DE PRINCIPIIS ATQUE ORIGINTBUS. 287 



The first two books of his principal work, the De 

 Rerum Naturd, were published at Rome in 1565. 

 The complete work was not published until 1586, 

 only two years before his death. 1 In 1590 a number 

 of tracts, some of which had appeared in his lifetime, 

 were published by Antonius Persius, one of his chief 

 disciples, with a dedication to Patricius, which seems 

 to claim him as at least half an adherent to the Tele- 

 sian philosophy. 2 For some account of Telesius s mi 

 nor works I may refer to Spiriti s Scrittori Cosentini^ 

 or to what Salsi has said of them in Ginguene s His- 

 toire Litteraire de VTtalie? 



Of Letter s work, De Vita ct Scriptis B. Telesii, 

 Leipsic, 1733, I much regret that I only know what 

 is said of it in the Acta Eruditorum for that year. It 

 appears to contain much information not easily to be 

 found elsewhei e. 



The view which Bacon gives of the doctrines of 

 Telesius seems to have been much used and trusted by 

 the historians of philosophy, 4 a natural result of the 

 involved and obscure style in which they were orig 

 inally propounded. Whether it is altogether an accu 

 rate representation of these doctrines may at least be 

 doubted : it seems as if Bacon, in some matters of de 

 tail, mingles with what he finds in Telesius some fur 

 ther developments of his own. Perhaps he is in some 



1 It was reprinted in 1588, along with the Contemplationes of Mocenicus 

 and the Qiutstiones Peripateticce of Csesalpinus. The volume containing 

 these three-works is entitled &quot; Tractationum Philosophicarum tomus unus,&quot; 

 and is apparently not easily met with. It is this edition that I have been 

 in the habit of using. 



2 This dedication is prefixed to the tract &quot; De Mari.&quot; 



8 The account of Telesius in Ginguen^ was written by Salsi. See Gin- 

 guene, vii. p. 500. 

 4 See what Brucker says of Morhof and Sosellus, Hist. Crit. Phil. iv. 453. 



