[158] This, indeed, must always be the case with those geometricians, who are not at the same time, philosophers; a conjunction no less valuable than rare. Hence, from their ignorance of principles and intellectual concerns, when any contemplative enquiry is proposed, they immediately ask, in what its utility consists; considering every thing as superfluous, which does not contribute to the solution of some practical problem.
[159] Concerning the soul’s descent into body, see lib. ix., Ennead iv. of Plotinus; and for the method by which she may again return to her pristine felicity, study the first book of Porphyry’s Treatise on Abstinence.
[160] This Definition too, is marked by Mr. Simson with inverted commas, as a symbol of its being interpolated. But for what reason I know not, unless because it is useless, that is, because it is philosophical!
[161] That is, the various species of forms, with which the four elements are replete.
[162] That is, the circle.
[163] An admirer of the moderns, and their pursuits, will doubtless consider all this as the relics of heathen superstition and ignorance; and will think, perhaps, he makes a great concession in admitting the existence of one supreme god, without acknowledging a multitude of deities subordinate to the first. For what the ancients can urge in defence of this obsolete opinion, I must beg leave to refer the reader to the dissertation prefixed to my translation of Orpheus; in addition to which let him attend to the following considerations. Is it possible that the machinery of the gods in Homer could be so beautiful, if such beings had no existence? Or can any thing be beautiful which is destitute of all reality? Do not things universally please in proportion as they resemble reality? Perhaps it will be answered, that the reverse of this is true, and that fiction more generally pleases than truth, as is evident from the great avidity with which romances are perused. To this I reply, that fiction itself ceases to be pleasing, when it supposes absolute impossibilities: for the existence of genii and fairies cannot be proved impossible; and these compose all the marvellous of romance. This observation is verified in Spencer’s Fairy Queen: for his allegories, in which the passions are personified, are tedious and unpleasant, because they are not disguised under the appearance of reality: while the magic of Circe, the bower of Calypso, the rocks of Scylla and Charybdis, and the melody of the Syrens, in the Odyssey of Homer, though nothing but allegories, universally enchant and delight, because they are covered with the semblance of truth. It is on this account that Mikon’s battles in heaven are barbarous and ridiculous in the extreme; for every one sees the impossibility of supposing gun-powder and cannons in the celestial regions: the machinery is forced and unnatural, contains no elegance of fancy, and is not replete with any mystical information. On the contrary, Homer’s machinery is natural and possible, is full of dignity and elegance, and is pregnant with the sublimest truths; it delights and enobles the mind of the reader, astonishes him with its magnificence and propriety, and animates him with the fury of poetic inspiration. And this, because it is possible and true.
[164] The sentence within the brackets is omitted in the Greek.
[165] That is, the circular form proceeds from bound, but right-lined figures from infinity.
[166] That is, the number three.
[167] In Timæo.