Chap. VII. ANTIENT M ETx\PH YS I CS. ij^' 



Morals * ; whereas, in the writhigs of the antient philofophers, it is' 

 mentioned almoft in every page, being, in their opinion, the foun- 

 dation of virtue, of aris and fciences, and of every thing that digni- 

 fies and adorns human nature. Nor fhould it be reckoned a para- 

 dox, (what the Stoics maintained, and made a fundamental principle 

 of their philofophy), that the ro kxXov^ or the Beautiful, was not only 

 the fummum boiium^ or chief good, but the only good ; for it truly 

 is, as I have elfewhere obferved, that v«?hich only gives pleafure to 

 our intelled. Now, it is by our intellect, and only by our intelle«f^, 

 that we are men ; and, therefore, other things that are called good, 

 are truly only nfefiil in \o far as they tend to give us an opportunitv 

 of enjoying the only good. Of this kind are health, wealth, friends, 

 and every thing elfe that affords us the ^^ccf^ v.oirr,^ iv /Biuj tzXziu:^ 

 which, according to Ariftotle, makes a perfedly happy life. Nor do 

 I know any thing in which the antient philofophy differs more wide 

 ly from the modern ; and, therefore, as my defign is to revive, at 

 leafl to attempt to revive, the antient philofophy, I thought I could 

 hardly enlarge too much upon it. And I will fay one thing fur- 

 ther on the fubjed:. that this fenfe is predominant not only in pri- 

 vate life, but in public affairs and government. It was the fenfe of 

 the Beautiful and the Honourable, the laudiim immenfa cupido\^ as 

 Virgil expreffes it, that produced thofe great adlions which we ad- 

 mire fo much in the Heroes of Antient Rome : And, in the admi- 

 niftration of civil affairs, it is that which makes men fuperior to 

 wealth or any motive of intereft ; in fhort, it is the fource of every 

 virtue public or private, neither of which can be without the fenfe 

 of the Beautiful. 



But a wrong fenfe of this kind leads, as I have obferved, to very 

 great errors ; nor can a right fenfe of it be formed by vulgar men. 

 To know what is truly Beautiful and Honourable, is a fruit of the 



Tree 



■* See what I have faid upon Mr Paylcy's book, in vol. 6. of Origin ofXannuage, p. 21 u 

 I ^ncid. 6. V. 823. 



