ROGER BACON. jj 



declared war against the ancients as well as against the 

 Schoolmen. Roger protests against the yoke of Aristotle and 



the ancients in words which it is impossible not to admire 



words spoken then for the first time, and which the echo of 

 centuries has repeated as an undeniable truth. "Scarcely 

 half a century ago/ 5 says Roger,* " Aristotle was suspected of 

 impiety and proscribed from the schools. And now he is 

 presented as a sovereign master ! What is his right to it ? 

 He is learned, they say; granted; but he does not know 

 everything. He has done in his time what was possible then - r 

 but he did not reach the utmost boundary of wisdom. 

 Avicenna has made grave mistakes, and Averroes might 

 be criticised upon more than one point. The very saints 

 are not infallible; they were often mistaken, and were 

 obliged to retract, witness St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and 

 Origen. But, says the School, the ancients must be respected. 

 Eh ! doubtless, the ancients are venerable, and we must show 

 ourselves grateful to them for having traced the way to us ; 

 but we should not forget that these ancients were men, and 

 have erred more than once ; they have even committed the 

 more errors in proportion as they were older, for the youngest 

 are in reality the oldest; modern generations must surpass- 

 those of former times in enlightenment, since they inherit all 

 the labours of past ages." A page of wisdom this ! Francis 

 Bacon's famous " Juventus Mundi" (the youth of the world), 

 which has been so often quoted, and for which he has been so 

 often praised, is the very embodiment of the idea expressed 

 by Roger, at the end of the passage just cited. But to 

 continue : (e) the two Bacons declared that art, borrowing 

 nature's own forces, must enable men to domineer over 

 nature itself. Roger was the first to expoundf this grand 

 idea which would ensure the omnipotence of man's genius* 

 (f) Both great men treated of the general causes of ignorance, 

 the chief of which was the influence of Authority in every 

 shape both detecting four obstacles to science which differ 

 very little except in name : the four offendiada of Roger 

 I. Influence of unworthy authority ; II. Custom; III. Imper- 



* Compendium Philosophise, Cap. II. 

 f De Mirabili Po testate Artis et Natures. 



