LIBER SEXTUS. 667 



tens DemocritOj quod in comparationibus esset nimius. At illi 

 quorum documenta in opinionibus popularibus jam sedes suas 

 collocarunt, non aliud habent quod agant, nisi ut disputent et 

 probent. Illis contra quorum dogmata opiniones populares 

 transcendunt, gemino labore opus est ; primo ut intelligantur 

 quae afferunt, deinde ut probentur : ita ut necessum habeant con- 

 fugere ad auxilia similitudinum et translationum, quo se captui 

 hominum insinuent. Videmus igitur sub infantia doctrinarum 

 saeculis rudioribus, cum syllepses illae, quae jam factae sunt 

 vulgares et tritae, novae fuerant et inauditae, omnia parabolis et 

 similitudinibus plena fuisse. 1 Alias evenisset, ut quae propone- 

 bantur, aut absque nota seu attentione debita transmissa aut 

 pro paradoxis rejecta fuissent. Etenim regula quaedam est 

 Traditivae, quod scientia omnis qu& anticipationibus sive prasup- 

 positionibus non est consona, a similitudinibus et comparationibus 

 suppetias peter e debeat* 



Atque de Methodorum diversis generibus haec dicta sint ; iis 

 videlicet quas antehac ab aliis notata non fuerunt. Nam quan- 

 tum ad caeteras illas Methodos, Analyticam, Systaticam, Diaere- 

 ticam, etiam Crypticam, Homericam 3 , et similes, recte sunt eae 

 inventae et distributee; neque causa videtur, cur illis immo- 

 remur. 



At Methodi Genera hujusmodi sunt, Partes autem duae; 

 altera de Dispositione totius Operis vel Argument! libri alicujus ; 

 altera de Limitatione Propositionum. Etenim ad Architectu- 



received opinion that the allusion is to Plato's illustration of the nature of knowledge 

 which will be found at p. 197 of the Theatetus. On different occasions Aristotle 

 blames those who in philosophical questions employ similitudes or comparisons ; but 

 it does not appear that in any such passage he refers to Democritus. 



Mr. Munro, to whom I am indebted for the substance of this note, has pointed out 

 to me the passage in Sextus Empiricus, Adversus Logicos, in which the opinion held 

 by Democritus and others of the Physicists that " like is known of like " is men- 

 tioned. If any commentator has asserted that such a view of the nature of know- 

 ledge is condemned by Aristotle as would make it dependent upon this notion of 

 fytoKJrrjs, and that this notion was held by Democritus, we should get a probable ex- 

 planation of the error into which Bacon seems to have fallen ; but the simplest expla- 

 nation is that he put the name of Democritus for that of Plato by mere inadvertence. 

 It may be remarked that Democritus might be charged not only with propounding 

 a materialistic view of the nature of knowledge, but also with employing illustrations 

 in support of it derived from material objects. 



1 "Mens hebes ad verum per materialia surgit, 

 Et demersa prius, hac visa luce resurgit." 



SUGER, Abbot of St. Denis, in Didron, 

 Histoire de Dieu, p. 9. 



2 Compare Plato, Politic. 277. : x a ^ e7r ^> A*^ TapaSefyuaa-* xP^f-^ov^ IKO.V&S 

 KvvaQai TI rwv p.fi^6v(av. 

 9 See, for most of these terms, the Rhetoric of Ramus. 



