214044_The_Essa ... rd_Of_Montaigne_Vol_II.pdf - OUDL Home

THE SECOND BOOKE 269
heire generall or all her wealth. And therefore she
had divine honours attributed unto her. As if it were
not sufficient for Plato to descend originally from the
Gods by a twofold line, and to have Neptune for the
common author of his race. It was certainly beleeved at
Athens that Ariston, desiring to enjoy faire Perictyone,
he could not, and that in his dreame he was warned
by God Apollo to leave her untoucht and unpolluted
untill such time as she were brought a bed. And
these were the father and mother of Plato. How many
such-like cuckoldries are there in histories, procured
by the Gods against seely mortall men? And husbands
most injuriously blazoned in favor of their
children ? In Mahomets religion, by the easie beleefe
of that people are many Merlins found, that is to say,
fatherless children: spirituall children, conceived and
borne divinely in the wombs of virgins, and that in
their language beare names importing as much. We
must note that nothing is more deare and precious to
any thing than its owne being (the Lyon, the Eagle
and the Dolphin esteeme nothing above their kind),
each thing referreth the qualities of all other things
unto her owne conditions, which we may either ampline
or shorten ; but that is all: for besides this principle,
and out of this reference, our imagination cannot go,
and guesse further : and it is unpossible it should
exceed that, or goe beyond it. Whence arise these
ancient conclusions. Of all formes, that of man is the
fairest: then God is of this forme. No man can be
happy without vertue, nor can vertue be without
reason; and no reason can lodge but in a humane
shape: God is then invested with a humane figure.
Ita est informatum anticipatum mentibus nostris, ut
homini, quum de Deo cogitet, forma occurrat humana :¹
'The prejudice forestaled in our mindes is so framed as
the forme of man comes to mans minde when he is
thinking of God.' Therefore Xenophanes said presently,
that if beasts frame any Gods unto themselves, as likely
it is they do, they surely frame them like unto themselves,
¹ CIC. Nat, Dear, 1. i.