2 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book I. 



cidents *. All the fubjeds of human knowledge, however various, 

 may be referred to one or other of thefe heads. 



Aiinci exifts either by itfelf, or joined with body: For I differ fo much 

 in opinion from thofe philofophers, who think there Is nothing elfe 

 ejilfting but body, that T hold there is BOt in the whole univerfe,/ as 

 far as our knowledge extends, any bodj without mind. Mind^ there- 

 fore, according to the philofophy I have been taught, pervades the u- 

 niverfe, mixes with, and informs every body in it, and produces all 

 the various motions by which the fyftem of nature is carried on. 



Deum namque ire per omncs 



Terrafque, tradlufque maris, coelumque profundum. 



And again, 



-— totamque, infufa per artus, 



Mens agitat moleiji, et magno fe corpore niifcet. Virg. 



The Divinity we conceive to be pure energy ; and it is by ading 

 and energifing that every thing in nature partakes more or lefs of 

 divinity. Nothing, therefore, is dead or fenfelefs ; but all full of life 

 and motion. 



It was in this way that the great philofophers of antiq^uity di- 

 vided the univerfity of things ; for all things exiiling, they faid, 



were 



* I ufe the word accident in the moft general A;nre, to denote every quality, pro- 

 perty, aftion, or operation of any fuhjiance^ whether eflential to it, or what is common- 

 ly called accidental. The meaning ot the word is much better exprefl'cd by the Greek 

 word c-v,t4S;S>i'cef, denoting every thing that accompanies, or goes along with JubflancCy 

 than by the Latin word accidens^ from which ours is derived- 



This divifion of all things into body and mind is given by Plato in the Epinoinisy 

 page I CIO. editio Ficiniy where he adds, that there is no third thing diflmtl from ei- 

 ther, all things being either body or mind. 



