396 HISTORY OF FORMAL ASTRONOMY. 



was very far from rashly rejecting the opinions 

 of ancient philosophers, except for weighty reasons 

 and irresistible facts, through any love of novelty. 

 His years, his gravity of character, his excellent 

 learning, his magnanimity and nobleness of spirit, 

 are very far from having any liability to such a 

 temper, which belongs either to youth, or to ardent 

 and light tempers, or to those T&V /u.eya (ppovovvrtk 

 7rl Oewpiq. lAMpy, 6 who think much of themselves and 

 know little,' as Aristotle says." Undoubtedly this 

 deference for the great men of the past, joined with 

 the talent of seizing the spirit of their methods when 

 the letter of their theories is no longer tenable, is 

 the true mental constitution of discoverers. 



Besides the intellectual energy which was re- 

 quisite in order to construct a system of doctrines 

 so novel as those of Copernicus, some courage was 

 necessary to the publication of such opinions ; cer- 

 tain, as they were, to be met, to a great extent, 

 by rejection and dispute, and perhaps by charges 

 of heresy and mischievous tendency. This last 

 danger, however, must not be judged so great as 

 we might infer from the angry controversies and 

 acts of authority which occurred in Galileo's time. 

 The Dogmatism of the stationary period, which 

 identified the cause of philosophical and religious 

 truth, had not yet distinctly felt itself attacked by 

 the advance of physical knowledge ; and therefore 

 had not begun to look with alarm on such move- 



