to live in his hall (Valhalla) in the full enjoyment of every thing which delighted them on earth. Others, who had lived a pious, just, and temperate life, and at last died by sickness, were to be admitted, after the necessary purification, into Gimle, a bright and happy mansion, where they should live for ever: whilst they who had, in this life, been guilty of great crimes (among which perjury, adultery, and assassination, were reckoned the most heinous) were to be consigned to Hela, where they should remain in punishment, till the twilight of the gods; a term by which is denoted a general restitution of all things, when after the burning of the world,50 a new period of existence would commence. The similarity of the Celtic doctrines to those of the eastern nations, already considered, favours the conjecture, that the northern mythology is derived from Oriental traditions, which accompanied the migrations of the Scythians towards the northern and western parts of Europe. The ancient Celts were probably little acquainted with natural philosophy. Cæsar indeed says,51 that the Gallic Druids philosophised concerning the stars and their motions, the magnitude of the world, and the nature of things. But we have no information respecting their observations or opinions on these subjects; except that they 52 "reckoned time by nights, not by days, and in the observance of birthdays, new moons, and the beginning of the year, commenced the celebration from the preceding night." This circumstance is confirmed by ancient British monuments. If the Druids practised medicine, it was rather as an instrument of superstition, than as an art founded upon science, as sufficiently appears from the wonderful powers which they ascribed to the misletoe.53 The sum of their moral doctrine, as given by Laertius,5* is, to worship the gods, to do good, and to exercise fortitude. Perhaps little more was necessary among a people who were devoted to war. Their public and private virtues were, as we have seen, powerfully supported by the hope of immortality.5 50 Strabo, 1. iv. p. 302. 51 Bell. G. 1. vi. c. 13. 63 Plin. Hist. Nat. l. xxx. § i. xvi. 44. xxiv. 4. xxxiv. 11. 52 C. 16. 54 L. i. § 10. 55 Vidend. Pezronius de Antiq. Celt. Pelloutier Lettres sur les Celts, Hague, 1740. Martin de la Relig. des Gaul. Keysler. Ant. Sept. et Celt. CHAP. XI. THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE ETRURIANS AND ROMANS. ITALY, in the most remote periods of its history, affords some traces of Barbaric philosophy among the Etrurians and Romans. The few particulars which remain, concerning the early philosophy of each, we shall distinctly examine. The origin of the Tuscans, or Etrurians, is uncertain. Some writers, who abound in conjectures and idle dreams,1 have maintained, that Noah colonized this country. It is more probable, that the Tuscans were a Celtic nation, who settled upon the banks of the river Po. This very well agrees with what is known concerning the Celtic migrations, and will account for the prevalence of opinions before the arrival of the Egyptians and Pelasgians upon this coast, similar to those of the east. Etruria, according to Diodorus Siculus,3 was early distinguished by a diligent and successful study of nature: but he supports his assertion by no proofs; and the facts which are preserved by historians, respecting this ancient people, rather shew a disposition towards trivial superstitions, than an useful acquaintance with natural objects.* The Etrurians are said to have been the first inventors of augury, and to have boasted that they communicated this art to the Romans. Fabulous accounts are given of Tages, who is mentioned as the first teacher of augury; to which Ovid alludes. 6 5 G. Frickius de Druidis, Ulmæ, 1731, Selden. Analect, Anglo-Brit. v. ii, Toland on the Rel. of the Celts. Rowland. Ant. Isle of Anglesey. Burnet Arch. 1. i. c. 2. Diss. de Poesi Scald. Upsal. 1717. Koeller de Scaldis, Gundling. Hist. Ph. Mor. c. 6. Moller in Isagog. ad Hist. Chers. Cimb, Beronius de Eddis Islandicis, Upsal, 1733. Rudbeck. Atlant. Ayrmann. Diss. de Cult. Idol. Orig. ap Vet. Germ. Bartholin Ant. Dan. Obrecht, de Phil. Celt. Puffend. de Druid. Banier Myth. t. v. 1. vi. vii. Schubert, Hist. Ph. c. 2. Schuzius de Statu post Mortem sec. Celt. 1 Vid. Dickenson's Dissert. on the Journey of Noah into Italy, Oxon, 1655. Fabricii Codex Pseud. vol. i. p. 248, 2 Peloutier. Hist. de Celtes, tom. ii. p. 101. 3 L. V. Metam. xv. v, 558, Indigenæ dixere Tagen, qui primus Etruscam The superstitious character of the Etrurians is strongly marked, in the story related by Pliny, of an embassy sent from Rome to a celebrated Tuscan augur, Olerius Calenus, concerning a human scull which was found on the Tarpeian hill. The knowledge of nature, attributed to the Etrurians, appears to have extended little farther than the skilful application of natural objects and appearances to the purposes of superstition and imposture. 1 It has, nevertheless, been asserted, that this people were possessed of the purest conceptions of religion. Seneca speaks of the Tuscan augurs, as employing the terrors of Jupiter's lightnings to keep in awe those who could only be restrained from wickedness by fear; and adds, that they believed the thunder of heaven to be in the hands, not of the Jupiter worshipped by the Romans in the Capitol, and other temples, but of a Supreme Intelligence, the guardian and governor of the universe, the maker and lord of this world. But he adds, "To this deity agree the several names of Fate, Providence, Nature, or the universe sustaining itself by its own energy:" a doctrine which, as we shall afterwards see, was held by the Stoics. On what authority Seneca ascribed this doctrine to the Etrurians is uncertain. The truth probably is, that, with other western and northern nations of Celtic origin, they conceived of the Deity as the animating principle of the world, acting upon an eternal mass to produce the visible creation, The cosmogony of an anonymous Etrurian, preserved by Suidas,10 confirms this opinion. It limits the duration of the universe to a period of twelve thousand years, six thousand of which passed in the production of the visible world, before the formation of man. Another doctrine, ascribed to the Etrurians, which agrees with the tenets of the Stoics, is the entire renovation of nature after a long period, or great year, when a similar succession of events 7 The natives of the place him Tages name, * L. xxviij. c. 2. SEWELL. 10 Verb Tyrrhen. p. 519, would again commence. Two ancient brazen tablets, which, from the figures and inscriptions appear to represent the Egyptian divinities, Isis and Osiris,1o have been found in Tuscany. These afford some ground for conjecturing, that, at the time when Egypt sent out colonies westward, the knowledge of their theology passed into Etruria. In this manner, it is not improbable, that the Etrurians might acquire the same notions concerning God and the origin of things, which had been long before entertained in Egypt and the East. The Romans, so illustrious in the annals of civil history, afford, at the early period of which we are now treating, few materials for the history of Barbaric philosophy. The only name which, at this period, has any pretension to be admitted into the list of philosophers, is that of Numa, the second king of Rome. His excellent institutions of civil policy, introduced in the infancy of a state which owed its existence to the force of arms, unquestionably prove him to have been a wise legislator. It has been strenuously maintained, that his wisdom was borrowed from the great founder of one of the Grecian schools of philosophy, Pythagoras. But the arguments urged in support of this opinion are drawn from resemblances between the institutions of Numa and those of Pythagoras, which are either merely imaginary, or may easily be supposed to have happened, without design, from a similarity of situation. Besides, there is little doubt, that Pythagoras the Samian lived more than a century after the time of Numa. And the supposition that Numa was instructed by another Pythagoras, a Lacede monian, who distinguished himself at the Olympic games, in the sixteenth Olympiad, in the third year of which 13 Numa was chosen king of Rome, is a mere conjecture. It is therefore most reasonable to conclude, that, excepting the assistance he may be supposed to have derived from his countrymen, the Sabines, his plan of civilization, both with respect to religion and policy, was the product of his own abilities. Livy, on this subject, says, "Numa possessed a mind deeply tinctured with virtue, and well fur 11 Plutarch. Vit. Syllæ. 13 Before Christ, 714. 14 12 Montfaucon, tom. i. p. i. p. 105, tab. 53, 14 Hist. l. i. c. 8. 18, nished with good principles, not so much from foreign instruction, as from the early habits of strict discipline, which he had acquired among the Sabines." It will be readily acknowledged, that Numa was a great man, and a wise legislator; perhaps, as Plutarch says, superior even to the Spartan Lycurgus. But practical wisdom is not to be confounded with philosophy. The form of government established by Numa was rather the work of natural good sense, directed by virtuous principle, than the result of philosophical speculation. 15 The wise discipline which Numa introduced was illsuited to the genius of the Roman people, who were more inclined to pursue the glory of conquest, than to cultivate the arts of peace. So prevalent, at this time, was the military character among them, that it rendered them averse to all improvements in science, and led them to discourage every approach of philosophy, as tending to enfeeble the spirit, and corrupt the manners, of their youth.16 CHAP. XII. OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE SCYTHIANS, INCLUDING THE THRACIANS AND GETÆ. IN our inquiry into the state of Barbaric philosophy, the only country which now remains to be considered is Scythia; a general name, which formerly included all the northern parts of Asia and Europe; but which, after the Celts became a distinct people from the Scythians, was chiefly made use of to denote those northern regions which lie upon the eastern extremity of Europe, and the west of Asia. This is the country which now comes under notice. 15 Plut. Vit. Numæ. 16 Vidend. Lampredus de Phil. Ant. Etruscorum. Florence, 1756. Dempster ad Rosin. Ant. Rom. 1. iii. c. 8. Cudworth's Intell. Syst. c. iv. § 25. Spon. Mis. Ant. p. 89. Montfaucon, t. i. p. i. p. 105. Spanhem. de Vest, et Prytan, Græc. t. v. Thes. Gray. Herbert. Relig. Gent. c. x. Hist. Critiq. de la Phil. tom. iii. p. 7. J. Owen, Theol. 1. iii. Burnet Arch. 1. i. c. 2. Univers. Hist. Etrusc. |