48 A N T I E N T METAPHYSICS. Book IL 



a certain form belonging to it, which makes It what it is, and alfo 

 matter^ with which \\\\^form is incorporated. 



It is alfo admitted by all the modern, as well as antlent philofo- 

 phers, that this matter may be reduced to certain elements, of which 

 it is coinpofed, fuch as earthy ivatcr^ air, and^r<r, which, on that ac- 

 count, are calkd the elements^ by way of eminence. But the an« 

 tients did not flop here ; for the great difference that I obferve betwixt 

 the antients and moderns, in matters of fcience, is, that the antients 

 did generalize more, and carried their inveftigations as far as pofTible, 

 upon every fubjed ; and, accordingly, they have carried the analyfis 

 of body farther than the elements. For, obferving that thefe elements 

 changed into one another, and run an eternal round of tranfmuta- 

 tion*, tbey were thence led to fuppofe, that there was fomething 

 common to them all, and \.h.dXjireymr^. earthy and w^/^r, were all the 

 fame matter^ but under a difFerentyc?rw. 



But what is this matter ? Is it body, of which we have talked fo 

 rr.uch ? It is not ; for body h tlie compound oi matter 2j\^ form. 



What 



• Milton has moft beautifully defcribed this fucceflxve change of the elements, in 

 Adam and Eve's morning hymn. 



" Air, and ye elements, the eldefl birth 



*• Of Nature's womb, that in quaternion run 



" Perpetual circle, multiform ; and mix 



** And nourifti all things ; let your ceafelefs change 



" Vary to our great Maker flill new praife." — Par. Loft, B. 5. v. i8o' 



And it is from this Proteus-like appearance of the elements, that Plato infers that 

 there is fomething befides earth, air, fire, and, water, which ailumes all thefe different 

 appearances. And we are told by the antient authors whom Mr Harris quotes, in 

 his Philosophical Arrangements, page 81. that the Fable of Proteus is an admirable 

 type of the tranfmutafion of the elements; and it is to be obfcrved, that it is a very 

 antient fable, as antient as the days of Homer, not the invention, therefore, of the la- 

 ter Greek poets and mythologifts, nor, I am perfuaded, of Homer himfcif, but pro- 

 bably brought from Ejiypt by Orpheus, or fome other myftagogue; for it very much re- 

 fembles the fymbols of the Pythagoreans, which undoubt-djy came from thence; only 

 tht drefs 01 it is more poetical, bee the Verfes of Homer and Virgil ; alfo Mr Harris, 

 nbijupra. 



