That the Soul is born, and grows ftrong Book II. determine its whole Exiftence. It were an unreasonable Difproportion to infer an eternal Recompence in Confequence of fo fhort a Life. Plato, to defend himself from this Inconvenience, will have future Rewards limited to the Term of a hundred Years, relatively to human Duration: And, of us ourfelves, there are enough, who have given them temporal Limits. By this they judged, that the Generation of the Soul followed the common Condition of human Things: As alfo its Life, according to the Opinion of Epicurus with the Body. and Democritus, which has been the most received, in Confequence of thefe fine Appearances, that they faw it born, and that, according as the Body grew more capable, they faw it increase in Vigour, as the other did; that its Feeblenefs, in Infancy, was very manifeft; as was, in Time, its Vigour and Maturity; after that, its Declenfion and Old-age; and, at laft, its Decrepitude. and weak gigni pariter cum corpore, et und Crefcere fentimus, pariterque fenefcere mentem *. i. e. As to the Soul, this Doctrine we do hold, 'Tis with the Body born, grows strong, and old. They perceived it to be capable of diverfe Paffions, and agitated with feveral painful Motions, from whence it fell into a Laffitude and Uneafinefs, capable of Alteration and Change, of Chearfulness, Stupidity, and Faintness, and fubject to Diseases and Injuries, as well as the Stomach, or the Foot; Mentem fanari, corpus ut ægrum Cernimus, et fleti mediciná poffe videmus. i. e. Sick Minds, as well as do our Bodies, feel intoxicated and disturbed with the Fumes of Wine, jostled from her Seat by the Vapours of a burning Fever, dozed by the Application of fome Medicaments, and roused by others. × Lucret. lib. iii. v. 446. y Idem, ibid. v. 509. Cor Corpoream naturam animi effe neceffe eft, Corporeis quoniam telis ituque laborat 2. i. e. Hence the Soul's Union with the Body's plain, They faw it in Aftonishment, and all its Faculties overthrown by the mere Bite of a mad Dog, and that it then had no Strength of Reafon, no Sufficiency, no Virtue, no Philofophical Refolution, no Refiftance that could exempt it from Subjection to thefe Accidents: The Slaver of a Mastiff Cur, fhed upon the Hand of Socrates, was feen to shake all his Wisdom, and all his great and regular Imaginations, and fo to annihilate them, as that there remained no Trace of his former Knowledge. vis animaï Conturbatur et divifa feorfum Disjetatur eodem illo diftra&ta veneno ". i. e. He's mad, because the Parts of Soul and Mind And this Poison found no more Refiftance in his great Soul, than in that of an Infant of four Years old: A Poifon fufficient, if Philofophy were incarnate, to make it furious and mad; infomuch that Cato, who ever difdained Death and Fortune, could not endure the Sight of a Looking-glafs, or of Water, confounded with Horror and Affright, at the Thought of falling, by the Bite of a mad Dog, into the Disease, call'd, by Physicians, Hydraphobia. vis morbi diftra&ta per artus Turbat agens animam, fpumantes æquore falfo i. e. The Venom, having through the Body ftole, ≈ Lucret. lib. iii. v. 176, 177. As a Id. ib. v. 498. b Id. ib. v. 491, &c. The Soul of the Wifeft Man liable to become the Soul of a Fool. As boift'rous Storms which o'er the Ocean rave, And raise white Curls upon the foaming Wave. Now, as to this Particular, Philosophy has fufficiently armed Man to encounter all other Accidents, either with Patience, or, if the Search of that costs too dear, by an infallible Defeat, in totally depriving himself of all Senfation: But these are Expedients, that are of Ufe to a Soul present to itself, and in its full Power, capable of Reafon and Deliberation; though of no Ufe in this Inconvenience, where, even in a Philofopher, the Soul becomes the Soul of a Mad-man, disturbed, confounded, and loft: Which many Occasions may produce, as a too vehement Agitation, which any violent Paffion of the Soul may beget in itself; or a Wound in a certain Part of the Perfon; or Vapours in the Stomach, that may dazzle the Understanding, and turn the Brain. Morbis in corporis avius errat Sæpè animus, dementit enim delirâque fatur, i. e. For when the Body's fick, and ill at Eafe, Is overcome, and caft into a deep, An irresistible eternal Sleep. The Philofophers, methinks, have not much touched this String, no more than another of equal Importance: They have this Dilemma continually in their Mouths, to confolate our mortal Condition: The Soul is either mortal, or immortal; if mortal, it will fuffer no Pain; if immortal, it will change for the better: They never touch the other Branch; what if it change for the worfe? And they leave to the Poets the Menaces of future Torments; but thereby they give themselves a large Scope. These are • Lucret. lib, iii. v. 464, &c. two two Omiffions, that I often meet with in their Difcourfes :. I return to the firft: This Soul lofes the Ufe of the fovereign Stoical Good, fo conftant and fo firm. Our fine human Wisdom must here yield, and lay down her Arms. As to the reft, they also considered, by the Vanity of human Reason, that the Mixture and Affociation of two fo contrary Things, as Mortal and Immortal, was unimaginable : Quippe etenim mortale æterno jungere, et unà Defipere eft: Quid enim diverfius effe putandum eft, i. e. To join the Mortal then, and the Ætern, How can it then be thought, that these fhould bear, When thus conjoin'd, of Harms an equal Share? Moreover, they perceived the Soul dying, as well as the Body. Simul evo fella fatifcit. i. e. Fatigu'd together with the Weight of Age. Which, according to Zeno, the Image of Sleep does fufficiently demonftrate to us: For he looks upon it as a Fainting and Fall of the Soul, as well as of the Body. Contrahi animum, et quafi labi putat, atque decidere. He thinks the Mind is convulfed, and that it flips and falls : And what they perceived in fome, that the Soul maintained its Force and Vigour to the laft Gafp of Life, they attributed to the Variety of Difeafes, as it is obfervable in Men at the last Extremity, that fome retain one Sense, VOL. II. X and d Lucret. lib. iii. That the Soul lives, or may fare the worse. v. 801, &c. and fome another, one the Hearing, and another the Smell, without any manner of Alteration; and that there is not fo univerfal a Decay, that fome Parts do not remain vigorous and entire. Non alio pacto quàm fi pes cùm dolet ægri, i. e. So, often of the Gout a Man complains, The Soul's Immortality weakly maintained by the boldest Dog matists. h Whofe Head is, at the fame Time, free from Pains. Truth is as impenetrable by the Sight of our Judgment, as the Sun by the Eyes of the Owl, fays Ariftotle. By what can we better convince him, than by fo grofs Blindness in fo apparent a Light? For the contrary Opinion of the Immortality of the Soul, which, Cicero fays, was first introduced (by the Teftimony of Authors at leaft) by Pherecides Syrius, in the Time of King Tullus; (though others attribute it to Thales, and fome to others) is the Part of human Science, which is treated of with the most Doubt and Refervation. The moft positive Dogmatists are forced, in this Point, principally to take Shelter under the Academy. No one knows what Ariftotle has established upon this Subject, no more than all the Ancients in general, who handle it with a wavering Belief: Rem gratiffimam promittentium magis quam probantium. He conceals himself in a Cloud of Words of difficult and unintelligible Senfe, and has left his Sectaries as much divided about his Judgment as his Subject. Two Things render this Opinion plausible to them: One, that without the Immortality of Souls, there would be nothing whereon to ground the vain Hopes of Glory,' which is a Confideration of wonderful Repute in the World: The Foundation of the Opinion of the Soul's Immortality. Tufc. Quæft. lib. i. c. 16. The * Lucret. lib. iii. v. 111, 112. Thefe Words are taken from Seneca's Epiltle 102, where he fays to his Friend, that he took Delight in his Inquiry into the Eternity of Souls; nay, that he believed it by an eafy Acquiefcence in the Opinions of the Great Men, who gave greater Promifes, than Proofs of a Thing fo very acceptable. |