Whom well infpir'd the oracle pronounc'd

Wifeft of men; from whofe mouth iffued forth
Mellifluous ftreams that water'd all the schools
Of Academics old and new, with those
Sirnam'd Peripatetics, and the fect

Epicurean, and the Stoic fevere;

These here revolve, or, as thou lik'ft, at home,
Till time mature thee to a kingdom's weight;
These rules will render thee a king complete
Within thyself, much more with empire join'd.

vit, et in domus etiam introduxit. Tuf. Difp. V. 4. But he has given a very different fenfe to the words either by defign or mistake, as Mr. Warburton obferves. lt is properly called the low-rooft house ; for I believe, faid Socrates, that if I could meet with a good purchafer, I might eafily get for my goods and house and all five pounds. Εγο μεν ειμαι (εφη ὁ Σωκράτη;) ει αγαθε ωνητες επιτυχοιμι, ευρειν αν μοι συν τη οικία και τα ολα πανα πανυ ραδίως πείτε μας. Xenophon Oeconomic. five minas or Attic pounds were better than fixteen pounds of our money, a mina, according to Barnard, being three pounds eight fhillings and nine

275

280

Το

285

To whom our Saviour fagely thus reply'd. Think not but that I know thefe things, or think I know them not; not therefore am I fhort Of knowing what I ought: he who receives Light from above, from the fountain of light, No other doctrin needs, though granted true; 290 But these are falfe, or little elfe but dreams, Conjectures, fancies, built on nothing firm. The first and wifeft of them all profefs'd To know this only, that he nothing knew;

demic. I. 4. Tufc. Difp. V. 4. and particularly De Orat. III. 16, 17. The quotation would be too long to be inferted. See likewife Mr. Warburton's account of the Socratic school. B. 3. Sect. 3. of the Divine Legation.

283. Thefe rules will render thee &c.] Afk what rules, and no anfwer can be regularly given: afk whofe, and the anfwer is eafy. There is no mention before of rules; but of poets, orators, philofophers there is. We fhould read therefore,

Their rules will render thee a king complete. Calton. 285. To whom our Saviour fagely thus reply'd.] This anfwer of our Saviour is as much to be admired for folid reafoning, and the many fublime truths contain'd in

The

it, as the preceding fpeech of Sa-
tan is for that fine vein of poetry
which runs through it: and one
may obferve in general, that Mil-
ton has quite throughout this work
thrown the ornaments of poetry on
the fide of error, whether it was
that he thought great truths beft
exprefs'd in a grave unaffected ftile,
or intended to fuggeft this fine
moral to the reader, that fimple
naked truth will always be an
overmatch for falfhood tho' recom-
mended by the gayeft rhetoric, and
adorned with the moft bewitching
colors.
Thyer.

293. The first and wifeft of them all] Socrates profess'd to know this only, that he nothing knew. Hic in omnibus fere fermonibus, qui ab iis, qui illum audierunt, perfcripti varie, copiofe funt, ita difputat, ut nihil adfirmet ipfe, refel

lat

The next to fabling fell and smooth conceits; 295 A third fort doubted all things, though plain fenfe Others in virtue plac'd felicity,

But virtue join'd with riches and long life;

In corporal pleasure he, and careless ease;
The Stoic laft in philofophic pride,

By him call'd virtue; and his virtuous man,

66

300

Wife,

thing in nature, in which the

fancy cannot find or make a "variety of fuch fymbolizing res "femblances; fo that emblems, "fables, fymbols, allegories, tho' they are pretty poetic fancies, are infinitely unfit to exprefs philofophical notions and dif"coveries of the natures of things.

66

The end of philofophy is

"to fearch into, and discover "the nature of things; but I "believe you understand not how "the nature of any thing is at all "difcovered by making it the "theme of allegorical and dark "difcourfes." Calton. 296.Athird fort doubted allthings, though plain fenfe ;] Thefe were the Sceptics or Pyrrhonians the difciples of Pyrrho, who afferted nothing, neither honeft nor difhoneft, juft nor unjust, and so of every thing; that there is nothing indeed fuch, but that men do all things by law and cuftom; that in every thing this is not rather than that. This was called the Sceptic philofophy from its continual in

spection,

Wife, perfect in himself, and all poffeffing,
Equals to God, oft shames not to prefer

As fearing God nor man, contemning all

Wealth, pleasure, pain or torment, death and life,
Which when he lifts, he leaves, or boafts he can,
For all his tedious talk is but vain boast,
Or fubtle shifts conviction to evade.

Alas what can they teach, and not mislead,
Ignorant of themselves, of God much more,
And how the world began, and how man fell
Degraded by himself, on grace depending?
Much of the foul they talk, but all awry,

And in themfelves feek virtue, and to themselves
All glory arrogate, to God give none,

Rather accufe him under ufual names,
Fortune and Fate, as one regardless quite

310

Of mortal things. Who therefore seeks in these
True wisdom, finds her not, or by delufion
Far worse, her falfe refemblance only meets,
An empty cloud. However many books,

Or fubtle faifis] Vain boasts relate to the Stoical paradoxes, and fubtle fhifts to their dialectic, which this fect fo much cultivated, as to be as well known by the name Dialectici as Stoici. Warburton.

313. Much of the foul they talk,

but all awry,] See what Mr. Warburton has faid upon this fubject in the first volume of the Divine Legation.

314. And in themselves feek vir-
tue, and to themselves
All glory arrogate, to God give
none,] Cicero fpeaks the fen-

315

320

Wife

timents of ancient philofophy upon this point in the following words:

propter virtutem enim jure laudamur, et in virtute recte gloriamur: quod non contingeret, fi id donum a Deo, non a nobis haberemus. At vero aut

honoribus aucti, aut re familiari, aut fi aliud quippiam nacti fumus fortuiti boni, aut depulimus mali, cùm Diis gratias agimus, tum nihil noftræ laude affumptum arbitramur. Num quis, quòd bonus vir effet, gratias Diis egit unquam? At quòd dives, quòd honoratus, quòd incolumis.- Ad

rem