20 Of the Advancement of Learning. L i b. I^ 



laertius 

 in Plato. 



Horar. 



fenitm otieforuni. Notvvithftanding it is moft certain^that if the School- 

 rncn, to their great thirft of Truth, and unwearied travail of wit, had 

 joyn'd variety, and univerfality of reading, and contemplation, they 

 had certainly proved excellent lights to the great advancement of 

 all Arts and Sciences. And thus much of the fecond Difeafe of 

 Learning. 



IV. For the third Diieafe of Learning which concerns Deceit or Vn- 

 truth.^t is of all the reft thefouleft,as that which doth deftroy the Nature 

 and ellential form of Knowledge, which is nothing but a reprefenta- 

 tion of Truth. Vox xhQ Truth of Being, and the Truth of Knoiving are 

 all one, differing no more than the dired beam and the beam reflefted. 

 This vice therefore brancheth it felf into two iorts, Impofinre and Cre- 

 dulity •■, the one deceives, the other is deceived , which although they 

 appear to beofa diverfe nature; the one (eeraing to proceed of Cun- 

 ning, and the other of Simplicity , yet for the moft part they do con- 

 cur, for as the verle noteth, 



Fercontatorem fiigito natfi garrnlm idem eU : 



"tacit, 

 H>rt. I 



Intimating that an Imquifitive man is a Frathr ; fo upon the like reafbn, 

 a Credidom man is a deceiver. As we fee it in Fame and Rumors, that 

 he that will eafily believe Rumors, will as eafily augment R-umors, 

 which Ticitus wifely notes in thefe words, Fingunt ffmul crednntq^ 

 fiich affinity there is between a propenlity to Deceive and a facility to 

 Believe. 



§ This facility of Crediting and accepting all things, though weak- 

 ly authorized, is of two kinds, according to the nature of the Matter 

 handled, for it is either belief of Hi fiory, or fas the Lawyers fpeak) Kat- 

 ter of Fac for matter of Opinion. In the former kind, v.'e fee with what 

 iofs and detriment of Credit and Reputation, this error hath diftain'd 

 and embafed much of the Ecclefiajiical Hijlory^ which hath two eafily 

 received and regiftred Reports and Narrations of Miracles wrought by 

 Martyrs, Hermites, or Monks of the Defcrt, Anchorites, and other ho- 

 ly men 5 and of their Reliques, Sepulchers, Chappels, Images and 

 Shrines. So in Natural H/Jiory , we (ee many things have been rafhiy, 

 and with little choice or judgement received and regiftred, as may ap- 

 pear in the writings of P/mius, Cardanus, Alhcrtus^ and diverfe of the 

 Arabia?}/, which are every where fraught with forged and fabulous Re- 

 ports, and thofe not only uncertain and untried -, but notorioufly un- 

 true and manifeftly convifted, to the great derogation of Natural Phi- 

 /<?/^;)/j;' with grave and fiber men. Wherein in truth the wifdom and 

 integrity of Arifiotlc doth excellently appear, that having made fo di- 

 ligent and cxquifite a Hijiory of living Creatures^ hath mingled it Co 

 fparingly with any vain or feigned matter j but hath rather caft all 

 DcMlrab. Prodigious Reports, which he thought worthy the recording into one 

 commentary^ wifely difcerning that matter of maniftfr Truth (which 

 might be the experimental ground-work whereupon Philofophy and 

 Sciences were to be built) ought not unadvifedly, to be mingled with 

 matter of doubtful faith : and yet again things rare and ftrangc, which 

 to many fcem incrcdiblcj are not wholly to be fuppreffed ot dcnycd xo 

 be recorded to Poftcrity, 



Bnt 



Aufcult. 



