A Sketch of Universal Wisdom

histories, sacred and profane, sees it. For everything emerged as if from darkness into light, one thing after another; and each thing in its beginnings was something rough and unpolished, gradually receiving more distinct forms and perfection. Finally, every Discovery 16 passed from its Inventor to others—to different men and peoples, one after another—through successive imitation.

XXIV. What, then, forbids us to hope that at some point, those things which grew in parts may coalesce into a whole? And that those things which were gradually polished may finally exist in their most perfect form? And that those things which previously belonged to this or that person or nation, language or sect, might become common to the whole human race? Certainly, whatever has stages must necessarily have a highest stage. And if Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BC) was a Roman statesman and philosopher whose writings on nature and morality heavily influenced Renaissance and Enlightenment thinkers. spoke truly when he said: Time wipes out the fabrications of opinion original Latin: "Opinionum commenta delet dies." This is a famous quote from Cicero’s "On the Nature of the Gods," suggesting that while man-made theories fade, the truths of nature endure. (and why not? For Truth, the daughter of time, is alone solid; why should the smokes of opinion not be scattered?) why then do we not hope that the fabrications and errors of so many centuries—or the [defects] of the centuries—