166 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



any intermixture of final causes, seem, so far as we can 

 judge from the remains of their philosophy, much more 

 ^ solid, and to have gone deeper into nature, with regard to 

 physical causes, than the philosophy of Aristotle or Plato; 

 , and this only because they never meddled with final causes, 

 which the others were perpetually inculcating. Though in 

 this respect Aristotle is more culpable than Plato, as banish 

 ing God,&quot; the. fountain of final causes, and substituting 



21 From the text it must not be judged that Aristotle invested nature with 

 the general powers usually attributed to a divine intelligence, in designing and 

 executing her various ends with wisdom and precision, but only that he re 

 garded nature as an active and intelligent principle performing her agencies 

 by means palpable to herself, yet according to the laws and faculties conferred 

 upon her by the prime mover of things. The Spinozist principle which the 

 text attributes to the Stagyrite has been understood by many critics of the sen 

 sational school to intimate that Aristotle was of their way of thinking, though 

 the idea of an independent material intelligence is expressly contradicted by 

 numerous passages in his Metaphysics. In book xii. chap. 5, of the works 

 which go under this name, the principal being is held to exclude the idea of 



matter from his nature: * Tt TOIVW ravras el ouaias eli&amp;gt;ai aveu vAr)?* iiSiovs yap Sel&quot; K.T.A.; 

 and (ibid. 8) TO fie TI %v elvai OVK lxi vAiji TO TrpwToV evTAexia yap. In chap. 7 he 



affirms this principle to be spirit &amp;lt;*PXV *i voi?&amp;lt;rts; that matter cannot move of itself, 

 but needs the action of an exterior agent ou yap &amp;gt;j ye v^ vijo-ei avr^ eainV, AA 

 TexToviKij- and that this principle must be eternal and active Ai Siov *a! ovo-iaKoi 

 eVepyeia ovo-a. Aristotle further proceeds to show that all other beings are only a 

 species of means transmitting the motion to others which have been communi 

 cated to them, but that this primary being, possessing the spring of motion in 

 itself, moves without being moved; illustrating this kind of action by the emo 

 tions and deeds that spring from the love, pity, or hatred that agents at rest 

 excite in others. In another place he affirms that this being is not only eternal 

 in duration but immutable in essence, and quite distinct from sensible things: 



&amp;lt;m Aap eo-Tiv ovcria. Tt aiStos *ea! anivrfroy Ka Kx to) P lo 7 Aeia 7 T ^ v OMrfaiW, fyavepbv SK T&amp;lt;av 



fipwevw and that heaven and nature hang upon its behests m*r*f apa dp^s 

 jjp-njTai 6 ovpavbs /cai ^ &amp;lt;Jvais. He further shows that life belongs to it by essence, 

 and as the action of intelligence is life, and vice versd, essential action constitutes 

 the eternal life of this being. Aristotle then calls this independent principle 

 God, and assigns to it endless duration : &amp;lt;&amp;lt;*/**&quot; &* eEO N *lvai fro* aihov ap^rov. 

 &quot;It remains,&quot; says the Stagyrite, &quot;to determine whether this principle be one 

 or several ; but upon this point we need only remember that those who have de 

 cided for a plurality have advanced nothing worthy of consideration in support 



Of their belief. AAAd nefJLvyvOai /eal ras T&amp;gt;V a\\&amp;lt;av diro&amp;lt;/&amp;gt;ao-t? 6-n. *epl TrAjjflovs ovSi 



cipijKoo-tv 6 TI Kai o-a#s ciirelv. (Ibid. chap. 8.) &quot;For the principle of existence, or 

 the immovable being which is the source of all movement, being pure action, 

 and consequently foreign to matter, is one in reason and number .... all the 

 rest is the creation of a mythology invented by politicians to advance the public 

 interest and occupy the attention of mankind.&quot; TbW iJveW OVK * vA&amp;gt;,v rb 



vp&ToV evreAe xcia yap. (Supp. note 1.) &quot;Ev Mv apa mu Aoyw ical api0p rb irpS&amp;gt;rov KIVOVV 

 flucivTjrov. (Ibid. Chap. 8.) Ta Se AoiTra /uvfliKw? qft) 7rpoo-^x^ *p6 TIJV wOia TWV TroAAAir 

 KOI irpJ&amp;gt;s TTIV ei$ TOUS venous *al TO ov^epov XPW&amp;gt;- V - (Ibid.) Ed. 



