The Wilmingtonian, and Delaware register., 1825-09-22
lscevoA. "why. not ..

wa fiot.
Because" said his friend, "the pain
you would suffer, will be sufficient mo-
tive to restrain you iu your supposed liber-,
ty."
SeeUoH "But to convince you that even
that circumstance is not restraint on nv
iioerty, you see me deliberately put my
hand into the fire, without any exterior
force, and hold it there as long as choose"
"Very well,'' said his friend, al have
gained my point. l shall now be enabled
feelingly to convince you of your mistake.
You did not perceive that the desire to
convince me of your freedom, was a.
motive acting more powerfully upon your
mind' than the idea of the pain you would
suffer by the experiment. You were not
aware that the desire to convince me, was
circumstance beyond your controul; and that
the interior motive which urged you to this
strange action, was the same in effect, as if
strong man had held your arm"
The advocates for the free agency of man
will doubtless say to us "if we are under
the influence of circumstances bevond our
! controul, why need we trouble ourselves
about any occurrence that may take place !?
Why not let the world take its course with
out feeling any concern for the events that
will unavoidably happen, and which are
entirely beyond our controul, ?" We an
swer, it does not depend upon ourselves to
be insensiblc Of Impressions; of circumstan-
ccs that necessarily affect us. Although /
know that death is the final period of this
state of existence, am free to be, or not to
be affected at the loss of beloved wife; of a
favourite child; or of friend who is neces-
sary to my happinesss 10 be free, it were
necessary to have the power Of closing ali
the avenues to feeling heart, when dis
tressing event ocurs--in short, to be free,
it were necessary that we be SUPERIOR TO
ANY CIRCUMSTANCE that might affect us
in lively manner; that we had the power
ofbccoming harder than marble when pain
or distress overlook US; and like the Weld
ing wax before the fire, when pleasurablc
sensations occurred.
"Socrates, the virtunus Socrates, submit
ted to the laws Of his country, even though
they were unjust; he would not save himse
from his prison, the doors of which were
opened to him; but in this he did not act
freely: the invisible chains of opinion, Of
decorum, of respect for the laws even
when they were niquitous, and the fear
of furnishing his glory, kept him in his
prison, and we're motites sufficiently pow
erful with this enthusiast for virtue, to make
him wait for death with tranquility il 7cas
not in his hoyuer TO sare himself because he
could not bring himself to depart an in
stant from those principles to which his
mind was accustomed"
You will say, perhaps, that Socrates re-
manning in prison was voluntary act, and
consequently an exercise Of freedom: We
grant the use of the term Voluntary" in
in contra distinction to those actions in
which the will has no participation but, we
repeat it, that Socrates was not free to leave
the prison the circumstances which oper-
atcd in his mind, and influenced his will,
kept him as securely bound, as if he had
been loaded with chains.
Alexander the Great, the son of Philip
by Olympias, "wanted Empires to be de-
stroyed, Nations to be bathed in blood,
Cities to be reduced to ashes - nay,
more, he wanted other worlds to conquer to
satiate his passion for glory, of which he had
formed false ideas: one single change of Cir
cumstances, and Alexander might have been
truly great; had Philip and Olympias been
of the peasantry, the glory, Of which
their son was SO passionatcly fond, would
have been of different kind: his nobeness
of disposition, his ardent desire to be es-
tcemed by posterity; his undauntcd and un-
conquerable spirit, might have been motives
sufficient to have made him as great bene-
factor, as he was a scourge to mankind. His
life present a series of events, flowing from
each other, as effect from cause, which were
entirely beyond his contronl, SO that in his
whole career he was the mere "sport of
circumstances"
EROSTRATUS.
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