LIBER TERTIUS. 571 



spectantia posuisset, amplius Deo non fuit opus. At Demo- 

 critus et Epicurus, cum atomos su9s prsedicabant, eousque a 

 subtilioribus nonnullis tolerabantur ; verum cum ex eorum 

 fortuito concursu fabricam ipsam rerum absque Mente coaluisse 

 assererent, ab omnibus risu excepti sunt. Adeo ut tantum absit 

 ut Causae Physicas homines a Deo et Providentia abducant, ut 

 contra potius philosophi illi qui in iisdem eruendis occupati 

 fuerunt, nullum exitum rei reperiant nisi postremo ad Deum et 

 Providentiam confugiant. 1 Atque haec de Metaphysica dicta 

 sint, cujus par tern de Causis Finalibus in libris et Physicis et 

 Metaphysicis tractatam non negaverim ; in his recte, in illis 

 perperam propter incommodum inde secutum. 



CAPUT V. 



Partitio Operative Doctrines de Natura, in Mechanicam et Ma- 

 giam ; quce respondent partibus Speculative : Physic Mecha- 

 nica, Metaphysics Magia ; et Expurgatio vocabuli Magice. 

 Appendices duce Operatives; Inventarium Opum Humana- 

 rum et Catalogus Polychrestorum. 



OPERATIVAM de Natura similiter in duas partes dividemus, 

 idque ex necessitate quadam. Subjicitur enim haec divisio 

 division! priori doctrinae Speculative : Physica siquidem et 

 inquisitio Causarum Efficientium et Materialium producit Me- 

 chanicam ; at Metaphysica et Inquisitio Formarum producit 

 Magiam. Nam Causarum Finalium inquisitio sterilis est, et 

 tanquam virgo Deo consecrata nihil parit. 2 Neque nos fugit 



1 "C'est Dieu," affirms Leibnitz in a spirit not unlike that of the text, " qui est la /' 

 derniere raison des choses et ia connoissance de Dieu n'est pas moins le principe des 

 sciences que son essence et sa volonte sont les principes des etres." And a little further 

 on he remarks that " les principes generaux de la Physique et de la Mecanique meme j 

 dependent de la conduite d'une intelligence souveraine, et ne sauraient etre expliques / 

 sans le faire entrer en consideration. C'est ainsi qu'il faut re'concilier la piete avec la / 

 raison, et qu'on pourra satisfaire aux gens de bien qui apprehendent les suites de la f 

 philosophic mecanique ou corpusculaire, comme si elle pouvait 6loigner de Dieu, et des r 

 substances immaterielles, au lieu qu'avec les corrections requises, et tout bien entendu, j 

 elle doit nous y mener." Lettre a Bayle, p. 106. of Erdmann's edition. 



2 No saying of Bacon's has been more often quoted and misunderstood than this. 

 Carrying out his division of the Doctrina de Natura, which as we have seen depends 

 upon Aristotle's quadripartite classification of causes, he remarks that to Physica cor- 

 responds Mechanica, and to Metaphysica, Magia. But Metaphysica contains two parts, 

 the doctrine of forms and the doctrine of final causes. Bacon remarks that Magia cor- 

 responds to Metaphysica, inasmuch as the latter contains the doctrine of forms, 

 that of final causes admitting from its nature of no practical applications. " Nihil 

 parit," means simply " i on parit opera," which though it would have been a more 



