The Religion of Nature Delineated William Wollaston (my reading book .TXT) 📖

of it as he could (καταπιόντα οὐκ ὀλίγους χρυσοῦς ἀποθανεῖν: “he swallowed a great many pieces of gold and then died”). ↩

Of such it is, that Diogenes used to say, Ὁμοίους τοὺς φιλαργύρους τοῖς ὐδρωπικοῖς, κ.τ.λ.: “That covetous men were like men that had the dropsy.” (Stobaeus, On Injustice.) The Mamshilim, that is, “the writers of proverbs,” mentioned in Nahalot Abot, compare them לצמא שישתה מהמים המלוחים כי כל עוד שישתה יוסיף צמא: “to thirsty people drinking saltwater: the more they drink, the drier they are.” (Isaac Abravanel.) ↩

Properly called “humanity,” because nothing of it appears in brutes. בהמה אינה מקפדתו חוששת בצער חברתה: “for brutes have no concern or uneasiness at their companions being in pain.” (Judah ben Samuel, Sefer Hasidim.) ↩

When Seneca says, Clementiam⁠ ⁠… omnes boni præstabunt, misericordiam autem vitabunt, “all good men should show mildness, but avoid showing pity,” he seems only to quibble (De Clementia). He has many other weak things upon this subject. That (sentence) succurret [sapiens] alienis lachrymis, non accedet, “a wise man will relieve a person in tears, but not cry himself,” owns one use of tears: they obtain succor even from a Stoic. (Ibid.) ↩

Ἀγαθοὶ ἀριδάκρυες ἄνδρες: “Good men are very apt to shed tears.” They who, of all writers, undertake to imitate nature most, oft introduce even their heroes weeping. (See how Homer represents Ulysses: Odyssey ε. 151⁠–⁠2⁠–⁠7⁠–⁠8.) The tears of men are in truth very different from the cries and ejulations of children. They are silent streams, and flow from other causes: commonly some tender, or perhaps philosophical, reflection. It is easy to see how hard hearts and dry eyes come to be fashionable. But for all that, it is certain the glandulæ lacrymales, “the glands we use when we cry,” are not made for nothing. ↩

Plutarch, Life of Pelopidas. ↩

A generous nature pities even an enemy in distress. Ἐποικτείρω δέ νιν δύστηνον ἔμπας, καίπερ ὄντα δυσμενῆ: “I always pity a man in misery, although he be my enemy.” (Sophocles, Ajax.) ↩

Est hominum naturæ, quam sequi debemus, maximè inimica crudelitas: “Cruelty is the most contrary that can be to human nature, which we ought to follow.” (Cicero, De Officiis.) ↩

Δεινὸν μὲν ὀ κλέπτης, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ οὕτω ὡς ὀ μοιχός: “A thief is a horrid creature, but not so bad as an adulterer.” (Johannes Chrysostom, Ad Populum Antiochenum.) ↩

One of the Subsessores alienorum matrimoniorum: “them that lie in wait for other men’s wives,” as they are called in Valerius Maximus. (Facta et dicta memorabilia.) ↩

Palam apparet, adhuc ætate Divi Hieronymi adulterium capite solere puniri: nunc magnatum lusus est: “It is very manifest that, in the time of St. Jerome, adultery was punished with death: but now it is the sport of great men.” (Erasmus, scholiast on St. Jerome.) ↩

For hence follows impunity, etc. משרבו מנאפים פסקו מים המרים: “From the overflowing of it, the adulterous derive bitter waters.” (Mishnah, Sotah IX, 9.) ↩

Is, qui nullius non uxorem concupiscit,⁠ ⁠… idem uxorem suam aspici non vult: et fidea acerrimus exactor, est perfidus: et mendacia persequitur, ipse perjurus: “He who desires every other man’s wife⁠ ⁠… will not have his own looked upon, and is very strict with other men to keep their word, but breaks his own; prosecutes others for lying and is perjured himself.” (Seneca, De Ira.) ↩

אשתו, τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γυνᾶικα: “His own wife.” ↩

What a monster in nature must he be, who, as if it was meritorious to dare to act against all these, (to use Seneca’s words again, from De Ira) satis justam causam putat amandi, quod aliena est [uxor]? “Who thinks it a sufficient reason to be in love with her, because she is another man’s wife.” ↩

Οὐδὲ γὰρ τοῦτ᾿ ἔνεστιν εἰπεῖν, ὡς τὸ σῶμα μόνον διαφθείρεται τῆς μοιχευομένης γυναικὸς, ἀλλ᾿ εἰ δεῖ τἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, ἡ ψυχῆ πρὸ τοῦ σώματος εἰς ἀλλοτρίωσιν ἐθίζεται, διδασκομένη πάντα τρόπον ἀποστρέφεσθαι, καὶ μισεῖν τὸν ἄνδρα, καὶ ἧττον ἀν ἦν δεινὸν, ἐι τὸ μῖσος ἐπεδείκνυτο ἐμφανὲς, κ.τ.λ.: “For we may not only affirm that the body of an adulterous woman is not all that is corrupted; but if we would speak the truth, that her mind is more habitually alienated (from her husband) than her body; for she is taught to have an utter aversion and hatred to him, and it is no wonder if she shows her hatred in public.” (Philo Judaeus, De Decalogo.) ↩

Marriage is κοινωνία παντὸς τοῦ βίου,⁠ ⁠… ὀικειοτέρα καὶ μείζων τῶν ἄλλων [κοινωνιῶν]: “the partaking equally of everything in life⁠ ⁠… more freely and familiarly, than in any other [society].” (Isocrates, Nicocles.) ↩

Ἁπαλὸν ζῶον: “The soft creature,” St. Basil. (Homilia dicta in Lacisis.) ↩

Ἔπεισας, ἐξέθωψας: “over-persuaded and enticed,” says the penitent woman in Sophocles (according to Plutarch, Moralia). ↩

Ψυχρὸν παραγκάλισμα⁠ ⁠… Γυνὴ κακὴ ξύνευνος: “A cold embrace⁠ ⁠… to have a lewd woman for a wife.” (Sophocles, Antigone.) ↩

Quid enim salvi est mulieri, amissa pudicitia? “What else can be safe, when the woman has lost her modesty?” (Livy, History of Rome.) ↩

Οἱ μηδὲν ἠδικηκότες ἄθλιοι παῖδες μηδ᾿ ετέρῳ γένει προσνεμηθῆναι δυνάμενοι, μή τε