Thus at the outset we are led to a very significant result (1) that the Peripatetic section in Iamblichus opens in perfectly Aristotelian fashion, and further (2) that the opening verbally coincides with the exordium of the part of the Hortensius which went over the same ground.

Plato is next laid under contribution for a few pages, after which the thread of the argument is thus resumed in Ch. VI. Nature, it is said, produces nothing in vain; the body exists for the soul, the soul for the rational faculty in it, the rational faculty in its turn for the philosophic reason (voûs, p. 94). The full manifestation of this highest and final element in us is contemplation (ewpía), a form of intellectual activity rightly termed free', because it exists and is chosen for the sake of nothing beyond itself, Man deprived of sense and reason together is reduced to the condition of a plant; deprived of reason alone he is turned into a brute; deprived of irrationality but still remaining in the possession of reason he becomes like a God'.' Do we not recognize the hand of Aristotle here as visibly as in any part of the Ethics themselves?

In Ch. VII. the writer continues: Philosophy, however, has a practical use also, since without it we should lack the practical judgment with its unerring imperative (τὴν ἀναμάρτητον ÉπITAKTIKην þрóvnow, p. 104: comp. Eth. Nic. vI. 11); and it is not so difficult of acquisition as we are in the habit of supposing. The knowledge of principles (airiŵv Kai σTOLXeiwv, p. 108) comes first in the order of nature3, and no other

nes esse volumus.' Augustin. de Trinit. XIII. c. 4 (Vol. VIII. 659 ed. Bened. Antw., 1700). I conceive that Nobbe has misplaced the Fragment and that it would come properly at the beginning of the second or constructive part of the Dialogue.

1 Iambl. Protrept. p. 94: тŵv diavońσεων ἐλεύθεραι μὲν ἦσαν ὅσαι δι' αὑτὰς αἱρεταί, δούλαις δὲ ἐοικυῖαι αἱ τὴν ἄλλην γνῶσιν ἀπερείδουσαι. Comp. Metaph. I. 2 p. 982 6 25 Bekk. : ὥσπερ ἄνθρωπος φαμεν ἐλεύθερος ὁ αὑτοῦ ἕνεκα καὶ μὴ ἄλλου ὤν, οὕτω καὶ αὐτὴ (sc. σοφία)

μόνη ἐλευθέρα οὖσα τῶν ἐπιστημῶν· μόνη γὰρ αὐτὴ αὐτῆς ἕνεκέν ἐστιν.

2 Iambl. Protrept. p. 96: alobńoews μὲν οὖν καὶ νοῦ ἀφαιρεθεὶς ὁ ἄνθρωπος φυτῷ γίγνεται παραπλήσιος, νοῦ δὲ μόνου ἀφῃρημένος ἐκθηριοῦται· ἀλογίας δὲ ἀφαιρεθείς μένων δ ̓ ἐν τῷ νῷ ὁμοιοῦται 0e. Comp. De Anima, II. 2; Eth. Nic. 1. 6, p. 1097 b 35; x. 8, p. 1178 b 21.

3 Iambl. Protrept. p. 106: ȧel yàp γνωριμώτερα τὰ πρότερα τῶν ὑστέρων καὶ τὰ βελτίω τὴν φύσιν τῶν χειρόνων· τῶν γὰρ ὡρισμένων καὶ τεταγμένων ἐπιστήμη

kind of knowledge is possible without it. Law is the expression of the opóvnois of the philosopher, who is consequently the measure and standard whereby the rule of human life is determined1. But knowledge is still more precious when viewed on its purely theoretical side: contemplation is, like the exercise of sight, a thing admirable and desirable in itself, and the universal love of knowledge is only a higher phase of men's instinctive love of life. It may be worth while to quote a specimen of the original here, in order to shew how in both matter and form it exhibits every mark of Aristotelian authorship (comp. Metaph. 1. 1; Eth. Nic. IX. 9) :—

ἀλλὰ μὴν τό γε ζῆν τῷ αἰσθάνεσθαι διακρίνεται τοῦ μὴ ζῆν, καὶ ταύτης παρουσίᾳ καὶ δυνάμει τὸ ζῆν διώρισται, καὶ ταύτης ἐξαιρουμένης οὐκ ἔστιν ἄξιον [ἀξίως ?] ζῆν * * * οὐκοῦν εἰ τὸ ζῆν μέν ἐστιν αἱρετὸν διὰ τὴν αἴσθησιν, ἡ δὲ αἴσθησις γνωσίς τις καὶ διὰ τὸ γνωρίζειν αὐτῇ δύνασθαι τὴν ψυχὴν αἱρούμεθα, πάλαι δὲ εἴπομεν, ὥσπερ δυοῖν ἀεὶ μᾶλλον αἱρετὸν ᾧ μᾶλλον ὑπάρχει ταὐτό, τῶν μὲν αἰσθήσεων τὴν ὄψιν ἀνάγκη μάλιστα αἱρετὴν εἶναι καὶ τιμίαν, ταύτης δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπασῶν [οὖσα ?] αἱρετωτέρα, καὶ τοῦ ζῆν ἐστὶν ἡ φρόνησις κυριωτέρα [καὶ ?] τῆς ἀληθείας, ὥστε πάντες ἄνθρωποι τὸ φρονεῖν μάλιστα διώκουσι· τὸ γὰρ ζῆν ἀγαπῶντες τὸ φρονεῖν καὶ τὸ γνωρίζειν ἀγαπῶσι· διὰ οὐδὲν γὰρ ἕτερον αὐτὸ τιμῶσιν ἢ διὰ τὴν αἴσθη σιν καὶ μάλιστα διὰ τὴν ὄψιν· ταύτην γὰρ τὴν δύναμιν ὑπερβαλλόντως φαίνονται φιλοῦντες· αὑτὴ γὰρ πρὸς τὰς ἄλλας αἰσθή σεις ὥσπερ ἐπιστήμη τις ἀτεχνῶς ἐστίν (p. 124).

μᾶλλον ἐστιν ἢ τῶν ἐναντίων, ἔτι δὲ τῶν αἰτιῶν ἢ τῶν ἀποβαινόντων. ἔστι δ ̓ ὡρισμένα καὶ τεταγμένα τἀγαθὰ τῶν κακῶν μᾶλλον ὥσπερ ἄνθρωπος ἐπιεικὴς ἀνθρώπου φαύλου * * * αἴτιά τε μᾶλλον τὰ πρότερα τῶν ὑστέρων· ἐκείνων γὰρ ἀναιρουμένων ἀναιρεῖται τὰ τὴν οὐσίαν ἐξ ἐκείνων ἔχοντα. Comp. Eth. Nic. IX. 9, p. 1170 a 20, and Pol. 1. 2, p. 1253 a 19.

1 Iambl. Protrept. p. 108: πάντες γὰρ ὁμολογοῦμεν ὅτι δεῖ μὲν τὸν σπουδαιό

τατον ἄρχειν καὶ τὸν κατὰ φύσιν κράτιστον, τὸν δὲ νόμον ἄρχοντα καὶ κύριον εἶναι μόνον· οὗτος δὲ φρόνησίς τις καὶ λόγος ἀπὸ φρονήσεώς ἐστιν. ἔτι δὲ τίς ἡμῖν κανών, ἢ τίς ὅρος ἀκριβέστερος τῶν ἀγα θῶν πλὴν ὁ φρόνιμος; ὅσα γὰρ ἂν οὗτος ἕλοιτο κατὰ τὴν ἐπιστήμην αἱρούμενος ταῦτ' ἔστιν ἀγαθά, καὶ κακὰ τὰ ἐναντία τούτοις. Comp. Pol. III. 16, and Eth. Nic. I. 6, p. 1113 a 31; x. 10, p. 1180

α 21.

Ch. VIII. is in a more popular strain. The author, wishing to confirm his previous conclusions by an appeal to common. experience (ἀπὸ τῶν ἐναργῶν πᾶσι φαινομένων, p. 126), proceeds to tell us that life without philosophy is poor and valueless'. 'Strength and stature and beauty are ridiculous and nothing worth, and beauty seems such only because we see nothing as it exactly is. For were any one as sharpsighted as according to the story Lynçeus was, who saw through walls and trees, how could he think any one tolerable in appearance, seeing the base materials of which he is made?' (p. 132). If Aristotle did not say this, he must have certainly said something extremely like it, to judge from a quotation preserved in Boethius, de Consolatione, III. 15 :—

IAMBLICHUS.

εἰ γάρ τις ἐδύνατο βλέπειν ὀξύ, καθάπερ τὸν Λυγκέα φασίν, ὃς διὰ τῶν τοίχων ἑώρα καὶ τῶν δένδρων, πῶς ἂν ἔδοξεν εἶναί τινα τὴν ὄψιν ἀνεκτὸν ὁρῶν ἐξ οἵων συνέστηκεν και κῶν;

BOETHIUS.

Quod si, ut Aristoteles ait, lynceis oculis homines uterentur, ut eorum visus obstantia quaeque penetrarent, nonne introspectis visceribus illud Alcibiadis superficie pulcerrimum corpus turpissimum videretur?

Prof. Heitz, to whose excellent book on the 'Lost writings of Aristotle' (p. 305) I am indebted for the above reference to Boethius, has hazarded the conjecture that the Aristotelian quotation came in the last resort from a Dialogue. The place in Iamblichus seems to put the question in a wholly new light. Boethius treating of the 'Consolations of Philosophy' may well be supposed to have borrowed from Aristotle's Exhortation to Philosophy,' or rather from some later work of similar import like the Hortensius of Cicero. In its Latin form indeed we have only a distant echo of the original, and it is not

1 Here I cannot refrain from quoting a remark worthy of Aristotle even when Aristotle is at his best: τοῖς μὲν οὖν πολλοῖς πολλὴ συγγνώμη τοῦτο πράττειν εὔχονται μὲν γὰρ εὐδαιμονεῖν, ἀγαπῶσι

δὲ κἂν μόνον δύνωνται ζῆν (p. 132)-2 remark which in felicity of expression is on a par with the famous saying about the state (Pol. 1. 2): vivoμévy pèv τοῦ ζῆν ἕνεκεν, οὖσα δὲ τοῦ εὖ ζῆν.

difficult to surmise that even Iamblichus may possibly have modified it in the process of transcription1.

A little further on we read as follows:-'Who could think himself happy and blessed, looking at the evils in which we are every one of us involved from the very first, by way of punishment as it were, as the interpreters of the mysteries tell us. For this indeed the ancients deem a divine saying, that the soul is now paying a penalty, and that our present life is the chastisement of some great offences. Now the union of soul and body is precisely of this kind. Just as they say that the Tyrrhenians frequently torture their prisoners by binding dead bodies to living men so as to be in front of them face to face and limb to limb:. so the soul seems to be similarly stretched out and made fast to all the sensitive members of the body.' Here the parallel in the Hortensius leaves no doubt that we have been translating the ipsissima verba of Aristotle himself:

IAMBLICHUS.

τίς ἂν οὖν εἰς ταῦτα βλέ πων οἴοιτο εὐδαίμων εἶναι καὶ μακάριος, οἷς πρῶτον εὐθὺς φύσει συνίσταμεν, καθάπερ φασὶν οἱ τὰς τελετάς λέγοντες, ὥσπερ ἂν ἐπὶ τιμωρίᾳ πάντες. τοῦτο γὰρ θεῖον οἱ ἀρχαιότεροι λέγουσι, τὸ φάναι διδόναι τὴν ψυχὴν τιμωρίαν καὶ ζῆν ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ κολάσει μεγάλων τινῶν ἁμαρτημάτων· πάνυ γὰρ ἡ σύζευξις τοιούτῳ τινὶ ἔοικε πρὸς τὸ σῶμα τῆς ψυχῆς. ὥσπερ γὰρ τοὺς ἐν τῇ Τυρρηνία φασί βασανίζειν πολλάκις τοὺς άλισκομένους προσδεσμεύοντας κατ ̓ ἀντικρὺ τοῖς ζῶσι νεκροὺς

1 πῶς ἂν ἔδοξεν εἶναί τινα may perhaps represent πῶς ἂν ἔδοξεν εἶναι καὶ

CICERO'S Hortensius. Ex quibus humanae vitae erroribus et aerumnis fit ut interdum veteres illi sive vates sive in sacris initiisque tradendis divinae mentis interpretes, qui nos ob aliqua scelera suscepta in vita superiore poenarum luendarum causa natos esse dixerunt, aliquid vidisse videantur, verumque sit illud quod est apud Aristotelem, simili nos adfectos esse supplicio atque eos qui quondam, cum in praedonum Etruscorum manus incidissent, crudelitate excogitata necabantur, quorum corpora viva cum mor

τὸν ̓Αλκιβιάδην in the original Greek of Aristotle.

IAMBLICHUS.

ἀντιπροσώπους ἕκαστον πρὸς ἕκαστον μέρος προσαρμόττοντας, οὕτως ἔοικε ἡ ψυχὴ διατετάσθαι καὶ προσκεκολλῆσθαι πᾶσι τοῖς αἰσθητικοῖς τοῦ σώματος μέλεσιν (pp. 134—6).

CICERO'S Hortensius. tuis, adversa adversis accommodata quam aptissime colligabantur; sic nostros animos cum corporibus copulatos ut vivos cum mortuis esse coniunctos (Cic. ap. Augustin. contra Iul. Pelag. IV. 15; Vol. x. 411, ed. Bened. Antw., 1700).

To pass over the obvious points of coincidence, a word or two may be said about the points of divergence. (1) The allusion to Plato's Cratylus (400 c) is more marked in the Greek than in the Latin parallel. (2) The note of time is significant: Cicero naturally enough represents the barbarity of the Etruscans as a thing of the past, whereas the Greek writer speaks of it as something still existing in his day, and moreover with the reserve which characterizes Aristotle's references to the manners of comparatively unknown nations'. (3) Through defective appreciation of philosophic subtleties Cicero has failed to catch the full meaning of the original: the details of the illustration are clearly out of place, unless the soul is conceived as being, to use the energetic language of the Greek writer, 'stretched out,' 'tied and bound to all the organs of sense." We are now able to discern also that Cicero's debt to Aristotle begins earlier than we should imagine if we had only the light of nature to guide us in the discovery of the latent and unacknowledged part of the citation. The ancients are perpetually imitating before they seem to imitate, but it is not always in the power of criticism to determine the exact area of the imitation by a purely positive and external test, as Iamblichus enables us to do in the present instance. I need not stop to discuss the conjecture, adopted by V. Rose and Bernays, that it was from the Eudemus rather than the Protrepticus that Cicero translated the quotation in the Hortensius: both of

1 Comp. Eth. Nic. I. 10, p.51115 ο 28: καθάπερ φασὶ τοὺς Κελτούς. VII.

6, p. 1148 6 21 : οἵοις χαίρειν φασὶν ἐνίους τῶν ἀπηγριωμένων περὶ τὸν Πόντον.