The Religion of Nature Delineated by William Wollaston (mystery books to read .txt) 📕

Οἱ πάλαιοι τῶν Ῥωμαίων νόμοι, κ.τ.λ.⁠ ⁠… οἱ δὲ ἔτι παλαιότεροι τοσοῦτο τοὺς γονέας ἐσέφθησαν, ὡς καὶ θεοὺς αὀτοὺς ὁρμῆσκι: “The ancient laws of the Romans,⁠ ⁠… and they that are older yet, paid so much reverence to parents as to oblige us to call them Gods.” (Simplicius, Commentary on the Enchiridion.) ↩

Meo judicio pietas fundamentum est omnium virtutum: “In my opinion, piety is the foundation of all virtues.” (Cicero, Oration for Plancius.) The same author reckons, among those things that are laudable, parentem vereri ut deum (neque enim multo secus parens liberis): “to reverence a parent as a God (for the relation of a parent to his children is pretty much the same).” (Ibid.) Οὐδ᾿ αὖ πάλιν μείζων ἐπίδειξις ἀθέου γέγονε τῆς περὶ γονεῖς ὀλιγωρίας καὶ πλημμελείας: “There is no greater demonstration of an atheist, than is shown in the contemning or abusing parents.” (Plutarch, Concerning Brotherly Love.) ↩

Πάντες⁠ ⁠… λέγουσι καὶ ᾄδουσιν, ὡς γονεῦσι τιμὴν μετὰ θεοὺς πρώτην καὶ μεγίστην ἥ τε φύσις, ὅ, τε τὴν φύσιν σῴζων νόμος ἀπέδωκε: “All writers in prose or poetry affirm that nature, and the laws that are agreeable to nature, command the first and greatest reverence to be paid to parents next to the Gods.” (Plutarch, Concerning Brotherly Love.) Γονέων τιμὴν μετὰ τὴν πρὸς θεὸν δευτέραν ἔταξεν [Μω̈υσῆς]: “[Moses] commanded that honor should be paid to parents next to God.” (Josephus, Against Apion.) We indeed usually divide the two tables of Moses’s law so that the fifth commandment (Honor thy father and thy mother) falls in the second, but the Jews themselves divide them otherwise, ὡς εἶναι τῆς μὲν μιᾶς γραφῆς τὴν ἀρχὴν Θεὸν καὶ πατέρα⁠ ⁠… τοῦ παντὸς, τὸ δὲ στέλος γονεῖς, κ.τ.λ.: “so that the first table begins with (the duty to) the God and father⁠ ⁠… of all, and ends with (the duty to) parents.” (Philo Judaeus, De Decalogo.) Agreeably to this, Josephus says that οἱ δέκα λόγοι: “the ten commandments” were written upon two tables, ἀνὰ πέντε μὲν εἰς ἑκατέραν [πλάκα]: “five upon each [table].” (Antiquities of the Jews.) Abravanel reckons the fifth commandment the last of the first table, and says their Hhakamim: “wise men” do so; and in the offices of that nation these commandments are mentioned as written על הלוחות חמשה חמשה: “five upon each table.” (Commentary on the Torah.) ↩

Prima igitur et optima rerum natura pietatis est magistra, etc.: “The nature of things, which is the first and best rule of all, teaches us what piety is, etc.” (Valerius Maximus, Facta et dicta memorabilia.) ↩

Ὁ χρόνος, τἄλλα πάντ᾿ ἀφαιρῶν, τῷ γήρᾳ προστίθησι τὴν ἐπιστήμην: “Time, which takes away everything else from us, adds knowledge to old age.” (Plutarch, The Education of Children.) ↩

שאל אביך ויגדך: “ask thy father, and he will show thee.” (Deuteronomy 32:7.) ↩

Δόξειε δ᾿ ἂν τροφῆς γονεῦσι δεῖν μάλιστ᾿ ἐπαρκεῖν, ὡς ὀφείλοντας, καὶ τοῖς αἰτίοις τοῦ εἶναι⁠ ⁠… καὶ τιμὴν δὲ καθάπερ θεοῖς: “We ought, in the first place, to supply the necessities of our parents, as a debt due to them who are the authors of our being⁠ ⁠… and to reference them as Gods.” (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics.) Among the ancients θρεπτήρια, “the rewards of education,” and τροφεῖα, “maintenance of parents,” were reckoned due. And he, who does not requite to his parents הטובה שגמלוהו, “the good which they have bestowed on him,” is called κατ᾿ ἐξοχην, רשע: “in an eminent sense wicked.” (Eliezer Azkari, Sefer Haredim.) ↩

Τοιοῦτος γινου περὶ τοὺς γονεῖς, οἴους ἂν ἔυξαιο περὶ σεαυτὸν γενέσθαι τοὺς σαυτοῦ παῖδας: “Do you behave yourself, to your parents, as you would wish your children to behave themselves towards you.” (Isocrates.) ↩

That epithet pius (pius Aeneas) shines in Virgil’s Aeneid. ↩

Posita est inter parentes ac liberos honesta contentio, dederint majora, an receperint: “There is a very laudable contest betwixt parents and children, viz.: whether they have given or received most.” (Seneca, De Beneficiis.) ↩

That is, methinks, a moving description in St. Basil (Περὶ πλεονεξ) a conflict which a poor man had within himself, when he had no other way left to preserve life but by selling one of his children. (Homilia in illud Lucæ, destruam horrea mea.) ↩

Prima societas in ipso conjugio est: proxima in liberis, etc.: “The strongest alliance is in marriage itself, the next in children, etc.” (Cicero, De Officiis.) ↩

Mulier conjuncta viro concessit in unum: “After the man and woman are joined together, they become one.” (Lucretius, De Rerum Natura.) כחד גופא חשיבי: “They are looked upon as one body,” (according to Rabbi Eliezer Azkari and others). ↩

Ἡ συγγενικὴ [φιλία] φαίνεται πολυειδὴς εἶναι, καὶ ἠρτῆσθαι πᾶσα ἐκ τῆς πατρικῆς· οἱ γονεῖς μὲν γὰρ στέργουσι τὰ τέκνα, ὡς ἑαυτῶν τι ὄντα· τὰ δὲ τέκνα τοὺς γονεῖς, ὡς ἀπ᾿ ἐκείνων τι ὄντα⁠ ⁠… Ἀδελφοὶ δ᾿ ἀλλήλους [φιλοῦσι] τῷ ἐκ τῶν αὐτῶν πεφυκέναι⁠ ⁠… Ἀνεψιοὶ δὲ καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ συγγενεῖς⁠ ⁠… τῷ ἀπὸ τῶν αὐτῶν εἶναι· γίνονται δ᾿ οἳ μὲν οἰκειότεροι οἳ δ᾿ ἀλλοτριώτεροι, κ.τ.λ.: “There are a great many sorts of friendship among relations, all of them depending upon the parents. For parents have a tender affection for their children because they are