INFLUENCIi! '^P THE PTOLEMJiiC yjOCII. 175 



lai elaboration of these results During a period of many 

 centuries, and until the powerful mind of Aristotle was re- 

 vealed, the phenomena of nature, not regarded as objects of 

 acute observation, were subjected to the sole control of ideal 

 interpretation, and to the arbitrary sway of vague presenti- 

 ments and vacillating hypotheses, but from the time of the 

 Stagirite a higher appreciation for empirical science was man- 

 ifested. The facts already known were now first critically ex- 

 amined. As natural philosophy, by pursuing the certain path 

 of induction, gradually approached nearer to the scrutinizing 

 character of empiricism, it became less bold in its speculations 

 and less fanciful in its images A laborious tendency to accu- 

 mulate materials enforced the necessity for a certain amount 

 of polymathic learning ; and although the works of different 

 distinguished thinkers occasionally exhibited precious fruits, 

 these were unfortunately too often accompanied, in the decline 

 of creative conception among the Greeks, by a mere barren 

 erudition devoid of animation. The absence of a careful at- 

 tention to the form as well as to animation and grace of dic- 

 tion, has likewise contributed to expose Alexandrinian learn- 

 ing to the severe animadversions of posterity. 



The present section would be incomplete if it were to omit 

 a notice of the accession yielded to general knowledge by the 

 epoch of the Ptolemies, both by the combined action of extern- 

 al relations, the foundation and proper endowment of several 

 large institutions (the Alexandrian Museum and two libraries 

 at Bruchium and Rhakotis),* and by the collegiate association 

 of so many learned men actuated by practical views. This 

 tncyclopedic species of knowledge facilitated the comparison 

 of observations and the generalization of natural views. t The 



* The library in the Bruchium, which was destroyed in the burning 

 of the fleet under Julius Caesar, was the more ancient. The libraiy at 

 Rhakotis formed a part of the '' Serapeum," where it was connected 

 with the museum. By the liberality of Antoninus, the collection of 

 books at Pergamus was joined to the library of Rhakotis. 



t Vacherot, Histoire Critique de V Ecole d Alex and rie, 1846, t. i., p. v. 

 and 103. The institute uf Alexandria, like all academical corporations, 

 together Vv?ith the good arising from the concurrence of many laborers, 

 and from the acquisition of material aids, exercised also some uar« 

 rowing and restraining influence, as we find from numerous facts fur* 

 nished by antiquity. Adrian appointed his tutor, Vestinus, high-priest 

 of Alexandria (a sort of minister presiding over the management of 

 public worship), and at the same time head of the museum (or presi- 

 dent of the academy). (Letronne, Recherches four servir a V Histoire. 

 de VEgypte 'pendant la Domination des Grecs et des liomains 182*^, y 



