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follower of Democritus, Having been sold as a captive in his youth, he was redeemed by Democritus, and trained пр up in the study of philosophy. At the same time be cultivated polite learning, and distinguished himself in the art of lyric poetry, which was so successfully practised about that period by Pindar, Bacchylis, and others. His name has been transmitted to posterity with infamy, as an avowed advocate for the entire rejection of all religious belief. And, though Clemens Alexandrinus,66 and others, have taken pains to exculpate him, by pleading that his only intention was to to ridicule heathen superstitions, the general voice of antiquity has so strongly asserted his atheistical principles, that we cannot refuse credit to the report, without allowing too much indulgence to historical scepticism. It is easy to conceive, that one, who had studied philosophy in the school of Democritus, who admitted no other principles in nature than atoms and a vacuum, would reject the whole doctrine of Deity, as inconsistent with the system which he had embraced. And it is expressly asserted by ancient writers, that when, in a particular instance, he saw a perjured person escape punishment, he publicly declared his disbelief of Divine Providence, and from that time, spoke of the gods, and of all religious ceremonies, with ridicule and contempt. He even attempted to lay open the sacred mysteries, and to dissuade the people from submitting to the rights of initiation. These public insults offered to religion brought upon him the general hatred of the Athe nians; who, upon his refusing to obey a summons to appear in the courts of judicature, issued forth a decree, which was inscribed upon a brazen column, offering the reward of a talent to any one who should kill him, or two talents to any one who should bring him alive before the judges. This happened in the ninety-first Olympiad. From that time Diagoras became a fugitive in Attica, and at last fled to Corinth, where he died. It is said, that being on board a ship during a storm, the terrified sailors began to accuse themselves for having received into their ship a man so infamous for his impiety; upon which Dia

Adm. ad Gent. p. 13.

67 B. C. 416.3. mI Tobar mitt

66 Laort. Suid. Cic. de Nat. D. 1. iii. c.37%

goras pointed out to them other vessels, which were near them on the sea in equal danger, and asked them, whether they thought that each of these ships also carried a Diagoras? and that afterwards, when a friend, in order to convince him that the gods are not indifferent to human affairs, desired him to observe how many consecrated tablets were hung up in the temples in grateful acknowledgment of the escape from the dangers of the sea, he said, in reply, True; but here are no tablets of those who have suffered shipwreck, and perished in the sea." But there is reason to suspect that these tales are mere inventions; for similar stories have been told of Diogenes the Cynic, and others.

From the school of Democritus also arose Anaxarchus, of Abdera, who flourished about the hundred and tenth Olympiad. He is chiefly celebrated for having lived with Alexander, and enjoyed his confidence.to It reflects no credit, however, upon his philosophy, that when the mind of this prince was torn with regret for having killed his faithful Clitus, he administered the balm of flattery, saying, that kings, like the gods, could do no wrong." This phiFosopher addicted himself to pleasure; and it was on this account, and not, as some supposed, on account of the apathy and tranquillity of his life, that he obtained the surname of Ebdaiμonikos, The Fortunate. A marvellous story is related of his having been pounded in an iron mortar by Nicocreon, king of Cyprus, in revenge for the advice which he had given to Alexander, to serve up the head of that prince at an entertainment; and of his enduring the torture with invincible hardiness. But the tale, for which there is no authority prior to the time of Cicero, is wholly inconsistent with the character of a man who had through his life been softened by effeminate pleasure. The same story is also related of Zeno the Eleatic. We therefore think ourselves at liberty to set it down among the numerous fables which some of the Grecian writers discovered so much islt om b97098 16UZA G 920396 OF ES

Laert. 1. ix. §58. Plut, Symp. I. vii. c. 5.

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70 Ælian. 1. ix. c. 3. 30. Arrian. Exp. Alex. 1. iv. p. 84. Plut. ad Princ. indoct. Luc. Parasit. t. iii. p. 250. Athen. I. vi. p. 250. 1, xii. p. 548. Cic. Tusc. Q. 1. ii. c. 22. Nat. D. l. iii. c. 33. Laert. Ov. in Ibin.

ingenuity in inventing, and which so well justify the sar casm of Juvenal:Va poor pnw oui mod tỉ Isbord eid to edmi lo slums, m

Da unazad et diw qui

Quicquid Græcia mendax

Son enw of fod Audet in historia.72*

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CHAP. XIV.

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OF THE HERACLITEAN SECT.

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ANOTHER sect, derived from Pythagoras, the founder of the Italic school, was that which was instituted at Ephesus D by Heraclitus; a sect which, though it has been almost entirely overlooked by the moderns, obtained among the ancients no small share of celebrity.... *mo) zuf 6) mud

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Heraclitus, by birth an Ephesian, discovered an early propensity to the study of wisdom, and, by a diligent attention to the operations of his own mind, soon became sensible of his ignorance, and desirous of instruction, He was initiated into the mysteries of the Pythagorean doctrine by Xenophanes and Hippasus, and afterwards incorporated them into his own system. His fellow-citizens solicited him to undertake the supreme magistracy; but, on

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71 Sat. x. 174. 23.1670

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72 Whate'er in story lying Greece dares tell,

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* Vidend. Budd. Ann. Hist. Phil. p. 320-3. Bayle. Reimann. Hist, Ath. c. Burnet. Arch. I. i. c. 1 At C. 17. 20, 30, c. 12. Waltheri Sepulchra Eleafica, c. 3. § 5, 6. Cudworth, c. i. § 8. c. iv. § 20, 21. Cum Not. Mosh, Gundling. p. xv. Diss. 1. Lips. Manud. ad Phil. Stoic. I. ii. Diss. 4. Gassendi Phil. Ep, sect, H. c. 5. Mourgues Plan. Pyth. p. 16. Parker de Deo, Disp. vi. § 2. Scipio Aquilian, de Plac. Phil. ante Arist. c. 81017. Jonsius, L. i, c. 14. J. ii. c. 5. Magnenus de Vita Demoo. Hag! Comit, 1658. 12mo. Morhoff, Polyhist. t. ii. p. 1835. Stolli Hist. Ph Mor. § 10. 103. Heuman. Act. Ph. v. i. p. 671. Obs. Hal. t. ii. Obs. 15. Naude Apolog. c. 12. Thomas. Hist. Sap et Stult. t. ii. p. 8, Clerici 8. Hist. Med. p. i. l. iii. c. 31. Potter. Arch. Gr. I. ii. c. 20. Zimmerman. Epist. de Ath. Eumeri et Diag. ap. Mus. Brem. v. i. P: iv. art. 3. Leart. 1. ix. 1, &c. Suidas. Clem. Al, Strom. I. i. p. 302. Stob. Serm. 102. Plut, adv. Col. t. im

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account of their dissolute manners, he declined it in favour of his brother. When he was, soon afterwards, seen playing with the boys in the court of the temple of Diana, he said to those who expressed their surprise that he was not better employed, "Why are you surprised that I pass my time with children? It is surely better than governing the corrupt Ephesians." He was displeased with them for banishing from their city so wise and able a man as Hermodorus; and plainly told them, that he perceived they were determined not to keep among them any man who had more merit than the rest. His natural temper being splenetic and melancholy, he despised the ignorance and follies of mankind, shunned all public intercourse with the world, and devoted himself to retirement and contemplation. He made choice of a mountainous retreat for his place of residence, and lived upon the natural produce of the earth. Darius, king of Persia, having heard of his fame, invited him to his court, but he treated the invitation with contempt.3 His diet and manner of life at length brought him into a dropsy; upon which this philosopher, who was always fond of enigmatical language, returning into the city, proposed to the physicians the following question: "Is it possible to bring dryness out of moisture?" Receiving no relief from them, he attempted to cure himself, by shutting himself up in a close stable of oxen; but it is doubtful how far he succeeded, for the cause and manner of his death are differently related by different writers. He flourished, as appears from his preceptors and contemporaries, about the sixty-ninth Olympiad. Sixty years are said to have been the term of his life.5

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It has been a tale commonly received, that Heraclitus perpetually shedding tears, on account of the vices of mankind, and particularly of his countrymen. But the story, which probably took its rise from the gloomy sevérity of his temper, ought to be ranked, like that of the perpetual laughing of Democritus, among the Greek fables; I 200 #JIH 40 Koq

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An eminent lawyer, of whom see Cic. Tusc. Q. I. v. c. 36. Strabo, 1. xiii. p. 642. Plin. 1. xxxiv. c. 5., 1929 I „A ob taq I Laert. L. ix. § 1, &c.

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3 Ib. I. vii. c. 19.

B. C. 504.

El. 1. vii. c. 13. Sénec. de Tranq. c. 4. de Ira, 1. ii. c. 10. Lucian

Vit. Auct. t. iii. p. 123.

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and it must be left to the poet to say concerning these two philosophers,ft ban boyLCO 25 gend to 29268 4.4g baisa ascund d

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De sapientibus, alter *HILAN NG & bs Ridebat, quoties a limine moverat unum [JOZ697 10 Protuleratque pedem; flebat contrarius alter.*-Juv.?

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· Heraclitus wrote a treatise "On Nature," of which only a few fragments remain. Through the natural cast of his mind, and perhaps too through a desire of concealing unpopular tenets under the disguise of a figurative and intricate diction, his discourses were so incomprehensible, that he obtained the name of Zkorεlvos, the Obscure Philosopher, a title given him by the unanimous consent of the ancients. Neither critics nor philosophers were able to explain his writings; and they remained in the temple of Diana, where he himself had deposited them for the use of the learned, till they were made public by Crates, or, as Tatian relates the matter, till the poet Euripides, who frequented the tem ples of Diana, committing the doctrines and precepts of Heraclitus to memory, accurately repeated them. From the fragments of this work, which are preserved by Sextus Empiricus, it appears to have been written in prose, which makes Tatian's account the less credible.

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After what has already been said concerning the original obscurity of this philosopher, and the present deficient state of his remains, it will not be expected that we should lay before our readers a perfectly clear and full account of his system. The following brief Heads of his Doctrine are all that we have been able to collect : 9

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Reason, by means of the senses, is the judge of truth. This common and Divine principle is derived by inspira

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254* Will you not now the pair of sages praise,
Who the same end pursu'd by different ways?
One pitied, one contemn'd the woful times;
One laugh'd at follies, and one wept o'er crimes.

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7 Sat. x. v. 34.

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Laert. I Fab. Bib. Gr. v. i. p. 760, 761. Clem. Alex. Protrept. p. 33,1 Tatian adv. Græc. p. 143.

Sext. Emp. ady. M. I. vii. § 126. Tert. de An. c. 15. Philost. Op. p. 391. Clein. Alex. Str. 1. v. 602.

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