登陆注册
5429800000016

第16章 THE PTOLEMAIC ERA (Continued.)(4)

Therefore let us honour the grammarian in his place; and, among others, these old grammarians of Alexandria; only being sure that as soon as any man begins, as they did, displaying himself peacock-fashion, boasting of his science as the great pursuit of humanity, and insulting his fellow-craftsmen, he becomes, ipso facto, unable to discover any more truth for us, having put on a habit of mind to which induction is impossible; and is thenceforth to be passed by with a kindly but a pitying smile. And so, indeed, it happened with these quarrelsome Alexandrian grammarians, as it did with the Casaubons and Scaligers and Daciers of the last two centuries. As soon as they began quarrelling they lost the power of discovering. The want of the inductive faculty in their attempts at philology is utterly ludicrous. Most of their derivations of words are about on a par with Jacob Bohmen's etymology of sulphur, wherein he makes sul, if I recollect right, signify some active principle of combustion, and phur the passive one. It was left for more patient and less noisy men, like Grimm, Bopp, and Buttmann, to found a science of philology, to discover for us those great laws which connect modern philology with history, ethnology, physiology, and with the very deepest questions of theology itself. And in the meanwhile, these Alexandrians'

worthless criticism has been utterly swept away; while their real work, their accurate editions of the classics, remain to us as a precious heritage. So it is throughout history: nothing dies which is worthy to live. The wheat is surely gathered into the garner, the chaff is burnt up by that eternal fire which, happily for this universe, cannot be quenched by any art of man, but goes on forever, devouring without indulgence all the folly and the falsehood of the world.

As yet you have heard nothing of the metaphysical schools of Alexandria;for as yet none have existed, in the modern acceptation of that word.

Indeed, I am not sure that I must not tell you frankly, that none ever existed at all in Alexandria, in that same modern acceptation. Ritter, I think, it is who complains naively enough, that the Alexandrian Neoplatonists had a bad habit, which grew on them more and more as the years rolled on, of mixing up philosophy with theology, and so defiling, or at all events colouring, its pure transparency. There is no denying the imputation, as I shall show at greater length in my next Lecture.

But one would have thought, looking back through history, that the Alexandrians were not the only philosophers guilty of this shameful act of syncretism. Plato, one would have thought, was as great a sinner as they. So were the Hindoos. In spite of all their logical and metaphysical acuteness, they were, you will find, unable to get rid of the notion that theological inquiries concerning Brahma, Atma, Creeshna, were indissolubly mixed up with that same logic and metaphysic. The Parsees could not separate questions about Ahriman and Ormuzd from Kant's three great philosophic problems: What is Man?--What may be known?--What should be done? Neither, indeed, could the earlier Greek sages. Not one of them, of any school whatsoever--from the semi-mythic Seven Sages to Plato and Aristotle--but finds it necessary to consider not in passing, but as the great object of research, questions concerning the gods:- whether they are real or not; one or many;personal or impersonal; cosmic, and parts of the universe, or organisers and rulers of it; in relation to man, or without relation to him. Even in those who flatly deny the existence of the gods, even in Lucretius himself, these questions have to be considered, before the question, What is man? can get any solution at all. On the answer given to them is found to depend intimately the answer to the question, What is the immaterial part of man? Is it a part of nature, or of something above nature? Has he an immaterial part at all?--in one word, Is a human metaphysic possible at all? So it was with the Greek philosophers of old, even, as Asclepius and Ammonius say, with Aristotle himself. "The object of Aristotle's metaphysic," one of them says, "is theological.

Herein Aristotle theologises." And there is no denying the assertion.

We must not then be hard on the Neoplatonists, as if they were the first to mix things separate from the foundation of the world. I do not say that theology and metaphysic are separate studies. That is to be ascertained only by seeing some one separate them. And when I see them separated, I shall believe them separable. Only the separation must not be produced by the simple expedient of denying the existence of either one of them, or at least of ignoring the existence of one steadily during the study of the other. If they can be parted without injury to each other, let them be parted; and till then let us suspend hard judgments on the Alexandrian school of metaphysic, and also on the schools of that curious people the Jews, who had at this period a steadily increasing influence on the thought, as well as on the commercial prosperity, of Alexandria.

You must not suppose, in the meanwhile, that the philosophers whom the Ptolemies collected (as they would have any other marketable article) by liberal offers of pay and patronage, were such men as the old Seven Sages of Greece, or as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. In these three last indeed, Greek thought reached not merely its greatest height, but the edge of a precipice, down which it rolled headlong after their decease. The intellectual defects of the Greek mind, of which I have already spoken, were doubtless one great cause of this decay: but, to my mind, moral causes had still more to do with it. The more cultivated Greek states, to judge from the writings of Plato, had not been an over-righteous people during the generation in which he lived. And in the generations which followed, they became an altogether wicked people;immoral, unbelieving, hating good, and delighting in all which was evil.

同类推荐
  • King Lear

    King Lear

    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。
  • 十二门论宗致义记

    十二门论宗致义记

    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。
  • 游钟山记

    游钟山记

    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。
  • 太上赤文洞古经注

    太上赤文洞古经注

    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。
  • 太公金匮

    太公金匮

    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
  • 长城守卫军的诞生

    长城守卫军的诞生

    她又不是有意去买醉,也没干什么伤天害理的大事,只不过失个恋泡了个吧,走回家的时候脚踏了个空,怎么就突然人生地不熟呢。梦中那不甘的情绪,和深埋在自己梦中的背影陌生的地方,熟悉的人。
  • 重生之将门嫡妻

    重生之将门嫡妻

    上一世,她被白莲花妹妹和渣男联手迫害,临盆之夜,含恨而死!这一世,她不做善女,化身为魔,斗庶母,压恶妹,虐渣男,壮家族!守护至亲人,打造忠犬男,痛痛快快过一生!
  • 平石如砥禅师语录

    平石如砥禅师语录

    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。
  • 功盖三分国

    功盖三分国

    功盖三分国,名成八阵图。魂穿千年,成为诸葛亮,然而需要面对的,却不只是江山争霸,还有那江山争霸的背后,那一个又一个的坑,那一个又一个的幕后黑手。诸葛亮能否辅佐刘备完成三兴汉室的大业?能否揪出那一个个的幕后黑手?能否在与幕后黑手的交锋中,最终胜出?且看《功盖三分国》!
  • 骇世弓神

    骇世弓神

    手持一把神奇弓箭,出奇谋破了山贼计谋,却又卷入了两大势力的争斗之中,陷入两难抉择。生死抉择之间,看他如何逃离两大势力控制,踏上至尊神人之巅。
  • Hippolytus

    Hippolytus

    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。
  • 木槿风年

    木槿风年

    生活中总会有或喜或悲的小情绪,还有或得或失的体会,有成功与失败的感悟,有刻骨铭心的记忆,也有心与心的交流,就算是漫无边际的放飞思绪,也是成长的一部分。把这些片段统统放到一起,就成了一个关于生活和成长的故事。(读者群:792177724)
  • dei公主殿下哪里逃

    dei公主殿下哪里逃

    本文的主人公嘞,就是天界人见人闪,调皮捣蛋,集万千宠爱于一身的天帝小八女儿,天尛白,人称小白、小小白、小…白。人如其名,别的没什么优点就是人有点‘白’不对,是仙有点‘白’,这个你懂得~本人嘞,没什么特别的爱好,就是有点点调皮捣蛋而已外加有那么一点点的爱财。没事就是喜欢牵牵红线,练练丹什么的…告诉你们一个秘密,太上老君的炼丹炉实在不咋么滴!我只是轻轻的触碰一下,将东西放进去,然后就轰隆了!!差点没把本公主轰分了尸,不行得找太上老头要损失费去!!!谁知把自己也给搭进去!!呜呜~得不偿失啊!!太上老头还有月老,你们两个最好祈祷表被偶逮到!!否者老娘扒光你们的衣服把你们买到窑子里去!救命啊!!!~~
  • 都市极品仙帝

    都市极品仙帝

    人族仙帝赵君宇,遭受背叛,百族之战中壮烈牺牲。魂魄来到地球,重生在一个天生不举,众人嘲笑的废材大少身上。身具神奇术法,惊天医术,赵君宇从此强势崛起,杀伐决断,纵横都市。PS:本书男主荷尔蒙爆棚,杀伐决断,欢迎追读。(新书《我体内有仙府洞天》已签约,请大家多多支持,谢谢了!)
  • 诸葛亮智圣人生(传世名家经典文丛)

    诸葛亮智圣人生(传世名家经典文丛)

    人生是一门博大精深的学问,有着太多太多的智慧等待着我们去汲取、领悟;思想是一片宽广无垠的大海,有着太浓太浓的魅力吸引我们去畅游其中。名家的人生,闪烁智慧的光芒,为我们折射出人生的光彩,波荡出生活的弦音;名家的人生,尽显思想的魅力,引领我们享受心灵的美丽旅途,体味生命的丰富元素。驰骋于睿智的思想海洋,让我们的精神变得充盈,心灵变得纯净而通透。