The proofs of an apparent prophecy from foresight may be seen in those, who by reflection have attained either a worldly or a weather wisdom. The sea captain, who has looked out upon the sky at night, and has learned the foreboding signs of a storm, will often dream of shipwreck; and the politician will dream of events, as well as predicate consequences, from an enlightened reflection on the motives of the human mind, and the general laws which indeed influence its actions. So that, with a little latitude, it were easy enough for us all to construct an almanac column, especially if there be granted to us a liberal allowance of “more or less about this time.”
Above all, it is our duty to avert the impressions of evil from the superstitious mind. The apprehension of a misfortune or fatality may prove its cause. Ay, and if the intellect were really gifted with prescience, how oft would the happiness of life be blighted?
The allegory of the tree of knowledge is a practic precept for our lives.
Astr. And yet Virgil has thus alluded to the delight of peeping into futurity:
“Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.”
Ev. I would rather echo the benevolent precept of Horace, to ensure the bliss of ignorance on this point:
“Tu ne quæsieris, scire (nefas) quem mihi, quem tibi,
Finem Dii dederint.”
in other words: “Seek not to know the destiny that awaits us.”
And Milton’s wisdom, too: