LIB. II. 1416. 183 



ab initio facere tentet affirmative 13 , (quod sibi permissa 

 semper facere solet) occurrent phantasmata, et opina- 

 bilia, et notionalia male terminata, et axiomata quo- 

 tidie emendanda ; nisi libeat (scholarum more) pugnare 

 pro falsis 14 . Ea tamen proculdubio erunt meliora aut 

 praviora, pro facilitate et robore intellectus qui opera- 

 tur. At omnino Deo (formarum inditori et opifici 15 ) 

 aut fortasse angelis et intelligentiis competit, formas 

 per affirmationem immediate nosse, atque ab initio 

 contemplationis. Sed certe supra hominem est ; cui 

 tantum conceditur, procedere primo per ncgativas, et 

 postremo loco desinere in affirmativas, post omnimodam 

 exclusionem. 



XVI. 



Itaque natures facienda est prorsus solutio et separa- 

 tio ; non per ignem certe, sed per mentem, tanquam 

 ignem divinum. Est itaque inductionis verso opus pri- 

 mum (quatenus ad inveniendas formas) rejectio sive ex- 

 clusiva naturarum singularum, qua? non inveniuntur in 

 aliqua instantia, ubi natura data adest; aut inveniuntur 

 in aliqua instantia, ubi natura data abest ; aut inveni 

 untur in aliqua instantia crescere, cum natura data de- 

 crescat ; aut decrescere, cum natura data crescat. Turn 

 vero post rejectionem et exclmivam debitis modis fac- 

 tam, secundo loco (tanquam in fundo) manebit (abeun- 



13 Cf. supr. I. 46. &quot;intelligentiis/ the Scholastic name 



14 Qeviv 8&amp;lt;.a&amp;lt;j&amp;gt;v\a.TTeiv as an In- for beings of higher order than man, 

 tellectual exercise, not as in search who know instinctively, it may be ; 

 after Truth. Bacon would only and not by means of processes. 

 regard Mental training as in con- The necessity for negative investi- 

 nection with Truth. &quot; Scholarum gation is a sign of the feebleness of 

 more&quot; may here mean places of Man s Intellect. 



education, as the &quot; Schools&quot; of the This also corresponds to some 



Universities. We retain relics of degree with the Aristotelian doctrine 



this principle of disputation in the that the happiness of all above Man 



Divinity exercises at Oxford. is contemplative. 



15 This looks quite Platonic 



