one." These philosophers had confounded the abstract notion of being with its objective reality and thought they could conclude from one to the other. This great mistake has misled a number of metaphysicians down to Descartes himself, says De Gérando. He was the Idealist of antiquity. There began from this Eleatic School the first philosophical dispute, this concerning the senses and the existence of matter. Zeno was charged with the defence of the Eleatics against the dogmatists, who relied of course on common sense and conscience. Heraclitus said this good thing: that "a great variety of knowledge did not make wisdom, but it consisted in discovering the law which governs all things." "All nature is governed by constant laws. The phenomena themselves, which appear discordant, concur in the harmony of the whole. It is an accord which results from discords. Meantime all change. Attraction, Repulsion.” “The same cannot be conceived except by the same.' "Conception cannot be except by a similitude between the object and the subject"; therefore reject the testimony of the senses, and hear reason. 1830] GREEK PHILOSOPHERS 345 Still, he said that the senses were open canals through which we inhale the divine reason. Hence also from this admission to the divine he founded the authority of Common sense. "The judgments in which all men agree are a certain testimony of truth. That common light which enlightens all at once is only the divine reason spread through all thinking beings by an immediate effusion." "The understanding represents the march of the universe, such, as it has been preserved by memory; we arrive then, at truth, when we borrow from memory the faithful tablet of which the deposit is trusted to it. Wisdom is then accessible to all men." Virtue consists in governing the passions; wisdom in fidelity to what is true. The end of man is his own satisfaction. The body is to be used as an instrument only. Human laws receive their force from this divine law which rules all at its touch, which triumphs over all. Hippocrates, the physician, [was] his disciple, an exact experimental philosopher. Hippocrates is called the result, the pride of the Eleatic School, Pythagoras of the Italian, Thales of the Ionian. Always utility gives the medal, even though philosophers are the school-committee. [HYMN]1 There is in all the sons of men And God hath built his altar here To speak the truth for truth to strive. And hither come the pensive train, They seek a friend to speak the word 1 This hymn was probably the first trial for that beginning "We love the venerable house Our fathers built to God," which was sung at the ordination of the Rev. Chandler Robbins, Mr. Emerson's successor in the Second Church. Both hymns are printed in the Centenary Edition of the Poems. In this hymn, in the 5th stanza the original wording "humble Sorrow's door" is given, as better than that found in a later verse-book, -"meek Contrition's door," the form in the volume referred to. E. W. E. 1830] HYMN-EXTRACTS To touch with prophet's hand the chord To speak the plain reproof of sin That knock at humble Sorrow's door. Sole source of light and hope assured, "Man is a microcosm." 347 ARISTOTLE. "Knowing the Heart of man is set to be "The recluse hermit oft-times more doth know Of the world's inmost wheels than worldlings can; As man is of the world, the Heart of man Is an Epitome of God's great book Of creatures, and men need no further look." He is in little all the sphere. Donne. Oh mighty love! man is one world, and hath Another to attend him. "All things are yours." HERBERT. ST. PAUL. "There is a secret attraction towards all points, from within us, diverging from an infinitely deep centre." NOVALIS. "What good were it for me to manufacture perfect iron, while my own breast is full of dross? What would it stead me to put properties of land in order, while I am at variance with myself?" GOETHE, Letter to Werner. "If I wished to find some real inspiration, some profound sentiment, some just and striking reflexions for my poetical compositions, I saw that I must draw them from my own bosom." GOETHE'S Memoirs. |