the people whom he had destined to slavery,) became at last so much devoted to philosophy, according to the Peripatetic sect, that, during a long period of general darkness and confusion, they were almost the only nation who afforded her an asylum. Among the first Christians, who were industriously employed in disseminating the Divine doctrine of their Master, the subtleties of gentile philosophy obtained little credit. But, very soon after the rise of Christianity, many persons, who had been educated in the schools of the philosophers, becoming converts to the Christian faith, the doctrines of the Grecian sects, and especially of Platonism, were interwoven with the simple truths of pure religion. As the Eclectic philosophy spread, Heathen and Christian doctrines were still more intimately blended, till, at last, both were almost entirely lost in the thick clouds of ignorance and barbarism which covered the earth; except that the Aristotelian philosophy had a few followers among the Greeks, and Platonic Christianity was cherished in the cloisters of monks. About the beginning of the eleventh century, a new kind of philosophy sprung up, called the Scholastic, which, while it professed to follow the doctrine of Aristotle, corrupted every principle of sound reasoning, and hindered, instead of assisting, men in their inquiries after truth. At length, learning beginning to revive, and to be disseminated by the Greeks, who after the taking of Constantinople were dispersed through Europe, a happy opportunity was afforded for restoring philosophy to its ancient honours.

This resurrection of literature and science is the commencement of the Third Period of our history. In this part of our course, we shall see the successful efforts of philosophy to rise above the unwholesome atmosphere of tyranny, superstition, and bigotry, into the pure regions of freedom and truth; we shall find the several ancient sects reviving, new and better methods of philosophising discovered, the chains of authority in some measure shaken off, and farther advances made in true philosophy, within the course of a single century, than had before been made in a thousand years.

To the general history of these Three Periods of philosophy will be added, by way of Appendix, a brief sketch of the progress and present state of philosophy in the Indies, and among the Chinese.

BOOK I.

OF BARBARIC PHILOSOPHY.

CHAP. I.

OF BARBARIC PHILOSOPHY IN GENERAL.

THE term Barbarian was applied by the Greeks1 to all those nations who spoke a language different from their own. We shall adopt the obvious division which arises from this signification of the term; and, in treating of the First Period of the history of philosophy, from the earliest records of the world to the beginning of the Roman empire, we shall first inquire into the state of philosophy, during that period, among barbaric nations, and then trace its rise and progress in the states of Greece,

It has long been a subject of dispute, whether philosophy first appeared among the Barbarians, or among the Greeks. The inhabitants of Greece, who were very early remarkable for literary and philosophical vanity, and soon learned to make use of an artificial method of philosophising, were unwilling to allow that philosophy had any existence in other countries, except where it had been borrowed from them. They could not persuade themselves, that the mere communication of precepts of wisdom in the simple form of tradition, and in languages harsh and dissonant compared with their own, could deserve to be called philosophising. On the other hand, the barbaric nations, in their turn, treated the Greeks as Barbarians, and looked upon them as children in philosophy. Plato, in his Timæus, introduces a Barbarian as instructing the wise Solon, and saying: "You Greeks are always children; there is "not an old man among you: you have no such thing as "grey-headed wisdom." They were the more confirmed. in this persuasion, when they understood, that the most learned men, and the most ancient philosophers among the

1 Ovid. Trist. 1. v. el. 10. v. 37.

Greeks, had either been Barbarians by birth, or instructed by Barbarians; that Pythagoras, for example, was a Tuscan; Antisthenes a Phrygian; Orpheus a Thracian; Thales a Phoenician; and that Thales, Pythagoras, Plato, and others, had derived their knowledge from Chaldean and Egyptian priests.

Many of the Christian fathers espoused, in this dispute, the cause of the Barbarians, and maintained, with great vehemence, and with all the learning they could command, that the barbaric philosophy was the fountain of all the wisdom which had appeared among the Greeks, except so far as they had been indebted, in the way of tradition, to Divine revelation.

In this question, as it frequently happens in controversy, from a want of distinct ideas, and an accurate use of terms, many things foreign to the argument were advanced. If the meaning of the term Philosophy had been correctly settled; if the infant state of knowledge had been distinguished from its more advanced age; and especially if due attention had been paid to the essential difference between communicating doctrines by mere authority, and investigating the principles, relations, and causes of things by diligent study, the whole dispute would soon have been found to be nothing more than a logomachy.

For no one would assert, that the barbaric nations were wholly inattentive to wisdom, or strangers to every kind of knowledge, human or Divine. On the other side, it cannot be questioned, that they became possessed of knowledge ra ther by simple reflection than by scientific investigation, and that they transmitted it to posterity rather by tradition than by demonstration; whereas the Greeks, as soon as they began to be civilized, discovered a general propensity to inquiry, and made use of scientific rules and methods of reasoning. Hence it is easy to perceive, that though the improvement of philosophy is to be ascribed to the Greeks, its origin is to be sought for 3 among the barbaric nations.* › Clemen. Alex. Stromata, 1. i. p. 302, 303.

3 Tatian. in proem. Clem, Al. Strom. l. i. p. 302. Origen adv. Celsum, 1. i. p. 5. Ed. Hoeshel,

Consult also, upon the subject of this chapter, Beausobre Hist. du Manicheisme, p. ii, 1. i. c. 2. Scaliger. Exerc. li. contra Cardan. p. 188. Bos. Animadv. ad Script. c. ii. p. 12. Heuman. Act. Phil. v. ii. p. 204. Heurnii Ant. Phil. Barb. Ed. Lugd. Bat. 1600.

CHAP. II.

OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE ANCIENT HEBREWs.

AMONG the barbaric nations (using the term Barbaric in the sense before explained) the most ancient people, concerning whom any authentic records remain, are the Hebrews. We shall inquire into the state of philosophy among this people, from the earliest period of their history to the time of their return from their Babylonish captivity; after which, the Jewish philosophy will be more properly considered in connexion with the Grecian.

From the praises which are bestowed, in the Jewish history, upon some of their more illustrious ancestors, patriarchs, prophets, and princes, some have been induced to place them upon a level, in respect of speculative wisdom, with the philosophers of Greece, and even with those of modern times. But that this is a misconception, must be evident to every one who recollects the state of science, and of general civilization, at that early period,

A better or more certain judgment concerning the wisdom of the ancient Hebrews cannot be formed, than from the monuments which they themselves, or their descendants, have left in the sacred Scriptures. Much greater credit, particularly in this instance, is due to domestic than to foreign testimony. For the Jewish historians had their information, concerning the ancient state of their nation, from records preserved with the utmost care by their ancestors; whereas, other writers, in speaking of a people who had little intercourse with their neighbours, for want of a better guide than vague report, must necessarily have given a precipitate, and often an erroneous judgment.

We learn from the Scriptures, that among the ancient Hebrews there were many eminent men, who made use of the clear light of Divine truth, with which they were favoured by Heaven, as their guide in the conduct of life. In practical and moral wisdom it cannot be doubted, that they held a place of high distinction. Their wisdom, however, must not be confounded with philosophy, in the strict ac

ceptation of the term. Blessed with a Divine revelation, 'they have transmitted to posterity rays of sacred truth, which have been spread through the world; and they have hence obtained an immortal name in an order of higher dignity than that of philosophers. Under the direction of genuine principles of religion, they pursued the plain path of simple virtue, without being led astray by vain curiosity into fruitless speculations. In the first ages of their history, their patriarchs were shepherds, who, by their domestic virtues, obtained great authority over the people among whom they lived, and seemed to have had no other object of ambition, than that of providing for the safety and prosperity of their families. Joseph, the son of Jacob, and after him Moses, David, Solomon, Ezra, and other eminent men, were occupied in affairs of legislation and government, and, by the wisdom with which they conducted them, acquired high renown. Others, who were distinguished by the name of prophets, were employed in declaring to the people the will of God, in managing the affairs of religion, and in training up disciples for these sacred services, Among the Hebrews, we are therefore to look for prudent statesmen, upright judges, and priests learned in the law, but not for philosophers, in the limited sense in which we understand the term. Much pains has indeed been taken, both by Jewish and Christian writers, to affix this character to several illustrious names in the ancient Hebrew nation, particularly Moses, Solomon, and Daniel; but it will not be difficult to prove, that this has been attempted without sufficient reason.

4

Upon the authority of Philo,1 and other Jewish writers, it is asserted by Clemens Alexandrinus, Justin Martyr,3 Origen, and other Christian fathers, that Moses reached the summit of human learning, and he is represented as having been a perfect master of astronomy, geometry, music, medicine, occult philosophy, and, in short, of the whole circle of the arts and sciences which were at that time known. And this opinion, like many others, has been received without much examination in later times. The principal arguments by which it has been supported are, De Vita Mosis, p. 604. De Mundi opificio, p. 2. 2 Strom. 1. i. 3 Quest. 25. ad Orthod. 4 Advers. Celsum, l. i. p. 14.

p. 343,