THE DECADENCE OF PHILOSOPHY. 95 



his gods that they invaded every motive and act of his 

 life, at least there was a freshness, a fragrance, a childlike 

 quality in his philosophy and in the legends which his 

 own exuberant fancy had interwoven with it, and which 

 turned it all into poetry. To him the universe, though 

 diverse, was yet harmonious and so unitary. He had no 

 system of revealed truth, no need of choosing between the 

 acceptance thereof and perdition, no conception of a fall 

 of man, and hence no doubt of the ability of reason to 

 penetrate to the science of things. His science his logic, 

 and his geometry was rational. 



Replacing all this, now came the belief in a constant 

 struggle between dual powers, existing not only in the 

 external world, but in the human mind ; the belief that 

 every thought, every intelligent effort was the plaything 

 of divine caprice on the one hand, or infernal machination 

 on the other. Philosophy became an alleged imposture of 

 the devil ; reason, vitiated and untrustworthy. There was 

 no causality to be sought for, no field for scientific investi- 

 gation ; for what could be fairly determined by the instru- 

 mentality of the senses, when they, as well as the reason- 

 ing faculties, were liable to deception or distortion to suit 

 the occult purposes of the warring powers of good and 

 evil? Faith became so far independent of thought that it 

 was better to say concerning any myth, mystery or marvel, 

 in the words of Tertullian, "I believe because it is im- 

 probable, absurd, impossible/' 



The last of the fathers educated in philosophy died with 

 St. Augustine. In the Dark Ages which followed, science 

 disappeared, and magic took its place. The most intelli- 

 gent minds became entangled in the subtleties of spiritual 

 relations pervading even numbers and figures, sought oc- 

 cult meanings in every work of nature, and made a de- 

 graded superstition the controlling factor in life. 



Yet here again the inherent mystery of the magnet 

 became a potent agency in the preservation of the knowl- 

 edge concerning it. Many centuries went by before the 



