Adventure and adventurers > New Cyropaedia, or The travels of Cyrus

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THE TRAVELS OF CYRUS. 195
J to impiety , under pretence of deftroying fuperftk
4 tion.
A confufed murmur immediately rofe in the af-
.fpmbly. They were divided in their fentiments.
The greateft part of the Priefts treated me as an
impious perfon,&an enemy of Religion. Perceiving
then the deep diflimulation of Anaximander, & the
blind zeal of the people, who were deluded by
'j fophiftry, it was impoffible for me to contain my
nfelf; & raifing my voice, I faid;
O King, Priefts, & Samians! hearken to me for
the laft time. I would not at firft lay open the
nyfteries of Anaximanders monftrous (yftem, nor
indeavour in a publick aflembly to render his perfon
•dious, as he has endeavoured to do mine. Hitherto
have refpefted his grey hairs; but now that 1 fee
the abyfs into which he feeks to lead you, I can
10 longer be ftlent, without betraying the Gods &:
y Country.
Anaximander feems to you to be zealous for Re-
pon, but in reality he endeavours to deftroy it.
ear what his principles are, which he teaches in
fecret to thofe who will liften to him.
There is nothing in the univerfe but matter and
motion. In the fruitful bofom of infinite matter,
every thing is produc’d by an eternal revolution of
Forms. The deftru&ion offome is the birth of others.
The different difpofition of the atoms makes the
different forts of minds: But all is diifipated & plung’d
again into the fame abyfs after death. According to
Anaximander, that which is now ftone , wood,
>4metal, may be diflblv’d not only into water, air ,
>&pure flame, but into thinking, reafoning minds.
ajAccording to him, our own idle fears have dug the
Unfernal pit, & our own feared imagination is the
jfburce of thofe famous rivers which flow in gloomy
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