No More Learning

Charles S. Thomas
1-
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4
15
I
SIR FRANCIS BACON.
FREIFISERESG


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LIBRARY
OF THE
WORLD'S BEST LITERATURE
Ancient and Modern
CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER
EDITOR
HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE, LUCIA GILBERT RUNKLE,
GEORGE H. WARNER
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
THIRTY VOLUMES
VOL. II
NEW YORK
R. S. PEALE AND J. A. HILL
PUBLISHERS


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↓
HARVARD
UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY
དཔ་ 、 ། ། ། བ ། ། ་༔ སུ ས
1
10
COPYRIGHT 1896
BY R. S. PEALE AND J. A. HILL
All rights reserved
THE WERNER COMPANY
SPRINTERS
BINDERS
ARBONO


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THE ADVISORY COUNCIL
CRAWFORD H. TOY, A. M. , LL. D. ,
Professor of Hebrew, HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Cambridge, Mass.
THOMAS R. LOUNSBURY, LL. D. , L. H. D. ,
Professor of English in the Sheffield Scientific School of
YALE UNIVERSITY, New Haven, Conn.
WILLIAM M. SLOANE, PH. D. , L. H. D. ,
Professor of History and Political Science,
BRANDER MATTHEWS, A. M. , LL. B. ,
Professor of Literature, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, New York City.
JAMES B. ANGELL, LL. D. .
President of the
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, Princeton, N. J.
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, Ann Arbor, Mich.
WILLARD FISKE, A. M. , PH. D. ,
Late Professor of the Germanic and Scandinavian Languages
and Literatures,
CORNELL UNIVERSITY, Ithaca, N. Y.
EDWARD S. HOLDEN, A. M. , LL. D. ,
Director of the Lick Observatory, and Astronomer,
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, Berkeley, Cal.
ALCÉE FORTIER, LIT. D. ,
Professor of the Romance Languages,
TULANE UNIVERSITY, New Orleans, La.
WILLIAM P. TRENT, M. A. ,
Dean of the Department of Arts and Sciences, and Professor of
English and History,
UNIVERSITY OF THE SOUTH, Sewanee, Tenn.
PAUL SHOREY, PH. D. ,
Professor of Greek and Latin Literature,
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, Chicago, Ill.
WILLIAM T. HARRIS, LL. D. ,
United States Commissioner of Education,
BUREAU OF EDUCATION, Washington, D. C.
MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN, A. M. , LL. D. ,
Professor of Literature in the
CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA, Washington, D. C.


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1
I


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V
TABLE OF CONTENTS
VOL. II.
LIVED
1226-1274
THOMAS AQUINAS (by Edwin A. Pace)
On the Value of Our Concepts of the Deity ('Summa
Theologica')
How Can the Absolute Be a Cause? (Quæstiones Dis-
putatæ')
On the Production of Living Things (same)
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS (by Richard Gottheil)
From The Story of the City of Brass' (Lane's Transla-
tion)
From The History of King Omar Ben Ennuman, and His
Sons Sherkan and Zoulmekan' (Payne's Translation)
From Sindbad the Seaman and Sindbad the Landsman ›
(Burton's Translation)
Conclusion of The Thousand Nights and a Night' (Bur-
ton's Translation)
ARABIC LITERATURE (by Richard Gottheil)
Imr-al-Kais: Description of a Mountain Storm
Zuhéir: Lament for the Destruction of his Former Home
Tarafah ibn al-'Abd: Rebuke to a Mischief-Maker
Labîd: Lament for the Afflictions of his Tribe
Antar: A Fair Lady
Duraid, son of as-Simmah: The Death of 'Abdallâh
Ash-Shanfarà of Azd: A Picture of Womanhood
'Umar ibn Rabí'a: Zeynab at the Ka'bah
'Umar ibn Rabi'a: The Unveiled Maid
Al-Nabighah: Eulogy of the Men of Ghassân
Nusaib: The Slave-Mother Sold
Al-Find: Vengeance
Ibrahim, Son of Kunaif: Patience
Abu Sakhr: A Lost Love
Abu l'Ata of Sind: An Address to the Beloved
Ja'far ibn 'Ulbah: A Foray
Katari ibn al-Fujâ'ah: Fatality
Al-Faḍl ibn al-Abbas: Implacability
PAGE
613
622
665


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ARABIC LITERATURE-Continued:
vi
Laplace
JOHN ARBUTHNOT
Hittân ibn al-Mu'allà: Parental Affection
Sa'd, son of Malik: A Tribesman's Valor
From Sale's Koran:- Chapter xxxv. : "The Creator";
Chapter lv. "The Merciful"; Chapter 1xxxiv. "The
Rending in Sunder »
Al-Hariri: His Prayer
Al-Hariri: The Words of Hareth ibn Hammam
The Caliph Omar Bin Abd Al-Aziz and the Poets (From
'Supplemental Nights': Burton's Translation)
DOMINIQUE FRANÇOIS ARAGO (by Edward S. Holden)
1786-1853
LIVED
1667-1735
The True Characters of John Bull, Nic. Frog, and Hocus
(The History of John Bull')
Reconciliation of John and his Sister Peg (same)
Of the Rudiments of Martin's Learning (Memoirs of
Martinus Scriblerus')
THE ARGONAUTIC LEGEND
The Victory of Orpheus (The Life and Death of Jason')
LUDOVICO ARIOSTO (by L. Oscar Kuhns) 1474-1533
The Friendship of Medoro and Cloridane (Orlando Fu-
rioso ')
The Saving of Medoro (same)
The Madness of Orlando (same)
ARISTOPHANES (by Paul Shorey)
B. C. 448-390?
Origin of the Peloponnesian War (The Acharnians')
The Poet's Apology (same)
Appeal of the Chorus (The Knights'
Cloud Chorus (The Clouds')
A Rainy Day on the Farm (The Peace')
The Harvest (same)
Grand Chorus of Birds (The Birds')
Call to the Nightingale (same)
The Building of Cloud-Cuckoo-Town (same)
Chorus of Women (Thesmophoriazusæ ')
Chorus of Mystæ in Hades (The Frogs')
A Parody of Euripides' Lyric Verse (The Frogs')
The Prologues of Euripides (same)
PAGE
704
722
731
741
759


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vii
ARISTOTLE (by Thomas Davidson)
JÓN ARNASON
Nature of the Soul (On the Soul')
On the Difference between History and Poetry (Poetics')
On Philosophy (Cicero's 'Nature of the Gods')
On Essences (Metaphysics')
On Community of Studies (Politics')
Hymn to Virtue
From Icelandic Legends':
The Merman
The Fisherman of Götur
The Magic Scythe
The Man-Servant and the Water-Elves
The Crossways
ERNST MORITZ ARNDT
What is the German's Fatherland?
The Song of the Field-Marshal
Patriotic Song
EDWIN ARNOLD
LIVED
B. C. 384-322
After Death (Pearls of the Faith')
Solomon and the Ant (same)
1819-1888
1769-1860
Youth of Buddha (The Light of Asia')
The Pure Sacrifice of Buddha (same)
Faithfulness of Yudhisthira (The Great Journey')
He and She
MATTHEW ARNOLD (by George Edward Wood-
berry)
1832-
The Afternoon (same)
The Trumpet (same)
Envoi to The Light of Asia'
Grishma; or the Season of Heat (Translated from Kalidasa)
1822-1888
Intelligence and Genius (Essays in Criticism')
Sweetness and Light ('Culture and Anarchy')
Oxford (Essays in Criticism')
To A Friend
Youth and Calm
Isolation - To Margue
Stanzas in Memory of the Author of 'Obermann' (1849)
Memorial Verses (1850)
PAGE
788
802
813
819
844


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MATTHEW ARNOLD- Continued:
The Sick King in Bokhara
Dover Beach
Self-Dependence
Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse
A Summer Night
The Better Part
The Last Word
THE ARTHURIAN LEGENDS (by Richard Jones)
PETER CHRISTEN ASBJÖRNSEN
From Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Britonum›
The Holy Grail (Malory's 'Morte d'Arthur')
viii
Gudbrand of the Mountain-Side
The Widow's Son
ROGER ASCHAM
ATHENÆUS
On Gentleness in Education (The Schoolmaster')
On Study and Exercise (Toxophilus')
LIVED
1812-1885
1515-1568
Why the Nile Overflows (Deipnosophistæ')
How to Preserve the Health (same)
An Account of Some Great Eaters (same)
The Love of Animals for Man (same)
JOHN JAMES AUDUBON
BERTHOLD AUERBACH
Third Century B. C.
PER DANIEL AMADEUS ATTERBOM
The Genius of the North
The Lily of the Valley
Svanhvit's Colloquy (The Islands of the Blest')
The Mermaid
AUCASSIN AND NICOLETTE (by Frederick Morris
Warren)
'Tis of Aucassin and Nicolette
1790-1855
1780-1851
A Dangerous Adventure (The American Ornithological
Biography')
Twelfth Century
1812-1882
The First Mass ('Ivo the Gentleman')
The Peasant-Nurse and the Prince (On the Heights')
PAGE
886
905
916
923
933
943
956
961


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ix
BERTHOLD AUERBACH-
-Continued:
The First False Step (same)
The New Home and the Old One (same)
The Court Physician's Philosophy (same)
In Countess Irma's Diary (same)
ÉMILE AUGIER
________
1820-1889
A Conversation with a Purpose (Giboyer's Boy')
A Severe Young Judge (The Adventuress')
A Contented Idler (M. Poirier's Son-in-Law')
Feelings of an Artist (same)
A Contest of Wills (The Fourchambaults')
ST. AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO (by Samuel Hart)
JANE AUSTEN
354-430.
The Godly Sorrow that Worketh Repentance (The Con-
fessions')
Consolation (same)
The Foes of the City (The City of God')
The Praise of God (same)
A Prayer (The Trinity')
MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS
Reflections
LIVED
A. D. 121-180
•
An Offer of Marriage (Pride and Prejudice')
Mother and Daughter (same)
1775-1817
A Letter of Condolence (same)
A Well-Matched Sister and Brother (Northanger Abbey')
Family Doctors (Emma')
Family Training (Mansfield Park')
Private Theatricals (same)
Fruitless Regrets and Apples of Sodom (same)
AVERROËS
THE AVESTA (by A. V. Williams Jackson)
Psalm of Zoroaster
Prayer for Knowledge
The Angel of Divine Obedience
To the Fire
The Goddess of the Waters
Guardian Spirits
An Ancient Sindbad
1126-1198
PAGE
998
1014
1022
1045
1079
1084


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THE AVESTA - Continued:
The Wise Man
Invocation to Rain
Prayer for Healing
Fragment
AVICEBRON
ROBERT AYTOUN
On Matter and Form (The Fountain of Life')
WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN
X
Inconstancy Upbraided
Lines to an Inconstant Mistress (With Burns's Adaptation)
MASSIMO TAPARELLI D'AZEGLIO
1813-1865
Burial March of Dundee ('Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers')
Execution of Montrose (same)
A Happy Childhood (My Recollections')
The Priesthood (same)
My First Venture in Romance (same)
BABER (by Edward S. Holden)
Memoirs'
From Baber's
The Broken Pitcher (Bon Gaultier Ballads')
Sonnet to Britain, "By the Duke of Wellington »
A Ball in the Upper Circles (The Modern Endymion')
A Highland Tramp (Norman Sinclair')
BABRIUS
LIVED
1028-? 1058
The North Wind and the Sun
Jupiter and the Monkey
The Mouse that Fell into the
Pot
The Fox and the Grapes
The Carter and Hercules
The Young Cocks
The Arab and the Camel
1570-1638
FRANCIS BACON (by Charlton T. Lewis)
Of Truth (Essays')
Of Revenge (same)
Of Simulation and Dissimulation (same)
1798-1866
1482-1530
Servants
The Lamp
The Tortoise and the Hare
PAGE
1099
1561-1626
1106
1109
First Century A. D. 1148
The Nightingale and the Swal-
low
The Husbandman
1129
1141
Stork
The Pine
The Woman and Her Maid-
and the
1155


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xi
―
FRANCIS BACON Continued:
Of Travel (same)
Of Friendship (same)
Defects of the Universities (The Advancement of Learn-
ing')
To My Lord Treasurer Burghley
In Praise of Knowledge
To the Lord Chancellor
To Villiers on his Patent as a Viscount
Charge to Justice Hutton
A Prayer, or Psalm
From the Apophthegms'
(
Translation of the 137th Psalm
The World's a Bubble
LIVED
WALTER BAGEHOT (by Forrest Morgan)
1826-1877
The Virtues of Stupidity (Letters on the French Coup
d'État')
Review Writing (The First Edinburgh Reviewers')
Lord Eldon (same)
Taste (Wordsworth, Tennyson, and Browning')
Causes of the Sterility of Literature (Shakespeare')
The Search for Happiness (William Cowper')
On Early Reading ('Edward Gibbon')
The Cavaliers (Thomas Babington Macaulay')
Morality and Fear (Bishop Butler')
The Tyranny of Convention ('Sir Robert Peel')
How to Be an Influential Politician (Bolingbroke ')
Conditions of Cabinet Government (The English Constï-
tution')
Why Early Societies Could Not be Free (Physics and
Politics')
Benefits of Free Discussion in Modern Times (same)
Origin of Deposit Banking (Lombard Street')
PAGE
1203


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LIST OF PORTRAITS
IN VOL. II.
Thomas Aquinas
Ludovico Ariosto
John Arbuthnot
Aristophanes
Aristotle
Ernst Moritz Arndt
Matthew Arnold
Roger Ascham
John James Audubon
Berthold Auerbach
Émile Augier
Jane Austen
Robert Aytoun
Francis Bacon
Vignette
Full page
Vignette
Vignette
Full page
Vignette
Full page
Vignette
Full page
Vignette
Vignette
Vignette
Vignette
Full page


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613
THOMAS AQUINAS
(1226-1274)
BY EDWIN A. PACE
HOMAS AQUINAS, philosopher and theologian, was born in 1226,
at or near Aquino, in Southern Italy. He received his early
training from the Benedictines of Monte Cassino. Tradition
says he was a taciturn and seemingly dull boy, derisively nicknamed
by his fellows "the dumb ox," but admired by his teachers. He sub-
sequently entered the University of Naples. While studying there he
joined the Dominican Order, and was sent later on to Cologne, where
he became a pupil of Albertus Magnus. In 1251 he went to Paris,
took his degrees in theology, and began his career as a teacher in
the University. His academic work there
was continued, with slight interruptions,
till 1261. The eleven years which followed
were spent partly in Rome, where Thomas
enjoyed the esteem of Urban IV. and Clem-
ent IV. , and partly in the cities of North-
ern Italy, which he visited in the interest
of his Order. During this period he pro-
duced the greatest of his works, and won
such repute as a theologian that the lead-
ing universities made every effort to secure
him as a teacher. He was appointed to a
professorship at Naples, where he remained.
from 1272 until the early part of 1274. Sum-
moned by Gregory X. to take part in the Council of Lyons, he set
out on his journey northward, but was compelled by illness to stop
at Fossa Nuova. Here he died March 7th, 1274. He was canonized
in 1323, and was proclaimed a doctor of the Church by Pius V. in
1567.
THOMAS AQUINAS

These honors were merited by a remarkable combination of ability
and virtue. To an absolute purity of life, St. Thomas added an
earnest love of truth and of labor. Calm in the midst of discussion,
he was equally proof against the danger of brilliant success. As
the friend of popes and princes, he might have attained the highest
dignities; but these he steadfastly declined, devoting himself, so far as
his duty permitted, to scientific pursuits. Judged by his writings, he
was intense yet thoroughly objective, firm in his own position but
dispassionate in treating the opinions of others. Conclusions reached


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614
THOMAS AQUINAS
by daring speculation and faultless logic are stated simply, imper-
sonally. Keen replies are given without bitterness, and the boldest
efforts of reason are united with the submissiveness of faith.
His works fill twenty-five large quarto volumes of the Parma edi-
tion. This is, so far, the most complete collection, though various
portions have been edited from time to time with the commentaries
of learned theologians like Cajetan and Sylvius. Partial translations
have also been made into several modern languages; but as yet there
is no complete English edition of St. Thomas.
Turning to the Latin text, the student cannot but notice the con-
trast between the easy diction of modern philosophical writers and
the rugged conciseness of the mediæval Schoolman. On the other
hand, disappointment awaits those who quit the pages of Cicero for
the less elegant Latinity of the Middle Ages. What can be said in
favor of scholastic "style" is that it expresses clearly and tersely the
subtle shades of thought which had developed through thirteen cen-
turies, and which often necessitated a sacrifice of classic form. With
the Schoolmen, as with modern writers on scientific subjects, precis-
ion was the first requisite, and terminology was of more consequence
than literary beauty.
Similar standards must be kept in view when we pass judgment
upon the technique of St. Thomas. In his presentation we find
neither the eloquence nor the rhetoric of the Fathers. He quotes
them continually, and in some of his works adopts their division
into books and chapters. But his exposition is more compact, con-
sisting at times of clear-cut arguments in series without an attempt
at transition, at other times of sustained reasoning processes in which
no phrase is superfluous and no word ambiguous. Elsewhere he uses
the more rigid mold which was peculiar to the Scholastic Period, and
had been fashioned chiefly by Alexander Hales. Each subject is
divided into so many "questions," and each question into so many
"articles. " The "article" begins with the statement of objections,
then discusses various opinions, establishes the author's position, and
closes with a solution of the difficulties which that position may en-
counter. This method had its advantages. It facilitated analysis,
and obliged the writer to examine every aspect of a problem. . It
secured breadth of view and thoroughness of treatment. It was, espe-
cially, a transparent medium for reason, unbiased by either sentiment
or verbiage.
If such qualities of style and presentation were encouraged by the
environment in which Aquinas pursued his earlier studies, they were
also helpful in the task which he chose as his life-work. This was
the construction of a system in which all the elements of knowledge
should be harmoniously united. An undertaking so vast necessitated


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THOMAS AQUINAS
615
a long preparation, the study of all available sources, and the eluci-
dation of many detailed problems. Hence, a considerable portion of
St. Thomas's works is taken up with the explanation of Peter Lom-
bard's 'Sententiæ,' with Commentaries on Aristotle, with Expositions
of Sacred Scripture, collections from the Fathers, and various opuscula
or studies on special subjects. Under the title 'Quæstiones Dispu-
tatæ,' numerous problems in philosophy and theology are discussed
at length. But the synthetic power of Aquinas is shown chiefly in
the 'Contra Gentes' and the Summa Theologica,' the former being
a defense of Christian belief with special reference to Arabian
philosophy, and the latter a masterly compendium of rational and
revealed truth.
The conception of the 'Summa' was not altogether original. From
the earliest days of the Church, men of genius had insisted on the
reasonableness of Christian belief by showing that, though super-
natural in its origin, it did not conflict with either the facts or the
laws of human knowledge. And as these had found their highest
expression in Greek philosophy, it was natural that this philosophy
should serve as a basis for the elucidation of revealed truth. The
early Fathers turned to Plato, not only because his teaching was
so spiritual, but also because it could be so readily used as a frame-
work for those theological concepts which Christianity had brought
into the world. Thus adopted by men who were recognized authorities
in the Church,—especially men like Augustine and the Areopagite,—
Platonism endured for centuries as the rational element in dogmatic
exposition.
Scholasticism inaugurated a new era. Patristic erudition had
gathered a wealth of theological knowledge which the Schoolmen
fully appreciated. But the same truths were to receive another set-
ting and be treated by different methods. Speculation changed its
direction, Aristotle taking the place of his master. The peripatetic
system found able exponents in the earlier Scholastics; but Aquinas
surpassed them alike in the mastery of the philosopher's principles
and in his application of these principles to Christian doctrine. His
Commentaries on Aristotle adhere strictly to the text, dissecting its
meaning and throwing into relief the orderly sequence of ideas. In
his other works, he develops the germs of thought which he had
gathered from the Stagirite, and makes them the groundwork of his
philosophical and theological speculations.
With the subtlety of a metaphysician St.
Thomas combined a vast
erudition. Quotations from the Fathers appear on nearly every page
of his writings, serving either as a keynote to the discussion which
follows, or as an occasion for solving objections. Toward St. Augus-
tine he shows the deepest reverence, though their methods differ so


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616
THOMAS AQUINAS
widely, and his brief but lucid comments throw light on difficult
sayings of the great Doctor. His familiarity with patristic theology
is shown particularly in the 'Catena Aurea,' where he links with
passages from the Sacred Text numerous extracts from the older
commentators.
His respect for these interpretations did not prevent him from
making a thorough search of Scripture itself. With characteristic.
clearness and depth he interpreted various books of the Bible, insist-
ing chiefly on the doctrinal meaning. The best of his work in this
line was devoted to the Pauline Epistles and to the Book of Job; but
his mastery of each tex is no less evident where he takes the
authority of Scripture as the starting-point in theological argument,
or makes it the crowning evidence at the close of a philosophical
demonstration.
The materials gathered from Philosophy, Tradition, and Scripture
were the fruit of analysis; the final synthesis had yet to be accom-
plished. This was the scope of the Summa Theologica,' a work
which, though it was not completed, is the greatest production of
Thomas Aquinas. In the prologue he says:-
"Since the teacher of Catholic truth should instruct not only those who
are advanced, but also those who are beginning, it is our purpose in this work
to treat subjects pertaining to the Christian religion in a manner adapted to
the instruction of beginners. For we have considered that young students
encounter various obstacles in the writings of different authors: partly because
of the multiplication of useless questions, articles, and arguments; partly
because the essentials of knowledge are dealt with, not in scientific order, but
according as the explanation of books required or an occasion for disputing
offered; partly because the frequent repetition of the same things begets
weariness and confusion in the hearer's mind. Endeavoring, therefore, to
avoid these defects and others of a like nature, we shall try, with confidence
in the Divine assistance, to treat of sacred science briefly and clearly, so far
as the subject-matter will allow. "
The work intended for novices in theology, and so unpretentiously
opened, is then portioned out in these words:-
-
"Whereas, the chief aim of this science is to impart a knowledge of God,
not only as existing in Himself, but also as the origin and end of all things,
and especially of rational creatures, we therefore shall treat first of God;
second, of the rational creature's tendency toward God; third, of Christ, who
as man is the way whereby we approach unto God. Concerning God, we
shall consider (1) those things which pertain to the Divine Essence; (2) those
which regard the distinction of persons; (3) those which concern the origin of
creatures from Him. As to the Divine Essence we shall inquire (1) whether
God exists; (2) what is, or rather what is not, the manner of His existence;
(3) how He acts through His knowledge, will, and power. Under the first


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THOMAS AQUINAS
617
heading we shall ask whether God's existence is self-evident, whether it can
be demonstrated, and whether God does exist. "
Similar subdivisions precede each question as it comes up for dis-
cussion, so that the student is enabled to take a comprehensive view,
and perceive the bearing of one problem on another as well as its
place in the wide domain of theology. As a consequence, those who
are familiar with the 'Summa' find in it an object-lesson of breadth,
proportion, and orderly thinking. Its chief merit, however, lies in
the fact that it is the most complete and systematic exhibition of the
harmony between reason and faith. In it, more than in any other
of his works, is displayed the mind of its author. It determines his
place in the history of thought, and closes what may be called the
second period in the development of Christian theology. Scholasti-
cism, the high point of intellectual activity in the Church, reached
its culmination in Thomas Aquinas.
His works have been a rich source of information for Catholic
theologians, and his opinions have always commanded respect. The
polemics of the sixteenth century brought about a change in theo-
logical methods, the positive and critical elements becoming more
prominent. Modern rationalism, however, has intensified the dis-
cussion of those fundamental problems which St. Thomas handled
so thoroughly. As his writings furnish both a forcible statement of
the Catholic position and satisfactory replies to many current objec-
tions, the Thomistic system has recently been restored. The "neo-
scholastic movement" was initiated by Leo XIII. in his Encyclical
'Æterni Patris,' dated August 4th, 1879, and its rapid growth has
made Aquinas the model of Catholic thought in the nineteenth cen-
tury, as he certainly was in the thirteenth.
The subjoined extracts show his views on some questions of actual
importance, with regard not alone to mediæval controversies, but to
the problems of the universe, which will press on the minds of men
twenty-five hundred years in the future as they did twenty-five hun-
dred years in the past.
бли. а. Расе


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618
THOMAS AQUINAS
ON THE VALUE OF OUR CONCEPTS OF THE DEITY
Part I-From the Summa Theologica'
IT
T IS obvious that terms implying negation or extrinsic relation
in no way signify the divine substance, but simply the removal
of some attribute from Him, or His relation with other beings,
or rather the relation of other beings with Him. As to appella-
tions that are absolute and positive,― such as good, wise, and the
like,- various opinions have been entertained. It was held by
some that these terms, though used affirmatively, were in reality
devised for the purpose of elimination, and not with the intent of
positive attribution. Hence, they claimed, when we say that God
is a living being, we mean that God's existence is not that of
inanimate things; and so on for other predicates. This was the
position of Rabbi Moses. According to another view these terms
are employed to denote a relation between God and creatures; so
that for instance, when we say, God is good, we mean, God is the
cause of goodness in all things.
Both interpretations, however, are open to a threefold objec-
tion. For, in the first place, neither can offer any explanation of
the fact that certain terms are applied to the Deity in preference
to others. As He is the source of all good, so He is the cause
of all things corporeal; consequently, if by affirming that God is
good we merely imply that He is the cause of goodness, we might
with equal reason assert that He is a corporeal being.
Again, the inference from these positions would be that all
terms applied to God have only a secondary import, such, for
instance, as we give to the word healthy, as applied to medicine;
whereby we signify that it is productive of health in the organism,
while the organism itself is said, properly and primarily, to be
healthy.
In the third place, these interpretations distort the meaning of
those who employ such terms in regard to the Deity. For, when
they declare that He is the living God, they certainly mean some-
thing else than that He is the cause of our life or that He is
different from inanimate bodies.
We are obliged, therefore, to take another view, and to affirm
that such terms denote the substantial nature of God, but that, at
the same time, their representative force is deficient. They express
the knowledge which our intellect has of God; and since this
·


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THOMAS AQUINAS
619
knowledge is gotten from created things, we know Him according
to the measure in which creatures represent Him. Now God,
absolutely and in all respects perfect, possesses every perfection
that is found in His creatures. Each created thing, therefore,
inasmuch as it has some perfection, resembles and manifests the
Deity; not as a being of the same species or genus with itself,
but as a supereminent source from which are derived its effects.
They represent Him, in a word, just as the energy of the terres-
trial elements represents the energy of the sun.
Our manner of speech, therefore, denotes the substance of God,
yet denotes it imperfectly, because creatures are imperfect mani-
festations of Him. When we say that God is good, we do not
mean that He is the cause of goodness or that He is not evil.
Our meaning is this: What we call goodness in creatures pre-
exists in God in a far higher way. Whence it follows, not that
God is good because He is the source of good, but rather, because
He is good, He imparts goodness to all things else; as St. Augus-
tine says,
"Inasmuch as He is good, we are. "
HOW CAN THE ABSOLUTE BE A CAUSE?
From the Quæstiones Disputatæ
THE
HE relations which are spoken of as existing between God and
creatures are not really in Him. A real relation is that
which exists between two things. It is mutual or bilateral
then, only when its basis in both correlates is the same. Such
is the case in all quantitive relations. Quantity being essentially
the same in all quanta, gives rise to relations which are real in
both terms-in the part, for instance, and in the whole, in the
unit of measurement and in that which is measured.
But where a relation originates in causation, as between that
which is active and that which is passive, it does not always
concern both terms. True, that which is acted upon, or set
in motion, or produced, must be related to the source of these
modifications, since every effect is dependent upon its cause.
And
it is equally true that such causes or agencies are in some cases
related to their effects, namely, when the production of those
effects redounds in some way to the well-being of the cause itself.
This is evidently what happens when like begets like, and thereby
perpetuates, so far as may be, its own species.
There


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620
THOMAS AQUINAS
are cases, nevertheless, in which a thing, without being related,
has other things related to it. The cognizing subject is related
to that which is the object of cognition-to a thing which is
outside the mind. But the thing itself is in no way affected by
this cognition, since the mental process is confined to the mind,
and therefore does not bring about any change in the object.
Hence the relation established by the act of knowing cannot be
in that which is known.
The same holds good of sensation. For though the physical
object sets up changes in the sense-organ, and is related to it as
other physical agencies are related to the things on which they
act, still, the sensation implies, over and above the organic
change, a subjective activity of which the external activity is
altogether devoid. Likewise, we say that a man is at the right
of a pillar because, with his power of locomotion, he can take
his stand at the right or the left, before or behind, above or
below. But obviously these relations, vary them as we will,
imply nothing in the stationary pillar, though they are real in
the man who holds or changes his position. Once more, a coin
has nothing to do with the action that gives it its value, since
this action is a human convention; and a man is quite apart
from the process which produces his image. Between a man and
his portrait there is a relation, but this is real in the portrait
only. Between the coin and its current value there is a relation,
but this is not real in the coin.
Now for the application. God's action is not to be understood
as going out from Him and terminating in that which He creates.
His action is Himself; consequently altogether apart from the
genus of created being whereby the creature is related to Him.
And again, he gains nothing by creating, or, as Avicenna puts it,
His creative action is in the highest degree generous. It is also
manifest that His action involves no modification of His being —
without changing, He causes the changeable. Consequently,
though creatures are related to Him, as effects to their cause, He
is not really related to them.


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THOMAS AQUINAS
621
ON THE PRODUCTION OF LIVING THINGS
From the Quæstiones Disputatæ›
A
CCORDING to Augustine, the passage "Let the earth bring
forth the green herb" means, not that plants were then
actually produced in their proper nature, but that a germi-
native power was given the earth to produce plants by the work
of propagation; so that the earth is then said to have brought
forth the green herb and the fruit-yielding tree, inasmuch as it
received the power of producing them. This position is strength-
ened by the authority of Scripture (Gen. ii. 4):-"These are
the generations of the heaven and the earth, when they were
created, in the day that the Lord God made the heaven and the
earth, and every plant in the field before it sprang up in the
earth, and every herb in the ground before it grew. " From this.
text we infer, first, that all the works of the six days were
created in the day that God made heaven and earth and every
plant of the field; and consequently that all plants, which are said
to have been created on the third day, were produced at the
same time that God created heaven and earth. The second infer-
ence is that plants were then produced not actually, but only
according to causal virtues, in that the power to produce them
was given to the earth. And this is meant when it is said that
He produced every plant of the field before it actually arose upon
the earth by His dispositive action, and every herb of the earth
before it actually grew. Hence, before they came forth in real-
ity, they were made causally in the earth.
This view, moreover, is supported by reason. For in those
first days God made the creature either in its cause, or in its
origin, or in its actuality, by the work from which He afterward
rested; He nevertheless works even till now in the administra-
tion of things created by the work of propagation. To this latter
process belongs the actual production of plants from the earth,
because all that is needed to bring them forth is the energy of
the heavenly bodies as their father, so to say, and the power of
the earth in place of a mother. Plants, therefore, were produced
on the third day, not actually, but causally. After the six days,
however, they were actually brought forth, according to their
proper species and in their proper nature, by the work of admin-
istration.


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622
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS
BY RICHARD GOTTHEIL
HE Arabian Nights-or, more accurately, The Thousand
Nights and a Night' (Alf Leilah wa-leílah)-have gained a
popularity in Europe, since they were first turned into a
modern language by Galland in 1704, which rivals, if it does not
exceed, their regard in the East. They opened up to Europe a
wealth of anecdote, a fertility of daring fancy, which has not ceased
to amuse and to interest. It is not their value as literature which
has placed them so high in the popular esteem, both in the East and
in the West; for they are written in a style not a little slovenly, the
same scenes, figures, and expressions are repeated to monotony, and
the poetical extracts which are interwoven are often of very uncertain
excellence. Some of the modern translations-as by Payne and
Burton-have improved upon the original, and have often given it a
literary flavor which it certainly has not in the Arabic. For this
reason, native historians and writers seldom range the stories in their
literary chronicles, or even deign to mention them by name. The
'Nights have become popular from the very fact that they affect
little; that they are contes pure and simple, picturing the men and
the manners of a certain time without any attempt to gloss over
their faults or to excuse their foibles: so that "the doings of the
ancients become a lesson to those that follow after, that men look
upon the admonitory events that have happened to others and take
warning. " All classes of men are to be found there: Harun al-Rashid
and his viziers, as well as the baker, the cobbler, the merchant, the
courtesan. The very coarseness is a part of the picture; though it
strikes us more forcibly than it did those to whom the tales were
told and for whom they were written down. It is a kaleidoscope of
the errors and failings and virtues of the men whose daily life it
records; it is also a picture of the wonderfully rich fantasy of the
Oriental mind.
In the better texts (i e. , of Boulak and Calcutta) there are no less
than about two hundred and fifty stories; some long, others short.
There is no direct order in which they follow one upon the other.
The chief story may at any moment suggest a subordinate one; and
as the work proceeds, the looseness and disconnectedness of the parts
increase. The whole is held together by a "frame"; a device which
has passed into the epic of Ariosto (Orlando Furioso,' xxviii. ), and
which is not unlike that used by Boccaccio (Decameron') and


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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS
623
Chaucer ('Canterbury Tales'). This "frame" is, in short:- A certain
king of India, Shahriyar, aroused by his wife's infidelity, determines
to make an end of all the women in his kingdom. As often as he
takes a wife, on the morrow he orders her slain. Shahrzad, the
daughter of his Vizier, takes upon herself the task of ridding the
king of his evil intent. On the night of her marriage to the king,
she, together with her sister Dunyazad, so engrosses his mind with
her stories that the king seeks their continuance night after night;
thus she wards off her fate for nearly three years. At the end of
that time she has borne the king three male children; and has, by
the sprightliness of her mind, gradually drawn all the conceit out of
him, so that his land is at rest. The tales told within this frame
may be divided into: (a) Histories, or long romances, which are often
founded upon historical facts; (b) Anecdotes and short stories, which
deal largely with the caliphs of the house of Abbas; (c) Romantic
fiction, which, though freely mingled with supernatural intervention,
may also be purely fictitious (contes fantastiques); (d) Fables and Apo-
logues; (e) Tales, which serve the teller as the peg upon which to
hang and to exhibit his varied learning. In addition to this "frame,"
there is a thread running through the whole; for the grand theme
which is played with so many variations is the picturing of love-
in the palace and in the hovel, in the city and in the desert. The
scenes are laid in all the four corners of the globe, but especially in
the two great centres of Muhammadan activity, Bagdad and Cairo.
It is not a matter of chance that Harun al-Rashid is the Caliph to
whom the legends of the 'Nights' have given a crown so very dif-
ferent from the one which he really wore. Though his character
was often far from that which is pictured here, he was still a patron
of art and of literature. His time was the heyday of Muhammadan
splendor; and his city was the metropolis to which the merchants and
the scholars flocked from the length and breadth of Arab dominion.
To unravel the literary history of such a collection is difficult
indeed, for it has drawn upon all civilizations and all literatures.
But since Hammer-Purgstall and De Sacy began to unwind the skein,
many additional turns have been given. The idea of the "frame" in
general comes undoubtedly from India; and such stories as 'The
Barber's Fifth Brother,' 'The Prince and the Afrit's Mistress,' have
been "traced back to the Hitopadesa, Panchatantra, and Katha Sarit
Sagara. " The Story of the King, his Seven Viziers, his Son, and his
Favorite,' is but a late version, through the Pahlavi, of the Indian
Sindibad Romance of the time of Alexander the Great. A number
of fables are easily paralleled by those in the famous collection of
Bidpai (see the list in Jacobs's 'The Fables of Bidpai,' London, 1888,
lxviii. ). This is probably true of the whole little collection of beast


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624
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS
fables in the One Hundred and Forty-sixth Night; for such fables
are based upon the different reincarnations of the Buddha and the
doctrine of metempsychosis. The story of Jali'ad and the Vizier
Shammas is distinctly reported to have been translated from the
Persian into Arabic. Even Greek sources have not been left un-
touched, if the picture of the cannibal in the adventures of Sindbad
the Sailor be really a reflex of the story of Odysseus and Polyphe-
mus. Arabic historians such as Tabari, Masudi, Kazwini, al-Jaúzi —
and the Kitab al-Aghani, have furnished innumerable anecdotes and
tales; while such old Arabic poets as Imr al-Kais, 'Alkamah, Nabhi-
ghah, etc. , have contributed occasional verses.
It is manifest that such a mass of tales and stories was not com-
posed at any one time, or in any one place. Many must have floated
around in drinking-rooms and in houses of revelry for a long time
before they were put into one collection. Even to this day the story
of Ali Baba is current among the Bedouins in Sinai. Whenever the
digest was first made, it is certain that stories were added at a later
time. This is evident from the divergences seen in the different
manuscripts, and by the additional stories collected by Payne and
Burton. But in their present form, everything points to the final
redaction of the 'Nights' in Egypt. Of all the cities mentioned,
Cairo is described the most minutely; the manners and customs of
the persona are those of Egyptian society-say from the thirteenth
to the sixteenth century. For this we have the warrant of Mr. Lane,
than whom no one is to be heard upon this subject with greater
respect. That such stories as these were popular in Egypt seems to
follow from the fact that the only mention of them is found in Ma-
krisi's 'Description of Cairo' (1400) and in Abu al-Mahasin, another
historian of Egypt (1470). The collection cannot have been made
later than 1548, the date placed by a reader on the manuscript used
by Galland. But that its date is not much earlier is shown by
various chance references. The mention of coffee (discovered in the
fourteenth century); of cannon (first mentioned in Egypt in 1383);
of the wearing of different-colored garments by Muslims, Jews, and
Christians (instituted in 1301 by Muhammad ibn Kelaün); of the
order of Carandaliyyah (which did not exist until the thirteenth
century); of Sultani peaches (the city Sultaniyyah was founded in
the middle of the thirteenth century) - point to the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries as the approximate date of the final composition
of the 'Nights. ' This is supported by the mention of the office of
the Sheikh al-Islam, an office not created before the year 1453.
Additions, such as the 'Story of Abu Ker and Abu Zer,' were made
as late as the sixteenth century; and tobacco, which is mentioned,
was not introduced into Europe until the year 1560. The thirteenth,
-


## p. 625 (#35) #############################################

THE ARABIAN NIGHTS
625
fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries are a period of the revival of
letters in Egypt, which might well have induced some Arab lover of
folk-lore to write down a complete copy of these tales. The Emperor
Salah-al-din (1169) is the last historical personage mentioned, and
there is absolutely no trace of Shiite heresy to be found in the
whole collection. This omission would be impossible had they been
gathered up at the time of the heretical Fatimide dynasty (900-1171).
But it seems equally certain that the 'Nights' did not originate
altogether in the land of the Nile. The figure of Harun al-Rashid,
the many doings in the "City of Peace" (Bagdad), lead us irresistibly
over to the Eastern capital of the Muhammadan Empire. The geniï
and Afrits and much of the gorgeous picturing remind one of Persia,
or at least of Persian influence. The Arabs were largely indebted to
Persia for literature of a kind like this; and we know that during the
ninth and tenth centuries many books were translated from the Pah-
lavi and Syriac. Thus Ibn al-Mukaffah (760) gave the Arabs the
'Kholanamah,' the 'Amirnamah' (Mirror of Princes), 'Kalilah,' and
'Dimnan,' etc. The historian Masudi (943) expressly refers the story
of the Thousand and One Nights' to a Persian original. "The first
who composed such tales and made use of them were the ancient
Persians. The Arabs translated them, and made others like them. "
He then continues (Prairies d'Or,' ed. De Meynard) and mentions
the book 'Hezar Afsane,' which means "a thousand tales,"
a book
popularly called the Thousand and One Nights,' and containing the
story of the king and his vizier, and of his daughter Shirazaad and
her slave-girl Dinazad. Other books of the same kind are the book
of Simas, containing stories of Indian kings and viziers, the book of
Sindibad, etc.
(
(See also Hanzæ Ispahanensis Annalium,' ed. Gott-
waldt, 1844, page 41. ) A similar statement is made by Abu Yakub
al-Nadim (987) in the 'Fihrist' (ed. Flügel, page 304): — "This book,
'Hezar Afsane,' is said to have been written by the Princess Homai
(or Homain), daughter of Bahman. It comprises a Thousand Nights,
but less than two hundred stories; for a night story often was related
in a number of nights. I have seen it many times complete; but it
is in truth a meagre and uninteresting publication. " A translation
of the 'Hezar Afsane' was made into Arabic, and it is again men-
tioned in the middle of the twelfth century by Abdulhec al-Házraji;
but neither it nor the original Pahlavi has yet been found. It thus
remains a matter of speculation as to how much of the 'Hezar
Afsane' has found its way into the 'Nights. ' It is evident that to it
they are indebted for the whole general idea, for many of the prin-
cipal names, and probably for the groundwork of a great many of the
stories. The change of the title from The Thousand' to 'The
Thousand and One' is due to the fact that the Arabs often expressed
11-40


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626
THE ARABIAN NIGHTS
"a large number" by this second cipher. But the 'Nights' cannot be
a translation from the Persian; for the other two books mentioned by
Masudi are in the Arabic collection. Lane supposes the relationship
to be that of the 'Æneid' to the 'Odyssey. ' But it is probably closer:
one fifth of the collection which, according to Payne, is common to
all manuscripts, will doubtless be found to be based on the Pahlavi
original. That the dependence is not greater is evident from the
absence of the great heroes of the Persian Epos - Feridun, Zer,
Isfandyar, etc. The heroes are all Arabs; the life depicted is wholly
Arabic.
The original Persian Nights' must be quite old. Homai, the
Persian Semiramis, is mentioned in the Avesta '; and in Firdausi
she is the daughter and the wife of Artaxerxes Longimanus (B. C.
465-425). Her mother was a Jewess, Shahrazaad, one of the captives
brought from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar; she afterward delivered
her nation from captivity. Tabari calls Esther, of Old Testament
fame, the mother of Bahman; and Professor de Goeje (de Gids, 1886,
iii. 385) has cleverly identified the Homai of the old 'Nights,' not
only with Shahrazaad of the Arabian, but also with Esther of the
Bible. That his argument holds good is seen from its acceptance
by Kuenen ('Hist. Krit. Einleitung,' 1, 2, page 222), August Müller
(Deutsche Rundschau, 1887), and Darmesteter ('Actes du Huitième
Congrès des Orientalistes,' 1893, ii. 196).
The best translations of the 'Nights' have been made by Antoine
Galland in French (12 vols.