Thomas Browne - The Works of Sir Thomas Browne, Volume 1

Sect. 46. Pag. 65.

How shall we interpret Elias 6000 years, etc.? ] Lactant. is very positive that the world should last but 6000 years; but his reason for it is somewhat strange; thus it is, Quoniam sex diebus cuncta Dei opera perfecta sunt, per secula sex , i.e. annorum sex millia manere in hoc statu mundum necesse est . De Divino præmio , cap. 14.

Sect. 47. Pag. 67.

Ipsa sui pretium virtus sibi, is but a cold principle. ] It is a Stoical principle. Quæris enim aliquid supra summum, interrogas quid petam extra virtutem ipsam. Nihil enim habet melius. Pretium sui est. Senec. de vit. beat. c. 19.

That honest artifice of Seneca. ] What that article was, is to be seen in Senec. l. 1. ep. 11 . Aliquis vir bonus nobis eligendus est, et semper ante oculos babendus, ut sic tanquam illo spectante vivamus, et omnia tanquam illo vidente faciamus. Et paulo post; Elige itaq; Catonem; si hic videtur tibi nimis rigidus, elige remissioris animi virum Lælium , etc. which though, as the Author saith, it be an honest Artifice, yet cannot I but commend the party, and prefer the direction of him (whoever he were) who in the Margin of my Seneca , over against those words, wrote these: Quin Deo potius qui semper omnibus omnia agentibus non tanquam sed reipsa adest, et videt; ac etiam ut Testis, vindex et punitor est male agentis .

I have tried, if I could reach that great Resolution of his (that is of Seneca) to be honest without a thought of Heaven or Hell. ] Seneca 6brags he could do this, in these words: Si scirem deos peccata ignoscituros, et homines ignoraturos, adhuc propter vilitatem peccati peccare erubescerem. Credat Judæus Appela: non ego . —

And Atheists have been the onely Philosopher. ] That is, if nothing remain after this life. St. Aug. was of this opinion. Disputabam – Epicurum accepturum fuisse palmam in animo meo, nisi ego credidissem post mortem restare animæ vitam , etc. Aug. l. 6. conf. cap. 16 .

Sect. 48. Pag. 68.

God by a powerful voice shall command them back into their proper shapes. ] So Minutius . Cæterum quis tam stultus est aut brutus, ut audeat repugnare hominem à Deo ut primum potuit fingi, ita posse denuo reformari, nihil esse post obitum, et ante ortum nihil fuisse; sicut de nihilo nasci licuit, ita de nihilo licere reparari. Porro difficilius est id quod sit incipere, quod quam id quod fuerit iterare. Tu perire Deo credis, si quid nostris oculis hebetibus subtrahitur. Corpus omne sive arescit in pulverem sive in humorem solvitur, vel in cinerem comprimitur vel in nidorem tenuatur, subducitur nobis, sed Deo elementorum custodi inseruntur. In Octav. Vide Grot. de veritate Relig. Christian. ubi (lib. 2.) solvit objectionem, quod dissoluta corpora resititui nequeunt.

Sect. 50. Pag. 71.

Or conceive a flame that can either prey upon, or purifie the substance of a soul. ] Upon this ground Psellus lib 1. de Energia Dæmonum , c. 7 holds, That Angels have bodies, (though he grants them to be as pure, or more pure than Air is) otherwise he could not apprehend how they should be tormented in Hell; and it may be upon this ground it was, that the Author fell into the error of the Arabians , mentioned by him, Sect. 7 .

Sect. 51. Pag. 73.

There are as many Hells as Anaxagoras conceited worlds. ] I assure my self that this is false printed, and that instead of Anaxagoras it should be Anaxarchus ; for Anaxagoras is reckon'd amongst those Philosophers that maintain'd a Unity of the world, but Anaxarchus (according to the opinion of Epicurus ) held there were infinite Worlds. That is he that caus'd Alexander to weep by telling him that there were infinite worlds, whereby Alexander it seems was brought out of opinion of his Geography, who before that time thought there remained nothing, or not much beyond his Conquests.

Sect. 54. Pag. 75.

It is hard to place those souls in Hell. ] Lactantius is alike charitably disposed towards those. Non sum equidem tam iniquus ut eos putem divinare debuisse, ut veritatem per seipsos invenirent (quod fieri ego non posse confiteor) sed hoc ab eis exigo, quod ratione ipse præstare potuerunt. Lactant. de orig. error. c. 3. which is the very same with Sir K. Digbie's expression in his Observations on this place. I make no doubt at all (saith he) but if any follow'd in the whole tenour of their lives, the dictamens of right reason, but that their journey was secure to Heaven.

Sect. 55. Pag. 77.

Aristotle transgress'd the rule of his own Ethicks. ] And so they did all, as Lactantius hath observed at large. Aristot. is said to have been guilty of great vanity in his Clothes, of Incontinency, of Unfaithfulness to his Master Alexander , etc. But 'tis no wonder in him, if our great Seneca be also guilty, whom truely notwithstanding St. Jerome would have him inserted in the Catalogue of Saints, yet I think he as little deserv'd it, as many of the Heathens who did not say so well as he did, for I do not think any of them liv'd worse: to trace him a little. In the time of the Emperour Claudius we find he was banish'd for suspition of incontinency with Julia the daughter of Germanicus . If it be said that this proceeded meerly from the spight of Messalina , (and that Lipsius did not complement with him in that kind Apostrophe, Non expetit in te hæc culpa, O Romani nominis et Sapientiæ magne. Sol. Not. in Tacit. ) why then did she not cause him to be put to death, as well as she did the other, who was her Husbands Niece? This for certain, whatever his life were, he had paginam lascivam , as may appear by what he hath written, de Speculorum usu, l. 1. Nat. Qu. cap. 16 . Which (admitting it may in a Poet, yet) how it should be excus'd in a Philosopher I know not. To look upon him in his exile, we find that then he wrote his Epistle De Consolat. to Polybius , Claudius his creature (as honest a man as Pallas or Narcissus ) and therein he extols him and the Emperour to the Skies; in which he did grosly prevaricate, and lost much of his reputation, by seeking a discharge of his exile by so sordid a means. Upon Claudius his marriage with Agrippina , he was recall'd from Banishment by her means, and made Prætor , then he forgets the Emperour, having no need of him, labours all he can to depress him and the hopeful Brittanicus , and procured his Pupil Nero to be adopted and design'd Successor, and the Emperours own Son to be disinherited; and against the Emperour whom he so much praised when he had need of him, after his death he writes a scurrilous Libel. In Nero's Court, how ungratefully doth he behave himself towards Agrippina ! who although she were a wicked woman, yet she deserv'd well of him, and of her Son too, who yet never was at rest till he had taken away her life, and upon suspition cast in against her by this man. Afterwards not to mention that he made great haste to grow rich, which should not be the business of a Philosopher, towards Nero himself, how well did it become his Philosophy to play the Traitor against him, and to become a complice in the conspiracy of Piso ? And then as good a Tragedian as he was, me thinks he doth in extremo actu deficere , when he must needs perswade Paulina , that excellent Lady his wife, to die with him: what should move him to desire it? it could in his opinion be no advantage to her, for he believ'd nothing of the immortality of the soul; I am not satisfied with the reason of Tacitus , Ne sibi unice dilectam ad injurius relinqueret , because he discredits it himself, in almost the next words, where he saith, Nero bore her no ill will at all, (and would not suffer her to die) it must surely be then, because he thought he had not liv'd long enough (being not above 114 years old, so much he was) and had not the fortitude to die, unless he might receive some confirmation in it by her example. Now let any man judge what a precious Legacy it is that he bequeaths by his nuncupative will to his friends in Tacitus . Conversus ad amicos (saith he) quando meritis eorum referre gratiam prohiberetur, quod unum jam tamen et pulcherrimum habebat, imaginem vitæ suæ relinquere testatur . It cannot be denyed of him, that he hath said very well; but yet it must as well be affirmed, that his Practice hath run counter to his Theory, to use the Author's phrase.