2 _Novum, Organum_, Lib. 1. Aph. 71, 79. _De Augmeniis_,
Lib. 3. Cap. 4. De Principiis atque originibus. _Cogitala el
visa_. Redargutio philosophiarum.
{440}Plato watered is to be judged of by its flowers and leaves, it is
the noblest of trees. But if we take the homely test of Bacon, if we
judge of the tree by its fruits, our opinion of it may perhaps be less
favourable. When we sum up all the useful truths which we owe to that
philosophy, to what do they amount? We find, indeed, abundant proofs
that some of those who cultivated it were men of the first order of
intellect. We find among their writings incomparable specimens both
of dialectical and rhetorical art. We have no doubt that the ancient
controversies were of use, in so far as they served to exercise the
faculties of the disputants; for there is no controversy so idle that it
may not be of use in this way. But, when we look for something more, for
something which adds to the comforts or alleviates the calamities of the
human race, we are forced to own ourselves disappointed. We are forced
to say with Bacon that this celebrated philosophy ended in nothing but
disputation, that it was neither a vineyard nor an olive-ground, but
an intricate wood of briars and thistles, from which those who lost
themselves in it brought back many scratches and no food. (1)
We readily acknowledge that some of the teachers of this unfruitful
wisdom were among the greatest men that the world has ever seen. If we
admit the justice of Bacon’s censure, we admit it with regret, similar
to that which Dante felt when he learned the fate of those illustrious
heathens who were doomed to the first circle of Hell.
“Gran duol mi prese at cuor quando to ’ntesi,