540 DE AUGMENTIS SCIENTIARUM 



sermones nostros claudamus ; cum sit portus et sabbatum 

 humanarum contemplationum omnium. 



Philosophise autem objectum triplex, Deus, Natura, Homo ; 

 et triplex itidem Radius rerum ; Natura enim percutit intel- 

 lectum radio directo ; Deus autem, propter medium inaequale 

 (creaturas scilicet), radio refracto ; Homo vero, sibi ipsi mon- 

 stratus et exhibitus, radio reflexo. 1 Convenit igitur partiri 

 Philosophiam in doctrinas tres : Doctrinam de Numine, Doctri- 

 nam de Natura, Doctrinam de Homine. Quoniam autem par- 

 titiones scientiarum non sunt lineis diversis similes, quae coeunt 

 ad unum angulum ; sed potius ramis arborum, qui conjungun- 

 tur in uno trunco (qui etiam truncus ad spatium nonnullum 

 integer est et continuus, antequam se partiatur in ramos) ; 

 idcirco postulat res, ut priusquam prioris partitionis mem- 

 bra persequamur, constituatur una Scientia Universalis, quae 

 sit mater reliquarum, et habeatur in progressu doctrinarum 

 tanquam portio vise communis antequam viae se separent et 

 disjungant- Hanc Scientiam Philosophies Primes, sive etiam 

 SapienticB (quae olim rerum divinarum atque humanarum sci- 

 entia definiebatur), nomine insignimus. Huic autem scientiae 

 nulla alia opponitur; cum ab aliis scientiis potius limitibus 

 intra quos continetur quam rebus et subjecto differat; fastigia 

 scilicet rerum tantummodo tractans. Hanc ipsam utrum inter 

 Desiderata reponere oporteat, hassito ; sed arbitror tamen poni 

 debere. Equidem invenio farraginem quandam et massam in- 

 conditam doctrinae ex Theologia Naturali, ex Logica, ex parti- 

 bus quibusdam Physicae (veluti de Principiis et de Anima) 

 compositam et congestam; et sublimitate quadam sermonis, 

 hominum qui seipsos admirari amant, tanquam in vertice scien- 

 tiarum collocatam. Nos vero misso fastu id tantum volumus, 

 ut designetur aliqua scientia, quae sit receptaculum Axiomatum 



1 The parallel which naturally suggests itself between light and knowledge has by 

 several writers been traced in the modifications of which light is susceptible. Thus 

 Roger Bacon, at the close of his Perspectiva, likens vision by direct light to divine 

 knowledge, by refracted light to angelic knowledge, and by reflected light to human ; 

 and again to man's knowledge in the state of glory " facie ad faciem," to his knowledge 

 in the intermediate state, and to that which he has in this present life ; " et hsec est 

 recte per reflexionem, secundum quod dicit apostolus, Videmus nunc per speculum in 

 aenigmate." And in this life also vision is triple ; " scilicet recta in perfectis, fracta in 

 imperfectis ; et in malis et in negligentibus mandata Dei, est etiam per reflexionem" 

 an assertion in support of which he quotes S. James, i. 513. and 24. But all these 

 illustrations differ from that in the text, inasmuch as they relate to the different kinds 

 of knowledge which appertain to different orders and states of being, and not to the 

 differences which arise from the nature of the object. For a nearer parallel, at least 

 with respect to the radius reflexus, see Plutarch De Curiositate, c. 3. 



