230 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book II. 



That Plato was a genuine Theift, and confequently believed that 

 body did not move itfelf, but was moved by mind, is well kn^wn to 

 thc^fe who know any thing at all of his philofophy. And it is evi- 

 dent, from the pafllige that I have quoted in the beginning of this 

 work, that he rr ade the fame diftindion betwixt body and mind which 

 I do, making the one to be that which moves, the other that which is 

 moved *. And, as to Ariftotle, it is the foundation of his whole na- 

 tural 



gave too much countenance to, as I have elfewhere obferved, by defining mind to be 

 thai ivhicb was moved by itfelf In the fame ftcond chapter, he fays, that all the phi- 

 lofophers agreed in defining mind by three things, motion, fcnfation, and immateria- 

 lity : ^Ofit,ovT*i ^i 7r«>Jf; T))v il'v^ti* TftfiVy t/; UTTitv Kivna-ti, eiifbn<riif lei xs-tuuxrci. Now, 



immateria.ity, and ihe power of moving^ is common to all minds ; and, according to 

 my opinion, is the definition of mind : So that the on!y error in the opinion of thofe 

 philolophers was, in making fenfation eflcntial to mind; which is a notion rejeded by 

 Ariftotle, who, through thefe whole books De Anima, fpe^ks of the vegetable^ as well as 

 iht/enjitive mind, making it common both to vegetables and animals; and, particu- 

 larly, in the end of the pth chapter of the firft book, he fayj, ttuci It ««« « iv rtn tpvTot^ 

 ttf^n ■<\,vxn T<j Kfar (<.ova( ytf tucvta-, Ktttuvu kxi t^ua. xut <pvrx. But, whi<tever Other things 

 thofe antient phiiofophers added to the definition of mind, they ail agreca in making 

 the power of moving an eflential property of it. In defining mind, therefore, in the 

 comprehenfive way I have done, I think I may venture to affirm, that 1 take in the 

 opinion of all the phiiofophers of antiquity, who were not Atheilts, and believed that 

 there was a diftindion between mind ^nd body. 



* The pafTage is in his loth book of laws, page ^;\ . et fcquen. edit. Ficini, where he 

 proves, that mind is more antient than body, and is the moving principle in the uni- 

 verfc, while body is that which is moved And he concludes the dt monftration with 



thefe words : 'ixM*i>rxT/i ^ilnKTXi -^vx/i t»» Trx^iruf rfiffivrxTA, y£V9«i»») re «^;i/„ x<v,e-£6;f. 



And, a little after, when he comes to fpeak of the motions of the heavenly bodies, he 



fays, -^v/^r.y h iioiicovtrx^ kxi vmycov^xv «» xtvxti t«/j wair,) * i-oy«r»a<j (Ctwi- o-^ kxi t«» «t//i«y«if 



«»*yx:i) S-,o.*£.» f«»«* ; where the leaincd reader may obierve, that Plato, fpe^.king oi the 

 •^'vyjfi, ufes not only the word Jio/r-ous-*, but tvo/v-ei-ir* ; fo that it is evi'^ent he belie- 

 ved the moving principle to be internal, and within the bodies, nutcxt(rnal It 

 is therefore paft all doubt, that what Ariftotle calls <?v8-/s, or xf^-^r, tu? x<v>js-j«;, was, ac- 

 cording to the philofophy of his mafter, "^v;i/.), or mind* 



