52 NOVUM OKGAXUM. 



simplicity : that is, with less affectation and ostentation. 

 Hence in our opinion they acted more advisedly, however 

 their works may have been eclipsed in course of time by 

 those lighter productions which better correspond with 

 and please the apprehensions and passions of the vulgar: 

 for time, like a river, bears down to us that which is light 

 and inflated, and sinks that which is heavy and solid. 

 Nor were even these more ancient philosophers free from 

 the national defect, but inclined too much to the ambition 

 and vanity of forming a sect, and captivating public 

 opinion ; and we must despair of any inquiry after truth, 

 when it condescends to such trifles. Nor must we omit 

 the opinion or rather prophecy of an Egyptian priest with 

 regard to the Greeks, &quot; that they would for ever remain 

 children, without any antiquity of knowledge or know 

 ledge of antiquity.&quot; For they certainly have this in com 

 mon with children, that they are prone to talking and 

 incapable of generation, their wisdom being loquacious, and 

 unproductive of effects. Hence the external signs derived 

 from the origin and birthplace of our present philosophy 

 are not favourable. 



72. N or are those much better which can be deduced from 

 the character of the time and age, than the former from 

 that of the country and nation. For in that age the 

 knowledge both of time and of the world was confined 

 and meagre, which is one of the worst evils for those who 

 rely entirely on experience. They had not a thousand 

 years of history, worthy of that name, but mere fables and 

 ancient traditions, They were acquainted with but a small 

 portion of the regions and countries of the world for they 

 indiscriminately called all nations situated far towards the 

 north Scythians, all those to the west Celts; they knew 

 nothing of Africa but the nearest part of Ethiopia, or of 

 Asia beyond the Ganges, and had not even heard any sure 

 and clear tradition of the regions of the new world. Be 

 sides, a vast number of climates and zones, in which innume 

 rable nations live and breathe, were pronounced by them 

 to be uninhabitable, nay, the travels of Democritus, Plato, 

 and Pythagoras, which were not extensive, but rather mere 

 excursions from home, were considered as something vast. 

 But in our times many parts of the New World, and every 

 extremity of the Old are well known, and the mass of 

 experiments has been infinitely increased. Wherefore if 

 external signs were to be taken from the time of the 

 nativity or procreation (as in astrology), nothing extra- 



