Chap. XXIII.—Of the Errors of Certain Philosophers, and of the Sun and Moon.

Since, therefore, the leading men among the philosophers are themselves discovered to be of such emptiness, what shall we think of those lesser443    That is, philosophers of less repute and fame.   ones, who are accustomed never to appear to themselves so wise, as when they boast of their contempt of money? Brave spirit! But I wait to see their conduct, and what are the results of that contempt. They avoid as an evil, and abandon the property handed down to them from their parents. And lest they should suffer shipwreck in a storm, they plunge headlong of their own accord in a calm, being resolute not by virtue, but by perverse fear; as those who, through fear of being slain by the enemy, slay themselves, that by death they may avoid death. So these men, without honour and without influence, throw away the means by which they might have acquired the glory of liberality. Democritus is praised because he abandoned his fields, and suffered them to become public pastures. I should approve of it, if he had given them. But nothing is done wisely which is useless and evil if it is done by all. But this negligence is tolerable. What shall I say of him who changed his possessions into money, which he threw into the sea? I doubt whether he was in his senses, or deranged. Away, he says, ye evil desires, into the deep. I will cast you away, lest I myself should be cast away by you. If you have so great a contempt for money, employ it in acts of kindness and humanity, bestow it upon the poor; this, which you are about to throw away, may be a succour to many, so that they may not die through famine, or thirst, or nakedness. Imitate at least the madness and fury of Tuditanus;444    Cicero speaks of Tuditanus as scattering money from the rostrum among the people.   scatter abroad your property to be seized by the people. You have it in your power both to escape the possession of money, and yet to lay it out to advantage; for whatever has been profitable to many is securely laid out.  

But who approves of the equality of faults as laid down by Zeno? But let us omit that which is always received with derision by all. This is sufficient to prove the error of this madman, that he places pity among vices and diseases. He deprives us of an affection, which involves almost the whole course of human life. For since the nature of man is more feeble than that of the other animals, which divine providence has armed with natural means of protection,445    [Anacreon, Ode 2. τοι̑ς ἀδράσιν φρόνημα.]   either to endure the severity of the seasons or to ward off attacks from their bodies, because none of these things has been given to man, he has received in the place of all these things the affection of pity, which is truly called humanity, by which we might mutually protect each other. For if a man were rendered savage by the sight of another man, which we see happen in the case of those animals which are of a solitary446    Animals of a solitary nature, as opposed to those of gregarious habits.   nature, there would be no society among men, no care or system in the building of cities; and thus life would not even be safe, since the weakness of men would both be exposed to the attacks of the other animals, and they would rage among themselves after the manner of wild beasts. Nor is his madness less in other things.  

For what can be said respecting him who asserted that snow was black? How naturally it followed, that he should also assert that pitch was white! This is he who said that he was born for this purpose, that he might behold the heaven and the sun, who beheld nothing on the earth when the sun was shining. Xenophanes most foolishly believed mathematicians who said that the orb of the moon was eighteen times larger than the earth; and, as was consistent with this folly, he said that within the concave surface of the moon there was another earth, and that there another race of men live in a similar manner to that in which we live on this earth. Therefore these lunatics have another moon, to hold forth to them a light by night, as this does to us. And perhaps this globe of ours may be a moon to another earth below this.447    [He was nearer truth than he imagined, if the planet Mars may be called below us.]  Seneca says that there was one among the Stoics who used to deliberate whether he should assign to the sun also its own inhabitants; he acted foolishly in doubting. For what injury would he have inflicted if he had assigned them? But I believe the heat deterred him, so as not to imperil so great a multitude; lest, if they should perish through excessive heat, so great a calamity should be said to have happened by his fault.  

0421B CAPUT XXIII. De erroribus quorumdam philosophorum, deque sole et luna.

Cum igitur in tanta vanitate ipsi philosophorum principes deprehendantur, quid illos minores putabimus, qui numquam sibi tam sapientes videri solent, 0422A quam cum pecuniae contemptu gloriantur? Fortis animus. Sed expecto quid faciant, et quo ille contemptus evadat. Tradita sibi a parentibus patrimonia tamquam malum fugiunt, ac deserunt. Et ne in tempestate naufragium faciant, in tranquillo se ultro praecipitant, non virtute, sed perverso metu fortes; sicut illi, qui, cum timent ne ab hoste jugulentur, ipsi se jugulant, ut mortem morte devitent. Sic isti, unde possent gloriam liberalitatis acquirere, sine honore, sine gratia perdunt. Laudatur Democritus, quod agros suos reliquerit, eosque pascua publica fieri passus sit. Probarem, si donasset. Nihil autem sapienter fit, quod si ab omnibus fiat, inutile est ac malum. Sed haec negligentia tolerabilis. Quid ille, qui patrimonium in nummos redactum effudit in mare? Ego dubito 0422B utrumne sanus, an demens fuerit. Abite, inquit, in profundum, malae cupiditates; ego vos mergam, ne ipse mergar a vobis. Si tantus pecuniae contemptus est, fac illam beneficium, fac humanitatem, largire pauperibus: potest hoc, quod perditurus es, multis succurrere, ne fame, aut siti, aut nuditate moriantur. Imitare insaniam saltem furoremque 0423A Tuditani; 0423A sparge populo diripienda. Potes et pecuniam effugere, et tamen bene collocare; quia salvum est quidquid pluribus profuit.

Zenonis autem paria peccata quis probat? Sed omittamus id, quod est ab omnibus semper irrisum. Illud satis est ad coarguendum furiosi hominis errorem, quod inter vitia et morbos misericordiam ponit. Adimit nobis affectum, quo ratio humanae vitae pene omnis continetur. Cum enim natura hominis imbecillior sit quam caeterorum animalium, quae vel ad perferendam vim temporum, vel ad incursiones a suis corporibus arcendas, naturalibus munimentis providentia coelestis armavit: homini autem quia nihil 0423B istorum datum est, accepit pro istis omnibus miserationis 0424A affectum, qui plane vocatur humanitas, qua nosmet invicem tueremur. Nam si homo ad conspectum alterius hominis efferaretur, quod facere videmus animantes quarum natura solivaga est, nulla esset hominum societas, nulla urbium condendarum vel cura, vel ratio. Sic neque vita quidem satis tuta, cum et caeteris animalibus exposita esset imbecillitas hominum, et ipsi inter semetipsos belluarum more saevirent. Non minor in aliis dementia.

Quid enim dici potest de illo, qui nigram dixit esse nivem? quam consequens erat, ut etiam picem albam esse diceret! Hic est ille, qui se idcirco natum esse dicebat, ut coelum ac solem videret, qui in terra nihil 0424B videbat sole lucente. Xenophanes dicentibus Mathematicis 0424B 0425A orbem lunae duodeviginti partibus majorem esse, quam terram, stultissime credidit; et quod huic levitati fuit consentaneum, dixit, intra concavum lunae sinum esse aliam terram, et ibi aliud genus hominum simili modo vivere, quo nos in hac terra vivimus. Habent igitur illi lunatici homines alteram lunam, quae illis nocturnum lumen exhibeat, sicut haec exhibet nobis. Et fortasse noster hic orbis alterius inferioris terrae luna sit. Fuisse Seneca inter Stoicos ait, qui deliberaret utrumne Soli quoque suos populos daret: inepte scilicet, qui dubitaverit. Quid enim perderet, si dedisset? Sed, credo, calor deterrebat, ne tantam multitudinem periculo committeret; ne si aestu nimio periissent, ipsius culpa evenisse tanta calamitas diceretur.