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Article ON PHILOSOPHY. ← Page 2 of 3 →
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On Philosophy.
according to our doctrine ; it restrains all the evil passions and troubles of the soul ; it appeases all sinful desires ; it stifles pride , presumption , ambition , anger , vengeance , avarice , and injustice ; in a word , it is Philosophy which directs , by the means of reason , conducted by the Divine Spirit , the morals of man in the road of virtue ; restores tranquility to the soul as its only permanent good , doing that voluntarilwhich others do contrary to their inclinationsand for fear
y , , of the laws . '—Euclid , of the city of Megara , was desirous of hearing the wise lessons of Socrates , who lived at Athens ; but the war beingcarried on with great cruelty between these two cities , no citizen from the one durst be seen in the other , without danger of inevitable death . The love of wisdom , however , reigned so strongly within him , that though ho was a Pagan , aud much doubted the reality of another life ,
he still preferred the desire of knowledge to his own preservation . He disguised himself , therefore , in the habit of a woman , and went every third day to Athens , where he passed the greatest part of the night in hearkening to the wise instructions of the Philosopher , and returned to Megara by break of day . —Crates , the Theban , gave up an inheritance of eiht * talents to a friendfor a frugal maintenance
g , during life , that he mig ht follow the science of Philosophy with greater ease , free from the application and cares of housekeeping . — Anaxagoras , for the same reason , left all his lands uncultivated , and , after many years study , returning home , and finding his house in
ruins , and every thing in great disorder , ' If these things ( said lie ) had not been as they are , I had certainly perished ; ' meaning by that , that if he had attended to the cultivation and improvement of his land , he had not acquired the treasure of science , the greatest ornament of his mind . —Demoeritus , the Abderitan , was so immensely rich , that he made a feast to the prodigious army of Xerxes which passed into Greeceand-which consisted of more than two millions of
menac-, , cording to Herodotus : in the end , he left the remainder of his great wealth to his country , reserving but a very small annual sum for hisfrugal maintenance , that he might be more at leisure to study Philosophy , and for that purpose he went to reside at Athens . —Zeno , founder of the Academy of Stoicks , was possessed of great riches , but by divers losses and misfortunes , was reduced to great poverty :
' Fortune ( said he ) thou art wiser than I ; I thank thee for constraining me to the study of Philosophy ; ' which science he followed ever after . —Cleanthes gained a livelihood by the study and writings of natural history , and being asked by Antigonus , King of Macedonj whether he still continued to turn the mill-stone of the mill ? he answered' Yesant please your MajestyI still turn ifto gain an
ho-, , , , nest maintenance , and to keep me in the path of Philosophy . ' Some said he was employed in the nightin drawing water for a gardener , in order to be more at liberty in the tlay to attend to the lessons of Philosophy . A young man having studied for some years in the schools of Zeno , returned to the place of his birth ; his father examined hiiri
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Philosophy.
according to our doctrine ; it restrains all the evil passions and troubles of the soul ; it appeases all sinful desires ; it stifles pride , presumption , ambition , anger , vengeance , avarice , and injustice ; in a word , it is Philosophy which directs , by the means of reason , conducted by the Divine Spirit , the morals of man in the road of virtue ; restores tranquility to the soul as its only permanent good , doing that voluntarilwhich others do contrary to their inclinationsand for fear
y , , of the laws . '—Euclid , of the city of Megara , was desirous of hearing the wise lessons of Socrates , who lived at Athens ; but the war beingcarried on with great cruelty between these two cities , no citizen from the one durst be seen in the other , without danger of inevitable death . The love of wisdom , however , reigned so strongly within him , that though ho was a Pagan , aud much doubted the reality of another life ,
he still preferred the desire of knowledge to his own preservation . He disguised himself , therefore , in the habit of a woman , and went every third day to Athens , where he passed the greatest part of the night in hearkening to the wise instructions of the Philosopher , and returned to Megara by break of day . —Crates , the Theban , gave up an inheritance of eiht * talents to a friendfor a frugal maintenance
g , during life , that he mig ht follow the science of Philosophy with greater ease , free from the application and cares of housekeeping . — Anaxagoras , for the same reason , left all his lands uncultivated , and , after many years study , returning home , and finding his house in
ruins , and every thing in great disorder , ' If these things ( said lie ) had not been as they are , I had certainly perished ; ' meaning by that , that if he had attended to the cultivation and improvement of his land , he had not acquired the treasure of science , the greatest ornament of his mind . —Demoeritus , the Abderitan , was so immensely rich , that he made a feast to the prodigious army of Xerxes which passed into Greeceand-which consisted of more than two millions of
menac-, , cording to Herodotus : in the end , he left the remainder of his great wealth to his country , reserving but a very small annual sum for hisfrugal maintenance , that he might be more at leisure to study Philosophy , and for that purpose he went to reside at Athens . —Zeno , founder of the Academy of Stoicks , was possessed of great riches , but by divers losses and misfortunes , was reduced to great poverty :
' Fortune ( said he ) thou art wiser than I ; I thank thee for constraining me to the study of Philosophy ; ' which science he followed ever after . —Cleanthes gained a livelihood by the study and writings of natural history , and being asked by Antigonus , King of Macedonj whether he still continued to turn the mill-stone of the mill ? he answered' Yesant please your MajestyI still turn ifto gain an
ho-, , , , nest maintenance , and to keep me in the path of Philosophy . ' Some said he was employed in the nightin drawing water for a gardener , in order to be more at liberty in the tlay to attend to the lessons of Philosophy . A young man having studied for some years in the schools of Zeno , returned to the place of his birth ; his father examined hiiri