It is even likely that tive enquiry is the first fruits of the leisure whicht civil life procures for individuals; but it is extremely doubtful, whether the immortality of the soul is among the first truths, which philosophers have rescued from ignorance and barbarity. The most polished nation of antiquity was late in its reception of the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. The Greeks, till the days of Thales, had formed no idea at all concerning a future state. "Thales primus dixit animas esse immortales." Thales himself came too early into the world, for the commencement of that opinion. Pherecydes of Scyros, according to the best authority, first introduced the doctrine, about the 55th olympiad; and his disciple, Pythagoras, greatly contributed to confirm the belief of another state, by the reputation of his philosophy.*"Pherecydes Scyrus primus dixit animos hominum esse sempiternos." And again, "hanc opinionem. Pythagoras ejus (scilicet Pherecydes) discipulus maximé confirmavit." It is certain, however, that few of the Greeks adopted the opinion of Pythagoras and his master; for Pausanias insinuates, that even in the days of Plato only some of the Greeks believed the soul of man to be Immortal. That * Macpherson. + Cicero ↑ Macpherson. That there have been nations in ignorance, and that there have in all ages been atheists and infidels, is beyond dispute. Were not this the case, there would have been no need now, nor at any other time, to prove the soul immortal. The immortality of the soul has in general been believed, from the earliest period we can trace, "et primum quidem omni antiquitate,*” and in all places; by the unlearned part of all civilized people; and by the almost general consent of all the most barbarous nations under heaven; from a tradition so ancient and so universal, that it cannot be conceived to owe its original either to chance, or to vain imagination, or to any other cause, than to the Author of Nature himself. And the most learned and thinking part of mankind, at all times and in all countries, where the study of philosophy has been in any measure cultivated, have almost generally agreed, that it is capable of a just proof, from the abstract consideration of the nature and operations of the soul itself. "I cannot imagine," says Cyrus,in that speech which, according to Xenophon, he made to his children a little before his death, "I cannot imagine the soul, while it is in this mortal body, lives; and that when it is separated from it, it dies. I cannot persuade myself, that the soul, by being separated from this body," which is devoid of sense, should therefore become likewise itself devoid of sense: on the contrary, it seems to me more reasonable to believe,' that when the mind is separated from the body, it should then become most of all sensible and intelligent." Although the whole herd of vulgar philosophers," says Cicero, (for this appellation belongs to all those who dissent from Plato and Socrates, and the rest of that school) "were to unite their powers, they would never be able to explain any subject with so much elegance, or even fully to comprehend the force and beauty of this argument." "Licet concurrant plebeii omnes philosophi (sic enim ii qui a Platone et Socrate et ab illa familia dissident, appellandi videntur :) non modo nihil unquam tam eleganter explicabunt, sed ne hoc quidem ipsum quam subtiliter conclusum sit intelligent." "No man shall drive me from the hope of immortality," says he in another place, "and if this my opinion concerning the immortality of the soul, should at last prove an error, yet it is a delightful error, and I will never suffer myself to be undeceived in so pleasing an opinion, as long as I live." "These things are nothing either in number or greatness," says Plato, "in comparison * Tusc, Quest. parison with those rewards of virtue, and punishments of vice, which attend men after death."* Ταῦτα τοινυν εδέν έςι πλήθει δε μεγέθει προς εκείνα ετε κοιτήσαντα εκαςτον περιμένει. The mysteries of the ancients had all one end and one nature, to teach the doctrine of a future state. In this Origen and Celsus agree, the two most learned writers of their several parties. The first, stating to his adversary the difference between the future life promised by the gospel, and that taught in Paganism, bids him compare the Christian doctrine with what all the sects of philosophy, and all the mysteries among Greeks and barbarians taught concerning it; and Celsus, in his turn, endeavouring to shew that Christianity had no advantage over Paganism in the strength of its sanctions, expresses himself thus: "But, now after all, just as you believe eternal punishments, so do the ministers of the sacred rites, and those who initiate into and preside in the mysteries." The AПOPPHTA, or hidden doctrines of the mysteries, were the unity of the Divine Nature, and the error of the grosser polytheism, namely, the worship of dead men deified. The Hebrew people alone had a public and national worship of one true God. + The • De Repub. C 4 + Divine Legation. The ancients distinguished the souls of men into three species; the human, the heroic, and the demonic. The two last, when they left the body, were believed to enjoy eternal happiness for their public services on earth, not in Elysium, but in Heaven, where they became a kind of DemiGods. But, all of the first, which included the great body of mankind, were understood to have their designation in Purgatory, Tartarus, or Elysium; the first and last of which abodes were temporary, and only the second eternal. Those who had greatly served their country, were, according to Tully, supposed to have souls of the heroic or demonic kind. The hope of unbounded felicity leads to virtue; and the dread of future punishment must have a still stronger influence on the conduct. The religion of the ancients did not tend merely to flatter the senses; it employed the most proper means to deter from wickedness. It alarmed them on all sides with the most frightful representations. The testi mony of those of antiquity, who opposed what they were pleased to call weak and foolish preju dices; their very attempt to dissipate those prejudices, or to turn them into ridicule, shews how deeply they were rooted. Observe with what solicitude Lucretius every where endeavours to burst the bonds of religion, and to for tify |