECREPITUDE.</p> + +<p class='center'><small>THE DEATH OF GREEK PHILOSOPHY.</small></p> + +<div class='blockquot'><p class='ind'><i>Decline of Greek Philosophy: it becomes Retrospective, and in Philo +the Jew and Apollonius of Tyana leans on Inspiration, Mysticism, +Miracles.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Neo-Platonism</span> <i>founded by Ammonius Saccas, followed by Plotinus, +Porphyry, Iamblicus, Proclus.—The Alexandrian Trinity.—Ecstasy.—Alliance +with Magic, Necromancy.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>The Emperor Justinian closes the philosophical Schools.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Summary of Greek Philosophy.—Its four Problems: 1. Origin of the +World; 2. Nature of the Soul; 3. Existence of God; 4. Criterion of +Truth.—Solution of these Problems in the Age of Inquiry—in that of +Faith—in that of Reason—in that of Decrepitude.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Determination of the Law of Variation of Greek Opinion.—The +Development of National Intellect is the same as that of Individual.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Determination of the final Conclusions of Greek Philosophy as to God, +the World, the Soul, the Criterion of Truth.—Illustrations and +Criticisms on each of these Points.</i></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote">Decline of Greek philosophy.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">In</span> this chapter it is a melancholy picture that I have to +present—the old age and death of Greek philosophy. The strong man of Aristotelism and +Stoicism is sinking into the superannuated dotard; he is settling</p> + +<div class='centered table'> +<table border='0' cellpadding='0' width='65%' cellspacing='0' summary='SHAKESPEARE'> +<tr><td> +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Turning again toward childish treble, pipes<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That ends this strange, eventful history,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is second childishness and mere oblivion—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything."<br /></span> +</div></div> +</td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +He is full of admiration for the past and of contemptuous +disgust at the present; his thoughts are wandering to the +things that occupied him in his youth, and even in his +infancy. Like those who are ready to die, he delivers +himself up to religious preparation, without any farther +concern whether the things on which he is depending are +intrinsically true or false.</p> + +<p>In this, the closing scene, no more do we find the vivid +faith of Plato, the mature intellect of Aristotle, the manly +self-control of Zeno. Greek philosophy is ending in +garrulity and mysticism. It is leaning for help on the +conjurer, juggler, and high-priest of Nature.</p> + +<p>There are also new-comers obtruding themselves on the +stage. The Roman soldier is about to take the place of +the Greek thinker, and assert his claim to the effects of the +intestate—to keep what suits him, and to destroy what +he pleases. The Romans, advancing towards their age of +Faith, are about to force their ideas on the European +world.</p> + +<p>Under the shadow of the Pyramids Greek philosophy +was born; after many wanderings for a thousand years +round the shores of the Mediterranean, it came back to its +native place, and under the shadow of the Pyramids it died.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">It becomes retrospective.</div> + +<p>From the period of the New Academy the decline of +Greek philosophy was uninterrupted. Inventive genius +no longer existed; its place was occupied by the commentator. +Instead of troubling themselves with inquiries +after absolute truth, philosophers sought support +in the opinions of the ancient times, +and the real or imputed views of Pythagoras, Plato, or +Aristotle were received as a criterion. In this, the old +age of philosophy, men began to act as though there had +never been such things as original investigation and +discovery among the human race, and that whatever truth +there was in the world was not the product of thought, +but the remains of an ancient and now all but forgotten +revelation from heaven—forgotten through the guilt and +fall of man. There is something very melancholy in this +total cessation of inquiry. The mental impetus, which +one would have expected to continue for a season by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +reason of the momentum that had been gathered in so +many ages, seems to have been all at once abruptly lost. +So complete a pause is surprising: the arrow still flies on +after it has parted from the bow; the potter's wheel runs +round though all the vessels are finished. In producing +this sudden stoppage, the policy of the early Cæsars +greatly assisted. The principle of liberty of thought, +which the very existence of the divers philosophical +schools necessarily implied, was too liable to make itself +manifest in aspirations for political liberty. While through +the emperors the schools of Greece, of Alexandria, and +Rome were depressed from that supremacy to which they +might have aspired, and those of the provinces, as +Marseilles and Rhodes, were relatively exalted, the +former, in a silent and private way, were commencing +<span class="sidenote">Has arrived at Oriental ideas.</span> +those rivalries, the forerunners of the great theological +struggles between them in after ages for political power. +Christianity in its dawn was attended by a +general belief that in the East there had been +preserved a purer recollection of the ancient revelation, +and that hence from that quarter the light would +presently shine forth. Under the favouring influence of +such an expectation, Orientalism, to which, as we have +seen, Grecian thought had spontaneously arrived, was +greatly re-enforced.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Philo the Jew thinks he is inspired.</div> + +<p>In this final period of Greek philosophy, the first to +whom we must turn is Philo the Jew, who lived in the +time of the Emperor Caligula. In harmony with the ideas +of his nation, he derives all philosophy and useful +knowledge from the Mosaic record, not +hesitating to wrest Scripture to his use by +various allegorical interpretations, asserting that man has +fallen from his primitive wisdom and purity; that +physical inquiry is of very little avail, but that an +innocent life and a burning faith are what we must trust +to. He persuaded himself that a certain inspiration fell +upon him while he was in the act of writing, somewhat +like that of the penmen of the Holy Scriptures. His +readers may, however, be disposed to believe that herein +he was self-deceived, judging both from the character of +his composition and the nature of his doctrine. As +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +respects the former, he writes feebly, is vacillating in his +<span class="sidenote">His mystical philosophy.</span> +views, and, when watched in his treatment of a difficult +point, is seen to be wavering and unsteady. As +respects the latter, among other extraordinary +things he teaches that the world is the chief angel or first +son of God; he combines all the powers of God into one +force, the Logos or holy Word, the highest powers being +creative wisdom and governing mercy. From this are +emitted all the mundane forces; and, since God cannot do +evil, the existence of evil in the world must be imputed +to these emanating forces. It is very clear, therefore, +that though Philo declined Oriental pantheism, he laid +his foundation on the Oriental theory of Emanation.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Apollonius of Tyana.<br /><br /> +Is a miracle-worker and prophet.</div> + +<p>As aiding very greatly in the popular introduction of +Orientalism, Apollonius of Tyana must be mentioned. +Under the auspices of the Empress Julia Domna, in a +biographical composition, Philostratus had the audacity to +institute a parallel between this man and our +Saviour. He was a miracle-worker, given to +soothsaying and prophesying, led the life of an ascetic, +his raiment and food being of the poorest. He attempted +a reformation of religious rites and morals; +denied the efficacy of sacrifice, substituting for +it a simple worship and a pure prayer, scarce +even needing words. He condemned the poets for propagating +immoral fables of the gods, since they had +thereby brought impurity into religion. He maintained +the doctrine of transmigration.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Plutarch leans to patronizing Orientalism.</div> + +<p>Plutarch, whose time reaches to the Emperor Hadrian, +has exercised an influence, through certain peculiarities of +his style, which has extended even to us. As a philosopher +he is to be classed among the Platonists, yet +with a predominance of the prevailing Orientalism. +His mental peculiarities seem to have +unfitted him for an acceptance of the national faith, and +his works commend themselves rather by the pleasant +manner in which he deals with the topic on which he +treats than by a deep philosophy. In some respects an +analogy may be discerned between his views and those of +Philo, the Isis of the one corresponding to the Word of +the other. This disposition to Orientalism occurs still +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +more strongly in succeeding writers; for example, Lucius +<span class="sidenote">Numenius inclines to a +trinitarian philosophy.</span> +Apuleius the Numidian, and Numenius: the +latter embracing the opinion that had now +become almost universal—that all Greek philosophy +was originally brought from the East. In +his doctrine a trinity is assumed, the first person of which +is reason; the second the principle of becoming, which is +a dual existence, and so gives rise to a third person, these +three persons constituting, however, only one God. Having +indicated the occurrence of this idea, it is not necessary +for us to inquire more particularly into its details. As +philosophical conceptions, none of the trinities of the +Greeks will bear comparison with those of ancient Egypt, +Amun, Maut, and Khonso, Osiris, Isis, and Horus; nor +with those of India, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, the +Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer, or, the Past, the +Present, and the Future of the Buddhists.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Ammonius Saccas founds Neo-Platonism.</div> + +<p>The doctrines of Numenius led directly to those of Neo-Platonism, +of which, however, the origin is commonly +imputed to Ammonius Saccas of Alexandria, +toward the close of the second century after +Christ. The views of this philosopher do not +appear to have been committed to writing. +They are known to us through his disciples Longinus and +Plotinus chiefly. Neo-Platonism, assuming the aspect of +a philosophical religion, is distinguished for the conflict it +maintained with the rising power of Christianity. Alexandria +was the scene of this contest. The school which +there arose lasted for about 300 years. Its history is not +only interesting to us from its antagonism to that new +power which soon was to conquer the Western world, +but also because it was the expiring effort of Grecian +philosophy.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Plotinus, a Mystic. Reunion with God.</div> + +<p>Plotinus, an Egyptian, was born about <small>A.D.</small> 204. He +studied at Alexandria, and is said to have spent +eleven years under Ammonius Saccas. He accompanied +the expedition of the Emperor +Gordian to Persia and India, and, escaping +from its disasters, opened a philosophical school in Rome. +In that city he was held in the highest esteem by the +Emperor Gallienus; the Empress Salonina intended to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +build a city, in which Plotinus might inaugurate the +celebrated Republic of Plato. The plan was not, however, +carried out. With the best intention for promoting +the happiness of man, Plotinus is to be charged with no +little obscurity and mysticism. Eunapius says truly that +the heavenly elevation of his mind and his perplexed style +make him very tiresome and unpleasant. His repulsiveness +is, perhaps, in a measure due to his want of skill in +the art of composition, for he did not learn to write till +he was fifty years old. He professed a contempt for the +advantages of life and for its pursuits. He disparaged +patriotism. An ascetic in his habits, eating no flesh and +but little bread, he held his body in utter contempt, +saying that it was only a phantom and a clog to his soul. +He refused to remember his birthday. As has frequently +been the case with those who have submitted to prolonged +fasting and meditation, he believed that he had been +privileged to see God with his bodily eye, and on six +different occasions had been reunited to him. In such +a mental condition, it may well be supposed that his +writings are mysterious, inconsequent and diffuse. An +air of Platonism mingled with many Oriental ideas and +ancient Egyptian recollections, pervades his works.</p> + +<p>Like many of his predecessors, Plotinus recognized a +difference between the mental necessities of the educated +and the vulgar, justifying mythology on the ground that +it was very useful to those who were not yet emancipated +from the sensible. Aristotle, in his Metaphysics, referring +to mythology and the gods in human form, had remarked, +"Much has been mythically added for the persuasion of +the multitude, and also on account of the laws and for +other useful ends." But Plotinus also held that the gods +are not to be moved by prayer, and that both they and +the dæmons occasionally manifest themselves visibly; +that incantations may be lawfully practised, and are not +repugnant to philosophy. In the body he discerns a +penitential mechanism for the soul. He believes that the +external world is a mere phantom—a dream—and the +indications of the senses altogether deceptive. The union +with the divinity of which he speaks he describes as +an intoxication of the soul which, forgetting all external +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +things, becomes lost in the contemplation of "the One." +<span class="sidenote">The trinity of Plotinus.</span> +The doctrinal philosophy of Plotinus presents a trinity in +accordance with the Platonic idea. (1.) The One, or +Prime essence. (2.) The Reason. (3.) The Soul. Of the +first he declares that it is impossible to speak +fully, and in what he says on this point there +are many apparent contradictions, as when he denies +oneness to the one. His ideas of the trinity are essentially +based on the theory of emanation. He describes how the +second principle issues by emanation out of the first, and +the third out of the second. The mechanism of this +process may be illustrated by recalling how from the body +of the sun issues forth light, and from light emerges heat. +In the procession of the third from the second principle it +is really Thought arising from Reason; but Thought is +the Soul. The mundane soul he considers as united to +nothing; but on these details he falls into much mysticism, +and it is often difficult to see clearly his precise +meaning, as when he says that Reason is surrounded by +Eternity, but the Soul is surrounded by Time. He carries +Idealism to its last extreme, and, as has been said, looks +upon the visible world as a semblance only, deducing +from his doctrine moral reflections to be a comfort in the +trials of life. Thus he says that "sensuous life is a mere +stage-play; all the misery in it is only imaginary, all +grief a mere cheat of the players." "The soul is not in +the game; it looks on, while nothing more than the +external phantom weeps and laments." "Passive affections +and misery light only on the outward shadow of +man." The great end of existence is to draw the soul +from external things and fasten it in contemplation on +God. Such considerations teach us a contempt for virtue as +well as for vice: "Once united with God, man leaves +the virtues, as on entering the sanctuary he leaves the +images of the gods in the ante-temple behind." Hence we +<span class="sidenote">Ecstasy; communion with the invisible.</span> +should struggle to free ourselves from everything low and +mean: to cultivate truth, and devote life to +intimate communion with God, divesting ourselves +of all personality, and passing into the +condition of ecstasy, in which the soul is loosened from its +material prison, separated from individual consciousness, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +and absorbed in the infinite intelligence from which it +emanated. "In ecstasy it contemplates real existence; it +identifies itself with that which it contemplates." Our +reminiscence passes into intuition. In all these views of +Plotinus the tincture of Orientalism predominates; the +principles and practices are altogether Indian. The +Supreme Being of the system is the "unus qui est omnia;" +the intention of the theory of emanation is to find a philosophical +connexion between him and the soul of man; the +process for passing into ecstasy by sitting long in an +invariable posture, by looking steadfastly at the tip of the +nose, or by observing for a long time an unusual or definite +manner of breathing, had been familiar to the Eastern +devotees, as they are now to the impostors of our own times; +the result is not celestial, but physiological. The pious +Hindus were, however, assured that, as water will not wet +the lotus, so, though sin may touch, it can never defile the +soul after a full intuition of God.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Porphyry—his writings destroyed;<br /><br /> +resorts to magic and necromancy.</div> + +<p>The opinions of Plotinus were strengthened and diffused +by his celebrated pupil Porphyry, who was born at Tyre +<small>A.D.</small> 233. After the death of Plotinus he established a +school in Rome, attaining great celebrity in astronomy, +music, geography, and other sciences. His treatise against +Christianity was answered by Eusebius, St. Jerome, and +others; the Emperor Theodosius the Great, however, +silenced it more effectually by causing all the +copies to be burned. Porphyry asserts his own +unworthiness when compared with his master, +saying that he had been united to God but once in eighty-six +years, whereas Plotinus had been so united six times in +sixty years. In him is to be seen all the mysticism, and, it +may be added, all the piety of Plotinus. He speaks of +dæmons shapeless, and therefore invisible; requiring food, +and not immortal; some of which rule the air, and may be +propitiated or restrained by magic: he admits also the use +of necromancy. It is scarcely possible to determine +how much this inclination of the Neo-Platonists +to the unlawful art is to be regarded +as a concession to the popular sentiment of the times, for +elsewhere Porphyry does not hesitate to condemn soothsaying +and divination, and to dwell upon the folly of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +invoking the gods in making bargains, marriages, and such-like +trifles. He strenuously enjoins a holy life in view of +the fact that man has fallen both from his ancient purity +and knowledge. He recommends a worship in silence and +pure thought, the public worship being of very secondary +importance. He also insists on an abstinence from animal +food.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Iamblicus a wonder-worker.</div> + +<p>The cultivation of magic and the necromantic art was +fully carried out in Iamblicus, a Cœlo-Syrian, who died in +the reign of Constantine the Great. It is +scarcely necessary to relate the miracles and +prodigies he performed, though they received +full credence in those superstitious times; how, by the +intensity of his prayers, he raised himself unsupported +nine feet above the ground; how he could make rays of a +blinding effulgence play round his head; how, before the +bodily eyes of his pupils, he evoked two visible dæmonish +imps. Nor is it necessary to mention the opinions of +Ædesius, Chrysanthus, or Maximus.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Proclus unites emanation with mysticism.</div> + +<p>For a moment, however, we may turn to Proclus, who +was born in Constantinople <small>A.D.</small> 412. When Vitalian +laid siege to Constantinople, Proclus is said to have burned +his ships with a polished brass mirror. It is scarcely +possible for us to determine how much truth +there is in this, since similar authority affirms +that he could produce rain and earthquakes. +His theurgic propensities are therefore quite +distinct. Yet, notwithstanding these superhuman powers, +together with special favours displayed to him by Apollo, +Athene, and other divinities, he found it expedient to cultivate +his rites in secret, in terror of persecution by the +Christians, whose attention he had drawn upon himself by +writing a work in opposition to them. Eventually they +succeeded in expelling him from Athens, thereby teaching +him a new interpretation of the moral maxim he had +adopted, "Live concealed." It was the aim of Proclus to +construct a complete theology, which should include the +theory of emanation, and be duly embellished with mysticism. +The Orphic poems and Chaldæan oracles were the +basis upon which he commenced; his character may be +understood from the dignity he assumed as "high priest of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +the universe." He recommended to his disciples the study +of Aristotle for the sake of cultivating the reason, but +enjoined that of Plato, whose works he found to be full of +sublime allegories suited to his purpose. He asserted that +to know one's own mind is to know the whole universe, and +that that knowledge is imparted to us by revelations and +illuminations of the gods.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Justinian puts an end to philosophy.</div> + +<p>He speculates on the manner in which absorption is to +take place; whether the last form can pass at once into +the primitive, or whether it is needful for it to resume, in +a returning succession, the intervening states of its career. +From such elevated ideas, considering the mystical manner +in which they were treated, there was no other prospect +for philosophy than to end as Neo-Platonism did under +Damasius. The final days were approaching. +The Emperor Justinian prohibited the teaching +of philosophy, and closed its schools in Athens +<small>A.D.</small> 529. Its last representatives, Damasius, Simplicius, and +Isidorus, went as exiles to Persia, expecting to find a retreat +under the protection of the great king, who boasted that he +was a philosopher and a Platonist. Disappointed, they were +fain to return to their native land; and it must be recorded +to the honour of Chosroes that, in his treaty of peace +with the Romans, he stipulated safety and toleration for +these exiles, vainly hoping that they might cultivate their +philosophy and practise their rites without molestation.</p> + +<p>So ends Greek philosophy. She is abandoned, and preparation +made for crowning Faith in her stead. The inquiries +of the Ionians, the reasoning of the Eleatics, the labours +of Plato, of Aristotle, have sunk into mysticism and the +art of the conjurer. As with the individual man, so with +philosophy in its old age: when all else had failed it threw +itself upon devotion, seeking consolation in the exercises +of piety—a frame of mind in which it was ready to die. +The whole period from the New Academy shows that the +grand attempt, every year becoming more and more urgent, +was to find a system which should be in harmony with +that feeling of religious devotion into which the Roman +empire had fallen—a feeling continually gathering force. +An air of piety, though of a most delusive kind, had +settled upon the whole pagan world.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Summary of Greek philosophy.</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> +From the long history of Greek philosophy presented in +the foregoing pages, we turn, 1st, to an investigation +of the manner of progress of the Greek +mind; and, 2nd, to the results to which it +attained.</p> + +<p>The period occupied by the events we have been +considering extends over almost twelve centuries. It +commences with Thales, <small>B.C.</small> 636, and ends <small>A.D.</small> 529.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Age of Inquiry—its solutions.</div> + +<p>1st. Greek philosophy commenced on the foundation of +physical suggestions. Its first object was the +determination of the origin and manner of production +of the world. The basis upon which it +rested was in its nature unsubstantial, for it included intrinsic +errors due to imperfect and erroneous observations. +It diminished the world and magnified man, accepting the +apparent aspect of Nature as real, and regarding the earth +as a flat surface, on which the sky was sustained like a +dome. It limited the boundaries of the terrestrial plane to +an insignificant extent, and asserted that it was the special +<span class="sidenote">First problem. Origin of the world.</span> +and exclusive property of man. The stars and +other heavenly bodies it looked upon as mere +meteors or manifestations of fire. With superficial +simplicity, it received the notions of absolute directions +in space, up and down, above and below. In a like +spirit is adopted, from the most general observation, the +doctrine of four elements, those forms of substance naturally +presented to us in a predominating quantity—earth, water, +air, fire. From these slender beginnings it made its first +attempt at a cosmogony, or theory of the mode of creation, +by giving to one of these elements a predominance or superiority +over the other three, and making them issue from +it. With one teacher the primordial element was water; +with another, air; with another, fire. Whether a genesis +had thus taken place, or whether all four elements were co-ordinate +and equal, the production of the world was of easy +explanation; for, by calling in the aid of ordinary observation, +which assures us that mud will sink to the bottom of +water, that water will fall through air, that it is the +apparent nature of fire to ascend, and, combining these +illusory facts with the erroneous notion of up and down in +space, the arrangement of the visible world became clear—the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +earth down below, the water floating upon it, the air above, +and, still higher, the region of fire. Thus it appears +that the first inquiry made by European philosophy was, +Whence and in what manner came the world?</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Its irreligious solution thereof.</div> + +<p>The principles involved in the solution of this problem +evidently led to a very important inference, at this early +period betraying what was before long to become a serious +point of dispute. It is natural for man to see in things +around him visible tokens of divinity, continual providential +dispensations. But in this, its very first act, +Greek philosophy had evidently excluded God from his +own world. This settling of the heavy, this ascending of +the light, was altogether a purely physical +affair; the limitless sea, the blue air, and the unnumbered +shining stars, were set in their appropriate +places, not at the pleasure or by the hand of God, +but by innate properties of their own. Popular superstition +was in some degree appeased by the localization of +deities in the likeness of men in a starry Olympus above +the sky, a region furnishing unsubstantial glories and a +tranquil abode. And yet it is not possible to exclude +altogether the spiritual from this world. The soul, ever +active and ever thinking, asserts its kindred with the +divine. What is that soul? Such was the second question +propounded by Greek philosophy.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Second problem. What is the soul?<br /><br /> +Its material solution thereof.</div> + +<p>A like course of superficial observation was resorted to +in the solution of this inquiry. To breathe is to +live; then the breath is the life. If we cease to +breathe we die. Man only becomes a living soul +when the breath of life enters his nostrils; he is a senseless +and impassive form when the last breath is expired. In +this life-giving principle, the air, must therefore exist all +those noble qualities possessed by the soul. It must be the +source from which all intellect arises, the store to which all +intellect again returns. The philosophical school whose +fundamental principle was that the air is the primordial +element thus brought back the Deity into the +world, though under a material form. Yet still +it was in antagonism to the national polytheism, +unless from that one god, the air, the many gods of +Olympus arose.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Third problem. What is God?</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +But who is that one God? This is the third question +put forth by Greek philosophy. Its answer +betrays that in this, its beginning, it is tending +to Pantheism.</p> + +<p>In all these investigations the starting-point had been +material conceptions, depending on the impressions or +information of the senses. Whatever the conclusion arrived +at, its correctness turned on the correctness of that information. +When we put a little wine into a measure of +water, the eye may no longer see it, but the wine is there. +When a rain-drop falls on the leaves of a distant forest, +we cannot hear it, but the murmur of many drops composing +a shower is audible enough. But what is that +murmur except the sum of the sounds of all the individual +drops?</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Fourth problem. Has man a criterion of truth?</div> + +<p>And so it is plain our senses are prone to +deceive us. Hence arises the fourth great +question of Greek philosophy: Have we any +criterion of truth?</p> + +<p>The moment a suspicion that we have not crosses the +mind of man, he realizes what may be truly termed intellectual +despair. Is this world an illusion, a phantasm of +the imagination? If things material and tangible, and +therefore the most solid props of knowledge, are thus +abruptly destroyed, in what direction shall we turn? +Within a single century Greek philosophy had come to this +<span class="sidenote">Importance of the views of Pythagoras.</span> +pass, and it was not without reason that intelligent men +looked on Pythagoras almost as a divinity upon +earth when he pointed out to them a path of +escape; when he bid them reflect on what it was +that had thus taught them the fallibility of sense. For +what is it but reason that has been thus warning us, and, +in the midst of delusions, has guided us to the truth—reason, +which has objects of her own, a world of her own? +Though the visible and audible may deceive, we may +nevertheless find absolute truth in things altogether +separate from material nature, particularly in the relations +of numbers and properties of geometrical forms. There is +no illusion in this, that two added to two make four; or in +this, that any two sides of a triangle taken together are +greater than the third. If, then, we are living in a region +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +of deceptions, we may rest assured that it is surrounded by +a world of truth.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Influence of the Eleatic school and the Sophists.</div> + +<p>From the material basis speculative philosophy gradually +disengaged itself through the labours of +the Eleatic school, the controversy as to the +primary element receding into insignificance, +and being replaced by investigations as to Time, +Motion, Space, Thought, Being, God. The general result of +these inquiries brought into prominence the suspicion of the +untrustworthiness of the senses, the tendency of the whole +period being manifested in the hypothesis at last attained, +that atoms and space alone exist; and, since the former are +mere centres of force, matter is necessarily a phantasm. +When, therefore, the Athenians themselves commenced the +cultivation of philosophy, it was with full participation in +the doubt and uncertainty thus overspreading the whole +subject. As Sophists, their action closed this speculative +period, for, by a comparison of all the partial sciences thus +far known, they arrived at the conclusion that there is no +conscience, no good or evil, no philosophy, no religion, no +law, no criterion of truth.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Age of faith—its solutions.</div> + +<p>But man cannot live without some guiding rule. If his +speculations in Nature will yield him nothing on which he +may rely, he will seek some other aid. If there be no +criterion of truth for him in philosophy, he will lean on +implicit, unquestioning faith. If he cannot prove by +physical arguments the existence of God, he will, +with Socrates, accept that great fact as self +evident and needing no demonstration. He will, in like +manner, take his stand upon the undeniable advantages +of virtue and good morals, defending the doctrine that +pleasure should be the object of life—pleasure of that pure +kind which flows from a cultivation of ennobling pursuits, +or instinctive, as exhibited in the life of brutes. But when +he has thus cast aside demonstration as needless for his +purposes, and put his reliance in this manner on faith, he +has lost the restraining, the guiding principle that can set +bounds to his conduct. If he considers, with Socrates, who +opens the third age of Greek development—its age of faith—the +existence of God as not needing any proof, he may, +in like manner, add thereto the existence of matter and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +ideas. To faith there will be no difficulty in such doctrines +as those of Reminiscence, the double immortality +<span class="sidenote">Its continuation by Plato, +and its end by the Sceptics.</span> +of the soul, the actual existence of universals; +and, if such faith, unrestrained and unrestricted, +be directed to the regulation of personal life, +there is nothing to prevent a falling into excess and base +egoism. For ethics, in such an application, ends either in +the attempt at the procurement of extreme personal sanctity +or the obtaining of individual pleasure—the foundation +of patriotism is sapped, the sentiment of friendship is +destroyed. So it was with the period of Grecian faith +inaugurated by Socrates, developed by Plato, and closed +by the Sceptics. Antisthenes and Diogenes of Sinope, in +their outrages on society and their self-mortifications, +show to what end a period of faith, unrestrained by reason, +will come; and Epicurus demonstrated its tendency when +guided by self.</p> + +<p>Thus closes the third period of Greek philosophical development.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Age of Reason—its solutions.</div> + +<p>In introducing us to a fourth, Aristotle insists that, +though we must rely on reason, Reason itself must submit +to be guided by Experience; and Zeno, taking +up the same thought, teaches us that we must +appeal to the decisions of common sense. He disposes of +all doubt respecting the criterion of truth by proclaiming +that the distinctness of our sensuous impressions is a sufficient +guide. In all this, the essential condition involved +is altogether different from that of the speculative ages, +and also of the age of faith. Yet, though under the +ostensible guidance of reason, the human mind ever seeks +to burst through such self-imposed restraints, attempting +to ascertain things for which it possesses no suitable data. +Even in the age of Aristotle, the age of Reason in Greece, +philosophy resumed such questions as those of the creation +of the world, the emanation of matter from God, the +existence and nature of evil, the immortality, or, alas! it +might perhaps be more truly said, judging from its conclusions, +the death of the soul, and this even after the Sceptics +had, with increased force, denied that we have any +criterion of truth, and showed to their own satisfaction +that man, at the best, can do nothing but doubt; and, in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span> +view of his condition here upon earth, since it has not been +permitted him to know what is right and what is wrong, +what is true and what is false, his wisest course is to give +himself no concern about the matter, but tranquilly sink +into a state of complete indifference and quietism.</p> + +<p>How uniformly do we see that through such variations +of opinion individual man approaches his end. For Greek +philosophy, what other prospect was there but decrepitude, +with its contempt for the present, its attachment to the +past, its distrust of man, its reliance on the mysterious—the +unknown? And this imbecility how plainly we witness +before the scene finally is closed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Duration of these ages.</div> + +<p>If now we look back upon this career of the Grecian mind, +we find that after the legendary prehistoric period—the +age of credulity—there came in succession an age of speculative +inquiry, an age of faith, an age of reason, an age of +decrepitude—the first, the age of credulity, was closed by +geographical discovery; the second by the criticism of the +Sophists; the third by the doubts of the Sceptics; the +fourth, eminently distinguished by the greatness +of its results, gradually declined into the fifth, +an age of decrepitude, to which the hand of the Roman +put an end. In the mental progress of this people we +therefore discern the foreshadowing of a course like that of +individual life, its epochs answering to Infancy, Childhood +Youth, Manhood, Old Age; and which, on a still grander +scale, as we shall hereafter find, has been repeated by all +Europe in its intellectual development.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Boundaries of these ages.</div> + +<p>In a space of 1150 years, ending about <small>A.D.</small> 529, the +Greek mind had completed its philosophical +career. The ages into which we have divided +that course pass by insensible gradations into each other. +They overlap and intermingle, like a gradation of colours, +but the characteristics of each are perfectly distinct.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Determination of the law of variations of opinions.<br /><br /> +Philosophical conclusions finally arrived at by the Greeks.</div> + +<p>2nd. Having thus determined the general law of the +variation of opinions, that it is the same in this +nation as in an individual, I shall next endeavour +to disentangle the final results attained, +considering Greek philosophy as a whole. To +return to the illustration, to us more than an empty +metaphor, though in individual life there is a successive +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +passage through infancy, childhood, youth, and manhood +to old age, a passage in which the characteristics of each +period in their turn disappear, yet, nevertheless, there are +certain results in another sense permanent, giving to the +whole progress its proper individuality. A +critical eye may discern in the successive stages +of Greek philosophical development decisive +and enduring results. These it is for which we +have been searching in this long and tedious discussion.</p> + +<p>There are four grand topics in Greek philosophy: 1st, +the existence and attributes of God; 2nd, the origin and +destiny of the world; 3rd, the nature of the human soul; +4th, the possibility of a criterion of truth. I shall now +present what appear to me to be the results at which the +Greek mind arrived on each of these points.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">As to God—His unity.</div> + +<p>(1.) Of the existence and attributes of God. On this +point the decision of the Greek mind was the +absolute rejection of all anthropomorphic conceptions, +even at the risk of encountering the pressure of +the national superstition. Of the all-powerful, all-perfect, +and eternal there can be but one, for such attributes are +absolutely opposed to anything like a participation, +whether of a spiritual or material nature; and hence the +conclusion that the universe itself is God, and that all +animate and inanimate things belong to his essence. In +him they live, and move, and have their being. It is conceivable +that God may exist without the world, but it is +inconceivable that the world should exist without God. +We must not, however, permit ourselves to be deluded by +the varied aspect of things; for, though the universe is +thus God, we know it not as it really is, but only as it +appears. God has no relations to space and time. They +are only the fictions of our finite imagination.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">But their solution is Pantheism.</div> + +<p>But this ultimate effort of the Greek mind is Pantheism. +It is the same result which the more aged +branch of the Indo-European family had long +before reached. "There is no God independent +of Nature; no other has been revealed by tradition, perceived +by the sense, or demonstrated by argument."</p> + +<p>Yet never will man be satisfied with such a conclusion. +It offers him none of that aspect of personality which +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> +his yearnings demand. This infinite, and eternal, and +universal is no intellect at all. It is passionless, without +motive, without design. It does not answer to those lineaments +of which he catches a glimpse when he considers the +attributes of his own soul. He shudderingly turns from +Pantheism, this final result of human philosophy, and, +voluntarily retracing his steps, subordinates his reason to +his instinctive feelings; declines the impersonal as having +nothing in unison with him, and asserts a personal God, +the Maker of the universe and the Father of men.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">As to the world—a manifestation of God.</div> + +<p>(2.) Of the origin and destiny of the world. In an +examination of the results at which the Greek +mind arrived on this topic, our labour is rendered +much lighter by the assistance we receive +from the decision of the preceding inquiry. +The origin of all things is in God, of whom the world is +only a visible manifestation. It is evolved by and from +him, perhaps, as the Stoics delighted to say, as the plant +is evolved by and from the vital germ in the seed. It is +an emanation of him. On this point we may therefore +accept as correct the general impression entertained by +philosophers, Greek, Alexandrian, and Roman after the +Christian era, that, at the bottom, the Greek and Oriental +philosophies were alike, not only as respects the questions +they proposed for solution, but also in the decisions they +arrived at. As we have said, this impression led to the +belief that there must have been in the remote past a +revelation common to both, though subsequently obscured +and vitiated by the infirmities and wickedness of man. +This doctrine of emanation, reposing on the assertion that +the world existed eternally in God, that it came forth into +visibility from him, and will be hereafter absorbed into him, +is one of the most striking features of Veda theology. It is +developed with singular ability by the Indian philosophers +as well as by the Greeks, and is illustrated by their poets.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">This solution identical with the Oriental.</div> + +<p>The following extract from the Institutes of Menu +will convey the Oriental conclusion: "This +universe existed only in the first divine idea, +yet unexpanded, as if involved in darkness; +imperceptible, undefinable, undiscoverable by reason, and +undiscovered by revelation, as if it were wholly immersed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> +in sleep. Then the sole self-existing power, himself undiscerned, +but making this world discernible, with five +elements and other principles of nature, appeared with +undiminished glory, expanding his idea, or dispelling the +gloom. He whom the mind alone can perceive, whose +essence eludes the external organs, who has no visible +parts, who exists from eternity—even He, the soul of all +beings, whom no being can comprehend, shone forth in +person. He, having willed to produce various beings +from his own divine substance, first with a thought created +the waters. The waters are so called (nárá) because they +were the production of <i>Nara</i>, or the spirit of God; and, +since they were his first <i>ayaná</i> or place of motion, he +thence is named Narayana, or moving on the waters. +From that which is the first cause, not the object of sense +existing everywhere in substance, not existing to our +perception, without beginning or end, was produced the +divine male. He framed the heaven above, the earth +beneath, and in the midst placed the subtle ether, the +light regions, and the permanent receptacle of waters. +He framed all creatures. He gave being to time and the +divisions of time—to the stars also and the planets. For +the sake of distinguishing actions, he made a total +difference between right and wrong. He whose powers +are incomprehensible, having created this universe, was +again absorbed in the spirit, changing the time of energy +for the time of repose."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Illustrations of the origins, duration, and +absorption of the world.</div> + +<p>From such extracts from the sacred writings of the +Hindus we might turn to their poets, and find the same +conceptions of the emanation, manifestation, and +absorption of the world illustrated. "The Infinite +being is like the clear crystal, which +receives into itself all the colours and emits +them again, yet its transparency or purity is not thereby +injured or impaired." "He is like the diamond, which +absorbs the light surrounding it, and glows in the dark +from the emanation thereof." In similes of a less noble +nature they sought to convey their idea to the illiterate +"Thou hast seen the spider spin his web, thou hast seen +its excellent geometrical form, and how well adapted it is +to its use; thou hast seen the play of tinted colours +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> +making it shine like a rainbow in the rays of the morning +sun. From his bosom the little artificer drew forth the +wonderful thread, and into his bosom, when it pleases +him, he can withdraw it again. So Brahm made, and so +will he absorb the world." In common the Greek and +Indian asserted that being exists for the sake of thought, +and hence they must be one; that the universe is a +thought in the mind of God, and is unaffected by the +vicissitudes of the worlds of which it is composed. In +India this doctrine of emanation had reached such apparent +precision that some asserted it was possible to +demonstrate that the entire Brahm was not transmuted +into mundane phenomena, but only a fourth part; that +there occur successive emanations and absorptions, a +periodicity in this respect being observed; that, in these +considerations, we ought to guard ourselves from any +deception arising from the visible appearance of material +things, for there is reason to believe that matter is nothing +more than forces filling space. Democritus raised us to +the noble thought that, small as it is, a single atom may +constitute a world.</p> + +<p>The doctrine of Emanation has thus a double interpretation. +It sets forth the universe either as a part of +the substance of God, or as an unsubstantial something +proceeding from him: the former a conception more tangible +and readily grasped by the mind; the latter of unapproachable +sublimity, when we recall the countless +beautiful and majestic forms which Nature on all sides +presents. This visible world is only the shadow of God.</p> + +<p>In the further consideration of this doctrine of the +issue forthcoming, or emanation of the universe from +God, and its return into or absorption by him, an illustration +may not be without value. Out of the air, which +may be pure and tranquil, the watery vapour often comes +forth in a visible form, a misty fleece, perhaps no larger +than the hand of a man at first, but a great cloud in the +end. The external appearance the forthcoming form +presents is determined by the incidents of the times; it +may have a pure whiteness or a threatening blackness; +its edges may be fringed with gold. In the bosom of such +a cloud the lightning may be pent up, from it the thunder +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +may be heard; but, even if it should not offer these manifestations +of power, if its disappearance should be as +tranquil as its formation, it has not existed in vain. No +cloud ever yet formed on the sky without leaving an +imperishable impression on the earth, for while it yet +existed there was not a plant whose growth was not +delayed, whose substance was not lessened. And of such +a cloud the production of which we have watched, how +often has it happened to us to witness its melting away +into the untroubled air. From the untroubled air it came, +and to the pure untroubled air it has again returned.</p> + +<p>Now such a cloud is made up of countless hosts of +microscopic drops, each maintaining itself separate from +the others, and each, small though it may be, having an +individuality of its own. The grand aggregate may vary +its colour and shape; it may be the scene of unceasing and +rapid interior movements of many kinds, yet it presents +its aspect unchanged, or changes tranquilly and silently, +still glowing in the light that falls on it, still casting its +shadow on the ground. It is an emblem of the universe +according to the ancient doctrine, showing us how the +visible may issue from the invisible, and return again +thereto; that a drop too small for the unassisted eye to see +may be the representative of a world. The spontaneous +emergence and disappearance of a cloud is the emblem of +a transitory universe issuing forth and disappearing, again +to be succeeded by other universes, other like creations +in the long lapse of time.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">As to the soul—a part of the divinity.</div> + +<p>(3.) Of the nature of the soul. From the material +quality assigned to the soul by the early Ionian schools, as +that it was air, fire, or the like, there was a +gradual passage to the opinion of its immateriality. +To this, precision was given by the +assertion that it had not only an affinity with, but even is +a part of God. Whatever were the views entertained of +the nature and attributes of the Supreme Being, they +directly influenced the conclusions arrived at respecting +the nature of the soul.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Its immortality and final absorption.</div> + +<p>Greek philosophy, in its highest state of development, +regarded the soul as something more than the sum of the +moments of thinking. It held it to be a portion of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> +Deity himself. This doctrine is the necessary corollary of +Pantheism. It contemplated a past eternity, a future +immortality. It entered on such inquiries as whether the +number of souls in the universe is constant. As upon +the foregoing point, so upon this: there was a complete +analogy between the decision arrived at in Grecian and +that in Indian philosophy. Thus the latter says, "I am +myself an irradiated manifestation of the supreme <span class="smcap">Brahm</span>." +"Never was there a time in which I was not, nor thou, +nor these princes of the people, and never shall I not be; +henceforth we all are." Viewing the soul as merely a +spectator and stranger in this world, they regarded it as +occupying itself rather in contemplation than in action, +asserting that in its origin it is an immediate emanation +from the Divinity—not a modification nor a transformation +of the Supreme, but a portion of him; "its relation is +not that of a servant to his master, but of a part to the +whole." It is like a spark separated from a flame; it +migrates from body to body, sometimes found in the +higher, then in the lower, and again in the higher tribes +of life, occupying first one, then another body, as circumstances +demand. And, as a drop of water +pursues a devious career in the cloud, in the +rain, in the river, a part of a plant, or a part of +an animal, but sooner or later inevitably finds its way +back to the sea from which it came, so the soul, however +various its fortunes may have been, sinks back at last into +the divinity from which it emanated.</p> + +<p>Both Greeks and Hindus turned their attention to the +delusive phenomena of the world. Among the latter many +figuratively supposed that what we call visible nature is a +mere illusion befalling the soul, because of its temporary +separation from God. In the Buddhist philosophy the +world is thus held to be a creature of the imagination. +But among some in those ancient, as among others in more +modern times, it was looked upon as having a more substantial +condition, and the soul as a passive mirror in +which things reflected themselves, or perhaps it might, to +some extent, be the partial creator of its own forms. However +that may be, its final destiny is a perfect repose after +its absorption in the Supreme.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Illustration of the nature of the soul.</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> +On this third topic of ancient philosophy an illustration +may not be without use. As a bubble floats +upon the sea, and, by reason of its form, reflects +whatever objects may be present, whether the +clouds in the sky, or the stationary and moving things on +the shore, nay, even to a certain extent depicts the sea +itself on which it floats, and from which it arose, offering +these various forms not only in shapes resembling the +truth in the proper order of light and shade, the proper +perspective, the proper colours, but, in addition thereto, +tincturing them all with a play of hues arising from itself, +so it is with the soul. From a boundless and unfathomable +sea the bubble arose. It does not in any respect differ +in nature from its source. From water it came, and mere +water it ever is. It gathers its qualities, so far as external +things are concerned, only from its form, and from the +environment in which it is placed. As the circumstances +to which it is exposed vary, it floats here and there, +merging into other bubbles it meets, and emerging from +the collected foam again. In such migrations it is now +larger, now smaller; at one moment passing into new +shapes, at another lost in a coalescence with those around +it. But whatever these its migrations, these its vicissitudes, +there awaits it an inevitable destiny, an absorption, a re-incorporation +with the ocean. In that final moment, what +is it that is lost? what is it that has come to an end? +Not the essential substance, for water it was before it was +developed, water it was during its existence, and water it +still remains, ready to be re-expanded.</p> + +<p>Nor does the resemblance fail when we consider the +general functions discharged while the bubble maintained +its form. In it were depicted in their true shapes and +relative magnitudes surrounding things. It hence had a +relation to Space. And, if it was in motion, it reflected in +succession the diverse objects as they passed by. Through +such successive representations it maintained a relation to +Time. Moreover, it imparted to the images it thus produced +a coloration of its own, and in all this was an +emblem of the Soul. For Space and Time are the outward +conditions with which it is concerned, and it adds thereto +abstract ideas, the product of its own nature.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Its continued existence—its Nirwana.</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +But when the bubble bursts there is an end of all these +relations. No longer is there any reflection of external +forms, no longer any motion, no longer any innate +qualities to add. In one respect the bubble is annihilated, +in another it still exists. It has returned to +that infinite expanse in comparison with which +it is altogether insignificant and imperceptible. +Transitory, and yet eternal: transitory, since all its relations +of a special and individual kind have come to an +end; eternal in a double sense—the sense of Platonism—since +it was connected with a past of which there was no +beginning, and continues in a future to which there is no +end.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">As to the criterion of truth—sense-delusions.</div> + +<p>(4.) Of the possibility of a criterion of truth. An +absolute criterion of truth must at once accredit +itself, as well as other things. At a very early +period in philosophy the senses were detected as +being altogether untrustworthy. On numberless +occasions, instead of accrediting, they discredit themselves. +A stick, having a spark of fire at one end, gives rise to the +appearance of a circle of light when it is turned round +quickly. The rainbow seems to be an actually existing +arch until the delusion is detected by our going to the +place over which it seems to rest. Nor is it alone as +respects things for which there is an exterior basis or +foundation, such as the spark of fire in one of these cases, +and the drops of water in the other. Each of our organs +of sense can palm off delusions of the most purely fictitious +kind. The eye may present apparitions as distinct as the +realities among which they place themselves; the ear may +annoy us with the continual repetition of a murmuring +sound, or parts of a musical strain, or articulate voices, +though we well know that it is all a delusion; and in like +manner, in their proper way, in times of health, and +especially in those of sickness, will the other senses of +taste, and touch, and smell practise upon us their +deceptions.</p> + +<p>This being the case, how shall we know that any information +derived from such unfaithful sources is true? +Pythagoras rendered a great service in telling us to +remember that we have within ourselves a means of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> +detecting fallacy and demonstrating truth. What is it that +assures us of the unreality of the fiery circle, the rainbow, +the spectre, the voices, the crawling of insects upon the +skin? Is it not reason? To reason may we not then trust?</p> + +<p>With such facts before us, what a crowd of inquiries at +once presses upon our attention—inquiries which even in +modern times have occupied the thoughts of the greatest +metaphysicians. Shall we begin our studies by +<span class="sidenote">Uncertainties in philosophizing.</span> +examining sensations or by examining ideas? +Shall we say with Descartes that all clear ideas +are true? Shall we inquire with Spinoza whether we +have any ideas independent of experience? With Hobbes, +shall we say that all our thoughts are begotten by and are +the representatives of objects exterior to us; that our conceptions +arise in material motions pressing on our organs, +producing motion in them, and so affecting the mind; that +our sensations do not correspond with outward qualities; +that sound and noise belong to the bell and the air, and not +to the mind, and, like colour, are only agitations occasioned +by the object in the brain; that imagination is a conception +gradually dying away after the act of sense, and is +nothing more than a decaying sensation; that memory is +the vestige of former impressions, enduring for a time; +that forgetfulness is the obliteration of such vestiges; +that the succession of thought is not indifferent, at random, +or voluntary, but that thought follows thought in a determinate +and predestined sequence; that whatever we +imagine is finite, and hence we cannot conceive of the +infinite, nor think of anything not subject to sense? +Shall we say with Locke that there are two sources of our +ideas, sensation and reflection; that the mind cannot know +things directly, but only through ideas? Shall we suggest +with Leibnitz that reflection is nothing more than attention +to what is passing in the mind, and that between the +mind and the body there is a sympathetic synchronism? +With Berkeley shall we assert that there is no other +reason for inferring the existence of matter itself than the +necessity of having some synthesis for its attributes; that +the objects of knowledge are ideas and nothing else; and +that the mind is active in sensation? Shall we listen to +the demonstration of Hume, that, if matter be an unreal +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +fiction, the mind is not less so, since it is no more than a +succession of impressions and ideas; that our belief in +causation is only the consequence of habit; and that we +have better proof that night is the cause of day, than of +thousands of other cases in which we persuade ourselves +that we know the right relation of cause and effect; that +from habit alone we believe the future will resemble the +past? Shall we infer with Condillac that memory is only +transformed sensation, and comparison double attention; +that every idea for which we cannot find an exterior object +is destitute of significance; that our innate ideas come by +development, and that reasoning and running are learned +together. With Kant shall we conclude that there is but +one source of knowledge, the union of the object and the +subject—but two elements thereof, space and time; and +that they are forms of sensibility, space being a form of +internal sensibility, and time both of internal and external, +but neither of them having any objective reality; +and that the world is not known to us as it is, but only +as it appears?</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Remarks on the criterion.</div> + +<p>I admit the truth of the remark of Posidonius that a +man might as well be content to die as to cease philosophizing; +for, if there are contradictions in philosophy, +there are quite as many in life. In the light of this +remark, I shall therefore not hesitate to offer a few suggestions +respecting the criterion of human knowledge, +undiscouraged by the fact that so many of +the ablest men have turned their attention to it. In this +there might seem to be presumption, were it not that the +advance of the sciences, and especially of human physiology +has brought us to a more elevated point of view, and +enabled us to see the state of things much more distinctly +than was possible for our predecessors.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Defective information of the old philosophy.</div> + +<p>I think that the inability of ancient philosophers to +furnish a true solution of this problem was +altogether owing to the imperfect, and, indeed, +erroneous idea they had of the position of man. +They gave too much weight to his personal individuality. +In the mature period of his life they regarded +him as isolated, independent, and complete in himself. +They forgot that this is only a momentary phase in his +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span> +existence, which, commencing from small beginnings, exhibits +a continuous expansion or progress. From a single +cell, scarcely more than a step above the inorganic state, +not differing, as we may infer both from the appearance it +offers and the forms through which it runs in the earlier +stages of life, from the cell out of which any other animal +or plant, even the humblest, is derived, a passage is made +<span class="sidenote">Necessity of a more general conception as to man.</span> +through form after form in a manner absolutely depending +upon surrounding physical conditions. The history is +very long, and the forms are very numerous, +between the first appearance of the primitive +trace and the hoary aspect of seventy years. It +is not correct to take one moment in this long +procession and make it a representative of the whole. It +is not correct to say, even if the body of the mature man +undergoes unceasing changes to an extent implying the +reception, incorporation, and dismissal of nearly a ton and +a half of material in the course of a year, that in this flux +of matter there is not only a permanence of form, but, +what is of infinitely more importance, an unchangeableness +in his intellectual powers. It is not correct to say +this; indeed, it is wholly untrue. The intellectual principle +passes forward in a career as clearly marked as that +in which the body runs. Even if we overlook the time +antecedent to birth, how complete is the imbecility of his +<span class="sidenote">The whole cycle must be included,</span> +early days! The light shines upon his eyes, he sees not; +sounds fall upon his ear, he hears not. From these low +beginnings we might describe the successive re-enforcements +through infancy, childhood, and +youth to maturity. And what is the result to +which all this carries us? Is it not that, in the philosophical +contemplation of man, we are constrained to +reject the idea of personality, of individuality, and to adopt +that of a cycle of progress; to abandon all contemplation +of his mere substantial form, and consider his abstract +relation? All organic forms, if compared together and +examined from one common point of view, are found to be +constructed upon an identical scheme. It is as in some +mathematical expression containing constants and variables; +the actual result changes accordingly as we assign +successively different values to the variables, yet in those +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +different results, no matter how numerous they may be, +the original formula always exists. From such a universal +conception of the condition and career of man, we rise at +once to the apprehension of his relations to others like +himself—that is to say, his relations as a member of +society. We perceive, in this light, that society must run +a course the counterpart of that we have traced for the +<span class="sidenote">and also his race connexions.</span> +individual, and that the appearance of isolation presented +by the individual is altogether illusory. Each individual +man drew his life from another, and to another +man he gives rise, losing, in point of fact, his +aspect of individuality when these his race connexions +are considered. One epoch in life is not all life. +The mature individual cannot be disentangled from the +multitudinous forms through which he has passed; and, +considering the nature of his primitive conception and the +issue of his reproduction, man cannot be separated from +his race.</p> + +<p>By the aid of these views of the nature and relationship +of man, we can come to a decision respecting his possession +of a criterion of truth. In the earliest moments of his +existence he can neither feel nor think, and the universe +is to him as though it did not exist. Considering the +progress of his sensational powers—his sight, hearing, +touch, etc.—these, as his cycle advances to its maximum, +become, by nature or by education, more and more perfect; +but never, at the best, as the ancient philosophers well +knew, are they trustworthy. And so of his intellectual +powers. They, too, begin in feebleness and gradually +expand. The mind alone is no more to be relied on than the +organs of sense alone. If any doubt existed on this point, +the study of the phenomena of dreaming is sufficient to +remove it, for dreaming manifests to us how wavering and +unsteady is the mind in its operations when it is detached +from the solid support of the organs of sense. How true +is the remark of Philo the Jew, that the mind is like the +eye; for, though it may see all other objects, it cannot +see itself, and therefore cannot judge of itself. And thus +we may conclude that neither are the senses to be trusted +alone, nor is the mind to be trusted alone. In the conjoint +action of the two, by reason of the mutual checks +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span> +established, a far higher degree of certainty is attained to, +yet even in this, the utmost vouchsafed to the individual, +there is not, as both Greeks and Indians ascertained, an +absolute sureness. It was the knowledge of this which +extorted from them so many melancholy complaints, which +threw them into an intellectual despair, and made them, +by applying the sad determination to which they had +come to the course of their daily life, sink down into +indifference and infidelity.</p> + +<p>But yet there is something more in reserve for man. +Let him cast off the clog of individuality, and remember +that he has race connexions—connexions which, in this +matter of a criterion of truth, indefinitely increase his +chances of certainty. If he looks with contempt on the +opinions of his childhood, with little consideration on +those of his youth, with distrust on those of his manhood, +what will he say about the opinions of his race? Do not +such considerations teach us that, through all these successive +conditions, the criterion of truth is ever advancing in +precision and power, and that its maximum is found in the +unanimous opinion of the whole human race?</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Though no absolute criterion exists, a practical one does.</div> + +<p>Upon these principles I believe that, though we have +not philosophically speaking, any absolute criterion +of truth, we rise by degrees to higher +and higher certainties along an ascending scale +which becomes more and more exact. I think +that metaphysical writers who have treated of this point +have been led into error from an imperfect conception of +the true position of man; they have limited their thoughts +to a single epoch of his course, and have not taken an +enlarged and philosophical view. In thus declining the +Oriental doctrine that the individual is the centre from +which the universe should be regarded, and transferring +our stand-point to a more comprehensive and solid foundation, +we imitate, in metaphysics, the course of astronomy +when it substituted the heliocentric for the geocentric +point of view, and the change promises to be equally +fertile in sure results. If it were worth while, we might +proceed to enforce this doctrine by an appeal to the experience +of ordinary life. How often, when we distrust +our own judgment, do we seek support in the advice of a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +friend. How strong is our persuasion that we are in the +right when public opinion is with us. For this even the +<span class="sidenote">The maximum of certainty in the human race.</span> +Church has not disdained to call together Councils, aiming +thereby at a surer means of arriving at the truth. The +Council is more trustworthy than an individual, whoever he +may be. The probabilities increase with the number of +consenting intellects, and hence I come to the +conclusion that in the unanimous consent of the +entire human race lies the human criterion of +truth—a criterion, in its turn, capable of increased +precision with the diffusion of enlightenment and +knowledge. For this reason, I do not look upon the +prospects of humanity in so cheerless a light as they did +of old. On the contrary, ever thing seems full of hope. +Good auguries may be drawn for philosophy from the +great mechanical and material inventions which multiply +the means of intercommunication, and, it may be said, +annihilate terrestrial distances. In the intellectual collisions +that must ensue, in the melting down of opinions, +in the examinations and analyses of nations, truth will +come forth. Whatever cannot stand that ordeal must +submit to its fate. Lies and imposture, no matter how +powerfully sustained, must prepare to depart. In that +supreme tribunal man may place implicit confidence. +Even though, philosophically, it is far from absolute, it +is the highest criterion vouchsafed to him, and from its +decision he has no appeal.</p> + +<p>In delivering thus emphatically my own views on this +profound topic perhaps I do wrong. It is becoming to +speak with humility on that which has been glorified by +the great writers of Greece, of India, of Alexandria, and, +in later times, of Europe.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Complete analogy between Greek and Indian process of thought.</div> + +<p>In conclusion, I would remark that the view here +presented of the results of Greek philosophy is that which +offers itself to me after a long and careful study of the +subject. It is, however, the affirmative, not +the negative result; for we must not forget +that if, on the one hand, the pantheistic +doctrines of the Nature of God, Universal Animation, +the theory of Emanation, Transmutation, +Absorption, Transmigration, etc., were adopted, on +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span> +the other there was by no means an insignificant tendency +to atheism and utter infidelity. Even of this negative +state a corresponding condition occurred in the Buddhism +of India, of which I have previously spoken; and, indeed, +so complete is the parallel between the course of mental +evolution in Asia and Europe, that it is difficult to designate +a matter of minor detail in the philosophy of the one +which cannot be pointed out in that of the other. It was +not without reason, therefore, that the Alexandrian philosophers, +who were profoundly initiated in the detail of +both systems, came to the conclusion that such surprising +coincidences could only be accounted for upon the admission +that there had been an ancient revelation, the vestiges +of which had descended to their time. In this, however, +they judged erroneously; the true explanation consisting in +the fact that the process of development of the intellect of +man, and the final results to which he arrives in examining +similar problems, are in all countries the same.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Variation of practical application explained.</div> + +<p>It does not fall within my plan to trace the application +of these philosophical principles to practice in daily life, +yet the subject is of such boundless interest that perhaps +the reader will excuse a single paragraph. It may seem +to superficial observation that, whatever might be the +doctrinal resemblances of these philosophies, their application +was very different. In a general way, it +may be asserted that the same doctrines which +in India led to the inculcation of indifference +and quietism, led to Stoic activity in Greece and +Italy. If the occasion permitted, I could, nevertheless, +demonstrate in this apparent divergence an actual coincidence; +for the mode of life of man is chiefly determined +by geographical conditions, his instinctive disposition to +activity increasing with the latitude in which he lives. +Under the equinoctial line he has no disposition for exertion, +his physiological relations with the climate making +quietism most agreeable to him. The philosophical formula +which, in the hot plains of India, finds its issue in a life +of tranquillity and repose, will be interpreted in the more +bracing air of Europe by a life of activity. Thus, in later +ages, the monk of Africa, willingly persuading himself +that any intervention to improve Nature is a revolt +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +against the providence of God, spent his worthless life in +weaving baskets and mats, or in solitary meditation in the +caves of the desert of Thebais; but the monk of Europe +encountered the labours of agriculture and social activity, +and thereby aided, in no insignificant manner, in the +civilization of England, France, and Germany. These +things, duly considered, lead to the conclusion that human +life, in its diversities, is dependent upon and determined +by primary conditions in all countries and climates +essentially the same.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +DIGRESSION ON THE HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHICAL +INFLUENCES OF ROME.</p> + +<p class='center'><small>PREPARATION FOR RESUMING THE EXAMINATION OF THE INTELLECTUAL +PROGRESS OF EUROPE.</small></p> + +<div class='blockquot'><p class='ind'><i>Religious Ideas of the primitive Europeans.—The Form of their Variations +is determined by the Influence of Rome.—Necessity of Roman +History in these Investigations.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Rise and Development of Roman Power, its successive Phases, territorial +Acquisitions.—Becomes Supreme in the Mediterranean.—Consequent +Demoralization of Italy.—Irresistible Concentration of Power.—Development +of Imperialism.—Eventual Extinction of the true Roman +Race.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Effect on the intellectual, religious, and social Condition of the Mediterranean +Countries.—Produces homogeneous Thought.—Imperialism +prepares the Way for Monotheism.—Momentous Transition of the +Roman World in its religious Ideas.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Opinions of the Roman Philosophers.—Coalescence of the new and old +Ideas.—Seizure of Power by the Illiterate, and consequent Debasement +of Christianity in Rome.</i></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote">Transition from Greece to Europe.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">From</span> the exposition of the intellectual progress of Greece +given in the preceding pages, we now turn, +agreeably to the plan laid down, to an examination +of that of all Europe. The movement in +that single nation is typical of the movement of the entire +continent.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">European age of Inquiry.</div> + +<p>The first European intellectual age—that of Credulity—has +already, in part, been considered in Chapter II., more +especially so far as Greece is concerned. I propose +now, after some necessary remarks in +conclusion of that topic, to enter on the description of the +second European age—that of Inquiry.</p> + +<p>For these remarks, what has already been said of Greece +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +prepares the way. Mediterranean Europe was philosophically +and socially in advance of the central and northern +countries. The wave of civilization passed from the south +to the north; in truth, it has hardly yet reached its +extreme limit. The adventurous emigrants who in remote +times had come from Asia left to the successive generations +of their descendants a legacy of hardship. In the struggle +for life, all memory of an Oriental parentage was lost; +knowledge died away; religious ideas became debased; +and the diverse populations sank into the same intellectual +condition that they would have presented had they been +proper autochthons of the soil.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Religion of the old Europeans.</div> + +<p>The religion of the barbarian Europeans was in many +respects like that of the American Indians. They recognized +a Great Spirit—omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent. +In the earliest times they made no representation +of him under the human form, nor had they +temples; but they propitiated him by sacrifices, offering +animals, as the horse, and even men, upon rude altars. +Though it was believed that this Great Spirit might sometimes +be heard in the sounds of the forests at night, yet, +for the most part, he was too far removed from human +supplication, and hence arose, from the mere sorcerous +ideas of a terrified fancy, as has been the case in so many +other countries, star worship—the second stage of comparative +theology. The gloom and shade of dense forests, a +solitude that offers an air of sanctity, and seems a fitting +resort for mysterious spirits, suggested the establishment +of sacred groves and holy trees. Throughout Europe there +was a confused idea that the soul exists after the death of +the body; as to its particular state there was a diversity +of belief. As among other people, also, the offices of +religion were not only directed to the present benefit of +individuals, but also to the discovery of future events by +various processes of divination and augury practised among +the priests.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Their priesthood,</div> + +<p>Although the priests had thus charge of the religious +rites, they do not seem to have been organized in +such a manner as to be able to act with unanimity +or to pursue a steady system of policy. A class of female +religious officials—prophetesses—joined in the ceremonials. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> +These holy women, who were held in very great esteem, +prepared the way for the reception of Mariolatry. Instead +of temples—rock-altars, cromlechs, and other rustic +structures were used among the Celtic nations by the +Druids, who were at the same time priests, magicians, and +medicine-men. Their religious doctrines, which recall in +many particulars those of the Rig-Veda, were perpetuated +from generation to generation by the aid of songs.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">and objects of adoration.</div> + +<p>The essential features of this system were its purely +local form and its want of a well-organized hierarchy. +Even the Celts offer no exception, though they had a +subordination from the Arch-Druid downward. This was +the reason of the weakness of the old faith and eventually +the cause of its fall. When the German nations migrated +to the south in their warlike expeditions, they left behind +them their consecrated groves and sacred oaks, hallowed by +immemorial ages. These objects the devotee +could not carry with him, and no equivalent substitute +could be obtained for them. In the civilized countries +to which they came they met with a very different state of +things; a priesthood thoroughly organized and modelled +according to the ancient Roman political system; its +objects of reverence tied to no particular locality; its +institutions capable of universal action; its sacred writings +easy of transportation anywhere; its emblems moveable to +all countries—the cross on the standards of its armies, the +crucifix on the bosom of its saints. In the midst of the +<span class="sidenote">Influence of Roman Christianity upon them.</span> +noble architecture of Italy and the splendid remains of +those Romans who had once given laws to the world, in the +midst of a worship distinguished by the magnificence of its +ceremonial and the solemnity of its mysteries, +they found a people whose faith taught them to +regard the present life as offering only a transitory +occupation, and not for a moment to be +weighed against the eternal existence hereafter—an existence +very different from that of the base transmigration +of Druidism or the Drunken Paradise of Woden, where the +brave solace themselves with mead from cups made of the +skulls of their enemies killed in their days upon earth.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Importance of Roman history in this investigation.</div> + +<p>The European age of inquiry is therefore essentially +connected with Roman affairs. It is distinguished by the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +religious direction it took. In place of the dogmas of +rival philosophical schools, we have now to deal +with the tenets of conflicting sects. The whole +history of those unhappy times displays the +organizing and practical spirit characteristic of +Rome. Greek democracy, tending to the decomposition of +things, led to the Sophists and Sceptics. Roman imperialism, +ever constructive, sought to bring unity out of discords, +and draw the line between orthodoxy and heresy by the +authority of councils like that of Nicea. Following the +ideas of St. Augustine in his work, "The City of God," I +adopt, as the most convenient termination of this age, the +sack of Rome by Alaric. This makes it overlap the age +of Faith, which had, as its unmistakable beginning, the +foundation of Constantinople.</p> + +<p>Greek intellectual life displays all its phases completely, +but not so was it with that of the Romans, who came to an +untimely end. They were men of violence, who disappeared +in consequence of their own conquests and crimes. The +consumption of them by war bore, however, an insignificant +proportion to that fatal diminution, that mortal +adulteration occasioned by their merging in the vast mass +of humanity with which they came in contact.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Great difficulty of treating it.</div> + +<p>I approach the consideration of Roman affairs, which is +thus the next portion of my task, with no little diffidence. +It is hard to rise to a point of view sufficiently elevated +and clear, where the extent of dominion is so great +geographically, and the reasons of policy are obscured by +the dimness and clouds of so many centuries. +Living in a social state the origin of which is in +the events now to be examined, our mental vision +can hardly free itself from the illusions of historical perspective, +or bring things into their just proportions and +position. Of a thousand acts, all of surpassing interest +and importance, how shall we identify the master ones? +How shall we discern with correctness the true relation of +the parts of this wonderful phenomenon of empire, the +vanishing events of which glide like dissolving views into +each other? Warned by the example of those who have +permitted the shadows of their own imagination to fall +upon the scene, and have mistaken them for a part of it, I +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> +shall endeavour to apply the test of common sense to the +facts of which it will be necessary to treat; and, believing +that man has ever been the same in his modes of thought +and motives of action, I shall judge of past occurrences in +the same way as of those of our own times.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Triple form of Roman power.</div> + +<p>In its entire form the Roman power consists of two +theocracies, with a military domination intercalated. +The first of these theocracies corresponds to +the fabulous period of the kings; the military +domination to the time of the republic and earlier Cæsars; +the second theocracy to that of the Christian emperors +and the Popes.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The first theocracy and legendary times.</div> + +<p>The first theocracy is so enveloped in legends and +fictions that it is impossible to give a satisfactory account +of it. The biographies of the kings offer such undeniable +evidence of being mere romances, that, since the time of +Niebuhr, they have been received by historians in that +light. But during the reigns of the pagan +emperors it was not safe in Rome to insinuate +publicly any disbelief in such honoured legends +as those of the wolf that suckled the foundlings; +the ascent of Romulus into heaven; the nymph +Egeria; the duel of the Horatii and Curiatii; the leaping +of Curtius into the gulf on his horse; the cutting of a flint +with a razor by Tarquin; the Sibyl and her books. The +modern historian has, therefore, only very little reliable +material. He may admit that the Romans and Sabines +coalesced; that they conquered the Albans and Latins; +<span class="sidenote">Early Roman history.</span> +that thousands of the latter were transplanted to Mount +Aventine and made plebeians; these movements being the +origin of the castes which long afflicted Rome, +the vanquished people constituting a subordinate +class; that at first the chief occupation was +agriculture, the nature of which is not only to accustom +men to the gradations of rank, such as the proprietor of +the land, the overseer, the labourer, but also to the +cultivation of religious sentiment, and even the cherishing +of superstition; that, besides the more honourable +occupations in which the rising state was engaged, she +had, from the beginning, indulged in aggressive war, and +was therefore perpetually liable to reprisal—one of her +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span> +first acts was the founding of the town of Ostia, at the +mouth of the Tiber, on account of piracy; that, through +some conspiracy in the army, indicated in the legend of +Lucretia, since armies have often been known to do such +things, the kings were expelled, and a military domination +fancifully called a republic, but consisting of a league of +some powerful families, arose.</p> + +<p>Throughout the regal times, and far into the republican, +the chief domestic incidents turn on the strife of the upper +caste or patricians with the lower or plebeians, manifesting +itself by the latter asserting their right to a share +in the lands conquered by their valour; by the extortion +of the Valerian law; by the admission of the Latins and +Hernicans to conditions of equality; by the transference of +the election of tribunes from the centuries to the tribes; by +the repeal of the law prohibiting the marriage of plebeians +with patricians and by the eventual concession to the former +of the offices of consul, dictator, censor, and prætor.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The domestic necessity for foreign war.</div> + +<p>In these domestic disputes we see the origin of the +Roman necessity for war. The high caste is +steadily diminishing in number, the low caste +as steadily increasing. In imperious pride, the +patrician fills his private jail with debtors and delinquents; +he usurps the lands that have been conquered. +Insurrection is the inevitable consequence, foreign war +the only relief. As the circle of operations extends, both +parties see their interest in a cordial coalescence on equal +terms, and jointly tyrannize exteriorly.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Gradual spread of Roman influence to the south.</div> + +<p>The geographical dominion of Rome was extended at +first with infinite difficulty. Up to the time of the capture +of the city by the Gauls a doubtful existence was maintained +in perpetual struggles with the adjacent towns +and chieftains. There is reason to believe that in the +very infancy of the republic, in the contest that ensued +upon the expulsion of the kings, the city was taken by +Porsenna. The direction in which her influence first +spread was toward the south of the peninsula. +Tarentum, one of the southern states, brought +over to its assistance Pyrrhus the Epirot. He +did little in the way of assisting his allies—he +only saw Rome from the Acropolis of Præneste; but +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> +from him the Romans learned the art of fortifying camps, +and caught the idea of invading Sicily. Here the rising +republic came in contact with the Carthaginians, and in +the conflict that ensued discovered the military value +of Spain and Gaul, from which the Carthaginians drew +<span class="sidenote">Rome builds a navy,</span> +an immense supply of mercenaries and munitions of war. +The advance to greatness which Rome now made was +prodigious. She saw that everything turned +on the possession of the sea, and with admirable +energy built a navy. In this her expectations were +more than realized. The assertion is quite true that she +spent more time in acquiring a little earth in Italy than +<span class="sidenote">and invades Africa.</span> +was necessary for subduing the world after she had once +obtained possession of the Mediterranean. From the experience +of Agathocles she learned that the true method of +controlling Carthage was by invading Africa. +The principles involved in the contest, and the +position of Rome at its close, are shown by the terms of +the treaty of the first Punic War—that Carthage should +<span class="sidenote">Results of the first Punic War.</span> +evacuate every island in the Mediterranean, and +pay a war-fine of six hundred thousand pounds. +In her devotion to the acquisition of wealth +Carthage had become very rich; she had reached a high +state of cultivation of art; yet her prosperity, or rather +the mode by which she had attained it, had greatly +weakened her, as also had the political anomaly under +which she was living, for it is an anomaly that an Asiatic +people should place itself under democratic forms. Her +condition in this respect was evidently the consequence of +her original subordinate position as a Tyrian trading +station, her rich men having long been habituated to look +to the mother city for distinction. As in other commercial +states, her citizens became soldiers with reluctance, +and hence she had often to rely on mercenary troops. +From her the Romans received lessons of the utmost +importance. She confirmed them in the estimate they +had formed of the value of naval power; taught them +how to build ships properly and handle them; how to +make military roads. The tribes of Northern Italy were +hardly included in the circle of Roman dominion when a +fleet was built in the Adriatic, and, under the pretence of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> +putting down piracy, the sea power of the Illyrians was +extinguished. From time immemorial the Mediterranean +had been infested with pirates; man-stealing had been +a profitable occupation, great gains being realized by +ransoms of captives, or by selling them at Delos or other +slave-markets. At this time it was clear that the final +<span class="sidenote">Results of the second Punic War.</span> +mastery of the Mediterranean turned on the possession of +Spain, the great silver-producing country. The rivalry +for Spain occasioned the second Punic War. It is needless +to repeat the well-known story of Hannibal, +how he brought Rome to the brink of ruin. +The relations she maintained with surrounding +communities had been such that she could not trust to +them. Her enemy found allies in many of the Greek +towns in the south of Italy. It is enough for us to look +at the result of that conflict in the treaty that closed it. +Carthage had to give up all her ships of war except ten +triremes, to bind herself to enter into no war without the +consent of the Roman people, and to pay a war-fine of two +<span class="sidenote">Rome invades Greece,</span> +millions of pounds. Rome now entered, on the great +scale, on the policy of disorganizing states for the purpose +of weakening them. Under pretext of an invitation +from the Athenians to protect them from the King of +Macedon, the ambitious republic secured a footing +in Greece, the principle developed in the +invasion of Africa of making war maintain war being +again resorted to. There may have been truth in the +Roman accusation that the intrigues of Hannibal with +<span class="sidenote">and compels the cession of all the European provinces of +Antiochus.<br /><br />Revolt of Perses.</span> +Antiochus, king of Syria, occasioned the conflict between +Rome and that monarch. Its issue was a prodigious event +in the material aggrandizement of Rome—it was the +cession of all his possessions in Europe and those of Asia +north of Mount Taurus, with a war-fine of +three millions of pounds. Already were seen +the effects of the wealth that was pouring into +Italy in the embezzlement of the public money +by the Scipios. The resistance of Perses, king +of Macedon, could not restore independence to Greece; +it ended in the annexation of that country, +Epirus and Illyricum. The results of this war +were to the last degree pernicious to the victors and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> +vanquished; the moral greatness of the former is truly +affirmed to have disappeared, and the social ruin of the +latter was so complete that for long marriage was replaced +by concubinage. The policy and practices of +Rome now literally became infernal; she forced a quarrel +upon her old antagonist Carthage, and the third Punic +<span class="sidenote">Dreadful social effects on Rome.</span> +War resulted in the utter destruction of that city. +Simultaneously her oppressions in Greece +provoked revolt, which was ended by the sack +and burning of Corinth, Thebes, Chalcis, and +the transference of the plundered statues, paintings, and +works of art to Italy. There was nothing now in the +way of the conquest of Spain except the valour of its +<span class="sidenote">Plunder of Greece and annexation of Spain.</span> +inhabitants. After the assassination of Viriatus, procured +by the Consul Cæpio, and the horrible +siege of Numantia, that country was annexed +as a province. Next we see the gigantic republic +extending itself over the richest parts of +Asia Minor, through the insane bequest of Attalus, king +of Pergamus. The wealth of Africa, Spain, Greece, and +Asia, was now concentrating in Italy, and the capital was +becoming absolutely demoralized. In vain the Gracchi +<span class="sidenote">Seizure of Asia Minor.<br /><br /> +The Servile and Social wars.</span> +attempted to apply a remedy. The Roman aristocracy +was intoxicated, insatiate, irresistible. The +middle class was gone; there was nothing but +profligate nobles and a diabolical populace. In the midst +of inconceivable corruption, the Jugurthine War served +only to postpone for a moment an explosion which was +inevitable. The Servile rebellion in Sicily broke out; it +was closed by the extermination of a million of +those unhappy wretches: vast numbers of them +were exposed, for the popular amusement, to +the wild beasts in the arena. It was followed closely by +the revolt of the Italian allies, known as the Social War—this +ending, after the destruction of half a million of men, +with a better result, in the extortion of the freedom of +the city by several of the revolting states. Doubtless it +was the intrigues connected with these transactions that +brought the Cimbri and Teutons into Italy, and furnished +an opening for the rivalries of Marius and Sylla, who, in +turn, filled Rome with slaughter. The same spirit broke +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span> +out under the gladiator Spartacus: it was only checked +for a time by resorting to the most awful atrocities, such +as the crucifixion of prisoners, to appear under another +<span class="sidenote">Gradual convergence of power.</span> +form in the conspiracy of Catiline. And now it was +plain that the contest for supreme power lay between a +few leading men. It found an issue in the first +triumvirate—a union of Pompey, Crassus, and +Cæsar, who usurped the whole power of the +senate and people, and bound themselves by oath to +permit nothing to be done without their unanimous +<span class="sidenote">Cæsar the master of the world.</span> +consent. Affairs then passed through their inevitable +course. The death of Crassus and the battle +of Pharsalia left Cæsar the master of the world. +At this moment nothing could have prevented +the inevitable result. The dagger of Brutus merely +removed a man, but it left the fact. The battle of +Actium reaffirmed the destiny of Rome, and the death of +the republic was illustrated by the annexation of Egypt. +The circle of conquest around the Mediterranean was +complete; the function of the republic was discharged: it +did not pass away prematurely.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Ancient necessity for slave-wars.</div> + +<p>From this statement of the geographical career of Rome, +we may turn to reflect on the political principles which +inspired her. From a remote antiquity wars had been +engaged in for the purpose of obtaining a +supply of labour, the conqueror compelling those +whom he had spared to cultivate his fields and +serve him as slaves. Under a system of transitory military +domination, it was more expedient to exhaust a people at +once by the most unsparing plunder than to be content +with a tribute periodically paid, but necessarily uncertain +in the vicissitudes of years. These elementary principles +of the policy of antiquity were included by the Romans in +their system with modifications and improvements.</p> + +<p>The republic, during its whole career, illustrates the +observation that the system on which it was founded +included no conception of the actual relations of man. +It dealt with him as a thing, not as a being endowed +with inalienable rights. Recognizing power as its only +measure of value, it could never accept the principle of +the equality of all men in the eye of the law. The subjugation +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> +of Sicily, Africa, Greece, was quickly followed by +<span class="sidenote">Depopulation of countries after Roman conquest.</span> +the depopulation of those countries, as Livy, +Plutarch, Strabo, and Polybius testify. Can +there be a more fearful instance than the +conduct of Paulus Æmilius, who, at the conquest +of Epirus, murdered or carried into slavery 150,000 +persons? At the taking of Thebes whole families were +thus disposed of, and these not of the lower, but of the +respectable kind, of whom it has been significantly said +that they were transported into Italy to be melted down. +In Italy itself the consumption of life was so great that +<span class="sidenote">Atrocity of the Roman slave-laws.</span> +there was no possibility of the slaves by birth meeting +the requirement, and the supply of others by war became +necessary. To these slaves the laws were atrociously +unjust. Tacitus has recorded that on +the occasion of the murder of Pedanius, after +a solemn debate in the senate, the particulars of which +he furnishes, the ancient laws were enforced, and four +hundred slaves of the deceased were put to death, when it +was obvious to every one that scarcely any of them had +known of the crime. The horrible maxim that not only +the slaves within a house in which a master was murdered, +but even those within a circle supposed to be measured by +the reach of his voice, should be put to death, shows us +the small value of the life of these unfortunates, and the +facility with which they could be replaced. Their vast +numbers necessarily made every citizen a soldier; the +<span class="sidenote">Social effects of the Roman slave-system.</span> +culture of the land and the manufacturing processes, the +pursuits of labour and industry, were assigned +to them with contempt. The relation of the +slave in such a social system is significantly +shown by the fact that the courts estimated the amount of +any injury he had received by the damage his master had +thereby sustained. To such a degree had this system +been developed, that slave labour was actually cheaper +than animal labour, and, as a consequence, much of the +work that we perform by cattle was then done by men. +The class of independent hirelings, which should have +constituted the chief strength of the country, disappeared, +labour itself becoming so ignoble that the poor citizen could +not be an artisan, but must remain a pauper—a sturdy +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +beggar, expecting from the state bread and amusements. +The personal uncleanness and shiftless condition +of these lower classes were the true causes of the prevalence +of leprosy and other loathsome diseases. Attempts +at sanitary improvement were repeatedly made, but they +so imperfectly answered the purpose that epidemics, occurring +from time to time, produced a dreadful mortality. +Even under the Cæsars, after all that had been done, there +was no essential amendment. The assertion is true that +the Old World never recovered from the great plague in +the time of M. Antoninus, brought by the army from +the Parthian War. In the reign of Titus ten thousand +persons died in one day in Rome.</p> + +<p>The slave system bred that thorough contempt for trade +which animated the Romans. They never grudged even +the Carthaginians a market. It threw them into +the occupation of the demagogue, making them spend +their lives, when not engaged in war, in the intrigues +of political factions, the turbulence of public +elections, the excitement of lawsuits. They were the +first to discover that the privilege of interpreting laws is +nearly equal to that of making them; and to this has been +rightly attributed their turn for jurisprudence, and the +prosperity of advocates among them. The disappearance +of the hireling class was the immediate cause of the +downfall of the republic and the institution of the empire, +for the aristocracy were left without any antagonist, and +therefore without any restraint. They broke up into +factions, involving the country in civil war by their +struggles with each other for power.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The war system.</div> + +<p>The political maxims of the republic, for the most part, +rejected the ancient system of devastating a vanquished +state by an instant, unsparing, and crushing plunder, +which may answer very well where the tenure is expected +to be brief, but does not accord with the formula +subdue, retain, advance. Yet depopulation was +the necessary incident. Italy, Sicily, Asia Minor, Gaul, +Germany, were full of people, but they greatly diminished +under Roman occupation. Her maxims were capable of +being realized with facility through her military organization, +particularly that of the legion. In some nations +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> +colonies are founded for commercial purposes, in others +for getting rid of an excess of population: the Roman +colony implies the idea of a garrison and an active military +intent. Each legion was, in fact, so constructed as to be +a small but complete army. In whatever country it might +be encamped, it was in quick communication with the +head-quarters at Rome; and this not metaphorically, but +materially, as was shown by the building of the necessary +military roads. The idea of permanent occupation, which +was thus implied, did not admit the expediency of devastating +a country, but, on the contrary, led to the +encouragement of provincial prosperity, because the +greater the riches the greater the capacity for taxation. +Such principles were in harmony with the conditions of +solidity and security of the Roman power, which proverbially +had not risen in a single day—was not the +creation of a single fortunate soldier, but represented the +settled policy of many centuries. In the act of conquest +Rome was inhuman; she tried to strike a blow that there +would never be any occasion to repeat; no one was spared +who by possibility might inconvenience her; but, the +catastrophe once over, as a general thing, the vanquished +had no occasion to complain of her rule. Of course, in the +shadow of public justice, private wrong and oppression +were often concealed. Through injustice and extortion, her +officers accumulated enormous fortunes, which have never +since been equalled in Europe. Sometimes the like occurred +in times of public violence; thus Brutus made Asia Minor +pay five years' tribute at once, and shortly after Antony +compelled it to do it again. The extent to which recognized +and legitimate exactions were carried is shown by +the fact that upon the institution of the empire the annual +revenues were about forty millions of pounds sterling.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Value of gold and silver.</div> + +<p>The comparative value of metals in Rome is a significant +political indication. Bullion rapidly increased in amount +during the Carthaginian wars. At the opening +of the first Punic War silver and copper were as +1 to 960; at the second Punic War the ratio had fallen, +and was 1 to 160; soon after there was another fall, and +it became 1 to 128. The republic debased the coinage +by reducing its weight, the empire by alloying it.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Connexion between debasement of +coinage and political decline.</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> +The science, art, and political condition of nations are +often illustrated by their coinage. An interesting view +of the progress of Europe might be obtained from a +philosophical study of its numismatic remains. The +simplicity of the earlier ages is indicated by the pure silver, +such as that coined at Crotona, <small>B.C.</small> 600—that +of the reign of Philip of Macedon by the native +unalloyed gold. A gradual decline in Roman +prosperity is more than shadowed forth by the +gradual deterioration of its money; for, as evil +times befell the state, the emperors were compelled to +utter a false coinage. Thus, under Vespasian, <small>A.D.</small> 69, the +silver money contained about one fourth of its weight of +copper; under Antoninus Pius, <small>A.D.</small> 138, more than one +third; under Commodus, <small>A.D.</small> 180, nearly one half; under +Gordian, <small>A.D.</small> 236, there was added to the silver more than +twice its weight of copper. Nay, under Gallienus, a +coinage was issued of copper, tin and silver, in which +the first two metals exceed the last by more than two +hundred times its weight. It shows to what a hopeless +condition the state had come.</p> + +<p>The Roman demagogues, as is the instinct of their +kind, made political capital by attacking industrial capital. +They lowered the rate of interest, prohibited interest, and +often attempted the abolition of debts.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Indescribable depravity in the Roman decline.</div> + +<p>The concentration of power and increase of immorality +proceeded with an equal step. In its earlier ages, the +Roman dominion was exercised by a few thousand persons; +then it passed into the hands of some score +families; then it was sustained for a moment +by individuals, and at last was seized by one +man, who became the master of 120 millions. +As the process went on, the virtues which had adorned +the earlier times disappeared, and in the end were replaced +by crimes such as the world had never before witnessed +and never will again. An evil day is approaching when +it becomes recognized in a community that the only +standard of social distinction is wealth. That day was +soon followed in Rome by its unavoidable consequence, a +government founded upon two domestic elements, corruption +and terrorism. No language can describe the state +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span> +of that capital after the civil wars. The accumulation of +power and wealth gave rise to a universal depravity. +Law ceased to be of any value. A suitor must deposit a +bribe before a trial could be had. The social fabric was +a festering mass of rottenness. The people had become a +populace; the aristocracy was demoniac; the city was a +hell. No crime that the annals of human wickedness +can show was left unperpetrated—remorseless murders; +<span class="sidenote">Dissoluteness of the women, and avoidance of marriage.</span> +the betrayal of parents, husbands, wives, friends; poisoning +reduced to a system; adultery degenerating +into incests, and crimes that cannot be written. +Women of the higher class were so lascivious, +depraved, and dangerous, that men could not be +compelled to contract matrimony with them; marriage +was displaced by concubinage; even virgins were guilty +of inconceivable immodesties; great officers of state and +ladies of the court, of promiscuous bathings and naked exhibitions. +In the time of Cæsar it had become necessary for +the government to interfere, and actually put a premium +on marriage. He gave rewards to women who had many +children; prohibited those who were under forty-five years +of age, and who had no children, from wearing jewels and +riding in litters, hoping by such social disabilities to +correct the evil. It went on from bad to worse, so that +Augustus, in view of the general avoidance of legal +marriage and resort to concubinage with slaves, was +compelled to impose penalties on the unmarried—to enact +that they should not inherit by will except from relations. +Not that the Roman women refrained from the gratification +of their desires; their depravity impelled them to +such wicked practices as cannot be named in a modern +book. They actually reckoned the years, not by the +consuls, but by the men they had lived with. To be +childless, and therefore without the natural restraint of a +family, was looked upon as a singular felicity. Plutarch +correctly touched the point when he said that the Romans +married to be heirs and not to have heirs. Of offences that +do not rise to the dignity of atrocity, but which excite our +loathing, such as gluttony and the most debauched luxury, +the annals of the times furnish disgusting proofs. It was +said, "They eat that they may vomit, and vomit that they +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> +may eat." At the taking of Perusium, three hundred of +the most distinguished citizens were solemnly sacrificed at +the altar of Divus Julius by Octavian! Are these the +deeds of civilized men, or the riotings of cannibals drunk +with blood?</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The whole system is past cure.</div> + +<p>The higher classes on all sides exhibited a total extinction +of moral principle; the lower were +practical atheists. Who can peruse the annals +of the emperors without being shocked at the +manner in which men died, meeting their fate with the +obtuse tranquillity that characterizes beasts? A centurion +with a private mandate appears, and forthwith the victim +opens his veins and dies in a warm bath. At the best, all +that was done was to strike at the tyrant. Men despairingly +acknowledged that the system itself was utterly +past cure.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Testimony of Tacitus.</div> + +<p>That in these statements I do not exaggerate, hear +what Tacitus says: "The holy ceremonies of religion +were violated; adultery reigning without control; the +adjacent islands filled with exiles; rocks and desert places +stained with clandestine murders, and Rome itself +a theatre of horrors, where nobility of descent +and splendour of fortune marked men out for destruction; +where the vigour of mind that aimed at civil dignities, +and the modesty that declined them, were offences without +distinction; where virtue was a crime that led to +certain ruin; where the guilt of informers and the wages +of their iniquity were alike detestable; where the sacerdotal +order, the consular dignity, the government of +provinces, and even the cabinet of the prince, were seized +by that execrable race as their lawful prey; where +nothing was sacred, nothing safe from the hand of +rapacity; where slaves were suborned, or by their own +malevolence excited against their masters; where freemen +betrayed their patrons, and he who had lived without +an enemy died by the treachery of a friend."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Effects in the provinces. Free trade.</div> + +<p>But, though these were the consequences of the concentration +of power and wealth in the city of +Rome, it was otherwise in the expanse of the +empire. The effect of Roman domination was the +cessation of all the little wars that had heretofore been +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> +waged between adjacent peoples. They exchanged independence +for peace. Moreover, and this, in the end, was +of the utmost importance to them all, unrestricted commerce +ensued, direct trade arising between all parts of the +empire. The Mediterranean nations were brought closer +to each other, and became common inheritors of such +knowledge as was then in the world. Arts, sciences, +improved agriculture, spread among them; the most +distant countries could boast of noble roads, aqueducts, +bridges, and great works of engineering. In barbarous +places, the legions that were intended as garrisons proved +to be foci of civilization. For the provinces, even the +wickedness of Rome was not without some good. From +one quarter corn had to be brought; from another, +clothing; from another, luxuries; and Italy had to pay +for it all in coin. She had nothing to export in return. +By this there was a tendency to equalization of wealth +in all parts of the empire, and a perpetual movement +<span class="sidenote">Intellectual advancements.</span> +of money. Nor was the advantage altogether material; +there were conjoined intellectual results of no +little value. Superstition and the amazing +credulity of the old times disappeared. In the first Punic +War, Africa was looked upon as a land of monsters; it +had serpents large enough to stop armies, it had headless +men. Sicily had its Cyclops, giants, enchantresses; golden +apples grew in Spain; the mouth of Hell was on the shores +of the Euxine. The marches of the legions and the voyages +of merchants made all these phantasms vanish.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Disappearance of the Roman ethnical element.</div> + +<p>It was the necessary consequence of her military aggrandizement +that the ethnical element which +really constituted Rome should expire. A small +nucleus of men had undertaken to conquer the +Mediterranean world, and had succeeded. In +doing this they had diffused themselves over an immense +geographical surface, and necessarily became lost in the +mass with which they mingled. On the other hand, the +deterioration of Italy was insured by the slave system, +and the ruin of Rome was accomplished before the barbarians +touched it. Whoever inquires the cause of the fall +of the Roman empire will find his answer in ascertaining +what had become of the Romans.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Roman conquest produces homogeneous thought,</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +The extinction of prodigies and superstitious legends was +occasioned by increased travel, through the merging of many +separate nations into one great empire. Intellectual +communication attends material communication. +The spread of Roman influence around +the borders of the Mediterranean produced a tendency +to homogeneous thought eminently dangerous to the +many forms of faith professed by so many different people.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">and revolutionizes religious ideas.</div> + +<p>After Tarquin was expelled the sacerdotal class became +altogether subordinate to the military, whose whole history +shows that they regarded religion as a mere state institution, +without any kind of philosophical significance, and +chiefly to be valued for the control it furnished over vulgar +minds. It presented itself to them in the light of a branch +of industry, from which profit might be made by those +who practised it. They thought no more of concerning themselves +individually about it than in taking an interest +in any other branch of lucrative trade. As to any examination +of its intellectual basis, they were not sophists, +but soldiers, blindly following the prescribed +institutions of their country with as little +question as its military commands. For these +reasons, throughout the time of the republic, and also under +the early emperors, there never was much reluctance to +the domestication of any kind of worship in Rome. Indeed, +the gods of the conquered countries were established there +to the gratification of the national vanity. From this +commingling of worship in the city, and intercommunication +of ideas in the provinces, the most important events +arose.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Imperialism prepares the way for monotheism.</div> + +<p>For it very soon was apparent that the political unity +which had been established over so great a geographical +surface was the forerunner of intellectual, and +therefore religious unity. Polytheism became +practically inconsistent with the Roman empire, +and a tendency arose for the introduction of +some form of monotheism. Apart from the operations of +Reason, it is clear that the recognition by so many nations +of one emperor must soon be followed by the acknowledgment +of one God. There is a disposition to uniformity +among people who are associated by a common political +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> +bond. Moreover, the rivalries of a hundred priesthoods +imparted to polytheism an intrinsic weakness; but monotheism +implies centralization, an organized hierarchy, and +therefore concentration of power. The different interests +and collisions of multitudinous forms of religion sapped +individual faith; a diffusion of practical atheism, manifested +by a total indifference to all ceremonies, except so far as +they were shows, was the result, the whole community +falling into an unbelieving and godless state. The form +of superstition through which the national mind had passed +was essentially founded upon the recognition of an incessant +intervention of many divinities determining human affairs; +but such a faith became extinct by degrees among the +educated. How was it possible that human reason should +deal otherwise with all the contradictions and absurdities +of a thousand indigenous and imported deities, each +asserting his inconsistent pretensions. A god who in his +native grove or temple has been paramount and unquestioned, +sinks into insignificance when he is brought +into a crowd of compeers. In this respect there is no +difference between gods and men. Great cities are great +levellers of both. He who has stood forth in undue +proportions in the solitude of the country, sinks out of +observation in the solitude of a crowd.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Roman philosophy.<br /><br /> +Varro. Lucretius.</div> + +<p>The most superficial statement of philosophy among the +Romans, if philosophy it can be called, shows us how +completely religious sentiment was effaced. The +presence of sceptical thought is seen in the +explanations of Terentius Varro, <small>B.C.</small> 110, that the anthropomorphic +gods are to be received as mere emblems of the +forces of matter; and the general tendency of the times +may be gathered from the poem of Lucretius: +his recommendations that the mind should be +emancipated from the fear of the gods; his arguments +against the immortality of the soul; his setting forth +Nature as the only God to be worshipped. In Cicero +we see how feeble and wavering a guide to life in a +period of trouble philosophy had become, and how one +who wished to stand in the attitude of chief thinker of his +times was no more than a servile copyist of Grecian +predecessors, giving to his works not an air of masculine +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Cicero.</span> +and independent thought, but aiming at present effect +rather than a solid durability; for Cicero addresses +himself more to the public than to philosophers, +exhibiting herein his professional tendency as an advocate. +Under a thin veil he hides an undisguised scepticism, and, +with the instinct of a placeman, leans rather to the investigation +of public concerns than to the profound and abstract +topics of philosophy. As is the case with superficial men, he +sees no difference between the speculative and the exact, +confusing them together. He feels that it is inexpedient to +communicate truth publicly, especially that of a religious +kind. Doubtless herein we shall agree when we find that +he believes God to be nothing more than the soul of the +world; discovers many serious objections to the doctrine +of Providence; insinuates that the gods are only poetical +creations; is uncertain whether the soul be immortal, but +is clear that popular doctrine of punishment in the world +to come is only an idle fable.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Quintus Sextius. Seneca.</div> + +<p>It was the attribute of the Romans to impress upon +every thing a practical character. In their philosophy we +continually see this displayed, along with a +striking inferiority in original thought. Quintus +Sextius admonishes us to pursue a virtuous life, and, as an +aid thereto, enjoins an abstinence from meat. In this +opinion many of the Cynical school acquiesced, and some +it is said, even joined the Brahmans. In the troublous +times of the first Cæsars, men had occasion to derive all the +support they could from philosophy; there was no religion +to sustain them. Among the Stoics there were some, as +Seneca, to whom we can look back with pleasure. Through +his writings he exercised a considerable influence on +subsequent ages, though, when we attentively read his +works, we must attribute this not so much to their +intrinsic value as to their happening to coincide with the +prevalent tone of religious thought. He enforces the +<span class="sidenote">Epictetus. Antoninus.</span> +necessity of a cultivation of good morals, and yet he writes +against the religion of his country, its observances, and +requirements. Of a far higher grade was Epictetus, at +once a slave and a philosopher, though scarcely +to be classed as a true Stoic. He considers man +as a mere spectator of God and his works, and teaches that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> +every one who can no longer bear the miseries of life is +upon just deliberation, and a conscientious belief that the +gods will not disapprove, free to commit suicide. His +maxim is that all have a part to play, and he has done +well who has done his best—that he must look to conscience +as his guide. If Seneca said that time alone is our absolute +and only possession, and that nothing else belongs to man, +Epictetus taught that his thoughts are all that man has +any power over, every thing else being beyond his control. +M. Aurelius Antoninus, the emperor, did not hesitate to +acknowledge his thankfulness to Epictetus, the slave, in +his attempt to guide his life according to the principles of +the Stoics. He recommends every man to preserve his +dæmon free from sin, and prefers religious devotions to +the researches of physics, in this departing to some extent +from the original doctrines of the sect; but the evil times +<span class="sidenote">Maximus Tyrius</span> +on which men had fallen led them to seek support in +religious consolations rather than in philosophical +inquiries. In Maximus Tyrius, <small>A.D.</small> 146, we +discover a corresponding sentiment, enveloped, it is true, +in an air of Platonism, and countenancing an impression +that image worship and sanctuaries are unnecessary for +those who have a lively remembrance of the view they +<span class="sidenote">Alexander of Aphrodisias.</span> +once enjoyed of the divine, though excellent for the vulgar, +who have forgotten their past. Alexander of +Aphrodisias exhibits the tendency, which was +becoming very prevalent, to combine Plato and Aristotle. +He treats upon Providence, both absolute and contingent; +considers its bearings upon religion, and shows a disposition +to cultivate the pious feelings of the age.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Ancient Physicians.</div> + +<p>Galen, the physician, asserts that experience is the only +source of knowledge; lays great stress on the culture +of mathematics and logic, observing that he +himself should have been a Pyrrhonist had it not been for +geometry. In the teleological doctrine of physiology he +considers that the foundations of a true theology must be +laid. The physicians of the times exerted no little influence +on the promotion of such views; for the most part they +embraced the Pantheistic doctrine. As one of them, Sextus +Empiricus may be mentioned; his works, still remaining, +indicate to us the tendency of this school to materialism.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Philosophical atheism among the educated.</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> +Such was the tone of thought among the cultivated +Romans; and to this philosophical atheism among them +was added an atheism of indifference among the vulgar. +But, since man is so constituted that he cannot live for +any length of time without a form of worship, it +is evident that there was great danger, whenever +events should be ripe for the appearance of +some monotheistic idea, that it might come in +a base aspect. At a much later period than that we are +here considering, one of the emperors expressed himself to +the effect that it would be necessary to give liberty for the +exercise of a sound philosophy among the higher classes, +and provide a gorgeous ceremonial for the lower; he saw +how difficult it is, by mere statesmanship to co-ordinate +two such requirements, in their very nature contradictory. +Though polytheism had lost all intellectual strength, the +nations who had so recently parted with it could not +be expected to have ceased from all disposition to an +animalization of religion and corporealization of God. In +a certain sense the emperor was only a more remote and +more majestic form of the conquered and vanished kings, +but, like them, he was a man. There was danger that the +theological system, thus changing with the political, would +yield only expanded anthropomorphic conceptions.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Principles, to be effective, must coincide with existing tendencies.</div> + +<p>History perpetually demonstrates that nations cannot +be permanently modified except by principles or actions +conspiring with their existing tendency. Violence perpetrated +upon them may pass away, leaving, perhaps in a +few generations, no vestige of itself. Even Victory is +conquered by Time. Profound changes only ensue when +the operating force is in unison with the temper +of the age. International peace among so many +people once in conflict—peace under the auspices +of a great overshadowing power; the unity of +sentiment and brotherhood of feeling fast finding its way +around the Mediterranean shores; the interests of a vast +growing commerce, unfettered through the absorption of +so many little kingdoms into one great republic, were +silently bringing things to a condition that political force +could be given to any religious dogma founded upon +sentiments of mutual regard and interest. Nor could it +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> +be otherwise than that among the great soldiers of those +times one would at last arise whose practical intellect +would discover the personal advantages that must accrue +from putting himself in relation with the universally +prevailing idea. How could he better find adherents from +the centre to the remotest corner of the empire? And, +even if his own personal intellectual state should disable +him from accepting in its fulness the special form in which +the idea had become embodied, could there be any doubt, +if he received it, and was true to it as a politician, though +he might decline it as a man, of the immense power it +would yield him in return—a power sufficient, if the +metropolis should resist, or be otherwise unsuited to his +designs, to enable him to found a rival to her in a more +congenial place, and leave her to herself, "the skeleton of +so much glory and of so much guilt."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The coming Monotheism must be bounded by the limits of Roman influence.</div> + +<p>Thus, after the event, we can plainly see that the final +blow to Polytheism was the suppression of the ancient +independent nationalities around the Mediterranean Sea; +and that, in like manner, Monotheism was the +result of the establishment of an imperial government +in Rome. But the great statesmen of those +times, who were at the general point of view, +must have foreseen that, in whatever form the +expected change came, its limits of definition would inevitably +be those of the empire itself, and that wherever +the language of Rome was understood the religion of Rome +would prevail. In the course of ages, an expansion beyond +those limits might ensue wherever the state of things was +congenial. On the south, beyond the mere verge of Africa, +nothing was to be hoped for—it is the country in which +man lives in degradation and is happy. On the east there +were great unsubdued and untouched monarchies, having +their own types of civilization, and experiencing no want +in a religious respect. But on the north there were +nations who, though they were plunged in hideous barbarism, +filthy in an equal degree in body and mind, +polygamists, idolaters, drunkards out of their enemies' +skulls, were yet capable of an illustrious career. For +these there was a glorious participation in store.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The new ideas coalesce with the old.</div> + +<p>Except the death of a nation, there is no event in human +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> +history more profoundly solemn than the passing away of +an ancient religion, though religious ideas are transitory, +and creeds succeed one another with a periodicity determined +by the law of continuous variation of human +thought. The intellectual epoch at which we have now +arrived has for its essential characteristic such a change—the +abandonment of a time-honoured but obsolete +system, the acceptance of a new and living one; +and, in the incipient stages, opinion succeeding +opinion in a well-marked way, until at length, after a few +centuries of fusion and solution, there crystallized on the +remnant of Roman power, as on a nucleus, a definite form, +which, slowly modifying itself into the Papacy, served +the purposes of Europe for more than a thousand years +throughout its age of Faith.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Conduct of the Roman educated men at this period.</div> + +<p>In this abandonment, the personal conduct of the educated +classes very powerfully assisted. They outwardly +conformed to the ceremonial of the times, reserving their +higher doctrines to themselves, as something beyond +vulgar comprehension. Considering themselves as an intellectual +aristocracy, they stood aloof, and, with +an ill-concealed smile, consented to the transparent +folly around them. It had come to an +evil state when authors like Polybius and Strabo +apologized to their compeers for the traditions and legends +they ostensibly accepted, on the ground that it is inconvenient +and needless to give popular offence, and that +those who are children in understanding must, like those +who are children in age, be kept in order by bugbears. It +had come to an evil state when the awful ceremonial of +former times had degenerated into a pageant, played off by +an infidel priesthood and unbelieving aristocracy; when +oracles were becoming mute, because they could no longer +withstand the sly wit of the initiated; when the miracles +of the ancients were regarded as mere lies, and of contemporaries +as feats of legerdemain. It had come to an evil +pass when even statesmen received it as a maxim that +when the people have advanced in intellectual culture to a +certain point, the sacerdotal class must either deceive them +or oppress them, if it means to keep its power.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Religious condition of the intellectual classes in Rome.</div> + +<p>In Rome, at the time of Augustus, the intellectual +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> +classes—philosophers and statesmen—had completely +emerged from the ancient modes of thought. To them, +the national legends, so jealously guarded by +the populace, had become mere fictions. The +miraculous conception of Rhea Sylvia by the god +Mars, an event from which their ancestors had +deduced with pride the celestial origin of the founder of +their city, had dwindled into a myth; as a source of actual +reliance and trust, the intercession of Venus, that emblem +of female loveliness, with the father of the gods in behalf +of her human favourites, was abandoned; the Sibylline +books, once believed to contain all that was necessary for +the prosperity of the republic, were suspected of an origin +more sinister than celestial; nor were insinuations wanting +that from time to time they had been tampered with to +suit the expediency of passing interests, or even that the +true ones were lost and forgeries put in their stead. The +Greek mythology was to them, as it is to us, an object of +reverence, not because of any inherent truth, but because +of the exquisite embodiments it can yield in poetry, in +painting, in marble. The existence of those illustrious men +who, on account of their useful lives or excellent example, +had, by the pious ages of old, been sanctified or even +deified, was denied, or, if admitted, they were regarded as +the exaggerations of dark and barbarous times. It was +thus with Æsculapius, Bacchus, and Hercules. And as to +the various forms of worship, the multitude of sects into +which the pagan nations were broken up offered themselves +as a spectacle of imbecile and inconsistent devotion altogether +unworthy of attention, except so far as they might +be of use to the interests of the state.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Their irresolution.</div> + +<p>Such was the position of things among the educated. +In one sense they had passed into liberty, in another they +were in bondage. Their indisposition to encounter those +inflictions with which their illiterate contemporaries +might visit them may seem to us surprizing: +they acted as if they thought that the public was +a wild beast that would bite if awakened too abruptly +from its dream; but their pusillanimity, at the most, +could only postpone for a little an inevitable day. The +ignorant classes, whom they had so much feared, awoke +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> +in due season spontaneously, and saw in the clear light +how matters stood.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Surrender of affairs in the illiterate classes,</div> + +<p>Of the Roman emperors there were some whose intellectual +endowments were of the highest kind; yet, though +it must have been plain to them, as to all who turned +their attention to the matter, in what direction society +was drifting, they let things take their course, and no one +lifted a finger to guide. It may be said that the +genius of Rome manifested itself rather in physical +than in intellectual operations; but in her +best days it was never the genius of Rome to +abandon great events to freedmen, eunuchs, and slaves. +By such it was that the ancient gods were politically cast +aside, while the government was speciously yielding a +simulated obedience to them, and hence it was not at all +surprizing that, soon after the introduction of Christianity, +its pure doctrines were debased by a commingling with +ceremonies of the departing creed. It was not to be +expected that the popular mind could spontaneously +extricate itself from the vicious circle in which it was +involved. Nothing but philosophy was competent to +<span class="sidenote">and consequent debasement of Christianity in Rome.</span> +deliver it, and philosophy failed of its duty at the critical +moment. The classical scholar need scarcely express his +surprize that the Feriæ Augusti were continued +in the Church as the Festival St. Petri in +Vinculis; that even to our own times an image +of the holy Virgin was carried to the river in the +same manner as in the old times was that of Cybele, and +that many pagan rites still continue to be observed in +Rome. Had it been in such incidental particulars only +that the vestiges of paganism were preserved, the thing +would have been of little moment; but, as all who have +examined the subject very well know, the evil was far more +general, far more profound. When it was announced +to the Ephesians that the Council of that place, headed by +Cyril, had decreed that the Virgin should be called "the +Mother of God," with tears of joy they embraced the knees +of their bishop; it was the old instinct peeping out; their +ancestors would have done the same for Diana. If Trajan, +after ten centuries, could have revisited Rome, he would, +without difficulty, have recognized the drama, though the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> +actors and scenery had all changed; he would have reflected +how great a mistake had been committed in the +legislation of his reign, and how much better it is, when +the intellectual basis of a religion is gone, for a wise +government to abstain from all compulsion in behalf of +what has become untenable, and to throw itself into the +new movement so as to shape the career by assuming the +lead. Philosophy is useless when misapplied in support +of things which common sense has begun to reject; she +shares in the discredit which is attaching to them. The +opportunity of rendering herself of service to humanity +once lost, ages may elapse before it occurs again. Ignorance +and low interests seize the moment, and fasten a +burden on man, which the struggles of a thousand years +may not suffice to cast off. Of all the duties of an +enlightened government, this of allying itself with Philosophy +in the critical moment in which society is passing +through so serious a metamorphosis of its opinions as is +involved in the casting off of its ancient investiture of +Faith, and its assumption of a new one, is the most important, +for it stands connected with things that outlast +all temporal concerns.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> +THE EUROPEAN AGE OF INQUIRY.</p> + +<p class='center'><small>THE PROGRESSIVE VARIATION OF OPINIONS CLOSED BY THE INSTITUTION +OF COUNCILS AND THE CONCENTRATION OF POWER IN A PONTIFF. +RISE, EARLY VARIATIONS, CONFLICTS, AND FINAL ESTABLISHMENT OF +CHRISTIANITY.</small></p> + +<div class='blockquot'><p class='ind'><i>Rise of Christianity.—Distinguished from ecclesiastical Organization.—It +is demanded by the deplorable Condition of the Empire.—Its brief +Conflict with Paganism.—Character of its first Organization.—Variations +of Thought and Rise of Sects: their essential Difference in +the East and West.—The three primitive Forms of Christianity: the +Judaic Form, its End—the Gnostic Form, its End—the African +Form, continues.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Spread of Christianity from Syria.—Its Antagonism to Imperialism; +their Conflicts.—Position of Affairs under Diocletian.—The Policy of +Constantine.—He avails himself of the Christian Party, and through it +attains supreme Power.—His personal Relations to it.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>The Trinitarian Controversy.—Story of Arius.—The Council of Nicea.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>The Progress of the Bishop of Rome to Supremacy.—The Roman +Church; its primitive subordinate Position.—Causes of its increasing +Wealth, Influence, and Corruptions.—Stages of its Advancement +through the Pelagian, Nestorian, and Eutychian Disputes.—Rivalry +of the Bishops of Constantinople, Alexandria, and Rome.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Necessity of a Pontiff in the West and ecclesiastical Councils in the East.—Nature +of those Councils and of pontifical Power.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>The Period closes at the Capture and Sack of Rome by Alaric.—Defence +of that Event by St. Augustine.—Criticism on his Writings.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Character of the Progress of Thought through this Period.—Destiny of +the three great Bishops.</i></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote">Subject of the +chapter.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">From</span> the decay of Polytheism and the decline of +philosophy, from the moral and social disorganization +of the Roman empire, I have now +to turn to the most important of all events, the rise of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> +Christianity. I have to show how a variation of opinion +proceeded and reached its culmination; how it was closed +by the establishment of a criterion of truth, under the form +of ecclesiastical councils, and a system developed which +supplied the intellectual wants of Europe for nearly +a thousand years.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Introduction to the study of Christianity.</div> + +<p>The reader, to whom I have thus offered a representation +of the state of Roman affairs, must now prepare to +look at the consequences thereof. Together we must +trace out the progress of Christianity, examine +the adaptation of its cardinal principles to the +wants of the empire, and the variations it +exhibited—a task supremely difficult, for even sincerity +and truth will sometimes offend. For my part, it is my +intention to speak with veneration on this great topic, and +yet with liberty, for freedom of thought and expression is +to me the first of all earthly things.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Distinction between Christianity and ecclesiastical organizations.</div> + +<p>But, that I may not be misunderstood, I here, at the +outset, emphatically distinguish between Christianity +and ecclesiastical organizations. The +former is the gift of God; the latter are the +product of human exigencies and human +invention, and therefore open to criticism, or, +if need be, to condemnation.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><br />Moral state of the world at this period.</div> + +<p>From the condition of the Roman empire may be +indicated the principles of any new system adapted to its +amelioration. In the reign of Augustus, +violence paused only because it had finished its +work. Faith was dead; morality had disappeared. +Around the shores of the Mediterranean the +conquered nations looked at one another—partakers of a +common misfortune, associates in a common lot. Not one +of them had found a god to help her in her day of need. +Europe, Asia, and Africa were tranquil, but it was the +silence of despair.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Unpitying tyranny of Rome.</div> + +<p>Rome never considered man as an individual, but only +as a thing. Her way to political greatness was +pursued utterly regardless of human suffering. +If advantages accrued to the conquered under +her dominion, they arose altogether from incident, and +never from her purposed intent. She was no self-conscious, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> +deliberate civilizer. Conquest and rapine, the uniform +aim of her actions, never permitted her, even at her +utmost intellectual development, to comprehend the equal +rights of all men in the eye of the law. Unpitying in +her stern policy, few were the occasions when, for high +state reasons, she stayed her uplifted hand. She might +in the wantonness of her power, stoop to mercy; she never +rose to benevolence.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Prepares the way for the recognition of the equality of all men.</div> + +<p>When Syria was paying one third of its annual produce +in taxes, is it surprising that the Jewish peasant sighed +for a deliverer, and eagerly listened to the traditions of +his nation that a temporal Messiah, "a king +of the Jews" would soon come? When there +was announced the equality of all men before +God, "who maketh his sun to shine on the +good and the evil, and sendeth his rain on the just and +the unjust," is it surprising that men looked for equal +rights before the law? Universal equality means universal +benevolence; it substitutes for the impersonal and +easily-eluded commands of the state the dictates of an +ever-present conscience; it accepts the injunction, "Do +unto others as you would they should do to you."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Attitude of Paganism.</div> + +<p>In the spread of a doctrine two things are concerned—its +own intrinsic nature, and the condition of him on +whom it is intended to act. The spread of Christianity is +not difficult to be understood. Its antagonist, +Paganism, presented inherent weakness, infidelity, +and a cheerless prospect; a system, if that can be +called so, which had no ruling idea, no principles, no +organization; caring nothing for proselytes; its rival +pontiffs devoted to many gods, but forming no political +combination; occupying themselves with directing public +worship and foretelling future events, but not interfering +in domestic life; giving itself no concern for the lowly +and unfortunate; not recognizing, or, at the best, doubtfully +admitting a future life; limiting the hopes and +destiny of man to this world; teaching that temporal +prosperity may be selfishly gained at any cost, and looking +to suicide as the relief of the brave from misfortune.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Attitude of Christianity.</div> + +<p>On the other side was Christianity, with its enthusiasm +and burning faith; its rewards in this life, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> +everlasting happiness or damnation in the next; the +precise doctrines it by degrees gathered of sin, repentance, +pardon; the efficacy of the blood of the Son of +God; its proselytizing spirit; its vivid dogmas +of a resurrection from the dead, the approaching +end of the world, the judgment-day. Above all, in +a worldly point of view, the incomparable organization it +soon attained, and its preaching in season and out of +season. To the needy Christian the charities of the +faithful were freely given; to the desolate, sympathy. +In every congregation there were prayers to God that he +would listen to the sighing of the prisoner and captive, +and have mercy on those who were ready to die. For the +slave and his master there was one law and one hope, one +baptism, one Saviour, one Judge. In times of domestic +bereavement the Christian slave doubtless often consoled +his pagan mistress with the suggestion that our present +separations are only for a little while, and revealed to her +willing ear that there is another world—a land in which +we rejoin our dead. How is it possible to arrest the +spread of a faith which can make the broken heart leap +with joy?</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Its first organization.</div> + +<p>At its first organization Christianity embodied itself in +a form of communism, the merging of the property of the +disciples into a common stock, from which the necessary +provision for the needy was made. Such a +system, carried out rigorously, is, however, +only suited to small numbers and a brief period. In its +very nature it is impracticable on a great scale. +Scarcely had it been resorted to before such troubles as +that connected with the question of the Hebrew and +Greek widows showed that it must be modified. By this +relief or maintenance out of the funds of the Church, the +spread of the faith among the humbler classes was greatly +facilitated. In warm climates, where the necessities of +life are small, an apparently insignificant sum will +accomplish much in this way. But, as wealth accumulated, +besides this inducement for the poor, there were +temptations for the ambitious: luxurious appointments +and a splendid maintenance, the ecclesiastical dignitaries +becoming more than rivals to those of the state.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Gradual sectarian divergences.</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> +From the modification which the primitive organization +thus underwent, we may draw the instructive conclusion +that the special forms of embodiment which the Christian +principle from time to time has assumed, and +of which many might be mentioned, were, in +reality, of only secondary importance. The +sects of the early ages have so totally died away that we +hardly recall the meaning of their names, or determine +their essential dogmas. From fasting, penance, and the +gift of money, things which are of precise measurement, +and therefore well suited to intellectual infancy, there +may be perceived an advancing orthodoxy up to the +highest metaphysical ideas. Yet it must not be supposed +that new observances and doctrines, as they emerged, +were the disconnected inventions of ambitious men. If +rightly considered, they are, in the aggregate, the +product of the uniform progression of human opinions.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Early variation of opinions.</div> + +<p>Authors who have treated of the sects of earlier times +will point out to the curious reader how, in the beginning, +the Church was agitated by a lingering +attachment to the Hebrew rites, and with +difficulty tore itself away from Judaism, which for the +first ten years was paramount in it; how then, for +several centuries, it became engrossed with disputes +respecting the nature of Christ, and creed after creed +arose therefrom; to the Ebionites he was a mere man; +to the Docetes, a phantasm; to the Jewish Gnostic, +Cerinthus, possessed of a twofold nature; how, after the +spread of Christianity, in succeeding ages, all over the +empire, the intellectual peculiarities of the East and West +<span class="sidenote">Eastern theology tends to Divinity,</span> +were visibly impressed upon it—the East filled with +speculative doctrines, of which the most important were +those brought forward by the Platonists of +Alexandria, for the Platonists, of all Philosophical +sects, furnished most converts; the West, +in accordance with its utilitarian genius, which esteems +the practical and disparages the intellectual, singularly +aided by propitious opportunity, occupying itself with +material aggrandizement and territorial power. The +vanishing point of all Christian sectarian ideas of the +East was in God, of those of the West in Man. Herein +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> +consists the essential difference between them. The one +was rich in doctrines respecting the nature of +<span class="sidenote">Western to Humanity.</span> +the Divinity, the other abounded in regulations +for the improvement and consolation of humanity. For +long there was a tolerance, and even liberality toward +differences of opinion. Until the Council of Nicea, no one +was accounted a heretic if only he professed his belief in +the Apostles' Creed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Foreign modifications of Christianity.</div> + +<p>A very astute ecclesiastical historian, referring to the +early contaminations of Christianity, makes +this remark: "A clear and unpolluted fountain +fed by secret channels with the dew of Heaven, +when it grows a large river, and takes a long and winding +course, receives a tincture from the various soils through +which it passes."</p> + +<p>Thus influenced by circumstances, the primitive +modifications of Christianity were three—Judaic Christianity, +Gnostic Christianity, African Christianity.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Judaic Christianity.</div> + +<p>Of these, the first consisted of contaminations from +Judaism, from which true Christianity disentangled +itself with extreme difficulty, at the +cost of dissensions among the Apostles themselves. +From the purely Hebrew point of view of the early +disciples, who surrendered with reluctance their expectation +that the Saviour was the long-looked-for temporal +Messiah, the King of the Jews, under which name he +suffered, the faith gradually expanded, including successively +proselytes of the Gate, the surrounding Gentiles, +and at last the whole world, irrespective of nation, climate, +or colour. With this truly imperial extension, there came +into view the essential doctrines on which it was based. +But Judaic Christianity, properly speaking, soon came to an +untimely end. It was unable to maintain itself against +the powerful apostolic influences in the bosom of the +Church, and the violent pressure exerted by the unbelieving +Jews, who exhibited toward it an inflexible hatred. +Moreover, the rapid advance of the new doctrines through +Asia Minor and Greece offered a tempting field for +enthusiasm. The first preachers in the Roman empire were +Jews; for the first years circumcision and conformity to +the law of Moses were insisted on; but the first council +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> +determined that point, at Jerusalem, probably about <small>A.D.</small> +49, in the negative. The organization of the Church, +originally modelled upon that of the Synagogue, was +changed. In the beginning the creed and the rites were +simple; it was only necessary to profess belief in the Lord +Jesus Christ, and baptism marked the admission of the +convert into the community of the faithful. James, the +brother of our Lord, as might, from his relationship, +be expected, occupied the position of headship in +the Church. The names of the bishops of the church of +Jerusalem, as given by Eusebius, succeed to James, the +brother of Christ, in the following order: Simeon, Justus, +Zaccheus, Tobias, Benjamin, John, Matthew, Philip, +Simeon, Justus, Levi, Ephraim, Joseph, and Judas. The +names are indicative of the nationality. It was the +boast of this Church that it was not corrupted with any +heresy until the last Jewish bishop, a boast which must +be received with some limitation, for very early we find +traces of two distinct parties in Jerusalem—those who +received the account of the miraculous conception and +those who did not. The Ebionites, who were desirous of +tracing our Saviour's lineage up to David, did so according +to the genealogy given in the Gospel of St. Mathew, +and therefore they would not accept what was said +respecting the miraculous conception, affirming that it +was apocryphal, and in obvious contradiction to the +genealogy in which our Saviour's line was traced up +through Joseph, who, it would thus appear, was not his +father. They are to be considered as the national or +patriotic party.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Causes of the arrest of Jewish conversion.</div> + +<p>Two causes seem to have been concerned in arresting the +spread of conversion among the Jews: the first +was their disappointment as respects the temporal +power of the Messiah; the second, the +prominence eventually given to the doctrine of the Trinity. +Their jealousy of anything that might touch the national +doctrine of the unity of God became almost a fanaticism. +Judaic Christianity may be said to have virtually ended +with the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans; its +last trace, however, was the dispute respecting Easter, +which was terminated by the Council of Nicea. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> +conversion of the Jews had ceased before the reign of +Constantine.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Gnostic Christianity.</div> + +<p>The second form, Gnostic Christianity, had reached its +full development within a century after the death of +Christ; it maintained an active influence through the first +four centuries, and gave birth, during that time, +to many different subordinate sects. It consisted +essentially in ingrafting Christianity upon Magianism. +It made the Saviour an emanated intelligence, derived +from the eternal, self-existing mind; this intelligence, and +not the Man-Jesus, was the Christ, who thus, being an +impassive phantom, afforded to Gnosticism no idea of an +expiatory sacrifice, none of an atonement. It was arrested +by the reappearance of pure Magianism in the Persian +empire under Ardeschir Babhegan; not, however, without +communicating to orthodox Christianity an impression far +more profound than is commonly supposed, and one of +which indelible traces may be perceived in our day.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Platonic Christianity.</div> + +<p>The third form, African or Platonic Christianity, arose +in Alexandria. Here was the focus of those fatal +disputes respecting the Trinity, a word which +does not occur in the Holy Scriptures, and which, it +appears, had been first introduced by Theophilus, the +Bishop of Antioch, the seventh from the apostles. In +the time of Hadrian, Christianity had become diffused all +over Egypt, and had found among the Platonizing philosophers +of the metropolis many converts. These men +modified the Gnostic idea to suit their own doctrines, +asserting that the principle from which the universe originated +was something emitted from the Supreme Mind, +and capable of being drawn into it again, as they supposed +was the case with a ray and the sun. This ray, they +affirmed, was permanently attached to our Saviour, and +hence he might be considered as God. Thus, therefore, +there were in his person three parts, a body, a soul, and +the logos; hence he was both God and man. But, as a +ray is inferior to the sun, it seemed to follow that the +Christ must be inferior to the Father.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Logos.</div> + +<p>In all this it is evident that there is something transcendental, +and the Platonizing Christians, following the +habit of the Greek philosophers, considered it as a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> +mysterious doctrine; they spoke of it as "meat for strong +men," but the popular current doctrine was "milk for +babes." Justin Martyr, <small>A.D.</small> 132, who had been a Platonic +philosopher, believed that the divine ray, after it was +attached to Christ, was never withdrawn from +him, and never separated from its source. He +offers two illustrations of his idea. As speech (logos), going +forth from one man, enters into another, conveying to him +meaning, while the same meaning remains in the person +who speaks, thus the logos of the Father continues unimpaired +in himself, though imparted to the Christ; or, as +from one lamp another may be lighted without any loss of +splendour, so the divinity of the Father is transferred to +the Son. This last illustration subsequently became very +popular, and was adopted into the Nicene Creed. "God +of God, Light of Light."</p> + +<p>It is obvious that the intention of this reasoning was to +preserve intact, the doctrine of the unity of God, for the +great body of Christians were at this time monarchists, the +word being used in its theological acceptation.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Permanence of Alexandrian ideas.</div> + +<p>Thus the Jewish and Gnostic forms both died out, but +the African, Platonic, or Alexandrian, was destined +to be perpetuated. The manner in which +this occurred, can only be understood by a study +of the political history of the times. To such facts as are +needful for the purpose, I shall therefore with brevity allude.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Spread of Christianity from Syria.</div> + +<p>From its birthplace in Judea, Christianity advanced to +the conquest of the Roman world. In its primitive form +it received an urgency from the belief that the +end of all things was close at hand, and that +the earth was on the point of being burnt up +by fire. From the civil war it waged in Judea, it emerged +to enter on a war of invasion and foreign annexation. In +succession, Cyprus, Phrygia, Galatia, and all Asia Minor, +Greece, and Italy, were penetrated. The persecutions of +Nero, incident on the burning of Rome, did not for a +moment retard its career; during his reign it rapidly +spread, and in every direction Petrine and Pauline, or +Judaizing and Hellenizing churches were springing up. +The latter gained the superiority, and the former passed +away. The constitution of the churches changed, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> +congregations gradually losing power, which became concentrated +in the bishop. By the end of the first +<span class="sidenote">Modifications of organization become necessary.</span> +century the episcopal form was predominant, and +the ecclesiastical organization so imposing as to +command the attention of the emperors, who now +began to discover the mistake that had hitherto been made +in confounding the new religion with Judaism. Their dislike +to it, soon manifested in measures of repression, was +in consequence of the peculiar attitude it assumed. As a +body, the Christians not only kept aloof from all the +amusements of the times, avoiding theatres and public +rejoicings, but in every respect constituted themselves an +<span class="sidenote">Becomes antagonistic to Imperialism.</span> +empire within the empire. Such a state of things was +altogether inconsistent with the established +government, and its certain inconveniences and +evils were not long in making themselves felt. +The triumphant march of Christianity was singularly +facilitated by free intercommunication over the +Mediterranean, in consequence of that sea being in the +hands of one sovereign power. The Jewish and Greek +merchants afforded it a medium; their trading towns +were its posts. But it is not to be supposed that its spread +was without resistance; for at least the first century and a +half the small farmers and land labourers entertained a +<span class="sidenote">Persecution consolidates it.</span> +hatred to it, looking upon it as a peculiarity of the trading +communities, whom they ever despised. They persuaded +themselves that the earthquakes, inundations +and pestilences were attributable to it. To these +incitements was added a desire to seize the property of +the faithful confiscated by the law. Of this the early +Christians unceasingly and bitterly complained. But the +rack, the fire, wild beasts were unavailingly applied. Out +of the very persecutions themselves advantages arose. +Injustice and barbarity bound the pious but feeble communities +together, and repressed internal dissent.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Defiant air of the young churches.</div> + +<p>In several instances, however, there can be no doubt +that persecution was brought on by the defiant +air the churches assumed as they gathered +strength. To understand this, we have only to +peruse such documents as the address of Tertullian to +Scapula. Full of intolerant spirit, it accuses the national +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> +religion of being the cause of all the public calamities, the +floods, the fires, the eclipses; it denounces the vengeance +of God on the national idolatry. As was the opinion of +the Christians at that time, it acknowledges the reality of +the pagan gods, whom it stigmatizes as demons, and proclaims +its determination to expel them. It warns its +opponents that they may be stricken blind, devoured by +<span class="sidenote">Opposition of the emperors.</span> +worms, or visited with other awful calamities. Such a +sentiment of scorn and hatred, gathering force enough to +make itself politically felt, was certain to +provoke persecution. That of Decius, <small>A.D.</small> 250, +was chiefly aimed against the clergy, not even the bishops +of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Rome escaping. Eight years +afterwards occurred that in which Sextus, the Bishop of +Rome, and Cyprian of Carthage perished.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Position of things under Diocletian.</div> + +<p>Under Diocletian it had become apparent that the self-governed +Christian corporations everywhere +arising were altogether incompatible with the +imperial system. If tolerated much longer, +they would undoubtedly gain such strength as to become +politically quite formidable. There was not a town, hardly +a village in the empire—nay, what was indeed far more +serious, there was not a legion in which these organizations +did not exist. The uncompromising and inexorable spirit +animating them brought on necessarily a triple alliance +of the statesmen, the philosophers, and the polytheists. +These three parties, composing or postponing their mutual +disputes, cordially united to put down the common enemy +before it should be too late. It so fell out that the conflict +first broke out in the army. When the engine of power +is affected, it behoves a prince to take heed. The Christian +soldiers in some of the legions refused to join in the +time-honoured solemnities for propitiating the gods. It +was in the winter <small>A.D.</small> 302-3. The emergency became so +pressing that a council was held by Diocletian and Galerius +to determine what should be done. The difficulty of the +position may perhaps be appreciated when it is understood +that even the wife and daughter of Diocletian himself were +adherents of the new religion. He was a man of such +capacity and enlarged political views that, at the second +council of the leading statesmen and generals, he would +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> +not have been brought to give his consent to repression if +<span class="sidenote">Imperial persecutions.</span> +it had not been quite clear that a conflict was unavoidable. +His extreme reluctance to act is shown by the express +stipulation he made that there should be no +sacrifice of life. It is scarcely necessary to +relate the events which ensued; how the Church of +Nicomedia was razed to the ground; how, in retaliation, +the imperial palace was set on fire; how an edict was +openly insulted and torn down; how the Christian officers +in the army were compelled to resign; and, as Eusebius, +an eye-witness, relates, a vast number of martyrs soon +suffered in Armenia, Syria, Mauritania, Egypt, and elsewhere. +So resistless was the march of events that not +even the emperor himself could stop the persecution. The +Christians were given over to torture, the fire, wild beasts, +beheading; many of them, in the moment of condemnation, +simply returning thanks to God that he had thought them +worthy to suffer. The whole world was filled with admiration. +The greatness of such holy courage could have +<span class="sidenote">Their great political consequences.</span> +no other result. An internecine conflict between the disputants +seemed to be inevitable. But, in the dark and +bloody policy of the times, the question was settled in an +unexpected way. To Constantine, who had fled from +the treacherous custody of Galerius, it naturally occurred +that if he should ally himself to the Christian party, conspicuous +advantages must forthwith accrue to +him. It would give him in every corner of the +empire men and women ready to encounter fire +and sword; it would give him partisans, not only animated +by the traditions of their fathers, but—for human nature +will even in the religious assert itself—demanding retribution +for the horrible barbarities and injustice that had +been inflicted on themselves; it would give him, and this +was the most important of all, unwavering adherents in +<span class="sidenote">Successful policy of Constantine.</span> +every legion of the army. He took his course. The events +of war crowned him with success. He could +not be otherwise than outwardly true to those +who had given him power, and who continued +to maintain him on the throne. But he never conformed +to the ceremonial requirements of the Church till the close +of his evil life.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span> +The attempt to make an alliance with this great and +rapidly growing party was nothing new. Maximin tried +it, but was distrusted. Licinius, foreseeing the policy +that Constantine would certainly pursue, endeavoured to +neutralize it by feebly reviving the persecution, <small>A.D.</small> 316, +thinking thereby to conciliate the pagans. The aspirants +for empire at this moment so divided the strength of the +state that, had the Christian party been weaker than it +actually was, it so held the balance of power as to be able +to give a preponderance to the candidate of its choice. +Much more, therefore, was it certain to prevail, considering +its numbers, its ramifications, its compactness. Force, +argument, and persuasion had alike proved ineffectual +against its strength.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Influence of the reign of Constantine.</div> + +<p>To the reign of Constantine the Great must be referred +the commencement of those dark and dismal +times which oppressed Europe for a thousand +years. It is the true close of the Roman empire, +the beginning of the Greek. The transition from one to +the other is emphatically and abruptly marked by a new +metropolis, a new religion, a new code, and, above all, a +new policy. An ambitious man had attained to imperial +power by personating the interests of a rapidly growing +party. The unavoidable consequences were a union between +the Church and State; a diverting of the dangerous classes +from civil to ecclesiastical paths, and the decay and +materialization of religion. This, and not the reign of +Leo the Isaurian, as some have said, is the true beginning +of the Byzantine empire; it is also the beginning of the +age of Faith in Europe, though I consider the age of +Inquiry as overlapping this epoch, and as terminating +with the military fall of Rome.</p> + +<p>Ecclesiastical authors have made everything hinge on +the conversion of Constantine and the national establishment +of Christianity. The medium through which they +look distorts the position of objects, and magnifies the +subordinate and the collateral into the chief. Events had +been gradually shaping themselves in such a way that the +political fall of the city of Rome was inevitable. The +Romans, as a people, had disappeared, being absorbed +among other nations; the centre of power was in the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> +army. One after another, the legions put forth competitors +for the purple—soldiers of fortune, whose success could +never remove low habits due to a base origin, the coarseness +of a life of camps—who found no congeniality in the +elegance and refinement of those relics of the ancient +families which were expiring in Rome. They despised +the military decrepitude of the superannuated city; her +recollections they hated. To such men the expediency of +founding a new capital was an obvious device; or, if +indisposed to undertake so laborious a task, the removal +of the imperial residence to some other of the great towns +was an effectual substitute. It was thus that the residence +of Diocletian at Nicomedia produced such disastrous consequences +in a short time to Rome.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">He resolves on removing the metropolis.</div> + +<p>After Constantine had murdered his son Crispus, his +nephew Licinius, and had suffocated in a steam-bath his +wife Fausta, to whom he had been married twenty years, +and who was the mother of three of his sons, the +public abhorrence of his crimes could no longer +be concealed. A pasquinade, comparing his +reign to that of Nero, was affixed to the palace gate. The +guilty emperor, in the first burst of anger, was on the +point of darkening the tragedy, if such a thing had been +possible, by a massacre of the Roman populace who had +thus insulted him. It is said that his brothers were consulted +on this measure of vengeance. The result of their +counsel was even more deadly, for it was resolved to +degrade Rome to a subordinate rank, and build a metropolis +elsewhere.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">He is a protector, but not a convert.</div> + +<p>Political conditions thus at once suggested and rendered +possible the translation of the seat of government: the +temporary motive was the vengeance of a great criminal. +Perhaps, also, in the mental occupation incident to such +an undertaking, the emperor found a refuge from the +accusations of conscience. But it is altogether erroneous +to suppose that either at this time, or for many years subsequently, +he was a Christian. His actions are +not those of a devout convert; he was no proselyte, +but a protector; never guiding himself by +religious principles, but now giving the most valuable +support to his new allies, now exhibiting the impartiality +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> +of a statesman for both forms of faith. In his character +of Pontifex Maximus he restored pagan temples, and +directed that the haruspices should be consulted. On the +festival of the birthday of the new city he honoured the +statue of Fortune. The continued heathen sacrifices and +open temples seemed to indicate that he intended to do +no more than place the new religion on a level with the +old. His recommendation to the Bishop of Alexandria +and to Arius of the example of the philosophers, who never +debated profound questions before ignorant audiences, and +who could differ without hating one another, illustrates +the indifferentism of his personal attitude, and yet he +clearly recognized his obligations to the party that had +given him power.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">His tendencies to Paganism.</div> + +<p>This conclusion is confirmed by the works of Constantine +himself. They must be regarded as far better authority +than the writings of religious polemics. A medal was +struck, on which was impressed his title of +"God," together with the monogram of Christ. +Another represented him as raised by a hand from the +sky while seated in the chariot of the Sun. But more +particularly the great porphyry pillar, a column 120 feet +in height, exhibited the true religious condition of the +founder of Constantinople. The statue on its summit +mingled together the Sun, the Saviour, and the Emperor. +Its body was a colossal image of Apollo, whose features +were replaced by those of Constantine, and round the head, +like rays, were fixed the nails of the cross of Christ recently +discovered in Jerusalem.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">His relations to the Church.</div> + +<p>The position of a patron assumed by Constantine may +be remarked in many of the incidents of his policy. The +edict of Milan gave liberty both to Pagans and Christians; +but his necessity for showing in some degree a preponderance +of favour for the latter obliged him to issue a rescript +exempting the clergy from civil offices. It was this also +which led him to conciliate the bishops by the donation of +large sums of money for the restoration of their churches +and other purposes, and to exert himself, often by objectionable +means, for destroying that which they who were +around him considered to be heresy. A better motive, +perhaps, led him to restore those Christians who had been +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> +degraded; to surrender to the legal heirs the confiscated +estates of martyrs, or, if no heirs were to be found, to convey +them to the Church; to set at liberty those who had +been condemned to the mines; to recall those who had +been banished. If, as a tribute to the Christians, who had +sustained him politically, he made the imperial treasury +responsible for many of their losses; if he caused costly +churches to be built not only in the great cities, but even +in the Holy Land; if he vindicated the triumphant position +of his supporters by forbidding any Jew to have a +Christian slave; if he undertook to enforce the decisions +of councils by means of the power of the state; if he forbade +all schism in the Church, himself determining the +degrees of heresy under the inspirations of his ecclesiastical +entourage, his vacillations show how little he +was guided by principle, how much by policy. +After the case of the Donatists had been settled by repeated +councils, he spontaneously recalled them from banishment; +after he had denounced Arius as "the very image of the +Devil," he, through the influence of court females, received +him again into favour; after the temple of Æsculapius at +Ægæ had been demolished, and the doors and roofs of +others removed, the pagans were half conciliated by perceiving +that no steady care was taken to enforce the +obnoxious decrees, and that, after all, the Christians would +have to accept the declarations of the emperor for deeds.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Consequences of building a new metropolis.</div> + +<p>In a double respect the removal of the seat of empire +was important to Christianity. It rendered possible the +assumption of power by the bishops of Rome, +who were thereby secluded from imperial observation +and inspection, and whose position, feeble +at first, under such singularly auspicious circumstances +was at last developed into papal supremacy. In +Constantinople, also, there were no pagan recollections and +interests to contend with. At first the new city was essentially +Roman, and its language Latin; but this was soon +changed for Greek, and thus the transference of the seat +of government tended in the end to make Latin a sacred +tongue.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The policy of Constantine.</div> + +<p>Constantine knew very well where Roman power had +for many years lain. His own history, from the time of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> +his father's death and his exaltation by the legions at York, +had taught him that, for the perpetuation of his dynasty +and system, those formidable bodies must be disposed of. +It was for this reason, and that no future commander +might do what himself and so many of +his predecessors had done, that he reduced the strength of +the legion from 6000 to 1500 or 1000 men. For this +reason, too, he opened to ambition the less dangerous field +of ecclesiastical wealth and dignity, justly concluding that, +since the clergy came from every class of society, the +whole people would look to the prosperity of the Church. +By exempting the priesthood from burdensome municipal +offices, such as the decurionate, he put a premium on +apostacy from paganism. The interest he personally took +in the Trinitarian controversy encouraged the spreading +of theological disputation from philosophers and men of +capacity to the populace. Under the old polytheism heresy +was impossible, since every man might select his god and +his worship; but under the new monotheism it was inevitable—heresy, +a word that provokes and justifies a black +catalogue of crimes. Occupied in those exciting pursuits, +men took but little heed of the more important political +changes that were in progress. The eyes of the rabble +were easily turned from the movements of the government +by horse-racing, theatres, largesses. Yet already this diversion +of ambition into new fields gave tokens of dangers +to the state in future times. The Donatists, whom Constantine +had attempted to pacify by the Councils of Rome, +Arles, and Milan, maintained a more than religious revolt, +and exhibited the bitterness that may be infused among +competitors for ecclesiastical spoils. These enthusiasts +assumed to themselves the title of God's elect, proclaimed +that the only true apostolic succession was in their bishops, +and that whosoever denied the right of Donatus to be +Bishop of Carthage should be eternally damned. They +asked, with a truth that lent force to their demand, +"What has the emperor to do with the Church, what have +Christians to do with kings, what have bishops to do at +court?" Already the Catholic party, in preparation of its +commencing atrocities, ominously inquired, "Is the vengeance +of God to be defrauded of its victims?" Already +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> +Constantine, by bestowing on the Church the right of +receiving bequests, had given birth to that power which, +reposing on the influence that always attaches to the +possession of land, becomes at last overwhelming when it +is held by a corporation which may always receive and can +never alienate, which is always renewing itself and can +never die. It was by no miraculous agency, but simply +by its organization, that the Church attained to power; +an individual who must die, and a family which must +become extinct, had no chance against a corporation whose +purposes were ever unchanged, and its life perpetual. But +it was not the state alone which thus took detriment from +her connection with the Church; the latter paid a full +price for the temporal advantages she received in admitting +civil intervention in her affairs. After a retrospect of a +thousand years, the pious Fratricelli loudly proclaimed +their conviction that the fatal gift of a Christian emperor +had been the doom of true religion.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">His conversion and death.</div> + +<p>From the rough soldier who accepted the purple at +York, how great the change to the effeminate emperor of +the Bosphorus, in silken robes stiffened with threads of +gold, a diadem of sapphires and pearls, and false hair +stained of various tints; his steps stealthily guarded by +mysterious eunuchs flitting through the palace, the streets +full of spies, and an ever-watchful police! The same man +who approaches us as the Roman imperator retires from +us as the Asiatic despot. In the last days of his +life, he put aside the imperial purple, and, +assuming the customary white garment, prepared for +baptism, that the sins of his long and evil life might all +be washed away. Since complete purification can thus be +only once obtained, he was desirous to procrastinate that +ceremony to the last moment. Profoundly politic, even in +his relations with heaven, he thenceforth reclined on a +white bed, took no further part in worldly affairs, and, +having thus insured a right to the continuance of that +prosperity in a future life which he had enjoyed in this, +expired, <small>A.D.</small> 337.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Trinitarian controversy.</div> + +<p>In a theological respect, among the chief events of +this emperor's reign are the Trinitarian controversy and +the open materialization of Christianity. The former, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> +commencing among the Platonizing ecclesiastics of Alexandria, +continued for ages to exert a formidable +influence. From time immemorial, as we have +already related, the Egyptians had been familiar +with various trinities, different ones being worshipped in +different cities, the devotees of each exercising a peaceful +toleration toward those of others. But now things were +greatly changed. It was the settled policy of Constantine +to divert ambition from the state to the Church, and to +make it not only safer, but more profitable to be a great +ecclesiastic than a successful soldier. A violent competition, +for the chief offices was the consequence—a +competition, the prelude of that still greater one for +episcopal supremacy.</p> + +<p>We are now again brought to a consideration of the +variations of opinion which marked this age. It would +be impossible to give a description of them all. I therefore +propose to speak only of the prominent ones. They +are a sufficient guide in our investigation; and of the +Trinitarian controversy first.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Prelude of sectarian dissent.</div> + +<p>For some time past dissensions had been springing up +in the Church. Even out of persecution itself +disunion had arisen. The martyrs who had +suffered for their faith, and the confessors who had nobly +avowed it, gained a worthy consideration and influence, +becoming the intermedium of reconciliation of such of +their weaker brethren as had apostatized in times of peril +by authoritative recommendations to "the peace of the +Church." From this abuses arose. Martyrs were known +to have given the use of their names to "a man and his +friends;" nay, it was even asserted that tickets of +recommendation had been bought for money; and as it +was desirable that a uniformity of discipline should obtain +in all the churches, so that he who was excommunicated +from one should be excommunicated from all, it was +necessary that these abuses should be corrected. In the +controversies that ensued, Novatus founded his sect on +the principle that penitent apostates should, under no +circumstances, be ever again received. Besides this +dissent on a question of discipline, already there were +abundant elements of dispute, such as the time of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span> +observance of Easter, the nature of Christ, the millennium +upon earth, and rebaptism. Already, in Syria, Noetus, +the Unitarian, had foreshadowed what was coming; +already there were Patripassians; already Sabellianism +existed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Arius, his doctrines.</div> + +<p>But it was in Alexandria that the tempest burst forth. +There lived in that city a presbyter of the +name of Arius, who, on occasion of a vacancy +occurring, desired to be appointed bishop. But one Alexander +supplanted him in the coveted dignity. Both +relied on numerous supporters, Arius counting among his +not less than seven hundred virgins of the Mareotic nome. +In his disappointment he accused his successful antagonist +of Sabellianism, and, in retaliation, was anathematized. +It was no wonder that, in such an atmosphere, the +question quickly assumed a philosophical aspect. The +point of difficulty was to define the position of the Son in +the Holy Trinity. Arius took the ground that there was +a time when, from the very nature of sonship, the Son did +not exist, and a time at which he commenced to be, +asserting that it is the necessary condition of the filial +relation that a father must be older than his son. But +this assertion evidently might imply subordination or +inequality among the three persons of the Holy Trinity. +The partisans of Alexander raised up their voices against +such a blasphemous lowering of the Redeemer; the Arians +answered them that, by exalting the Son in every respect +to an equality with the Father, they impugned the great +truth of the unity of God. The new bishop himself +edified the giddy citizens, and perhaps, in some degree, +justified his appointment to his place by displaying his +rhetorical powers in public debates on the question. The +Alexandrians, little anticipating the serious and enduring +results soon to arise, amused themselves, with characteristic +levity, by theatrical representations of the contest +upon the stage. The passions of the two parties were +roused; the Jews and Pagans, of whom the town was full, +exasperated things by their mocking derision. The +dissension spread: the whole country became convulsed. +In the hot climate of Africa, theological controversy soon +ripened into political disturbance. In all Egypt there +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Constantine attempts to check the controversy,</span> +was not a Christian man, and not a woman, who did not +proceed to settle the nature of the unity of God. The +tumult rose to such a pitch that it became +necessary for the emperor to interfere. Doubtless, +at first, he congratulated himself on such a +course of events. It was better that the provinces +should be fanatically engaged in disputes than +secretly employed in treason against his person or conspiracies +against his policy. A united people is an +inconvenience to one in power. Nevertheless, to compose +the matter somewhat, he sent Hosius, the Bishop of +<span class="sidenote">and summons the Council of Nicea.</span> +Cordova, to Alexandria; but, finding that the remedy was +altogether inadequate, he was driven at last to +the memorable expedient of summoning the +Council of Nicea, <small>A.D.</small> 325. It attempted a +settlement of the trouble by a condemnation of Arius, and +the promulgation of authoritative articles of belief as set +forth in the Nicene Creed. As to the main point, the Son +was declared to be of the same substance with the Father—a +temporizing and convenient, but, as the event proved, +a disastrous ambiguity. The Nicene Council, therefore, +settled the question by evading it, and the emperor +enforced the decision by the banishment of Arius.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The fortunesof Arius.</div> + +<p>"I am persecuted," Arius plaintively said, "because I +have taught that the Son had a beginning and the Father +had not." It was the influence of the court theologians +that had made the emperor his personal enemy. +Constantine, as we have seen, had looked upon +the dispute, in the first instance, as altogether frivolous, if +he did not, in truth, himself incline to the assertion of +Arius, that, in the very nature of the thing, a father must +be older than his son. The theatrical exhibitions at +Alexandria in mockery of the question were calculated to +confirm him in his opinion: his judgment was lost in the +theories that were springing up as to the nature of Christ; +for on the Ebionitish, Gnostic, and Platonic doctrines, as +well as on the new one that "the logos" was made out of +nothing, it equally followed that the current opinion must +be erroneous, and that there was a time before which the +Son did not exist.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">His condemnation as a heretic.</div> + +<p>But, as the contest spread through churches and even +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> +families, Constantine had found himself compelled to +intervene. At first he attempted the position of a +moderator, but soon took ground against Arius, advised to +that course by his entourage at Constantinople. It was +at this time that the letter was circulated in which he +denounced Arius as the image of the Devil. +Arius might now have foreseen what must +certainly occur at Nicea. Before that council +was called everything was settled. No contemporary for +a moment supposed that this was an assembly of simple-hearted +men, anxious by a mutual comparison of thought, +to ascertain the truth. Its aim was not to compose such a +creed as would give unity to the Church, but one so +worded that the Arians would be compelled to refuse to +sign it, and so ruin themselves. To the creed was +attached an anathema precisely defining the point of +dispute, and leaving the foreordained victims no chance of +escape. The original Nicene Creed differed in some +<span class="sidenote">The Nicene Creed.</span> +essential particulars from that now current under that +title. Among other things, the fatal and final clause has +been dropped. Thus it ran: "The Holy +Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes +those who say that there was a time when the Son of God +was not; and that before he was begotten he was not, and +that he was made out of nothing, or out of another +substance or essence, and is created, or changeable, or +alterable." The emperor enforced the decision of the +council by the civil power; he circulated letters denouncing +Arius, and initiated those fearful punishments +unhappily destined in future ages to become so frequent, +by ordaining that whoever should find one of the books of +Arius and not burn it should actually be put to death.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Arius received again into court favour,</div> + +<p>It might be thought that, after such a decisive course, +it would be impossible to change, and yet in less than ten +years Constantine is found agreeing with the convict +Arius. A presbyter in the confidence of Constantia, the +emperor's sister, had wrought upon him. Athanasius, now +Bishop of Alexandria, the representative of the +other party, is deposed and banished. Arius is +invited to Constantinople. The emperor orders +Alexander, the bishop of that city, to receive him into +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> +communion to-morrow. It is Saturday. Alexander flees +to the church, and, falling prostrate, prays to God that +he will interpose and save his servant from being forced +<span class="sidenote">and is poisoned.</span> +into this sin, even if it should be by death. That same +evening Arius was seized with a sudden and violent illness +as he passed along the street, and in a few moments he +was found dead in a house, whither he had +hastened. In Constantinople, where men were +familiar with Asiatic crimes, there was more than a +suspicion of poison. But when Alexander's party proclaimed +that his prayer had been answered, they forgot +what then that prayer must have been, and that the +difference is little between praying for the death of a man +and compassing it.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Constantine prepares for a new creed.</div> + +<p>The Arians affirmed that it was the intention of Constantine +to have called a new council, and have the creed +rectified according to his more recent ideas; +but, before he could accomplish this, he was +overtaken by death. So little efficacy was there +in the determination of the Council of Nicea, that for +many years afterward creed upon creed appeared. What +Constantine's new creed would have been may be told +from the fact that the Consubstantialists had gone out of +power, and from what his son Constantius soon after did +at the Council of Ariminium.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Spread of theological disputes.</div> + +<p>So far, therefore, from the Council of Nicea ending the +controversies afflicting religion, they continued +with increasing fury. The sons and successors +of Constantine set an example of violence in +these disputes; and, until the barbarians burst in upon +the empire, the fourth century wore away in theological +feuds. Even the populace, scarcely emerged from paganism, +set itself up for a judge on questions from their very nature +incapable of being solved; and to this the government +gave an impetus by making the profits of public service +the reward of sectarian violence. The policy of Constantine +began to produce its results. Mental activity and +ambition found their true field in ecclesiastical affairs. +Orthodoxy triumphed, because it was more in unison with +the present necessity of the court, while asserting the +predominance of Christianity, to offend as little as might +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> +be the pagan party. The heresy of Arius, though it might +suit the monotheistic views of the educated, did not commend +itself to that large mass who had been so recently +pagan. Already the elements of dissension were obvious +enough; on one side there was an illiterate, intolerant, +unscrupulous, credulous, numerous body, on the other a +refined, better-informed, yet doubting sect. The Emperor +Constantius, guided by his father's latest principles, having +sided with the Arian party, soon found that under the +<span class="sidenote">Athanasius rebels against the emperor.</span> +new system a bishop would, without hesitation, oppose his +sovereign. Athanasius, the Bishop of Alexandria, as the +head of the orthodox party, became the personal +antagonist of the emperor, who attempted, after +vainly using physical compulsion, to resort to +the celestial weapons in vogue by laying claim to Divine +inspiration. Like his father, he had a celestial vision; +but, as his views were Arian, the orthodox rejected without +scruple his supernatural authority, and Hilary of Poictiers +wrote a book to prove that he was Antichrist. The horrible +bloodshed and murders attending these quarrels in the +great cities, and the private life of persons both of high +and low degree, clearly showed that Christianity, through +its union with politics, had fallen into such a state that +it could no longer control the passions of men. The +biography of the sons of Constantine is an awful relation +of family murders. Religion had disappeared, theology +<span class="sidenote">Steady aggression of the Church and crimes +of ecclesiastics.</span> +had come in its stead. Even theology had gone mad. But +in the midst of these disputes worldly interests +were steadily kept in view. At the Council of +Ariminium, <small>A.D.</small> 359, an attempt was made to +have the lands belonging to the churches exempt +from all taxation; to his credit, the emperor steadfastly +refused. Macedonius, the Bishop of Constantinople, who +had passed over the slaughtered bodies of three thousand +people to take possession of his episcopal throne, exceeded +in heresy even Arius himself, by not only asserting the +inferiority of the Son to the Father, but by absolutely +denying the divinity of the Holy Ghost.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Two results of these events.</div> + +<p>As the fruits of these broils, two facts appear: 1st, that +there is a higher law, which the faithful may +obey, in opposition to the law of the land, when +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> +it suits their views; the law of God, as expounded by the +bishop, who can eternally punish the soul, must take +precedence of the law of Cæsar, who can only kill the body +and seize the goods; 2d, that there is a supremacy in the +Bishop of Rome, to whom Athanasius, the leader of the +orthodox, by twice visiting that city, submitted his cause. +The significance of these facts becomes conspicuous in later +ages. Things were evidently shaping themselves for a +trial of strength between the imperial and ecclesiastical +powers, heretofore allied. They were about to quarrel +over their booty.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">History of Papal supremacy.</div> + +<p>We have now to consider this asserted supremacy of the +Bishop of Rome, and how it came to be established as a +political fact. We must also turn from the +Oriental variations of opinion to those of the +West. Except by thus enlarging the field to be +traversed, we can gain no perfect conception of the general +intellectual tendency.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Hellenized Christianity.</div> + +<p>For long after its introduction to Western Europe, +Christianity was essentially a Greek religion. +Its Oriental aspect had become Hellenized. Its +churches had, in the first instance, a Greek organization, +conducted their worship in that tongue, and composed +their writings in it. Though it retained much of this +foreign aspect so long as Rome continued to be the residence, +or was more particularly under the eye of the +emperors, it was gradually being affected by the influences +to which it was exposed. On Western Europe, the questions +which had so profoundly agitated the East, such as +the nature of God, the Trinity, the cause of evil, had made +but little impression, the intellectual peculiarity of the +people being unsuited to such exercises. The foundation +of Constantinople, by taking off the political pressure, +permitted native peculiarities to manifest themselves, and +Latin Christianity emerged in contradistinction to Greek.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Modified by Africanism.</div> + +<p>Yet still it cannot be said that Europe owes its existing +forms of Christianity to a Roman origin. It is +indebted to Africa for them. We live under +African domination.</p> + +<p>I have now with brevity to relate the progress of this +interesting event; how African conceptions were firmly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> +established in Rome, and, by the time that Greek Christianity +had lost its expansive power and ceased to be +aggressive, African Christianity took its place, extending +to the North and West, and obtaining for itself an organization +copied from that of the Roman empire; sacerdotal +prætors, proconsuls, and a Cæsar; developing its own +jurisprudence, establishing its own magistracy, exchanging +the Greek tongue it had hitherto used for the Latin, which, +soon becoming a sacred language, conferred upon it the +most singular advantages.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Subordinate position of the early Roman Church.</div> + +<p>The Greek churches were of the nature of confederated +republics; the Latin Church instinctively tended to +monarchy. Far from assuming an attitude of conspicuous +dignity, the primitive bishops of Rome led a life of +obscurity. In the earliest times, the bishops of Jerusalem, +of whom James, the brother of our Lord, was the first, are +spoken of as the heads of the Church, and so regarded even +in Rome itself. The controversy respecting +Easter, <small>A.D.</small> 109, shows, however, how soon the +disposition for Western supremacy was exhibited, +Victor, the Bishop of Rome, requiring the Asiatic +bishops to conform to the view of his Church respecting +the time at which the festival of Easter should be observed, +and being resisted therein by Polycrates, the Bishop of +Ephesus, on behalf of the Eastern churches, the feud continuing +until the determination of the Council of Nicea. +It was not in Asia alone that the growth of Roman +supremacy was resisted. There is no difficulty in selecting +from ecclesiastical history proofs of the same feeling in +many other quarters. Thus, when the disciples of Montanus, +the Phrygian, who pretended to be the Paraclete, +had converted to their doctrines and austerities the Bishop +of Rome and Tertullian the Carthaginian, on the former +backsliding from that faith, the latter denounced him as a +Patripassian heretic. Yet, for the most part, a good +understanding obtained not only between Rome and +Carthage, but also among the Gallic and Spanish churches, +who looked upon Rome as conspicuous and illustrious, +though as no more than equal to themselves. At the +Council of Carthage St. Cyprian said, "None of us ought to +set himself up as a bishop of bishops, or pretend tyrannically +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> +to restrain his colleagues, because each bishop has a +liberty and power to act as he thinks fit, and can no more +be judged by another bishop than he can judge another. +But we must all wait for the judgment of Jesus Christ, to +whom alone belongs the power to set us over the Church, +and to judge of our actions."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Its gradual increase in wealth and influence,</div> + +<p>Rome by degrees emerged from this equality, not by +the splendid talents of any illustrious man, for among her +early bishops none rose above mediocrity, but +partly from her political position, partly from +the great wealth she soon accumulated, and +partly from the policy she happened to follow. +Her bishop was not present at the Council of Nicea, +<small>A.D.</small> 325, nor at that of Sardica, <small>A.D.</small> 345; perhaps on these +occasions, as on others of a like kind subsequently, the +immediate motive of his standing aloof was the fear that +he might not receive the presidency. Soon, however, was +discerned the advantage of the system of appearing by +representatives. Such an attitude, moreover, offered the +opportunity of frequently holding the balance of power in +the fierce conflicts that soon arose, made Rome a retreat +for the discomfited ecclesiastic, and her bishop, apparently, +an elevated and unbiased arbiter on his case. +It was thus that Athanasius, in his contests with the +emperor, found a refuge and protector. With this elevated +position in the esteem of strangers came also domestic +dignity. The prodigal gifts of the rich Roman ladies had +already made the bishopric to be sought after by those +who esteem the ease and luxuries of life, as well as by the +ambitious. Fierce contests arose on the occurrence of +vacancies. At the election of Damasus, one hundred and +thirty of the slain lay in the basilica of Sisinnius: the +competitors had called in the aid of a rabble of gladiators, +charioteers, and other ruffians; nor could the riots be +ended except by the intervention of the imperial troops.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">and early corruptions.</div> + +<p>It was none too soon that Jerome introduced the monastic +system at Rome—there was need of a change to +austerity; none too soon that legacy-hunting on +the part of the clergy was prohibited by law—it had +become a public scandal; none too soon that Jerome +struggled for the patronage of the rich Roman women; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> +none too soon that this stern fanatic denounced the immorality +of the Roman clergy, when even the Bishop +Damasus himself was involved in a charge of adultery. +It became clear, if the clergy would hold their ground in +public estimation against their antagonists the monks, +that celibacy must be insisted on. The doctrine of the +pre-eminent value of virginity was steadily making progress; +but it cost many years of struggle before the monks +carried their point, and the celibacy of the clergy became +compulsory.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Necessity for an apostolic head.</div> + +<p>It had long been seen by those who hoped for Roman +supremacy that there was a necessity for the +establishment of a definite and ascertained doctrine—a +necessity for recognizing some apostolic +man, who might be the representative of a criterion of +truth. The Eastern system of deciding by councils was +in its nature uncertain. The councils themselves had +no ascertained organization. Experience had shown that +they were too much under the control of the court at +Constantinople.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Necessity for Councils or a pontiff.</div> + +<p>This tendency to accept the republican decisions of +councils in the East, and monarchical ones by a +supreme pontiff in the West, in reality, however, +depended on a common sentiment entertained +by reflecting men everywhere. Something must be done +to check the anarchy of opinion.</p> + +<p>To show how this tendency was satisfied, it will be +sufficient to select, out of the numberless controversies of +the times, a few leading ones. A clear light is thrown +upon the matter by the history of the Pelagian, Nestorian, +and Eutychian heresies. Their chronological period is from +about <small>A.D.</small> 400 to <small>A.D.</small> 450.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Pelagian controversy</div> + +<p>Pelagius was the assumed name of a British monk, who, +about the first of those dates, passed through +Western Europe and Northern Africa, teaching +the doctrines that Adam was by nature mortal, and that, +if he had not sinned, he nevertheless would have died; +that the consequences of his sin were confined to himself, +and did not affect his posterity; that new-born infants +are in the same condition as Adam before his fall; that we +are at birth as pure as he was; that we sin by our own +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> +free will, and in the same manner may reform, and thereby +work out our own salvation; that the grace of God is +given according to our merits. He was repelled from +Africa by the influence of St. Augustine, and denounced +in Palestine from the cell of Jerome. He specially insisted +on this, that it is not the mere act of baptizing by water +that washes away sin, sin can only be removed by good +<span class="sidenote">Effect of Pelagianism on papal superiority.</span> +works. Infants are baptized before it is possible that they +could have sinned. On the contrary, Augustine +resisted these doctrines, resting himself on the +words of Scripture that baptism is for the remission +of sins. The case of children compelled +that father to introduce the doctrine of original sin as +derived from Adam, notwithstanding the dreadful consequences +if they die unbaptized. In like manner also +followed the doctrines of predestination, grace, atonement.</p> + +<p>Summoned before a synod at Diospolis, Pelagius was unexpectedly +acquitted of heresy—an extraordinary decision, +which brought Africa and the East into conflict. Under +these circumstances, perhaps without a clear foresight of the +issue, the matter was referred to Rome as arbiter or judge.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Settlement of the Pelagian question by the Africans.</div> + +<p>In his decision, Innocent I., magnifying the dignity of the +Roman see and the advantage of such a supreme tribunal, +determined in favour of the African bishops. But scarcely +had he done this when he died, and his successor, Zosimus, +annulled his judgment, and declared the opinions of +Pelagius to be orthodox. Carthage now put +herself in an attitude of resistance. There was +danger of a metaphysical or theological Punic +war. Meantime the wily Africans quietly procured +from the emperor an edict denouncing Pelagius as a +heretic. Through the influence of Count Valerius the +faith of Europe was settled; the heresiarchs and their +accomplices were condemned to exile and forfeiture of +their estates; the contested doctrine that Adam was +created without any liability to death was established by +law; to deny it was a state crime. Thus it appears that +the vacillating papacy was not yet strong enough to exalt +itself above its equals, and the orthodoxy of Europe was +for ever determined by an obscure court intrigue.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Nestorian controversy.</div> + +<p>Scarcely was the Pelagian controversy disposed of when +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> +a new heresy appeared. Nestorius, the Bishop of Antioch, +attempted to distinguish between the divine +and human nature of Christ; he considered +that they had become too much confounded, and that "the +God" ought to be kept separate from "the Man." Hence +it followed that the Virgin Mary should not be regarded +as the "Mother of God," but only the "Mother of Christ—the +God-man." Called by the Emperor Theodosius the +Younger to the episcopate of Constantinople, <small>A.D.</small> 427, +Nestorius was very quickly plunged by the intrigues of a +disappointed faction of that city into disputes with the +populace.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The doctrines of Nestorius.</div> + +<p>Let us hear the Bishop of Constantinople himself; he is +preaching in the great metropolitan church, +setting forth, with all the eloquence of which +language is capable, the attributes of the illimitable, the +everlasting, the Almighty God. "And can this God have +a mother? The heathen notion of a god born of a mortal +mother is directly confuted by St. Paul, who declares the +Lord to be without father and without mother. Could +a creature bear the uncreated?" He thus insisted that +what was born of Mary was human, and the divine was +added afterwards. At once the monks raised a riot in the +city, and Cyril, the Bishop of Alexandria, espoused their +cause.</p> + +<p>Beneath the outraged orthodoxy of Cyril lay an ill-concealed +motive, the desire of the Bishop of Alexandria +to humble the Bishop of Constantinople. The uproar +commenced with sermons, epistles, addresses. Instigated +by the monks of Alexandria, the monks of Constantinople +took up arms in behalf of "the Mother of God." Again +we remark the eminent position of Rome. Both parties +turn to her as an arbiter. Pope Celestine assembles a +synod. The Bishop of Constantinople is ordered by the +Bishop of Rome to recant, or hold himself under excommunication, +Italian supremacy is emerging through +Oriental disputes, yet not without a struggle. Relying +on his influence at court, Nestorius resists, excommunicates +Cyril, and the emperor summons a council to meet at +Ephesus.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Overthrow of Nestorianism by the Africans.</div> + +<p>To that council Nestorius repaired, with sixteen bishops +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span> +and some of the city populace. Cyril collected fifty, +together with a rabble of sailors, bath-men, and women +of the baser sort. The imperial commissioner with his +troops with difficulty repressed the tumult of the assembly. +The rescript was fraudulently read before the +arrival of the Syrian bishops. In one day the +matter was completed; the Virgin's party +triumphed, and Nestorius was deposed. On +the arrival of the Syrian ecclesiastics, a meeting of protest +was held by them. A riot, with much bloodshed, occurred +in the Cathedral of St. John. The emperor was again +compelled to interfere; he ordered eight deputies from +each party to meet him at Chalcedon. In the meantime +court intrigues decided the matter. The emperor's sister +was in after times celebrated by the party of Cyril as +<span class="sidenote">Worship of the Virgin Mary.</span> +having been the cause of the discomfiture of +Nestorius: "the Holy Virgin of the court of +Heaven had found an ally of her own sex in the +holy virgin of the emperor's court." But there were also +other very efficient auxiliaries. In the treasury of the +chief eunuch, which some time after there was occasion to +open, was discovered an acknowledgment of many pounds +of gold received by him from Cyril, through Paul, his +sister's son. Nestorius was abandoned by the court, and +eventually exiled to an Egyptian oasis. An edifying +legend relates that his blasphemous tongue was devoured +by worms, and that from the heats of an Egyptian desert +he escaped only into the hotter torments of Hell.</p> + +<p>So, again, in the affair of Nestorius as in that of +Pelagius, Africa triumphed, and the supremacy of Rome, +her ally or confederate, was becoming more and more +distinct.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Eutychian +controversy.</div> + +<p>A very important result in this gradual evolution of +Roman supremacy arose from the affair of Eutyches, the +Archimandrite of a convent of monks at Constantinople. +He had distinguished himself as +a leader in the riots occurring at the time of +Nestorius and in other subsequent troubles. Accused +before a synod held in Constantinople of denying the two +natures of Christ, of saying that if there be two natures +there must be two Sons, Eutyches was convicted, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> +sentence of excommunication passed upon him. This +was, however, only the ostensible cause of his condemnation; +the true motive was connected with a court +intrigue. The chief eunuch, who was his godson, was +occupied in a double movement to elevate Eutyches to +the see of Constantinople, and to destroy the authority of +Pulcheria, the emperor's sister, by Eudocia, the emperor's +wife. On his condemnation, Eutyches appealed to the +emperor, who summoned, at the instigation of the eunuch, +a council to meet at Ephesus. This was the celebrated +"Robber Synod," as it was called. It pronounced in +favour of the orthodoxy of Eutyches, and ordered his restoration, +deposing the Bishop of Constantinople, Flavianus, +who was his rival, and at the synod had been his judge +and also Eusebius, who had been his accuser. A riot ensued, +in which the Bishop of Constantinople was murdered +by the Bishop of Alexandria and one Barsumas, who +beat him with their fists amid cries of "Kill him! kill +him!" The Italian legates made their escape from +the uproar with difficulty.</p> + +<p>The success of these movements was mainly due to +Dioscorus, the Bishop of Alexandria, who thus accomplished +the overthrow of his rivals of Antioch and Constantinople. +An imperial edict gave force to the determination +of the council. At this point the Bishop of Rome +intervened, refusing to acknowledge the proceedings. It +was well that Alexandria and Constantinople should be +perpetually struggling, but it was not well that either +should become paramount. Dioscorus thereupon broke off +communion with him. Rome and Alexandria were at issue.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Another advance of Rome to power through Eutychianism.</div> + +<p>In a fortunate moment the emperor died; his sister, the +orthodox Pulcheria, the friend of Leo, married Marcian, +and made him emperor. A council was summoned at +Chalcedon. Leo wished it to be in Italy, where no one +could have disputed his presidency. As it was, he fell +back on the ancient policy, and appeared by +representatives. Dioscorus was overthrown, and +sentence pronounced against him, in behalf of +the council, by one of the representatives of Leo. +It set forth that "Leo, therefore, by their voice, and with +the authority of the council, in the name of the Apostle +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> +Peter, the Rock and foundation of the Church, deposes +Dioscorus from his episcopal dignity, and excludes him +from all Christian rites and privileges."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The rivalry +of Constantinople.</div> + +<p>But, perhaps that no permanent advantage might accrue +to Rome from the eminent position she was attaining in +these transactions, when most of the prelates had left the +council, a few, who were chiefly of the diocese of +Constantinople, passed, among other canons, one +to the effect that the supremacy of the Roman +see was not in right of its descent from St. Peter, but +because it was the bishopric of an imperial city. It +assigned, therefore, to the Bishop of Constantinople equal +civil dignity and ecclesiastical authority. Rome ever +refused to recognize the validity of this canon.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Rivalries of the three great bishops.</div> + +<p>In these contests of Rome, Constantinople, and Alexandria +for supremacy—for, after all, they were nothing +more than the rivalries of ambitious placemen for power—the +Roman bishop uniformly came forth the +gainer. And it is to be remarked that he +deserved to be so; his course was always dignified, +often noble; theirs exhibited a reckless scramble +for influence, an unscrupulous resort to bribery, court +intrigue, murder.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Nature of ecclesiastical councils.</div> + +<p>Thus the want of a criterion of truth, and a determination +to arrest a spirit of inquiry that had become +troublesome, led to the introduction of councils, by which, +in an authoritative manner, theological questions might +be settled. But it is to be observed that these councils +did not accredit themselves by the coincidence of their +decisions on successive occasions, since they often contradicted +one another; nor did they sustain +those decisions only with a moral influence +arising from the understanding of man, enlightened +by their investigations and conclusions. Their +human character is clearly shown by the necessity under +which they laboured of enforcing their arbitrary conclusions +by the support of the civil power. The same +necessity which, in the monarchical East, led thus to the +republican form of a council, led in the democratic West +to the development of the autocratic papal power: but +in both it was found that the final authority thus +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span> +appealed to had no innate or divinely derived energy. It +was altogether helpless except by the aid of military or +civil compulsion against any one disposed to resist it.</p> + +<p>No other opinion could be entertained of the character +of these assemblages by men of practical ability who had +been concerned in their transactions. Gregory of Nazianzen, +one of the most pious and able men of his age, and +one who, during a part of its sittings, was president of the +Council of Constantinople, <small>A.D.</small> 381, refused subsequently to +attend any more, saying that he had never known an +assembly of bishops terminate well; that, instead of +removing evils, they only increased them, and that their +strifes and lust of power were not to be described. A +thousand years later, Æneas Sylvius, Pope Pius II., speaking +of another council, observes that it was not so much +directed by the Holy Ghost as by the passions of men.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Progressive variation of human thought +manifested by these councils.</div> + +<p>Notwithstanding the contradictions and opposition +they so frequently exhibit, there may be discerned +in the decisions of these bodies the +traces of an affiliation indicating the continuous +progression of thought. Thus, of the +four œcumenical councils that were concerned +with the facts spoken of in the preceding pages, that of +Nicea determined the Son to be of the same substance +with the Father; that of Constantinople, that the Son +and Holy Spirit are equal to the Father; that of Ephesus, +that the two natures of Christ make but one person; and +that of Chalcedon, that these natures remain two, +notwithstanding their personal union. But that they +failed of their object in constituting a criterion of truth +is plainly demonstrated by such simple facts as that, in +the fourth century alone, there were thirteen councils +adverse to Arius, fifteen in his favour, and seventeen for +the semi-Arians—in all, forty-five. From such a confusion, +it was necessary that the councils themselves must be +subordinate to a higher authority—a higher criterion, able +to give to them or refuse to them authenticity. That the +source of power, both for the council in the East and the +papacy in the West, was altogether political, is proved by +almost every transaction in which they were concerned. +In the case of the papacy, this was well seen in the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span> +contest between Hilary the Bishop of Arles, and Leo, on +which occasion an edict was issued by the Emperor +<span class="sidenote">Pontifical power sustained by physical force.</span> +Valentinian denouncing the contumacy of Hilary, and +setting forth that "though the sentence of so great a +pontiff as the Bishop of Rome did not need +imperial confirmation, yet that it must now +be understood by all bishops that the decrees +of the apostolic see should henceforth be law, +and that whoever refused to obey the citation of the +Roman pontiff should be compelled to do so by the +Moderator of the province." Herein we see the intrinsic +nature of Papal power distinctly. It is allied with +physical force.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The fall of Rome.</div> + +<p>In the midst of these theological disputes occurred that +great event which I have designated as marking +the close of the age of Inquiry. It was +the fall of Rome.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Spread of the barbarians.</div> + +<p>In the Eastern empire the Goths had become permanently +settled, having laws of their own, a magistracy of +their own, paying no taxes, but contributing 40,000 men +to the army. The Visigoths were spreading through +Greece, Spain, Italy. In their devastations of +the former country, they had spared Athens, +for the sake of her souvenirs. The Eleusinian mysteries +had ceased. From that day Greece never saw prosperity +again. Alaric entered Italy. Stilicho, the imperial +general, forced him to retreat. Rhadogast made his +invasion. Stilicho compelled him to surrender at discretion. +The Burgundians and Vandals overflowed Gaul; +the Suevi, Vandals, and Alans overflowed Spain. Stilicho, +a man worthy of the old days of the republic, though +a Goth, was murdered by the emperor his master. +Alaric appeared before Rome. It was 619 years since she +had felt the presence of a foreign enemy, and that was +Hannibal. She still contained 1780 senatorial palaces, +<span class="sidenote">Capture and sack of Rome by Alaric.</span> +the annual income of some of the owners +of which was 160,000<i>l.</i> The city was eighteen +miles in circumference, and contained above +a million of people—of people, as in old times clamorous +for distributions of bread, and wine, and oil. In its +conscious despair, the apostate city, it is said, with the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span> +consent of the pope, offered sacrifice to Jupiter, its repudiated, +and, as it now believed, its offended god. +200,000<i>l.</i>, together with many costly goods, were paid as +a ransom. The barbarian general retired. He was +insulted by the emperor from his fastness at Ravenna. +Altercations and new marches ensued; and at last, for the +third time, Alaric appeared before Rome. At midnight +on the 24th of April, <small>A.D.</small> 410, eleven hundred and sixty-three +years from the foundation of the city, the Salarian +gate was opened to him by the treachery of slaves; there +was no god to defend her in her dire extremity, and Rome +was sacked by the Goths.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Accusations of the Pagans against the Christians.</div> + +<p>Has the Eternal City really fallen! was the universal +exclamation throughout the empire when it became known +that Alaric had taken Rome. Though paganism had +been ruined in a national sense, the true Roman ethnical +element had never given it up, but was dying out with it, +a relic of the population of the city still adhering +to the ancient faith. Among this were not +wanting many of the aristocratic families and +philosophers, who imputed the disaster to +the public apostasy, and in their shame and suffering +loudly proclaimed that the nation was justly punished for +its abandonment of the gods of its forefathers, the gods +who had given victory and empire. It became necessary +for the Church to meet this accusation, which, while it +was openly urged by thousands, was doubtless believed to +be true by silent, and timid, and panic-stricken millions. +With the intention of defending Christianity, St. Augustine, +one of the ablest of the fathers, solemnly devoted +thirteen years of his life to the composition of his great +work entitled "The City of God." It is interesting for +us to remark the tone of some of these replies of the +Christians to their pagan adversaries.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Christian reply.</div> + +<p>"For the manifest deterioration of Roman manners, and +for the impending dissolution of the state, paganism itself +is responsible. Our political power is only of yesterday; +it is in no manner concerned with the gradual +development of luxury and wickedness, which +has been going on for the last thousand years. Your +ancestors made war a trade; they laid under tribute and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> +enslaved the adjacent nations, but were not profusion, +extravagance, dissipation, the necessary consequences of +conquest? was not Roman idleness the inevitable result +of the filling of Italy with slaves? Every hour rendered +wider that bottomless gulf which separates immense riches +from abject poverty. Did not the middle class, in which +reside the virtue and strength of a nation, disappear, and +aristocratic families remain in Rome, whose estates in +Syria or Spain, Gaul or Africa, equalled, nay, even exceeded +in extent and revenue illustrious kingdoms, +provinces for the annexation of which the republic of old +had decreed triumphs? Was there not in the streets a +profligate rabble living in total idleness, fed and amused +at the expense of the state? We are not answerable for +the grinding oppression perpetrated on the rural populations +until they have been driven to despair, their +numbers so diminishing as to warn us that there is +danger of their being extinguished. We did not suggest +to the Emperor Trajan to abandon Dacia, and neglect +that policy which fixed the boundaries of the empire at +strong military posts. We did not suggest to Caracalla to +admit all sorts of people to Roman citizenship, nor dislocate +the population by a wild pursuit of civil offices or the +discharge of military duties. We did not crowd Italy +with slaves, nor make those miserable men more degraded +than the beasts of the field, compelling them to labours +which are the business of the brutes. We have taught +and practised a very different doctrine. We did not +nightly put into irons the population of provinces and +cities reduced to bondage. We are not responsible for the +inevitable insurrections, poisonings, assassinations, vengeance. +We did not bring on that state of things in +which a man having a patrimony found it his best +interest to abandon it without compensation and flee. We +did not demoralize the populace by providing them food, +games, races, theatres; we have been persecuted because +we would not set our feet in a theatre. We did not ruin +the senate and aristocracy by sacrificing everything, even +ourselves, for the Julian family. We did not neutralize +the legions by setting them to fight against one another. +We were not the first to degrade Rome. Diocletian, who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> +persecuted us, gave the example by establishing his +residence at Nicomedia. As to the sentiment of patriotism +of which you vaunt, was it not destroyed by your own +emperors? When they had made Roman citizens of Gauls +and Egyptians, Africans and Huns, Spaniards and Syrians, +how could they expect that such a motley crew would remain +true to the interests of an Italian town, and that town +their hated oppressor. Patriotism depends on concentration; +it cannot bear diffusion. Something more than +such a worldly tie was wanted to bind the diverse nations +together; they have found it in Christianity. A common +language imparts community of thought and feeling; but +what was to be expected when Greek is the language of +one half of the ruling classes, and Latin of the other? +we say nothing of the thousand unintelligible forms of +speech in use throughout the Roman world. The fall of +the senate preceded, by a few years, the origin of Christianity; +you surely will not say that we were the inciters +of the usurpations of the Cæsars? What have we had to +do with the army, that engine of violence, which, in ninety-two +years gave you thirty-two emperors and twenty-seven +pretenders to the throne? We did not suggest to the +Prætorian Guards to put up the empire to auction.</p> + +<p>"Can you really wonder that all this should come to an +end? We do not wonder; on the contrary, we thank God +for it. It is time that the human race had rest. The +sighing of the prisoner, the prayer of the captive, are +heard at last. Yet the judgment has been tempered with +mercy. Had the pagan Rhadogast taken Rome, not a life +would have been spared, no stone left on another. The +Christian Alaric, though a Goth, respects his Christian +brethren, and for their sakes you are saved. As to the +gods, those dæmons in whom you trust, did they always +save you from calamity? How long did Hannibal insult +them? Was it a goose or a god that saved the Capitol +from Brennus? Where were the gods in all the defeats, +some of them but recent, of the pagan emperors? It is +well that the purple Babylon has fallen, the harlot who +was drunk with the blood of nations.</p> + +<p>"In the place of this earthly city, this vaunted mistress, +of the world, whose fall closes a long career of superstition +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span> +and sin, there shall arise "the City of God." The +purifying fire of the barbarian shall remove her heathenish +defilements, and make her fit for the kingdom of Christ. +Instead of a thousand years of that night of crime, to +which in your despair you look back, there is before her +the day of the millennium, predicted by the prophets of +old. In her regenerated walls there shall be no taint of +sin, but righteousness and peace; no stain of the vanities +of the world, no conflicts of ambition, no sordid hunger +for gold, no lust after glory, no desire for domination, +but holiness to the Lord."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">St. Augustine's "City of God."</div> + +<p>Of those who in such sentiments defended the cause of +the new religion St. Augustine was the chief. +In his great work, "the City of God," which +may be regarded as the ablest specimen of the +early Christian literature, he pursues this theme, if not +in the language, at least in the spirit here presented, and +through a copious detail of many books. On the later +Christianity of the Western churches he has exerted more +influence than any other of the fathers. To him is due +much of the precision of our views on original sin, total +depravity, grace, predestination, election.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Life and writings of St. Augustine.</div> + +<p>In his early years St. Augustine had led a frivolous and +evil life, plunging into all the dissipations of the gay city +of Carthage. Through the devious paths of +Manichæism, astrology, and scepticism, he at +last arrived at the truth. It was not, however, +the Fathers, but Cicero, to whom the good change was +due; the writings of that great orator won him over to a +love of wisdom, weaning him from the pleasures of the +theatre, the follies of divination and superstition. From +his Manichæan errors, he was snatched by Ambrose, the +Bishop of Milan, who baptized him, together with his +illegitimate son Adeodatus. In his writings we may, without +difficulty, recognize the vestiges of Magianism, not as +regards the duality of God, but as respects the division +of mankind—the elect and lost; the kingdoms of grace +and perdition, of God and the devil; answering to the +Oriental ideas of the rule of light and darkness. From +Ambrose, St. Augustine learned those high Trinitarian +doctrines which were soon enforced in the West.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span> +In his philosophical disquisitions on Time, Matter, +Memory, this far-famed writer is, however, always unsatisfactory, +often trivial. His doctrine that Scripture, +as the word of God, is capable of a manifold meaning, led +him into many delusions, and exercised, in subsequent +ages, a most baneful influence on true science. Thus +he finds in the Mosaic account of the creation proofs of +the Trinity; that the firmament spoken of therein is the +type of God's word; and that there is a correspondence +between creation itself and the Church. His numerous +books have often been translated, especially his Confessions, +a work that has delighted and edified fifty generations, +but which must, after all, yield the palm, as a +literary production, to the writings of Bunyan, who, like +Augustine, gave himself up to all the agony of unsparing +personal examination and relentless self-condemnation, +anatomizing his very soul, and dragging forth every sin +into the face of day.</p> + +<p>The ecclesiastical influence of St. Augustine has so +completely eclipsed his political biography, that but little +attention has been given to his conduct in the interesting +time in which he lived. Sismondi recalls to his disadvantage +that he was the friend of Count Boniface, who +invited Genseric and his Vandals into Africa; the bloody +consequences of that conspiracy cannot be exaggerated. +It was through him that the count's name has been +transmitted to posterity without infamy. Boniface +was with him when he died, at Hippo, August 28th, +<small>A.D.</small> 440.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Propitious effect of Alaric's siege.</div> + +<p>When Rome thus fell before Alaric, so far from the provincial +Christians bewailing her misfortune, +they actually gloried in it. They critically +distinguished between the downfall of the purple +pagan harlot and the untouched city of God. The vengeance +of the Goth had fallen on the temples, but the churches +had been spared. Though in subsequent and not very +distant calamities of the city these triumphant distinctions +could scarcely be maintained, there can be no doubt that +that catastrophe singularly developed papal power. The +abasement of the ancient aristocracy brought into relief +the bishop. It has been truly said that, as Rome rose from +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span> +her ruins, the bishop was discerned to be her most conspicuous +man. Most opportunely, at this period Jerome +had completed his Latin translation of the Bible. The +Vulgate henceforth became the ecclesiastical authority of +the West. The influence of the heathen classics, which +that austere anchorite had in early life admired, but had +vainly attempted to free himself from by unremitting +nocturnal flagellations, appears in this great version. It +came at a critical moment for the West. In the politic +non-committalism of Rome, it was not expedient that a +pope should be an author. The Vulgate was all that the +times required. Henceforth the East might occupy herself +in the harmless fabrication of creeds and of heresies; the +West could develop her practical talent in the much more +important organization of ecclesiastical power.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The fate of the three great bishops.</div> + +<p>Doubtless not without interest will the reader of these +pages remark how closely the process of ecclesiastical events +resembles that of civil. In both there is an irresistible +tendency to the concentration of power. As in Roman +history we have seen a few families, and, indeed, at last, +one man grasp the influence which in earlier times was +disseminated among the people, so in the Church the congregations +are quickly found in subordination to their +bishops, and these, in their turn, succumbing to a +perpetually diminishing number of their compeers. In +the period we are now considering, the minor +episcopates, such as those of Jerusalem, Antioch, +Carthage, had virtually lost their pristine force, +everything having converged into the three great sees of +Constantinople, Alexandria, and Rome. The history of +the time is a record of the desperate struggles of the three +chief bishops for supremacy. In this conflict Rome +possessed many advantages; the two others were more +immediately under the control of the imperial government, +the clashing of interests between them more frequent, their +rivalry more bitter. The control of ecclesiastical power +was hence perpetually in Rome, though she was, both +politically and intellectually, inferior to her competitors. +As of old, there was a triumvirate in the world destined +to concentrate into a despotism. And, as if to remind +men that the principles involved in the movements of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> +Church are of the same nature as those involved in the +movements of the state, the resemblances here pointed out +are sometimes singularly illustrated in trifling details. +The Bishop of Alexandria was not the first triumvir who +came to an untimely end on the banks of the Nile; the +Roman pontiff was not the first who consolidated his power +by the aid of Gallic legions.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> +THE EUROPEAN AGE OF FAITH.</p> + +<p class='center'><small>AGE OF FAITH IN THE EAST.</small></p> + +<div class='blockquot'><p class='ind'><i>Consolidation of the Byzantine System, or the Union of Church and +State.—The consequent Paganization of Religion and Persecution of +Philosophy.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Political Necessity for the enforcement of Patristicism, or Science of the +Fathers.—Its peculiar Doctrines.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Obliteration of the Vestiges of Greek Knowledge by Patristicism.—The +Libraries and Serapion of Alexandria.—Destruction of the latter by +Theodosius.—Death of Hypatia.—Extinction of Learning in the East +by Cyril, his Associates and Successors.</i></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote">The age of Faith.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> policy of Constantine the Great inevitably tended +to the paganization of Christianity. An incorporation of +its pure doctrines with decaying pagan ideas was +the necessary consequence of the control that had been +attained by unscrupulous politicians and placemen. The +faith, thus contaminated, gained a more general +and ready popular acceptance, but at the cost of +a new lease of life to those ideas. So thorough was the +adulteration, that it was not until the Reformation, a period +of more than a thousand years, that a separation of the +true from the false could be accomplished.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Subdivision of the subject.</div> + +<p>Considering how many nations were involved in these +events, and the length of time over which they extend, a +clear treatment of the subject requires its subdivision. I +shall therefore speak, 1st, of the Age of Faith in +the East; 2nd, of the Age of Faith in the West. +The former was closed prematurely by the Mohammedan +conquest; the latter, after undergoing slow metamorphosis, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span> +passed into the European Age of Reason during the +pontificate of Nicholas V.</p> + +<p>In this and the following chapter I shall therefore treat +of the age of Faith in the East, and of the catastrophe that +closed it. I shall then turn to the Age of Faith in the +West—a long but an instructive story.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="sidenote">The paganization of Christianity.</div> + +<p>The paganization of religion was in no small degree +accomplished by the influence of the females of +the court of Constantinople. It soon manifested +all the essential features of a true mythology +and hero-worship. Helena, the empress-mother, superintended +the building of monumental churches over the reputed +places of interest in the history of our Saviour—those +of his birth, his burial, his ascension. A vast and ever-increasing +crowd of converts from paganism, who had become +such from worldly considerations, and still hankered after +wonders like those in which their forefathers had from time +immemorial believed, lent a ready ear to assertions which, +to more hesitating or better-instructed minds, would have +<span class="sidenote">Discovery of the true cross and nails.</span> +seemed to carry imposture on their very face. A temple of +Venus, formerly erected on the site of the Holy Sepulchre, +being torn down, there were discovered, in +a cavern beneath, three crosses, and also the +inscription written by Pilate. The Saviour's +cross, being by miracle distinguished from those of the +thieves, was divided, a part being kept at Jerusalem and +a part sent to Constantinople, together with the nails used +in the crucifixion, which were also fortunately found. +These were destined to adorn the head of the emperor's +statue on the top of the porphyry pillar. The wood of +the cross, moreover, displayed a property of growth, and +hence furnished an abundant supply for the demands of +pilgrims, and an unfailing source of pecuniary profit to its +possessors. In the course of subsequent years there was +accumulated in the various churches of Europe, from this +particular relic, a sufficiency to have constructed many +hundred crosses. The age that could accept such a prodigy, +of course found no difficulty in the vision of Constantine +and the story of the Labarum.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Political causes of paganization.</div> + +<p>Such was the tendency of the times to adulterate +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span> +Christianity with the spirit of paganism, partly to conciliate +the prejudices of worldly converts, partly +in the hope of securing its more rapid spread. +There is a solemnity in the truthful accusation +which Faustus makes to Augustine: "You have substituted +your agapæ for the sacrifices of the pagans; for their idols +your martyrs, whom you serve with the very same honours. +You appease the shades of the dead with wine and feasts; +you celebrate the solemn festivals of the Gentiles, their +calends and their solstices; and as to their manners, those +you have retained without any alteration. Nothing distinguishes +you from the pagans except that you hold your +assemblies apart from them."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Relative action of faith and philosophy.</div> + +<p>As we have seen in the last chapter, the course of +political affairs had detached the power of the state from +the philosophical and polytheistic parties. Joined to the +new movement, it was not long before it gave significant +proofs of the sincerity of its friendship by commencing an +active persecution of the remnant of philosophy. +It is to be borne in mind that the direction of +the proselytism, which was thus leading to +important results, was from below upward +through society. As to philosophy, its action had been +in the other direction; its depository in the few enlightened, +in the few educated; its course, socially, from above +downward. Under these circumstances, it was obvious +enough that the prejudices of the ignorant populace would +find, in the end, a full expression; that learning would +have no consideration shown to it, or would be denounced as +mere magic; that philosophy would be looked upon as a +vain, and therefore sinful pursuit. When once a political +aspirant has bidden with the multitude for power, and +still depends on their pleasure for effective support, it is +<span class="sidenote">The emperors resist their ecclesiastical allies.</span> +no easy thing to refuse their wishes or hold back from +their demands. Even Constantine himself felt +the pressure of the influence to which he was +allied, and was compelled to surrender his friend +Sopater, the philosopher, who was accused of +binding the winds in an adverse quarter by the influence +of magic, so that the corn-ships could not reach Constantinople; +and the emperor was obliged to give orders for +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span> +his decapitation to satisfy the clamours in the theatre. +Not that such requisitions were submitted to without a +struggle, or that succeeding sovereigns were willing to +make their dignity tacitly subordinate to ecclesiastical +domination. It was the aim of Constantine to make theology +a branch of politics; it was the hope of every bishop +in the empire to make politics a branch of theology. +Already, however, it was apparent that the ecclesiastical +party would, in the end, get the upper hand, and that the +reluctance of some of the emperors to obey its behests +was merely the revolt of individual minds, and therefore +ephemeral in its nature, and that the popular wishes +would be abundantly gratified as soon as emperors arose +who not merely, like Constantine, availed themselves of +Christianity, but absolutely and sincerely adopted it.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Emperor Julian.</div> + +<p>Julian, by his brief but ineffectual attempt to restore +paganism, scarcely restrained for a moment the course of +the new doctrines now strengthening themselves +continually in public estimation by incorporating +ideas borrowed from paganism. Through the reign of +Valentinian, who was a Nicenist, and of Valens, who was +an Arian, things went on almost as if the episode of Julian +had never occurred. The ancient gods, whose existence +no one seems ever to have denied, were now thoroughly +<span class="sidenote">Persecutions of his successors.</span> +identified with dæmons; their worship was stigmatized as +the practice of magic. Against this crime, regarded by +the laws as equal to treason, a violent persecution +arose. Persons resorting to Rome for the +purposes of study were forbidden to remain there +after they were twenty-one years of age. The force of +this persecution fell practically upon the old religion, +though nominally directed against the black art, for the +primary function of paganism was to foretell future events +in this world, and hence its connexion with divination +and its punishment as magic.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Necessity of learning to the bishops.</div> + +<p>But the persecution, though directed at paganism, struck +also at what remained of philosophy. A great party had +attained to power under circumstances which +compelled it to enforce the principle on which +it was originally founded. That principle was +the exaction of unhesitating belief, which, though it will +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span> +answer very well for the humbler and more numerous class +of men, is unsuited for those of a higher intellectual grade. +The policy of Constantine had opened a career in the state, +through the Church, for men of the lowest rank. Many +of such had already attained to the highest dignities. A +burning zeal rather than the possession of profound learning +animated them. But eminent position once attained, +none stood more in need of the appearance of wisdom. +Under such circumstances, they were tempted to set up +their own notions as final and unimpeachable truth, and +to denounce as magic, or the sinful pursuit of vain trifling, +all the learning that stood in the way. In this the hand +of the civil power assisted. It was intended to cut off +every philosopher. Every manuscript that could be seized +was forthwith burned. Throughout the East, men in +terror destroyed their libraries, for fear that some unfortunate +sentence contained in any of the books should +<span class="sidenote">Growth of bigotry and superstition.</span> +involve them and their families in destruction. The universal +opinion was that it was right to compel men to +believe what the majority of society had now +accepted as the truth, and, if they refused, it +was right to punish them. No one in the +dominating party was heard to raise his voice in behalf +of intellectual liberty. The mystery of things above +reason was held to be the very cause that they should be +accepted by Faith; a singular merit was supposed to +appertain to that mental condition in which belief precedes +understanding.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Fanaticism of Theodosius.</div> + +<p>The death-blow to paganism was given by the Emperor +Theodosius, a Spaniard, who, from the services he rendered +in this particular, has been rewarded with the +title of "The Great." From making the practice +of magic and the inspection of the entrails of animals +capital offences, he proceeded to prohibit sacrifices, <small>A.D.</small> 391, +and even the entering of temples. He alienated the +revenues of many temples, confiscated the estates of others, +some he demolished. The vestal virgins he dismissed, and +any house profaned by incense he declared forfeited to the +imperial exchequer. When once the property of a religious +establishment has been irrevocably taken away, it is +needless to declare its worship a capital crime.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span> +But not only did the government thus constitute itself a +thorough auxiliary of the new religion; it also tried to +secure it from its own dissensions. Apostates were deprived +of the right of bequeathing their own property. Inquisitors +of faith were established; they were at once spies and +judges, the prototypes of the most fearful tribunal of modern +times. Theodosius, to whom the carrying into effect of +these measures was due, found it, however, more expedient +for himself to institute living emblems of his personal faith +than to rely on any ambiguous creed. He therefore sentenced +all those to be deprived of civil rights, and to be +driven into exile, who did not accord with the belief of +Damasus, the Bishop of Rome, and Peter, the Bishop of +Alexandria. Those who presumed to celebrate Easter on +the same day as the Jews he condemned to death. "We +will," says he, in his edict, "that all who embrace this +creed be called catholic Christians"—the rest are heretics.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Responsibility of the clergy in these events.</div> + +<p>Impartial history is obliged to impute the origin of these +tyrannical and scandalous acts of the civil power to the +influence of the clergy, and to hold them responsible +for the crimes. The guilt of impure, unscrupulous +women, eunuchs, parasites, violent +soldiers in possession of absolute power, lies at +their door. Yet human nature can never, in any condition +of affairs, be altogether debased. Though the system +under which men were living pushed them forward to +these iniquities, the individual sense of right and wrong +sometimes vindicated itself. In these pages we shall again +and again meet this personal revolt against the indefensible +consequences of system. It was thus that there were +bishops who openly intervened between the victim and +his oppressor, who took the treasures of the Church to +redeem slaves from captivity. For this a future age will +perhaps excuse Ambrose the Archbishop of Milan, the +impostures he practised, remembering that, face to face, +he held Theodosius the Great to accountability for the +<span class="sidenote">Massacre at Thessalonica.</span> +massacre of seven thousand persons, whom, in a fit of +vengeance, he had murdered in the circus of +Thessalonica, <small>A.D.</small> 390, and inexorably compelled +the imperial culprit, to whom he and all his party were +under such obligations, to atone for his crime by such +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span> +penance as may be exacted in this world, teaching his +sovereign "that though he was of the Church and in the +Church, he was not above the Church;" that brute force +must give way to intellect, and that even the meanest +human being has rights in the sight of God.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Introduction of Patristicism.</div> + +<p>Political events had thus taken a course disastrous to +human knowledge. A necessity had arisen that they to +whom circumstances had given the control of public faith +should also have the control of public knowledge. The +moral condition of the world had thus come into antagonism +with scientific progress. As had been the case many +ages before in India, the sacred writings were +asserted to contain whatever was necessary or +useful for man to know. Questions in astronomy, geography, +chronology, history, or any other branch which +had hitherto occupied or amused the human mind, were +now to be referred to a new tribunal for solution, and +there remained nothing to be done by the philosopher. +A revelation of science is incompatible with any farther +advance; it admits no employment save that of the humble +commentator.</p> + +<p>The early ecclesiastical writers, or Fathers, as they are +often called, came thus to be considered not only as surpassing +all other men in piety, but also as excelling them +in wisdom. Their dictum was looked upon as final. This +eminent position they held for many centuries; indeed, +it was not until near the period of the Reformation that +they were deposed. The great critics who appeared at +that time, by submitting the Patristic works to a higher +analysis, comparing them with one another and showing +<span class="sidenote">Apology of the fathers for Patristicism.</span> +their mutual contradictions, brought them all to their +proper level. The habit of even so much as quoting them +went out of use, when it was perceived that not one of +these writers could present the necessary credentials +to entitle him to speak with authority on +any scientific fact. Many of them had not +scrupled to express their contempt of the things they thus +presumed to judge. Thus Eusebius says: "It is not +through ignorance of the things admired by philosophers, +but through contempt of such useless labour, that we think +so little of these matters, turning our souls to the exercise +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span> +of better things." In such a spirit Lactantius holds the +whole of philosophy to be "empty and false." Speaking +in reference to the heretical doctrine of the globular form +of the earth, he says: "Is it possible that men can be so +absurd as to believe that the crops and the trees on the +other side of the earth hang downward, and that men have +their feet higher than their heads? If you ask them how +they defend these monstrosities? how things do not fall +away from the earth on that side? they reply that the +nature of things is such, that heavy bodies tend toward +the centre like the spokes of a wheel, while light bodies, +as clouds, smoke, fire, tend from the centre to the heavens +on all sides. Now I am really at a loss what to say of +those who, when they have once gone wrong, steadily persevere +in their folly, and defend one absurd opinion by +another." On the question of the antipodes, St. Augustine +asserts that "it is impossible there should be inhabitants +on the opposite side of the earth, since no such race is +recorded by Scripture among the descendants of Adam."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The doctrines of Patristicism.</div> + +<p>Patristicism, or the science of the Fathers, was thus +essentially founded on the principle that the Scriptures +contain all knowledge permitted to man. It followed, +therefore, that natural phenomena may be interpreted by +the aid of texts, and that all philosophical +doctrines must be moulded to the pattern of +orthodoxy. It asserted that God made the world +out of nothing, since to admit the eternity of matter leads +to Manichæism. It taught that the earth is a plane, and +the sky a vault above it, in which the stars are fixed, and +the sun, moon, and planets perform their motions, rising +and setting; that these bodies are altogether of a subordinate +nature, their use being to give light to man; that +still higher and beyond the vault of the sky is heaven, the +abode of God and the angelic hosts; that in six days the +earth, and all that it contains, were made; that it was +overwhelmed by a universal deluge, which destroyed all +living things save those preserved in the ark, the waters +being subsequently dried up by the wind; that man is the +moral centre of the world; for him all things were created +and are sustained; that, so far as his ever having shown +any tendency to improvement, he has fallen both in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span> +wisdom and worth, the first man, before his sin, having +been perfect in body and soul: hence Patristicism ever +looked backward, never forward; that through that sin +death came into the world; not even any animal had died +previously, but all had been immortal. It utterly rejected +the idea of the government of the world by law, asserting +the perpetual interference of an instant Providence on all +occasions, not excepting the most trifling. It resorted to +spiritual influences in the production of natural effects, +assigning to angels the duty of moving the stars, carrying +up water from the sea to form rain, and managing +eclipses. It affirmed that man had existed but a few +centuries upon earth, and that he could continue only a +little longer, for that the world itself might every moment +be expected to be burned up by fire. It deduced all the +families of the earth from one primitive pair, and made +them all morally responsible for the sin committed by that +pair. It rejected the doctrine that man can modify his +own organism as absolutely irreligious, the physician +being little better than an atheist, but it affirmed that +cures may be effected by the intercession of saints, at the +shrines of holy men, and by relics. It altogether repudiated +the improvement of man's physical state; to +increase his power or comfort was to attempt to attain +what Providence denied; philosophical investigation was +an unlawful prying into things that God had designed to +conceal. It declined the logic of the Greeks, substituting +miracle-proof for it, the demonstration of an assertion +being supposed to be given by a surprising illustration of +something else.</p> + +<p>A wild astronomy had thus supplanted the astronomy +of Hipparchus; the miserable fictions of Eusebius had +subverted the chronology of Manetho and Eratosthenes; +the geometry of Euclid and Apollonius was held to be of +no use; the geography of Ptolemy a blunder; the great +mechanical inventions of Archimedes incomparably surpassed +by the miracles worked at the shrines of a hundred +saints.</p> + +<p>Of such a mixture of truth and of folly was Patristicism +composed. Ignorance in power had found it necessary to +have a false and unprogressive science, forgetting that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span> +sooner or later the time must arrive when it would be +impossible to maintain stationary ideas in a +<span class="sidenote">Intrinsic weakness of the Patristic system.</span> +world of which the affairs are ever advancing. +A failure to include in the system thus imposed +upon men any provision for intellectual progress +was the great and fatal mistake of those times. Each +passing century brought its incompatibilities. A strain +upon the working of the system soon occurred, and perpetually +increased in force. It became apparent that, in +the end, the imposition would be altogether unable to hold +together. On a future page we shall see what were the +circumstances under which it at last broke down.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">It commences by extinguishing Greek science.</div> + +<p>The wonder-worker who prepares to exhibit his phantasmagoria +upon the wall, knows well how much it adds +to the delusion to have all lights extinguished save that +which is in his own dark lantern. I have now +to relate how the last flickering rays of Greek +learning were put out; how Patristicism, aided +by her companion Bigotry, attempted to lay the foundations +of her influence in security.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Acts of the Emperor Theodosius.</div> + +<p>In the reign of Theodosius the Great, the pagan religion +and pagan knowledge were together destroyed. This +emperor was restrained by no doubts, for he was very +ignorant and, it must be admitted, was equally sincere +and severe. Among his early measures we find an order +that if any of the governors of Egypt so much +as entered a temple he should be fined fifteen +pounds of gold. He followed this by the destruction +of the temples of Syria. At this period the +Archbishopric of Alexandria was held by one Theophilus, +a bold, bad man, who had once been a monk of Nitria. It +was about <small>A.D.</small> 390. The Trinitarian conflict was at the +time composed, one party having got the better of the +other. To the monks and rabble of Alexandria the temple of +Serapis and its library were doubly hateful, partly because +of the Pantheistic opposition it shadowed forth against +the prevailing doctrine, and partly because within its walls +<span class="sidenote">Alexandrian libraries.</span> +sorcery, magic, and other dealings with the devil had for +ages been going on. We have related how +Ptolemy Philadelphus commenced the great +library in the aristocratic quarter of the city named +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span> +Bruchion, and added various scientific establishments to +it. Incited by this example, Eumenes, King of Pergamus, +established out of rivalry a similar library in his metropolis. +With the intention of preventing him from excelling that +of Egypt, Ptolemy Epiphanes prohibited the exportation +of papyrus, whereupon Eumenes invented the art of +making parchment. The second great Alexandrian library +was that established by Ptolemy Physcon at the Serapion, +in the adjoining quarter of the town. The library in +the Bruchion, which was estimated to contain 400,000 +volumes, was accidentally, or, as it has been said, purposely +burned during the siege of the city by Julius +<span class="sidenote">Library of Pergamus transferred to Egypt.</span> +Cæsar, but that in the Serapion escaped. To make +amends for this great catastrophe, Marc Antony presented +to Cleopatra the rival library, brought for that +purpose from Pergamus. It consisted of 200,000 +volumes. It was with the library in the +Bruchion that the Museum was originally connected; +but after its conflagration, the remains of the +various surviving establishments were transferred to the +Serapion, which therefore was, at the period of which we +are speaking, the greatest depository of knowledge in the +world.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The temple of Serapis.</div> + +<p>The pagan Roman emperors had not been unmindful of +the great trust they had thus inherited from the Ptolemies. +The temple of Serapis was universally admitted +to be the noblest religious structure in the +world, unless perhaps the patriotic Roman excepted that +of the Capitoline Jupiter. It was approached by a vast +flight of steps; was adorned with many rows of columns; +and in its quadrangular portico—a matchless work of skill—were +placed most exquisite statues. On the sculptured +walls of its chambers, and upon ceilings, were paintings of +unapproachable excellence. Of the value of these works +of art the Greeks were no incompetent judges.</p> + +<p>The Serapion, with these its precious contents, perpetually +gave umbrage to the Archbishop Theophilus and +his party. To them it was a reproach and an insult. Its +many buildings were devoted to unknown, and therefore +unholy uses. In its vaults and silent chambers the +populace believed that the most abominable mysteries +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span> +were carried on. There were magical brazen circles and +sun-dials for fortune-telling in its porch; every one said +that they had once belonged to Pharaoh or the conjurors +who strove with Moses. Alas! no one of the ferocious +bigots knew that with these Eratosthenes had in the old +times measured the size of the earth, and Timocharis had +determined the motions of the planet Venus. The temple, +with its pure white marble walls, and endless columns +projected against a blue and cloudless Egyptian sky, was +to them a whited sepulchre full of rottenness within. In +the very sanctuary of the god it was said that the priests +had been known to delude the wealthiest and most beautiful +Alexandrian women, who fancied that they were +honoured by the raptures of the god. To this temple, so +well worthy of their indignation, Theophilus directed the +attention of his people. It happened that the Emperor +Constantius had formerly given to the Church the site of +<span class="sidenote">Quarrel between the Christians and pagans in Alexandria.</span> +an ancient temple of Osiris, and, in digging the foundation +for the new edifice, the obscene symbols used in that +worship chanced to be found. With more zeal than +modesty, Theophilus exhibited them to the derision of the +rabble in the market-place. The old Egyptian pagan party +rose to avenge the insult. A riot ensued, one +Olympius, a philosopher, being the leader. +Their head-quarters were in the massive building +of the Serapion, from which issuing forth they +seized whatever Christians they could, compelled them to +offer sacrifice, and then killed them on the altar. The +dispute was referred to the emperor, in the meantime the +pagans maintaining themselves in the temple-fortress. In +the dead of night, Olympius, it is said, was awe-stricken by +the sound of a clear voice chanting among the arches and +<span class="sidenote">Theodosius orders the Serapion to be destroyed.</span> +pillars the Christian Alleluia. Either accepting, like a +heathen, the omen, or fearing a secret assassin, he escaped +from the temple and fled for his life. On the +arrival of the rescript of Theodosius the pagans +laid down their arms, little expecting the orders +of the emperor. He enjoined that the building +should forthwith be destroyed, intrusting the task to the +swift hands of Theophilus. His work was commenced by +the pillage and dispersal of the library. He entered the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span> +sanctuary of the god—that sanctuary which was the +visible sign of the Pantheism of the East, the memento of +the alliance between hoary primeval Egypt and free-thinking +<span class="sidenote">Statue of Serapis is destroyed.</span> +Greece, the relic of the statesmanship of Alexander's +captains. In gloomy silence the image +of Serapis confronted its assailants. It is in +such a moment that the value of a religion is +tried; the god who cannot defend himself is a convicted +sham. Theophilus, undaunted, commands a veteran to +strike the image with his battle-axe. The helpless statue +offers no resistance. Another blow rolls the head of the +idol on the floor. It is said that a colony of frightened +rats ran forth from its interior. The kingcraft, and +priestcraft, and solemn swindle of seven hundred years are +exploded in a shout of laughter; the god is broken to +pieces, his members dragged through the streets. The +recesses of the Serapion are explored. Posterity is edified by +discoveries of frauds by which the priests maintain their +power. Among other wonders, a car with four horses is +seen suspended near the ceiling by means of a magnet +laid on the roof, which being removed by the hand of a +Christian, the imposture fell to the pavement. The historian +of these events, noticing the physical impossibility +of such things, has wisely said that it is more easy to +invent a fictitious story than to support a practical fraud. +But the gold and silver contained in the temple were +carefully collected, the baser articles being broken in +pieces or cast into the fire. Nor did the holy zeal of +Theophilus rest until the structure was demolished to its +very foundations—a work of no little labour—and a +church erected in the precincts. It must, however, have +been the temple more particularly which experienced this +devastation. The building in which the library had been +contained must have escaped, for, twenty years subsequently, +Orosius expressly states that he saw the empty +cases or shelves. The fanatic Theophilus pushed forward +<span class="sidenote">Persecutions of Theophilus.</span> +his victory. The temple at Canopus next fell before him, +and a general attack was made on all similar edifices in +Egypt. Speaking of the monks and of the +worship of relics, Eunapius says: "Whoever +wore a black dress was invested with tyrannical power; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span> +philosophy and piety to the gods were compelled to retire +into secret places, and to dwell in contented poverty and +dignified meanness of appearance. The temples were turned +into tombs for the adoration of the bones of the basest and +most depraved of men, who had suffered the penalty of the +law, and whom they made their gods."</p> + +<p>Such was the end of the Serapion. Its destruction stands +forth a token to all ages of the state of the times.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">St. Cyril.</div> + +<p>In a few years after this memorable event the Archbishop +Theophilus had gone to his account. His throne +was occupied by his nephew, St. Cyril, who had +been expressly prepared for that holy and responsible +office by a residence of five years among the monks +of Nitria. He had been presented to the fastidious Alexandrians +with due precautions, and by them acknowledged +to be an effective and fashionable preacher. His pagan +opponents, however, asserted that the clapping of hands +and encores bestowed on the more elaborate passages of +his sermons were performed by persons duly arranged in +the congregation, and paid for their trouble. If doubt +remains as to his intellectual endowments, there can be +none respecting the qualities of his heart. The three +parties into which the population of the city was divided—Christian, +Heathen, and Jewish—kept up a perpetual +disorder by their disputes. Of the last it is said that the +number was not less than forty thousand. The episcopate +itself had become much less a religious than an important +civil office, exercising a direct municipal control through +the Parabolani, which, under the disguise of city missionaries, +whose duty it was to seek out the sick and destitute, +<span class="sidenote">Determines on supremacy in Alexandria.<br /><br /> +Riots in that city.</span> +constituted in reality a constabulary force, or rather +actually a militia. The unscrupulous manner in which +Cyril made use of this force, diverting it from +its ostensible purpose, is indicated by the fact +that the emperor was obliged eventually to take +the appointments to it out of the archbishop's hands, and +reduce the number to five or six hundred. Some local +circumstances had increased the animosity between the +Jews and the Christians, and riots had taken +place between them in the theatre. These were +followed by more serious conflicts in the streets; and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span> +Jews, for the moment having the advantage over their +antagonists, outraged and massacred them. It was, +however, but for a moment; for, the Christians arousing +themselves under the inspirations of Cyril, a mob sacked +the synagogues, pillaged the houses of the Jews, and endeavoured +to expel those offenders out of the city. The +prefect Orestes was compelled to interfere to stop the riot; +but the archbishop was not so easily disposed of. His old +associates, the Nitrian monks, now justified the prophetic +forecast of Theophilus. Five hundred of those fanatics +swarmed into the town from the desert. The prefect +himself was assaulted, and wounded in the head by a stone +thrown by Ammonius, one of them. The more respectable +citizens, alarmed at the turn things were taking, interfered, +and Ammonius, being seized, suffered death at the +hands of the lictor. Cyril, undismayed, caused his body +to be transported to the Cæsareum, laid there in state, and +buried with unusual honours. He directed that the name +of the fallen zealot should be changed from Ammonius to +Thaumasius, or "the Wonderful," and the holy martyr +received the honours of canonization.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Hypatia.</div> + +<p>In these troubles there can be no doubt that the pagans +sympathized with the Jews, and therefore drew upon +themselves the vengeance of Cyril. Among the cultivators +of Platonic philosophy whom the times +had spared, there was a beautiful young woman, +Hypatia, the daughter of Theon the mathematician, who +not only distinguished herself by her expositions of the +Neo-Platonic and Peripatetic doctrines, but was also +honoured for the ability with which she commented on +the writings of Apollonius and other geometers. Every +day before her door stood a long train of chariots; her +lecture-room was crowded with the wealth and fashion of +Alexandria. Her aristocratic audiences were more than +a rival to those attending upon the preaching of the archbishop, +and perhaps contemptuous comparisons were instituted +between the philosophical lectures of Hypatia and +the incomprehensible sermons of Cyril. But if the archbishop +had not philosophy, he had what on such occasions +is more valuable—power. It was not to be borne that a +heathen sorceress should thus divide such a metropolis +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span> +with a prelate; it was not to be borne that the rich, and +noble, and young should thus be carried off by the black +<span class="sidenote">The city of Alexandria.</span> +arts of a diabolical enchantress. Alexandria was too fair a +prize to be lightly surrendered. It could vie with +Constantinople itself. Into its streets, from the +yellow sand-hills of the desert, long trains of camels and +countless boats brought the abundant harvests of the Nile. +A ship-canal connected the harbour of Eunostos with Lake +Mareotis. The harbour was a forest of masts. Seaward, +looking over the blue Mediterranean, was the great lighthouse, +the Pharos, counted as one of the wonders of the +world; and to protect the shipping from the north wind +there was a mole three quarters of a mile in length, with +its drawbridges, a marvel of the skill of the Macedonian +engineers. Two great streets crossed each other at right +angles—one was three, the other one mile long. In the +square where they intersected stood the mausoleum in +which rested the body of Alexander. The city was full of +noble edifices—the palace, the exchange, the Cæsareum, +the halls of justice. Among the temples, those of Pan +and Neptune were conspicuous. The visitor passed +countless theatres, churches, temples, synagogues. There +was a time before Theophilus when the Serapion might +have been approached on one side by a slope for carriages, +on the other by a flight of a hundred marble steps. On +these stood the grand portico with its columns, its +chequered corridor leading round a roofless hall, the adjoining +porches of which contained the library, and from +the midst of its area arose a lofty pillar visible afar off at +sea. On one side of the town were the royal docks, on the +other the Hippodrome, and on appropriate sites the Necropolis, +the market-places, the gymnasium, its stoa being a +stadium long; the amphitheatre, groves, gardens, fountains, +obelisks, and countless public buildings with gilded +roofs glittering in the sun. Here might be seen the +wealthy Christian ladies walking in the streets, their +dresses embroidered with Scripture parables, the Gospels +hanging from their necks by a golden chain, Maltese dogs +with jewelled collars frisking round them, and slaves with +parasols and fans trooping along. There might be seen +the ever-trading, ever-thriving Jew, fresh from the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span> +wharves, or busy negotiating his loans. But, worst of all, +the chariots with giddy or thoughtful pagans hastening +to the academy of Hypatia, to hear those questions discussed +which have never yet been answered, "Where am +I?" "What am I?" "What can I know?"—to hear discourses +on antenatal existence, or, as the vulgar asserted, +to find out the future by the aid of the black art, soothsaying +by Chaldee talismans engraved on precious stones, +by incantations with a glass and water, by moonshine on +the walls, by the magic mirror, the reflection of a sapphire, +a sieve, or cymbals; fortune-telling by the veins of the +hand, or consultations with the stars.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Murder of Hypatia by Cyril.</div> + +<p>Cyril at length determined to remove this great reproach, +and overturn what now appeared to be the only +obstacle in his way to uncontrolled authority in the city. +We are reaching one of those moments in which great +general principles embody themselves in individuals. It +is Greek philosophy under the appropriate form of +Hypatia; ecclesiastical ambition under that of Cyril. +Their destinies are about to be fulfilled. As +Hypatia comes forth to her academy, she is +assaulted by Cyril's mob—an Alexandrian mob +of many monks. Amid the fearful yelling of these bare-legged +and black-cowled fiends she is dragged from her +chariot, and in the public street stripped naked. In her +mortal terror she is haled into an adjacent church, and in +that sacred edifice is killed by the club of Peter the Reader. +It is not always in the power of him who has stirred up +the worst passions of a fanatical mob to stop their excesses +when his purpose is accomplished. With the blow given +by Peter the aim of Cyril was reached, but his merciless +adherents had not glutted their vengeance. They outraged +the naked corpse, dismembered it, and incredible to +be said, finished their infernal crime by scraping the flesh +from the bones with oyster-shells, and casting the remnants +into the fire. Though in his privacy St. Cyril and +his friends might laugh at the end of his antagonist, his +memory must bear the weight of the righteous indignation +of posterity.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Suppression of Alexandrian science.</div> + +<p>Thus, in the 414th year of our era, the position of philosophy +in the intellectual metropolis of the world was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span> +determined; henceforth science must sink into obscurity +and subordination. Its public existence will no +longer be tolerated. Indeed, it may be said that +from this period for some centuries it altogether +disappeared. The leaden mace of bigotry had struck and +shivered the exquisitely tempered steel of Greek philosophy. +Cyril's acts passed unquestioned. It was now +ascertained that throughout the Roman world there must +be no more liberty of thought. It had been said that +these events prove Greek philosophy to have been a sham, +and, like other shams, it was driven out of the world when +detected, and that it could not withstand the truth. Such +assertions might answer their purposes very well, so long +as the victors maintained their power in Alexandria, but +they manifestly are of inconvenient application after the +Saracens had captured the city. However this may be, an +intellectual stagnation settled upon the place, an invisible +atmosphere of oppression, ready to crush down, morally +and physically, whatever provoked its weight. And so +for the next two dreary and weary centuries things remained, +until oppression and force were ended by a foreign +invader. It was well for the world that the Arabian +conquerors avowed their true argument, the scimitar, and +made no pretensions to superhuman wisdom. They were +thus left free to pursue knowledge without involving +themselves in theological contradictions, and were able to +make Egypt once more illustrious among the nations of +the earth—to snatch it from the hideous fanaticism, ignorance, +and barbarism into which it had been plunged. On +the shore of the Red Sea once more a degree of the earth's +surface was to be measured, and her size ascertained—but +by a Mohammedan astronomer. In Alexandria the +memory of the illustrious old times was to be recalled by +the discovery of the motion of the sun's apogee by +Albategnius, and the third inequality of the moon, the +variation, by Aboul Wefa; to be discovered six centuries +later in Europe by Tycho Brahe. The canal of the +Pharaohs from the Nile to the Red Sea, cleared out by the +Ptolemies in former ages, was to be cleared from its sand +again. The glad desert listened once more to the cheerful +cry of the merchant camel-driver instead of the midnight +prayer of the monk.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span> +PREMATURE END OF THE AGE OF FAITH IN THE +EAST.</p> + +<p class='center'><small>THE THREE ATTACKS, VANDAL, PERSIAN, ARAB.</small></p> + +<div class='blockquot'><p class='ind'><span class="smcap">The Vandal Attack</span> <i>leads to the Loss of Africa.—Recovery of that +Province by Justinian after great Calamities.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">The Persian Attack</span> <i>leads to the Loss of Syria and Fall of Jerusalem.—The +true Cross carried away as a Trophy.—Moral Impression of +these Attacks.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">The Arab Attack.</span>—<i>Birth, Mission, and Doctrines of Mohammed.—Rapid +Spread of his Faith in Asia and Africa.—Fall of Jerusalem.—Dreadful +Losses of Christianity to Mohammedanism.—The Arabs +become a learned Nation.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Review of the Koran.—Reflexions on the Loss of Asia and Africa by +Christendom.</i></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote">Three attacks made upon the Byzantine system.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">I have</span> now to describe the end of the age of Faith in the +East. The Byzantine system, out of which it +had issued, was destroyed by three attacks: 1st, +by the Vandal invasion of Africa; 2nd, by the +military operations of Chosroes, the Persian +king; 3rd, by Mohammedanism.</p> + +<p>Of these three attacks, the Vandal may be said, in a +military sense, to have been successfully closed by the +victories of Justinian; but, politically, the cost of those +victories was the depopulation and ruin of the empire, particularly +in the south and west. The second, the Persian +attack, though brilliantly resisted in its later years by the +Emperor Heraclius, left, throughout the East, a profound +moral impression, which proved final and fatal in the +Mohammedan attack.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Vandal attack.</div> + +<p>No heresy has ever produced such important political +results as that of Arius. While it was yet a vital doctrine, +it led to the infliction of unspeakable calamities on the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span> +empire, and, though long ago forgotten, has blasted permanently +some of the fairest portions of the globe. +When Count Boniface, incited by the intrigues +of the patrician Ætius, invited Genseric, the King of the +Vandals, into Africa, that barbarian found in the discontented +sectaries his most effectual aid. In vain would +he otherwise have attempted the conquest of the country +<span class="sidenote">Conquest of Africa.</span> +with the 50,000 men he landed from Spain, <small>A.D.</small> 429. +Three hundred Donatist bishops, and many +thousand priests, driven to despair by the +persecutions inflicted by the emperor, carrying with them +that large portion of the population who were Arian, were +ready to look upon him as a deliverer, and therefore to +afford him support. The result to the empire was the loss +of Africa.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The reign of Justinian.</div> + +<p>It was nothing more than might have been expected that +Justinian, when he found himself firmly seated on the +throne of Constantinople, should make an attempt to +retrieve these disasters. The principles which led him to +his scheme of legislation; to the promotion of +manufacturing interests by the fabrication of +silk; to the reopening of the ancient routes to India, so as +to avoid transit through the Persian dominions; to his +attempt at securing the carrying trade of Europe for the +Greeks, also suggested the recovery of Africa. To this +important step he was urged by the Catholic clergy. In a +sinister but suitable manner, his reign was illustrated by +his closing the schools of philosophy at Athens, ostensibly +because of their affiliation to paganism, but in reality on +account of his detestation of the doctrines of Aristotle and +Plato; by the abolition of the consulate of Rome; by the +extinction of the Roman senate, <small>A.D.</small> 552; by the capture +and recapture five times of the Eternal City. The vanishing +of the Roman race was thus marked by an extinction +of the instruments of ancient philosophy and power.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">His reconquest of Africa.</div> + +<p>The indignation of the Catholics was doubtless justly +provoked by the atrocities practised in the Arian behalf +by the Vandal kings of Africa, who, among other cruelties, +had attempted to silence some bishops by cutting +out their tongues. To carry out Justinian's +intention of the recovery of Africa, his general Belisarius +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span> +sailed at midsummer, <small>A.D.</small> 533, and in November he had +completed the reconquest of the country.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Dreadful calamities produced by him.</div> + +<p>This was speedy work, but it was followed by fearful +calamities; for in this, and the Italian wars of +Justinian, likewise undertaken at the instance +of the orthodox clergy, the human race visibly +diminished. It is affirmed that in the African +campaign five millions of the people of that country were +consumed; that during the twenty years of the Gothic +War Italy lost fifteen millions; and that the wars, famines, +and pestilences of the reign of Justinian diminished the +human species by the almost incredible number of one +hundred millions.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Persian attack.</div> + +<p>It is therefore not at all surprising that in such a +deplorable condition men longed for a deliverer, in their +despair totally regardless who he might be or from what +quarter he might come. Ecclesiastical partisanship had +done its work. When Chosroes II., the Persian +monarch, <small>A.D.</small> 611, commenced his attack, the +persecuted sectaries of Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt +followed the example of the African Arians in the Vandal +invasion, and betrayed the empire. The revenge of an +oppressed heretic is never scrupulous about its means of +<span class="sidenote">Fall and pillage of Jerusalem.</span> +gratification. As might have been expected, the cities of +Asia fell before the Persians. They took Jerusalem +by assault, and with it the cross of Christ; +ninety thousand Christians were massacred; +and in its very birthplace Christianity was displaced +by Magianism. The shock which religious men received +through this dreadful event can hardly now be realized. +The imposture of Constantine bore a bitter fruit; the +sacred wood which had filled the world with its miracles +was detected to be a helpless counterfeit, borne off in +triumph by deriding blasphemers. All confidence in the +<span class="sidenote">Triumphs of Chosroes.</span> +apostolic powers of the Asiatic bishops was lost; not one +of them could work a wonder for his own salvation in the +dire extremity. The invaders overran Egypt as far as +Ethiopia; it seemed as if the days of Cambyses +had come back again. The Archbishop of +Alexandria found it safer to flee to Cyprus than to defend +himself by spiritual artifices or to rely on prayer. The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span> +Mediterranean shore to Tripoli was subdued. For ten +years the Persian standards were displayed in view of +Constantinople. At one time Heraclius had determined to +abandon that city, and make Carthage the metropolis of +the empire. His intention was defeated by the combination +of the patriarch, who dreaded the loss of his position; +of the aristocracy, who foresaw their own ruin; and of the +people, who would thus be deprived of their largesses and +shows. Africa was more truly Roman than any other of +the provinces; it was there that Latin was last used. But +when the vengeance of the heretical sects was satisfied, +they found that they had only changed the tyrant without +escaping the tyranny. The magnitude of their treason +was demonstrated by the facility with which Heraclius +expelled the Persians as soon as they chose to assist him.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The moral impression of these events.</div> + +<p>In vain, after these successes, what was passed off as +the true cross was restored again to Jerusalem—the charm +was broken. The Magian fire had burnt the sepulchre of +Christ, and the churches of Constantine and +Helena; the costly gifts of the piety of three +centuries were gone into the possession of the +Persian and the Jew. Never again was it possible that +faith could be restored. They who had devoutly expected +that the earth would open, the lightning descend, or +sudden death arrest the sacrilegious invader of the holy +places, and had seen that nothing of the kind ensued, +dropped at once into dismal disbelief. Asia and Africa +were already morally lost. The scimitar of the Arabian +soon cut the remaining tie.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Birth of Mohammed.</div> + +<p>Four years after the death of Justinian, <small>A.D.</small> 569, was +born at Mecca, in Arabia, the man who, of all +men, has exercised the greatest influence upon +the human race—Mohammed, by Europeans surnamed "the +Impostor." He raised his own nation from Fetichism, the +adoration of a meteoric stone, and from the basest idol-worship; +he preached a monotheism which quickly +scattered to the winds the empty disputes of the Arians +and Catholics, and irrevocably wrenched from Christianity +more than half, and that by far the best half of her +possessions, since it included the Holy Land, the birthplace +of our faith, and Africa, which had imparted to it +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span> +its Latin form. That continent, and a very large part of +Asia, after the lapse of more than a thousand years, still +remain permanently attached to the Arabian doctrine. +With the utmost difficulty, and as if by miracle, Europe +itself escaped.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">His preaching,</div> + +<p>Mohammed possessed that combination of qualities which +more than once has decided the fate of empires. A +preaching soldier, he was eloquent in the pulpit, +valiant in the field. His theology was simple: +"There is but one God." The effeminate Syrian, lost in +Monothelite and Monophysite mysteries; the Athanasian +and Arian, destined to disappear before his breath, might +readily anticipate what he meant. Asserting that everlasting +truth, he did not engage in vain metaphysics, but +applied himself to improving the social condition of his +people by regulations respecting personal cleanliness, +sobriety, fasting, prayer. Above all other works he +esteemed almsgiving and charity. With a liberality to +which the world had of late become a stranger, he admitted +the salvation of men of any form of faith provided they +were virtuous. To the declaration that there is but one +God, he added, "and Mohammed is his Prophet." Whoever +<span class="sidenote">and title to apostleship.</span> +desires to know whether the event of things answered +to the boldness of such an announcement, will do well to +examine a map of the world in our own times. +He will find the marks of something more +than an imposture. To be the religious head of many +empires, to guide the daily life of one-third of the human +race, may perhaps justify the title of a messenger of God.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">His delusions.</div> + +<p>Like many of the Christian monks, Mohammed retired +to the solitude of the desert, and, devoting himself to +meditation, fasting, and prayer, became the victim of +cerebral disorder. He was visited by supernatural appearances, +mysterious voices accosting him as the +Prophet of God; even the stones and trees joined +in the whispering. He himself suspected the true nature +of his malady, and to his wife Chadizah he expressed a +dread that he was becoming insane. It is related that as +they sat alone, a shadow entered the room. "Dost thou +see aught?" said Chadizah, who, after the manner of +Arabian matrons, wore her veil. "I do," said the prophet. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span> +Whereupon she uncovered her face and said, "Dost thou +see it now?" "I do not." "Glad tidings to thee, O +Mohammed!" exclaimed Chadizah: "it is an angel, for he +has respected my unveiled face; an evil spirit would not." +As his disease advanced, these spectral illusions became +more frequent; from one of them he received the divine +commission. "I," said his wife, "will be thy first believer;" +and they knelt down in prayer together. Since +that day nine thousand millions of human beings have +acknowledged him to be a prophet of God.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">His gradual antagonism to Christianity.</div> + +<p>Though, in the earlier part of his career, Mohammed +exhibited a spirit of forbearance toward the Christians, it +was not possible but that bitter animosity should arise, as +the sphere of his influence extended. He appears to have +been unable to form any other idea of the Trinity +than that of three distinct gods; and the worship +of the Virgin Mary, recently introduced, could +not fail to come into irreconcilable conflict with +his doctrine of the unity of God. To his condemnation +of those Jews who taught that Ezra was the Son of +God, he soon added bitter denunciations of the Oriental +churches because of their idolatrous practices. The Koran +is full of such rebukes: "Verily, Christ Jesus, the Son of +Mary, is the apostle of God." "Believe, therefore, in God +and his apostles, and say not that there are three gods. +Forbear this; it will be better for you. God is but one +God. Far be it from Him that he should have a son." +"In the last day, God shall say unto Jesus, O Jesus, son +of Mary! hast thou ever said to men, Take me and my +mother for two gods beside God? He shall say, Praise be +unto thee, it is not for me to say that which I ought not." +Mohammed disdained all metaphysical speculations respecting +the nature of the Deity, or of the origin and existence +of sin, topics which had hitherto exercised the ingenuity +of the East. He cast aside the doctrine of the superlative +<span class="sidenote">Institution of polygamy.</span> +value of chastity, asserting that marriage is the natural +state of man. To asceticism he opposed polygamy, +permitting the practice of it in this life +and promising the most voluptuous means for its enjoyment +in Paradise hereafter, especially to those who had gained +the crowns of martyrdom or of victory.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Results of his life.</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span> +Too often, in this world, success is the criterion of right. +The Mohammedan appeals to the splendour and rapidity +of his career as a proof of the divine mission of +his apostle. It may, however, be permitted to a +philosopher, who desires to speak of the faith of so large +a portion of the human race with profound respect, to +examine what were some of the secondary causes which +led to so great a political result. From its most glorious +seats Christianity was for ever expelled: from Palestine, +the scene of its most sacred recollections; from Asia Minor, +that of its first churches; from Egypt, whence issued the +great doctrine of Trinitarian orthodoxy; from Carthage, +who imposed her belief on Europe.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Causes of his success.</div> + +<p>It is altogether a misconception that the Arabian progress +was due to the sword alone. The sword may +change an acknowledged national creed, but it +cannot affect the consciences of men. Profound though its +argument is, something far more profound was demanded +before Mohammedanism pervaded the domestic life of Asia +and Africa, before Arabic became the language of so many +different nations.</p> + +<p>The explanation of this political phenomenon is to be +found in the social condition of the conquered countries. +The influences of religion in them had long ago ceased; +it had become supplanted by theology—a theology so incomprehensible +that even the wonderful capabilities of the +Greek language were scarcely enough to meet its subtle +demands; the Latin and the barbarian dialects were out of +the question. How was it possible that unlettered men, who +with difficulty can be made to apprehend obvious things, +should understand such mysteries? Yet they were taught +that on those doctrines the salvation or damnation of the +human race depended. They saw that the clergy had +abandoned the guidance of the individual life of their flocks; +that personal virtue or vice were no longer considered; +that sin was not measured by evil works but by the degrees +of heresy. They saw that the ecclesiastical chiefs of Rome, +Constantinople, and Alexandria were engaged in a desperate +struggle for supremacy, carrying out their purposes +by weapons and in ways revolting to the conscience of +man. What an example when bishops were concerned in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span> +assassinations, poisonings, adulteries, blindings, riots, +<span class="sidenote">Civil weakness produced by ecclesiastical demoralization.</span> +treasons, civil war; when patriarchs and primates +were excommunicating and anathematizing one +another in their rivalries for earthly power, +bribing eunuchs with gold, and courtesans and +royal females with concessions of episcopal love, and influencing +the decisions of councils asserted to speak with +the voice of God by those base intrigues and sharp practices +resorted to by demagogues in their packed assemblies! +Among legions of monks, who carried terror into the +imperial armies and riot into the great cities, arose hideous +clamours for theological dogmas, but never a voice for +intellectual liberty or the outraged rights of man. In such +a state of things, what else could be the result than disgust +or indifference? Certainly men could not be expected, if a +time of necessity arose, to give help to a system that had +lost all hold on their hearts.</p> + +<p>When, therefore, in the midst of the wrangling of sects, +in the incomprehensible jargon of Arians, Nestorians, +Eutychians, Monothelites, Monophysites, Mariolatrists, and +an anarchy of countless disputants, there sounded through +the world, not the miserable voice of the intriguing majority +of a council, but the dread battle-cry, "There is but +one God," enforced by the tempest of Saracen armies, is it +surprising that the hubbub was hushed? Is it surprising +that all Asia and Africa fell away? In better times +patriotism is too often made subordinate to religion; in +those times it was altogether dead.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Conquest of Africa.</div> + +<p>Scarcely was Mohammed buried when his religion manifested +its inevitable destiny of overpassing the bounds +of Arabia. The prophet himself had declared war against +the Roman empire, and, at the head of 30,000 +men, advanced toward Damascus, but his purpose +was frustrated by ill health. His successor Abu-Bekr, +the first khalif, attacked both the Romans and the Persians. +The invasion of Egypt occurred <small>A.D.</small> 638, the Arabs being +invited by the Copts. In a few months the Mohammedan +general Amrou wrote to his master, the khalif, "I have +taken Alexandria, the great city of the West." Treason +had done its work, and Egypt was thoroughly subjugated. +To complete the conquest of Christian Africa, many attacks +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span> +were nevertheless required. Abdallah penetrated nine +hundred miles to Tripoli, but returned. Nothing more +was done for twenty years, because of the disputes that +arose about the succession to the khalifate. Then Moawiyah +sent his lieutenant, Akbah, who forced his way to the +Atlantic, but was unable to hold the long line of country +permanently. Again operations were undertaken by +Abdalmalek, the sixth of the Ommiade dynasty, <small>A.D.</small> 698; +his lieutenant, Hassan, took Carthage by storm and destroyed +it, the conquest being at last thoroughly completed +by Musa, who enjoyed the double reputation of a brave +soldier and an eloquent preacher. And thus this region, +distinguished by its theological acumen, to which modern +Europe owes so much, was for ever silenced by the scimitar. +It ceased to preach and was taught to pray.</p> + +<p>In this political result—the Arabian conquest of Africa—there +can be no doubt that the same element which exercised +in the Vandal invasion so disastrous an effect, came again +into operation. But, if treason introduced the enemy, +polygamy secured the conquest. In Egypt the Greek +population was orthodox, the natives were Jacobites, more +willing to accept the Monotheism of Arabia than to bear +the tyranny of the orthodox. The Arabs, carrying out their +policy of ruining an old metropolis and erecting a new +one, dismantled Alexandria; and thus the patriarchate of +that city ceased to have any farther political existence in +the Christian system, which for so many ages had been +disturbed by its intrigues and violence. The irresistible +effect of polygamy in consolidating the new order of things +soon became apparent. In little more than a single generation +all the children of the north of Africa were speaking +Arabic.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Conquest of Syria and Persia.</div> + +<p>During the khalifates of Abu-Bekr and Omar, and within +twelve years after the death of Mohammed, the +Arabians had reduced thirty-six thousand cities, +towns, and castles in Persia, Syria, Africa, and +had destroyed four thousand churches, replacing them with +fourteen hundred mosques. In a few years they had extended +their rule a thousand miles east and west. In Syria, +as in Africa, their early successes were promoted in the +most effectual manner by treachery. Damascus was taken +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span> +after a siege of a year. At the battle of Aiznadin, <small>A.D.</small> 633, +<span class="sidenote">The fall of Jerusalem.</span> +Kalid, "the Sword of God," defeated the army of Heraclius, +the Romans losing fifty thousand men; and this was soon +followed by the fall of the great cities Jerusalem, +Antioch, Aleppo, Tyre, Tripoli. On a red camel, +which carried a bag of corn and one of dates, a wooden +dish, and a leather water-bottle, the Khalif Omar came +from Medina to take formal possession of Jerusalem. He +entered the Holy City riding by the side of the Christian +patriarch Sophronius, whose capitulation showed that his +confidence in God was completely lost. The successor of +Mohammed and the Roman emperor both correctly judged +how important in the eyes of the nations was the possession +of Jerusalem. A belief that it would be a proof of the +authenticity of Mohammedanism led Omar to order the +Saracen troops to take it at any cost.</p> + +<p>The conquest of Syria and the seizure of the Mediterranean +ports gave to the Arabs the command of the sea. +They soon took Rhodes and Cyprus. The battle of Cadesia +and sack of Ctesiphon, the metropolis of Persia, decided the +fate of that kingdom. Syria was thus completely reduced +under Omar, the second khalif; Persia under Othman, the +third.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Arabs become a learned nation.</div> + +<p>If it be true that the Arabs burned the library of Alexandria, +there was at that time danger that their fanaticism +would lend itself to the Byzantine system; but it was only +for a moment that the khalifs fell into this evil +policy. They very soon became distinguished +patrons of learning. It has been said that they +overran the domains of science as quickly as they +overran the realms of their neighbours. It became customary +for the first dignities of the state to be held by men +distinguished for their erudition. Some of the maxims +current show how much literature was esteemed. "The +ink of the doctor is equally valuable with the blood of the +martyr." "Paradise is as much for him who has rightly +used the pen as for him who has fallen by the sword." +"The world is sustained by four things only: the learning +of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the good, +and the valour of the brave." Within twenty-five years +after the death of Mohammed, under Ali, the fourth khalif, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span> +the patronage of learning had become a settled principle +of the Mohammedan system. Under the khalifs of Bagdad +this principle was thoroughly carried out. The cultivators +of mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and general literature +abounded in the court of Almansor, who invited all +philosophers, offering them his protection, whatever their +religious opinions might be. His successor, Alraschid, is +said never to have travelled without a retinue of a hundred +learned men. This great sovereign issued an edict that +no mosque should be built unless there was a school attached +to it. It was he who confided the superintendence of his +schools to the Nestorian Masué. His successor, Almaimon, +was brought up among Greek and Persian mathematicians, +philosophers, and physicians. They continued his associates +all his life. By these sovereigns the establishment +of libraries was incessantly prosecuted, and the collection +and copying of manuscripts properly organized. In all +the great cities schools abounded; in Alexandria there +were not less than twenty. As might be expected, this +could not take place without exciting the indignation of +the old fanatical party, who not only remonstrated with +Almaimon, but threatened him with the vengeance of God +for thus disturbing the faith of the people. However, +what had thus been commenced as a matter of profound +policy soon grew into a habit, and it was observed that +whenever an emir managed to make himself independent, +he forthwith opened academies.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Rapidity of their intellectual development.</div> + +<p>The Arabs furnish a striking illustration of the successive +phases of national life. They first come before +us as fetich worshippers, having their age of +credulity, their object of superstition being the +black stone in the temple at Mecca. They pass +through an age of inquiry, rendering possible the advent +of Mohammed. Then follows their age of faith, the blind +fanaticism of which quickly led them to overspread all +adjoining countries; and at last comes their period of +maturity, their age of reason. The striking feature of +their movement is the quickness with which they passed +through these successive phases, and the intensity of their +national life.</p> + +<p>This singular rapidity of national life was favoured by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span> +very obvious circumstances. The long and desolating wars +between Heraclius and Chosroes had altogether destroyed +the mercantile relations of the Roman and Persian empires, +and had thrown the entire Oriental and African trade into +the hands of the Arabs. As a merchant Mohammed +himself makes his first appearance. The first we hear in +his history are the journeys he has made as the factor of +the wealthy Chadizah. In these expeditions with the +caravans to Damascus and other Syrian cities, he was +brought in contact with Jews and men of business, who, +from the nature of their pursuits, were of more enlarged +<span class="sidenote">Causes of the spread of Mohammedanism.</span> +views than mere Arab chieftains or the petty tradesmen of +Arab towns. Through such agency the first impetus was +given. As to the rapid success, its causes are in +like manner so plain as to take away all surprise. +It is no wonder that in fifty years, as Abderrahman +wrote to the khalif, not only had the tribute +from the entire north of Africa ceased, through the +population having become altogether Mohammedan, but +that the Moors boasted an Arab descent as their greatest +glory. For, besides the sectarian animosities on which I +have dwelt as facilitating the first conquest of the +Christians, and the dreadful shock that had been given by +the capture of the Holy City, Jerusalem, the insulting and +burning the sepulchre of our Saviour, and the carrying +away of his cross as a trophy by the Persians, there were +other very powerful causes. For many years the taxation +imposed by the Emperors of Constantinople on their +subjects in Asia and Africa had been not only excessive +and extortionate, but likewise complicated. This the +khalifs replaced by a simple well-defined tribute of far less +amount. Thus, in the case of Cyprus, the sum paid to the +khalif was only half of what it had been to the emperor; +and, indeed, the lower orders were never made to feel the +bitterness of conquest; the blows fell on the ecclesiastics, +not on the population, and between them there was but +little sympathy. In the eyes of the ignorant nations the +prestige of the patriarchs and bishops was utterly destroyed +by their detected helplessness to prevent the capture and +insult of the sacred places. On the payment of a trifling +sum the conqueror guaranteed to the Christian and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span> +Jew absolute security for their worship. An equivalent +was given for a price. Religious freedom was bought with +money. Numerous instances might be given of the +scrupulous integrity with which the Arab commanders +complied with their part of the contract. The example set +by Omar on the steps of the Church of the Resurrection +was followed by Moawiyah, who actually rebuilt the +church of Edessa for his Christian subjects; and by Abdulmalek, +who, when he had commenced converting that of +Damascus into a mosque, forthwith desisted on finding +that the Christians were entitled to it by the terms of the +capitulation. If these things were done in the first fervour +of victory, the principles on which they depended were all +the more powerful after the Arabs had become tinctured +with Nestorian and Jewish influences, and were a learned +nation. It is related of Ali, the son-in-law of Mohammed, +and the fourth successor in the khalifate, that he gave +himself up to letters. Among his sayings are recorded +such as these: "Eminence in science is the highest of +honours;" "He dies not who gives life to learning;" "The +greatest ornament of a man is erudition." When the +sovereign felt and expressed such sentiments, it was impossible +but that a liberal policy should prevail.</p> + +<p>Besides these there were other incentives not less powerful. +To one whose faith sat lightly upon him, or who +valued it less than the tribute to be paid, it only required +the repetition of a short sentence acknowledging +the unity of God and the divine mission of the prophet, +and he forthwith became, though a captive or a slave, the +equal and friend of his conquerer. Doubtless many +thousands were under these circumstances carried away. +As respects the female sex, the Arab system was very far +from being oppressive; some have even asserted that "the +Christian women found in the seraglios a delightful +retreat." But above all, polygamy acted most effectually +in consolidating the conquests; the large families that +were raised—some are mentioned of more than one +hundred and eighty children—compressed into the course +of a few years events that would otherwise have taken +many generations for their accomplishment. These children +gloried in their Arab descent, and, being taught to speak +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span> +the language of their conquering fathers, became to all +intents and purposes Arabs. This diffusion of the language +was sometimes expedited by the edicts of the khalifs; thus +Alwalid I. prohibited the use of Greek, directing Arabic +to be employed in its stead.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Causes of the arrest of Mohammedanism.</div> + +<p>If thus without difficulty we recognise the causes which +led to the rapid diffusion of Arab power, we also without +difficulty recognise those which led to its check and +eventual dissolution. Arab conquest implied, from the +scale on which it was pursued, the forthgoing of +the whole nation. It could only be accomplished, +and in a temporary manner sustained, by an +excessive and incessant drain of the native Arab +population. That immobility, or, at best, that slow progress +the nation had for so many ages displayed, was at +an end, society was moved to its foundations, a fanatical +delirium possessed it, the greatest and boldest enterprises +were entered upon without hesitation, the wildest hopes +or passions of men might be speedily gratified, wealth and +beauty were the tangible rewards of valour in this life, to +say nothing of Paradise in the next. But such an outrush +of a nation in all directions implied the quick growth of +diverse interests and opposing policies. The necessary +<span class="sidenote">Necessary disintegration of the Arabian system.</span> +consequence of the Arab system was subdivision and +breaking up. The circumstances of its growth +rendered it certain that a decomposition would +take place in the political, and not, as was the +case of the ecclesiastical Roman system, in the +theological direction. All this is illustrated both in the +earlier and later Saracenic history.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Effect on the low Arab class.</div> + +<p>War makes a people run through its phases of existence +fast. It would have taken the Arabs many +thousand years to have advanced intellectually +as far as they did in a single century, had they, +as a nation, remained in profound peace. They did not +merely shake off that dead weight which clogs the movement +of a nation—its inert mass of common people; they +converted that mass into a living force. National progress +is the sum of individual progress; national immobility the +result of individual quiescence. Arabian life was run +through with rapidity, because an unrestrained career was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span> +opened to every man; and yet, quick as the movement was, +it manifested all those unavoidable phases through which, +whether its motion be swift or slow, humanity must +unavoidably pass.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Review of the Koran.</div> + +<p>Arabian influence, thus imposing itself on Africa and +Asia by military successes, and threatening even +Constantinople, rested essentially on an intellectual +basis, the value of which it is needful for us to +consider. The Koran, which is that basis, has exercised a +great control over the destinies of mankind, and still serves +as a rule of life to a very large portion of our race. +Considering the asserted origin of this book—indirectly +from God himself—we might justly expect that it would +<span class="sidenote">Its asserted homogeneousness and completeness.</span> +bear to be tried by any standard that man can apply, and +vindicate its truth and excellence in the ordeal of human +criticism. In our estimate of it we must constantly +bear in mind that it does not profess to +be successive revelations made at intervals of +ages and on various occasions, but a complete +production delivered to one man. We ought, therefore, to +look for universality, completeness, perfection. We might +expect that it would present us with just views of the +nature and position of this world in which, we live, and +<span class="sidenote">The characters it ought, therefore, to have presented.</span> +that, whether dealing with the spiritual or +the material, it would put to shame the most +celebrated productions of human genius, as the +magnificent mechanism of the heavens and the +beautiful living forms of the earth are superior to the vain +contrivances of man. Far in advance of all that has been +written by the sages of India, or the philosophers of Greece, +on points connected with the origin, nature, and destiny of +the universe, its dignity of conception and excellence of +expression should be in harmony with the greatness of the +subject with which it is concerned.</p> + +<p>We might expect that it should propound with authority, +and definitively settle those all-important problems +which have exercised the mental powers of the ablest men +of Asia and Europe for so many centuries, and which are +at the foundation of all faith and all philosophy; that it +should distinctly tell us in unmistakable language what is +God, what is the world, what is the soul, and whether man +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span> +has any criterion of truth; that it should explain to us +how evil can exist in a world the Maker of which is omnipotent +and altogether good; that it should reveal to us in +what the affairs of men are fixed by Destiny, in what by +free-will; that it should teach us whence we came, what is +the object of our continuing here, what is to become of us +hereafter. And, since a written work claiming a divine +origin must necessarily accredit itself even to those most +reluctant to receive it, its internal evidences becoming +stronger and not weaker with the strictness of the examination +to which they are submitted, it ought to deal +with those things that may be demonstrated by the +increasing knowledge and genius of man, anticipating +therein his conclusions. Such a work, noble as may be its +origin, must not refuse, but court the test of natural +philosophy, regarding it not as an antagonist, but as its +best support. As years pass on, and human science becomes +more exact and more comprehensive, its conclusions must +be found in unison therewith. When occasion arises, it +should furnish us at least the foreshadowings of the great +truths discovered by astronomy and geology, not offering +for them the wild fictions of earlier ages, inventions of the +infancy of man. It should tell us how suns and worlds are +distributed in infinite space, and how, in their successions, +they come forth in limitless time. It should say how far +the dominion of God is carried out by law, and what is the +point at which it is his pleasure to resort to his own good +providence or his arbitrary will. How grand the description +of this magnificent universe written by the Omnipotent +hand! Of man it should set forth his relations to other +living beings, his place among them, his privileges, and +responsibilities. It should not leave him to grope his way +through the vestiges of Greek philosophy, and to miss the +truth at last; but it should teach him wherein true knowledge +consists, anticipating the physical science, physical +power, and physical well-being of our own times, nay, +even unfolding for our benefit things that we are still +ignorant of. The discussion of subjects, so many and so +high, is not outside the scope of a work of such pretensions. +Its manner of dealing with them is the only criterion it +can offer of its authenticity to succeeding times.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Defects of the Koran.</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span> +Tried by such a standard, the Koran altogether fails. +In its philosophy it is incomparably inferior to the writings +of Chakia Mouni, the founder of Buddhism; in +its science it is absolutely worthless. On speculative +or doubtful things it is copious enough; but in the +exact, where a test can be applied to it, it totally fails. +Its astronomy, cosmogony, physiology, are so puerile as to +invite our mirth if the occasion did not forbid. They +belong to the old times of the world, the morning of human +knowledge. The earth is firmly balanced in its seat by +the weight of the mountains; the sky is supported over it +like a dome, and we are instructed in the wisdom and power +of God by being told to find a crack in it if we can. +Ranged in stories, seven in number, are the heavens, the +highest being the habitation of God, whose throne—for the +Koran does not reject Assyrian ideas—is sustained by +winged animal forms. The shooting-stars are pieces of +red-hot stone thrown by angels at impure spirits when +they approach too closely. Of God the Koran is full of +<span class="sidenote">Its God.</span> +praise, setting forth, often in not unworthy imagery, his +majesty. Though it bitterly denounces those who give +him any equals, and assures them that their sin +will never be forgiven; that in the judgment-day +they must answer the fearful question, "Where are my +companions about whom ye disputed?" though it inculcates +an absolute dependence on the mercy of God, and denounces +as criminals all those who make a merchandise of religion, +its ideas of the Deity are altogether anthropomorphic. He +is only a gigantic man living in a paradise. In this +respect, though exceptional passages might be cited, the +reader rises from a perusal of the 114 chapters of the Koran +with a final impression that they have given him low and +unworthy thoughts; nor is it surprising that one of the +Mohammedan sects reads it in such a way as to find no +difficulty in asserting that, "from the crown of the head +to the breast God is hollow, and from the breast downward +he is solid; that he has curled black hair, and roars like a +lion at every watch of the night." The unity asserted by +Mohammed is a unity in special contradistinction to the +Trinity of the Christians, and the doctrine of a divine +generation. Our Saviour is never called the Son of God, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span> +but always the son of Mary. Throughout there is a perpetual +<span class="sidenote">Its views of man.</span> +acceptance of the delusion of the human +destiny of the universe. As to man, Mohammed +is diffuse enough respecting a future state, speaking with +clearness of a resurrection, the judgment-day, Paradise, the +torment of hell, the worm that never dies, the pains that +never end; but, with all this precise description of the +future, there are many errors as to the past. If modesty +did not render it unsuitable to speak of such topics here, +it might be shown how feeble is his physiology when he +has occasion to allude to the origin or generation of man. +He is hardly advanced beyond the ideas of Thales. One +who is so untrustworthy a guide as to things that are past, +cannot be very trustworthy as to events that are to come.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Its literary inferiority compared with the Bible.</div> + +<p>Of the literary execution of his work, it is, perhaps, +scarcely possible to judge fairly from a translation. +It is said to be the oldest prose composition +among the Arabs, by whom Mohammed's +boast of the unapproachable excellence of his +work is almost universally sustained; but it must not be +concealed that there have been among them very learned +men who have held it in light esteem. Its most celebrated +passages, as those on the nature of God, in Chapters II., +XXIV., will bear no comparison with parallel ones in the +Psalms and Book of Job. In the narrative style, the story +of Joseph, in Chapter XII., compared with the same incidents +related in Genesis, shows a like inferiority. Mohammed +also adulterates his work with many Christian +legends, derived probably from the apocryphal gospel of +St. Barnabas; he mixes with many of his own inventions +the scripture account of the temptation of Adam, the +Deluge, Jonah and the whale, enriching the whole with +stories like the later Night Entertainments of his country, +the seven sleepers, Gog and Magog, and all the wonders of +genii, sorcery, and charms.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Causes of its surprising influence.</div> + +<p>An impartial reader of the Koran may doubtless be surprised +that so feeble a production should serve its purpose +so well. But the theory of religion is one thing, +the practice another. The Koran abounds in +excellent moral suggestions and precepts; its +composition is so fragmentary that we cannot turn to a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span> +single page without finding maxims of which all men must +approve. This fragmentary construction yields texts, and +mottoes, and rules complete in themselves, suitable for +common men in any of the incidents of life. There is a +perpetual insisting on the necessity of prayer, an inculcation +of mercy, almsgiving, justice, fasting, pilgrimage, and +other good works; institutions respecting conduct, both +social and domestic, debts, witnesses, marriage, children, +wine, and the like; above all, a constant stimulation to do +battle with the infidel and blasphemer. For life as it +passes in Asia, there is hardly a condition in which passages +from the Koran cannot be recalled suitable for +instruction, admonition, consolation, encouragement. To +the Asiatic and to the African, such devotional fragments +are of far more use than any sustained theological doctrine. +The mental constitution of Mohammed did not enable him +to handle important philosophical questions with the well-balanced +ability of the great Greek and Indian writers, +but he has never been surpassed in adaptation to the +spiritual wants of humble life, making even his fearful +fatalism administer thereto. A pitiless destiny is awaiting +us; yet the prophet is uncertain what it may be. "Unto +every nation a fixed time is decreed. Death will overtake +us even in lofty towers, but God only knoweth the place +in which a man shall die," After many an admonition of +the resurrection and the judgment-day, many a promise of +Paradise and threat of hell, he plaintively confesses, "I do +not know what will be done with you or me hereafter."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Its true nature.</div> + +<p>The Koran thus betrays a human, and not a very noble +intellectual origin. It does not, however, follow +that its author was, as is so often asserted, a +mere impostor. He reiterates again and again, I am +nothing more than a public preacher. He defends, not +always without acerbity, his work from those who, even in +his own life, stigmatized it as a confused heap of dreams, +or, what is worse, a forgery. He is not the only man who +has supposed himself to be the subject of supernatural and +divine communications, for this is a condition of disease +to which any one, by fasting and mental anxiety, may be +reduced.</p> + +<p>In what I have thus said respecting a work held by so +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span> +many millions of men as a revelation from God, I have +endeavoured to speak with respect, and yet with freedom, +constantly bearing in mind how deeply to this book Asia +and Africa are indebted for daily guidance, how deeply +Europe and America for the light of science.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Popular Mohammedanism.</div> + +<p>As might be expected, the doctrines of the Koran have +received many fictitious additions and sectarian interpretations +in the course of ages. In the popular +superstition angels and genii largely figure. +The latter, being of a grosser fabric, eat, drink, +propagate their kind, are of two sorts, good and bad, and +existed long before men, having occupied the earth before +Adam. Immediately after death, two greenish, livid angels, +Monkir and Nekkar, examine every corpse as to its faith in +God and Mohammed; but the soul, having been separated +from the body by the angel of death, enters upon an intermediate +state, awaiting the resurrection. There is, however, +much diversity of opinion as to its precise disposal +before the judgment-day: some think that it hovers near +the grave; some, that it sinks into the well Zemzem; +some, that it retires into the trumpet of the Angel of the Resurrection; +the difficulty apparently being that any final +disposal before the day of judgment would be anticipatory +of that great event, if, indeed, it would not render it needless. +As to the resurrection, some believe it to be merely +spiritual, others corporeal; the latter asserting that the os +coccygis, or last bone of the spinal column, will serve, as +it were, as a germ, and that, vivified by a rain of forty +days, the body will sprout from it. Among the signs of +the approaching resurrection will be the rising of the sun +in the West. It will be ushered in by three blasts of a +trumpet: the first, known as the blast of consternation, +will shake the earth to its centre, and extinguish the sun +and stars; the second, the blast of extermination, will +annihilate all material things except Paradise, hell, and +the throne of God. Forty years subsequently, the angel +Israfil will sound the blast of resurrection. From his +trumpet there will be blown forth the countless myriads +of souls who have taken refuge therein or lain concealed. +The day of judgment has now come. The Koran contradicts +itself as to the length of this day; in one place +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span> +making it a thousand, in another fifty thousand years. +Most Mohammedans incline to adopt the longer period, +since angels, genii, men, and animals have to be tried. As +to men, they will rise in their natural state, but naked; +white winged camels, with saddles of gold, awaiting the +saved. When the partition is made, the wicked will be +oppressed with an intolerable heat, caused by the sun, which, +having been called into existence again, will approach +within a mile, provoking a sweat to issue from them, and +this, according to their demerits, will immerse them from +the ankles to the mouth; but the righteous will be screened +by the shadow of the throne of God. The judge will be +seated in the clouds, the books open before him, and everything +in its turn called on to account for its deeds. For +greater dispatch, the angel Gabriel will hold forth his +balance, one scale of which hangs over Paradise and one +over hell. In these all works are weighed. As soon as +the sentence is delivered, the assembly, in a long file, will +pass over the bridge Al-Sirat. It is as sharp as the edge +of a sword, and laid over the mouth of hell. Mohammed +and his followers will successfully pass the perilous ordeal; +but the sinners, giddy with terror, will drop into the place +of torment. The blessed will receive their first taste of +happiness at a pond which is supplied by silver pipes from +the river Al-Cawthor. The soil of Paradise is of musk. +Its rivers tranquilly flow over pebbles of rubies and +emeralds. From tents of hollow pearls, the Houris, or +girls of Paradise, will come forth, attended by troops of +beautiful boys. Each Saint will have eighty thousand +servants and seventy-two girls. To these, some of the +more merciful Mussulmans add the wives they have had +upon earth; but the grimly orthodox assert that hell is +already nearly filled with women. How can it be otherwise +since they are not permitted to pray in a mosque +upon earth? I have not space to describe the silk brocades, +the green clothing, the soft carpets, the banquets, the perpetual +music and songs. From the glorified body all impurities +will escape, not as they did during life, but in a +fragrant perspiration of camphor and musk. No one will +complain I am weary; no one will say I am sick.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Mohammedan sects.</div> + +<p>From the contradictions, puerilities, and impossibilities +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span> +indicated in the preceding paragraphs, it may be anticipated +that the faith of Mohammed has been broken into +many sects. Of such it is said that not less than +seventy-three may be numbered. Some, as the +Sonnites, are guided by traditions; some occupy themselves +with philosophical difficulties, the existence of evil in the +world, the attributes of God, absolute predestination and +eternal damnation, the invisibility and non-corporeality of +God, his capability of local motion: these and other such +topics furnish abundant opportunity for sectarian dispute. +As if to show how the essential principles of the Koran +may be departed from by those who still profess to be +guided by it, there are, among the Shiites, those who +believe that Ali was an incarnation of God; that he was +in existence before the creation of things; that he never +died, but ascended to heaven, and will return again in the +clouds to judge the world. But the great Mohammedan +philosophers, simply accepting the doctrine of the Oneness +of God as the only thing of which man can be certain, look +upon all the rest as idle fables, having, however, this +political use, that they furnish contention, and therefore +occupation to disputatious sectarians, and consolation to +illiterate minds.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="sidenote">Effect of Mohammedanism on Christianity.</div> + +<p>Thus settled on the north of Africa the lurid phantom +of the Arabian crescent, one horn reaching to the Bosphorus +and one pointing beyond the Pyrenees. For a +while it seemed that the portentous meteor would increase +to the full, and that all Europe would be enveloped. +Christianity had lost for ever the most interesting +countries over which her influence had once +spread, Africa, Egypt, Syria, the Holy Land, +Asia Minor, Spain. She was destined, in the +end, to lose in the same manner the metropolis of the East. +In exchange for these ancient and illustrious regions, she +fell back on Gaul, Germany, Britain, Scandinavia. In +those savage countries, what were there to be offered as +substitutes for the great capitals, illustrious in ecclesiastical +history, for ever illustrious in the records of the human +race—Carthage, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Antioch, Constantinople? +It was an evil exchange. The labours, intellectual +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span> +and physical, of which those cities had once been the +scene; the preaching, and penances, and prayers so lavishly +expended in them, had not produced the anticipated, the +asserted result. In theology and morality the people had +pursued a descending course. Patriotism was extinct. +They surrendered the state to preserve their sect; their +treason was rewarded by subjugation.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Reflexions on the course of historic events.</div> + +<p>From these melancholy events we may learn that the +principles on which the moral world is governed +are analogous to those which obtain in the +physical. It is not by incessant divine interpositions, +which produce breaches in the continuity +of historic action; it is not by miracles and +prodigies that the course of events is determined; but +affairs follow each other in the relation of cause and effect. +The maximum development of early Christianity coincided +with the boundaries of the Roman empire; the ecclesiastical +condition depended on the political, and, indeed, was +its direct consequence and issue. The loss of Africa and +Asia was, in like manner, connected with the Arabian +movement, though it would have been easy to prevent that +catastrophe, and to preserve those continents to the faith +by the smallest of those innumerable miracles of which +Church history is full, and which were often performed on +unimportant and obscure occasions. But not even one such +miracle was vouchsafed, though an angel might have +worthily descended. I know of no event in the history of +our race on which a thoughtful man may more profitably +meditate than on this loss of Africa and Asia. It may +remove from his mind many erroneous ideas, and lead +him to take a more elevated, a more philosophical, and, +therefore, more correct view of the course of earthly affairs.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span> +THE AGE OF FAITH IN THE WEST.</p> + +<div class='blockquot'><p class='ind'><i>The Age of Faith in the West is marked by Paganism.—The Arabian +military Attacks produce the Isolation and permit the Independence of +the Bishop of Rome.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">Gregory the Great</span> <i>organizes the Ideas of his Age, materializes Faith, +allies it to Art, rejects Science, and creates the Italian Form of +Religion.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>An Alliance of the Papacy with France diffuses that Form.—Political +History of the Agreement and Conspiracy of the Frankish Kings and +the Pope.—The resulting Consolidation of the new Dynasty in France, +and Diffusion of Roman Ideas.—Conversion of Europe.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>The Value of the Italian Form of Religion determined from the papal +Biography.</i></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote">The Age of Faith in the West.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">From</span> the Age of Faith, in the East, I have now to turn to +the Age of Faith in the West. The former, as we have +seen, ended prematurely, through a metamorphosis +of the populations by military operations, +conquests, polygamy; the latter, under more +favourable circumstances, gradually completed its predestined +phases, and, after the lapse of many centuries, +passed into the Age of Reason.</p> + +<p>If so many recollections of profound interest cluster +round Jerusalem, "the Holy City" of the East, many +scarcely inferior are connected with Rome, "the Eternal +City" of the West.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Is essentially marked by the paganization of religion.</div> + +<p>The Byzantine system, which, having originated in the +policy of an ambitious soldier struggling for +supreme power, and in the devices of ecclesiastics +intolerant of any competitors, had spread itself +all over the eastern and southern portions of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span> +Roman empire, and with its hatred of human knowledge +and degraded religious ideas and practices, had been +adopted at last even in Italy. Not by the Romans, for +they had ceased to exist, but by the medley of Goths and +half-breeds, the occupants of that peninsula. Gregory the +Great is the incarnation of the ideas of this debased +population. That evil system, so carefully nurtured by +Constantine and cherished by all the Oriental bishops, had +been cut down by the axe of the Vandal, the Persian, the +Arab, in its native seats, but the offshoot of it that had +been planted in Rome developed spontaneously with unexpected +luxuriance, and cast its dark shadow over Europe +for many centuries. He who knew what Christianity had +been in the apostolic days, might look with boundless +surprise on what was now ingrafted upon it, and was +passing under its name.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Effects of the loss of Africa on events in Italy.</div> + +<p>In the last chapter we have seen how, through the +Vandal invasion, Africa was lost to the empire—a +dire calamity, for, of all the provinces, it had +been the least expensive and the most productive; +it yielded men, money, and, what was +perhaps of more importance, corn for the use of Italy. A +sudden stoppage of the customary supply rendered impossible +the usual distributions in Rome, Ravenna, Milan. +A famine fell upon Italy, bringing in its train an +inevitable diminution of the population. To add to the +misfortunes, Attila, the King of the Huns, or, as he called +himself, "the Scourge of God," invaded the empire. The +battle of Chalons, the convulsive death-throe of the Roman +empire, arrested his career, <small>A.D.</small> 451.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Fall and pillage of Rome.</div> + +<p>Four years after this event, through intrigues in the +imperial family, Genseric, the Vandal king, was +invited from Africa to Rome. The atrocities +which of old had been practised against Carthage under +the auspices of the senate were now avenged. For fourteen +days the Vandals sacked the city, perpetrating unheard-of +cruelties. Their ships, brought into the Tiber, enabled +them to accomplish their purpose of pillage far more effectually +than would have been possible by any land +expedition. The treasures of Rome, with multitudes of +noble captives, were transported to Carthage. In twenty-one +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span> +years after this time, <small>A.D.</small> 476, the Western Empire +became extinct.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Effects of the wars of Justinian.</div> + +<p>Thus the treachery of the African Arians not only +brought the Vandals into the most important of all the +provinces, so far as Italy was concerned; it also +furnished an instrument for the ruin of Rome. +But hardly had the Emperor Justinian reconquered +Africa when he attempted the subjugation of the +Goths now holding possession of Italy. His general, +Belisarius, captured Rome, Dec. 10, <small>A.D.</small> 556. In the +military operations ensuing with Vitiges, Italy was devastated, +the population sank beneath the sword, pestilence, +famine. In all directions the glorious remains of antiquity +were destroyed; statues, as those of the Mole of Hadrian, +were thrown upon the besiegers of Rome. These operations +closed by the surrender of Vitiges to Belisarius at the +capture of Ravenna.</p> + +<p>But, as soon as the military compression was withdrawn, +revolt broke out. Rome was retaken by the Goths; its +walls were razed; for forty days it was deserted by its +inhabitants, an emigration that in the end proved its ruin. +Belisarius, who had been sent back by the emperor, re-entered +it, but was too weak to retain it. During four +years Italy was ravaged by the Franks and the Goths. At +last Justinian sent the eunuch Narses with a well-appointed +army. The Ostrogothic monarchy was overthrown, +and the emperor governed Italy by his exarchs at +Ravenna.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Debased ideas of the incoming Age of Faith.</div> + +<p>But what was the cost of all this? We may reject the +statement previously made, that Italy lost fifteen millions +of inhabitants, on the ground that such computations were +beyond the ability of the survivors, but, from the asserted +number we may infer that there had been a horrible +catastrophe. In other directions the relics of civilization +were fast disappearing; the valley of the Danube had +relapsed into a barbarous state; the African shore had +become a wilderness; Italy a hideous desert; +and the necessary consequence of the extermination +of the native Italians by war, and their +replacement by barbarous adventurers, was the +falling of the sparse population of that peninsula into a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span> +lower psychical state. It was ready for the materialized +religion that soon ensued. An indelible aspect was +stamped on the incoming Age of Faith. The East and the +West had equally displayed the imbecility of ecclesiastical +rule. Of both, the Holy City had fallen; Jerusalem had +been captured by the Persian and the Arab, Rome had +been sacked by the Vandal and the Goth.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Steady progress of the papacy to supremacy.</div> + +<p>But, for the proper description of the course of affairs, I +must retrace my steps a little. In the important political +events coinciding with the death of Leo the Great, and the +constitution of the kingdom of Italy by the barbarian +Odoacer, <small>A.D.</small> 476-490, the bishops of Rome seem to have +taken but little interest. Doubtless, on one side, +they perceived the transitory nature of such +incidents, and, on the other, clearly saw for +themselves the road to lasting spiritual domination. +The Christians everywhere had long expressed a +total carelessness for the fate of old Rome; and in the +midst of her ruins the popes were incessantly occupied in +laying deep the foundations of their power. Though it +mattered little to them who was the temporal ruler of +Italy, they were vigilant and energetic in their relations +with their great competitors, the bishops of Constantinople +and Alexandria. It had become clear that Christendom +must have a head; and that headship, once definitely +settled, implied the eventual control over the temporal +power. Of all objects of human ambition, that headship +was best worth struggling for.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Its attitude toward the emperor.</div> + +<p>Steadily pursuing every advantage as it arose, Rome +inexorably insisted that her decisions should be carried +out in Constantinople itself. This was the case especially +in the affair of Acacius, the bishop of that city, who, having +been admonished for his acts by Felix, the bishop of Rome, +was finally excommunicated. A difficulty arose as to the +manner in which the process should be served; but an +adventurous monk fastened it to the robe of Acacius as he +entered the church. Acacius, undismayed, proceeded with +his services, and, pausing deliberately, ordered the name +of Felix, the Bishop of Rome, to be struck from the roll of +bishops in communion with the East. Constantinople and +Rome thus mutually excommunicated one another. It is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a></span> +in reference to this affair that Pope Gelasius, addressing +the emperor, says; "There are two powers which rule the +world, the imperial and pontifical. You are +the sovereign of the human race, but you bow +your neck to those who preside over things +divine. The priesthood is the greater of the two powers; +it has to render an account in the last day for the acts of +kings." This is not the language of a feeble ecclesiastic, +but of a pontiff who understands his power.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Gothic conquest gives the pope an Arian master.</div> + +<p>The conquest of Italy by Theodoric, the Ostrogoth, <small>A.D.</small> +493, gave to the bishops of Rome an Arian sovereign, +and presented to the world the anomaly +of a heretic appointing God's vicar upon earth. +There was a contested election between two +rival candidates, whose factions, emulating the example of +the East, filled the city with murder. The Gothic monarch +ordered that he who had most suffrages, and had been +first consecrated, should be acknowledged. In this manner +Symmachus became pope.</p> + +<p>Hormisdas, who succeeded Symmachus, renewed the +attempt to compel the Eastern emperor, Anastasius, to +accept the degradation of Acacius and his party, and to +enforce the assent of all his clergy thereto, but in vain. +On the accession of Justin to the imperial throne, Rome at +last carried her point; all her conditions were admitted; +the schism was ended in the humiliation of the Bishop of +Constantinople, it was said, through the orthodoxy of the +emperor. But very soon began to appear unmistakable +<span class="sidenote">The emperor and pope conspire against him.<br /><br /> +The Gothic king detects them.</span> +indications that for this religious victory a temporal +equivalent had been given. Conspiracies were +detected in Rome against Theodoric, the Gothic +king; and rumours were whispered about that +the arms of Constantinople would before long +release Italy from the heretical yoke of the Arian. There +can be no doubt that Theodoric detected the +treason. It was an evil reward for his impartial +equity. At once he disarmed the population +of Rome. From being a merciful sovereign, he exhibited an +awful vengeance. It was in these transactions that +Boethius, the philosopher, and Symmachus, the senator, +fell victims to his wrath. The pope John himself was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span> +thrown into prison, and there miserably died. In his +remonstrances with Justin, the great barbarian monarch +displays sentiments far above his times, yet they were the +sentiments that had hitherto regulated his actions. "To +pretend to a dominion over the conscience is to usurp the +prerogative of God. By the nature of things, the power of +sovereigns is confined to political government. They have +no right of punishment but over those who disturb the +public peace. The most dangerous heresy is that of a +sovereign who separates himself from part of his subjects +because they believe not according to his belief."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The conspiracy matures.</div> + +<p>Theodoric had been but a few years dead—his soul was +seen by an orthodox hermit carried by devils into the +crater of the volcano of Lipari, which was considered to be +the opening into hell—when the invasion of +Italy by Justinian showed how well-founded his +suspicions had been. Rome was, however, very +far from receiving the advantages she had expected; the +inconceivable wickedness of Constantinople was brought +into Italy. Pope Sylverius, who was the son of Pope +Hormisdas, was deposed by Theodora, the emperor's wife. +<span class="sidenote">Subjugation of the pope by the emperor.</span> +This woman, once a common prostitute, sold the papacy to +Vigilius for two hundred pounds of gold. Her accomplice, +Antonina, the unprincipled wife of Belisarius, had +Sylverius stripped of his robes and habited as a +monk. He was subsequently banished to the +old convict island of Pandataria, and there died. Vigilius +embraced Eutychianism and, it was said, murdered one +of his secretaries, and caused his sister's son to be beaten +to death. He was made to feel what it is for a bishop to +be in the hands of an emperor; to taste of the cup so often +presented to prelates at Constantinople; to understand in +what estimation his sovereign held the vicar of God upon +earth. Compelled to go to that metropolis to embrace the +theological views which Justinian had put forth, thrice he +agreed to them, and thrice he recanted; he excommunicated +the Patriarch of Constantinople, and was excommunicated +by him. In his personal contests with the imperial officials, +they dragged him by his feet from a sanctuary with so much +violence that a part of the structure was pulled down upon +him; they confined him in a dungeon and fed him on +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[355]</a></span> +bread and water. Eventually he died an outcast in Sicily. +The immediate effect of the conquest of Italy was the +reduction of the popes to the degraded condition of the +patriarchs of Constantinople. Such were the bitter fruits +of their treason to the Gothic king. The success of +Justinian's invasion was due to the clergy; in the ruin +they brought upon their country, and the relentless +tyranny they drew upon themselves, they had their +reward.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The paganization of religion proceeds.</div> + +<p>In the midst of this desolation and degradation the Age +of Faith was gradually assuming distinctive lineaments in +Italy. Paganization, which had been patronized as a +matter of policy in the East, became a matter of +necessity in the West. To a man like Gregory +the Great, born in a position which enabled him +to examine things from a very general point of +view, it was clear that the psychical condition of the lower +social stratum demanded concessions in accordance with its +ideas. The belief of the thoughtful must be alloyed with +the superstition of the populace.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Division of the subjects to be treated of.</div> + +<p>Accordingly, that was what actually occurred. For the +clear understanding of these events I shall have to speak, +1st, of the acts of Pope Gregory the Great, by +whom the ideas of the age were organized and +clothed in a dress suited to the requirements of +the times; 2d, of the relations which the papacy +soon assumed with the kings of France, by which the work +of Gregory was consolidated, upheld, and diffused all +over Europe. It adds not a little to the interest of these +things that the influences thus created have outlasted +their original causes, and, after the lapse of more than a +thousand years, though moss-covered and rotten, are a +stumbling-block to the progress of nations.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Gregory the Great.</div> + +<p>Gregory the Great was the grandson of Pope Felix. +His patrician parentage and conspicuous abilities +had attracted in early life the attention of the +Emperor Justin, by whom he was appointed prefect of +Rome. Withdrawn by the Church from the splendours of +secular life, he was sent, while yet a deacon, as nuncio to +Constantinople. Discharging the duties that had been +committed to him with singular ability and firmness, he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span> +resumed the monastic life on his return, with daily increasing +reputation. Elected to the papacy by the clergy, +the senate, and people of Rome, <small>A.D.</small> 590, with well dissembled +resistance he implored the emperor to reject their +choice, and, on being refused, escaped from the city hidden +in a basket. It is related that the retreat in which he was +concealed was discovered by a celestial hovering light that +settled upon it, and revealed to the faithful their reluctant +pope. This was during a time of pestilence and famine.</p> + +<p>Once made supreme pontiff, this austere monk in an +instant resumed the character he had displayed at Constantinople, +and exhibited the qualities of a great statesman. +He regulated the Roman liturgy, the calendar of +festivals, the order of processions, the fashions of sacerdotal +garments; he himself officiated in the canon of the mass, +devised many solemn and pompous rites, and invented the +chant known by his name. He established schools of music, +administered the Church revenues with precision and +justice, and set an example of almsgiving and charity; +for such was the misery of the times that even Roman +matrons had to accept the benevolence of the Church. He +authorized the alienation of Church property for the +redemption of slaves, laymen as well as ecclesiastics.</p> + +<p>An insubordinate clergy and a dissolute populace quickly +felt the hand that now held the reins. He sedulously +watched the inferior pastors, dealing out justice to them, +and punishing all who offended with rigorous severity. +He compelled the Italian bishops to acknowledge him as +their metropolitan. He extended his influence to Greece; +prohibited simony in Gaul; received into the bosom of the +Church Spain, now renouncing her Arianism; sent out +missionaries to Britain, and converted the pagans of that +country; extirpated heathenism from Sardinia; resisted +John, the Patriarch of Constantinople, who had dared to +take the title of universal bishop; exposed to the emperor +the ruin occasioned by the pride, ambition, and wickedness +of the clergy, and withstood him on the question of the +law prohibiting soldiers from becoming monks. It was not +in the nature of such a man to decline the regulation of +political affairs; he nominated tribunes, and directed the +operations of troops.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">His superstition.</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span> +No one can shake off the system that has given him +power; no one can free himself from the tincture of the +times of which he is the representative. Though +in so many respects Gregory was far in advance +of his age, he was at once insincere and profoundly superstitious. +With more than Byzantine hatred he detested +human knowledge. His oft-expressed belief that the end +of the world was at hand was perpetually contradicted by +his acts, which were ceaselessly directed to the foundation +<span class="sidenote">He materializes religion.</span> +of a future papal empire. Under him was sanctified that +mythologic Christianity destined to become the +religion of Europe for many subsequent centuries, +and which adopted the adoration of the Virgin by images +and pictures; the efficacy of the remains of martyrs and +relics; stupendous miracles wrought at the shrines of +saints; the perpetual interventions of angels and devils in +sublunary affairs; the truth of legends far surpassing in +romantic improbability the stories of Greek mythology; +the localization of heaven a few miles above the air, and of +hell in the bowels of the earth, with its portal in the crater +of Lipari. Gregory himself was a sincere believer in +miracles, ghosts, and the resurrection of many persons +from the grave, but who, alas! had brought no tidings of +the secret wonders of that land of deepest shade. He made +these wild fancies the actual, the daily, the practical +religion of Europe. Participating in the ecclesiastical +<span class="sidenote">His hatred of learning,<br /><br /> +and expulsion of classical authors.</span> +hatred of human learning, and insisting on the maxim +that "Ignorance is the mother of devotion," he +expelled from Rome all mathematical studies, +and burned the Palatine library founded by Augustus +Cæsar. It was valuable for the many rare manuscripts it +contained. He forbade the study of the classics, mutilated +statues, and destroyed temples. He hated the +very relics of classical genius; pursued with vindictive +fanaticism the writings of Livy, against +whom he was specially excited. It has truly been said +that "he was as inveterate an enemy to learning as +ever lived;" that "no lucid ray ever beamed on his superstitious +soul." He boasted that his own works were +written without regard to the rules of grammar, and +censured the crime of a priest who had taught that subject. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span> +It was his aim to substitute for the heathen writings others +which he thought less dangerous to orthodoxy; and so +well did he succeed in rooting out of Italy her illustrious +pagan authors, that when one of his successors, Paul I., sent +to Pepin of France "what books he could find," they were +"an antiphonal, a grammar, and the works of Dionysius +the Areopagite." He was the very incarnation of the +Byzantine principle of ignorance.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Gradual preparation for the debasement of religion.</div> + +<p>If thus the misfortunes that had fallen on Italy had +given her a base population, whose wants could only be +met by a paganized religion, the more fortunate +classes all over the empire had long been tending +in the same direction. Whoever will examine +the progress of Christian society from the earlier +ages, will find that there could be no other result than a +repudiation of solid learning and an alliance with art. We +have only to compare the poverty and plainness of the first +disciples with the extravagance reached in a few generations. +<span class="sidenote">Corruption of Christianity.</span> +Cyprian complains of the covetousness, pride, +luxury, and worldly-mindedness of Christians, even of the +clergy and confessors. Some made no scruple +to contract matrimony with heathens. Clement +of Alexandria bitterly inveighs against "the vices of +an opulent and luxurious Christian community—splendid +dresses, gold and silver vessels, rich banquets, gilded +litters and chariots, and private baths. The ladies kept +Indian birds, Median peacocks, monkeys, and Maltese +dogs, instead of maintaining widows and orphans; the men +had multitudes of slaves." The dipping three times at +baptism, the tasting of honey and milk, the oblations for +the dead, the signing of the cross on the forehead on +putting on the clothes or the shoes, or lighting a candle, +which Tertullian imputes to tradition without the authority +of Scripture, foreshadowed a thousand pagan observances +soon to be introduced. As time passed on, so far from the +state of things improving, it became worse. Not only +among the frivolous class, but even among historic personages, +there was a hankering after the ceremonies of the +departed creed, a lingering attachment to the old rites, +and, perhaps, a religious indifference to the new. To the +age of Justinian these remarks strikingly apply. Boethius +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[359]</a></span> +was, at the best, only a pagan philosopher; Tribonian, +the great lawyer, the author of the Justinian Code, was +suspected of being an atheist.</p> + +<p>In the East, the splendour of the episcopal establishments +extorted admiration even from those who were familiar +with the imperial court. The well-ordered trains of +attendants and the magnificent banquets in the bishops' +palaces are particularly praised. Extravagant views of +the pre-eminent value of celibacy had long been held +among the more devout, who conceded a reluctant admission +<span class="sidenote">Episcopal splendour and wickedness.</span> +even for marriage itself. "I praise the married state, +but chiefly for this, that it provides virgins," had been +the more than doubtful encomium of St. Jerome. Among +the clergy, who under the force of this growing +sentiment found it advisable to refrain from +marriage, it had become customary, as we learn +from the enactments and denunciations against the practice, +to live with "sub-introduced women," as they were called. +<span class="sidenote">Paganisms of Christianity.</span> +These passed as sisters of the priests, the correctness of +whose taste was often exemplified by the remarkable +beauty of their sinful partners. A law of +Honorius put an end to this iniquity. The +children arising from these associations do not appear to +have occasioned any extraordinary scandal. At weddings +it was still the custom to sing hymns to Venus. The +cultivation of music at a very early period attracted the +attention of many of the great ecclesiastics—Paul of +Samosata, Arius, Chrysostom. In the first congregations +<span class="sidenote">It allies itself to art,</span> +probably all the worshippers joined in the hymns and +psalmody. By degrees, however, more skilful +performers had been introduced, and the chorus +of the Greek tragedy made available under the form of +antiphonal singing. The Ambrosian chant was eventually +exchanged for the noble Roman chant of Gregory the +Great, which has been truly characterised as the foundation +of all that is grand and elevated in modern music.</p> + +<p>With the devastation that Italy had suffered the Latin +language was becoming extinct. But Roman literature +had never been converted to Christianity. Of the best +writers among the Fathers, not one was a Roman; all +were provincials. The literary basis was the Hebrew +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span> +Scriptures and the New Testament, the poetical imagery +being, for the most part, borrowed from the prophets. In +historical compositions there was a want of fair dealing +<span class="sidenote">and rejects learning.</span> +and truthfulness almost incredible to us; thus Eusebius +naïvely avows that in his history he shall omit whatever +might tend to the discredit of the Church, and +magnify whatever might conduce to her glory. +The same principle was carried out in numberless legends, +many of them deliberate forgeries, the amazing credulity +of the times yielding to them full credit, no matter how +much they might outrage common sense. But what else +was to be expected of generations who could believe that +the tracks of Pharaoh's chariot-wheels were still impressed +on the sands of the Red Sea, and could not be obliterated +either by the winds or the waves? He who ventured to +offend the public taste for these idle fables brought down +upon himself the wrath of society, and was branded as an +infidel. In the interpretation of the Scriptures, and, +indeed, in all commentaries on authors of repute, there was +a constant indulgence in fanciful mystification and the +detection of concealed meanings, in the extracting of which +an amusing degree of ingenuity and industry was often +shown; but these hermeneutical writings, as well as the +polemical, are tedious beyond endurance; with regard to +the latter, the energy of their vindictive violence is not +sufficient to redeem them from contempt.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Painting and sculpture.</div> + +<p>The relation of the Church to the sister arts, painting +and sculpture, was doubtless fairly indicated at +a subsequent time by the second Council of +Nicea, <small>A.D.</small> 787; their superstitious use had been resumed. +Sculpture has, however, never forgotten the preference +that was shown to her sister. To this day she is a pagan, +emulating in this the example of the noblest of the sciences, +Astronomy, who bears in mind the great insults she has +received from the Church, and tolerates the name of no +saint in the visible heavens; the new worlds she discovers +are dedicated to Uranus, or Neptune, or other Olympian +divinities. Among the ecclesiastics there had always been +many, occasionally some of eminence, who set their faces +against the connexion of worship with art; thus Tertullian +of old had manifested his displeasure against Hermogenes, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span> +on account of the two deadly sins into which he had fallen, +painting and marriage; but Gnostic Christianity had +approved, as Roman Christianity was now to approve, of +their union. To the Gnostics we owe the earliest examples +of our sacred images. The countenance of our Saviour, +along with those of Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, appears +on some of their engraved gems and seals. Among the +earlier fathers—Justin Martyn and Tertullian—there was +an impression that the personal appearance of our Lord +was ungainly; that he was short of stature; and, at a +later period Cyril says, mean of aspect "even beyond the +<span class="sidenote">Adopts a typical model of the Saviour,</span> +ordinary race of men." But these unsuitable delineations +were generally corrected in the fourth century, +it being then recognised that God could not dwell +in a humble form or low stature. The model +eventually received was perhaps that described in the +spurious epistle of Lentulus to the Roman senate: "He +was a man of tall and well-proportioned form; his countenance +severe and impressive, so as to move the beholders +at once with love and awe. His hair was of an amber +colour, reaching to his ears with no radiation, and standing +up from his ears clustering and bright, and flowing +down over his shoulders, parted on the top according to +the fashion of the Nazarenes. The brow high and open; +the complexion clear, with a delicate tinge of red; the +aspect frank and pleasing; the nose and mouth finely +formed; the beard thick, parted, and of the colour of the +hair; the eyes blue, and exceedingly bright." Subsequently +the oval countenance assumed an air of melancholy, +which, though eminently suggestive, can hardly be considered +as the type of manly beauty.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">and of the Virgin.</div> + +<p>At first the cross was without any adornment; it next +had a lamb at the foot; and eventually became the crucifix, +sanctified with the form of the dying Saviour. Of the Virgin +Mary, destined in later times to furnish so many +beautiful types of female loveliness, the earliest +representations are veiled. The Egyptian sculptors had +thus depicted Isis; the first form of the Virgin and child +was the counterpart of Isis and Horus. St. Augustine says +her countenance was unknown; there appears, however, +to have been a very early Christian tradition that in complexion +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span> +she was a brunette. Adventurous artists by +degrees removed the veil, and next to the mere countenance +added a full-grown figure like that of a dignified +Roman matron; then grouped her with the divine child, +the wise men, and other suggestions of Scripture.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Consolidation of papal power in the West.</div> + +<p>While thus the papacy was preparing for an alliance +with art, it did not forget to avail itself of the vast +advantages within its reach by interfering in domestic +life—an interference which the social demoralization of +the time more than ever permitted. A prodigious step in +power was made by assuming the cognizance of marriage, +and the determination of the numberless questions connected +with it. Once having discovered the +influence thus gained, the papacy never surrendered +it; some of the most important events +in later history have been determined by its +action in this matter. Perhaps even a greater power +accrued from its assumption of the cognizance of wills, +and of questions respecting the testamentary disposal of +property. Though in many respects, at the time we are +now considering, the papacy had separated itself from +morality, had become united to monachism, and was preparing +for a future alliance with political influences and +military power; though its indignation and censures were +less against personal wickedness than heresy of opinion, +toward which it was inexorable and remorseless, a good +effect arose from these assumptions upon domestic life, +particularly as regards the elevation of the female sex. +<span class="sidenote">Roman Church anthropomorphized,<br /><br /> +and necessarily becoming intolerant.</span> +The power thus arising was re-enforced by a continually-increasing +rigour in the application of penitential punishments. +As in the course of years the intellectual +basis on which that power rested became more +doubtful, and therefore more open to attack, the +papacy became more sensitive and more exacting. +Pushed on by the influence of the lower population, it fell +into the depths of anthropomorphism, asserting for the +Virgin and the saints such attributes as omniscience, +omnipresence, omnipotence. Everywhere +present, they could always listen to +prayer, and, if necessary, control or arrest the course of +Nature. As it was certain that such doctrines must in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span> +the end be overthrown, the inevitable day was put off +by an instant and vindictive repression of any want +of conformity. Despotism in the State and despotism in +the Church were upheld by despotism over thought.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Origin of the alliance of the papacy and France.</div> + +<p>From the acts of Pope Gregory the Great, and his +organization of the ideas of his age, the paganization of +religion in Italy and its alliance with art, I +have now to turn to the second topic to which +this chapter is devoted—the relations assumed +by the papacy with the kings of France, by +which the work of Gregory was consolidated and upheld, +and diffused all over Europe.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Military results of the Arabian wars.</div> + +<p>The armies of the Saracens had wrested from Christendom +the western, southern, and eastern countries +of the Mediterranean; their fleets dominated in +that sea. Ecclesiastical policy had undergone +a revolution. Carthage, Alexandria, Jerusalem, +Antioch, had disappeared from the Christian system; their +bishops had passed away. Alone, of the great episcopal +seats, Constantinople and Rome were left. To all human +appearance, their fall seemed to be only a question of time.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Independence of the pope.</div> + +<p>The disputes of the Bishop of Rome with his African +and Asiatic rivals had thus come to an untimely end. +With them nothing more remained to be done; +his communications with the emperor at Constantinople +were at the sufferance of the Mohammedan +navies. The imperial power was paralysed. The pope +was forced by events into isolation; he converted it into +independence.</p> + +<p>But independence! how was that to be asserted and +maintained. In Italy itself the Lombards seemed to be +firmly seated, but they were Arian heretics. Their +presence and power were incompatible with his. Already, +in a political sense, he was at their mercy.</p> + +<p>One movement alone was open to him; and, whether he +rightly understood his position or not, the stress of events +forced him to make it. It was an alliance with the Franks, +who had successfully resisted the Mohammedan power, and +who were orthodox.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Conditions of his alliance with the Franks.</div> + +<p>An ambitious Frank officer had resolved to deprive his +sovereign of the crown if the pope would sanctify the deed. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span> +They came to an understanding. The usurpation was +consummated by the one and consecrated by the other. It +was then the interest of the intrusive line of +monarchs to magnify their Italian confederate. +In the spread of Roman principles lay the consolidation +of the new Frankish power. It became +desirable to compel the ignorant German tribes to acknowledge +in the pope the vicegerent of God, even though the +sword must be applied to them for that purpose for thirty +years.</p> + +<p>The pope revolted against his Byzantine sovereign on +the question of images; but that was a fictitious issue. +He did not revolt against his new ally, who fell into the +same heresy. He broke away from a weak and cruel +master, and attached himself on terms of equality to a +confederate. But from the first his eventual ascendancy +was assured. The representative of a system which is +immortal must finally gain supremacy over individuals +and families, who must die.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The conversion of Europe.</div> + +<p>Though we cannot undervalue the labours of the monks, +who had already nominally brought many portions of +Europe to Christianity, the passage of the centre +of the Continent to its Age of Faith, was, in an +enlarged political sense, the true issue of the +empire of the Franks. The fiat of Charlemagne put a +stamp upon it which it bears to this day. He converted an +ecclesiastical fiction into a political fact.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Three points for consideration.</div> + +<p>To understand this important event, it is necessary to +describe, 1st, the psychical state of Central +Europe; 2nd, the position of the pontiff and his +compact with the Franks. It is also necessary +to determine the actual religious value of the system he +represents, and this is best done through, 3rd, the biography +of the popes.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The psychical change of Europe.</div> + +<p>1st. As with the Arabs, so with the barbarians of +Europe. They pass from their Age of Credulity +to their Age of Faith without dwelling long in +the intermediate state of Inquiry. An age of +inquiry implies self-investigation, and the absence of an +authoritative teacher. But the Arabs had had the Nestorians +and the Jews, and to the Germans the lessons of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[365]</a></span> +the monk were impressively enforced by the convincing +argument of the sword of Charlemagne.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Labours and successes of the monks.</div> + +<p>The military invasions of the south by the barbarians +were retaliated by missionary invasions of the north. The +aim of the former was to conquer, that of their +antagonists to convert, if antagonists those can +be called who sought to turn them from their +evil ways. The monk penetrated through their most +gloomy forests unarmed and defenceless; he found his way +alone to their fortresses. Nothing touches the heart of a +savage so profoundly as the greatness of silent courage. +<span class="sidenote">Influence of devout women.</span> +Among the captives taken from the south in war were +often high-born women of great beauty and +purity of mind, and sometimes even bishops, +who, true to their religious principles, did not +fail to exert a happy and a holy influence on the tribes +among whom their lot was cast. One after another the +various nations submitted: the Vandals and Gepidæ in the +fourth century; the Goths somewhat earlier; the Franks +at the end of the fifth; the Alemanni and Lombards at +<span class="sidenote">Conversion of Europe.</span> +the beginning of the sixth; the Bavarians, Hessians, +and Thuringians in the seventh and +eighth. Of these, all embraced the Arian form except the +Franks, who were converted by the Catholic clergy. In +truth, however, these nations were only Christianized +upon the surface, their conversion being indicated by little +more than their making the sign of the cross. In all +these movements women exercised an extraordinary +influence: thus Clotilda, the Queen of the Franks, brought +over to the faith her husband Clovis. Bertha, the Queen +of Kent, and Gisella, the Queen of Hungary, led the way +in their respective countries; and under similar influences +were converted the Duke of Poland and the Czar Jarislaus. +To women Europe is thus greatly indebted, though the +forms of religion at the first were nothing more than +the creed and the Lord's prayer. It has been truly +said that for these conversions three conditions were +necessary—a devout female of the court, a national calamity, +and a monk. As to the people, they seem to have +followed the example of their rulers in blind subserviency, +altogether careless as to what the required faith might be. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[366]</a></span> +The conversion of the ruler is naïvely taken by historians +as the conversion of the whole people. As might be +expected, a faith so lightly assumed at the will or whim of +the sovereign was often as lightly cast aside; thus the +Swedes, Bohemians, and Hungarians relapsed into idolatry.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Conversion of England.</div> + +<p>Among such apostasies it is interesting to recall that of +the inhabitants of Britain, to whom Christianity +was first introduced by the Roman legions, and +who might boast in Constantine the Great, and his mother +Helena, if they were really natives of that country, that +they had exercised no little influence on the religion of the +world. The biography of Pelagius shows with what +acuteness theological doctrines were considered in those +remote regions; but, after the decline of Roman affairs, +this promising state of things was destroyed, and the +clergy driven by the pagan invaders to the inaccessible +parts of Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. The sight of some +English children exposed for sale in the slave-market at +Rome suggested to Gregory the Great the attempt of reconverting +the island. On his assuming the pontificate +he commissioned the monk Augustine for that purpose; and +after the usual exertion of female influence in the court of +King Ethelbert by Bertha, his Frankish princess, and the +usual vicissitudes of backsliding, the faith gradually won +its way throughout the whole country. A little opposition +occurred on the part of the ancient clergy, who retained in +their fastnesses the traditions of the old times, particularly +in regard to Easter. But this at length disappeared; an +intercourse sprang up with Rome, and it became common +for the clergy and wealthy nobles to visit that city.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Irish and British missionaries.</div> + +<p>Displaying the same noble quality which in our own +times characterises it, British Christianity did not fail to +exert a proselytizing spirit. As, at the end of +the sixth century, Columban, an Irish monk of +Banchor, had gone forth as a missionary, passing +through France, Switzerland, and beyond the confines of +the ancient Roman empire, so about a century later +Boniface, an Englishman of Devonshire, repaired to +Germany, under a recommendation from the pope and +Charles Martel, and laboured among the Hessians and +Saxons, cutting down their sacred oaks, overturning their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[367]</a></span> +altars, erecting churches, founding bishoprics, and gaining +at last, from the hands of the savages, the crown of +martyrdom. In the affinity of their language to those of +the countries to which they went, these missionaries from +the West found a very great advantage.</p> + +<p>It is the glory of Pope Formosus, the same whose body +underwent a posthumous trial, that he converted the +Bulgarians, a people who came from the banks of the +Volga. The fact that this event was brought about by a +picture representing the judgment-day shows on what +trifling circumstances these successes turned. The Slavians +were converted by Greek missionaries, and for them the +monk Cyril invented an alphabet, as Ulphilas had done for +the Goths. The predatory Normans, who plundered the +churches in their forays, embraced Christianity on settling +in Normandy, as the Goths, in like circumstances, had +elsewhere done. The Scandinavians were converted by St. +Anschar.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Influence of Charlemagne on these events.</div> + +<p>Thus, partly by the preaching of missionaries, partly by +the example of monks, partly by the influence of females, +partly by the sword of the Frankish sovereigns, partly by +the great name of Rome, Europe was at last nominally +converted. The so-called religious wars of Charlemagne, +which lasted more than thirty years, and which +were attended by the atrocities always incident +to such undertakings, were doubtless as much, so +far as he was concerned, of a political as of a +theological nature. They were the embodiment of the +understanding that had been made with Rome by Pepin. +Charlemagne clearly comprehended the position and functions +of the Church; he never suffered it to intrude unduly +on the state. Regarding it as furnishing a bond for +uniting not only the various nations and tribes of his +empire, but even families and individuals together, he ever +extended to it a wise and liberal protection. His mental +condition prevented him from applying its doctrines to the +regulation of his own life, which was often blemished by +acts of violence and immorality. From the point of view +he occupied, he doubtless was led to the conclusion that +the maxims of religion are intended for the edification and +comfort of those who occupy a humbler sphere, but that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[368]</a></span> +for a prince it is only necessary to maintain appropriate +political relations with the Church. To him baptism was +the sign, not of salvation, but of the subjugation of people; +and the foundation of churches and monasteries, the institution +of bishoprics, and increase of the clergy, a more +trustworthy means of government than military establishments. +A priest must necessarily lean on him for support, +a lieutenant might revolt.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Reflex action of converted Europe.</div> + +<p>If thus Europe, by its conversion, received from Rome +an immense benefit, it repaid the obligation at length by +infusing into Latin Christianity what was sadly needed—a +higher moral tone. Earnestness is the attribute of +savage life. That divorce between morality and +faith which the southern nations had experienced +was not possible among these converts. If, by +communicating many of their barbarous and pagan conceptions +to the Latin faith, they gave it a tendency to +develop itself in an idolatrous form, their influence was not +one of unmitigated evil, for while they lowered the +standard of public belief, they elevated that of private life. +In truth, the contamination they imparted is often over-rated. +The infusion of paganism into religion was far +more due to the people of the classical countries. The +inhabitants of Italy and Greece were never really alienated +from the idolatries of the old times. At the best, they +were only Christianized on the surface. With many other +mythological practices, they forced image-worship on the +clergy. But Charlemagne, who, in this respect, may be +looked upon as a true representative of Frankish and +German sentiment, totally disapproved of that idolatry.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The conspiracy of the papacy and the Franks.</div> + +<p>2nd. From this consideration of the psychical +revolution that had occurred in Central Europe, +I turn to an investigation of the position of the +papacy and its compact with the Franks.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><br />Position of the Franks and Saracens.</div> + +<p>Scarcely had the Arabs consolidated their conquest of +Africa when they passed into Spain, and quickly, as will +be related in a subsequent chapter, subjugating +that country, prepared to overwhelm Europe. +It was their ambition and their threat to preach +the unity of God in Rome. They reached the centre of +France, but were beaten in the great battle of Tours by +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[369]</a></span> +Charles Martel, the Duke of the Franks, <small>A.D.</small> 732. That +battle fixed the religious destiny of Europe. The Saracens +did not, however, give up their attempt. Three years +afterward they returned into Provence, and Charles was +himself repulsed. But by this time their power had +expanded too extensively for consolidation. It was already +giving unmistakable tokens of decomposition. Scarcely, +indeed, had Musa, the conqueror of Spain, succeeded in his +expedition, when he was arrested at the head of his army, +and ordered to give an account of his doings at Damascus. +It was the occurrence of such disputes among the Saracens +in Spain that constituted the true check to their conquest +of France. Charles Martel had permitted Chilperic II. +and Thierry IV. to retain the title of king; but his foresight +of approaching events seems to be indicated by the +<span class="sidenote">Relations of Charles Martel to the Church.</span> +circumstance that after the death of the latter he abstained +from appointing any successor. He died <small>A.D.</small> 741, +leaving a memory detested by the Church of his +own country on account of his having been +obliged to appropriate from its property sufficient for the +payment of his army. He had taken a tithe from the +revenues of the churches and convents for that purpose. +The ignorant clergy, alive only to their present temporal +interests, and not appreciating the great salvation he had +wrought out for them, could never forgive him. Their +inconceivable greed could not bear to be taxed even in its +own defence. "It is because Prince Charles," says the +Council of Kiersi to one of his descendants, "was the first +of all the kings and princes of the Franks who separated +and dismembered the goods of the Church; it is for that +sole cause that he is eternally damned. We know, indeed, +that St. Eucherius, Bishop of Orleans, being in prayer, +was carried up into the world of spirits, and that among +the things which the Lord showed to him, he beheld +Charles tormented in the lowest depths of hell. The angel +who conducted him, being interrogated on this matter, +answered him that, in the judgment to come, the soul and +body of him who has taken, or who has divided the goods +of the Church, shall be delivered over, even before the end +of the world, to eternal torments by the sentence of the +saints, who shall sit together with the Lord to judge him. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[370]</a></span> +This act of sacrilege shall add to his own sins the accumulated +sins of all those who thought that they had purchased +their redemption by giving for the love of God their goods +to holy places, to the lights of divine worship, and to the +alms of the servants of Christ." This amusing but instructive +quotation strikingly shows how quickly the +semi barbarian Frankish clergy had caught the methods of +Rome in the defence of temporal possessions.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The epoch of Pepin.</div> + +<p>Pepin, the son of Charles Martel, introduces us to an +epoch and a policy resembling in many respects +that of Constantine the Great; for he saw that +by an alliance with the Church it would be possible for +him to displace his sovereign and attain to kingly power. +A thorough understanding was entered upon between +Pepin and the pope. Each had his needs. One wanted +the crown of France, the other liberation from Constantinople +and the Lombards. Pepin commenced by enriching +the clergy with immense gifts, and assigning to the bishops +seats in the assembly of the nation. In thus consolidating +<span class="sidenote">His conspiracy with the pope.</span> +ecclesiastical power he occasioned a great social revolution, +as was manifested by the introduction of the Latin and +the disuse of the Frankic on those occasions, and by the +transmuting of military reviews into theological +assemblies. Meantime Pope Zachary, on his +part, made ready to accomplish his engagement, +the chaplain of Pepin being the intermedium of negotiation. +On the demand being formally made, the pope decided +that "he should be king who really possessed the royal +power." Hereupon, in March, <small>A.D.</small> 752, Pepin caused +himself to be raised by his soldiers on a buckler and proclaimed +King of the Franks. To give solemnity to the +event, he was anointed by the bishops with oil. The +deposed king, Childeric III., was shut up in the convent of +St. Omer. Next year Pope Stephen III., driven to extremity, +applied to Pepin for assistance against the Lombards. It +was during these transactions that he fell upon the device +of enforcing his demand by a letter which he feigned +had been written by St. Peter to the Franks. And now, +visiting France, the pope, as an earnest of his friendship, +and as the token of his completion of the contract, in the +monastery of St. Denis, placed, with his own hands, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[371]</a></span> +diadem on Pepin's brow, and anointed him, his wife, and +<span class="sidenote">Its results.</span> +children, with "the holy oil," thereby reviving the Jewish +system of creating kings by anointment, and imparting to +his confederate "a divine right." Pepin now +finally defeated the Lombards, and assigned a +part of the conquered territory to the pope. Thus, by a +successful soldier, two important events had been accomplished—a +revolution in France, attended by a change of +dynasty, and a revolution in Christendom—the Bishop of +Rome had become a temporal sovereign. To the hilt of +the sword of France the keys of St. Peter were henceforth +so firmly bound that, though there have been great kings, +and conquerors, and statesmen who have wielded that +sword, not one to this day has been able, though many +have desired, to wrench the encumbrance away.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The reign of Charlemagne.</div> + +<p>Charlemagne, on succeeding his father Pepin, thoroughly +developed his policy. At the urgent entreaty of +Pope Stephen III. he entered Italy, subjugated +the Lombards, and united the crown of Lombardy to +that of France. Upon the pagan Saxons burning the +church of Deventer, he commenced a war with them which +lasted thirty-three years, and ended in their compulsory +Christianization. As the circle of his power extended, he +everywhere founded churches and established bishoprics, +enriching them with territorial possessions. To the petty +sovereigns, as they successively succumbed, he permitted +the title of counts. True to his own and his father's +understanding with the pope, he invariably insisted on +baptism as the sign of submission, punishing with appalling +barbarity any resistance, as on the occasion of the +revolt, <small>A.D.</small> 782, when, in cold blood, he beheaded in one +day 4500 persons at Verden. Under such circumstances, +it is not to be wondered at that clerical influence extended +so fast; yet, rapid as was its development, the power of +Charlemagne was more so.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">He is crowned Emperor of the West,</div> + +<p>In the church of St. Peter at Rome, on Christmas-day, +<small>A.D.</small> 800, Pope Leo III., after the celebration of +the holy mysteries, suddenly placed on the head +of Charlemagne a diadem, amid the acclamations +of the people, "Long life and victory to Charles, the +most pious Augustus, crowned by God, the great and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[372]</a></span> +pacific Emperor of the Romans." His head and body were +anointed with the holy oil, and, as was done in the case of +the Cæsars, the pontiff himself saluted or adored him. In +the coronation oath Charlemagne promised to maintain the +privileges of the Church.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">and carries out his compact with the papacy.</div> + +<p>The noble title of "Emperor of the West" was not +inappropriate, for Charlemagne ruled in France, Spain, +Italy, Germany, Hungary. An inferior dignity +would not have been equal to his deserts. His +princely munificence to St. Peter was worthy of +the great occasion, and even in his minor acts +he exhibited a just appreciation of his obligations to the +apostle. He proceeded to make in his dominions such +changes in the Church organization as the Italian policy +required, substituting, for instance, the Gregorian for the +Ambrosian chant, and, wherever his priests resisted, he took +from them by force their antiphonaries. As an example +to insubordinates he, at the request of the pope, burnt +some of the singers along with their books.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">He declines image-worship,</div> + +<p>The rapid growth of the power of Charlemagne, his +overshadowing pre-eminence, and the subordinate position +of the pope, who had really become his Italian lieutenant, +are strikingly manifested by the event of image-worship in +the West. On this, as we shall in another chapter +see, the popes had revolted from their iconoclastic +sovereigns of Constantinople. The second +Council of Nicea had authorized image-worship, but the +good sense of Charlemagne was superior to such idolatry. +He openly expressed his disapproval, and even dictated a +work against it—the Carolinian books. The pope was +therefore placed in a singular dilemma, for not only had +image-worship been restored at Constantinople, and the +original cause of the dispute removed, but the new protector, +<span class="sidenote">but permits relic-worship.</span> +Charlemagne, had himself embraced iconoclasm. +However, it was not without reason that the +pope at this time avoided the discussion, for a +profitable sale of bones and relics, said to be those of saints +but in reality obtained from the catacombs of Rome, had +arisen. To the barbarian people of the north these gloomy +objects proved more acceptable than images of wood, and +the traffic, though contemptible, was more honourable than +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[373]</a></span> +the slave-trade in vassals and peasant children which had +been carried on with Jews and Mohammedans. Like all +the great statesmen of antiquity, who were unable to +comprehend the possibility of a highly civilized society +<span class="sidenote">His policy as respects slavery.</span> +without the existence of slavery, Charlemagne accepted +that unfortunate condition as a political necessity, +and attempted to draw from it as much benefit +as it was capable of yielding to the state. From +certain classes of slaves he appointed, by a system of +apprenticeship, those who should be devoted to the +mechanical arts and to trade. It was, however, slavery +and warfare which, during his own life, by making the +possession of property among small proprietors an absolute +disadvantage, prepared the way for that rapid dissolution +of his empire so quickly occurring after his death.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The European slave-trade.</div> + +<p>Yet, though Charlemagne thus accepted the existence of +slavery as a necessary political evil, the evidences are not +wanting that he was desirous to check its abuses wherever +he could. When the Italian dukes accused Pope +Adrian of selling his vassals as slaves to the Saracens, +Charlemagne made inquiry into the matter, +and, finding that transactions of the kind had occurred in +the port of Civita Vecchia, though he did not choose to +have so infamous a scandal made public, he ever afterwards +withdrew his countenance from that pope. At that time a +very extensive child slave-trade was carried on with the +Saracens through the medium of the Jews, ecclesiastics as +well as barons selling the children of their serfs.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Improvements of the physical state +of the people.<br /><br /> +State of the clergy.</div> + +<p>Though he never succeeded in learning how to write, +no one appreciated better than Charlemagne the value of +knowledge. He laboured assiduously for the elevation +and enlightenment of his people. He collected +together learned men; ordered his clergy to turn +their attention to letters; established schools +of religious music; built noble palaces, churches, +bridges; transferred, for the adornment of his capital, +Aix-la-Chapelle, statues from Italy; organized the professions +and trades of his cities, and gave to his towns a +police. Well might he be solicitous that his +clergy should not only become more devout, but +more learned. Very few of them knew how to read, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[374]</a></span> +scarcely any to write. Of the first half of the eighth century, +a period of great interest, since it includes the +invasion of France by the Saracens, and their expulsion, +there is nothing more than the most meagre annals; the +clergy understood much better the use of the sword than +that of the pen. The schools of Charlemagne proved a +failure, not through any fault of his, but because the age +had no demand for learning, and the Roman pontiffs and +their clergy, as far as they troubled themselves with any +opinion about the matter, thought that knowledge was of +more harm than good.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Private life of Charlemagne.</div> + +<p>The private life of Charlemagne was stained with great +immoralities and crimes. He indulged in a +polygamy scarcely inferior to that of the khalifs, +solacing himself with not less than nine wives and many +concubines. He sought to increase the circle of the former, +or perhaps it should be said, considering the greatness of +his statesmanship, to unite the Eastern and Western +empires together by a marriage with the Empress Irene. +This was that Irene who put out the eyes of her own son in +the porphyry chamber at Constantinople. His fame +extended into Asia. The Khalif Haroun al Raschid, <small>A.D.</small> +<span class="sidenote">His relations with the Saracens.</span> +801, sent him from Bagdad the keys of our Saviour's +sepulchre as a mark of esteem from the Commander of the +Faithful to the greatest of Christian kings. +However, there was doubtless as much policy as +esteem in this, for the Asiatic khalifs perceived the +advantage of a good understanding with the power that +could control the emirs of Spain. Always bearing in mind +his engagement with the papacy, that Roman Christianity +should be enforced upon Europe wherever his influence +could reach, he remorselessly carried into execution the +penalty of death that he had awarded to the crimes of, 1, refusing +baptism; 2, false pretence of baptism; 3, relapse to +idolatry; 4, the murder of a priest or bishop; 5, human +sacrifice; 6, eating meat in Lent. To the pagan German +his sword was a grim, but a convincing missionary. To +the last he observed a savage fidelity to his bond. He +died <small>A.D.</small> 814.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Course of events after the death of Charlemagne.</div> + +<p>Such was the compact that had been established between +the Church and the State. As might be expected, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[375]</a></span> +succeeding transactions exhibit an alternate preponderance +of one and of the other, and the degradation of both in +the end. Scarcely was Charlemagne dead ere +the imbecile character of his son and successor, +Louis the Pious, gave the Church her opportunity. +By the expulsion of his father's numerous +concubines and mistresses, the scandals of the palace were +revealed. I have not the opportunity to relate in detail +how this monarch disgracefully humiliated himself before +the Church; how, under his weak government, the slave-trade +greatly increased; how every shore, and, indeed, +every country that could be reached through a navigable +river, was open to the ravages of pirates, the Northmen +extending their maraudings even to the capture of great +cities; how, in strong contrast with the social decomposition +into which Europe was falling, Spain, under her Mohammedan +rulers, was becoming rich, populous, and great; +how, on the east, the Huns and Avars, ceasing their ravages, +accepted Christianity, and, under their diversity of interests +the nations that had been bound together by Charlemagne +separated into two divisions—French and German—and +civil wars between them ensued; how, through the folly +of the clergy, who vainly looked for protection from relics +instead of the sword, the Saracens ranged uncontrolled all +over the south, and came within an hair's-breadth of capturing +Rome itself; how France, at this time, had literally +become a theocracy, the clergy absorbing everything that +was worth having; how the pope, trembling at home, +nevertheless maintained an external power by interfering +with domestic life, as in the quarrel with King Lothaire +II. and his wife; how Italy, France, and Germany became, +as Africa and Syria had once been, full of miracles; how, +through these means the Church getting the advantage, +John VIII. thought it expedient to assert his right of disposing +of the imperial crown in the case of Charles the Bald +(the imperial supremacy that Charlemagne had obtained +in reality implied the eventual supremacy of the pope); +how an opportunity which occurred for reconstructing the +empire of the West under Charles the Fat was thwarted +by the imbecility of that sovereign, an imbecility so great +that his nobles were obliged to depose him; how, thereupon, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[376]</a></span> +a number of new kingdoms arose, and Europe fell, by an +inevitable necessity, into a political chaos; how, since +there was thus no protecting government, each great +landowner had to protect himself, and the rightfulness +of private war became recognised; how, through this evil +state, the strange consequence ensued of a great increase +in the population, it becoming the interest of every lord to +raise as many peasants as he could, offering his lands on +personal service, the value of an estate being determined +by the number of retainers it could furnish, and hence +arose the feudal system; how the monarchical principle, +once again getting the superiority, asserted its power +in Germany in Henry the Fowler and his descendants, the +three Othos; how, by these great monarchs, the subjection +of Italy was accomplished, and the morality of the German +clergy vindicated by their attempts at the reformation of +the papacy, which fell to the last degree of degradation, +becoming, in the end, an appanage of the Counts of Tusculum, +and, shameful to be said, in some instances given by +prostitutes to their paramours or illegitimates, in some, to +mere boys of precociously dissolute life; before long, <small>A.D.</small> +1045, it was actually to be sold for money. We have now +approached the close of a thousand years from the birth +of Christ; the evil union of the Church and State, their +rivalries, their intrigues, their quarrels, had produced an +inevitable result, doing the same in the West that they +had done in the East; disorganizing the political system, +<span class="sidenote">Social condition of Europe.</span> +and ending in a universal social demoralization. The +absorption of small properties into large estates steadily +increased the number of slaves; where there had once been +many free families, there was now found only a +rich man. Even of this class the number diminished +by the same process of absorption, until there were +sparsely scattered here and there abbots and counts with +enormous estates worked by herds of slaves, whose numbers, +since sometimes one man possessed more than 20,000 of +them, might deceive us, if we did not consider the vast +surface over which they were spread. Examined in that +way, the West of Europe proves to have been covered with +forests, here and there dotted with a convent or a town. +From those countries, once full of the splendid evidences +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[377]</a></span> +of Roman civilization, mankind was fast disappearing. +There was no political cause, until at a later time, when +the feudal system was developed, for calling men into +existence. Whenever there was a partial peace, there was +no occasion for the multiplication of men beyond the intention +of extracting from them the largest possible revenue, +a condition implying their destruction. Soon even the +necessity for legislation ceased; events were left to take +their own course. Through the influence of the monks the +military spirit declined; a vile fetichism of factitious relics, +which were working miracles in all directions, constituted +the individual piety. Whoever died without bequeathing +a part of his property to the Church, died without confession +and the sacraments, and forfeited Christian burial. +Trial by battle, and the ordeals of fire and boiling water, +determined innocence or guilt in those accused of crimes. +Between places at no great distance apart intercommunication +ceased, or, at most, was carried on as in the times of +the Trojan War, by the pedlar travelling with his packs.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Expected end of the world, <small>A.D.</small> 1000.<br /><br /> +Effects of the union of Church and state.</div> + +<p>In these deplorable days there was abundant reason to +adopt the popular expectation that the end of +all things was at hand, and that the year 1000 +would witness the destruction of the world. +Society was dissolving, the human race was disappearing, +and with difficulty the melancholy ruins of ancient civilization +could be traced. Such was the issue of the second +attempt at the union of political and ecclesiastical +power. In a former chapter we saw what it had +been in the East, now we have found what it +was in the West. Inaugurated in selfishness, +it strengthens itself by violence, is perpetuated by +ignorance, and yields as its inevitable result, social ruin.</p> + +<p>And while things were thus going to wreck in the state, +it was no better in the Church. The ill-omened union +between them was bearing its only possible fruit, disgrace +to both—a solemn warning to all future ages.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Value of the new system estimated from the lives +of the popes.</div> + +<p>3d. This brings me to the third and remaining topic I +proposed to consider in this chapter, to determine +the actual religious value of the system in process +of being forced upon Europe, using, for +the purpose, that which must be admitted as the +best test—the private lives of the popes.</p> + +<div class="sidenote"><br />Apology for referring to the biography of the popes.</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[378]</a></span> +To some it might seem, considering the interests of +religion alone, desirable to omit all biographical reference +to the popes; but this cannot be done with +justice to the subject. The essential principle +of the papacy, that the Roman pontiff is the +vicar of Christ upon earth, necessarily obtrudes +his personal relations upon us. How shall we understand +his faith unless we see it illustrated in his life? Indeed, +the unhappy character of those relations was the inciting +cause of the movements in Germany, France, and England, +ending in the extinction of the papacy as an actual political +power, movements to be understood only through a sufficient +knowledge of the private lives and opinions of the +popes. It is well, as far as possible, to abstain from +burdening systems with the imperfections of individuals. +In this case they are inseparably interwoven. The signal +peculiarity of the papacy is that, though its history may +be imposing, its biography is infamous. I shall, however, +forbear to speak of it in this latter respect more than the +occasion seems necessarily to require; shall pass in silence +some of those cases which would profoundly shock my +religious reader, and therefore restrict myself to the ages +between the middle of the eighth and the middle of the +eleventh centuries, excusing myself to the impartial critic +by the apology that these were the ages with which I have +been chiefly concerned in this chapter.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The popes from <small>A.D.</small> 757.</div> + +<p>On the death of Pope Paul I., who had attained the +pontificate <small>A.D.</small> 757, the Duke of Nepi compelled some +bishops to consecrate Constantine, one of his +brothers, as pope; but more legitimate electors +subsequently, <small>A.D.</small> 768, choosing Stephen IV., the usurper +and his adherents were severely punished; the eyes of Constantine +were put out; the tongue of the Bishop Theodorus +was amputated, and he was left in a dungeon to expire in +the agonies of thirst. The nephews of Pope Adrian seized +his successor, Pope Leo III., <small>A.D.</small> 795, in the street, and, +forcing him into a neighbouring church, attempted to put +out his eyes and cut out his tongue; at a later period, this +pontiff trying to suppress a conspiracy to depose him, +Rome became the scene of rebellion, murder, and conflagration. +His successor, Stephen V., <small>A.D.</small> 816, was +ignominiously driven from the city; his successor, Paschal +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[379]</a></span> +I., was accused of blinding and murdering two ecclesiastics +in the Lateran Palace; it was necessary that imperial +commissioners should investigate the matter, but the pope +died, after having exculpated himself by oath before thirty +bishops. John VIII., <small>A.D.</small> 872, unable to resist the +Mohammedans, was compelled to pay them tribute; the +Bishop of Naples, maintaining a secret alliance with them, +received his share of the plunder they collected. Him +John excommunicated, nor would he give him absolution +unless he would betray the chief Mohammedans and +assassinate others himself. There was an ecclesiastical +conspiracy to murder the pope; some of the treasures of +the Church were seized; and the gate of St. Pancrazia was +opened with false keys, to admit the Saracens into the city. +Formosus, who had been engaged in these transactions, +and excommunicated as a conspirator for the murder of +John, was subsequently elected pope, <small>A.D.</small> 891; he was +succeeded by Boniface VI., <small>A.D.</small> 896, who had been deposed +from the diaconate, and again from the priesthood, for his +immoral and lewd life. By Stephen VII., who followed, +the dead body of Formosus was taken from the grave, +clothed in the papal habiliments, propped up in a chair, +tried before a council, and the preposterous and indecent +scene completed by cutting off three of the fingers +of the corpse and casting it into the Tiber; but Stephen +himself was destined to exemplify how low the papacy had +fallen: he was thrown into prison and strangled. In +the course of five years, from <small>A.D.</small> 896 to <small>A.D.</small> 900, five +popes were consecrated. Leo V., who succeeded in <small>A.D.</small> 904, +was in less than two months thrown into prison by +Christopher, one of his chaplains, who usurped his place, +and who, in his turn, was shortly expelled from Rome by +Sergius III., who, by the aid of a military force, seized the +pontificate, <small>A.D.</small> 905. This man, according to the testimony +of the times, lived in criminal intercourse with the celebrated +prostitute Theodora, who, with her daughters +Marozia and Theodora, also prostitutes, exercised an extraordinary +control over him. The love of Theodora was +also shared by John X.: she gave him first the archbishopric +of Ravenna, and then translated him to Rome, +<small>A.D.</small> 915, as pope. John was not unsuited to the times; he +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[380]</a></span> +organized a confederacy which perhaps prevented Rome +from being captured by the Saracens, and the world was +astonished and edified by the appearance of this warlike +pontiff at the head of his troops. By the love of Theodora, +as was said, he had maintained himself in the papacy for +fourteen years; by the intrigues and hatred of her daughter +Marozia he was overthrown. She surprised him in the +Lateran Palace; killed his brother Peter before his face; +threw him into prison, where he soon died, smothered, as +was asserted, with a pillow. After a short interval +Marozia made her own son pope as John XI., <small>A.D.</small> 931. +Many affirmed that Pope Sergius was his father, but she +herself inclined to attribute him to her husband Alberic, +whose brother Guido she subsequently married. Another +of her sons, Alberic, so called from his supposed father, +jealous of his brother John, cast him and their mother +Marozia into prison. After a time Alberic's son was elected +pope, <small>A.D.</small> 956; he assumed the title of John XII., the +amorous Marozia thus having given a son and a grandson +to the papacy. John was only nineteen years old when he +thus became the head of Christendom. His reign was +characterized by the most shocking immoralities, so that +the Emperor Otho I. was compelled by the German clergy +to interfere. A synod was summoned for his trial in the +Church of St. Peter, before which it appeared that John +had received bribes for the consecration of bishops, that he +had ordained one who was but ten years old, and had +performed that ceremony over another in a stable; he was +charged with incest with one of his father's concubines, +and with so many adulteries that the Lateran Palace had +become a brothel; he put out the eyes of one ecclesiastic +and castrated another, both dying in consequence of their +injuries; he was given to drunkenness, gambling, and the +invocation of Jupiter and Venus. When cited to appear +before the council, he sent word that "he had gone out +hunting;" and to the fathers who remonstrated with him, he +threateningly remarked "that Judas, as well as the other +disciples, received from his master the power of binding +and loosing, but that as soon as he proved a traitor to the +common cause, the only power he retained was that of +binding his own neck." Hereupon he was deposed, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[381]</a></span> +Leo VIII. elected in his stead, <small>A.D.</small> 963; but subsequently +getting the upper hand, he seized his antagonists, cut off +the hand of one, the nose, finger, tongue of others. His life +was eventually brought to an end by the vengeance of a +man whose wife he had seduced.</p> + +<p>After such details it is almost needless to allude to the +annals of succeeding popes: to relate that John XIII. +was strangled in prison; that Boniface VII. imprisoned +Benedict VII., and killed him by starvation; that John +XIV. was secretly put to death in the dungeons of the +Castle of St. Angelo; that the corpse of Boniface was +dragged by the populace through the streets. The +sentiment of reverence for the sovereign pontiff, nay, +even of respect, had become extinct in Rome; throughout +Europe the clergy were so shocked at the state of things, +that, in their indignation, they began to look with approbation +on the intention of the Emperor Otho to take from +the Italians their privilege of appointing the successor of +St. Peter, and confine it to his own family. But his +kinsman, Gregory V., whom he placed on the pontifical +throne, was very soon compelled by the Romans to fly; +his excommunications and religious thunders were turned +into derision by them; they were too well acquainted +with the true nature of those terrors; they were living +behind the scenes. A terrible punishment awaited the +Anti-pope John XVI. Otho returned into Italy, seized +him, put out his eyes, cut off his nose and tongue, and +sent him through the streets mounted on an ass, with his +face to the tail, and a wine-bladder on his head. It +seemed impossible that things could become worse; yet +Rome had still to see Benedict IX., <small>A.D.</small> 1033, a boy of +less than twelve years, raised to the apostolic throne. Of +this pontiff, one of his successors, Victor III., declared +that his life was so shameful, so foul, so execrable, that he +<span class="sidenote">The papacy bought at auction <small>A.D.</small> +1045, by Gregory VI.</span> +shuddered to describe it. He ruled like a captain of +banditti rather than a prelate. The people at +last, unable to bear his adulteries, homicides, +and abominations any longer, rose against him. +In despair of maintaining his position, he put +up the papacy to auction. It was bought by a presbyter +named John, who became Gregory VI., <small>A.D.</small> 1045.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Conclusion respecting this biography.</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[382]</a></span> +More than a thousand years had elapsed since the birth of +our Saviour, and such was the condition of Rome. Well may +the historian shut the annals of those times in +disgust; well may the heart of the Christian +sink within him at such a catalogue of hideous +crimes. Well may he ask, Were these the vicegerents of God +upon earth—these, who had truly reached that goal beyond +which the last effort of human wickedness cannot pass?</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The philosophical conclusion at last attained.<br /><br /> +The evils imputed to the nature of papal election.</div> + +<p>Not until several centuries after these events did public +opinion come to the true and philosophical conclusion—the +total rejection of the divine claims +of the papacy. For a time the evils were attributed +to the manner of the pontifical election, +as if that could by any possibility influence the descent +of a power which claimed to be supernatural and under +the immediate care of God. The manner of election was +this. The Roman ecclesiastics recommended a candidate +to the College of Cardinals; their choice had to +be ratified by the populace of Rome, and, after +that, the emperor must give his approval. There +were thus to be brought into agreement the +machinations of the lower ecclesiastics, the intrigues of +the cardinals, the clamours of the rabble of Rome, and the +policy of the emperor. Such a system must inevitably +break to pieces with its own incongruities. Though we +may wonder that men failed to see that it was merely a +human device, we cannot wonder that the emperors +perceived the necessity of taking the appointments into +their own hands, and that Gregory VII. was resolved to +confine it to the College of Cardinals, to the exclusion of +the emperor, the Roman people, and even of the rest of +Christendom—an attempt in which he succeeded.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Human origin of the papacy.</div> + +<p>No one can study the development of the Italian ecclesiastical +power without discovering how completely it +depended on human agency, too often on human +passion and intrigues; how completely wanting +it was of any mark of the Divine construction and care—the +offspring of man, not of God, and therefore bearing +upon it the lineaments of human passions, human virtues, +and human sins.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[383]</a></span> +DIGRESSION ON THE PASSAGE OF THE ARABIANS +TO THEIR AGE OF REASON.</p> + +<p class='center'><small>INFLUENCE OF MEDICAL IDEAS THROUGH THE NESTORIANS AND JEWS.</small></p> + +<div class='blockquot'><p class='ind'><i>The intellectual Development of the Arabians is guided by the Nestorians +and the Jews, and is in the Medical Direction.—The Basis of this +Alliance is theological.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Antagonism of the Byzantine System to Scientific Medicine.—Suppression +of the Asclepions.—Their Replacement by Miracle-cure.—The +resulting Superstition and Ignorance.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Affiliation of the Arabians with the Nestorians and Jews.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>1st. The Nestorians, their Persecutions, and the Diffusion of their Sectarian +Ideas.—They inherit the old Greek Medicine.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Sub-digression on Greek Medicine.—The Asclepions.—Philosophical +Importance of Hippocrates, who separates Medicine from Religion.—The +School of Cnidos.—Its Suppression by Constantine.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Sub-digression on Egyptian Medicine.—It is founded on Anatomy and +Physiology.—Dissections and Vivisections.—The Great Alexandrian +Physicians.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>2nd. The Jewish Physicians.—Their Emancipation from Superstition.—They +found Colleges and promote Science and Letters.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>The contemporary Tendency to Magic, Necromancy, the Black Art.—The +Philosopher's Stone, Elixir of Life, etc.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>The Arabs originate scientific Chemistry.—Discover the strong Acids, +Phosphorus, etc.—Their geological Ideas.—Apply Chemistry to the +Practice of Medicine.—Approach of the Conflict between the Saracenic +material and the European supernatural System.</i></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote">Importance of the influence of the Arabians.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> military operations of the Arabians, described in +Chapter XI., overthrew the Byzantine political +system, prematurely closing the Age of Faith +in the East; their intellectual procedure gave +rise to an equally important result, being destined, +in the end, to close the Age of Faith in the West. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[384]</a></span> +The Saracens not only destroyed the Italian offshoot, they +also impressed characteristic lineaments on the Age of +Reason in Europe.</p> + +<p>Events so important make it necessary for me to turn +aside from the special description of European intellectual +advancement, and offer a digression on the passage of the +Arabians to their Age of Reason. It is impossible for us +to understand their action in the great drama about to be +performed unless we understand the character they had +assumed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Their intellectual progress.</div> + +<p>In a few centuries the fanatics of Mohammed had +altogether changed their appearance. Great +philosophers, physicians, mathematicians, astronomers, +alchemists, grammarians, had arisen among them. +Letters and science, in all their various departments, were +cultivated.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Their teachers were the Nestorians and Jews.</div> + +<p>A nation stirred to its profoundest depths by warlike +emigration, and therefore ready to make, as soon as it +reaches a period of repose, a rapid intellectual +advance, may owe the path in which it is about +to pass to those who are in the position of +pointing it out, or of officiating as teachers. +The teachers of the Saracens were the Nestorians and +the Jews.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Their scientific progress was through medicine.</div> + +<p>It has been remarked that Arabian science emerged out +of medicine, and that in its cultivation physicians took +the lead, its beginnings being in the pursuit of alchemy. +In this chapter I have to describe the origin of +these facts, and therefore must consider the +state of Greek and Egyptian medicine, and +relate how, wherever the Byzantine system could +reach, true medical philosophy was displaced by relic +and shrine-curing; and how it was, that while European +ideas were in all directions reposing on the unsubstantial +basis of the supernatural, those of the Saracens were +resting on the solid foundation of a material support.</p> + +<p>When the Arabs conquered Egypt, their conduct was +that of bigoted fanatics; it justified the accusation made +by some against them, that they burned the Alexandrian +library for the purpose of heating the baths. But scarcely +were they settled in their new dominion when they +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[385]</a></span> +exhibited an extraordinary change. At once they became +lovers and zealous cultivators of learning.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Causes of their union with Nestorians and Jews.</div> + +<p>The Arab power had extended in two directions, and +had been submitted to two influences. In Asia it had +been exposed to the Nestorians, in Africa to the Jews, +both of whom had suffered persecution at the +hands of the Byzantine government, apparently +for the same opinion as that which had now +established itself by the sword of Mohammed. +The doctrine of the unity of God was their common point +of contact. On this they could readily affiliate, and hold +in common detestation the trinitarian power at Constantinople. +He who is suffering the penalties of the law as a +heretic, or who is pursued by judicial persecution as +a misbeliever, will readily consort with others reputed to +cherish similar infidelities. Brought into unison in Asia +with the Nestorians, and in Africa with the Alexandrian +Jews, the Arabians became enthusiastic admirers of +learning.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Medicine becomes their neutral ground.</div> + +<p>Not that there was between the three parties thus +coalescing a complete harmony of sentiment in the theological +direction; for, though the Nestorians and the Jews +were willing to accept one-half of the Arabian +dogma, that there is but one God, they could +not altogether commit themselves to the other, +that Mohammed is his Prophet. Perhaps +estrangement on this point might have arisen, but +fortunately a remarkable circumstance opened the way for +a complete understanding between them. Almost from +the beginning the Nestorians had devoted themselves to +the study of medicine, and had paid much attention to the +structure and diseases of the body of man; the Jews had +long produced distinguished physicians. These medical +studies presented, therefore, a neutral ground on which +the three parties could intellectually unite in harmony; +and so thoroughly did the Arabians affiliate with these +their teachers, that they acquired from them a characteristic +mental physiognomy. Their physicians were their +great philosophers; their medical colleges were their foci +of learning. While the Byzantines obliterated science in +theology, the Saracens illuminated it by medicine.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Byzantine suppression of medicine.</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[386]</a></span> +When Constantine the Great and his successors, under +ecclesiastical influence, had declared themselves the enemies +of worldly learning, it became necessary for the +clergy to assume the duty of seeing to the +physical as well as the religious condition of +the people. It was unsuited to the state of things that +physicians, whose philosophical tendencies inclined them +to the pagan party, should be any longer endured. Their +education in the Asclepions imparted to them ideas in +opposition to the new policy. An edict of Constantine +suppressed those establishments, ample provision being, +however, made for replacing them by others more agreeable +to the genius of Christianity. Hospitals and +<span class="sidenote">Substitution of public charities.</span> +benevolent organizations were founded in the chief cities, +and richly endowed with money and lands. +In these merciful undertakings the empress-mother, +Helena, was distinguished, her example +being followed by many high-born ladies. The heart of +women, which is naturally open to the desolate and afflicted, +soon gives active expression to its sympathies when it is +sanctified by Christian faith. In this, its legitimate +direction, Christianity could display its matchless benevolence +and charities. Organizations were introduced +upon the most extensive and varied scale; one had charge +of foundlings, another of orphans, another of the poor. We +have already alluded to the parabolani or visitors, and of +the manner in which they were diverted from their +original intent.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Gradual fall into miracle-cure.</div> + +<p>But, noble as were these charities, they laboured under +an essential defect in having substituted for educated +physicians well-meaning but unskilful ecclesiastics. The +destruction of the Asclepions was not attended by any +suitably extensive measures for insuring professional education. +The sick who were placed in the benevolent +institutions were, at the best, rather +under the care of kind nurses than under the +advice of physicians; and the consequences are seen in the +gradually increasing credulity and imposture of succeeding +ages, until, at length, there was an almost universal +reliance on miraculous interventions. Fetiches, said to be +the relics of saints, but no better than those of tropical +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[387]</a></span> +Africa, were believed to cure every disorder. To the +shrines of saints crowds repaired as they had at one time +to the temples of Æsculapius. The worshippers remained, +though the name of the divinity was changed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Closing of the schools of medicine and philosophy.</div> + +<p>Scarcely were the Asclepions closed, the schools of +philosophy prohibited, the libraries dispersed +or destroyed, learning branded as magic or +punished as treason, philosophers driven into +exile and as a class exterminated, when it became +apparent that a void had been created which it was incumbent +on the victors to fill. Among the great prelates, +who was there to stand in the place of those men whose +achievements had glorified the human race? Who was to +succeed to Archimedes, Hipparchus, Euclid, Herophilus, +Eratosthenes? who to Plato and Aristotle? The quackeries +of miracle-cure, shrine-cure, relic-cure, were destined to +eclipse the genius of Hippocrates, and nearly two thousand +years to intervene between Archimedes and Newton, nearly +seventeen hundred between Hipparchus and Kepler. A +dismal interval of almost twenty centuries parts Hero, +whose first steam-engine revolved in the Serapion, from +James Watt, who has revolutionized the industry of the +world. What a fearful blank! Yet not a blank, for it +had its products—hundreds of patristic folios filled with +obsolete speculation, oppressing the shelves of antique +libraries, enveloped in dust, and awaiting the worm.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Its deplorable results.</div> + +<p>Never was a more disastrous policy adopted than the +Byzantine suppression of profane learning. It +is scarcely possible now to realize the mental +degradation produced when that system was at its height. +Many of the noblest philosophical and scientific works of +antiquity disappeared from the language in which they +had been written, and were only recovered, for the use of +later and better ages, from translations which the Saracens +had made into Arabic. The insolent assumption of wisdom +by those who held the sword crushed every intellectual +aspiration. Yet, though triumphant for a time, this policy +necessarily contained the seeds of its own ignominious +destruction. A day must inevitably come when so grievous +a wrong to the human race must be exposed, and execrated, +and punished—a day in which the poems of Homer +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[388]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Insecurity of the Byzantine system.</span> +might once more be read, the immortal statues of the Greek +sculptors find worshippers, and the demonstrations +of Euclid a consenting intellect. But that +unfortunate, that audacious policy of usurpation +once entered upon, there was no going back. He who is +infallible must needs be immutable. In its very nature the +action implied compulsion, compulsion implied the possession +of power, and the whole policy insured an explosion +the moment that the means of compression should be weak.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Bigotry of the first Saracens.</div> + +<p>It is said that when the Saracens captured Alexandria, +their victorious general sent to the khalif to know his +pleasure respecting the library. The answer was in the +spirit of the age. "If the books be confirmatory of the +Koran, they are superfluous; if contradictory, +they are pernicious. Let them be burnt." At +this moment, to all human appearance, the Mohammedan +autocrat was on the point of joining in the evil policy of +the Byzantine sovereign. But fortunately it was but the +impulse of a moment, rectified forthwith, and a noble +course of action was soon pursued. The Arab incorporated +<span class="sidenote">The nobler policy soon pursued.</span> +into his literature the wisdom of those he had conquered. +In thus conceding to knowledge a free and unembarrassed +career, and, instead of repressing, +encouraging to the utmost all kinds of learning +did the Koran take any harm? It was a high statesmanship +which, almost from the beginning of the impulse from +Mecca, bound down to a narrow, easily comprehended, and +easily expressed dogma the exacted belief, and in all other +particulars let the human mind go free.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The true causes of the preceding events.</div> + +<p>In the preceding paragraphs I have criticized the course +of events, condemning or applauding the actions and the +actors as circumstances seem to require, herein following +the usual course, which implies that men can control +affairs, and that the agent is to be held responsible for his +deed. We have, however, only to consider the +course of our own lives to be satisfied to how +limited an extent such is the case. We are, as +we often say, the creatures of circumstances. In +that expression there is a higher philosophy than might +at first sight appear. Our actions are not the pure and +unmingled results of our desires; they are the offspring of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[389]</a></span> +many various and mixed conditions. In that which seems +to be the most voluntary decision there enters much +that is altogether involuntary—more, perhaps, than we +generally suppose. And, in like manner, those who +are imagined to have exercised an irresponsible and +spontaneous influence in determining public policy, and +thereby fixing the fate of nations, will be found, when we +understand their position more correctly, to have been the +creatures of circumstances altogether independent and +irrespective of them—circumstances which they never +created, of whose influence they only availed themselves. +They were placed in a current which drifted them +irresistibly along.</p> + +<p>From this more accurate point of view we should therefore +consider the course of these events, recognizing the +principle that the affairs of men pass forward in a +determinate way, expanding and unfolding themselves. +And hence we see that the things of which we have spoken +as though they were matters of choice were, in reality, +forced upon their apparent authors by the necessity of the +times. But, in truth, they should be considered as the +presentations of a certain phase of life which nations in +their onward course sooner or later assume. In the individual, +how well we know that a sober moderation of +action, an appropriate gravity of demeanour, belong to the +mature period of life; a change from the wanton wilfulness +of youth, which may be ushered in, or its beginning +marked, by many accidental incidents: in one perhaps by +domestic bereavements, in another by the loss of fortune, +in a third by ill health. We are correct enough in +imputing to such trials the change of character, but we +never deceive ourselves by supposing that it would have +failed to take place had those incidents not occurred. +There runs an irresistible destiny in the midst of all these +vicissitudes.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Succession of affairs determined by law.</div> + +<p>We may therefore be satisfied that, whatever may have +been the particular form of the events of which +we have had occasion to speak, their order of +succession was a matter of destiny, and altogether +beyond the reach of any individual. We may condemn +the Byzantine monarchs, or applaud the Arabian khalifs +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[390]</a></span>—our +blame and our praise must be set at their proper value. +Europe was passing from its Age of Inquiry to its Age of +Faith. In such a transition the predestined underlies the +voluntary. There are analogies between the life of a +nation and that of an individual, who, though he may be +in one respect the maker of his own fortunes for happiness or +for misery, for good or for evil, though he remains here or +goes there, as his inclinations prompt, though he does this +or abstains from that as he chooses, is nevertheless held +fast by an inexorable fate—a fate which brought him into +the world involuntarily so far as he was concerned, which +presses him forward through a definite career, the stages of +which are absolutely invariable—infancy, childhood, youth, +maturity, old age, with all their characteristic actions and +passions, and which removes him from the scene at the +appointed time, in most cases against his will. So also it +is with nations; the voluntary is only the outward +semblance, covering, but hardly hiding the predetermined. +Over the events of life we may have control, but none +whatever over the law of its progress. There is a +geometry that applies to nations, an equation of their +curve of advance. That no mortal man can touch.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Arabian science in its stage of sorcery.</div> + +<p>We have now to examine in what manner the glimmering +lamp of knowledge was sustained when it was all but +ready to die out. By the Arabians it was +handed down to us. The grotesque forms of +some of those who took charge of it are not +without interest. They exhibit a strange +mixture of the Neo-platonist, the Pantheist, the Mohammedan, +the Christian. In such untoward times, it was +perhaps needful that the strongest passions of men +should be excited and science stimulated by inquiries for +methods of turning lead into gold, or of prolonging life +indefinitely. We have now to deal with the philosopher's +stone, the elixir vitæ, the powder of projection, magical +mirrors, perpetual lamps, the transmutation of metals. In +smoky caverns under ground, where the great work is +stealthily carried on, the alchemist and his familiar are +busy with their alembics, cucurbites, and pelicans, maintaining +their fires for so many years that salamanders are +asserted to be born in them.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[391]</a></span> +Experimental science was thus restored, though under a +very strange aspect, by the Arabians. Already it displayed +its connexion with medicine—a connexion derived +from the influence of the Nestorians and the Jews. It is +necessary for us to consider briefly the relations of each, +and of the Nestorians first.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="sidenote">The Nestorians.</div> + +<p>In Chapter IX. we have related the rivalries of Cyril, +the Bishop of Alexandria, and Nestorius, the Bishop of +Constantinople. The theological point of their +quarrel was whether it is right to regard the +Virgin Mary as the mother of God. To an Egyptian still +tainted with ancient superstition, there was nothing +shocking in such a doctrine. His was the country of Isis. +St. Cyril, who is to be looked upon as a mere ecclesiastical +demagogue, found his purposes answered by adopting it +without any scruple. But in Greece there still remained +traces of the old philosophy. A recollection of the ideas +of Plato had not altogether died out. There were some by +whom it was not possible for the Egyptian doctrine to be +received. Such, perhaps, was Nestorius, whose sincerity +was finally approved by an endurance of persecutions, by +his sufferings, and his death. He and his followers, +insisting on the plain inference of the last verse of the first +chapter of St. Matthew, together with the fifty-fifth and +<span class="sidenote">They deny the virginity of the queen of heaven.</span> +fifty-sixth verses of the thirteenth of the same Gospel, +could never be brought to an acknowledgment of the +perpetual virginity of the new queen of heaven. +We have described the issue of the Council of +Ephesus: the Egyptian faction gained the +victory, the aid of court females being called in, +and Nestorius, being deposed from his office, was driven, +with his friends into exile. The philosophical tendency +of the vanquished was soon indicated by their actions. +While their leader was tormented in an African oasis, +many of them emigrated to the Euphrates, and founded the +Chaldæan Church. Under its auspices the college at +Edessa, with several connected schools, arose. In these +were translated into Syriac many Greek and Latin works, +as those of Aristotle and Pliny. It was the Nestorians +who, in connexion with the Jews, founded the medical +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[392]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">They begin to cultivate medicine.<br /><br /> +The Arabs affiliate with them.</span> +college of Djondesabour, and first instituted a system of +academical honours which has descended to +our times. It was the Nestorians who were not +only permitted by the khalifs the free exercise of +their religion, but even intrusted with the education of +the children of the great Mohammedan families, a liberality +in striking contrast to the fanaticism of Europe. +The Khalif Alraschid went so far as even to +place all his public schools under the superintendence +of John Masué, one of that sect. +Under the auspices of these learned men the Arabian +academies were furnished with translations of Greek +authors, and vast libraries were collected in Asia.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Their great spread in the East,</div> + +<p>Through this connexion with the Arabs, Nestorian +missionaries found means to disseminate their +form of Christianity all over Asia, as far as +Malabar and China. The successful intrigues of +the Egyptian politicians at Ephesus had no influence in +those remote countries, the Asiatic churches of the Nestorian +and Jacobite persuasions outnumbering eventually all the +European Christians of the Greek and Roman churches +combined. In later times the papal government has made +great exertions to bring about an understanding with +them, but in vain.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">and persecutions in the West.</div> + +<p>The expulsion of this party from Constantinople was +accomplished by the same persons and policy concerned in +destroying philosophy in Alexandria. St. Cyril was the +representative of an illiterate and unscrupulous +faction that had come into the possession of +power through intrigues with the females of the +imperial court, and bribery of eunuchs and parasites. +The same spirit that had murdered Hypatia tormented +Nestorius to death. Of the contending parties, one was +respectable and had a tincture of learning, the other +ignorant, and not hesitating at the employment of brute +force, deportation, assassination. Unfortunately for the +world, the unscrupulous party carried the day.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">They inherit the old Greek medicine.</div> + +<p>By their descent, the Nestorians had become the +depositaries of the old Greek medical science. +Its great names they revered. They collected, +with the utmost assiduity, whatever works +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[393]</a></span> +remained on medical topics, whether of a Greek or Alexandrian +origin, from the writings of Hippocrates, called, +with affectionate veneration by his successors, "The +Divine Old Man," down to those of the Ptolemaic school.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Origin of Greek medicine—Asclepions.</div> + +<p>Greek medicine arose in the temples of Æsculapius, +whither the sick were in the habit of resorting for the +assistance of the god. It does not appear that any fee +was exacted for the celestial advice; but the +gratitude of the patient was frequently displayed +by optional gifts, and votive tablets presented +to the temple, setting forth the circumstances +of the case, were of value to those disposed to enter +on medical studies. The Asclepions thus became both +hospitals and schools. They exercised, from their position, +a tendency to incorporate medical and ecclesiastical +pursuits. At this time it was universally believed that +every sickness was due to the anger of some offended god, +and especially was this supposed to be the case in epidemics +and plagues. Such a paralyzing notion was necessarily +inconsistent with any attempt at the relief of communities +by the exercise of sanitary measures. In our times it is +still difficult to remove from the minds of the illiterate +classes this ancient opinion, or to convince them that +under such visitations we ought to help ourselves, and +not expect relief by penance and supplications, unless we +join therewith rigorous personal, domestic, municipal +<span class="sidenote">Hippocrates destroys the theological theory of disease.</span> +cleanliness, fresh air, and light. The theological +doctrine of the nature of disease indicated its +means of cure. For Hippocrates was reserved +the great glory of destroying them both, replacing +them by more practical and material ideas, and, +from the votive tablets, traditions, and other sources, +together with his own admirable observations, compiling +a body of medicine. The necessary consequence of his +great success was the separation of the pursuits of the +physician from those of the priest. Not that so great a +revolution, implying the diversion of profitable gains +from the ancient channel, could have been accomplished +without a struggle. We should reverence the memory of +Hippocrates for the complete manner in which he effected +that object.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Writings of Hippocrates.</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[394]</a></span> +Of the works attributed to Hippocrates, many are +doubtless the production of his family, his descendants, or +his pupils. The inducements to literary forgery +in the times of the Ptolemies, who paid very +high prices for books of reputation, have been the cause +of much difficulty among critics in determining such +questions of authorship. The works indisputably written +by Hippocrates display an extent of knowledge answering +to the authority of his name; his vivid descriptions have +never been excelled, if indeed they have ever been equalled. +The Hippocratic face of the dying is still retained in +our medical treatises in the original terms, without any +improvement.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">His opinions.</div> + +<p>In his medical doctrine, Hippocrates starts with the +postulate that the body is composed of the four +elements. From these are formed the four +cardinal humours. He thinks that the humours are liable +to undergo change; that health consists in their right +constitution and proper adjustment as to quantity; disease, +in their impurities and inequalities; that the disordered +humours undergo spontaneous changes or coction, a process +requiring time, and hence the explanation of critical days +and critical discharges. The primitive disturbance of the +humours he attributed to a great variety of causes, chiefly +to the influence of physical circumstances, such as heat, +cold, air, water. Unlike his contemporaries, he did not +impute all the afflictions of man to the anger of the gods. +Along with those influences of an external kind, he studied +the special peculiarities of the human system, how it is +modified by climate and manner of life, exhibiting different +predispositions at different seasons of the year. He believed +that the innate heat of the body varies with the period of +life, being greatest in infancy and least in old age, and +that hence morbific agents affect us with greater or less +facility at different times. For this reason it is that the +physician should attend very closely to the condition of +those in whom he is interested as respects their diet and +exercise, for thereby he is able not only to regulate their +general susceptibility, but also to exert a control over the +course of their diseases.</p> + +<p>Referring diseases in general to the condition or distribution +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[395]</a></span> +of the humours, for he regards inflammation as +the passing of blood into parts not previously containing +it, he considers that so long as those liquids occupy the +system in an unnatural or adulterated state, disease continues; +but as they ferment or undergo coction, various +characteristic symptoms appear, and, when their elaboration +is completed, they are discharged by perspiration or +other secretions, by alvine dejections, etc. But where +such a general relief of the system is not accomplished, +the peccant humours may be localized in some particular +organ or special portion, and erysipelatous inflammation, +mortification, or other such manifestations ensue. It +is in aiding this elimination from the system that the +physician may signally manifest his skill. His power is +displayed much more at this epoch than by the control he +can exert over the process of coction. Now may he invoke +the virtues of the hellebores, the white and the black, +now may he use elaterium. The critical days which +answer to the periods of the process of coction are to be +watched with anxiety, and the correspondence of the state +of the patient with the expected condition which he ought +to show at those epochs ascertained. Hence the physician +may be able to predict the probable course of the disease +during the remainder of its career, and gather true notions +as to the practice it would be best for him to pursue to aid +Nature in her operations.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The character of his practice.</div> + +<p>It thus appears that the practice of medicine in the +hands of Hippocrates had reference rather to the +course or career of disease than to its special +nature. Nothing more than this masterly conception +is wanted to impress us with his surprizing +scientific power. He watches the manner in which the +humours are undergoing their fermenting coction, the +phenomena displayed in the critical days, the aspect and +nature of the critical discharges. He does not attempt +to check the process going on, but simply to assist the +natural operation.</p> + +<p>When we consider the period at which Hippocrates +lived, <small>B.C.</small> 400, and the circumstances under which he had +studied medicine, we cannot fail to admire the very great +advance he made. His merit is conspicuous in rejecting +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[396]</a></span> +the superstitious tendency of his times by teaching his +disciples to impute a proper agency to physical causes. +He altogether discarded the imaginary influences then in +vogue. For the gods he substituted, with singular felicity, +Impersonal Nature. It was the interest of those who were +connected with the temples of Æsculapius to refer all the +diseases of men to supernatural agency; their doctrine +being that every affliction should be attributed to the +anger of some offended god, and restoration to health most +certainly procured by conciliating his power. So far, +then, as such interests were concerned, any contradiction +of those doctrines, any substitution of the material for the +supernatural, must needs have met with reprehension. +Yet such opposition seems in no respect to have weighed +with this great physician, who developed his theory and +pursued his practice without giving himself any concern +in that respect. He bequeathed an example to all who +succeeded him in his noble profession, and taught them +not to hesitate in encountering the prejudices and passions +of the present for the sake of the truth, and to trust for +their reward in the just appreciation of a future age.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">His doctrine is truly scientific.</div> + +<p>With such remarks we may assert that the medical +philosophy of Hippocrates is worthy of our highest +admiration, since it exhibits the scientific conditions +of deduction and induction. The theory +itself is compact and clear; its lineaments are +completely Grecian. It presents, to one who will contemplate +it with due allowance for its times, the characteristic +quick-sightedness, penetration, and power of the Greek +mind, fully vindicating for its author the title which has +been conferred upon him by his European successors—the +Father of Medicine—and perhaps inducing us to excuse +the enthusiastic assertion of Galen, that we ought to +reverence the words of Hippocrates as the voice of God.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The school of Cnidos.</div> + +<p>The Hippocratic school of Cos found a rival in the school +of Cnidos, which offered not only a different view of the +nature of disease, but also taught a different +principle for its cure. The Cnidians paid more +particular attention to the special symptoms in individual +cases, and pursued a less active treatment, declining, +whenever they could, a resort to drastic purgatives, venesection, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[397]</a></span> +or other energetic means. As might be expected, +the professional activity of these schools called into existence +many able men, and produced many excellent +works: thus Philiston wrote on the regimen for persons +in health; Diocles on hygiene and gymnastics; Praxagoras +<span class="sidenote">Is destroyed by Constantine.</span> +on the pulse, showing that it is a measure of the force of +disease. The Asclepion of Cnidos continued +until the time of Constantine, when it was +destroyed along with many other pagan establishments. +The union between the priesthood and the +profession was gradually becoming less and less close; +and, as the latter thus separated itself, divisions or departments +arose in it, both as regards subjects, such as pharmacy, +surgery, etc., and also as respects the position of its +cultivators, some pursuing it as a liberal science, and some +as a mere industrial occupation. In those times, as in our +own, many who were not favoured with the gifts of +fortune were constrained to fall into the latter ranks. +<span class="sidenote">Classes of physicians.</span> +Thus Aristotle, than whom few have ever exerted a greater +intellectual influence upon humanity, after spending his +patrimony in liberal pursuits, kept an apothecary's +shop at Athens. Aristotle the druggist, +behind his counter, selling medicines to chance customers, +is Aristotle the great writer, whose dictum was final with +the schoolmen of the Middle Ages. As a general thing, +however, the medical professors were drawn from the +philosophical class. Outside of these divisions, and though +in all ages continually repudiated by the profession, yet +continually hovering round it, was a host of impostors +and quacks, as there will always be so long as there are +weak-minded and shallow men to be deluded, and vain +and silly women to believe.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Egyptian medicine. The Museum.</div> + +<p>When the Alexandrian Museum was originated by +Ptolemy Philadelphus, its studies were arranged in four +faculties—literature, mathematics, astronomy, +medicine. These divisions are, however, to be +understood comprehensively: thus, under the +faculty of medicine were included such subjects as natural +history. The physicians who received the first appointments +were Cleombrotus, Herophilus, and Erasistratus; +among the subordinate professors was Philo-Stephanus, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[398]</a></span> +who had charge of natural history, and was directed to +write a book on Fishes. The elevated ideas of the founder +<span class="sidenote">Philadelphus founds medicine on anatomy.<br /><br /> +He authorizes dissection and human vivisection.<br /><br /><br /> +Physicians of the Alexandrian school.</span> +cannot be better illustrated than by the manner in which +he organized his medical school. It was upon the sure +basis of anatomy. Herophilus and his colleagues were +authorized to resort to the dissection of the dead, and to +ascertain, by that only trustworthy method, the +true structure of the human body. The strong +hand of Ptolemy resolutely carried out his design, +though in a country where popular sentiment +was strongly opposed to such practices. To touch a corpse +in Egypt was an abomination. Nor was it only this great +man's intention to ascertain the human structure; he also +took measures to discover the mode in which its +functions are carried forward, the manner in +which it works. To this end he authorized his +anatomists to make vivisections both of animals, +and also of criminals who had been condemned to death, +herein finding for himself that royal road in physiology +which Euclid once told him, at a dinner in the Museum, +did not exist in geometry, and defending the act from +moral criticism by the plea that, as the culprits had already +forfeited their lives to the law, it was no injury to make +them serviceable to the interests of humanity. +Herophilus had been educated at Cos; his +pathological views were those known as humouralism; +his treatment active, after the manner of Hippocrates, +upon whose works he wrote commentaries. His +original investigations were numerous; they were embodied, +with his peculiar views, in treatises on the practice +of medicine; on obstetrics; on the eye; on the pulse, +which he properly referred to contractions of the heart. +He was aware of the existence of the lacteals, and their +anatomical relation to the mesenteric glands. Erasistratus, +his colleague, was a pupil of Theophrastus and Chrysippus: +he, too, cultivated anatomy. He described the structure +of the heart, its connexions with the arteries and veins, +but fell into the mistake that the former vessels were +for the conveyance of air, the latter for that of blood. +He knew that there are two kinds of nerves, those of +motion and those of sensation. He referred all fevers to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[399]</a></span> +inflammatory states, and in his practice differed from the +received methods of Hippocrates by observing a less active +treatment.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Improvements in surgery and pharmacy.</div> + +<p>By these physicians the study of medicine in Alexandria +was laid upon the solid foundation of anatomy. +Besides them there were many other instructors +in specialties; and, indeed, the temple of Serapis +was used for a hospital, the sick being received +into it, and persons studying medicine admitted for the +purpose of familiarizing themselves with the appearance +of disease, precisely as in similar institutions at the +present time. Of course, under such circumstances, the +departments of surgery and pharmacy received many +improvements, and produced many able men. Among +these improvements may be mentioned new operations, for +lithotomy, instruments for crushing calculi, for reducing +dislocations, etc. The active commerce of Egypt afforded +abundant opportunity for extending the materia medica +by the introduction of a great many herbs and drugs.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Decline of Alexandrian medicine.</div> + +<p>The medical school of Alexandria, which was thus +originally based upon dissection, in the course of time lost +much of its scientific spirit. But the influence +of the first teachers may be traced through +many subsequent ages. Thus Galen divides the +profession in his time into Herophilians and Erasistratians. +Various sects had arisen in the course of events, as the +Dogmatists, who asserted that diseases can only be treated +correctly by the aid of a knowledge of the structure and +functions, the action of drugs, and the changes induced in +the affected parts; they insisted, therefore, upon the +necessity of anatomy, physiology, therapeutics, and pathology. +They claimed a descent from Hippocrates. Their +antagonists, the Empirics, ridiculed such knowledge as +fanciful or unattainable, and relied on experience alone. +These subdivisions were not limited to sects; they may +also be observed under the form of schools. Even Erasistratus +himself, toward the close of his life, through some +dispute or misunderstanding, appears to have left the +Museum and established a school at Smyrna. The study +of the various branches of medicine was also pursued by +others out of the immediate ranks of the profession. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[400]</a></span> +Mithridates, king of Pontus, thus devoted himself to the +examination of poisons and the discovery of antidotes.</p> + +<p>What a fall from this scientific medicine to the miracle-cure +which soon displaced it! What a descent from +Hippocrates and the great Alexandrian physicians to the +shrines of saints and the monks!</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="sidenote">The Jewish physicians.</div> + +<p>To the foregoing sketch of the state of Greek medicine +in its day of glory, I must add an examination +of the same science among the Jews subsequently +to the second century; it is necessary for the proper +understanding of the origin of Saracen learning.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Their emancipation from the supernatural.</div> + +<p>In philosophy the Jews had been gradually emancipating +themselves from the influence of ancient traditions; +their advance in this direction is shown by the active +manner in which they aided in the development of Neo-platonism. +After the destruction of Jerusalem all Syria +and Mesopotamia were full of Jewish schools; +but the great philosophers, as well as the great +merchants of the nation, were residents of +Alexandria. Persecution and dispersion, if they +served no other good purpose, weakened the grasp of the +ecclesiastic. Perhaps, too, repeated disappointments in +an expected coming of a national temporal Messiah had +brought those who were now advanced in intellectual +progress to a just appreciation of ancient traditions. In +this mental emancipation their physicians took the lead. +For long, while their pursuits were yet in infancy, a bitter +animosity had been manifested toward them by the +Levites, whose manner of healing was by prayer, expiatory +sacrifice, and miracle; or, if they descended to less supernatural +means, by an application of such remedies as are +popular with the vulgar everywhere. Thus, to a person +bitten by a mad dog, they would give the diaphragm of a +dog to eat. As examples of a class of men soon to take no +obscure share in directing human progress may be mentioned +Hannina, <small>A.D.</small> 205, often spoken of by his successors +as the earliest of Jewish physicians; Samuel, equally +distinguished as an astronomer, accoucheur, and oculist, +the inventor of a collyrium which bore his name; Rab, +an anatomist, who wrote a treatise on the structure of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[401]</a></span> +body of man as ascertained by dissections, thereby attaining +such celebrity that the people, after his death, used +the earth of his grave as a medicine; Abba Oumna, whose +study of insanity plainly shows that he gave a material +interpretation to the national doctrine of possession by +devils, and replaced that strange delusion by the scientific +explanation of corporeal derangement. This honourable +physician made it a rule never to take a fee from the poor, +and never to make any difference in his assiduous attention +between them and the rich. These men may be taken +as a type of their successors to the seventh century, when +the Oriental schools were broken up in consequence of the +Arab military movements. In the Talmudic literature +there are all the indications of a transitional state, so far +as medicine is concerned; the supernatural seems to be +passing into the physical, the ecclesiastical is mixed up +with the exact: thus a rabbi may cure disease by the +ecclesiastical operation of laying on of hands; but of +febrile disturbances, an exact, though erroneous explanation +is given, and paralysis of the hind legs of an animal is +correctly referred to the pressure of a tumour on the spinal +cord. Some of its aphorisms are not devoid of amusing +significance: "Any disease, provided the bowels remain +open; any kind of pain, provided the heart remain unaffected; +any kind of uneasiness, provided the head be not +attacked; all manner of evils, except it be a bad woman."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Arabs affiliate with them.<br /><br /> +Rise of Jewish physicians to influence.</div> + +<p>At first, after the fall of the Alexandrian school, it was +all that the Jewish physicians could do to preserve the +learning that had descended to them. But when the +tumult of Arabic conquest was over, we find +them becoming the advisers of crowned heads, +and exerting, by reason of their advantageous +position, their liberal education, their enlarged views, a +most important influence on the intellectual progress of +humanity. Maser Djaivah, physician to the Khalif Moawiyah, +was distinguished at once as a poet, a +critic, a philosopher; Haroun, a physician of +Alexandria, whose Pandects, a treatise unfortunately +now lost, are said to have contained the first +elaborate description of the small-pox and method of its +treatment. Isaac Ben Emran wrote an original treatise on +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[402]</a></span> +poisons and their symptoms, and others followed his example. +The Khalif Al Raschid, who maintained political +relations with Charlemagne by means of Jewish envoys, +<span class="sidenote">They found medical colleges,</span> +set that monarch an example by which indeed he was not +slow to profit, in actively patronising the medical +college at Djondesabour, and founding a university +at Bagdad. He prohibited any person from +practising medicine until after a satisfactory examination +before one of those faculties. In the East the theological +theory of disease and of its cure was fast passing away. +Of the school at Bagdad, Joshua ben Nun is said to have +been the most celebrated professor, the school itself actively +promoting the translation of Greek works into Arabic—not +<span class="sidenote">and promote science and literature.</span> +alone works of a professional, but also those of a general +kind. In this manner the writings of Plato and Aristotle +were secured; indeed, it is said that almost every +day camels laden with volumes were entering +the gates of Bagdad. To add to the supply, the +Emperor Michael III. was compelled by treaty to furnish +Greek books. The result of this intellectual movement +could be no other than a diffusion of light. Schools arose +in Bassora, Ispahan, Samarcand, Fez, Morocco, Sicily, +Cordova, Seville, Granada.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Intermingling of magic and sorcery.</div> + +<p>Through the Nestorians and the Jews the Arabs thus +became acquainted with the medical science of Greece and +Alexandria; but to this was added other knowledge of a +more sinister kind, derived from Persia, or +perhaps remotely from Chaldee sources, the +Nestorians having important Church establishments +in Mesopotamia, and the Jews having been long +familiar with that country; indeed, from thence their +ancestors originally came. More than once its ideas had +modified their national religion. This extraneous knowledge +was of an astrological or magical nature, carried +into practice by incantations, amulets, charms, and talismans. +<span class="sidenote">Dedication of portions of matter and time to the +supernatural.</span> +Its fundamental principle was that the +planetary bodies exercise an influence over +terrestrial things. As seven planets and seven +metals were at that time known—the sun, the +moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, being the +planets of astrology—a due allotment was made. Gold +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[403]</a></span> +was held sacred to the sun, silver to the moon, iron to +Mars, etc. Even the portions of time were in like manner +dedicated; the seven days of the week were respectively +given to the seven planets of astrology. The names +imposed on those days, and the order in which they occur, +are obviously connected with the Ptolemaic hypothesis +<span class="sidenote">Origin of the week.</span> +of astronomy, each of the planets having an hour assigned +to it in its order of occurrence, and the planet +ruling first the hour of each day giving its +name to that day. Thus arranged, the week +is a remarkable instance of the longevity of an institution +adapted to the wants of man. It has survived through +many changes of empire, has forced itself on the ecclesiastical +system of Europe, which, unable to change its +idolatrous aspect, has encouraged the vulgar error that it +owes its authenticity to the Holy Scriptures, an error too +plainly betrayed by the pagan names that the days bear, +and also by their order of occurrence.</p> + +<p>These notions of dedicating portions of matter or of time +to the supernatural were derived from the doctrine of a +universal spirit or soul of the world, extensively believed +in throughout the East. It underlies, as we have seen in +Chapter III., all Oriental theology, and is at once a very +antique and not unphilosophical conception. Of this soul +the spirit of man was by many supposed to be a particle +like a spark given off from a flame. All other things, +animate or inanimate, brutes, plants, stones, nay, even +natural forms, rivers, mountains, cascades, grottoes, have +each an indwelling and animating spirit.</p> + +<p>Amulets and charms, therefore, did not derive their +powers from the material substance of which they consisted, +but from this indwelling spirit. In the case of man, his +immaterial principle was believed to correspond to his +personal bodily form. Of the two great sects into which +the Jewish nation had been divided, the Pharisees accepted +the Assyrian doctrine; but the Sadducees, who denied the +existence of any such spirit, boasted that theirs was the old +Mosaic faith, and denounced their antagonists as having +been contaminated at the time of the Babylonian captivity, +before which catastrophe, according to them, these doctrines +were unheard of in Jerusalem. In Alexandria, among the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[404]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Alexandrian necromancy.</span> +leading men there were many adherents to these opinions. +Thus Plotinus wrote a book on the association +of dæmons with men, and his disciple Porphyry +proved practically the possibility of such an alliance; +for, repairing to the temple of Isis along with Plotinus +and a certain Egyptian priest, the latter, to prove +his supernatural power, offered to raise up the spirit of +Plotinus himself in a visible form. A magical circle was +drawn on the ground, surrounded with the customary +astrological signs, the invocation commenced, the spirit +appeared, and Plotinus stood face to face with his own soul. +In this successful experiment it is needless to inquire how +much the necromancer depended upon optical contrivances, +and how much upon an alarmed imagination. But if thus +the spirit of a living man could be called up, how much +more likely the souls of the dead.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">These ideas originate in Pantheism.</div> + +<p>In reality, these wild doctrines were connected with +Pantheism, which was secretly believed in everywhere; +for, though, in a coarse mode of expression, +a distinction seemed thus to be made +between matter and spirit, or body and soul, it was held +by the initiated that matter itself is a mere shadow of the +spirit, and the body a delusive semblance of the soul.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The black art.</div> + +<p>In the eighth century, many natural facts of a surprising +and unaccountable description, well calculated to make a +profound impression upon those who witnessed +them, had accumulated. They were such as are +now familiar to chemists. Vessels tightly closed were +burst open when tormented in the fire, apparently by some +invisible agency; intangible vapours condensed into solids; +from colourless liquids gaudy precipitates were suddenly +called into existence; flames were disengaged without any +adequate cause; explosions took place spontaneously. So +much that was unexpected and unaccountable justified +the title of "the occult science," "the black art." From +being isolated marvels unconnected with one another, these +facts had been united. The Chaldee notions of a soul of +the world, and of indwelling spirits, had furnished a thread +on which all these pearls, for such they proved to be, might +be strung.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Arabians fall into these delusions,</div> + +<p>With avidity—for there is ever a charm in the supernatural—did +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[405]</a></span> +the Arabs receive from their Nestorian and +Jewish medical instructors these mystical interpretations +along with true knowledge. And far +from resting satisfied with what their masters +had thus delivered, they proceeded forthwith to improve +and extend it for themselves. They submitted all kinds +of substances to all kinds of operations, greatly improving +the experimental process they had been taught. By +exposing various bodies to the fire, they found it possible +to extract from them more refined portions, which seemed +to concentrate in themselves the qualities pertaining in a +more diffuse way to the substances from which they had +been drawn. These, since they were often invisible at +their first disengagement, yet capable of bursting open the +strongest vessels, and sometimes of disappearing in explosions +and flames, they concluded must be the indwelling +spirit or soul of the body, from which the fire had driven +them forth. It was the Chaldee doctrine realized. Thus +they obtained the spirit of wine, the spirit of salt, the spirit +of nitre. We still retain in commerce these designations, +though their significance is lost. When first introduced +they had a strictly literal meaning. Alchemy, with its +essences, quintessences, and spirits, was Pantheism materialized. +God was seen to be in everything, in the +abstract as well as the concrete, in numbers as well as +realities.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">and the Christians also.</div> + +<p>Anticipating what will have hereafter to be considered +in detail, I may here remark that it was not the Mohammedan +alone who delivered himself up to these mystic +delusions; Christendom was prepared for them +also. In its opinion, the earth, the air, the sea, +were full of invisible forms. With more faith than even +by paganism itself was the supernatural power of the images +of the gods accepted, only it was imputed to the influence of +devils. The lunatic was troubled by a like possession. If +a spring discharged its waters with a periodical gushing +of carbonic acid gas, it was agitated by an angel; if an +unfortunate descended into a pit and was suffocated by the +mephitic air, it was by some dæmon who was secreted; if +the miner's torch produced an explosion, it was owing to +the wrath of some malignant spirit guarding a treasure, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[406]</a></span> +and whose solitude had been disturbed. There was no end +to the stories, duly authenticated by the best human +testimony, of the occasional appearance of such spirits +under visible forms; there was no grotto or cool thicket in +which angels and genii had not been seen, no cavern without +its dæmons. Though the names were not yet given, it was +well understood that the air had its sylphs, the earth its +gnomes, the fire its salamanders, the water its undines; to +the day belonged its apparitions, to the night its fairies. +The foul air of stagnant places assumed the visible form +of dæmons of abominable aspect; the explosive gases of +mines took on the shape of pale-faced, malicious dwarfs, +with leathery ears hanging down to their shoulders, and +garments of grey cloth. Philosophical conceptions can +never be disentangled from social ideas; the thoughts of +man will always gather a tincture from the intellectual +medium in which he lives.</p> + +<p>In Christendom, however, the chief application of these +doctrines was to the relics of martyrs and saints. As with +the amulets and talismans of Mesopotamia, these were +regarded as possessing supernatural powers. They were a +sure safeguard against evil spirits, and an unfailing relief +in sickness.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Transmutation of metals—Alchemy.</div> + +<p>A singular force was given to these mystic ideas by the +peculiar direction they happened to take. As there are +veins of water in the earth, and apertures through which +the air can gain access, an analogy was inferred between +its structure and that of an animal, leading to an inference +of a similarity of functions. From this came the theory of +the development of metals in its womb under +the influence of the planets, the pregnant earth +spontaneously producing gold and silver from +baser things after a definite number of lunations. Already, +however, in the doctrine of the transmutation of metals, it +was perceived that to Nature the lapse of time is nothing—to +man it is everything. To Nature, when she is transmuting +a worthless into a better metal, what signify a thousand +years? To man, half a century embraces the period of his +intellectual activity. The aim of the cultivator of the sacred +art should be to shorten the natural term; and, since we +observe the influence of heat in hastening the ripening of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[407]</a></span> +fruits, may we not reasonably expect that duly regulated +degrees of fire will answer the purpose? by an exposure of +<span class="sidenote">Philosopher's stone.</span> +base material in the furnace for a proper season, may we not +anticipate the wished for event? The Emperor Caligula, +who had formerly tried to make gold from +orpiment by the force of fire, was only one of a +thousand adepts pursuing a similar scheme. Some trusted +to the addition of a material substance in aiding the fire +to purge away the dross of the base body submitted to it. +From this arose the doctrine of the powder of projection +and the philosopher's stone.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Transmutation and transubstantiation.</div> + +<p>This doctrine of the possibility of transmuting things +into forms essentially different steadily made its way, +leading, in the material direction, to alchemy, +the art of making gold and silver out of baser +metals, and in theology to transubstantiation. +Transmutation and transubstantiation were twin +sisters, destined for a world-wide celebrity; one became +allied to the science of Mecca, the other to the theology of +Rome.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The elixir of life.</div> + +<p>While thus the Arabs joined in the pursuit of alchemy, +their medical tendencies led them simultaneously to cultivate +another ancient delusion, the discovery of a +universal panacea or elixir which could cure all +diseases and prolong life for ever. Mystical experimenters +for centuries had been ransacking all nature, from the +yellow flowers which are sacred to the sun, and gold his +emblem and representative on earth, down to the vilest +excrements of the human body. As to gold, there had been +gathered round that metal many fictitious excellences in +addition to its real values; it was believed that in some +<span class="sidenote">Potable gold.</span> +preparation of it would be found the elixir vitæ. This +is the explanation of the unwearied attempts +at making potable gold, for it was universally +thought that if that metal could be obtained in a dissolved +state, it would constitute the long-sought panacea. Nor +did it seem impossible so to increase the power of water, as +to impart to it new virtues, and thereby enable it to accomplish +the desired solution. Were there not natural waters +of very different properties? were there not some that could +fortify the memory, others destroy it; some re-enforce the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[408]</a></span> +spirits, some impart dulness, and some, which were highly +prized, that could secure a return of love? It had been +long known that both natural and artificial waters can +<span class="sidenote">Chemical waters.</span> +permanently affect the health, and that instruments may +be made to ascertain their qualities. Zosimus, the Panopolitan, +had described in former times the operation of +distillation, by which water may be purified; the Arabs +called the apparatus for conducting that experiment +an alembic. His treatise on the virtues +and composition of waters was conveyed under the form of +a dream, in which there flit before us fantastically white-haired +priests sacrificing before the altar; cauldrons of +boiling water, in which there are walking about men a span +long; brazen-clad warriors in silence reading leaden books, +and sphinxes with wings. In such incomprehensible +fictions knowledge was purposely, and ignorance conveniently +concealed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Arabs originate scientific chemistry.</div> + +<p>The practical Arabs had not long been engaged in these +fascinating but wild pursuits, when results of +very great importance began to appear. In a +scientific point of view, the discovery of the strong +acids laid the true foundation of chemistry; in a +political point of view, the invention of gunpowder revolutionized +the world.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Gunpowder and fireworks.</div> + +<p>There were several explosive mixtures. Automatic fire +was made from equal parts of sulphur, saltpetre, +and sulphide of antimony, finely pulverized and +mixed into a paste, with equal parts of juice of +the black sycamore and liquid asphaltum, a little quick-lime +being added. It was directed to keep the material +from the rays of the sun, which would set it on fire.</p> + +<p>Of liquid or Greek fire we have not a precise description, +since the knowledge of it was kept at Constantinople as a +state secret. There is reason, however, to believe that it contained +sulphur and nitrate of potash mixed with naphtha. +Of gunpowder, Marcus Græcus, whose date is probably +to be referred to the close of the eighth century, gives the +composition explicitly. He directs us to pulverize in a +marble mortar one pound of sulphur, two of charcoal, and +six of saltpetre. If some of this powder be tightly rammed +in a long narrow tube closed at one end, and then set on +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[409]</a></span> +fire, the tube will fly through the air: this is clearly the +rocket. He says that thunder may be imitated by folding +some of the powder in a cover and tying it up tightly: +<span class="sidenote">Incombustible men.</span> +this is the cracker. It thus appears that fireworks preceded +fire-arms. To the same author we are +indebted for prescriptions for making the skin +incombustible, so that we may handle fire without being +burnt. These, doubtless, were received as explanations +of the legends of the times, which related how miracle-workers +had washed their hands in melted copper, and +sat at their ease in flaming straw.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Arabian chemists.</div> + +<p>Among the Saracen names that might be mentioned as +cultivators of alchemy, we may recall El-Rasi, +Ebid Durr, Djafar or Geber, Toghragé, who +wrote an alchemical poem, and Dschildegi, one of whose +works bears the significant title of "The Lantern." The +definition of alchemy by some of these authors is very +striking: the science of the balance, the science of weight, +the science of combustion.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Djafar discovers nitric acid and aqua regia,</div> + +<p>To one of these chemists, Djafar, our attention may for +a moment be drawn. He lived toward the end +of the eighth century, and is honoured by Rhazes, +Avicenna, and Kalid, the great Arabic physicians, +as their master. His name is memorable +in chemistry, since it marks an epoch in that science of +equal importance to that of Priestley and Lavoisier. He is +the first to describe nitric acid and aqua regia. Before +him no stronger acid was known than concentrated vinegar. +We cannot conceive of chemistry as not possessing acids. +Roger Bacon speaks of him as the magister magistrorum. +He has perfectly just notions of the nature of spirits or +gases, as we call them; thus he says, "O son of the doctrine, +<span class="sidenote">and that oxidation increases weight.</span> +when spirits fix themselves in bodies, they lose +their form; in their nature they are no longer +what they were. When you compel them to +be disengaged again, this is what happens: +either the spirit alone escapes with the air, and the +body remains fixed in the alembic, or the spirit and +body escape together at the same time." His doctrine +respecting the nature of the metals, though erroneous, was +not without a scientific value. A metal he considers to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[410]</a></span> +be a compound of sulphur, mercury, and arsenic, and +hence he infers that transmutation is possible by varying +the proportion of those ingredients. He knows that a +metal, when calcined, increases in weight, a discovery of +the greatest importance, as eventually brought to bear in +the destruction of the doctrine of Phlogiston of Stahl, and +which has been imputed to Europeans of a much later +time. He describes the operations of distillation, sublimation, +filtration, various chemical apparatus, water-baths, +sand-baths, cupels of bone-earth, of the use of which +he gives a singularly clear description. A chemist reads +with interest Djafar's antique method of obtaining nitric +<span class="sidenote">He solves the problem of potable gold.</span> +acid by distilling in a retort Cyprus vitriol, alum, and +saltpetre. He sets forth its corrosive power, and +shows how it may be made to dissolve even +gold itself, by adding a portion of sal ammoniac. +Djafar may thus be considered as having solved the grand +alchemical problem of obtaining gold in a potable state. +Of course, many trials must have been made on the influence +of this solution on the animal system, respecting +which such extravagant anticipations had been entertained. +The disappointment that ensued was doubtless the reason +that the records of these trials have not descended to us.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Rhazes discovers sulphuric acid.<br /><br /> +Bechil discovers phosphorus.</div> + +<p>With Djafar may be mentioned Rhazes, born <span class="smcap">A.D</span>. 860, +physician-in-chief to the great hospital at Bagdad. +To him is due the first description of the +preparation and properties of sulphuric acid. +He obtained it, as the Nordhausen variety is still made, by +the distillation of dried green vitriol. To him are also +due the first indications of the preparation of absolute +alcohol, by distilling spirit of wine from quick-lime. As +a curious discovery made by the Saracens may +be mentioned the experiment of Achild Bechil, +who, by distilling together the extract of urine, +clay, lime, and powdered charcoal, obtained an artificial +carbuncle, which shone in the dark "like a good moon." +This was phosphorus.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Geological views of Avicenna.</div> + +<p>And now there arose among Arabian physicians a +correctness of thought and breadth of view altogether +surprising. It might almost be supposed that the following +lines were written by one of our own contemporaries; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[411]</a></span> +they are, however, extracted from a chapter of Avicenna +on the origin of mountains. This author was +born in the tenth century. "Mountains may +be due to two different causes. Either they are +effects of upheavals of the crust of the earth, such as +might occur during a violent earthquake, or they are the +effect of water, which, cutting for itself a new route, has +denuded the valleys, the strata being of different kinds, +some soft, some hard. The winds and waters disintegrate +the one, but leave the other intact. Most of the eminences +of the earth have had this latter origin. It would require +a long period of time for all such changes to be accomplished, +during which the mountains themselves might be +somewhat diminished in size. But that water has been +the main cause of these effects is proved by the existence +of fossil remains of aquatic and other animals on many +mountains." Avicenna also explains the nature of petrifying +or incrusting waters, and mentions ærolites, out of +one of which a sword-blade was made, but he adds that +the metal was too brittle to be of any use. A mere catalogue +<span class="sidenote">His works indicate the attainment of the times.</span> +of some of the works of Avicenna will indicate the +condition of Arabian attainment. 1. On the +Utility and Advantage of Science; 2. Of Health +and Remedies; 3. Canons of Physic; 4. On +Astronomical Observations; 5. Mathematical +Theorems; 6. On the Arabic Language and its Properties; +7. On the Origin of the Soul and Resurrection of the +Body; 8. Demonstration of Collateral Lines on the +Sphere; 9. An Abridgment of Euclid; 10. On Finity +and Infinity; 11. On Physics and Metaphysics; 12. An +Encyclopædia of Human Knowledge, in 20 vols., etc., etc. +The perusal of such a catalogue is sufficient to excite +profound attention when we remember the contemporaneous +state of Europe.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Effect of the search for the elixir on practical medicine.</div> + +<p>The pursuit of the elixir made a well-marked impression +upon Arab experimental science, confirming +it in its medical application. At the foundation +of this application lay the principle that +it is possible to relieve the diseases of the human +body by purely material means. As the science advanced +it gradually shook off its fetichisms, the spiritual receding +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[412]</a></span> +into insignificance, the material coming into bolder relief. +Not, however, without great difficulty was a way forced +for the great doctrine that the influence of substances on +the constitution of man is altogether of a material kind, +and not at all due to any indwelling or animating spirit; +that it is of no kind of use to practise incantations over +drugs, or to repeat prayers over the mortar in which +medicines are being compounded, since the effect will be +the same, whether this has been done or not; that there +is no kind of efficacy in amulets, no virtue in charms; and +that, though saint-relics may serve to excite the imagination +of the ignorant, they are altogether beneath the +attention of the philosopher.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Medical conflict between Europe and Africa.</div> + +<p>It was this last sentiment which brought Europe and +Africa into intellectual collision. The Saracen +and Hebrew physicians had become thoroughly +materialized. Throughout Christendom the +practice of medicine was altogether supernatural. +It was in the hands of ecclesiastics; and saint relics, +shrines, and miracle-cures were a source of boundless +profit. On a subsequent page I shall have to describe the +circumstances of the conflict that ensued between material +philosophy on one side, and supernatural jugglery on the +other; to show how the Arab system gained the victory, +and how, out of that victory, the industrial life of Europe +arose. The Byzantine policy inaugurated in Constantinople +and Alexandria was, happily for the world, in the +end overthrown. To that future page I must postpone +the great achievements of the Arabians in the fulness of +their Age of Reason. When Europe was hardly more +enlightened than Caffraria is now, the Saracens were +cultivating and even creating science. Their triumphs in +philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, medicine, +proved to be more glorious, more durable, and therefore +more important than their military actions had been.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<p class='center'><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[413]</a></span> +THE AGE OF FAITH IN THE WEST—(<i>Continued</i>).</p> + +<p class='center'><small>IMAGE-WORSHIP AND THE MONKS.</small></p> + +<div class='blockquot'><p class='ind'><i>Origin of</i> <span class="smcap">Image-worship</span>.—<i>Inutility of Images discovered in Asia and +Africa during the Saracen Wars.—Rise of Iconoclasm.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>The Emperors prohibit Image-worship.—The Monks, aided by court +Females, sustain it.—Victory of the latter.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><i>Image-worship in the West sustained by the Popes.—Quarrel between the +Emperor and the Pope.—The Pope, aided by the Monks, revolts and +allies himself with the Franks.</i></p> + +<p class='ind'><span class="smcap">The Monks.</span>—<i>History of the Rise and Development of Monasticism.—Hermits +and Cœnobites.—Spread of Monasticism from Egypt over +Europe.—Monk Miracles and Legends.—Humanization of the monastic +Establishments.—They materialize Religion, and impress their Ideas +on Europe.</i></p></div> + +<div class="sidenote">Influence of the Arabians.</div> + +<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Arabian influence, allying itself to philosophy, was +henceforth productive of other than military results. To +the loss of Africa and Asia was now added a disturbance +impressed on Europe itself, ending in the decomposition +of Christianity into two forms, Greek +and Latin, and in three great political events—the emancipation +of the popes from the emperors of Constantinople, +the usurpation of power by a new dynasty in France, the +reconstruction of the Roman empire in the West.</p> + +<p>The dispute respecting the worship of images led to +those great events. The acts of the Mohammedan khalifs +and of the iconoclastic or image-breaking emperors occasioned +that dispute.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Worship of relics and images.</div> + +<p>Nothing could be more deplorable than the condition of +southern Europe when it first felt the intellectual influence +of the Arabians. Its old Roman and Greek populations +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[414]</a></span> +had altogether disappeared; the races of half-breeds and +mongrels substituted for them were immersed +in fetichism. An observance of certain ceremonials +constituted a religious life. A chip of +the true cross, some iron filings from the chain of St. Peter, +a tooth or bone of a martyr, were held in adoration; the +world was full of the stupendous miracles which these +relics had performed. But especially were painted or +graven images of holy personages supposed to be endowed +with such powers. They had become objects of actual +worship. The facility with which the Empress Helena, +the mother of Constantine the Great, had given an aristocratic +fashion to this idolatry, showed that the old pagan +ideas had never really died out, and that the degenerated +populations received with approval the religious conceptions +of their great predecessors. The early Christian +fathers believed that painting and sculpture were forbidden +by the Scriptures, and that they were therefore wicked +arts; and, though the second Council of Nicea asserted +that the use of images had always been adopted by the +Church, there are abundant facts to prove that the actual +worship of them was not indulged in until the fourth +century, when, on the occasion of its occurrence in Spain, +it was condemned by the Council of Illiberis. During +the fifth century the practice of introducing images into +<span class="sidenote">Its rapid spread in Christendom.</span> +churches increased, and in the sixth it had become prevalent. +The common people, who had never been able +to comprehend doctrinal mysteries, found their +religious wants satisfied in turning to these +effigies. With singular obtuseness, they believed that the +saint is present in his image, though hundreds of the same +kind were in existence, each having an equal and exclusive +right to the spiritual presence. The doctrine of invocation +of departed saints, which assumed prominence in the +fifth century, was greatly strengthened by these graphic +forms. Pagan idolatry had reappeared.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Simple fetiches replaced by images.</div> + +<p>At first the simple cross was used as a substitute for the +amulets and charms of remoter times; it constituted a +fetich able to expel evil spirits, even Satan himself. This +Being, who had become singularly debased from what +he was in the noble Oriental fictions, was an imbecile +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[415]</a></span> +and malicious though not a malignant spirit, affrighted +not only at pieces of wood framed in the shape of a cross, +but at the form of it made by the finger in the air. A +subordinate dæmon was supposed to possess +every individual at his birth, but he was cast +out by baptism. When, in the course of time, +the cross became a crucifix, offering a representation of +the dying Redeemer, it might be supposed to have gathered +increased virtue; and soon, in addition to that adorable +form, were introduced images of the Virgin, the apostles, +saints, and martyrs. The ancient times seemed to have +come again, when these pictures were approached with +genuflexions, luminaries, and incense. The doctrine of +the more intelligent was that these were aids to devotion, +and that, among people to whom the art of reading was +unknown, they served the useful purpose of recalling +<span class="sidenote">Bleeding and winking images.</span> +sacred events in a kind of hieroglyphic manner. But +among the vulgar, and monks, and women, they were +believed to be endowed with supernatural power. +Of some, the wounds could bleed; of others, +the eyes could wink; of others, the limbs could +be raised. In ancient times, the statues of Minerva could +brandish spears, and those of Venus could weep.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Idolatry never extinguished in Greece and Italy.</div> + +<p>In truth, the populations of the Greek and Latin +countries were no more than nominally converted and +superficially Christianized. The old traditions +and practices had never been forgotten. A +tendency to idolatry seemed to be the necessary +incident of the climate. Not without reason +have the apologists of the clergy affirmed that image-worship +was insisted on by the people, and that the +Church had to admit ideas that she had never been able +to eradicate. After seven hundred years of apostolic +labour, it was found that the populace of Greece and Italy +were apparently in their old state, and that actually +nothing at all had been accomplished; the new-comers +had passed into the track of their predecessors. It is +often said that the restoration of image-worship was +owing to the extinction of civilization by the Northern +barbarians. But this is not true. In the blood of the +German nations the taint of idolatry is but small. In +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[416]</a></span> +their own countries they gave it little encouragement, +and, indeed, hastened quickly to its total rejection. The +sin lay not with them, but with the Mediterranean +people.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Influence of the barbarians.</div> + +<p>Nor are those barbarians to be held accountable for the +so-called extinction of civilization in Italy. The true +Roman race had prematurely died; it came to an untimely +end in consequence of its dissolute, its violent life. +Its civilization would have spontaneously died +with it had no barbarian been present; and, if +these intruders produced a baneful effect at first, they +compensated for it in the end. As, when fresh coal is +added to a fire that is burning low, a still further diminution +will ensue, perhaps there may be a risk of entirely +putting it out; but in due season, if all goes well, the new +material will join in the contagious blaze. The savages +of Europe, thrown into the decaying foci of Greek and +Roman light, did perhaps for a time reduce the general +heat; but, by degrees, it spread throughout their mass, +and the bright flame of modern civilization was the +result. Let those who lament the intrusion of these men +into the classical countries, reflect upon the result which +must otherwise have ensued—the last spark would soon +have died out, and nothing but ashes have remained.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Origin of Iconoclasm.</div> + +<p>Three causes gave rise to Iconoclasm, or the revolt +against image-worship: 1st, the remonstrances +and derision of the Mohammedans; 2nd, the +good sense of a great sovereign, Leo the Isaurian, who +had risen by his merit from obscurity, and had become the +founder of a new dynasty at Constantinople; 3rd, the +detected inability of these miracle-working idols and +fetiches to protect their worshippers or themselves against +an unbelieving enemy. Moreover, an impression was +gradually making its way among the more intelligent +classes that religion ought to free itself from such superstitions. +So important were the consequences of Leo's +actions, that some have been disposed to assign to his reign +the first attempt at making policy depend on theology; +and to this period, as I have elsewhere remarked, they +therefore refer the commencement of the Byzantine empire. +Through one hundred and twenty years, six emperors +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[417]</a></span> +devoted themselves to this reformation. But it was +premature. They were overpowered by the populace and +the monks, by the bishops of Rome, and by a superstitious +and wicked woman.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Inutility of miraculous images discovered in the +Arab invasions.<br /><br /><br /> +Destruction and sale of idols by the Arabs.</div> + +<p>It had been a favourite argument against the pagans +how little their gods could do for them when the hour of +calamity came, when their statues and images were insulted +and destroyed, and hence how vain was such +worship, how imbecile such gods. When Africa +and Asia, full of relics and crosses, pictures and +images, fell before the Mohammedans, those +conquerors retaliated the same logic with no +little effect. There was hardly one of the fallen towns +that had not some idol for its protector. Remembering +the stern objurgations of the prophet against this deadly +sin, prohibited at once by the commandment of God and +repudiated by the reason of man, the Saracen khalifs had +ordered all the Syrian images to be destroyed. +Amid the derision of the Arab soldiery and the +tears of the terror-stricken worshippers, these +orders were remorselessly carried into effect, except +in some cases where the temptation of an enormous ransom +induced the avengers of the unity of God to swerve from +their duty. Thus the piece of linen cloth on which it was +feigned that our Saviour had impressed his countenance, +and which was the palladium of Edessa, was carried off +by the victors at the capture of that town, and subsequently +sold to Constantinople at the profitable price of twelve +thousand pounds of silver. This picture, and also some +other celebrated ones, it was said, possessed the property +of multiplying themselves by contact with other surfaces, +as in modern times we multiply photographs. Such were +the celebrated images "made without hands."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Emperor prohibits image-worship.</div> + +<p>It was currently asserted that the immediate origin of +Iconoclasm was due to the Khalif Yezed, who had completed +the destruction of the Syrian images, and to two +Jews, who stimulated Leo the Isaurian to his task. However +that may be, Leo published an edict, <small>A.D.</small> +726, prohibiting the worship of images. This +was followed by another directing their destruction, +and the whitewashing of the walls of churches +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[418]</a></span> +ornamented with them. Hereupon the clergy and the +monks rebelled; the emperor was denounced as a Mohammedan +and a Jew. He ordered that a statue of the +Saviour in that part of the city called Chalcopratia should +be removed, and a riot was the consequence. One of his +officers mounted a ladder and struck the idol with an axe +upon its face; it was an incident like that enacted centuries +before in the temple of Serapis at Alexandria. The +sacred image, which had often arrested the course of +Nature and worked many miracles, was now found to be +unable to protect or to avenge its own honour. A rabble +of women interfered in its behalf; they threw down the +<span class="sidenote">The monks sustain it.</span> +ladder and killed the officer; nor was the riot ended until +the troops were called in and a great massacre perpetrated. +The monks spread the sedition in all parts of +the empire; they even attempted to proclaim a +new emperor. Leo was everywhere denounced as a Mohammedan +infidel, an enemy of the Mother of God; but with +inflexible resolution he persisted in his determination as +long as he lived.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">They accuse the emperor of atheism.</div> + +<p>His son and successor, Constantine, pursued the same +iconoclastic policy. From the circumstance of his accidentally +defiling the font at which he was being baptized, +he had received the suggestive name of Copronymus. +His subsequent career was asserted by the monks to have +been foreshadowed by his sacrilegious beginnings. It was +publicly asserted that he was an atheist. In +truth, his biography, in many respects, proves +that the higher classes in Constantinople were +largely infected with infidelity. The patriarch deposed +upon oath that Copronymus had made the most irreligious +confessions to him, as that our Saviour, far from being the +Son of God, was, in his opinion, a mere man, born of his +mother in the common way. The truth of these accusations +was perhaps, in a measure, sustained by the revenge +that the emperor took on the patriarch for his indiscreet +revelations. He seized him, put out his eyes, caused him +to be led through the city mounted on an ass, with his +face to the tail, and then, as if to show his unutterable +contempt for all religion, with an exquisite malice, appointed +him to his office again.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Council of Constantinople prohibits image-worship.</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[419]</a></span> +If such was the religious condition of the emperor, the +higher clergy were but little better. A council was +summoned by Constantine, <small>A.D.</small> 754, at Constantinople, +which was attended by 388 bishops. It asserted +for itself the position of the seventh general +council. It unanimously decreed that all visible +symbols of Christ, except in the Eucharist, are +blasphemous or heretical; that image-worship is a corruption +of Christianity and a renewed form of paganism; it +directed all statues and paintings to be removed from the +churches and destroyed, it degraded every ecclesiastic and +excommunicated every layman who should be concerned +in setting them up again. It concluded its labours with +prayers for the emperor who had extirpated idolatry and +given peace to the Church.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Uproar among the monks.<br /><br /> +The emperor retaliates.</div> + +<p>But this decision was by no means quietly received. +The monks rose in an uproar; some raised a +clamour in their caves, some from the tops of their +pillars; one, in the church of St. Mammas, +insulted the emperor to his face, denouncing him as a +second apostate Julian. Nor could he deliver himself +from them by the scourging, strangling, and drowning of +individuals. In his wrath, Copronymus, plainly discerning +that it was the monks on one side and the government +on the other, determined to strike at the root of the evil, +and to destroy monasticism itself. He drove the +holy men out of their cells and cloisters; made +the consecrated virgins marry; gave up the buildings for +civil uses; burnt pictures, idols, and all kinds of relics; +degraded the patriarch from his office, scourged him, shaved +off his eyebrows, set him for public derision in the circus +in a sleeveless shirt, and then beheaded him. Already he +had consecrated a eunuch in his stead. Doubtless these +atrocities strengthened the bishops of Rome in their resolve +to seek a protector from such a master among the barbarian +kings of the West.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Re-establishment of image-worship by Irene the murderess.</div> + +<p>Constantine Copronymus was succeeded by his son, Leo +the Chazar, who, during a short reign of five +years, continued the iconoclastic policy. On his +death his wife Irene seized the government, +ostensibly in behalf of her son. This woman, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[420]</a></span> +pre-eminently wicked and superstitious beyond her times, +undertook the restoration of images. She caused the +patriarch to retire from his dignity, appointed one of her +creatures, Tarasius, in his stead, and summoned another +council. In this second Council of Nicea that of Constantinople +was denounced as a synod of fools and atheists, the +worship of images was pronounced agreeable to Scripture +and reason, and in conformity to the usages and traditions +of the Church.</p> + +<p>Irene, saluted as the second Helena, and set forth by +the monks as an exemplar of piety, thus accomplished the +restoration of image-worship. In a few years this ambitious +woman, refusing to surrender his rightful dignity to her +son, caused him to be seized, and, in the porphyry chamber +in which she had borne him, put out his eyes. Constantinople, +long familiar with horrible crimes, was appalled at +such an unnatural deed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Resumption of Iconoclasm by the succeeding emperors.</div> + +<p>During the succeeding reigns to that of Leo the Armenian, +matters remained without change; but that +emperor resumed the policy of Leo the Isaurian. +By an edict he prohibited image-worship, and +banished the Patriarch of Constantinople, who +had admonished him that the apostles had made images of +the Saviour and the Virgin, and that there was at Rome a +picture of the Transfiguration, painted by order of St. +Peter. After the murder of Leo, his successor, Michael +the Stammerer, showed no encouragement to either party. +It was affirmed that he was given to profane jesting, was +incredulous as to the resurrection of the dead, disbelieved +the existence of the devil, was indifferent whether images +were worshipped or not, and recommended the patriarch to +bury the decrees of Constantinople and Nicea equally in +<span class="sidenote">Their Saracenic tastes.</span> +oblivion. His successor and son, however, observed no +such impartiality. To Saracenic tastes, shown +by his building a palace like that of the khalif; +to a devotion for poetry, exemplified by branding some of +his own stanzas on his image-worshipping enemies; to the +composition of music and its singing by himself as an +amateur in the choir; to mechanical knowledge, displayed +by hydraulic contrivances, musical instruments, organs, +automatic singing-birds sitting in golden trees, he added +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[421]</a></span> +an abomination of monks and a determined iconoclasm. +Instead of merely whitewashing the walls of the churches, +he adorned them with pictures of beasts and birds. Iconoclasm +had now become a struggle between the emperors +and the monks.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Final restoration of image-worship by the Empress Theodora.</div> + +<p>Again, on the death of Theophilus, image-worship +triumphed, and triumphed in the same manner +as before. His widow, Theodora, alarmed by +the monks for the safety of the soul of her +husband, purchased absolution for him at the +price of the restoration of images.</p> + +<p>Such was the issue of Iconoclasm in the East. The +monks proved stronger than the emperors, and, after a +struggle of 120 years, the images were finally restored. +In the West far more important consequences followed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Image-worship in the West.</div> + +<p>To image-worship Italy was devoutly attached. When +the first edict of Leo was made known by the +exarch, it produced a rebellion, of which Pope +Gregory II. took advantage to suspend the +tribute paid by Italy. In letters that he wrote to the +emperor he defended the popular delusion, declaring that +the first Christians had caused pictures to be made of our +Lord, of his brother James, of Stephen, and all the martyrs, +and had sent them throughout the world; the reason that +God the Father had not been painted was that his countenance +was not known. These letters display a most +<span class="sidenote">It is sustained by the pope,</span> +audacious presumption of the ignorance of the emperor +respecting common Scripture incidents, and, as +some have remarked, suggest a doubt of the +pope's familiarity with the sacred volume. He +points out the difference between the statues of antiquity, +which are only the representations of phantoms, and the +images of the Church, which have approved themselves, +by numberless miracles, to be the genuine forms of the +Saviour, his mother, and his saints. Referring to the +statue of St. Peter, which the emperor had ordered to be +broken to pieces, he declares that the Western nations +regard that apostle as a god upon earth, and ominously +threatens the vengeance of the pious barbarians if it should +be destroyed. In this defence of images Gregory found +an active coadjutor in a Syrian, John of Damascus, who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[422]</a></span> +had witnessed the rage of the khalifs against the images +of his own country, and whose hand, having been cut off +by those tyrants, had been miraculously rejoined to his +body by an idol of the Virgin to which he prayed.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">and by the Lombard king.</div> + +<p>But Gregory was not alone in his policy, nor John of +Damascus in his controversies. The King of the +Lombards, Luitprand, also perceived the advantage +of putting himself forth as the protector of +images, and of appealing to the Italians, for their sake, to +expel the Greeks from the country. The pope acted on +the principle that heresy in a sovereign justifies withdrawal +of allegiance, the Lombard that it excuses the +seizure of possessions. Luitprand accordingly ventured +on the capture of Ravenna. An immense booty, the +accumulation of the emperors, the Gothic kings, and the +exarchs, which was taken at the storming of the town, at +once rewarded his piety, stimulated him to new enterprises +of a like nature, and drew upon him the attention of his +enemy the emperor, whom he had plundered, and of his +confederate the pope, whom he had overreached.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Position of affairs at this time.</div> + +<p>This was the position of affairs. If the Lombards, who +were Arians, and therefore heretics, should succeed in +extending their sway all over Italy, the influence +and prosperity of the papacy must come to an +end; their action on the question of the images +was altogether of an ephemeral and delusive kind, for all +the northern nations preferred a simple worship like that of +primitive times, and had never shown any attachment to +the adoration of graven forms. If, on the other hand, the +pope should continue his allegiance to Constantinople, he +must be liable to the atrocious persecutions so often and so +recently inflicted on the patriarchs of that city by their +tyrannical master; and the breaking of that connexion in +reality involved no surrender of any solid advantages, for +<span class="sidenote">The Saracens dominate in the Mediterranean.</span> +the emperor was too weak to give protection from the +Lombards. Already had been experienced a portentous +difficulty in sending relief from Constantinople, +on account of the naval superiority of the +Saracens in the Mediterranean. For the taxes +paid to the sovereign no real equivalent was +received; but Rome, in ignominy, was obliged to submit, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[423]</a></span> +like an obscure provincial town, to the mandates of the +Eastern court. Moreover, in her eyes, the emperor, by +reason of his iconoclasm, was a heretic. But if alliance +with the Lombards and allegiance to the Greeks were +<span class="sidenote">Causes of the alliance of the popes and the Franks.</span> +equally inexpedient, a third course was possible. A mayor +of the palace of the Frankish kings had successfully +led his armies against the Arabs from +Spain, and had gained the great victory of +Tours. If the Franks, under the influence +of their climate or the genius of their race, had thus far +shown no encouragement to images, in all other respects +they were orthodox, for they had been converted by +Catholic missionaries; their kings, it was true, were mere +phantoms, but Charles Martel had proved himself a great +soldier; he was, therefore, an ambitious man. There was +Scripture authority for raising a subordinate to sovereign +power; the prophets of Israel had thus, of old, with oil +anointed kings. And if the sword of France was gently +removed from the kingly hand that was too weak to hold +it, and given to the hero who had already shown that he +could smite terribly with it—if this were done by the +authority of the pope, acting as the representative of God, +how great the gain to the papacy! A thousand years +might not be enough to separate the monarchy of France +from the theocracy of Italy.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Revolt of the pope from the emperor.</div> + +<p>The resistance which had sprung up to the imperial +edict for the destruction of images determined the course +of events. The pope rebelled, and attempts were made by +the emperor to seize or assassinate him. A fear +that the pontiff might be carried to Constantinople, +and the preparations making to destroy +the images in the churches, united all Italy. A council +was held at Rome, which anathematized the Iconoclasts. +In retaliation, the Sicilian and other estates of the Church +were confiscated. Gregory III., who in the meantime +succeeded to the papacy, continued the policy of his predecessor. +The emperor was defied. A fleet, fitted out by +him in support of the exarch, was lost in a storm. With +this termination of the influence of Constantinople in Italy +came the imminent danger that the pope must acknowledge +the supremacy of the Lombards. In his distress Gregory +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[424]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Alliance of the pope and the Franks.</span> +turned to Charles Martel. He sent him the keys of the +sepulchre of St. Peter, and implored his assistance. +The die was cast. Papal Rome revolted +from her sovereign, and became indissolubly +bound to the barbarian kingdoms. To France a new +dynasty was given, to the pope temporal power, and to the +west of Europe a fictitious Roman empire.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="sidenote">The monks.</div> + +<p>The monks had thus overcome the image-breaking +emperors, a result which proves them to have +already become a formidable power in the state. +It is necessary, for a proper understanding of the great +events with which henceforth they were connected, to +describe their origin and history.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Their first position</div> + +<p>In the iconoclastic quarrel they are to be regarded as +the representatives of the common people in contradistinction +to the clergy; often, indeed, the representatives of +the populace, infected with all its instincts of superstition +and fanaticism. They are the upholders of miracle-cures, +invocation of saints, worship of images, clamorous +asserters of a unity of faith in the Church—a +unity which they never practised, but which offered a +convenient pretext for a bitter persecution of heresy and +paganism, though they were more than half pagan themselves.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">and subsequent improvement.</div> + +<p>It was their destiny to impress on the practical life of +Europe that mixture of Christianity and heathenism +engendered by political events in Italy and +Greece. Yet, while they thus co-operated in +great affairs, they themselves exhibited, in the +most signal manner, the force of that law of continuous +variation of opinion and habits to which all enduring +communities of men must submit. Born of superstition, +obscene in their early life, they end in luxury, refinement, +learning. Theirs is a history to which we may profitably +attend.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The first hermits.</div> + +<p>From very early times there had been in India zealots +who, actuated by a desire of removing themselves +from the temptations of society and preparing +for another life, retired into solitary places. Such +also were the Essenes among the Jews, and the Therapeutæ +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[425]</a></span> +in Egypt. Pliny speaks of the blameless life of the former +when he says, "They are the companions of palms;" +nor does he hide his astonishment at an immortal society +in which no one is ever born. Their example was not +lost upon more devout Christians, particularly after the +influence of Magianism began to be felt. Though it is +sometimes said that the first of these hermits were Anthony +and Paulus, they doubtless are to be regarded as only +having rendered themselves more illustrious by their +superior sanctity among a crowd of worthies who had +preceded them or were their contemporaries. As early as +the second and third centuries the practice of retirement +had commenced among Christians; soon afterwards it had +become common. The date of Hilarion is about <small>A.D.</small> 328, +of Basil <small>A.D.</small> 360. Regarding prayer as the only occupation +in which man may profitably engage, they gave no +<span class="sidenote">Their self-denial.</span> +more attention to the body than the wants of nature +absolutely demanded. A little dried fruit or bread for +food, and water for drink, were sufficient for its +support; occasionally a particle of salt might be +added, but the use of warm water was looked upon as +betraying a tendency to luxury. The incentives to many +of their rules of life might excite a smile, if it were right +to smile at the acts of earnest men. Some, like the innocent +Essenes, who would do nothing whatever on the +Sabbath, observed the day before as a fast, rigorously +abstaining from food and drink, that nature might not +force them into sin on the morrow. For some, it was not +enough, by the passive means of abstinence, to refrain from +fault or reduce the body to subjection, though starvation +is the antidote for desire; the more active, and, perhaps, +more effectual operation of periodical flagellations and +bodily torture were added. Ingenuity was taxed to +find new means of personal infliction. A hermit who +never permitted himself to sleep more than an hour +without being awakened endured torments not inferior to +those of the modern fakir, who crosses his arms on the top +of his head and keeps them there for years, until they are +wasted to the bone, or suspends himself to a pole by means +of a hook inserted in the flesh of his back.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Profound contemplation of God.<br /><br /> +Aerial martyrs. Holy birds.</div> + +<p>Among the Oriental sects there are some who believe +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[426]</a></span> +that the Supreme Being is perpetually occupied in the contemplation +of himself, and that the nearer man +can approach to a state of total inaction the more +will he resemble God. For many years the +Indian sage never raises his eyes from his navel; absorbed +in the profound contemplation of it, his perennial reverie +is unbroken by any outward suggestions, the admiring +by-standers administering, as chance offers, the little food +and water that his wants require. Under the +influence of such ideas, in the fifth century, St. +Simeon Stylites, who in his youth had often +been saved from suicide, by ascending a column he had +built, sixty feet in height, and only one foot square at the +top, departed as far as he could from earthly affairs, and +approached more closely to heaven. On this elevated +retreat, to which he was fastened by a chain, he endured, +if we may believe the incredible story, for thirty years the +summer's sun and the winter's frost. Afar off the passer-by +was edified by seeing the motionless figure of the holy man +with outstretched arms like a cross, projected against the +sky, in his favourite attitude of prayer, or expressing his +thankfulness for the many mercies of which he supposed +himself to be the recipient by rapidly striking his forehead +against his knees. Historians relate that a curious spectator +counted twelve hundred and forty-four of these +motions, and then abstained through fatigue from any +farther tally, though the unwearied exhibition was still +going on. This "most holy aerial martyr," as Evagrius +calls him, attained at last his reward, and Mount Telenissa +witnessed a vast procession of devout admirers accompanying +to the grave his mortal remains.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The monks insist on celibacy.</div> + +<p>More commonly, however, the hermit declined the conspicuous +notoriety of these "holy birds," as they were called +by the profane, and, retiring to some cave in the desert, +despised the comforts of life, and gave himself up to +penance and prayer. Among men who had thus altogether +exalted themselves above the wants of the flesh, there was +no toleration for its lusts. The sinfulness of the +marriage relation, and the pre-eminent value of +chastity, followed from their principles. If it +was objected to such practices that by their universal +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[427]</a></span> +adoption the human species would soon be extinguished, +and no man would remain to offer praises to God, these +zealots, remembering the temptations from which they had +escaped, with truth replied that there would always be +sinners enough in the world to avoid that disaster, and +that out of their evil works good would be brought. St. +Jerome offers us the pregnant reflection that, though it +may be marriage that fills the earth, it is virginity that +replenishes heaven.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Grazing hermits.</div> + +<p>If they were not recorded by many truthful authors, the +extravagances of some of these enthusiasts would pass +belief. Men and women ran naked upon all fours, associating +themselves with the beasts of the field. In +the spring season, when the grass is tender, the +grazing hermits of Mesopotamia went forth to the plains, +sharing with the cattle their filth, and their food. Of some, +notwithstanding a weight of evidence, the stupendous +biography must tax their admirers' credulity. It is affirmed +that St. Ammon had never seen his own body uncovered; +that an angel carried him on his back over a river which +he was obliged to cross; that at his death he ascended to +heaven through the skies, St. Anthony being an eye-witness +of the event—St. Anthony, who was guided to the hermit +Paulus by a centaur; that Didymus never spoke to a +human being for ninety years.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Insane hermits.</div> + +<p>From the Jewish anchorites, who of old sought a retreat +beneath the shade of the palms of Engaddi, who beguiled +their weary hours in the chanting of psalms by the bitter +waters of the Dead Sea; from the philosophic Hindu, who +sought for happiness in bodily inaction and mental exercise, +to these Christian solitaries, the stages of delusion +are numerous and successive. It would not +be difficult to present examples of each step in the career +of debasement. To one who is acquainted with the working +and accidents of the human brain, it will not be +surprizing that an asylum for hermits who had become +hopelessly insane was instituted at Jerusalem.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Causes of hallucinations.</div> + +<p>The biographies of these recluses, for ages a source of consolation +to the faithful in their temptations, are not to be +regarded as mere works of fiction, though they abound in +supernatural occurrences, and are the forerunners of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[428]</a></span> +dæmonology of the Middle Ages. The whole world was a +scene of dæmoniac adventures, of miracles and wonders. So +far from being mere impostures, they relate nothing more +than may be witnessed at any time under similar +conditions. In the brain of man, impressions of +whatever he has seen or heard, of whatever has been made +manifest to him by his other senses, nay, even the vestiges +of his former thoughts, are stored up. These traces are +most vivid at first, but, by degrees, they decline in force, +though they probably never completely die out. During +our waking hours, while we are perpetually receiving +new impressions from things that surround us, such +vestiges are overpowered, and cannot attract the attention +of the mind. But in the period of sleep, when external +influences cease, they present themselves to our regard, and +the mind submitting to the delusion, groups them into +the fantastic forms of dreams. By the use of opium and +other drugs which can blunt our sensibility to passing +events, these phantasms may be made to emerge. They +also offer themselves in the delirium of fevers and in the +hour of death.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Supernatural appearances.</div> + +<p>It is immaterial in what manner or by what agency our +susceptibility to the impressions of surrounding objects is +benumbed, whether by drugs, or sleep, or disease, +as soon as their force is no greater than that of +forms already registered in the brain, those forms will +emerge before us, and dreams or apparitions are the result. +So liable is the mind to practise deception on itself, that +with the utmost difficulty it is aware of the delusion. No +man can submit to long-continued and rigorous fasting +without becoming the subject of these hallucinations; and +the more he enfeebles his organs of sense, the more vivid +is the exhibition, the more profound the deception. An +ominous sentence may perhaps be incessantly whispered in +his ear; to his fixed and fascinated eye some grotesque or +abominable object may perpetually present itself. To the +hermit, in the solitude of his cell, there doubtless often did +appear, by the uncertain light of his lamp, obscene shadows +of diabolical import; doubtless there was many an agony +with fiends, many a struggle with monsters, satyrs, and +imps, many an earnest, solemn, and manful controversy +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[429]</a></span> +with Satan himself, who sometimes came as an aged man, +sometimes with a countenance of horrible intelligence, and +sometimes as a female fearfully beautiful. St. Jerome, who, +with the utmost difficulty, had succeeded in extinguishing +all carnal desires, ingenuously confesses how sorely he was +tried by this last device of the enemy, how nearly the +ancient flames were rekindled. As to the reality of these +apparitions, why should a hermit be led to suspect that +they arose from the natural working of his own brain? +Men never dream that they are dreaming. To him they +were terrible realities; to us they should be the proofs of +insanity, not of imposture.</p> + +<p>If, in the prison discipline of modern times, it has been +found that solitary confinement is a punishment too +dreadful for the most hardened convict to bear, and that, +if persisted in, it is liable to lead to insanity, how much +more quickly must that unfortunate condition have been +induced when the trials of religious distress and the +physical enfeeblement arising from rigorous fastings and +incessant watchings were added? To the dreadful ennui +which precedes that state, one of the ancient monks +pathetically alludes when he relates how often he went +forth and returned to his cell, and gazed on the sun as if +he hastened too slowly to his setting. And yet such fearful +solitude is of but brief duration. Even though we flee +<span class="sidenote">Delusions created by the mind.</span> +to the desert we cannot be long alone. Cut off from social +converse, the mind of man engenders companions +for itself—companions like the gloom from which +they have emerged. It was thus that to St. +Anthony appeared the Spirit of Fornication, under the +form of a lascivious negro boy; it was thus that multitudes +of dæmons of horrible aspect cruelly beat him nearly to +death, the brave old man defying them to the last, and +telling them that he did not wish to be spared one of their +blows; it was thus that in the night, with hideous +laughter, they burst into his cell, under the form of lions, +serpents, scorpions, asps, lizards, panthers, and wolves, +each attacking him in own way; thus that when, in +his dire extremity, he lifted his eyes for help, the roof disappeared, +and amid beams of light the Saviour looked +down; thus it was with the enchanted silver dish that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[430]</a></span> +Satan gave him, which, being touched, vanished in smoke; +thus with the gigantic bats and centaurs, and the two lions +that helped him to scratch a grave for Paul.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Important religious results of cerebral sight.</div> + +<p>The images that may thus emerge from the brain have +been classed by physiologists among the phenomena of +inverse vision, or cerebral sight. Elsewhere I have given +a detailed investigation of their nature (Human Physiology, +chap, xxi.), and, persuaded that they have played a far +more important part in human affairs than is commonly +supposed, have thus expressed myself: "Men in every part +of the world, even among nations the most abject +and barbarous, have an abiding faith not only +in the existence of a spirit that animates us, but +also in its immortality. Of these there are +multitudes who have been shut out from all communion +with civilized countries, who have never been enlightened +by revelation, and who are mentally incapable of reasoning +out for themselves arguments in support of those great +truths. Under such circumstances, it is not very likely +that the uncertainties of tradition, derived from remote +ages, could be any guide to them, for traditions soon disappear +except they be connected with the wants of daily +life. Can there be, in a philosophical view, anything +more interesting than the manner in which these defects +have been provided for by implanting in the very organization +of every man the means of constantly admonishing him +of these facts—of recalling them with an unexpected vividness +before even after they have become so faint as almost to +die out? Let him be as debased and benighted a savage +as he may, shut out from all communion with races whom +Providence has placed in happier circumstances, he has +<span class="sidenote">A future world.</span> +still the same organization, and is liable to the same +physiological incidents, as ourselves. Like us, he sees in +his visions the fading forms of landscapes which +are perhaps connected with some of his most grateful +recollections, and what other conclusion can he possibly +derive from these unreal pictures than that they are the +foreshadowings of another land beyond that in which his +lot is cast. Like us, he is revisited at intervals by the +resemblances of those whom he has loved or hated while +they were alive, nor can he ever be so brutalized as not to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[431]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Immortality of the soul.</span> +discern in such manifestations suggestions which to him are +incontrovertible proofs of the existence and immortality +of the soul. Even in the most refined +social conditions we are never able to shake off the impressions +of these occurrences, and are perpetually drawing from +them the same conclusions that our uncivilized ancestors +did. Our more elevated condition of life in no respect +relieves us from the inevitable consequences of our own +organization, any more than it relieves us from infirmities +and disease. In these respects, all over the globe we are +on an equality. Savage or civilized, we carry within us a +mechanism intended to present to us mementoes of the +most solemn facts with which we can be concerned, and +the voice of history tells us that it has ever been true to +its design. It wants only moments of repose or sickness, +when the influence of external things is diminished, to +come into full play, and these are precisely the moments +when we are best prepared for the truths it is going to +suggest. Such a mechanism is in keeping with the manner +in which the course of nature is fulfilled, and bears in its +very style the impress of invariability of action. It is no +respecter of persons. It neither permits the haughtiest to +be free from its monitions, nor leaves the humblest without +the consolation of a knowledge of another life. Liable to +no mischances, open to no opportunities of being tampered +with by the designing or interested, requiring no extraneous +human agency for its effect, but always present with each +man wherever he may go, it marvellously extracts from +vestiges of the impressions of the past overwhelming proofs +of the reality of the future, and gathering its power from +what would seem to be a most unlikely source, it insensibly +leads us, no matter who or where we may be, to a +profound belief in the immortal and imperishable, from +phantoms that have scarcely made their appearance before +they are ready to vanish away."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Amelioration of monasticism.</div> + +<p>From such beginnings the monastic system of Europe +arose—that system which presents us with learning +in the place of ferocious ignorance, with overflowing +charity to mankind in the place of +malignant hatred of society. The portly abbot on his +easy going palfrey, his hawk upon his fist, scarce looks like +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[432]</a></span> +the lineal descendant of the hermit starved into insanity. +How wide the interval between the monk of the third and +the monk of the thirteenth century—between the caverns +of Thebais and majestic monasteries cherishing the relics of +ancient learning, the hopes of modern philosophy—between +the butler arranging his well-stocked larder, and the jug +<span class="sidenote">Its final corruptions.</span> +of cold water and crust of bread. A thousand years had +turned starvation into luxury, and alas! if the spoilers of +the Reformation are to be believed, had converted +visions of loveliness into breathing and +blushing realities, who exercised their charms with better +effect than of old their phantom sisters had done.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The modifications of eremitism.</div> + +<p>The successive stages to this end may be briefly described. +Around the cell of some eremite like Anthony, +who fixed his retreat on Mount Colzim, a number of +humble imitators gathered, emulous of his austerities and +of his piety. A similar sentiment impels them +to observe stated hours of prayer. Necessity for +supporting the body indicates some pursuit of +idle industry, the plaiting of mats or making of baskets. +So strong is the instinctive tendency of man to association, +that even communities of madmen may organize. Hilarion +is said to have been the first who established a monastic +community. He went into the desert when he was only +fifteen years old. Eremitism thus gave birth to Cœnobitism, +and the evils of solitude were removed. Yet still +there remained rigorous anchorites who renounced their +associated brethren as these had renounced the world, and +the monastery was surrounded by their circle of solitary +cells—a Laura, it was called. In Egypt, the sandy deserts +on each side of the rich valley of the river offered great +facilities for such a mode of life: that of Nitria was full of +<span class="sidenote">Number of anchorites.</span> +monks, the climate being mild and the wants of man easily +satisfied. It is said that there were at one time +in that country of these religious recluses not +fewer than seventy-six thousand males and twenty-seven +thousand females. With countless other uncouth forms, +under the hot sun of that climate they seemed to be +spawned from the mud of the Nile. As soon as from some +celebrated hermitage a monastery had formed, the associates +submitted to the rules of brotherhood. Their meal, eaten +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[433]</a></span> +in silence, consisted of bread and water, oil, and a little +salt. The bundle of papyrus which had served the monk +for a seat by day, while he made his baskets or mats, +served him for a pillow by night. Twice he was roused +from his sleep by the sound of a horn to offer up his +prayers. The culture of superstition was compelled by +inexorable rules. A discipline of penalties, confinement, +fasting, whipping, and, at a later period even mutilation, +was inflexibly administered.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Spread of monasticism from Egypt.</div> + +<p>From Egypt and Syria monachism spread like an epidemic. +It was first introduced into Italy by +Athanasius, assisted by some of the disciples of +Anthony; but Jerome, whose abode was in +Palestine, is celebrated for the multitude of converts he +made to a life of retirement. Under his persuasion, +many of the high-born ladies of Rome were led to the +practice of monastic habits, as far as was possible, in +secluded spots near that city, on the ruins of temples, and +even in the Forum. Some were induced to retreat to the +Holy Land, after bestowing their wealth for pious purposes. +The silent monk insinuated himself into the privacy of +families for the purpose of making proselytes by stealth. +Soon there was not an unfrequented island in the Mediterranean, +no desert shore, no gloomy valley, no forest, no +glen, no volcanic crater, that did not witness exorbitant +selfishness made the rule of life. There were multitudes +of hermits on the desolate coasts of the Black Sea. They +abounded from the freezing Tanais to the sultry Tabenné. +In rigorous personal life and in supernatural power the +West acknowledged no inferiority to the East; his admiring +imitators challenged even the desert of Thebais to produce +the equal of Martin of Tours. The solitary anchorite was +soon supplanted by the cœnobitic establishment, the +monastery. It became a fashion among the rich to give +all that they had to these institutions for the salvation of +their own souls. There was now no need of basket-making +or the weaving of mats. The brotherhoods increased +rapidly. Whoever wanted to escape from the barbarian +invaders, or to avoid the hardships of serving in the +imperial army—whoever had become discontented with +his worldly affairs, or saw in those dark times no inducements +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[434]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Increase of the religious houses.</span> +in a home and family of his own, found in the +monastery a sure retreat. The number of these +religious houses eventually became very great. +They were usually placed on the most charming +and advantageous sites, their solidity and splendour illustrating +the necessity of erecting durable habitations for +societies that were immortal. It often fell out that the +Church laid claim to the services of some distinguished +monk. It was significantly observed that the road to +ecclesiastical elevation lay through the monastery porch, +and often ambition contentedly wore for a season the cowl, +that it might seize more surely the mitre.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Difference of the Eastern and Western monk.</div> + +<p>Though the monastic system of the East included labour, +it was greatly inferior to that of the West in +that particular. The Oriental monk, at first +making selfishness his rule of life, and his own +salvation the grand object, though all the world +else should perish, in his maturer period occupied his intellectual +powers in refined disputations of theology. Too +often he exhibited his physical strength in the furious riots +he occasioned in the streets of the great cities. He was a +fanatic and insubordinate. On the other hand, the Occidental +monk showed far less disposition for engaging in +the discussion of things above reason, and expended his +strength in useful and honourable labour. Beneath his +hand the wilderness became a garden. To a considerable +extent this difference was due to physiological peculiarity, +and yet it must not be concealed that the circumstances of +life in the two cases were not without their effects. The old +countries of the East, with their worn-out civilization and +worn-out soil, offered no inducements comparable with the +barbarous but young and fertile West, where to the +ecclesiastic the most lovely and inviting lands were open. +Both, however, coincided in this, that they regarded the +affairs of life as presenting perpetual interpositions of a +providential or rather supernatural kind—angels and devils +being in continual conflict for the soul of every man, who +might become the happy prize of the one or the miserable +prey of the other. These spiritual powers were perpetually +controlling the course of nature and giving rise to prodigies. +The measure of holiness in a saint was the number of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[435]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Legends of Western saints.</span> +miracles he had worked. Thus, in the life of St. Benedict, +it is related that when his nurse Cyrilla let +fall a stone sieve, her distress was changed into +rejoicing by the prayer of the holy child, at +which the broken parts came together and were made +whole; that once on receiving his food in a basket, let +down to his otherwise inaccessible cell, the devil vainly +tried to vex him by breaking the rope; that once Satan, +assuming the form of a blackbird, nearly blinded him by +the flapping of his wings; that once, too, the same tempter +appeared as a beautiful Roman girl, to whose fascinations, +in his youth, St. Benedict had been sensible, and from +which he now hardly escaped by rolling himself among +thorns. Once, when his austere rules and severity excited +the resentment of the monastery over which he was abbot, +the brethren—for monks have been known to do such +things—attempted to poison him, but the cup burst +asunder as soon as he took it into his hands. When the +priest Florentius, being wickedly disposed, attempted to +perpetrate a like crime by means of an adulterated loaf, +a raven carried away the deadly bread from the hand of +St. Benedict. Instructed by the devil, the same Florentius +drove from his neighbourhood the holy man, by turning +into the garden of his monastery seven naked girls; but +scarcely had the saint taken to flight, when the chamber +in which his persecutor lived fell in and buried him +beneath its ruins, though the rest of the house was uninjured. +Under the guidance of two visible angels, who +walked before him, St. Benedict continued his journey to +Monte Casino, where he erected a noble monastery; but +even here miracles did not cease; for Satan bewitched the +stones, so that it was impossible for the masons to move +them until they were released by powerful prayers. A +boy, who had stolen from the monastery to visit his parents +was not only struck dead by God for his offence, but the +consecrated ground threw forth his body when they +attempted to bury it; nor could it be made to rest until +consecrated bread was laid upon it. Two garrulous nuns, +who had been excommunicated by St. Benedict for their +perverse prating, chanced to be buried in the church. +On the next administration of the sacrament, when the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[436]</a></span> +deacon commanded all those who did not communicate to +depart, the corpses rose out of their graves and walked +forth from the church.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The character of these miracles.</div> + +<p>Volumes might be filled with such wonders, which edified +the religious for centuries, exacting implicit belief, +and being regarded as of equal authority with +the miracles of the Holy Scriptures.</p> + +<p>Though monastic life rested upon the principle of social +abnegation, monasticism, in singular contradiction thereto, +contained within itself the principle of organization. +<span class="sidenote">Rise and progress of monastic orders.</span> +As early as <small>A.D.</small> 370, St. Basil, the Bishop +of Cæsarea, incorporated the hermits and cœnobites +of his diocese into one order, called after him the +Basilian. One hundred and fifty years later, St. Benedict, +under a milder rule, organised those who have passed +under his name, and found for them occupation in suitable +employments of manual and intellectual labour. In the +ninth century, another Benedict revised the rule of the +order, and made it more austere. Offshoots soon arose, as +those of Clugni, <small>A.D.</small> 900; the Carthusians, <small>A.D.</small> 1084; the +Cistercians, <small>A.D.</small> 1098. A favourite pursuit among them +being literary labour, they introduced great improvements +in the copying of manuscripts; and in their illumination +and illustration are found the germs of the restoration of +painting and the invention of cursive handwriting. St. +Benedict enjoined his order to collect books. It has been +happily observed that he forgot to say anything about +their character, supposing that they must all be religious. +The Augustinians were founded in the eleventh century. +They professed, however, to be a restoration of the society +founded ages before by St. Augustine.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">The Benedictines.</div> + +<p>The influence to which monasticism attained may be +judged of from the boast of the Benedictines +that "Pope John XXII., who died in 1334, after +an exact inquiry, found that, since the first rise of the +order, there had been of it 24 popes, near 200 cardinals, +7000 archbishops, 15,000 bishops, 15,000 abbots of renown, +above 4000 saints, and upward of 37,000 monasteries. +There have been likewise, of this order, 20 emperors and +10 empresses, 47 kings and above 50 queens, 20 sons of +emperors, and 48 sons of kings; about 100 princesses, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[437]</a></span> +daughters of kings and emperors; besides dukes, marquises, +earls, countesses, etc., innumerable. The order has produced +a vast number of authors and other learned men. Their +Rabanus set up the school of Germany. Their Alcuin +founded the University of Paris. Their Dionysius Exiguus +perfected ecclesiastical computation. Their Guido +invented the scale of music; their Sylvester, the organ. +They boasted to have produced Anselm, Ildefonsus, and the +Venerable Bede."</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Civilization of Europe by the monks.</div> + +<p>We too often date the Christianization of a community +from the conversion of its sovereign, but it is not in the +nature of things that that should change the hearts of men. +Of what avail is it if a barbarian chieftain drives a horde +of his savages through the waters of a river by way of +extemporaneous or speedy baptism? Such outward forms +are of little moment. It was mainly by the +monasteries that to the peasant class of Europe +was pointed out the way of civilization. The +devotions and charities; the austerities of the brethren; +their abstemious meal; their meagre clothing, the cheapest +of the country in which they lived; their shaven heads, or +the cowl which shut out the sight of sinful objects; the +long staff in their hands; their naked feet and legs; their +passing forth on their journeys by twos, each a watch on +his brother; the prohibitions against eating outside of the +wall of the monastery, which had its own mill, its own +bakehouse, and whatever was needed in an abstemious +domestic economy; their silent hospitality to the wayfarer, +who was refreshed in a separate apartment; the lands +around their buildings turned from a wilderness into a +garden, and, above all, labour exalted and ennobled by +their holy hands, and celibacy, for ever, in the eye of the +vulgar, a proof of separation from the world and a sacrifice +to heaven—these were the things that arrested the attention +of the barbarians of Europe, and led them on to +civilization. In our own material age, the advocates of +the monastery have plaintively asked, Where now shall +we find an asylum for the sinner who is sick of the world—for +the man of contemplation in his old age, or for the +statesman who is tired of affairs? It was through the +leisure procured by their wealth that the monasteries +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[438]</a></span> +<span class="sidenote">Their later intellectual influence.</span> +produced so many cultivators of letters, and transmitted to +us the literary relics of the old times. It was a fortunate +day when the monk turned from the weaving of +mats to the copying of manuscripts—a fortunate +day when he began to compose those noble +hymns and strains of music which will live for ever. From +the "Dies Iræ" there rings forth grand poetry even in +monkish Latin. The perpetual movements of the monastic +orders gave life to the Church. The Protestant admits +that to a resolute monk the Reformation was due.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Their materialization of religion.</div> + +<p>With these pre-eminent merits, the monastic institution +had its evils. Through it was spread that +dreadful materialization of religion which, for so +many ages, debased sacred things; through it +that worse than pagan apotheosis, which led to the adoration—for +such it really was—of dead men; through it were +sustained relics and lying miracles, a belief in falsehoods +so prodigious as to disgrace the common sense of man. +The apostles and martyrs of old were forgotten; nay, even +the worship of God was forsaken for shrines that could cure +all diseases, and relics that could raise the dead. Through +it was developed that intense selfishness which hesitated +at no sacrifice either of the present or the future, so far as +this life is concerned, in order to insure personal happiness +in the next—a selfishness which, in the delusion of the times, +passed under the name of piety; and the degree of abasement +from the dignity of a man was made the measure of +the merit of a monk.</p> + +<p class='center'>END OF VOL. I.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT OF EUROPE, VOLUME I (OF 2)***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 31345-h.txt or 31345-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/1/3/4/31345">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/3/4/31345</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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