TI), and without the favour of Heaven cannot grow on the soil of earth: Εἰ μὲν οὖν καὶ ἄλλο τι θεῶν ἐστι δώρημα ἀνθρώποις, εὔλογον καὶ τὴν εὐδαιμονίαν θεόσδοτον εἶναι 'If, therefore, there is any other thing which is the gift of the Gods, it is reasonable to suppose that happiness is Heaven's own peculiar boon." Ethic. Nicomach., lib. i., 9. For similar passages, the reader is referred to his Ethic. Eudem., lib. i., 8; Ethic. Nicomach., lib. i., 12; and especially to lib. x., 8, where, treating of evdarovía in its other aspect, as an active exercise of the soul, instead of simply a state of well-being, he defines it to be a contemplative energy-θεωρητικὴ ἐνέργεια—such as we have supposed (page 225) to form the chief element in the bliss of the heavenly world. It is this which, in his view, constitutes the happiness of the Deity, and of that human state which is nearest to the divine. In proof of it, he asserts that no one of the inferior animals can ever be styled εvdaíμwv, because the term implies a state possible only in relation to a religious and rational being, or one who could be sensible of the blessedness of the Divine favour: To μèv yàp deậ πᾶς ὁ βίος εὐδαίμων· τοῖς δ' ἀνθρώποις ἐφ' ὅσον ὁμοίωμά τι τῆς τοιαύτης ενεργείας ὑπάρχει· τῶν δ' ἄλλων ζώων οὐδὲν εὐδαιμονεῖ, ἐπειδὴ οὐδαμοῦ κοινωνεῖ θεωρίας· καὶ ᾧ μᾶλλον ὑπάρχει τὸ θεωρεῖν, καὶ εὐδαιμονεῖν. Wherefore, as he says in what follows, every such a one is dɛopɩλéoTaτоs, or most beloved of Heaven. It will be seen how visibly, in all these extracts, can be traced the radical, etymological idea of the term, as it was exhibited in the most primitive Greek, and how very similar it is to the corresponding one presented in the Bible, although the former may not be taken in so elevated a sense, and perhaps never comes up to the full etymological import which may fairly be supposed to be contained in its component parts. The Scriptures speak of it as the blessedness of that man who enjoys the Divine favour: Blessed is the man (or peo ple) whose God is the Lord; blessed are they who dwell in thy house; who remain in the secret place of the Most High; who abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Thy favour is life, and thy loving kindness is better than life. Δυσδαίμων and δυσδαιμονία as clearly express the oppo. site view, namely, not merely present misery, but the state of one visited by the displeasure of Heaven. It is thus repeatedly used by Edipus, in the Phœnissæ of Euripides, when lamenting his wretched condition as one pursued from his earliest years by the wrath of the Gods, on account of his own sins and his father's impious disobedience to the oracle : ̓ΑΡΑΣ παραλαβὼν Λαΐου καὶ παισὶ δούς. οὐ γὰρ, . . . ἄνευ θεῶν του, ταῦτ ̓ ἐμηχανησάμην. εἶεν· τί δράσω δῆθ ̓ ὁ ΔΥΣΔΑΙΜΩΝ ἐγώ. Phanissa, 1626. In its later applications, evdauovía loses much of its old. religious sense, and degenerates into a synonyme of ɛvtvxía, or good fortune, losing almost entirely its etymological reference to the favour of an overruling divinity. In this it shares the corruption of its principal component part, daíμwv. For a most striking illustration, however, of the radical primitive difference between εὐδαίμων and εὐτυχής, we may refer to Euripides, Medea, 1225: θνητῶν γὰρ οὐδεὶς ἐστὶν ΕΥΔΑΙΜΩΝ φύσει· By nature none of mortal race are blessed When wealth flows in, one man may be more happy The contrast between this beautiful Greek word and the one by which it is generally rendered in our own tongue is very striking. The Saxon happiness is from hap, signifying luck, fortune, or chance; a sense to which the Greek, as we have seen, subsequently degenerated. The true etymological meaning, therefore, of happy, is that given by Webster, namely, "receiving good from something that comes to us unexpectedly, or by chance, that is, fortunate, or lucky." The same lexicographer says afterward, that "he only can be called happy who enjoys the favour of God;" but this is an idea which was subsequently ingrafted on the pagan root by the Christian theology. The original Saxon word had nothing of the Tò delov or divine about it. XXXIX. Atheistic Argument against Providence drawn from the Prosperity of the Wicked. Plato's Language compared with that of the Scriptures. PAGE 43, LINE 3. Ἢ καὶ πρὸς τέλος ἴσως ἀνοσίους ἀνθρώπους ὁρῶν ἐλθόντας γηραιούς, κ. τ. λ. When you behold men growing old, who continue unholy even to the very end of life, leaving children and children's children in the highest honours-then are you disturbed at the sight," &c. In what striking language is this same difficulty set forth in the Holy Scriptures, not only as perplexing the mass of mankind, but also as occasioning, at times, painful doubts even to the acknowledged people of God. Compare the complaint of Asaph in the lxxiii. Psalm : But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had wellnigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Wherefore his people backslide ;* * We prefer this rendering for the Hebrew, as it may mean to turn back, as well as to turn to, or return; although the latter is the most usual sense in this conjugation. It may also mean, they turn themselves with astonishment and perplexity, as to some wondrous spectacle; in which sense it would well correspond to the Greek Tαpárty, as used here by Plato, and they say, Doth God know? And is there a providence in the Most High? So, also, Job, with still more resemblance to the passage before us: Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? Job, xxi., 7. The sentiment may be frequently met with in classic antiquity. It has formed the constant complaint of the virtuous when desponding, and the standing objection of the skeptic. As in Cicero, De Natura Deorum, lib. iii., 33-36, where the doubting Cotta goes into a long enumeration of the virtuous men who had been neglected of Heaven, and of the impious who had been blessed, apparently, with the highest prosperity. Speaking of the tyrant Dionysius (sec. 35), he says, Hunc igitur nec Olympius Jupiter fulmine percussit, nec Esculapius misero diuturnoque morbo tabescentem interemit. Atque in suo lectulo mortuus, in rogo illatus est; eamque potestatem quam ipse per scelus erat nactus, quasi justam et legitimam, hereditatis loco, filio tradidit. In the same strain, sec. 32: Dies deficiat, si velim numerare quibus bonis male evenerit, nec minus si comme. morem quibus improbis optime. And then he proceeds to relate the cases of Marius, Cinna, Dionysius, together with the saying of the snarling Diogenes respecting Harpalus: Diogenes quidem cynicus dicere solebat, Harpalum, qui temporibus illis prædo in Pamphylia felix habebatur, contra Deos testimonium dicere, quod in illa fortuna tam diu vive. ret. Cic., De Nat. Deor., iii., 34. Some minds, otherwise serious and thoughtful, have been almost driven to atheism by it; as is represented in those desponding lines with which Claudian commences one of his poems: Sæpe mihi dubiam traxit sententia mentem, Consilio firmata Dei Sed cum res hominum tanta caligine volvi But, while it has disturbed the pious in their desponding moods, it has formed the standing jest of the scoffer; as in the story of the atheist Diagoras, Cicero, De Nat. Deor., iii., 37: At Diagoras quum Samothraciam venisset, Atheos ille qui dicitur, atque ei quidam amicus, "Tu, qui Deos putas humana negligere, nonne animadvertis, ex tot tabulis pictis, quam multi votis vim tempestatis effugerint in portumque salvi pervenerint?" Ita fit, inquit. Illi enim nunquam picti sunt qui naufragia fecerunt, in marique perierunt. So, also, that malignant buffoon Aristophanes puts a similar profane jest in the mouth of the travestied Socrates: καὶ πῶς ὦ μῶρε σὺ καὶ κρονίων ὄζων καὶ βεκκεσέληνε, εἴπερ βάλλει τοὺς ἐπιόρκους, πῶς οὐχὶ Σίμων ̓ ἐνέπρησεν ; οὐδὲ Κλεώνυμον, οὐδὲ Θέωρον ; καίτοι σφόδρα γ' εἴσ ̓ ἐπίορκοι. ἀλλὰ τὸν αὐτοῦ γε νεὼν βάλλει, καὶ Σούνιον ἄκρον 'Αθηνέων, καὶ τὰς δρᾶς τὰς μεγάλας· τί μαθών ; οὐ γὰρ δὴ δρῦς ἐπιορκεῖ. Nubes, 398. If either Xenophon or Plato are entitled to the least credit, nothing could be more directly opposed to his real and most cherished sentiments. XL. The Singular Word 'Aлоdιодоμжέouai, and the Remarkable Use made of it by Plato. PAGE 44, LINE 9. ̓Αλλ' ἐάν πως οἷον ἀποδιοπομπήσασOal. This is a very peculiar and significant word, used by Plato, in the few cases in which it occurs, to express the strongest abhorrence, and generally employed in reference to some wickedness of peculiar enormity. It signifies, to |