6 PREFACE. 



examination, to be but scanty. And with regard to their 

 utility I must speak plainly. That philosophy of ours 

 which we have chiefly derived from the Greeks, appears to 

 me but the childhood of knowledge, and to possess the 

 peculiarity of that age, being prone to idle loquacity, but 

 weak and unripe for generation ; for it is fruitful of contro 

 versy and barren of effects. So that the fable of Scylla 

 seems to be a lively image of the present state of letters ; 

 for she exhibited the countenance and expression of a 

 virgin, but barking monsters surrounded and fastened 

 themselves to her womb. Even thus, the sciences to which 

 we have been accustomed have their flattering and specious 

 generalities, but when we come to particulars, which, like 

 the organs of generation, should produce fruit and effects, 

 then spring up altercations and barking questions, in the 

 which they end, and bring forth nothing else. Besides, if 

 these sciences were not manifestly a dead letter, it would 

 never happen, as for many ages has been the case in prac 

 tice, that they should adhere almost immovably to their 

 original footing, without acquiring a growth worthy of 

 mankind : and this so completely, that frequently not only 

 an assertion continues to be an assertion, but even a ques 

 tion to be a question, which instead of being solved by 

 discussion becomes fixed and encouraged ; and every system 

 of instruction successively handed down to us brings upon 

 the stage the characters of master and scholar, not those 

 of an inventor and one capable of adding some excellence 

 to his inventions. But we see the contrary happen in the 

 mechanical arts. For they, as if inhaling some life-inspir 

 ing air, daily increase, and are brought to perfection ; they 

 fenerally in the hands of the inventor appear rude, cum- 

 rous, and shapeless, but afterwards acquire such addi 

 tional powers and facility, that sooner may men s wishes 

 and fancies decline and change, than the arts reach their 

 full height and perfection. Philosophy and the intellectual 

 sciences on the contrary, like statues, are adored and cele 

 brated, but are not made to advance : nay, they are frequently 

 most vigorous in the hands of their author, and thence 

 forward degenerate. For since men have voluntarily sur 

 rendered themselves, and gone over in crowds to the opinion 

 of their leader, like those silent senators of Rome,* they 

 add nothing to the extent of learning themselves, but per 

 form the servile duty of illustrating and waiting upon par- 



* Pedarii Senatores. 



