There is a third mode of priority, seen in order and arrangement. Thus in the demonstrative sciences, definitions and postulates are prior to theorems and problems; in grammar, syllables are prior to words, and letters to syllables. It is thus in a wellcomposed oration, the proëme is prior to the state and argument; and these last, to the peroration." A fourth mode of priority, is that of honour and affection, when we prefer objects, that we revere or love, to others that less merit, or at least that we esteem less to merit our regard and attention.' ̓Αθανάτους μὲν πρῶτα θεοὺς, νόμῳ ὡς διάκεινται, Τούς τε καταχθονίους σέβε δαίμονας, ἔννομα ῥέζων· "The gods immortal, as by law divine They stand arrang'd, first honour: next revere Th' illustrious heroes, and terrestrial race Of genii, paying each the legal rites: Honour thy parents next, and those of kin The nearest," &c. Pythag. aurea carmina. Hierocles, in his comment on these verses, commonly called for their excellence the golden verses of Pythagoras, has largely expatiated on this divine precedence and subordination. Thus Horace, with respect to that priority of beings, founded on the religion of his country: Quid prius dicam solitis parentis Proximos illi tamen occupavit Pallas honores. Od. 1. i. 12. He adopts priority, derived from the same principle, when he speaks of the favourite topics which his cultivate: genius led him to Sat. 1. ii. 6. v. 17. Quid prius illustrem satiris, musaque pedestri? The Stagirite, who records these various modes of priority, observes on this fourth mode (and apparently with reason) that it was in a manner the most alien and foreign of them all." He mentions also a fifth mode, but he introduces it with a sort of doubt. It should seem,' says he, besides the modes here mentioned, there was another mode of priority even in things reciprocating; although, so far as they reciprocate, they may be said to co-exist. The fact is, if either of them in any sense can be called cause * Τρίτον δὲ κατά τινα τάξιν τὸ πρότερον λέγεται, καθάπερ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐπιστημῶν καὶ τῶν λόγων· ἔν τε γὰρ ταῖς ἀποδεικτικαῖς ἐπιστήμαις, κ. τ. λ. Arist. Præd. p. 53. edit. Sylb. This is not translated, being expressed in the text. ι Ετι παρὰ τὰ εἰρημένα τὸ βέλτιον καὶ τιμιώτερον πρότερον τῇ φύσει δοκεῖ· εἰώθασι δὲ οἱ πολλοὶ τοὺς ἐντιμοτέρους καὶ μᾶλλον ἀγαπωμένους ὑπ' αὐτῶν, προτέρους παρ ̓ αὐτοῖς φάσκειν εἶναι. Arist. Praed. ibid. not translated for the reason before given. " His words are, ἔστι δὲ δὴ καὶ σχέδον aλλотpitatos tŵv tpótwv ovтos. Arist. Præd. ibid. p. 54. * Δόξειε δ ̓ ἂν καὶ παρὰ τοὺς εἰρημένους ἕτερος εἶναι τοῦ προτέρου τρόπος· τῶν γὰρ ἀντιστρεφόντων τὸ αἴτιον, κ. τ. λ. Ibid. p. 54. to the other, it may for that reason be called prior, if not in time, at least in efficacy and power. For example: the actual existence of a man reciprocates with the proposition, which affirms him actually to exist. For if the man actually exist, then is the proposition true; and reciprocally, if the proposition be true, then does the man actually exist. And yet, though these things in this manner reciprocate, is not the proposition cause to the man's existence, but the man's existence to that of the proposition; since according as the man either is or is not, in like manner we call the proposition either true or false." This last mode of priority we call causal priority, or the being prior by causality. We must not however quit this speculation, without observing, that cause and effect do not always thus reciprocate, but that, for the greater part, the cause is naturally prior. For example: hunger and thirst are the natural causes of eating and drinking; and thus, by being their causes, are naturally prior to them. Crimes, too, are the natural cause why punishments are inflicted; and therefore crimes, by parity of reason, are prior to punishments. The sentiment, though obvious, is well expressed by Pætus Thrasea. Nam culpa quam pæna tempore prior est; emendari, quam peccare, posterius est." Nor are crimes only prior to punishment, but so is judicial process; since to punish first, and then to hear, is what sir Edward Coke chooses to call, (in a language somewhat strong,) "the damnable and damned proceedings of the judge of hell :"" Castigatque, auditque dolos. Æneid. vi. 567. And thus it appears there are five principal modes of priority; that is to say, the temporal, the essential, that of order, that of precedence, and that of causality; which five being known, the modes of what is subsequent (its natural opposite) are easily known also.b We are now to examine the modes of co-existence, or that of being at once and together; and these modes have evidently great connection with the preceding. The most simple mode among these, as well as among the modes of priority, is the temporal, perceived in things or events, which exist during the same time.d Una eurusque notusque ruunt. Ομοῦ πόλεμός τε δαμᾷ καὶ λοῖμος Αχαιούς. "War and the plague at once destroy the Greeks." * The words of Aristotle are, τῷ γὰρ a Coke's Institutes, vol. ii. p. 54, 55. n. i. 89. Iliad. A. 61. σαυταχῶς ἂν καὶ τὸ ὕστερον λέγοιτο. Simplic. ut supra, p. 106. Β. Aristot. Præd. p. 54. edit. Sylb. αν ἡ γένεσις ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ χρόνῳ. Prædic. p. 54. edit. Sylb. Persons, in this manner co-existing, are called contemporaries: such as Socrates and Alcibiades; Virgil and Horace; Shakspeare and Johnson. A second mode of co-existence is founded in nature and essence, where two things necessarily reciprocate in consequence of their existing, while neither of them, at the same time, is the cause of existence to the other." It is in this sense that double and half are together or at once, for they reciprocate; if there be double, there must be half; and if half, there must be double. They are also neither of them the cause why the other exists. Double is no more the cause of half, than half is of double. This last condition is requisite, because if either of the two were essentially and truly a cause to the other, it would pass, by virtue of its causality, from co-existence to priority. There is a third mode of co-existence, seen in different species of the same genus, when, upon dividing the genus, we view them arranged together, contra-distinguished one to another." It is thus the genus triangle, being divided into equilateral, equicrural, and scalene, no one of these species appears to be by nature prior, but all of them to exist at once in a state of contradistinction. The same may be said of the three animal species, the aerial, aquatic, and terrestrial, when we divide, after the same manner, the genus animal." And thus are the modes of co-existence, or together, either the temporal, the essential, or the specific. And here, should any one object to these distinctions, as either too trivial or too scholastic for the purposes of a polite writer; we answer, that we no more wish an author to mention them, when not professedly his subject, than we would have him dissert, without a cause, upon nouns, pronouns, and the principles of grammar. All we hope from these elementary doctrines, is to see them in their effects; to see them in the accuracy of the composition, both as to reasoning and language. It is thus a grazier, when he turns his oxen into some rich and fertile pasture, never wishes to inspect what food they have devoured, but to see a fair and ample bulk, the effect of food well digested. Besides, when sophists assail us, and either exhibit one thing for another, or two things for one and the same; to what surer weapon can we recur for defence, than to that of precise and well-established distinction?i e Thus expressed by Aristotle: Þúσel dè ἅμα, ὅσα ἀντιστρέφει μὲν κατὰ τὴν τοῦ εἶναι ἀκολούθησιν, μηδαμῶς δὲ αἴτιον θάτε· pov laтéρw Toû elva. Præd. p. 54. edit. Sylb. By referring to the chapter on Relatives, it is easy to perceive, whence this speculation arises; for in that chapter the same example is alleged as here, by way of illustration of the same doctrine. See before, p. 316. f See before, p. 357, 8. Thus expressed by Aristotle: Kal Tà ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ γένους͵ ἀντιδιηρημένα ἀλλή λοις ἅμα τῇ φύσει λέγεται. Ibid. 55. Η Αντιδιηρῆσθαι δὲ λέγεται ἀλλήλοις τὰ κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν διαίρεσιν· οἷον τὸ TNVÒV TŶ TEČŶ kai Tô ¿vúdpy. Ibid. 55. i Learning and science, or rather learned and scientific terms, when introduced out of season, become what we call pedantry. There remains to be treated the theory of motion; in which, without attempting to impeach or contradict any modern speculations, we shall inquire, what was the opinion of the ancients concerning it; in what manner they attempted to catch its fugitive nature; and how they divided it by its effects into its subordinate species. But this is a theory demanding a separate chapter, where those, who question the doctrines, may perhaps amuse their curiosity, while they peruse an attempt to exhibit the sentiments of antiquity upon so singular a subject; a subject, in its existence so obvious, in its real character so abstruse. CHAPTER XVI. CONCERNING MOTION PHYSICAL. ITS VARIOUS SPECIES DEDUCED AND ILLUSTRATED-BLEND THEMSELVES WITH EACH OTHER, AND WHYCONTRARIETY, OPPOSITION, REST. MOTION PHYSICAL-AN OBJECT OF ALL THE SENSES. COMMON OBJECTS OF SENSATION, HOW MANY. MOTION, A THING NOT SIMPLE, BUT COMPLICATED WITH MANY OTHER THINGS-ITS DEFINITION OR DESCRIPTION TAKEN FROM THE PERIPATETICS-THE ACCOUNTS GIVEN OF IT BY PYTHAGORAS AND PLATO ANALOGOUS TO THAT OF ARISTOTLE, AND WHY. ALL motion is either physical, or not physical. As by motion physical, I mean that which is obvious to the senses; so by motion not physical, I mean that which, by being the object of no sense, (as, for example, the succession of our thoughts and volitions,) is the subject of after-contemplation, and knowable not to the sensitive, but to the rational faculty. This, therefore, will be the plan of our following inquiry. In the present chapter, we shall consider motion merely physical, both in its several distinct species, and in its general or common character. In the next chapter, we shall inquire whether there be other motion besides; and if such may be found, we shall then examine how far it is distinguished from the physical, and how far it is connected. First, therefore, for the first. As the most obvious of all motions is the motion of body, so The subject may have merit, the terms be precise, and yet, notwithstanding, the speaker be a pedant, if he talk without regard either to place or time. The following story may perhaps illus trate this assertion: "A learned doctor at Paris was once purchasing a pair of stockings, but unfortunately could find none that were either strong enough, or thick enough. 'Give me,' says he to the hosier, stockings of matter continuous, not of matter discrete."" Menagiana, tom. ii. P. 64. In the order of nature, the genus precedes its several species; but in the order of human perception, the several species precede their genus, which last is the order adopted here. See Hermes, p. 119. It the most obvious motion of body is that by which it changes Coeruleo per summa levis volat æquora curru, Sternitur æquor aquis; fugiunt vasto æthere nimbi. Æn. v. 819. Here the chariot flies, the waves subside, the clouds disperse, all is in local motion. There are other motions, which affect the more inherent attributes. Thus, when a lump of clay is moulded from a cube into a sphere, there is motion more than local; for there is the acquisition of a new figure. The same happens, when a man from hot becomes cold, from ruddy becomes pale. Motion of this species has respect to the genus of quality, and (if I may be permitted to coin a word) may be called aliation. If thou be'st he! but O! how fall'n, how chang'd Par. Lost, i. 84. Here we behold qualities that are changed, a scene of aliation. Another species of motion is seen in addition and detraction; as when we either add, or take away a gnomon from a square. Here is no aliation, or change of quality, (for the figure, as a square, remains the same in either case,) but the effect of such motion is a change only in the quantity, as the square becomes either smaller or larger. When quantity is enlarged, we call the motion augmentation; when it is lessened, we call it diminu tion.° Behold a wonder: they, but now who seem'd Here we behold diminution. Parva metu primo; mox sese attollit in auras, Here we behold augmentation. Par. Lost, i. 777. Æn. iv. 176. All these motions have this in common, that they are changes or roads from one attribute to another, while the substance re 1 Called therefore in Greek, KATà TÓTOV μетаBоλn, and sometimes by a single word, popá. See Arist. Prædic. p. 55. edit. Sylb. and Ammon. in Loc. p. 171. B. m'AXXolwois, in barbarous Latin, ulteratio. Vid. Arist. ut supra. " See p. 300. q 0.66 Augmentation," aŭgnois: “diminution," μelwois. Vid. Arist. ut sup. P See chap. ix. where the species of quantity are enumerated. 4 Οὐ κατηγορίαι εἰσὶν, ἀλλ ̓ ὁδὸς εἰς τὰς Kатηуoрías: "They (that is, these several species of motion) are not predicaments, |