What is this but a Confeffion of its Inability, and a Recourse not only to Ignorance for a Shelter, but even to Stupidity, Infenfibility, and a Non-Entity? --Democritum poftquam matura vetuftas Democritus, perceiving Age invade, His Body weaken'd and his Mind decay'd, Made hafte to welcome Death and met him half the 'Tis what Antifthenes faid ", " That a Man muft either be De la vertu ou de mort approcher c. i. e. Or to arrive at Valour or at Death. d And Crates faid, that Love was to be cured by Hunger, if not by Time; or, if neither of thefe Remedies pleased, by a Halter. That Sextius, of whom both Seneca and Plutarch & fpeak with so high an Encomium, having applied himself folely to the Study of Philofophy, and finding the Progrefs of his Studies too flow and tedious, refolved to throw himself into the Sea. He ran to meet Death, fince he could not overtake Knowledge. The Words of the Law upon this Subject are thefe: "If, per"adventure, fome great Inconvenience happen, for which "there z As this is a long Period, and as the Relation which this Paffage ftands in to that which goes before it, is very remote, 'tis here inferted in the last Edition, What is this, Ifay, but the Confent, if not the Confeffion of Philofophy, &c. But this is uncorporating the Commentary in the Text; a dangerous Method, which has been used by many Critics in Books of much more Importance than Montaigne's Effays. a Lucret. lib. iii. v. 1052, &c. b Plutarch, in the Contradictions of the Stoic Philofophers, c. 24. Diog. Laert. in the Life of Crates, lib. vi. fect. 86. d Plutarch, in his Tract, How an Amendment may be perceived in the Exercise of Virtue, c. 5. "there is no Remedy, the Haven is near, and a Man may fave himself by swimming out of the Body as out "of a leaky Skiff; for it is the Fear of Death, and not "the Defire of Life, that makes the Fool fo loth to part "from the Body." rance. As Life is rendered more pleasant by Simplicity, it also becomes more innocent and better, as I was The Advanjuft now faying. The Simple and the Igno- tage of Simplirant, fays St. Paul, raise themselves up to city and IgnoHeaven, and take Poffeffion of it; and we with all our Knowledge plunge ourselves into the infernal Abyss. I am neither fwayed by Valentinian, the declared Enemy of all Science and Learning, or by Licinius, both Roman Emperors, who called them the Poifon and Pest of every political State: Nor by Mahomet, who (as I have heard) interdicted Learning to his Followers; but the Example and Authority of the Great Lycurgus ought furely to have great Weight, as well as the Reverence due to that divine Lacedæmonian Policy fo great, fo admirable, and fo long flourishing in Virtue and Happiness, without any Inftitution or Exercife of Letters.. They live in the New World Such as have been in the New World, which was difcovered by the Spaniards in the Time of our Ancestors, can teftify to us, how much more honestly and regularly thofe Nations live without Magiftrates and without Law, than ours do, where there are more Officers, and more Laws, than there are of other forts of Men and Occupations. Di cittatoria piene e di libelli, Per cui le facultà de poverelli Non fono mai ne le città ficure, without Magiftrates or Law more regularly than we do. Hanno dietro e dinanzi e d'ambi i lati, Notai, procuratori, e advocati". Their e The Orlando Furiofo of Ariofto, Cant. xiv. Stanz. 84. i. e. Their Bags were full of Writs, and of Citations, A Roman Senator of the latter Ages faid, that their Ancestors Breath ftunk of Garlic, but their Stomachs were perfumed with a good Confcience: And that, on the Contrary, thofe of his Time were all fragrant without, but ftunk within of all Sorts of Vices; that is to fay, as I take it, they abounded with Learning, &c. but were very deficient of moral Honefty. Incivility, Ignorance, Simplicity and Roughness, are the natural Companions of Innocence. Curiofity, Cunning, and Science, bring Malice in their Train. Humility, Fear, Obedience, and Affability (which are the chief Props of human Society) require no Capacity, provided the Mind is docile and free from Prefumption. Fatal Effects Pride. Christians have a particular Reason to know what a natural and original Evil Curiosity is in Man. of Curiofity and The Thirft. of increafing in Wisdom and Knowledge was the firft Ruin of Man, and the Means by which he rushed headlong into eternal Damnation. Pride was his Corruption and Deftruction. 'Tis Pride that throws Man out of the common Track, that makes him embrace Novelties, and rather chuse to be the Head of a Troop wandering and strayed into the Road to Perdition, and rather be Regent and Preceptor of Error and Lyes, than to be a Difciple in the School of Truth, and to fuffer another to lead and guide him in the right and beaten Track. This perhaps is the Meaning of that old Greek Saying, Ἡ δεισιδαιμονία καθάπερ πατρὶ τῷ τύφῳ TEJETαι, i. e. That Superftition follows Pride, and obeys it as if it was its Parent. Ah Prefumption! How much doft thou hinder us! I When How Socrates came to have the Appellation of Wife. When Socrates was informed, that the God of Wisdom had attributed to him the Title of a Sage, he was aftonished at it, and, fearching and difcuffing himself throughout, could not find any Foundation for this Divine Sentence. He knew others as juft, temperate, valiant, and learned as himself, and fome that were more eloquent, more graceful, and more useful to their Countrymen than he was. At laft he concluded, that he was distinguished from others, and pronounced to be a Wife Man, only because he did not think himself fo; and that his God confidered the Opinion of Knowledge and Wisdom, as a Stupidity in Man; and that his beft Doctrine was the Doctrine of Ignorance, and Simplicity his best Wisdom. The Sacred Writ declares thofe of us miferable, who fet a Value upon themselves. Duft and Afbes, fays he to fuch, What baft thou to pride thyself in? And elfewhere, that God has made Man like to a Shadow, of which who can judge, when 'tis vanished by the Disappearance of the Light? This concerns none but us. Too curious an Inquiry into the Divine Nature, is to be condemned. We are fo far from being able to comprehend the Divine Perfections, that, of the Works of the Creator, those beft bear the Mark, and are more strictly his, which we, the leaft underftand. To meet with a Thing which is incredible, is an Occafion to Chriftians to believe; and, the more it is oppofite to human Reason, the more reasonable is fuch Faith. If it were according to Reason, it would be no longer a Miracle; and, if there was a Precedent for it, 'twould be no longer a Singularity. St. Augustine fays, Melius fcitur Deus nefciendo, i. e. God is better known by fubmitting not to know him. And fays Tacitus, Sanctius eft et reverentius de actis Deorum credere quàm fcire, i. e. 'Tis more holy and reverent to believe the Works of God, than to know them. And Plato thinks it is fomewhat impious to inquire too curiously into God, the World, and the firft Causes of VOL. II. Things. f Plato's Apology for Socrates, p. 360, 361. 8 De Moribus German. c. 34. Fragmentum, c. 2. b Ciceronis Timæus, or de Univerfo Things. Atque illum quidem parentem hujus univerfitatis invenire difficile, at, quum jam inveneris indicare in vulgus, nefas (fays Cicero') i. e. 'Tis a hard Matter to find out the Parent of the Univerfe, and, when found out, 'tis not lawful to reveal him to the Vulgar. What our No We pronounce indeed Power, Truth, Justice, which are Words that denote fomething Great, but that very Thing we neither fee nor conceive at all. We fay that God fears, that God is angry, that God loves. tions of the Di vine Being a mount to. Immortalia mortali fermone notantes*. i. e. Giving to Things immortal mortal Names. Thefe are all Agitations and Emotions that cannot be in God, according to our Form; nor can we imagine them according to his. It only belongs to God to know himfelf, and to interpret his own Works; and he does it in our Language improperly to ftoop and defcend to us, who grovel upon the Earth. How can Prudence, which is the Choice betwixt Good and Evil, be properly attributed to Him, whom no Evil can touch? How can the Reason and Understanding which we make use of to arrive at Things apparent by thofe that are obfcure, fince there is nothing obfcure to God? And Justice, which diftributes to every Man what appertains to him, a Principle created for the Society and Intercourse of Men, how is that in God? How Temperance, which is the Moderation of corporeal Pleasures, that have no Place in the Divinity? Fortitude to fupport Pain, Labour, and Danger, as little appertains to him as the reft, these three Things having no Access to him: For which Reafon, Aristotle thinks him equally exempt from Virtue and Vice. He is not capable either of Affection or Indignation, because they are both the Effects of Frailty: 1 De Natura Deorum, lib. iii. c. 15. without naming him. * Lucret. 1. v. v. 122. Neque Montaigne has here tranfcribed a long Paffage from Cicero, De Natura Deorum, lib. iii. c. 15. ̧* Cic. de Natura Deorum, lib. i. c. 17. |