Erasmus, in his Age of Religious Revolution, expressed an alarm, which
in some shape has been since realized. He strangely, yet acutely
observes, that "_literature_ began to make a great and happy progress;
but," he adds, "I fear two things--that the study of _Hebrew_ will
promote _Judaism_, and the study of _philology_ will revive PAGANISM."
He speaks to the same purpose in the Adages, c. 189, as Jortin observes.
Blackwell, in his curious Life of Homer, after showing that the ancient
oracles were the fountains of knowledge, and that the votaries of the
_god_ of _Delphi_ had their faith confirmed by the oracle's perfect
acquaintance with the country, parentage, and fortunes of the suppliant,
and many predictions verified; that besides all this, the oracles that
have reached us discover a wide knowledge of everything relating to
Greece;--this learned writer is at a loss to account for a knowledge
that he thinks has something divine in it: it was a knowledge to be
found nowhere in Greece but among the _Oracles_. He would account for
this phenomenon by supposing there existed a succession of learned men
devoted to this purpose. He says, "Either we must admit the knowledge of
the priests, or turn _converts to the ancients_, and believe in the
_omniscience of Apollo, which in this age I know nobody in hazard of_."
Yet, to the astonishment of this writer, were he now living, he would
have witnessed this incredible fact! Even Erasmus himself might have
wondered.
We discover the origin of MODERN PLATONISM, as it may be distinguished,
among the Italians. About the middle of the fifteenth century, some time
before the Turks had become masters of Constantinople, a great number of
philosophers flourished. _Gemisthus Pletho_ was one distinguished by his
genius, his erudition, and his fervent passion for _platonism_. Mr.
Roscoe notices Pletho: "His discourses had so powerful an effect upon
Cosmo de' Medici, who was his constant auditor, that he established an
academy at Florence, for the sole purpose of cultivating this new and
more elevated species of philosophy." The learned Marsilio Ficino
translated Plotinus, that great archimage of _platonic mysticism_. Such
were Pletho's eminent abilities, that in his old age those whom his
novel system had greatly irritated either feared or respected him. He
had scarcely breathed his last when they began to abuse Plato and our
Pletho. The following account is written by George of Trebizond.
"Lately has risen amongst us a second Mahomet: and this second, if we do
not take care, will exceed in greatness the first, by the dreadful
consequences of his wicked doctrine, as the first has exceeded Plato. A
disciple and rival of this philosopher in philosophy, in eloquence, and
in science, he had fixed his residence in the Peloponnese. His common
name was _Gemisthus_, but he assumed that of _Pletho_. Perhaps
Gemisthus, to make us believe more easily that he was descended from
heaven, and to engage us to receive more readily his doctrine and his
new law, wished to change his name, according to the manner of the
ancient patriarchs, of whom it is said, that at the time the name was
changed they were called to the greatest things. He has written with no
vulgar art, and with no common elegance. He has given new rules for the
conduct of life, and for the regulation of human affairs; and at the
same time has vomited forth a great number of blasphemies against the
Catholic religion. He was so zealous a platonist that he entertained no
other sentiments than those of Plato, concerning the nature of the gods,
souls, sacrifices, &c. I have heard him myself, when we were together at
Florence, say, that in a few years all men on the face of the earth
would embrace with one common consent, and with one mind, a single and
simple religion, at the first instructions which should be given by a
single preaching. And when I asked him if it would be the religion of
Jesus Christ, or that of Mahomet? he answered, 'Neither one nor the
other; but a _third_, which will not greatly differ from _paganism_.'
These words I heard with so much indignation, that since that time I
have always hated him: I look upon him as a dangerous viper; and I
cannot think of him without abhorrence."
The pious writer might have been satisfied to have bestowed a smile of
pity or contempt.
When Pletho died, full of years and honours, the malice of his enemies
collected all its venom. This circumstance seems to prove that his
abilities must have been great indeed, to have kept such crowds silent.
Several Catholic writers lament that his book was burnt, and regret the
loss of Pletho's work; which, they say, was not designed to subvert the
Christian religion, but only to unfold the system of Plato, and to
collect what he and other philosophers had written on religion and
politics.
Of his religious scheme, the reader may judge by this summary account.
The general title of the volume ran thus:--"This book treats of the laws
of the best form of government, and what all men must observe in their
public and private stations, to live together in the most perfect, the
most innocent, and the most happy manner." The whole was divided into
three books. The titles of the chapters where paganism was openly
inculcated are reported by Gennadius, who condemned it to the flames,
but who has not thought proper to enter into the manner of his
arguments. The extravagance of this new legislator appeared, above all,
in the articles which concerned religion. He acknowledges a plurality of
gods: some superior, whom he placed above the heavens; and the others
inferior, on this side the heavens. The first existing from the remotest
antiquity; the others younger, and of different ages. He gave a king to
all these gods, and he called him [Greek: ZEUS], or _Jupiter_; as the
pagans named this power formerly. According to him, the stars had a
soul; the demons were not malignant spirits; and the world was eternal.
He established polygamy, and was even inclined to a community of women.
All his work was filled with such reveries, and, with not a few
impieties, which my pious author has not ventured to give.
What were the intentions of Pletho? If the work was only an arranged
system of paganism, or the platonic philosophy, it might have been an
innocent, if not a curious volume. He was learned and humane, and had
not passed his life entirely in the solitary recesses of his study.
To strain human curiosity to the utmost limits of human credibility, a
_modern Pletho_ has risen in Mr. _Thomas Taylor_, who, consonant to the
platonic philosophy in the present day, religiously professes
_polytheism_! At the close of the eighteenth century, be it recorded,
were published many volumes, in which the author affects to avow himself
a zealous Platonist, and asserts that he can prove that the Christian
religion is "a bastardized and barbarous Platonism." The divinities of
Plato are the divinities to be adored, and we are to be taught to call
God, Jupiter; the Virgin, Venus; and Christ, Cupid! The Iliad of Homer
allegorised, is converted into a Greek bible of the arcana of nature!
Extraordinary as this literary lunacy may appear, we must observe, that
it stands not singular in the annals of the history of the human mind.
The Florentine Academy, which Cosmo founded, had, no doubt, some
classical enthusiasts; but who, perhaps, according to the political
character of their country, were prudent and reserved. The platonic
furor, however, appears to have reached other countries. In the reign of
Louis XII., a scholar named Hemon de la Fosse, a native of Abbeville, by
continually reading the Greek and Latin writers, became mad enough to
persuade himself that it was impossible that the religion of such great
geniuses as Homer, Cicero, and Virgil was a false one. On the 25th of
August, 1503, being at church, he suddenly snatched the host from the
hands of the priest, at the moment it was raised, exclaiming--"What!
always this folly!" He was immediately seized. In the hope that he would
abjure his extravagant errors, they delayed his punishment; but no
exhortation or entreaties availed. He persisted in maintaining that
Jupiter was the sovereign God of the universe, and that there was no
other paradise than the Elysian fields. He was burnt alive, after having
first had his tongue pierced, and his hand cut off. Thus perished an
ardent and learned youth, who ought only to have been condemned as a
Bedlamite.
Dr. More, the most rational of our modern Platonists, abounds, however,
with the most extravagant reveries, and was inflated with egotism and
enthusiasm, as much as any of his mystic predecessors. He conceived that
he communed with the Divinity itself! that he had been shot as a fiery
dart into the world, and he hoped he had hit the mark. He carried his
self-conceit to such extravagance, that he thought his urine smelt like
violets, and his body in the spring season had a sweet odour; a
perfection peculiar to himself. These visionaries indulge the most
fanciful vanity.
The "sweet odours," and that of "the violets," might, however, have been
real--for they mark a certain stage of the disease of diabetes, as
appears in a medical tract by the elder Dr. Latham.