Of this very remarkable extract, it is necessary to observe, in the first place, that it was principally made by me from the edition of the Asclepian Dialogue by Ficinus, as he appears to have had a more correct manuscript in his possession than any that have been consulted by more modern editors. Of this the learned and at the same time philosophic reader will be immediately convinced, by comparing this extract with the same part of that dialogue in the most modern editions of it. In the second place, that this dialogue is of genuine antiquity and no forgery, is, I think, unquestionably evident from neither Lactantius nor Augustin having any doubt of its authenticity, though it was their interest to have proved it to be spurious if they could, because it predicts, (which is the third thing especially deserving of remark,) that the memorials of the martyrs should succeed in the place of the temples of the Gods. Hence Augustin concludes this to be a prophecy or prediction made instinctu fallacis spiritûs,—by the instinct or suggestion of a deceitful spirit. But that this prediction was accomplished, is evident, as Dr. Cudworth observes in his True Intellectual System of the Universe, p. 329, from the following passages of Theodoret, which I shall quote as translated by the Doctor. “Now the martyrs have utterly abolished and blotted out of the minds of men the memory of those who were formerly called Gods.” And again, “Our Lord hath now brought his dead (i. e. his martyrs) into the room and place (i. e. into the temples) of the Gods; whom he hath sent away empty, and bestowed their honour upon these his martyrs. For now, instead of the festivals of Jupiter and Bacchus, are celebrated those of Peter and Paul, Thomas and Sergius, and other holy martyrs.” Antoninus the philosopher also, according to Eunapius, predicted the very same thing, viz. that after his decease the magnificent temple of Serapis in Egypt, together with the rest, should be demolished, and the temples of the Gods be turned into sepulchres, και τα ἱερα ταφους γενησεσθαι. And in the fourth and last place, the intelligent reader who compares this prediction with what is said about the philosophic stranger by Synesius, in the foregoing extract, will immediately see that the former wonderfully accords with the latter.
[d] [Page 57.]—This first period of the world, which was uncultivated and rude, and, according to Firmicus, was under the dominion of Saturn, is mentioned by Plato at the beginning of his third book On Laws. For there having observed that time is infinite, he says, “that myriads upon myriads of cities have existed in this time, and that, in consequence of the same temporal infinity, as many have been destroyed.” He also says, “that they will everywhere have been governed according to every kind of polity; and at one time pass from the less to the greater, and at another from the greater to the less, and have become worse from the better, and better from the worse.” He adds, “that the cause of this mutation, viz. the many destructions of the human race, is through deluges, diseases, and numerous other things, in which a very small part of mankind was left....” After this he observes, “that those who escaped the destruction which was caused by a deluge, were nearly mountain shepherds, a few dormant sparks of the human race, preserved on the summits of mountains. That such as these must necessarily have been ignorant of other arts, and of those artifices, in cities, of men towards each other, with a view to prerogative and contention, and other base ends.” He also supposes “that the cities which were situated in plains, and those bordering on the sea, entirely perished at that time. That hence, all instruments were destroyed, together with every invention pertaining to art, political discipline, or anything else characterized by wisdom.” He adds, “We must therefore assert, that when that devastation by a deluge took place, human affairs were in a state of infinite and dreadful solitude; that a prodigious part of the earth was unprolific; and other animals having perished, some herds of oxen, and a few goats, which were rarely found, supplied those men with food that escaped the devastation.” See what the divine philosopher further observes on this interesting subject, in my Translation of this book of his Laws.
The reader, however, must be careful not to confound this Saturnian period with the golden age, which also was under Saturn. For the latter, says Damascius (apud Phot.), consisted of a race of men proximate to the gods, and is most magnificently celebrated by poets who were seated on the tripos of the Muse. But by the golden age, as Proclus on Hesiod beautifully observes, “an intellectual life is implied. For such a life is pure, impassive, and free from sorrow; and of this impassivity and purity gold is an image, because it is never subject to rust or putrefaction. Such a life, too, is very properly said to be under Saturn, because Saturn is an intellectual god.”—See more concerning this Divinity in the Additional Notes at the end of the 5th vol. of my Plato, p. 675, &c.
[e] [Page 59.]—Plato, in the eighth book of his Republic, speaking of the dissolution of the city which he has constituted, observes as follows: “Not only with respect to terrestrial plants, but likewise in terrestrial animals, a fertility and sterility of soul as well as of body takes place, when the revolutions of the heavenly bodies complete the periphery of their respective orbits; which are shorter to the shorter lived, and contrarywise to such as are the contrary.” The necessity for such a mutation taking place is this (as I have observed in the Introduction to my Translation of Aristotle’s History of Animals),—that all the parts of the universe are unable to participate the providence of divinity in a similar manner, but some of its parts enjoy this perpetually, and others only for a time; some in a primary, and others in a secondary degree. For the universe, being a perfect whole, must have a first, a middle, and a last part. But its first part, as having the most excellent subsistence, must always exist according to nature; and its last part must sometimes subsist according to, and sometimes contrary to, nature. Hence the celestial bodies, which are the first parts of the universe, perpetually subsist according to nature, both the whole spheres and the multitude co-ordinate to these wholes[57]; and the only alteration which they experience is a mutation of figure, and variation of light at different periods; but in the sublunary region, while the spheres of the elements remain, on account of their subsistence as wholes, always according to nature, the parts of these wholes have sometimes a natural, and sometimes an unnatural subsistence; for thus alone can the circle of generation unfold all the variety which it contains.
The different periods in which these mutations happen are called by Plato, with great propriety, periods of fertility and sterility; for in these periods a fertility or sterility of men, irrational animals, and plants takes place; so that in fertile periods mankind will be both more numerous, and upon the whole superior in mental and bodily endowments, to the men of a barren period. And a similar reasoning must be extended to animals and plants. The so much celebrated heroic age was the result of one of these fertile periods, in which men transcending the herd of mankind both in practical and intellectual virtue abounded on the earth. And a barren period may be considered as having commenced somewhat prior to the Augustan age, the destruction of all the great ancient cities, with all their rites, philosophy, &c. being the natural consequence of such a period. It appears to me that this period commenced in the time of Sylla, and I found this opinion on the following passage in Plutarch’s Life of that great commander:—Το δε παντων μεγιστον, εξ ανεφελου και διαιθρου του περιεχοντος ηχησε φωνη σαλπιγγος, οξυν αποτεινουσα και θρηνωδη φθογγον, ὡστε παντας εκφρονας γενεσθαι, και καταπτηξαι το μεγεθος. Τυρῥηνων δε οἱ λογιοι μεταβολην ἑτερου γενους απεφαινοντο, και μετακοσμησιν αποσημαινειν το τερας. ειναι μεν γαρ αυτῳ οκτω τα συμπαντα γενη διαφεροντα τοις βιοις και τοις ηθεσι δ’ αλληλων, ἑκαστῳ δε αφωρισθαι χρονων αριθμον, ὑπο του θεου συμπεραινομενον ενιαυτου μεγαλου περιοδῳ· και ὁταν αυτη σχη τελος, ἑτερας ενισταμενης κινεισθαι τι σημειον εκ γης ἢ ουρανου θαυμασιον. i. e. “But the greatest of all [the signs prior to the civil wars] was the following: On a cloudless and clear day, the sound of a trumpet was heard, so acute and mournful as to astonish and terrify by its loudness all that heard it. The Tuscan wise men and soothsayers, therefore, declared that this prodigy signified the mutation into and commencement of another age. For according to them there are eight ages, differing from each other in lives and manners, each of which is limited by divinity to a certain time of duration, and the number of years of which this time consists is bounded by the period of the great year. Hence, when one age is finished, and another is about to commence, a certain wonderful sign will present itself, either from the earth or the heavens.” The mournfulness of this sound of the trumpet was evidently an indication that a barren period was about to commence.—For an account of the great year, see the note to page 478 of the treatise on Meteors.
The following extracts from a work entitled “Sketches chiefly relating to the History, Religion, &c. of the Hindoos, concerning the Mundane Periods,” appear to me to be highly interesting, and to form a most important addition to what has been before said about the revolutions which take place in the universe.
“They reckon the duration of the world by four Yougs, corresponding in their nature with the Golden, Silver, Brazen, and Iron ages of the ancients.
| Years. | |
|---|---|
| The first, or the Sutty Youg, is said to have lasted | 3,200,000 |
| The Tirtah Youg, or second age | 2,400,000 |
| The Dwapaar Youg, or third age | 1,600,000 |
| And they say the Kaly Youg, or present age, will last | 400,000.” |
p. 222.
“The beginning of the Kaly Youg, or present age, is reckoned from 2 hours, 27 minutes, and 30 seconds of the morning of the 16th of February 3102 years before the Christian era; but the time for which their astronomical tables are constructed, is 2 days, 3 hours, 32 minutes, and 30 seconds after that on the 18th of February, about six in the morning. They say there was then a conjunction of the planets, and their tables show that conjunction. Monsieur Bailly observes[58], that by calculation it appears, that Jupiter and Mercury were then in the same degree of the ecliptic; that Mars was distant about 8 degrees, and Saturn 17; and it results from thence, that at the time of the date given by the Brahmans to the commencement of the Kaly Youg, they saw those four planets successively disengage themselves from the rays of the sun; first Saturn, then Mars, then Jupiter, and then Mercury. These four planets, therefore, showed themselves in conjunction; and though Venus could not have appeared, yet, as they only speak in general terms, it was natural enough to say there was then a conjunction of the planets. The account given by the Brahmans is confirmed by the testimony of our European tables, which prove it to be the result of a true observation. Monsieur Bailly is of opinion, that their astronomical time is dated from an eclipse of the moon, which appears then to have happened, and that the conjunction of the planets is only mentioned by the way.”—pp. 224, 225.