Deliramenta Philosophorum [pp. 289-298]

1841.]'7agaries of Learned Men. 291~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mary embodied, in a single sentence, what the philosophy of ages had failed to discover. The groves
of Academnus, and the banks of Tiber and Illysus,
heard much of high discourse, but it was upon
Mount Olivet that the golden rule, "Do unto others
as ye would they should do unto you," first had its
utterance. We have, however, wandered from the
path we purposed treading. We intended to walk
among the rubbish or follies of philosophy, but our
eye was caught by the beautiful, and we were
compelled to stop, admire and pay our tribute to
these efforts of the mighty dead; and lest some
good Christian should charge us with pouring too
deep a tribute at a heathen shrine, we have justified ourselves, by acknowledging, that, even in their
ethereal researches, they had not fully laid open the
way of truth-they had only had some glimmerings of light divine shooting- athwart their paths,-a
single ray of true wisdom in the midst of deep,
dense darkness; they had caught a faint adumbration of that God and that immortality which is only
found fully revealed in the written word of Truth
' But a faint shadow of uncertain light:
Such as a lamp, whose life does fade away;
Or as the moone, cloathed with cloudy night,
Does show to him, that walkes in feare and sad affright."
Faerie Q'teene.
To our task then. It has often been remarked
that there never has been a system of religion or
pseudo-science, which has not had votaries to embrace it. There has not been an imaginable absurdity springing up in the brain of man, but has
been adopted by some learned individual, who has
defended it with a force, erudition and power of
mind, worthy of the cause of truth. Many of
these visions have been as crack-brained as the legends of Spanish knight-errantry, or the rhapsodies
of a love sick troubadour. With the light we now
possess, how amusing is it to read some of the notions of many of the philosophers of antiquity.
We look back, nay, we look up with veneration to
Plato. We are told that for forty years the melody
of the "Athenian bee" was heard amid the groves
of Academus, discoursing of wisdom, and we know
that many of his opinions have held dominion in the
world of mind for more than two thousand years;
and in all probability the Platonic doctrine of in
nate ideas, of intellectual archetypes, or incorporeal ideas of external objects, will be cherished by
some, until the remotest period of time. The man
Plato, as a writer, will always be admired while
beauty hath a name, whatever may become of the
philosopher. To use the words of another, "his
language is no less wonderful than his thoughts.
In his more elevated passages he rises, like his
own Prometheus, to Heaven, and brings down
from thence the noblest of all thefts, the wisdom
of fire: but, in general, calm, pure and unaffected,
his style flows like a stream which gurgles its own
music as it runs, and his works rise like the great
fabric of Grecian literature, of which they are the
best model, in calm but noiseless majesty." But
what were some of the notions of this mighty genius? That fire is a pyramid tied to the earth by
numbers; that the earth is a mass composed of
twelve pentagons; that God is united to the material world as the soul of man is to his body; that his
spirit, animating the whole universe by this union,
the heavens and the planetary and starry systems,
gives life and intelligence to the whole; that what
remained of the eternal spirit, or was not occupied
in animating the universe, was taken to compose
human souls; that there is an eternal transmigration of souls; that the human passions are of two
sorts,-the irascible residing in the breast, and the
concupiscible or inferior passions residing in the
belly; that matter possessed a stubborn intractability and wildness; and that to these properties
of matter was to be traced the extravagant passions
and appetites of man!
Pythagoras, who lived in a time anterior to that
of Plato, by whom some of his doctrines were embraced, held nearly all the absurdities advocated
by Plato, besides others if possible more preposterous and absurd. Can we for a moment bring
ourselves to the conclusion that Pythagoras was in
truth a practical philosopher. That this was the
man that asserted a theory of the universe which
it took twenty centuries to apprehend, and which
the combined talent of the world failed to demonstrate as true? Can we believe this, when we read
all the wild visions which he fathered, as the offspring of his profound contemplation? Who is
not amused at the idea of beholding a multitude of
enwrapt disciples, listening to his chaste, sublime
and harmonious discourse on the doctrine of metempsychosis. Gravely assuring them that he had
a perfect recollection of the various bodies he had
animated, previous to his advent as the son of
Muesarchus; that in the person of Euphorbus he
had distinguished himself at the sack of Troy;
that afterwards he had a more menial existence in
the person of a fisherman; and finally, to hear, as a
practical conclusion to his discourse, an exhortation to abstain from the use of animal diet, or
beans, as an article of food, as it was from these
materials the bodies of men were produced! A
follower of his, a philosopher and poet, has, in one
of his most masterly efforts, descanted on this favorite doctrine, with the utmost dignity, informing us of the different bodies his soul had inhabited: first it was a shrub, a fish, then a boy, afterwards a girl, and successively a bird, a beast, a
slave, and finally Empedocles, who, by-the-by,
had persuaded men that he was a God, had not
2~tna, recreant to her trust, thrown up his sandal
and thus given evidence that he died as mortals
sometimes do —by fire! Plato obtained from Pythagoras the doctrine respecting the diffusion of
the spirit of God through the material creation;
1841.]
J'a,-aries of Learned Men.
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291