102 ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Book II. 



equal time in the year. Now it is a proof of great wifdom, to pro- 

 duce the greateft number of effects by the feweft caufes poffible. 



Although our canopy of heaven be fo magnificent a fpcilacle, and 

 the bodies in it be of fuch necelfary ufe for our earth, yet, as Horace 

 tells us, 



Hunc folcm, et ftellas, et decedentia certis 

 Tempora momentis, funt qui foimidine nulla 

 Imbuti fpeftent *. 



The reafon of which is, that they are feen every day, and arc fo 

 obvious to common obfervation, that they do not at all excite the 

 wonder or even the attention of the vulgar f . For there is this dif- 

 ference betwixt the philofopher and the vulgar, that thefe admire 

 nothing which is conftantly under their eyes, or of which they have 

 the daily ul'e: Fven as to the arts invented by men, fuch as language 

 and writing, though they be moft wonderful arts, and of moft difficult 



invention, 



* Lib. I. Epifl. 6. By formido I underftand here not fear, which is the fenfe of the 

 word in common ufe, but an enthufiujlical admiration ; for admiration is the fubject of 

 this epiftle, which begins, 



Nil admirari, prope res eft una, Numici, 

 Solaque, quae poflit facere et fervare beatum. 



And what follows, where he fpeaks of the mur.cra terrae, and of the luealth of Arabia 

 and India, and ot \).\cJho^vs and applaufe of the Roman people, I think plainly indicates, 

 that hy formido he cannot mt2infear, but admiration: for thefe things I have mentioned 

 could not create fear but admiration. This however is a meaning that is not given to 

 the word by any commentator that I know. 



f Upon this fubjeft there is a fine paffage in Cicero, where he fuppofes, as I have 

 done, that a man, from eternal darknefs, fhould at once fee the light and appearance 

 of the heavens. - " Quaenam fpecics coeli videretur ? — Sed affiduitate quotidiana et 

 " confuetudine occulorum, afluefcunt animi ; neque admirantur, neque requirunt ra- 

 " tiones earum rerum, quas femper vident : Proinde, quafi novit,.j nos magis quam 

 " mngmtude reruni, debeat ad exquirendas caufas, excitare." — Ds Nat. Don. Lib. II. 

 Cap. 38. 



