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of philosophy ',-a natural result of the involved and obscure style in which they were originally propounded. Whether it is altogether an accurate representation of these doctrines may at least be doubted: it seems as if Bacon, in some matters of detail, mingles with what he finds in Telesius some further developments of his own. Perhaps he is in some measure influenced by his jural habits of thought, and tries in all fairness and equity to put a favourable construction. on that on which he sits in judgment. However this may

be, I have certainly found it difficult to support all his statements by quotations from his author, and in some cases have noticed at least apparent discrepancies.

The tract ends abruptly with the discussion of the system of Telesius. A similar discussion of the atomic theory would have been of far greater interest, for Bacon's own opinions are much more closely connected with those of Democritus than with Telesius's, from whom he derived only isolated doctrines. The most important of these doctrines is that of the duality of the soul, of which and of its relation to the orthodox opinion I have elsewhere had occasion to speak.3

See what Brucker says of Morhof and Sosellus, Hist. Crit. Phil. iv. 453.

* Bacon's own language suggests this impression. "Nos enim," he declares, "in omnium inventis summâ cum fide et tanquam faventes versamur." And that he does not conceive himself bound to minute accuracy in reproducing the opinions of the philosophers of whom he speaks, appears from several expressions : "Hujusmodi quædam de diversitate calorum a Telesio dicuntur; ""Hæc, aut iis meliora, cogitabant illi," &c.

See General Preface, Vol. I. p. 49.-J.S.

DE PRINCIPIIS ATQUE
ATQUE ORIGINIBUS,

SECUNDUM FABULAS

CUPIDINIS ET CELI:

ETC.

QUÆ de Cupidine sive Amore ab antiquis memorata sunt, in eandem personam convenire non possunt; quinetiam ab ipsis ponuntur Cupidines duo, et longo sane intervallo discrepantes ; cum unus ex iis deorum antiquissimus, alter natu minimus fuisse diceretur. Atque de antiquo illo nobis in præsentia sermo est. Narrant itaque Amorem illum omnium deorum fuisse antiquissimum, atque adeo omnium rerum, excepto Chao, quod ei coævum perhibetur. Atque Amor iste prorsus sine parente introducitur. Ipse autem cum Chao1 mistus, et deos et res universas progenuit. A nonnullis tamen ovo prognatus2 incubante Nocte traditus est. Ejus vero attributa ponuntur diversa, ut sit infans perpetuus, cæcus, nudus, alatus, sagittarius. Vis autem ejus præcipua et propria ad corpora unienda valet: etiam claves ætheris, maris, et terræ ei deferebantur.

1 Cœlo in the original. For the grounds of the correction, see Preface, p. 67.— J. S.

2 Kellgren, De Ovo mundano (Helsingfors, 1849), has collected the passages on the egg cosmogony in the Institutes of Menu, the Putanas, and certain Commentaries. He remarks that, so far as he is aware, no trace of the mythus occurs in the Vedas. It follows that he did not perceive any reference to it in the 129th hymn of the 10th book of the Rig Veda, with which he was certainly acquainted, as he has quoted a portion of Colebrook's translation of it. In this translation it is difficult to recognise even the germ of the mythus, but in that which has since been given by Max Müller it seems more easy to do so. It would be interesting to ascertain how far the mythus was developed at the time at which the older portions of the Rig Veda were composed. The subject may be said to have a natural interest at Helsingfors, as the egg cosmogony exists among the Finns. For the hymn referred to see Colebrook's Miscellaneous Essays, i, p. 34., and Müller's Addenda to Bunsen's Hippolytus, p. 140.

Fingitur quoque et celebratur alter Cupido minor, Veneris filius, in quem attributa antiquioris transferuntur, et propria multa adjiciuntur.

Fabula ista, cum sequenti de Coelo, brevi parabolæ complexu proponere videtur doctrinam de principiis rerum et mundi originibus, non multum dissidentem ab ea philosophia quam Democritus exhibuit; nisi quod videatur aliquanto magis severa, et sobria et perpurgata. Ejus enim viri, licet acutissimi et diligentissimi, contemplationes gliscebant tamen, et modum tenere nesciæ erant, nec se satis stringebant aut sustinebant. Atque etiam hæc ipsa placita quæ in parabola delitescunt, quamvis paulo emendatiora, talia sunt qualia esse possunt illa quæ ab intellectu sibi permisso, nec ab experientia continenter et gradatim' sublevato, profecta videntur; nam illud vitium existimamus etiam prisca secula occupasse. In primis autem intelligendum est, quæ hic afferuntur conclusa et prolata esse ex authoritate rationis humanæ solummodo, et sensus fidem secuta cujus jampridem cessantia et deficientia oracula merito rejiciuntur, postquam meliora et certiora mortalibus ex parte verbi divini affulserint. Itaque Chaos illud, quod Cupidini coævum erat, massam sive congregationem materiæ inconditam significabat. Materia autem ipsa, atque vis et natura ejus, denique principia rerum, in Cupidine ipso adumbrata erant. Ille introducitur sine parente, id est sine causa: causa enim effectus veluti parens est; idque in tropis familiare et fere perpetuum est, ut parens et proles causam et effectum denotent. Materiæ autem primæ, et virtutis atque actionis propriæ ejus, causa nulla esse potest in ratura (Deum enim semper excipimus); nihil enim hac ipsa prius. Itaque efficiens nulla, nec aliquid naturæ notius; ergo nec genus, nec forma. Quamobrem quæcunque tandem sit illa materia atque ejus vis et operatio, res positiva est et surda, atque prorsus ut invenitur accipienda, nec ex prænotione aliqua judicanda. Etenim modus si sciri detur, tamen per causam sciri non potest, cum sit post Deum causa causarum, ipsa incausabilis. Est enim terminus quidam verus et certus causarum in natura: atque æque imperiti est et leviter philosophantis, cum ad ultimam naturæ vim et legem positivam ventum sit causam ejus requirere aut fingere, ac in iis quæ subordinata sunt causam non desiderare. Quare

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2

Compare Nov. Org. i. 48.

Cupido ab antiquis sapientibus ponitur in parabola sine parente, id est, sine causa. Neque nihil in hoc est; imo haud scimus an non res omnium maxima. Nil enim philosophiam peræque corrupit ac illa inquisitio parentum Cupidinis; hoc est, quod philosophi principia rerum quemadmodum in natura inveniuntur non receperunt et amplexi sunt, ut doctrinam quandam positivam, et tanquam fide experimentali; sed potius ex legibus sermonum et ex dialecticis et mathematicis conclusiunculis atque ex communibus notionibus et hujusmodi mentis extra naturam exspatiationibus ea deduxerunt. Itaque philosophanti quasi perpetuo hoc animo agitandum est, non esse parentes Cupidini, ne forte intellectus ad inania deflectat; quia in hujusmodi perceptionibus universalibus gliscit animus humanus, et rebus et se ipso abutitur, et dum ad ulteriora tendit ad proximiora recidit. Cum enim, propter angustias suas, iis quæ familiariter occurrunt et quæ una et subito mentem subire et ferire possunt maxime moveri consuerit; fit ut cum ad ea quæ secundum experientiam maxime universalia sunt se extenderit, et nihilominus acquiescere nolit, tum demum, tanquam adhuc notiora appetens, ad ea quæ ipsum plurimum affecerint aut illaqueaverint se vertit, et ea ut magis causativa et demonstrativa quam ipsa illa universalia sibi fingit.

Itaque quod prima rerum essentia, vis, et Cupido, sine causa sit, jam dictum est. De modo vero ejus rei (quæ causam non recipit) videndum. Modus autem et ipse quoque perobscurus est; idque a parabola ipsa monemur, ubi eleganter fingitur Cupido, ovum Nocte incubante exclusum. Certe sanctus philosophus ita pronuntiat: Cuncta fecit Deus pulchra tempestatibus suis, et mundum tradidit disputationibus eorum; ita tamen ut non inveniat homo opus quod operatus est Deus a principio usque ad finem.2 Lex enim summa essentiæ atque naturæ, quæ vicissitudines rerum secat et percurrit (id quod ex verborum complexu describi videtur, opus quod operatus est Deus a principio usque ad finem), vis scilicet primis particulis a Deo indita, ex cujus multiplicatione omnis rerum varietas emergat et confletur, cogitationem mortalium perstringere potest, subire vix potest. Aptissime autem refertur illud de ovo Noctis ad demonstrationes per quas Cupido iste in lucem editur. Quæ enim per affirmativas concluduntur, videntur partus lucis; quæ vero per negativas et exclusiones, ea tanquam

'Compare Nov. Org. i. 48.

2 Eccles. iii. 11.

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