Part V.

Awrt-
0
P L A T O.
195
fill in a mean betwixt Pleafure and Grief, not moved by either, in which ftate we live longeft. He afferteth feveral kinds of Pleafure, where¬ of fome relate to the Body.^ others to the Soul. Again, of Pleafures feme are mix'd with Grief, fome are pure. Again, fome proceed from the remembrance of things paft, others from Hope of things to come. Again, fome are dijhonell., as be¬ ing intemperate and unjuft-, others moderateyind joyned with good, as joy for good things, and the Pleafure that followeth Vertue. Now becaufe moft Pleafures are naturally diftioneft, he thinks it not to be difputed whether Plealiire can be limply and abfolutely a good, that being to be ac¬ counted poor and of no value, which is raifed out of another,, and hath not a principal prima¬ ry eflence. For Pleafure cohereth even with its contrary Grief, and is joyned with it, which could not be, if one were limply good, the other limply ill.
He deferibeth likevidfe other fuppofed Forms of Common-wealth, as that in his Book of Laws^ and, that which reformeth others, in hi*^ Epiftles, which he ufeth for thofe Cities that in his Books of Laws he faith are lick- Thefe have a diftinQ: place, and SeleQ: Men out of every Age, as according to the diverfity of their nature and place, they require different Inftitu- tfon. Education, and Arms: The Maritime Peo¬ ple are to ftudy Navigation and Sea-fight ^ the Ifland fighting on foot -, thofe in Mountainous Countries to ufe light Armpur, thofe on the Shore heavy. Some of thefe to cxercife fighting on Horfe-back. In this City he alloweth not a Community of Women. Thus is Politick a Vir¬ tue converlant both in A8:ion and Contem¬ plation-, the end whereof is to conftitute a Ci¬ ty, Good, Happy, and Convenient to” it felf. h conliders a great many things, amongft the reft, whether War be to be waged or not.
. CHAP. XXXIII. • .
Of the forms of Common-wealths.
OF the Forms of Commonwealths, fome are fuppoled only, and conceived by abftra£f from the reft. Thefe he delivers in his Book of a Commonwealth, wherein he deferibeth the lirft Concordant, the fecond Difcordant,enquiring which of thefe is the moft excellent, and how they maybe conftituted. He allb divideth a Com¬ mon-wealth like the Soul into three parts, Keep¬ ers.^ Definders., and Artificers. The Office of the firft is to* Counfel, to Ad vile, to Command ^ of the fecond, to Defend the Common wealth, upon occafioD, by Arms, which anfwereth to the irafcible power j To the laft belong Arts and other Services. He will have Princes to be Phi- lofophers, and to contemplate the firft good, af¬ firming that fo only they (hall Govern rightly. For Mankind can never be freed from ill, unlels either Philofophers Govern, or they who Govern be infpired with Philofophy after a Divine man¬ ner. A Common- wealth is then Governed beft, and according to Juftice, when each part of the City performeth its proper Office. So that the Princes^ give Laws to the People -, the Defenders obey them, and fight for them, the reft willing¬ ly fubmit to their Superiours.
Of a Common-wealth he afferteth five kinds, the firft, Arifiocracy^ when the beft Rule *. the feebnd. Timocracy., when the Ambitious-, the third. Democracy., when the People ^ the fourth, Olygarchy., when a few ; the laft, Tyrannyyvhich ir the worft of all.
CHAP. XXXIV.
' . Of a Sophift.
Hitherto we have fpokeh of a Phllofopher]' from whom a Sophift differeth -, In Man¬ ners, becaule he teacheth young Men for gain, and defireth rather to feem than to be good. In m-atter, for a Philofopher is converfant in thole things which always are, and continually re¬ main in the lame manner -, but a Sophift in that which is not, for which reafon he feeketh dark- nels, that he may not be known to be, what he is. To things that are, that which is not, is notoppoled as contrary,, for it neither exifteth, nor is participant of any Bffence, nor can be underftood. So that if any Man endeavour to exprels it in words, or comprehend it by thought i he is deceived, becaufe he putteth together things contrary and repugnant. Yet that which is not, as far as it is Ipoken, is not a pure negation of that which is, but implieth a relation to another, which in Ibme manner is joyned to Ens. So that unlels we affume fomething from that which is, to that which is not, it cannot be diftinguifhed from other things, but thus, as many kinds as they are of Ens, fo many are there of becaufe that which
is not an Ens is a Non-Ens.
Thus much may ferve for an IntroduQion into Tlatds Philofophy : Some things per¬ haps are faid orderly ^ others difperfedly, or confufedlly ^ yet is all fo laid down, that by thofe which we have delivered, the reft of hisf Affertions may be found out and Coiiterapla- ted. r ' '
Bb 3
J
* Emead. 6, lib, 7. 37.
After fo ferious a Difcourfi^ it will not be amifs to give the Reader a Poetical Entertainment npon the fame Subje&y
\
Being A
PL ATONICK
DISCOURSE
Written in Italian^ By
JOHN TICVS Earl of MIR AN DV L
In Explication of a Sonnet, By
HIE RON I MO BENIV 1 ENI.
The Firft
SEC
IT is Principle of the Flatonifis^ That eye- xv created thing hath a three-fold being j Cafual, Formal, participated- In the Sun there is no heat, that .being but an Elementary Quality, not of Cceleftial Nature Yet is the Sun the Caufe and Fountain of all Heat. Fire is hot by Nature, and its proper, form ; Wood is not hot of it felf, yet is capable of receiving that quality by Fire.Thushath heat its Cafual being in. the Sun, its Formal in the Fire, its Participated in the Fuel. The moft Noble and Perfe£l of thefe is the Cafual : and therefore Flatomjls aflert,That all Excellenciesare in God after this manner of beings That in God is no¬ thing, but from him all things 3 ThatTntelleQ: is not in him, but that he is the Original Spring of every Intelle£t. Such is Ylotinuss meaning when he affirms, ^ Goi neither underjiands nor knows ^ that is to fay, after a formal way, As Dionyjius Areopagita^ God is neither an Intel leliual nor Intelligent Nature^ kit unfpeakably exaltedexalted above all IntelleS and Knowledge.
, _ \
SoH. 2. I . .
\
P'atonrjls diftinguifh Creatures into three de¬ gress- The firft comprehends the Cor¬ poreal and vifible-, as Heaven^ Elements, and all compounded of them : The laft the invifible, incorporeal, abfolutely free from Bodies, which properly are called Intel leQual (by Divines, Angelical) Natures. Betwixt thefe is a mid-nature, which tho’ incorporeal, in¬ vifible, immortal, y'^ moveth Bodies, as being obliged to thatOffic^ called, the Rational Soul-, inferiour to Angels, fivli^riour to Bodies ^ Ti^edf to thole, regent of thefe : above which ts^od himfelf. Author and Principal of every Creature, in whom Divinity hath a cafual beings from vyhom, proceeding to Angels, it hath a formal
Part.
being, and thence is derived into the rational Soul by participation of their luftre ;• ■ below
which, no Nature can aftbmethe Title of Divine.
*
Seff. IIL
I
That the firft of thefe three Natures can¬ not be multipled, who is but one, the Principal and Caule of all other Divinity, is evidently proved by PlaioniJis^Peripatotleks^SLnd our Divines. About the fecond, (viz. TheAn- gelick and Intelle£hial, Platonifis dilagree. Some (d&Proelus.^ JtArniiasj.Syrianus^ and ma¬ ny others betwixt God and the rational Soul place a great number pf Creatures i part of thefe they call Notja, Intelligible, part IntelleOnal j which Terms, Plato Ibme'cimes confbundeth, as in his Phado, Plotinus.^ Porpby- ;•//«, and generally the moft refined Platonijts^ betwixt God and the Soul of the World, afiign only one Creature, which they call the Son of God,; becaufe immediately - produced by Mm. The firft Opinion complies moft With Dionysius' Areopagkd.^ and Chriltian! = Divines, who afl^rt ■ the' nuraherof Angels cd 'bs? in a manner Infinite. The fecond is the more Phi lofephick, bell -fuic- ing with Ariftotle and whole Senfe wo only purpofe to exprefs -, and therefore will de¬ cline the firft Path ( tho ' that only be the right) to purfue the latter.
Sell. IV.
WE therefore, according to the Opinion of Plotinus., confirmed not only by the heft P/atoniJis^ but, even by Arijlotle., and all the Arabians, efpecially Avicenna, affirm, that God from Eternity produced a Creature of In¬ corporeal and Intelieftual Nature, as perfeft as is polfible for a Created Being, beyond which,
he