Again, he who would particularise and closely examine things will find
that Theophrastes, as he himself declares, wrote and composed three
hundred volumes, Chrysippus sixty, Empedocles fifty, Servus Sulpicius
two hundred on civil law, Gallienus one hundred and thirty on the art
of medicine, and Origenes six thousand, all of which St. Jerome attests
having read; and yet, of so many admirable and excellent authors, there
now remain to us only some little fragments, so debased and vitiated in
several places, that they seem abortive, and as if they had been torn
from their author's hands by force.
On account of which, my Lady, since the occasion has offered, I have
been minded to present all these examples, with the object of exhorting
all those who treasure books and keep them sequestered in their
sanctuaries and cabinets, to henceforth publish them and bring them to
light, not only so that they may not keep back and bury the glory of
their ancestors, but also that they may not deprive their descendants
of the profit and pleasure which they might derive from the labour of
others.
Pages:
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158