Part V*

! Laerti
t Laert,
* Laeft.
her : Hence it follows, that Senfe apprehends not Eflences^ and conl^uently not Truths, for Eflence and Truth are convertible.^ This affer* tion of Vliito Alcmiis deduceth from Epichar- mus^who^ (faith he) hath phaj?7iy fpokn of tJoings fubjeUto Senfe and Reafon^ in thefe txords :
KSods alix)ays were^ to be^ dejijled nevc7\
■ Like them Eternal^ JE/I the fame petfevem Chaos the firfl begotten Deity Is fi/^d : flffomething^ how can nothing be ? Thence not the JirJi nor fecond nothings are^ How we ejfeem of thofe we thus declare : f toe can even or uneven fumm •.
Alter ^ by adding or fubtrabling one^
' Seems it to you the fvne? to me not fo^
If a continu d Meafure fhrink or grow^
It is not the fame Meafure : fuch the lives Of Men hr e^ one decays^ another thrives That Nature^ which new being ever takes Is different from the being it forfakes^ hdot yefferday the fame wt ere I and you ^
Kor Jhall to motrow be what we are now.
t Again, The wife fy^ that the Saul
apprehends fotne things by mediation of the Body^ or when fhe hears or fees others., fhe conceweth within her felf without ufing the Body\whence of beings., fome are fibjeS to Senfe., others., compre^ henfible by the Intellebl. Therejore Plato faith that they who deffre to know the principles of the ‘ \Jniverfe., muff ffrff diffinguifh the Ideas in them- felves., as Similitude, Unity, Multi tude,Magni- tude,Reftauration.5fc^7-^fl'-^,^W in it /£’//,Honeft, Good, Juft, and the like. Thirdly., examines what Ideas cohere mutually with one another, as Science, Magnitude, Tower : and imthal, to think that thofe wiho are amongff us, becaufe they partici¬ pate of them,fhould be called by the fame name, res for inffance,juff things are thofe which partici¬ pate of fuff, Honeff which of Honeff : one of eve¬ ry Species ■ is eternal, peixeptible by the mind, and confequently free from perturbation. Where¬ fore, he afferis Idea’s in Nature as Exemplars, after whofe likenefs other things are made. Thus Alcimus : the firft part whereof leems to be ta¬ ken out of Tlato’s TheMetus, the latter out of his Parmenides. The words of Epicharmus con¬ cerning Gods and Idea’s, to which Alcimus re¬ fers this of Plato, are thefe ;
Is Mujlck then a thing ? It is : The Alan AAufick ? no : what then ? a Alufeian A Man or not ? he is the fame of good.
Good from the thing a part is underffood: Whoever learns good by that art is made.
Who Alufek, Aliifician-. of each Trade,
As Dancing, Weaving, and the like the fame. The Art, and Art iff have a different name.
kff\VL,Alcimus : Plato in his Opinion of Ideds faith thus : if there is memory, there tnuff be alfo Ideds for Memory is of a q^uiet permanent thing, but nothing is permanent except Ideds, for how, faith h?,, could living creatures be preferved un- lefs by their Idea and receiving a natural mind? Now they remember Similitude and their nourijh- tnent : /hewing that all Creatures have an innate underffanding of their own fimilitude, and there¬ fore perceive things belonging to their kind. Thus I
Alcimus ; What place of Plato he means I know not, t Scaliger reads, UrciNv sv 'inei IS'sZy f m Arift. de (piAv a-STf SJt; Tat/f iNctf, Efc. omitting animal- as if he made a doubt whether that both of the Opinions of Idea’s were Plato's -, but I father think Alcimus meant not the title of any Book, having named none in the reft of his Citations, but what himfelf abftrafts out of Plato's Opini¬ on concerning Idea’s. Plato in Philedo, teach- eth this concerning Memory, that Senfe is a motion common to the Soul and Body j this Suffering from external Senfes,The other aUing and dijudicating : that Memory is a conferva- tory or repofitory of the Senfes. For the Soul, as oft as fhe in her felf or by aififtance of the Body, calls to mind what fhe hath fuf- fered, fhe is laid to remember. To Plato’s affertion, Alcimus applieth this of, Epichaff mus :
Eumatus Wifdoni’s not to one confin’d-, i ;*
Various in every living kiiowing Mind.
The Hen firff doth not living things beget, ^
But Sits and Hatches with enlivening Heat :
This Wifdom only Nature’s friend difeerns.
Of whom {her Miff refs) fhe this Leffon learnt.
And
again.
This is not ff range, for every thing we find Is to its proper Species moff endin’ d -,
To Dogs a Bitch feems faireff, and to Kine A Bull, an A^s to Affes, Swine to Swine.
Thefe things Laertius cites out of Alcimus,2A- ding that there are more of the fame kindin thofe four Books, whereby he intimates the help that Plato received by the writings of PpicEixmxiSi neither was Epicharmus himfelf ignorant of his own Wifdom, as may be chlleffed from thefe Ver- fes, Pr editing that he fhold have aPollower'.
This J affert, and what I now maintain.
Shall Aioriuments to future times remain. Some one hereafter will my Verfe review.
And Cloathing it in Language Rich and New Invincible himfelf others Subdue. .
i
* Laert.
^ Moreover Phavorinus AlQdgQAi the whole Form of Plato’s Common-wealth in Protagoras’s Antilogicks, others fay, he borrowed his Poli¬ ticks from Socrates.
t Laftly,. it is related, that much of Plato’s t Morality was in the Books of Sophron the Mi- nogfaph, which having been long negleUed, were by him firft brought to Athens, and were found lying under his Head, when he was Dead.
CHAP. V.
His School.
^ Ti Eing returned to Athens from his Journey ^ Layt.
.D to Mgypt, he fetkd himfelf in the Aca¬ demy, a Gymnaftim or place of Exercife in the Suburbs of that City, befet with Woods, taking Name from Ecademus one of the 'Heroes,, as Eupolis,
In
PLATO.