PART II. THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. CHAPTER I. Concerning the State of Learning and Philosophy. Christians. I. THOUGH, in this century, the illiterate and CENT. v. ignorant were advanced to eminent and important The state of stations, both ecclesiastical and civil, yet we must letters not thence conclude, that the sciences were treated among the with universal contempt. The value of learning, and the excellence of the fine arts, were yet generally acknowleged among the thinking part of mankind. Hence public schools were erected in almost all the great cities, such as Constantinople, Rome, Marseilles, Edessa, Nisibis, Carthage, Lyons, and Treves; and public instructors of capacity and genius were set apart for the education of the youth, and maintained at the expense of the emperors. Several bishops and monks contributed also to the advancement of knowlege, by imparting to others their small stock of learning and science. But the infelicity of the times, the incursions of the barbarous nations, and the scarcity of great geniuses, rendered the fruits of these excellent establishments much less important than their generous founders and promoters expected. II. In the western provinces, and especially in In the west. Gaul, there were indeed some men eminently distinguished by their learning and talents, and every way proper to serve as models to the lower orders in the republic of letters. Of this we have abundant proof in the writings of Macrobius, Salvian, Vincentius bishop of Liris, Ennodius, Sidonius Apollinaris, Clau CENT. V. dian, Mamertus, Dracontius, and others, who, though in some respects inferior to the celebrated authors of antiquity, are yet far from being destitute of elegance, and discover in their productions a most laborious application to literary researches of various kinds. But the barbarous nations, which either spread desolation, or formed settlements in the Roman territories, choked the growth of those genial seeds, which the hand of science had sown in more auspicious times. These savage invaders, who possessed no other ambition than that of conquest, and considered military courage as the only source of true virtue and solid glory, beheld, in consequence, the arts and sciences with the utmost contempt. Wherever therefore they extended their conquests, ignorance and darkness followed their steps; and the culture of science was confined to the priests and monks alone; and even among these, learning degenerated from its primitive lustre, and put on the most unseemly and fantastic form. Amidst the seduction of corrupt examples, the alarms of perpetual danger, and the horrors and devastations of war, the sacerdotal and monastic orders gradually lost all taste for solid science, in the place of which they substituted a lifeless spectre, an enormous phantom of barbarous erudition. They indeed kept public schools, and instructed the youth in what they called the seven liberal arts; but these, as we learn from Augustin's account of them, consisted only of a certain number of dry, subtile, and useless precepts, and were consequently more adapted to load and perplex the memory, than to improve and strengthen the judgement: so that, toward the conclusion of this century, the sciences were almost totally extinguished; at least, what remained of them was no more than a shadowy form, without solidity or consistence. ∞ d These arts were grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy. See cent. viii. part ii. ch. ii. in this volume, III. The few who applied themselves to the study CENT. V. of philosophy in this age, had not yet embraced the The state of doctrine or method of Aristotle. They looked philosophy upon in the west. the system of this eminent philosopher, as a labyrinth beset with thorns and thistles; and yet, had they been able to read and understand his works, it is probable that many of them would have become his followers. The doctrine of Plato had a more established reputation, which it had enjoyed for several ages, and was considered, not only as less subtile and difficult than that of the Stagirite, but also as more conformable to the genius and spirit of the Christian religion. Besides, the most valuable of Plato's works were translated into Latin by Victorinus, and were thus adapted to general use; and Sidonius Apollinaris informs us, that all those, among the Latins, who had any inclination to the study of truth, fell into the Platonic notions, and followed that sage as their philosophical guide. IV. The fate of learning was less deplorable In the east. among the Greeks and Orientals, than in the western provinces; and not only the several branches of polite literature, but also the more solid and profound sciences, were cultivated by them with tolerable success. Hence we find among them more writers of genius and learning than in other countries. Those, who were inclined to the study of law, resorted generally to Berytus, famous for its learned academy h, or to Alexandria, which was frequented by the students of physic and chemistry. The professors of eloquence, poetry, philosophy, and the other liberal arts, taught the youth in public schools, which were The passages of different writers, that prove what is here advanced, are collected by Launoy, in his book, de variâ Aristotelis Fortuna in Academia Parisiensi. See Augustini Confess. lib. i. cap. ii. sect. i. p. 105, 106. tom. i. op. See his Epistles, book iv. ep. iii. xi. book ix. ep. ix. h See Hasæi Lib. de Academia Jureconsultorum Berytensi; as also Mitylenæus, de Opificio Dei, p. 164. i Mitylenæus de Opificio Dei, p. 179. CENT. V. erected in almost every city. Those however of Alexandria, Constantinople, and Edessa, were deemed superior to all others, both in point of erudition and method k. Modern The philosophy of Aristotle rises into credit. V. The doctrine and sect of the modern Platonics, or Platonists, retained, among the Syrians and Alexandrians, a considerable part of their ancient splendor. Olympiodorus, Hero', and other philosophers of the first rank, added a lustre to the Alexandrian school. That of Athens was rendered famous by the talents and erudition of Theophrastus, Plutarch, and his successor Syrianus. These were the instructors of the renowned Proclus, who far surpassed the Platonic philosophers of this century, and acquired such a high degree of the public esteem, as enabled him to give new life to the doctrine of Plato, and restore it to its former credit in Greece m. Marinus, of Neapolis, Ammonius the son of Hermias, Isidorus and Damascius, the disciples of Proclus, followed, with an ardent emulation, the traces of their master, and formed successors who resembled them in all respects. But the imperial laws, and the daily progress of the Christian religion, gradually diminished the lustre and authority of these philosophers"; and, as there were many of the Christian doctors who adopted the Platonic system, and were sufficiently qualified to explain it to the youth, this naturally prevented the schools of these heathen sages from being so much frequented as they had formerly been. VI. The credit of the Platonic philosophy, and the preference that was given to it, as more excellent in itself, and less repugnant to the genius of the Gospel than other systems, did not prevent the doctrine of Aristotle from coming to light after a long struggle, k Æneas Gazæus in Theophrasto. 1 Marinus, Vita Procli, cap. ix. m The life of Proclus, written by Marinus, was published at Hamburg, in 1700, by John Albert Fabricius, and was enriched by this famous editor, with a great number of learned observations. n See Æneas Gazeus in Theophrasto. and forcing its way into the Christian church. The CENT. V. Platonists themselves interpreted, in their schools, some of the writings of Aristotle, particularly his Dialectics, and recommended that work to such of the youth as had a taste for logical discussions, and were fond of disputing. In this, the Christian doctors imitated the manner of the heathen schools; and this was the first step to that universal dominion, which the Stagirite afterwards obtained in the republic of letters. A second and yet larger stride toward this universal empire was made by the Aristotelian philosophy during the controversies which Origen had occasioned, and the Arian, Eutychian, Nestorian, and Pelagian dissensions, which, in this century, were so fruitful of calamities to the Christian church. Origen, as is well known, was zealously attached to the Platonic system. When, therefore, he was publicly condemned, many, to avoid the imputation of his errors, and to preclude their being reckoned among the number of his followers, adopted openly the philosophy of Aristotle, which was entirely different from that of Origen. The Nestorian, Arian, and Eutychian controversies were managed, or rather drawn out, on both sides, by a perpetual recourse to subtile distinctions and captious sophisms; and no philosophy was so proper to furnish such weapons, as that of Aristotle; for that of Plato was far from being adapted to form the mind to the polemic arts. Besides, the Pelagian doctrine bore a striking resemblance to the Platonic opinions concerning God and the human soul; and this was an additional reason which engaged many to desert the Platonists, and to assume, at least, the name of Peripatetics. |