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THE SECOND BOOKE 297
Our judgements sight referreth it selfe unto truth,
as doth the owles eyes unto the shining of the sunne,
as saith Aristotle. How should we better convince
him than by so grosse blindnesse in so apparent a
light? For the contrarie opinion of the soules immortalitie,
which Cicero saith to have first beene
brought in (at least by the testimonie of books) by
Pherecydes Syrius in the time of King Tullus (others
ascribe the invention thereof to Thales, and other to
others) it is the part of humane knowledge treated
most sparingly and with more doubt. The most constant
I)ogmatists (namely in this point) are inforced
to cast themselves under the shelter of the Academikes
wings. No man knowes what Aristotle hath established
upon this subject no more than all the ancients
in generall, who handle the same with a very wavering
beliefe : Mem grntissimam promittentium magis quam
probantium: ' Who rather promise than approve a
thing most acceptable. He hath hidden himself under
the clouds of intricat and ambiguous words and unintelligible
senses, and hath left his Sectaries as mvich
cause to dispute upon his judgement as upon, the
matter. Two things made this his opinion plausible
to them: the one, that without the immortality of
soules there should no meanes be left to ground or
settle the vaine hopes of glory; a consideration of
wonderfull credit in the world: the other (as Plato
saith) that it is a most profitable impression, that vices,
when they steal away from out the .sight and knowledge
of humane justice, remaine ever as a blancke
before divine justice, which even after the death of
the guilty will severely pursue them. Man is ever
possessed with an extreme desire to prolong his being,
and hath to the uttermost of his skill provided for it.
Toombs and Monuments are for the preservation of
his body, and glorie for the continuance of his name.
He hath employed all his wit to frame him /selfe anew
(as impatient of his fortune) and to underprop or
uphold himselfe by his inventions. The soule by
reason of her trouble and imbecility, as unable to