登陆注册
5214200000134

第134章

If, then, Plato defined the wise man as one who imitates, knows, loves this God, and who is rendered blessed through fellowship with Him in His own blessedness, why discuss with the other philosophers? It is evident that none come nearer to us than the Platonists.To them, therefore, let that fabulous theology give place which delights the minds of men with the crimes of the gods; and that civil theology also, in which impure demons, under the name of gods, have seduced the peoples of the earth given up to earthly pleasures, desiring to be honored by the errors of men, and by filling the minds of their worshippers with impure desires, exciting them to make the representation of their crimes one of the rites of their worship, whilst they themselves found in the spectators of these exhibitions a most pleasing spectacle,--a theology in which, whatever was honorable in the temple, was defiled by its mixture with the obscenity of the theatre, and whatever was base in the theatre was vindicated by the abominations of the temples.To these philosophers also the interpretations of Varro must give place, in which he explains the sacred rites as having reference to heaven and earth, and to the seeds and operations of perishable things; for, in the first place, those rites have not the signification which he would have men believe is attached to them, and therefore truth does not follow him in his attempt so to interpret them; and even if they had this signification, still those things ought not to be worshipped by the rational soul as its god which are placed below it in the scale of nature, nor ought the soul to prefer to itself as gods things to which the true God has given it the preference.The same must be said of those writings pertaining to the sacred rites, which Numa Pompilius took care to conceal by causing them to be buried along with himself, and which, when they were afterwards turned up by the plough, were burned by order of the senate.And, to treat Numa with all honor, let us mention as belonging to the same rank as these writings that which Alexander of Macedon wrote to his mother as communicated to him by Leo, an Egyptian high priest.In this letter not only Picus and Faunus, and AEneas and Romulus or even Hercules, and AEsculapius and Liber, born of Semele, and the twin sons of Tyndareus, or any other mortals who have been deified, but even the principal gods themselves,(1) to whom Cicero, in his Tusculan questions,(2) alludes without mentioning their names, Jupiter, Juno, Saturn, Vulcan, Vesta, and many others whom Varro attempts to identify with the parts or the elements of the world, are shown to have been men.There is, as we have said, a similarity between this case and that of Numa; for the priest being afraid because he had revealed a mystery, earnestly begged of Alexander to command his mother to burn the letter which conveyed these communications to her.Let these two theologies, then, the fabulous and the civil, give place to the Platonic philosophers, who have recognized the true God as the author of all things, the source of the light of truth, and the bountiful bestower of all blessedness.And not these only, but to these great acknowledgers of so great a God, those philosophers must yield who, having their mind enslaved to their body, supposed the principles of all things to be material; as Thales, who held that the first principle of all things was water; Anaximenes, that it was air; the Stoics, that it was fire; Epicurus, who affirmed that it consisted of atoms, that is to say, of minute corpuscules; and many others whom it is needless to enumerate, but who believed that bodies, simple or compound, animate or inanimate, but nevertheless bodies, were the cause and principle of all things.For some of them--as, for instance, the Epicureans--believed that living things could originate from things without life; others held that all things living or without life spring from a living principle, but that, nevertheless, all things, being material, spring from a material principle.For the Stoics thought that fire, that is, one of the four material elements of which this visible world is composed, was both living and intelligent, the maker of the world and of all things contained in it,--that it was in fact God.

These and others like them have only been able to suppose that which their hearts enslaved to sense have vainly suggested to them.And yet they have within themselves Something which they could not see: they represented to themselves inwardly things which they had seen without, even when they were not seeing them, but only thinking of them.But this representation in thought is no longer a body, but only the similitude of a body; and that faculty of the mind by which this similitude of a body is seen is neither a body nor the similitude of a body; and the faculty which judges whether the representation is beautiful or ugly is without doubt superior to the object judged of.This principle is the understanding of man, the rational soul; and it is certainly not a body, since that similitude of a body which it beholds and judges of is itself not a body.The soul is neither earth, nor water, nor air, nor fire, of which four bodies, called the four elements, we see that this world is composed.And if the soul is not a body, how should God, its Creator, be a body? Let all those philosophers, then, give place, as we have said, to the Platonists, and those also who have been ashamed to say that God is a body, but yet have thought that our souls are of the same nature as God.They have not been staggered by the great changeableness of the soul,--an attribute which it would be impious to ascribe to the divine nature,--but they say it is the body which changes the soul, for in itself it is unchangeable.As well might they say, "Flesh is wounded by some body, for in itself it is invulnerable." In a word, that which is unchangeable can be changed by nothing, so that that which can be changed by the body cannot properly be said to be immutable.

同类推荐
  • 灵枢识

    灵枢识

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 玉泉其白富禅师语录

    玉泉其白富禅师语录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 水浒后传

    水浒后传

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • EMMA

    EMMA

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Circus Boys On The Mississippi

    The Circus Boys On The Mississippi

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 朋友

    朋友

    方达明,在文学期刊发表中短篇小说几十篇。短篇小说《出走》获第八届美国新语丝文学奖三等奖。小说《婶婶》获第九届美国新语丝文学奖,短篇小说《我的土豆》获第四届林语堂文学创作奖。短篇小说《气球》获台湾第33届联合报文学奖小说评审奖。
  • 哲学常识1000问

    哲学常识1000问

    本书以一问一答的形式为读者展示充满智慧的中外哲学大家、源远流长的哲学流派、晦涩难懂的哲学概念、发人深省的哲学名言、博大精深的哲学名著、绵延不绝的哲学斗争、异彩纷呈的哲学学说和令人津津乐道的哲人轶事。让读者轻松领略哲学的魅力与智慧。
  • 俄罗斯365夜(下册)

    俄罗斯365夜(下册)

    春姑娘又回来了。百花盛开,万物复苏。《365夜故事》等一大批儿童读物给孩子们带来新的欢乐。
  • 网游之魔法行星

    网游之魔法行星

    凭借强化物品的金手指,宅男屌丝张小明在现实社会、黑科技游戏、外太空、轮回世界都混得……还可以。更新时间,上午11点,下午6点。迄今经历的世界:银河英雄传说(前)-全职猎人(初)-美国队长1(中)-火影忍者(前)-大剑(前)-死神(前)-海贼王(前)-异形大战铁血战士1(完)-生化危机1(完)-倩女幽魂1(完)-黑客帝国1(完)-黑夜传说1(完)-仙剑奇侠传1(完)-圣斗士(前)-火星异种(完)-明日边缘(完)-复仇者联盟1(完)-新龙门客栈(完)-大唐双龙传(初)-哈利波特2消失的密室
  • 朱自清大全集(超值金版)

    朱自清大全集(超值金版)

    本着优中选精的原则,斟酌再三,将朱自清最脍炙人口的散文、游记、杂论、诗歌、文艺批评、学术研究等作品精选出来,集结成《朱自清大全集》,鉴于朱自清的散文成就最大,本书的遴选也比较侧重于其散文作品。
  • 圣弑苍穹

    圣弑苍穹

    这是一个强者为尊的世界,武者通过催动圣光来吸收天地灵气,而圣光也有强弱之分,由弱到强分为赤、橙、黄、绿、青、蓝、紫七种颜色。少年萧叶,一个平凡的少年,身上却拥有不平凡的秘密。一场解不开的梦,一种理不清的缘,萧叶一路向前,续写人生华丽篇章。
  • 爹地,快带迷糊妈咪回家

    爹地,快带迷糊妈咪回家

    秦总,你的系统我就不客气的吞了!”网上黑客在那边得意的声音的,让秦珩琛表示不淡定了。这个黑客竟然是顾安玥!用尽浑身解数也要将人给追回来!只是对于顾安玥而言。几年痴心交付,抛弃一切,愿为了他,做个贤妻良母。却换来他一句:“毫无乐趣”。当顾安玥破茧归来,却不如如何面对他的疯狂求爱。“秦先生,你能不能滚远点!”“你想要我滚到哪儿去?床上吗,这就去了……”秦珩琛笑得一脸得意,让你整整躲了五年,这一次,他绝对不会错过!
  • 富人的秘密后花园

    富人的秘密后花园

    来到这里,你将看到最神奇的创富神话,你会找到最经典的致富秘诀。一位位声名鹊起的超级富豪,一个个造富神话,带给我们无数的惊叹号。在这些风起云涌的财富大亨和新贵们身上,我们往往能够发现一些别样的素质、个性和哲学。正是这小小的1%的不同,造就了他们的成功。
  • 麻辣仙妻:小心身边有鬼

    麻辣仙妻:小心身边有鬼

    什么,嫁给那个整天吃喝玩乐,花边新闻无数的二世祖,美其名曰这是我的职责。好吧,捉鬼世家出生的她还会怕他一个花花公子,他敢乱来的话,放鬼吓死他。想要离婚,行,家产全都分我,名下财产全都归我,你净身出户。某男无耻眨眼,翩翩花美男愿意自荐枕席,成为你的私有财产。什么,你有生理需求要解决,好吧,我让贞子姐姐陪你玩一宿。只是玩着玩着,心却不觉间沦陷。
  • 快穿我的面位我自己来

    快穿我的面位我自己来

    [快穿文1v1]成为灵魂态的季离,为了一个重新活的机会,开始穿梭三千世界,拯救惨兮兮的命运。只是~为什么她总能看见同一张脸,还总是与她纠缠不清,她只是想好好的做任务,求放过~0001:“宿主遵从自己的内心。”季离咬牙切齿:“×,我的积分都被清空了,还××的遵从自己的心。”[警报警报,宿主黑化持续中~][主角的性格会在每位面有所不同]