resuscitate the body which it had left. The assumption, in fact, is an evident objection to the opinion that Vital Principle moves itself as it moves the body; and seems to be necessary to the completion of the argument.
The passage, however, has been regarded as an inter-
polation introduced by some Christian writer, (adeo verba
Christianum seculum referunt,) in order to support the
doctrine of the resurrection: and Trendelenberg, while
unwilling to suppress the passage, seems to question its
authenticity. The subsequent paragraphs are in support
of Aristotle's opinion that the Vital Principle, if self-
motive, cannot be subject to motion by other impulse
than its own, (just as that which is good in itself, cannot
be so by or for the sake of something else,) and that, if
it were so subject, its motion would be due to sentient
impressions.
Note 3, p. 31. Some philosophers maintain.] This passage is a covert satire of the doctrine of Democritus that motion is transmitted through all nature by atoms in constant motion ; and these are said to have been likened by Philippus, the reputed son, according to Meineke, of Aristophanes, to globules of quicksilver, which, when poured in, made a wooden figure to become moveable. It is uncertain, by the way, when this metal was first employed; it is here alluded to as a well-known substance, and is so spoken of by Theophrastus. [1] Pliny
- ↑ Hist. Nat. 33. 32.
