d one Man does to another, and thinks it fufficient if his Reasons are as probable as another Man's, for the exact Reasons were neither in his Hand, nor that of any Mortal whatsoever; which one of his Followers has thus imitated, Ut potero, explicabo: nec tamen, ut Pythius Apollo, certa ut fint et fixa, quæ dixero; fed ut homunculus, probabilia conjellura fequens . i. e. I will explain Things in the best manner I can, yet not, as the Oracle of Delphos, pronouncing them as fixed and certain, but like a mere Man, who adheres to Probabilities by Conjecture. And that other upon the natural and popular Topic of the Contempt of Death, as he has elsewhere tranflated it from the very Differtation of Plato, Si fortè, de Deorum Naturâ ortúque Mundi differentes, minus id quod habemus in animo confequemur, baud erit mirum. Æquum eft meminiffe, et me, qui differam, hominem esse, et vos qui judicetis, ut fi probabilia dicentur, nihil ultra requiratis. i. e. If, in difcourfing of the Nature of the Gods, and the Origin of the World, we should happen not to express all that we conceive in our Minds, it will be no Wonder; for it is but just that we should remember, that both I who argue, and you who are my Judges, are but Men: So that, if probable Things are delivered, ye are to require nothing more. Aristotle commonly heaps up a great Number of the Opinions and Beliefs of other Men, for the fake of comparing them with his own, and to fhew us how far he has gone beyond them, and how much nearer he approaches to Probability: For Truth is not to be judged by the Authority and Testimony of others; and therefore Epicurus was very careful not to quote them in his Writings. Ariftotle was the Prince of all Dogmatifts, and yet we are told by him, That much Knowledge adminifters Occafion of doubting the more. In Fact, we often find him wrapped up in Obfcurity, fo thick and impenetrable, that we know not, by his Opinion, what to chufe. 'Tis, in Effect, Pyrrbonifm under the Form of Determination. Hear Cicero's Proteftation, who expounds another's Fancy to us by his own. • Qui requirunt, quid de quaque re ipfi fentiamus, curiofius id faciunt, d Cicero's Timæus, feu de UniCic. de Natura Deorum, lib. i. c. 5. < Cic. Tufc. Quæft. lib. i. c. 9. verfo Fragmentum, c. 3. Book II. ciunt, quàm neceffe eft.-Hæc in Philofophia ratio, contra omnia differendi, nullamque rem apertè judicandi, perfecta à Socrate, repetita ab Arcefili, confirmata à Carneade, ufque ad noftram viget ætatem. Hi fumus, qui omnibus veris falfa quædam adjunta effe dicamus, tantâ fimilitudine, ut in iis nulla infit certè judicandi et affentiendi nota. i. e. They who defire to know what we think of every Thing, are too inquifitive. This Rule, in Philofophy, of difputing against every Thing, and of explicitly determining nothing, which was founded by Socrates, re-established by Arcefilaus, and confirmed by Carneades, has continued in Use even to our Times. We are they who declare, that in every Truth there is such a Mixture of Falfhood, and that fo refembling the Truth, that there is no Mark in them whereby to judge of, or affent to either with Certainty. Why has not only Aristotle, but most of the Philofophers, affected Obscurity, but only to enhance the Value of the Subject, and to amuse the Curiofity of our Minds, by furnishing them with this Bone to pick, on which there is no Flesh? Clitomachus f affirmed, that by the Writings of Carneades he could f Montaigne has fuppofed this to be the Meaning of Cicero, whofe Words are thefe: The Opinion of which Calliphon Carneades fo ftudiously defended, that he even feemed to approve of it, altho' Clitomachus affirmed, that he never could understand what was approved by Carneades. Acad. Quæft. lib. x. c. 45. But this is not faying, That Clitomachus afferted, that, by the Writings of Carneades, he could never difcover his Opinion. The Difpute is not, What were the Opinions of Carneades in the general, but what he used to fay in Defence of Calliphon's private Opinion concerning what conftitutes Man's chief Good. Forafmuch as Carncades was an Academician, he could not advance any Thing pofitive or clearly decifive upon this important Queftion; which was the Reason that Chitomachus never could understand what was the Opinion of Carneades in this Matter. Calliphon made the chief Good confift in Pleasure and Virtue both together, which, fays Cicero, Carneades alfo was not willing to contradict, not that he approved it, but that he might oppofe the Stoics; not to decide the Thing, but to embarrass the Stoics. Acad. Queft. lib. iv. c. 42. In this fame Book Cicero explains to us feveral of Carneades's Opinions; and, what is very remarkable is, that he only does it as they are fet forth by Clitomachus. Having, fays he, explained all that • Carneades fays upon this Subject, all thofe Opinions of Antiochus (the Stoic) ⚫ will fall to the Ground.. But, for fear left I fhould be fufpected of making him fay what I think, I fhall deliver nothing but what I collect from Clitomachus, who paffed his Life with Carneades till he was an old Man, ⚫ and, being a Carthaginian, was a Man of great Penetration, very ftudious moreover, and very exact.' Acad. Quæft. lib. iv. c. 31. I have, fays Cicero, 6 could never discover what Opinion he was of. Why did Epicurus affect to be abftruse, and what elfe procured Heraclitus the Surname of exorsivos, or obscure? Obfcurity is a Coin which the Learned make use of, like Jugglers, to conceal the Vanity of their Art, and which the Stupidity of Mankind takes for current Pay. Clarus ob obfcuram linguam, magis inter inanes: Bombaft and Riddle beft do Puppies please, The liberal Cicero reproves fome of his Friends for having spent more Time in Aftrology, Law, Logic, and Geometry, than thofe Arts deferved, faying, That the Study of thefe diverted them from the more ufeful and honourable Duties of Life. The Cyrenaic Philofophers equally despised Natural Philofophy and Logic. Zeno, in the very Beginning of the Books of the Commonwealth, declared all the liberal Arts unprofitable. Chryfippus faid, That what Plato and Ariftotle had wrote concerning Logic, they only compofed it for Diverfion, and by way of Ex ercife a little before explained to you from the Words of Clitomachus, in what • Senfe Carneades declared thefe Matters. These very Things Cicero repeats afterwards, where he tranfcribes them from a Book which Clitoma chus had composed and addreffed to the Poet Lucilius. After this, how • could Cicero make Clitomachus fay, that, by the Writings of Carneades in general, he could never difcover what were his Sentiments? The Truth is, that Clitomachus had not read the Writings of Carneades; for, except ⚫fome Letters that he wrote to Anarathes, King of Cappadocia, which ran in his Name, the reft of his Opinions, as Diogenes Laertius fays exprefly, were preferved in the Books of his Difciples. In Vita Carneadis, lib. iv. fect. 65. The fame Hiftorian tells us, that Clitomachus, who compofed ⚫ above 400 Volumes, applied himself above all Things, to illuftrate the Sen⚫timents of Carneades, whom he fucceeded. Diogenus Laertius, in the • Life of Clitomachus, lib. iv. fe&t. 67. Lucret. lib. i. v. 640, &c. Diog. Laert. in the Life of Zeno, lib. vii. fect. 32. Book II. ercife; and he could not believe that they spoke of fo vain a Thing in earnest. Plutarch fays the fame of Metaphyfics: And Epicurus had also faid as much of Rhetoric, Grammar, Poetry, Mathematics, and (Natural Philosophy excepted) of all the other Sciences: And Socrates fays the fame of all, except Ethics and the Science of Life. Whatever Instruction any Man applied to him for, he always, in the first Place, defired him to give him an Account of the Conditions of his Life paft and prefent, which he examined and judged, efteeming all other Learning fubfequent to that and fupernumerary. Parum mihi placent ea literæ quæ ad virtutem doctoribus nihil profuerunt. i. e. That Learning is in fmall Repute with me, which did not contribute to the Virtue of the Teachers as well as Learners. Moft of the Arts have been difparaged in like Manner by the fame Knowledge. But they did not confider that it was foreign to the Purpose to exercise their Understanding on those very Subjects, wherein there was no folid Advan tage. What were As for the reft, fome have reckoned Plato a Dogmatift; others a Doubter; others in fome Things the former, and in others the latter. Socrates, who conducted his Dialogues, is continually starting Queries and stirring up Difputes, never determining, never fatisfying, and profeffes to have no other Science but that of Oppofition. Homer, their Author, has equally laid the Foundations. of all the Sects of Philofophy, to fhew how indifferent it was to which of them we inclined. To how many Sects Plato gave Birth. 'Tis faid, that ten feveral Sects fprung from Plato; and, in my Opinion, never did any Inftruction totter and waver, if his does not. Socrates faid,That Midwives, while they make it their Bufinefs to affift others in bringing forth, lay afide the Mifery of their own Generation: That, by the Title of the Sage, which the Gods had conferred upon him, he was alfo difabled in his virile and mental Love, Socrates compared himself to Midwives. Salluft. p. 94. Mattaire's Edit. London, 1713. · of of the Faculty of bringing forth, contenting himself to help and affift thofe that were pregnant, to open their • Nature, lubricate their Paffages, facilitate the Birth of the Iffue of their Brains; to pafs Judgment on it; to baptife, nourish, fortify it; to fwathe and circumcife it; exercifing and employing his Understanding in the • Perils and Fortunes of others." The fame Thing may be faid of many great Philofophers and famous Writers. The Cafe is the fame with the Generality of the Authors of this third Class, as the Ancients have observed of the Writings of Anaxagoras, Democritus, Parmenides, Xenophon, and others. They have a manner of Writing doubtful, both in Subftance and Defign, rather inquir ing than teaching, though they intermix fome dogmatical Periods in their Stile. Is not this alfo vifible in Seneca and Plutarch? How felf-contradictory do they appear to fuch as pry narrowly into them? And the Reconcilers of the Lawyers ought first to reconcile them every one to themselves. Plato feems to me to have affected this Form of philofophizing by Dialogues, on purpose to the End that he might with greater Decency from feveral Mouths deliver the Diversity and Variety of his own Fancies. To treat of Matters variously is altoge ther as well as to treat of them conformably, and indeed better; that is to fay, more copiously, and with greater Profit. Let us only look at Home, Sentences or Decrees are the utmost Period of all dogmatical and determinative Speaking: And yet thofe Arrets which our Parliaments make, thofe that are the most exemplary, and that are moft proper to cultivate the Reverence due from the People to that Dignity chiefly, confidering the Ability of the Perfons vefted with it, derive their Beauty not fo much from the Conclufions, which are what they pass every Day, and are common to every Judge, as from the Difcuffion and Debating of the differing and contrary Arguments which the Matter of Law admits of. And the largest Field for the Cenfures, which fome Philofophers pafs upon others, is owing to the Contradictions and Variety of Opinions, wherein every one of them finds himself intangled, eiVOL. II. R ther |