education of his son, Arcadius. His eloquence, wisdom, and ability in public affairs, united with uncommon gentleness of temper and urbanity of manners, were the foundation of that long course of civil honours by which his life was distinguished. About the year 387, Themistius withdrew, at an advanced age, from public business, and soon after died.12 A memorable example of the liberal spirit of Themistius is related by ecclesiastical historians.13 The emperor Valens, who favoured the Arian party, inflicted many hardships and sufferings upon the Trinitarians, and daily threatened them with still greater severities. Themistius, to whom these measures were exceedingly displeasing, addressed the emperor upon the subject in an eloquent speech, in which he represented the diversity of opinions among the Christians as inconsiderable, compared with that of the Pagan philosophers; and pleaded, that this diversity could not be displeasing to God, since it did not prevent men from worshipping him with true piety. By these and other arguments Themistius prevailed upon the emperor to treat the Trinitarians with greater lenity. Themistius illustrated several of the works of Aristotle, particularly the Analytics, the Physics, and the book on the Soul, in commentaries written with great perspicuity and elegance.14 His "Orations" are strongly marked with the same characters. He is to be distinguished from Themistius, a Christian deacon of Alexandria, who lived after the council of Chalcedon, held in the year 551, and was the head of the sect of the Agnoeta; 15 so called, because they taught that Christ, the Xóyos, was ignorant of many things. There is nothing in the writings of Themistius, the philosopher, from which it can be inferred that he ever deşerted the Pagan schools. In the following century, about the year 430, flourished Olympiodorus, an Alexandrian philosopher, celebrated for his knowledge of the Aristotelian doctrine. Proclus, before 12 Suid. Phot. Cod. 74. Them. Orat. 4. 16, 17. 20, 21. 23. 27. 31. 33. Liban. Epist. i. 139, 140. Jul. ep. ad Them. 13 Soerat. l. iy. c. 32. Sozom. 1. vi. c. 36. Niceph. 1. xi. c. 46. 14 Fabric. Bib. Gr. v. viii. p. 1. 37. Ed. Venet. 1534. Par. 1684, Phot. Cod. 108. 23. he was twenty years of age, attended upon his school. This philosopher is to be distinguished from a Platonist of this name, whose commentary upon Plato is preserved among the manuscripts in the king's library at Paris; and also from a Peripatetic of a later age, who wrote a Commentary upon Aristotle's Meteorology.15 Simplicius Cilix, a Platonist, who flourished under the emperor Justinian, wrote commentaries upon Aristotle, which discover sound judgment and extensive reading; but his fondness for the Eclectic method of philosophising, led him to mix the Platonic and Stoic with the Peripatetic doctrines. His "Commentary upon the Enchiridion of Epictetus" affords a curious example of this combination of heterogeneous tenets. He strenously defended Aristotle's doctrine concerning the eternity of the world against Philoponus. Simplicius was one of those Platonists, who, about the beginning of the sixth century, fled from the persecution of the emperor to Chosroës, king of Persia.16 From the preceding detail, a sufficiently accurate idea may be formed of the fate of the Peripatetic philosophy under the Roman emperors, before it took refuge, as we shall afterwards see, among the Arabians. Under several of the Cæsars, the philosophers of this school shared, with their brethren, the common discouragements and infelicities of oppression. The concise and logical method of philosophising which prevailed in this school, could obtain few admirers at a period remarkable for a loose and florid kind of eloquence. The doctrine, which the Peripatetics of this period had received from their master, suffered much adulteration from the unwearied endeavours of the Alexandrian philosophers to establish an Eclectic system. Notwithstanding the external splendour in which this sect, with several others, appeared under the Antonines, it was from that time impaired by internal disease and corruption. Many bold, but injudicious grammarians and critics attempted to supply chasms, and to clear up obscurities, in the writings of Aristotle, from their own ingenious conjectures, which they presumed to incorporate with the author's text. Even Suidas. Marin. Vit. Procli, c. 9. 32, 1, iv. com, 53. 141. De Cælo. p. 113. 16 Simp. ad Phys. 1. i. com. 12. p. Fabric. Bib. Gr. v. viii. p. 621, Alexander Aphrodiseus, who professed to restore the genuine Aristotelian system, not confining himself to the doctrine of his master, contributed towards its adulteration. But nothing proved so injurious to the Peripatetic philoso→ phy, as the rage for commenting upon the works of Aristotle, which prevailed among his followers. Notes, paraphrases, arguments, summaries, and dissertations, piled up, century after century, under the general name of Commentaries upon Aristotle, created, as might be expected, endless disputes concerning the meaning of his writings: and it may, perhaps, be asserted with truth, that their genuine sense, after all the pains which have been taken to explore it, yet remains, in many particulars, undiscovered.* SECT. VI. Of the State of the Cynic Sect under the Roman Emperors. THE ancient Cynic sect was instituted, as hath been shewn, rather with a view to exhibit a pattern of philosophical virtue, than to introduce a new system of opinions. For this end, the original authors and supporters of this sect devoted themselves to voluntary poverty, lived upon the charity of the rich, practised the most rigorous abstinence from pleasure, and became censors of public manners. Whilst the Cynics adhered to their original principles and character, they commanded, notwithstanding their forbidding peculiarities, great attention and respect, not only from the vulgar, but even from persons of the highest rank. But, in process of time, their independent spirit rose into insufferable haughtiness and insolence; and their unnatural severity of man'ners degenerated into a gross contempt of decorum and an impudent freedom of speech. Even so early as the time of Cicero, this sect was fallen into such discredit, that it was * Vidend. Cozzand. de Magistr. Ant. Pb. 1. ii. c. 2. Voss. de Sc. Math. c. 33. § 9. c. 59. § 14. Id. de Hist. Gr. 1. ii. c. 4. 15. 20. Grot. Epist. 262. Cleric. Hist. Med. p. iii. c. 9. Jons. 1. ii. c. 16. 1. vi. c. 19. Ruald. in Vit. Plutarch. c. 7. Meurs. ad Aristoxen. et de Fortuna At*tica, c. 8. Labb. Conspect. Interpr. Pl. et Arist. Schelhorn, Amoenit. Lit. P. iii. his opinion that the whole body ought to be banished from the state, for their shameful violations of modesty." Under the Cæsars, their infamous excesses furnished Lucian with a copious theme for satire.18 In his fugitives,19 he draws a humorous picture of those false Cynics, who, without the virtues of Diogenes, carried his singularities to the most extravagant height. The gross and shameless manners of these pretended philosophers exposed them to ridicule and insult from the lowest and most profligate vulgar. Hence Persius says.20 Multum gaudere paratus, Si Cynico barbam petulans nonaria vellet.o1 Julian,22 speaking of the Cynics of his time, says, that they led a wandering and brutish life, and were alike troublesome and mischievous by the malignant reproaches which they cast upon the most excellent characters, and by the base adulation which they bestowed upon the most infamous. It is no wonder that this body, so injurious to society, as well as disgraceful to philosophy, was, under the virtuous Antonines, forbidden to hold public schools; and that in the fifth century, as the poet Sidonius intimates, 23 the sect became extinct. In the midst of the numerous herd of Cynics, whose names are forgotten, there were few persons whose singular virtues, or vices, have preserved their names from oblivion. Musonius, a Babylonian (confounded by Suidas with Musonius the Tuscan, a Stoic philosopher) is ranked by Eunapius" among the most virtuous and excellent of the modern Cynics. Philostratus speaks of him as next to Apollonius in wisdom, and as an eminent philosopher, His cynical spirit would not permit him to spare the vices of Nero; and the resentment of that tyrant consigned him to prison. Whilst he was in confinement, he formed a friendship with Apollonius, and held a correspondence with him, 17 De Off. I. i, 19 T. iv. p. 321. 18 Lucian. Diog. et Crates; Vit. Auct. &c. 21 And then, O then, art most supremely blest, When some wise Cynic's beard becomes a jest. BREWSTER, 22 Orat. 6. 7. Conf. Maxim. Tyr. Diss. 21. Arrian. Diss. Epict. I. iii some specimens of which are preserved by Philostratus. He was, at last, banished to the Isthmus of Greece, and condemned to remain a slave, and to labour daily with the spade. His friend Demetrius, seeing him in this condition, expressed great concern at his misfortunes; upon which Musonius, striking his spade firmly in the ground, said, "Why, Demetrius, do you lament to see me digging in the Isthmus? You might lament, if you saw me, like Nero, playing upon the harp."25 Julian speaks with admiration of his magnanimity.26 The time of his death is uncertain; and none of his writings remain. 28 Demetrius of Corinth, the friend of Musonius, was also banished from Rome in the time of Nero, for his free censure of public manners. After the death of this emperor he returned to Rome; but the boldness of his language soon offended Vespasian, and again deprived him of his liberty. Apollonius, with whom he had contracted a friendship, prevailed upon Titus to recal him; but under Domitian he shared the common fate of the philosophers, and withdrew to Puteoli. Seneca, who was intimately acquainted with Demetrius, speaks in the highest terms of panegyric concerning his masculine eloquence, sound judgment, intrepid fortitude, and inflexible integrity. "Leaving," says he, "the nobles clad in purple, I converse with, and admire, the half-naked Demetrius: and why do I admire him, but because I perceive, that in the midst of his poverty he wants nothing!--When I hear this excellent man discoursing from his couch of straw, I perceive in him, not a preceptor only, but a witness of the truth; and I cannot doubt, that Providence has endued him with such virtues and talents, that he might be an example, and a monitor, to the present age."29 Demetrius laid down to himself this prudent maxim, That it is better to have a few precepts of wisdom always at hand for use, than to learn many things which cannot be applied to practice. He attended Thraseas Pætus in his last moments, before his execution, and for Fab. Bib. Gr. v. ii. p. 365. 25 Vit. Apoll. I. iv. c. 35. 46. l. v. c. 19. 1. vii. c. 11. 16. Suidas. 26 Epist. ad. Themist. p. 262. 28 Eunap. Vit. Soph. p. 7. Philost. 1. iv. c. 42. l. v. c. 19. l. vi. c. 30. I. vii. c. 11. Suet. in Vesp. c. 13. Aul. Gell. 1. xv. c. 11. Arrian. Ep. I. i. c. 26. Sen. de Vit. Beat. c. 25. |