l8 BACON 



upon particular confutations and solutions of every scruple and 

 objection ; which breeds one question, as fast as it solves an- 

 other; just as in the above example, when the light is carried 

 into one corner, it darkens the rest. Whence the fable of Scylla 

 seems a lively image of this kind of philosophy, who was trans- 

 formed into a beautiful virgin upwards, whilst barking mon- 

 sters surrounded her below, 



" Candida succinctam latrantibus inguina monstris." Virgil.* 



So the generalities of the schoolmen are for a while fair and 

 proportionable ; but to descend into their distinctions and de- 

 cisions, they end in monstrous altercations and barking ques- 

 tions. Whence this kind of knowledge must necessarily fall 

 under popular contempt ; for the people are ever apt to contemn 

 truth, upon account of the controversies raised about it ; and so 

 think those all in the wrong way, who never meet. And when 

 they see such quarrels about subtilties and matters of no use, 

 they usually give in to the judgment of Dionysius, " That it is 

 old men's idle talk.'V But if those schoolmen, to their great 

 thirst of truth, and unwearied exercise of wit, had joined variety 

 of reading and contemplation, they would have proved excellent 

 lights to the great advancement of all kinds of arts and sciences. 

 And thus much for the second disease of learning. 



The third disease, which regards deceit or falsehood, is the 

 foulest ; as destroying the essential form of knowledge, which is 

 nothing but a representation of truth; for the truth of ex- 

 istence and the truth of knowledge are the same thing, or differ 

 no more than the direct and reflected ray. This vice, therefore, 

 branches into two ; viz., delight in deceiving and aptness to be 

 deceived; imposture and credulity, which, though apparently 

 different, the one seeming to proceed from cunning, and the 

 other from simplicity, yet they generally concur. For, as in the 

 verse, 



" Percontatorem fugito; nam garrulus idem est," t 



an inquisitive man is a prattler ; so a credulous man is a deceiver ; 

 for he who so easily believes rumors, will as easily increase them. 

 Tacitus has wisely expressed this law of our nature in these 

 words, " Fingunt simul creduntque."<* 



This easiness of belief, and admitting things upon weak 

 Authority, is of two kinds, according to the subject ; being either 



