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The grave account which Hesiod gives of proficiency
is, in my judgment, either the very same, or comes very
near to this which I have now set down. Proficiency is
(says he) when all difficulties are removed, all unevenness
smoothed and cleared, and the way made easy and passable. It must be smoothed by frequent exercise, cleared by
beams of divine light that guide the way to true philosophy, nothing at all of the clouds of doubt, error, or
inconstancy in good resolutions remaining, which are as
usually incident to learners in their first attempts upon
philosophy, as distraction and solicitudes are to those who,
sailing from a known land, cannot yet discover the place
whither they are bound. Thus I have known impatient
sophisters skip over common and ordinary notions, before
they have learned or attained better, and lose themselves
[p. 453]
in the middle of their journey in so troublesome a maze,
that they would be willing to return (if they could) to
their primitive state of quiet, inactive ignorance. Sextius,
a nobleman of Rome, may serve for an instance of this.
He quitted all offices and places of honor, that he might
more freely and undisturbedly apply himself to the study
of philosophy. At first he met with many difficulties; and
finding himself unable to encounter or conquer them, out
of very despair and despondency, he had thoughts of
throwing himself out of a little boat into the river Tiber.
Parallel to this is a merry story told of Diogenes of Sinope;
when he first put on his gown, it happened to be at a time
when the Athenians celebrated a festival with extraordinary
banquets, night-drinking, sports, and pageantry usual at
great solemnities. The philosopher, as he lay in the holidays in the corner of the street, muffled up in his clothes,
to try if he could take a nap, had some running thoughts
in his head, which checked the resolutions he had taken as
to a philosophical life, and troubled him extremely. He
reasoned with himself, that there was no necessity for his
entering into so troublesome and singular a way of living,
that he thereby deprived himself of all the sweets and
pleasures of life, and the like. While he was thinking
thus with himself, he espied (as the story goes) a mouse
venturing toward him, and now and then nibbling at a
mouldy crust that he had in his pouch. This sight (which
is much) turned his thoughts, and made him vexed and
troubled at himself as much on the other side. What
(says he) is the matter with thee, Diogenes? Thou seest
this tiny mouse lives well, and is very glad of thy scraps;
but thou, who must needs be a person of quality, forsooth,
art extremely sorry and out of humor, because thou dost
not feast upon down-beds, and cast not have the genteel privilege at this merry time to be drunk as well as
others.
[p. 454]
Another rational argument of gradual proficiency is when
avocations are not frequent upon us, and when they happen, very short; while the substantial rules and precepts of
wisdom, as if they had been violently driven out, presently
return upon our minds, and dispossess all empty trouble
and disconsolate thoughts.
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