Part XU

we faid, it is manifeft that Plato, though of fome things he doubt, yet hecaufe in others he alTerts, concerning the Elience of things not manifeft; and of things not manifeft, prefer- reth fome before others, is no Sce^tick.
Thofe of the neiv Academy, though they fay all are Incomfrehenftblc , differ from . the
Scepicks, perhaps in faying that all things are Incomprehenfible ; for they afiert this, but the Scepcick a:!?»its it fojjible that , they may he comtrebmdetL But more apparently they differ from us in the dijudication of Good and Evil. For the Academtcks fay, that (bnie-^ thing is Good and Ill, not after our manner, but as being perfnaded, it is more probable, that what they call Good is Good, than the contrary : Whereas we fay not that any thing is Good or Ill, as thinking what we fay is proba¬ ble, but without Opinion, we follow the or¬ dinary courfe of Life, or otherwife we ftiould do nothing. . Moreover we hold Phantafies to be equal, as to Belief and Disbelief; but they, that fome avq Credible, others Iftcredibkt The Credible, alfo, they fubdivide into many kinds, fome they hold to be Credible only, fome to he Credible and Circtimcurrent , fome to be Cre¬ dible and Ctrcumcurrent, and UndifiraBed ; as, a Rope lying loofe in a dark Room, a Man receives a Credible Phantafie from it, and runs away ; another confidering it more exaiftly, and weighing the circumftances, as that it moves not, that it is of fuch colour, and the like, to him it appears a Rope, according to Cre¬ dible and Circitmeiirrevt Phantafie. UndiflraBed Phantafie is after this manner. It is reported that Hercules brought Alcefiis back from the Inferi, after her Death, and fhew’d her to Ad- mctm. He received a true and circun'current Phantafie of Alceflts, but reroembnng fi^e was Dead, his Phantafie was diftratfted from aftent, and inclined to Disbelief. Now the new Aca- demzcks, before Phantafie which is firnply Cre¬ dible, prefer that which is Credible and Circum- current ; and before both, that w'hich is Credible and Circumcurrent and UndiflraBed. For though, both Ac.adtns'u.ks and Sccptich fay they believe fome things ; yet herein is a manifeft difference between their Philofbphies: To believe, is taken feveral ways; fbmetimes for mt to re/ifi, as a Boy is faid to believe his Mafter; fometimes for ajjcnting to another, 'with a-n earne[i: refolute aeftre of the thing, as a Prodigal believes him who per- fuadcs him to live fumptuoufly : Now Carneades and Clitomacbiis ufing the word Believe, and Cre¬ dible, as with vehement inclination, we only for yielding without propenfiry to any thing; iicrein alfo we differ from them.
We differ Hkevvife from the nciv Academy, as to what belongs to the End% They ufe in the courfe of Life what is Credible, we follow¬ ing Laws, Cuftoms, and natural Affc6iions, live without engaging our Opinion. We might add more inftarsces of the difference between us, if it were not too large for our defign.
But Arccp'aas , Inftitutoi' and Prefident of file middle Academy feems to me to participate fo much of the Pyrrhemun Reafons, as that his Inftitution and Ours is almoft the fame. For
he prefer one thing before another for Belief or Disbelief, but in ail things he fufpends, holding Sufpevfion to be the 'which, as we faid brings, us to Indifiurbance. He likewife holds particular Sufpenfions to be good , particular Aflertions to be ill. But if we may believe what is related of him, they fay, at firft fight he ap¬ pears a Tyrrhenian, but was indeed a Drgmati/l', and that making trial, by doubts, of his Difci- ples, whether they were capable of Plate's Do- drine, he was thought to be Aporetick, but that to his more ingenious Friends he taught the Dodrine of Plato, whence Arijlo of him ;
w ♦
Pyrrho behind, Plato before.
And in the middle, Diodore.
For, though a Platomck, he ufed the Dia- ledick of Diodorus,
Plato faith. As to (the Stoical Criterie ) cem- prehenjive Pbantafe , things are inccmprchenfiblc ; as to the natures of the things themfelves, cempre- henftble. Aintiochus transferred the Stoick Seat into the Academick : whence it was faid of him. That he taught the Stoick Dodrine in the Aca¬ demy, for he ftiewed, that the Stoical Tenents were in Plato. Hereby it appears, the Sceftkk Inftitution is different from the fourth and fifth Academy,
CHAP. XXXII.
Whether Empirical Medicine Scepticifm.
be the fame with
SOme hold Empirical Medicine to be the fame with the ScEptick Pbilofopby ; but we muft know, ( notwithftanding it holds, that things not-manifeft are incomprehenfible,) it is not the fame with Scepticifm, neither is this Sed fit for a Scep'ick, who, in my opinion, ought rather to purfue that which is called Methodick ; which- alone, of all the Seds ,of Medicine, feems to behave it felf not temerarioufly in things not- manifeft; nor arrogantly to determine whether they are comprehenfibie or incomprehenfible ^ but following Tkoevomena s, it takes from them what feemeth profitable , according to the courfe of the Scepticks. For, as we faid before, the common life of a Sceptick confifts of four parts, converfant in the InftruBion of Nature, in' 'the Imptilfion of Paffwns, in the Con fitut ions of Laws and Cufoms, and in the Tradition of Arts. As a Sceptick therefore, by the Impulfion of Pai'ions, is brought from Thirft to Drink, from Hunger to Meat, and the like; fo a Methodick Phyfician is guided by thePaffio'ns to that which is convenient, from Conftridion of the Pores to Relaxation, as when we ftiun the condenfatioa of Cold, by going into theSun-ftiine; from Re¬ laxation of the Pores to Conftridion, as when fweating immoderately in a Bath, we retire to the cooler Air. That the things contrary to Nature lead him to thofe that are agreeable to Nature, is manifeft even from a Dog, who having got a Thorn in his Foot, endeavours pre- fently to, get it out. Not to reckon up every neither is he found to aftert concerning the Ex- thing, which were to exceed the fcopc of a Sum-
iftcnce of Inexiftence or any thing, neither doth mary, I
that all things faid in this
nvinner