noured for god of wisedome. But to saye the trouthe, were it Apollo that spake it, or Chilo, or any other, suerly it proceded of god, as an excellent and wonderfull sentence. By this counsaile man is induced to understande the other two preceptes, and also wherby is accomplisshed nat onely the seconde parte, but also all the residue of Justyce, whiche I before haue rehersed. For a man knowinge him selfe shall knowe that which is his owne and pertayneth to him selfe. But what is more his owne than his soule? or what thynge more appertayneth to hym thanne his body? His soule is undoughtedly and frely his owne. And none other persone may by any meane possede it or clayme it. His body so pertayneth unto him, that none other without his consent may vendicate therein any propretie. Of what Nat. Hist. lib. vii. cap. 32. But Diogenes Laertius attributes the saying to Thales : Τούτου ἐστὶ τὸ Γνῶθι σαυτόν, ὅπερ ̓Αντισθένης ἐν ταῖς Διαδοχαῖς Φημονόης εἶναί φησιν, ἐξιδιοποιήσασθαι δὲ ἀυτὸ Χείλωνα. — Thales, 13. 'Est illud quidem vel maximum, animo ipso animum videre : et nimirum hanc habet vim præceptum Apollinis, quo monet, ut se quisque noscat.'-Cic. Tusc. Quast. lib. I. cap. 22. This was the opinion of Juvenal: • E coelo descendit Γνῶθι σεαυτὸν, Figendum, et memori tractandum pectore, sive Sat. xi. 27–30. The Soul is the central and fundamental unity in which all the internal elements of human action inhere, reside, act upon each other, and are moulded and modified by all which happens to the man.'-Whewell, Elem. of Mor. p. 45. It is curious to note this expression in favour of liberty of conscience, and as a straw serves to show the direction of the current, we may view it as a not unimportant symptom of the temper of the times. We may compare it with the utterances of a great modern writer. The only part of the conduct of any one, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.'-Mill, On Liberty, Introduct. p. 22, ed. 1864. Yet this statement, though theoretically true, was not practically recognised even in this country in the author's lifetime. The ancient condition of villenage expired about the commencement of the seventeenth century; and no other form of slavery was recognised by our laws. In Scotland, however, negro slaves continued to be sold as chattels, until late in the last century; and, startling as it may sound, the slavery of native Scotchmen soules and valour or price his soule is, the similitude where unto it was made, the immortalitie and lyfe euerlastynge, and the powars and qualities therof, abundauntly do declare. And of The equalthat same mater and substaunce that his soule is of, ite in be all other soules that nowe are, and haue ben, and corporall euer shall be, without singularitie or preeminence of substaunce. nature. In semblable astate is his body, and of no better claye (as I mought frankely saye) is a gentilman made than a carter," and of libertie of wille as moche is gyuen of god to the poore herdeman, as to the great and mighty emperour. Than in knowinge the condicion of his soule and body, he knoweth continued to be recognised, in that country, to the very end of last century. The colliers and salters were unquestionably slaves. They were bound to continue their service during their lives, were fixed to their places of employment, and sold with the works to which they belonged. So completely did the law of Scotland regard them as a distinct class, not entitled to the same liberties as their fellow subjects, that they were excepted from the Scotch Habeas Corpus Act of 1701. But at length, in 1799, their freedom was absolutely established by law. The last vestige of slavery was now effaced from the soil of Britain; but not until the land had been resounding for years with outcries against the African slave trade. Seven years later that odious traffic was condemned; and at length colonial slavery itself, so long encouraged and protected by the legislature, gave way before the enlightened philanthropy of another generation.'— May's Constit. Hist. of Eng., vol. ii. pp. 284–287, ed. 1865. • The notions of the ancients were very various with regard to the seat of the soul. Since it has been discovered, by the improvements in anatomy, that the nerves are the instruments of perception, and of the sensations accompanying it, and that the nerves ultimately terminate in the brain, it has been the general opinion of philosophers that the brain is the seat of the soul; and that she perceives the images that are brought there, and external things, only by means of them.'-Reid's Works, vol. i. p. 255. So Bishop Pilkington, who was one of the most zealous promoters of the Reformation, said: 'All the difference that is betwixt us is this: that one is higher in authority, better clad or fed, hath a prouder coat or a softer bed, or more store of money, lands, or servants than another hath ; which thing helps not to salvation. . . . If the poor and rich man's blood were both in one basin, how should the one be known to be better than the other, seeing we crack so much of it?'— Works, pp. 124-126, ed. 1842. Parker Soc. 'Though in fact men are not born equal, they are all born with a capacity for being moral agents: and this Idea is the basis of all Morality. And we may lay it down as a universal principle, from which we may hereafter reason, that All men are moral beings.'—Whewell, Elem. of Mor., p. 224. him selfe, and consequently in the same thinge he knoweth euery other man. If thou be a gouernour, or haste ouer other soueraygntie, knowe thy selfe, that is to saye, knowe that thou arte verely a man compacte of soule and body, and in that all other men be equall unto the. Also that euery man taketh with the equall benefite of the spirite of life, nor thou haste any more of the dewe of heuyn, or the brightnes of the sonne, than any other persone.b Thy dignitie or autorite, wherin thou onely differest from other, is (as it were) but a weighty or heuy cloke, fresshely gliteringe in the eyen of them that be poreblynde, where unto • This was the principle which Erasmus was at so much pains to enforce on princes: Cum natura genuerit omnes homines liberos, et præter naturam inducta sit servitus, quod Ethnicorum etiam leges fatentur, cogita quàm non conveniat Christianum in Christianos usurpare dominium, quos nec leges servos esse voluerunt, et Christus ab omni servitute redemit. Siquidem Paulus Onesimum servum natum à Baptismo fratrem prioris heri Philemonis appellat. Quàm absurdum est eos pro servis habere, quos Christus eodem redemptos sanguine in communem asseruit libertatem, quos iisdem secum alit Sacramentis, quos ad eamdem immortalitatis vocavit hæreditatem, et iis servitutis jugum inducere, qui communem tecum habent Dominum ac Principem Jesum Christum ?'-Inst. Prin. Christ. p. 56, ed. 1519. The sentiment here expressed seems to anticipate the famous proposition contained in the American Declaration of Independence which declared that all men are created equal, that they are endued by the Creator with certain unalienable rights, that amongst those are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi ness.' • Purblind is a more modern form of this word, which is no doubt derived from the Greek πωρὸς = τυφλός, cæcus. Chaucer frequently uses the verb 'to pore,' with which the compound adjective seems to be closely connected. Thus, speaking of the friar in The Sompnoures Tale he says, 'In every hous he gan to pore and prye.'-Works, vol. ii. p. 260. And again in The Romaunt of the Rose, 'But I may say in sory houre stode I to loken on to poure.'-Ibid. vol. vi. p. 50. In Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle we find the adjective used, 'Me ssolde pulte oute bothe hys eye and make hym pur blynd.'-Vol. ii. p. 376, ed. 1724. And so Nicholas Udall in his translation of Erasmus's paraphrase upon the 8th chapter of S. Mark says, 'Thys manne was not purblynde or a lyttle appayred and decayed in syght, but as bysome as was possible to be.'-Vol. i. fo. clxii. b. ed. 1551, where the original has, 'Non erat iste lusciosus aut leviter cæcutiens, sed profundissimâ cæcitate obrutus,' ed 1524. Bacon, in his Natural History, says, • Pore-blind men see best in the dimmer lights and likewise have their sight stronger near hand, than those that are not pore-blind; and can read and write the it is paynefull, if thou weare hym in his right facion, and as it shal best become the. And from the it may be shortely taken of him that dyd put it on the, if thou use it negligently, or that thou weare it nat commely, and as it appertaineth. Therfore whiles thou wearest it, knowe thy selfe, knowe that the name of a soueraigne or ruler without actuall gouernaunce is but a shadowe, that gouernaunce standeth nat by wordes onely, but principally by acte and example; that by example of gouernours men do rise or falle in vertue or vice. And, as it is said of Aristotell, rulers more greuously do sinne by example than by their acte. And the more they haue under their gouernaunce, the greatter accounte haue they to rendre, that in their owne preceptes and ordenaunces they be nat founde negligent. Wherfore there is a noble aduer- Lampritisement of the emperour Alexander, for his grauitie dius. called Seuerus. On a tyme one of his noble men exhorted hym to do a thinge contrary to a lawe or edicte, whiche he hym selfe had inacted; but he firmely denyed it. The other smaller letters. The cause is, for that the spirits visual in those that are pore-blind, are thinner and rarer than in others; and therefore the greater light disperseth them. For the same cause they need contracting ; but being contracted, are more strong than the visual spirits of ordinary eyes are; as, when we see through a level, the sight is the stronger; and so is it when you gather the eye-lids somewhat close; and it is commonly seen in those that are pore-blind, that they do much gather the eye-lids together. But old men, when they would see to read, put the paper somewhat afar off; the cause is, for that old men's spirits visual, contrary to those of pore-blind men, unite not but when the object is at some good distance from their eyes.'-Works, vol. iv. p. 470, ed. 1826. This last passage shows conclusively that by 'pore blind' was meant what we should now call a person of short sight. • The author is mistaken in attributing this saying to Aristotle, for it occurs in Cicero's treatise On the Laws. The whole passage is as follows: 'Quo perniciosius de republicâ merentur vitiosi principes, quòd non solum vitia concipiunt ipsi, sed ea infundunt in civitatem: neque solum obsunt, quòd ipsi corrumpuntur, sed etiam quòd corrumpunt, plusque exemplo, quàm peccato nocent.'—De Legg. lib. iii. cap 14. It is curious that Patrizi has fallen into a similar error and has quoted the same passage on the double authority of Plato and Socrates. He says: • Principum enim exempla facilè omnes sequuntur. Unde verum esse cernimus, quod a Platone, Socrateque dicitur: Principes longe magis exemplo quàm culpâ peccare-De Regno et Reg. Ins. lib. i. tit. 7. still persistynge sayde, that the emperour was nat bounden to obserue his owne lawes. Where unto the sayde emperour displeasauntly answering, said in this maner, God forbede that euer I shulde deuise any lawes wherby my people shulde be compelled to do any thynge whiche I my selfe can nat tollerate. Wherfore ye that haue any gouernaunce, by this moste noble princis example knowe the boundes of your autorite, knowe also your office and duetie, beinge your selfes men mortall amonge men, and instructours and leaders of men. And that as obedience is due unto you, so is your studie, your labour, your industrie with vertuous example due to them that be subiecte to your autoritie. Ye shall knowe all way your selfe, if for affection or motion ye do speke or do nothing unworthy the immortalitie and moste precious nature of your soule, and remembringe that your body is subiecte to corruption, as all other be, and life tyme uncertayne. If ye forgette nat this commune astate, and do also remembre that in nothinge but onely in vertue ye are better than an other inferior persone, accordynge to the sayeng of Agesilaus kyng Agesilaus. of Lacedemones, who hering the great king of Persia praised, asked howe moche that great king was more than he in iustice. And Socrates beinge demaunded if the kynge of Persia semed to him happy, I can nat tell (said he) of what estimation he is in vertue and lerning. Consider Socrates. The Editor has been unable to verify this anecdote, and the only passage in the life of the Emperor by Lampridius that gives any countenance to it is the following: Leges in annos firmavit, easque etiam ipse diligentissimè servavit.'-Hist. Aug. tom. i. p. 995. The probability is that the story has been unintentionally attributed to the wrong person. Bacon, in his essay upon Empire,' says much the same thing. All precepts concerning kings are in effect comprehended in those two remembrances: "Memento quod es homo," and "Memento quod es Deus," or "vice Dei"-the one bridleth their power, and the other their will.'-Essays, p. 188, ed. 1857. e Πρὸς δὲ τοὺς λέγοντας, ὅτι ταῦτα δοκεῖ τῷ μεγάλῳ βασιλεῖ, “ Τί δαὶ ἐκεῖνος ἐμοῦ, εἶπε, μείζων, εἰ μὴ δικαιότερος;-Plut. Agesilaus, 23. The reader will observe that the sense of the original is hardly preserved in the translation. 4 Καὶ γὰρ οὗτος, ἐρωτήσαντος αὐτὸν, μοὶ δοκεῖ, Γοργίου, ἣν ἔχει περὶ τοῦ μεγάλου βασιλέως ὑπόληψιν, καὶ εἰ νομίζοι τοῦτον εὐδαίμονα εἶναι, Οὐκ οἶδα, ἔφησε, πῶς ἀρετῆς Kal waidelas exe.-Plut. De Educat. Puer. cap. 8. |