1. Neo-Platonic Demonology in Goethe's Faust, by Professor Julius Goebel, of Harvard University (read by title).

It is Jamblichus' description of the various apparitions of the gods and demons that furnished Goethe the colors for his own magnificent picture of the apparition of the Earth-spirit. For although we have no account of the fact that Goethe studied Jamblichus, a mere comparison of certain passages in the latter's de Mysteriis with Goethe's poetic description will convince us at once of his indebtedness to this book. I compare the Latin translation of Thomas Gale adjoined to his edition of de Mysteriis, because it is quite improbable that Goethe could have read the rather difficult Greek of the original. (A detailed comparison of Goethe's

verses with passages from Jamblichus here follows in the paper.)

But we are permitted to obtain a still closer view into Goethe's workshop by examining carefully what precedes the conjuration of the Earth-spirit. It will be remembered that Faust, disgusted with the Kerker, the Mauerloch of his study, decides to flee into the wide world, not, as Scherer and others in their hypercritical wisdom fancied, to conjure up the devil in the woods, but to get into intimate touch with nature; when, as if charmed by the magic-book before him, he opens it, sees the sign of the Makrokosmos, and the magnificent vision follows. What are the signs that have this wonderful effect on Faust's mind? The answer is given by Jamblichus, according to whom these signs are divina synthemata, or divina symbola,- Faust calls them heilige Zeichen, - which possess the power of producing the magic effect upon the human mind, not on account of any activity of the latter, but because of the divine influence which recognizes in these symbols its image. Nobis enim nec opinantibus divina synthemata per se opus suum perficiunt, et deorum virtus ineffabilis, ad quam diriguntur synthemata, suas in iis ultro agnoscit imagines, non quasi a nostro intellectu excitata. Quare nec principia divina antecedenter a nostro intellectu ad opus excitantur (ii. 11). We understand now why Faust says:

and again:

Umsonst, dass trocknes Sinnen hier

Die heilgen Zeichen dir erklärt;

War es ein Gott, der diese Zeichen schrieb?

The visions which the gods, having pity on the labors of the theurgist, graciously grant the latter are described thus: Nam beatas visiones dum speculatur anima, aliam vitam adipiscitur, alias operationes operatur, sed et sibi nec amplius esse in hominum censu videtur; nec immerito illud quidem, saepe etenim suam exuit vitam, et beatissima deorum actione commutat (i. 12). It is for this reason

that Faust exclaims:

Bin ich ein Gott?

While this unio deifica, thus temporarily attained by the theurgist, is essentially the work of divine grace, it may, nevertheless, be brought about by those who understand the art of theurgy, and carefully follow its rules. Jamblichus calls the disposition of the soul in which it attains the unio deifica (Ένωσις θεουργική) enthusiasmus. As this enthusiasm is essentially a state of divine illumination, the art of theurgy consists chiefly in producing this illumination. The art of doing this is called: φωτὸς ἀγωγή οι φωταγωγία. One of the various means of bringing

about illumination is the moonlight. I need not call attention to the beautiful poetic use which Goethe made of this feature in our soliloquy.

The faculty of the human soul, however, through which the divine light operates or the gods speak, so to say, is the imagination, the pavтaotikǹ dúvaμs. Illa (illuminatio) autem circumpositum animae aetherium et splendidum vehiculum divina luce perfundit, unde ad deorum voluntatem percitae imagines divinae eam quae est in nobis attingunt phantasiam (iii. 14).

Among the means which produce illumination, and thus affect the human imagination, we find also the course of the stars, astrology. Porro astrorum cursus vicini sunt aeternis caeli motibus, non tantum loco, sed et qualitatibus et lucis radiationibus, unde nimirum ad deorum nutum et ipsi concitantur (iii. 16). I believe that the passages just quoted not only give the reason for Faust's words:

Erkennest dann der Sterne Lauf,

Und wenn Natur dich unterweist,

Dann geht die Seelenkraft (vis imaginationis) dir auf,

Wie spricht ein Geist zum andern Geist;

but they also explain, in my opinion, the much interpreted lines:

Jetzt erst erkenn ich, was der Weise spricht:

'Die Geisterwelt ist nicht verschlossen,

Dein Sinn ist zu, dein Herz is tot;

Auf! bade, Schüler, unverdrossen

Die irdsche Brust im Morgenrot.'

That Goethe here should have interrupted the flow of passionate poetry by quoting literally the words of some author, appears to me a thought which could have occurred only to a philologian, accustomed to interlard his papers with pleasing quotations. It is far more reasonable to suppose that Goethe, in his own poetic language, gives the contents of the teachings of some philosopher. Der Weise (philosophus) is none other but Jamblichus, and the Schüler, a piλo@ɛáμwv, or, as Gale translates: veritatis theurgicae studiosus. Dein Sinn ist zu, dein Herz ist tot, is the poetic translation of Jamblichus' words: Nostra enim natura infirma est et imbecillis et parum prospicit, cognatamque habet nullitatem et unica est ei medela erroris . . . si possit aliquam divini luminis particulam haurire. And with a poetic power, infinitely greater than that of the philosopher Jamblichus, Goethe calls this breathing and drinking of the divine light Baden im Morgenrot. Moreover, he may have remembered that later theurgists, influenced by the cabala, believed that the true revelation of the divine light came with the dawn of the morning. Der Aufgang hat die grössten Geheimnuss, says the Clavicula Salamonis, and the magic-book Arbatel advises: Olympicos spiritus cum evocare volueris, observa ortum Solis.

2. Filelfo in his Letters, by Professor E. G. Sihler, of New York University.

Neither Voigt or Burckhardt of Germany, nor the English scholars Symonds and Jebb have been quite fair to Filelfo, one of the foremost of the Italian

Humanists. Whatever of aureole remains about their heads in the popular estimation of the historical commonplace must vanish upon an exhaustive perusing of their own literary utterances. And few things so vigorously produce in us an overwhelming sense of the profound change in our taste and in the essentials of our own classicism, so called, as such perusal.

Filelfo, however, while his availability (due to his purer Latinity) gave him that notoriety in political manifestoes, and that standing among courtiers which he shared with Bruni, Poggio, Valla, Enea Silvio, and others, - Filelfo, I say, has certain claims on our attention which still deserve our regard. His letters fully reveal the less worthy and more evanescent traits of his class, but they also contain precious data for the history of scholarship,― of sound and genuine scholarship, I mean. Columbia University Library contains a folio of date 1489, Venice, printed but a few years after the death of Filelfo, with all the abbreviations customary in the codices themselves. From this folio were taken the data of this summary. As to the number of books itself, the arrangement in XVI is quite significant. Both of Cicero's largest collections are so transmitted; we may smile at the artificiality of the imitation if we like, still it was a deliberate one. The first letter is of date Venice, Oct. 10, 1427, this collection extending to February, 1461. It contains roughly some 891 letters, many so brief that we marvel at their insertion, but they contained data suggestive of the tastes and concerns of that century.

I

Autobiographical: also aims and consciousness of Humanism. 'Vix primarii ipsi cives in rebus etiam maximis plus habent auctoritatis quam ipse ego' (July 13, 1432, in Florence). Si lapides ipsi loqui possent, omnes in meas laudes linguas solverent' (Apr. 13, 1433); 'meque ad scribendum converti totum quo non praesentibus modo, sed etiam posteris natus fuisse videar' (Mch. 1, 1440). 'Quod vero cupis pro nostrae amicitiae munere immortalitatis nomini per nos commendari, id quoque in te est' (Mch. 15, 1447).

Having some new codices from Germany, Enea Silvio is sure to have found something 'in tot ac tam plenis et pulverulentis bibliothecis Germaniae, (Febr. 4, 1448). Varro, Cicero, Seneca are 'nostri,' i.e. Italians (Oct. 1, 1450). To duke's secretary at Milan: 'money! otherwise I shall make contracts with other princes!' (Nov., 1451). Per doctrinae praestantiam in eorum cognitionem venimus, quibus Dei reddimur simillimi' (Jan. 1, 1452). Of a victory of Sforza, to be recorded in his Sforziad, b. v., 'immortalitati sum commendaturus' (1453). 'I have determined to publish ten books of letters in this year' (May 5, 1453). At Rome (1453, July) received from the Humanist pope, Nicholas V, 500 ducats, and had to prolong his sojourn there, that the pope might complete the perusal of Filelfo's Satyrae : -' nec prius mihi restituit quam totum lectitaverit.' Was knighted by King Alfonso at Capua, on Corpus Christi day at nine A.M. (1453) also received laurel crown then. His aims in culture: cum ipse non poetam minus quam oratorem atque philosophum profiteri debeam' (1455).

To Calixtus III (not at all a Humanist): 'You need not be jealous any more of Greek authors: why, you can read them in Latin!' (Febr. 19, 1456). Has begun to write Greek verse also: he intimates, that thus he shall outdo both Cicero and Vergil (1458). Quod habemus memoratu dignum, quod a Graecis

non acceperimus'-to the Greek, Cardinal Bessarion; and while pretending that it is arrogant and foolish to vie with the Greeks in versification, he asks the Greek prelate whether he has any book on the quantity of (Greek) syllables (1458). His motive for entering upon the writing of Greek verse: there is actually no versification among the Byzantines now: Filelfo desires to stir up his contemporaries. Have you given my Greek poem to Argyropulos? (1458). Congratulates the Humanist pope, Pius II (Enea Silvio), on his election, August 23, 1458. Pius once was Filelfo's pupil. Him Filelfo calls totius sapientiae et bonitatis numen' (Oct. 17, 1458). To a prelate, the cardinal-patriarch of Aquileia, he delineates the Humanist heaven: si cognovit rerum a se gestarum ac summae virtutis gloriam in omnem posteritatem diffusum iri' (Febr. 22, 1460).

II

Here we will briefly set down such data as illustrate his interests or concerns with specific classic writers both Greek and Latin; particularly also with the acquisition and the copying of codices. As for the Greeks, the chief aim of most other Italians seems to have been the accomplishment of translating the greatest possible number of Greek MSS for the learning and erudition thus obtainable. The power even to read Greek script remained so rare that Filelfo regularly resorted to Greek characters (as a cipher) whenever he wished to keep things in privacy, and the typesetters even of 1489 made sad work of many Greek words or passages in the epistles of our Humanist. I have thought it best to follow merely a chronological order.

1433: undertakes to Latinize verse in Diogenes Laertius for the Camaldulensian Traversari. 1436: he gives Beccadelli's Terence to person named. Cannot lend the Lucretius, it is not his own. 1437: translating Plutarch's 'dicteria' addressed to Trajan, into Latin; a matter of orthography in Gellius: refers to all the codices in Tuscany :-'qui et emendatissimi sunt et istorum omnium ut ita dicam, parentes.' A passage in Iliad: cites scholia with notes of Aristotle, Aristarchus, Porphyry. 1439: desires his own codex of Vergil and likewise that of the commentator Servius remitted to him from Bologna. 1440 to Aurispa: You are a regular trader in codices. What have you for sale? I have none for sale. Quintilian's declamationes smack of Hispanitas (in this judgment Filelfo imitates Pollio on Livy). The Horace and Cicero of Victorinus (da Feltre) I have given to the man you named. I would like to see Plato's Laws or Republic, or Xenophon's Memorabilia. To Cyriacus of Ancona about inscriptions. A grammar point: Priscian (in primo de octo orationis partibus). F. thanks the cardinalbishop of Como for despatching to F. the Philo recovered from Aurispa. F. promises to translate for the cardinal the life of Moses from Philo. 1441 is anxious to get at Apollonius Dycolus and Herodian (so often mentioned in Priscian). Byzantine schoolmasters knew nothing of them. 1442: I asked you, Aurispa, for a codex of Strabo to copy; you ask for a Sextus Empiricus with the same intention. Cribellus, please return my Diodorus; you have had the codex for two years. Saxolus of Prato: You want my Pollux: Aurispa has it, the harpy! Antonius Raudensis: You have written against Lactantius. What possessed you? Imitate Augustine, i.e. retract. 1444: Aurispa, lend me Theophrastus repi puTŵV. I have a Greek copyist ready: do not devise an evasive reply. F. cnumerates

some of his translations: two bks. of Xenophon (Mem. I think), Xen. de Rep. Lacedaem., Xen. Agesilaus, Plutarch's Lycurgus and Numa. Cyriacus of Ancona : These four inss. which you brought from the Peloponnesus are very valuable. Answers him also on the question what were the doctrines of the ancient philosophers on the parts of the soul (Pythagoras, Democritus and Epicurus, Stoics, Plato, Aristotle).

1446: Poethius commended, esp. in Logic: desires to have copies made of certain sections. F. will provide a copyist. 1447: would like to borrow Commentaries on Porphyry and Aristotle's Categories (Praedicamenta ') and wepì 'Epunvelas, for copying.

1447: I have been compelled to borrow a codex of Lactantius from another. Why do you not return the one I loaned you? I must return it to its owner.

1448: Thomasius, 'philosopher and physician': Have sent you my Latin version of Hippocrates' de Flatibus and de Passionibus Corporis: please return when read. My Macrobius' Saturnalia has just been brought to Milan, a codex which I lost when I lived at Vicenza, before my journey to Constantinople (1419). To Card. Bessarion: Very sorry I cannot let you have my Iliad engrossed by Theodorus Gaza. To Guarino of Verona: My Strabo ? Am sorry: it is with all my Greek codices in the care of Bernardo Giustiniani in Venice (Barbaro is using them there).

1449: begs of a physician of Milan to loan F. a codex containing Celsus, both Soranus, Democritus (sic) Apuleius (sic); would like to have a copy made. I want to read those medical authors for the scholarship which they furnish.

On Augustine and Jerome: A. had the keener penetration; Jerome the better style; J. a good Greek scholar; A. less so; J. a Hebrew scholar; A. ignorant there. 1450: consoles his former pupil Perleoni, an underpaid Humanist at Genoa, with a citation from Theocritus. To the priest Cassianus: Send me my Greek codices which Victorinus (da Feltre) has loaned you. Proclus on Plato, Timaeus, Aristotle's Dialectica with commentaries by Alexander and Themistius, Euripides, Libri Mathematici. You have had them too long. I want my books around me. Thomasius: Send your Ptolemy. 1451: is looking for a codex of Strabo (Febr. 15). The Greeks to-day talk as Euripides and Aristophanes did, as to enunciation: of course, with this, there is grammatical and ungrammatical speech. At Aurispa's there is such a copy of the geographer Strabo: I have so heard at Guarino's. Please return my orations of Cicero: you have had them long enough. 'De anno autem pro scaenio apud Plautum: textus ille corruptus est: Nannio enim scribi oportet' (v. Plautus, Amphitr. prol. 91). Is looking for Arrian. Why he went to Constantinople in 1419: quo Graeca sapientia factus doctior maiori vel usui vel ornamento latinae futurus essem (note the grammar). On ae and ai. I desire Pliny's N.H. I hear the prince (d' Este, at Ferrara) has a copy very highly emended through the labors of Aurispa and Guarino. Have you a good copyist there?

1452: those twelve comedies of Plautus brought into Italy in the last years from Germany: F. desires copy made for himself. Owner (addressed) is said to be unwilling to trust the codex to any one. Is there any Greek copyist at Rome? I find that a copy of Cicero's Epistolae Familiares (so F. puts it) is for sale here, in Milan, for ten ducats. This codex is 'et pulcher et novus et satis emendate scriptus.' 1453: I want my codex containing my Latin