LIBER PRIMUS. 459 



cum mundus jam senuerit ; non ea, quae computantur ordine 

 retrograde initium sumendo a saeculo nostro. 



Alius error e priori oriundus, est suspicio quaedam et diffi- 

 dentia, quas nihil nunc posse inveniri autumat, quo mundus tam 

 diu carere potuit; ac si ilia objectio conveniret erga tempus, 

 qua Lucianus impetit Jovem caeterosque ethnicorum deos. 

 Miratur enim, cur tot olim genuerint liberos, nullos autem suo 

 soBculo ? interrogatquejocans, ecquid sept nag enarii jam essent, aut 

 lege Papia contra senum nuptias lata constricti ? l Sic videntur 

 homines subvereri, ne Tempus effbetum jam factum sit et ad 

 generationem ineptum. Quin potius levitas hominum atque 

 inconstantia hinc optime perspici potest, qui donee res aliqua 

 perfecta sit, earn mirantur fieri posse ; postquam facta semel 

 est, iterum mirantur earn jampridem factam non fuisse. Ita 

 Alexandri expeditio in Asiam habita est initio pro vasto et 

 arduo admodum negotio ; quam tamen postea placuit Livio in 

 tantum elevare ut diceret de Alexandro, Nil aliud quam bene 

 ausus est vana contemnere.* Idem Columbo evenit, circa occi- 

 dentalem navigationem. 3 Sed in rebus intellectualibus hoc fit 

 multo frequentius, uti videre est in plerisque propositionibus 

 apud Euclidem, quae antequam demonstrentur mirae videntur, 

 et quibus quis non facile assenserit; post demonstrationem 



il contrario di quel che pensate. Voglio dire che noi siamo piu vecchi ed abbiamo piu 

 lunga eta, che i nostri predecessor! " Cena di Cenere, i. p. 132. of Wagner's edition 

 of G. Bruno. 



The idea that the early ages were the world's youth is to be found in the second 

 book of Esdras, or is at any rate directly suggested by an expression which occurs 

 there : "Seculum perdidit juventutem suam, et tempora appropinquant senescere." 

 2 Esdras, xiv. 10. The same idea occurs in Casmann's Problemata Marina, which 



was published in 1546. "Si antiquiorum dignitas ex tempore major 



videtur, id nostros qui hodie docent posteriores unice commendabit, nam tempus 



doctius et prudenrius evadit ex continuo progressu, ut senescens judicio 



sit acriore, solidiore, et maturiore." 



1 This remark, however much in the manner of Lucian, is not his, but Seneca's. 

 It has been preserved to us by Lactantius, who quotes it in his work De falsa 

 Religione, \. c. 16. Every one remembers the "adeo senuerunt Jupiter et Mars?" of 

 Juvenal. Seneca however refers to Jupiter only. 



2 Liv. ix. 17. 



8 The story of Columbus's egg is one of those popular anecdotes which no refutation 

 can get rid of. It was first told by Benzoni, and then greatly embellished by Theodore de 

 Bry, and is in reality only a reproduction of a story perhaps not more authentic told 

 of Brunellesco, the architect, who erected the dome of the cathedral at Florence. 

 See Humboldt in his Examen Critique de VHistoire de Geographic, &c., vol. iv. p. 152. 

 Bacon is however quite right in saying that after his success Columbus's discovery 

 was depreciated. " I was seven years at your court, and for seven years I was told 

 that my plan was an absurdity," writes Columbus in 1503 to Ferdinand and Isabella ; 

 " and now the very tailors ask leave to go to discover new countries." " A quantos se 

 fablo de mi empresa todos a una dijeron que era burla, agora fasta los sastres juplicnn 

 por descubrir." Humboldt, 1. c. vol. iii. p. 236. 



