37-38] NOTES. 119 



1. 31. pleasantly, wittily. 



1. 32. Aristotle speaketh, similarly Carlyle says " The Universe 

 makes no immediate objection to be conceived in any way." 

 This section is quoted and illustrated by Cardinal Newman, 

 Idea of a University, Discourse iv. , 4. 



Page 38, 1. 2. two ways of action, Cf. two sayings quoted by 

 Xenophon, " Do not aim at ease, lest you meet with discomfort," 

 and " The gods sell us all good things for labour." 



1. 7. he shall end, he will certainly end. Shall properly 

 connotes compulsion, and is often, therefore, used to denote 

 what is inevitable. 



1. 10. the manner of the tradition, the way of handing on 

 or communicating knowledge. Cf . The Interpretation of Nature : 

 "He that delivereth knowledge desireth to deliver it in such 

 form as may be soonest believed, etc. ... Glory (i.e., pride) maketh 

 the author not to lay open his weakness. " Cf . Bk. ii. pp. 98-9. 



1. 11. magistral, after the fashion of a master, whose word is 

 not to be disputed. 



1. 12. peremptory, dogmatic: not brooking question or contra 

 diction. 



1. 15. disallowed, disapproved. 



1. 17. VeUeius, Bacon is referring to Cicero's treatise on the 

 Nature of the Gods. The treatise is in the form of a discussion 

 in which Velleius takes part. Authors, says Bacon, should avoid 

 the two extremes of dogmatism and scepticism. 



1. 20. Socrates his, in early times his was substituted by mis 

 take for the ' of the genitive. The change occurred most fre 

 quently in the case of nouns ending in a sibilant, owing to the 

 coincidence of sound. Abbott, Sh. Gr. 217. 



ironical doubting, the word ' irony ' as applied to 

 Socrates means ' self -depreciation.' Socrates wrote nothing, 

 and established few positive conclusions. It was his custom 

 to profess entire ignorance of a subject and to ask some one for 

 an explanation of it. This explanation he then criticised, and 

 by a process of cross-examination showed that the explanation 

 which he had received was either insufficient or incorrect. His 

 chief subject of discussion was the meaning of general names, 

 specially those of moral philosophy. Socrates thus performed 

 the essential service of showing men their ignorance, and putting 

 them in the way of right reasoning. Our reasoning will never 

 be of any value so long as we can attach no definite meaning to 

 the terms which we employ. 



1. 23. scope, aim. It is a Greek word signifying literally f a 

 mark to aim at.' 



1. 29. commenter, we should say commentator. 



