Chap. m. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 99 



not the diff:In(!rtion of words by intervals betwixt the words ; and 

 this way of writing continued down to the fixth century, of which 

 "we have a proof, to be feen in the Florentine manufcript of Juftini- 

 an's Pandeds, where the very title of the conftitution of the Emper- 

 our, which gives authority to the whole work, and is in thefe words, 

 De Cu?iftitutione Digejlorum^ is written in fuch a way, that the lafi 

 letter of the word Cunjlitutioue^ is nearer to the firft letter of the 

 next v;ord 1), than it is to the penult letter ;/ of the preceding" 

 word'*^. Now to read fuch writing, fo as to make fenfe of it, muft 

 be a matter of great difficulty, and unlefs a man is perfedly maftev 

 of the fubjed, is liabb to great ambiguities, of which- 1 will give 

 but one example amcag many that might be given. Thefe four let= 

 t^s m^ i h^ /, written vvithout any divifion, fignify either /i^/ and /V, 

 the firft the vocative fingular of meus^ and the fecond the nomina- 

 tive plural of hlc] — or uulA^ the. dative fingular of the pronoun ego. 



By fuch a fortunate concurrence of" circumftances was antient 

 learning reftored in the 15U1 century, 



Haud equidem fine mentereor fine numihe divumf. 



For the good providence of God fo ordered matters, that man, then 

 more degenerated than in jormer times, fliould be reftored as much 

 as was poffible in this life, by recovering what had'been. fo long loft,, 

 arts, fciences, and, above all; philofophy, that greateft gift of the 

 Gods to mortal men, as Plato fays, by which we may preferve our- 

 felves againft the charms of moaey, luxur)^, and vanity, as UlyfTes, 

 by the Moly he got from Merniry, preferved himfelf againft the 

 incantations of Circe, which o.iiervvife would have made a brute of. 

 him, in the fame manner that theie things 1 have mentioned, with- 

 out philofophy, make brutes of us. 



And not only does antient learning thus improve our morals, but 



N 2 it 



** Stnivii HIHoria Juris Romanr, p. 3;3, 

 •f Virgil. w5ijieid. 5. v. t^6. 



