112 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. [PAGES 



from the original edition. He supposes that Bacon wrote 

 counxett- This conjecture is supported by the Latin translation 

 ' Credulity has invested certain authors with a dictatorial 

 power of giving orders, instead of the senatorial power of giving 

 counsel. ' 



1. 31. at a stay, kept them from making progress. We should 

 say at a standstill. 



1. .33. conies shortest, accomplishes least. 



1. 35. leeseth, loseth. 



1. 36. artillery, the art of constructing engines for the dis 

 charge of missile weapons. The word now means * cannon. ' 



Page 34, 1. 1. grossly, unskilfully. 



1. 3. Democritus, born about B.C. 460, a leader of the Atomistic 

 school of philosophy in Greece. Bacon thought more highly of 

 him than of any of the Greek philosophers, because he devoted 

 himself more to the study of nature, and less to the elaboration 

 of logical forms. 



Hippocrates, B.C. 460, a well-known Greek physician, and 

 writer on medicine. 



1. 4. Euclides, the geometrician. He lived in the fourth 

 century B.C., but the exact date of his birth is unknown. 



Archimedes, B.C. 287, a great astronomer, and discoverer 

 in mathematics, both pure and applied. He was a native of 

 Syracuse, and lost his life in the storming of the city by the 

 Romans, B.C. 212. It is told of him that, during the siege, he 

 burned the enemies' ships in the harbour by reflections from a 

 mirror. 



1. />. imbased, corrupted. In the Latin translation it is 

 ' having lost much of their original splendour.' 



1. 6. many wits and industries, the labour of many minds. 



1. 7. in one, to the same object. 



L 9. whom ... illustrated, in spite of the time which they have 

 spent upon him, they have rather distorted than illustrated his 

 works. This is a parenthetical remark. The word For, which 

 follows, continues the sense from some one. 



1. 12. exempted from liberty of examination, i.e. accepted on 

 authority : as the doctrines of Aristotle were by the Schoolmen. 

 Bacon means that time is wasted, if spent in making endless 

 comments on one author. When we have learned all that an 

 author has to say, we should leave him, and go on to fresh 

 studies. Cf. " To go beyond Aristotle by the light of Aristotle 

 is to think that a borrowed light can increase the original light 

 from whom it is taken." Bacon, On the Interpretation of Nature. 



1. 14. the position, the maxim, or rule. 



