INDISTINCTNESS OF IDEAS. 269 



nion of Socrates, that the only valuable philosophy 

 is that which teaches us our moral duties and 

 religious hopes 5 . Thus Eusebius says 6 , " It is not 

 through ignorance of the things admired by them, 

 but through contempt of their useless labour, that 

 we think little of these matters, turning our souls 

 to the exercise of better things." When the thoughts 

 were thus intentionally averted from those ideas 

 which natural philosophy involves, the ideas inevit- 

 ably became very indistinct in their minds ; and 

 they could not conceive that any other persons 

 could find, on such subjects, grounds of clear con- 

 viction and certainty. They held the whole of their 

 philosophy to be, as Lactantius : asserts it to be 

 " empty and false." " To search," says he, " for the 

 causes of natural things ; to inquire whether the 

 sun be as large as he seems, whether the moon is 

 convex or concave, whether the stars are fixed 

 in the sky or float freely in the air ; of what size 

 and of what material are the heavens ; whether they 

 be at rest or in motion ; what is the magnitude of 

 the earth ; on what foundations it is suspended and 

 balanced ; to dispute and conjecture on such mat- 

 ters, is just as if we chose to discuss what we think 

 of a city in a remote country, of which we never 

 heard but the name." It is impossible to express 

 more forcibly that absence of any definite notions on 

 physical subjects which led to this tone of thought. 

 7. Question of Antipodes. With such habits 



3 Bnifker, iii. 317- Pra>p. Ev. xv. (51 ' Inst. 1. iii. init. 



