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OF THE EXCELLENCE OF MATHE-

MATICS, WHEREIN IS DEMONSTRATED HOW MUCH THEY

are necessary for the acquisition of all the liberal arts.

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Just as a traveler passing through pleasant meadows is often left in doubt, among the immense beauty of the colored blossoms, as to which of them all is the most noble and most excellent; it is no wonder if the exalted philosophers, wandering in the cultivated gardens of the divine sciences and seeing them all directed toward this unique end and principal goal—to fully investigate the truth and reveal it to the world—held varying opinions on which of them should be granted the first place. Nevertheless, guided at last by their clear judgment toward the excellence—or rather, the divine treasure—of the mathematical disciplines, they placed them above all other human sciences. For these not only claim what they wish by their own natural and inherent gift, but, like the bright sun shining upon the entire earth, they bring a most serene light to all the others, making our knowledge and understanding of them easy: since natural things are in themselves so obscure and rugged that the intellect that can clearly judge them after long study is indeed quite fortunate and rare The author is highlighting a common Renaissance theme: that while the physical world is messy and difficult to understand, the "purity" of math provides a clear lens through which to see it.. From this arose the variety of opinions and the great contention among philosophers regarding the principles of natural things (from which, as from a troubled source, flows everything scattered beneath the rich heavens upon the whole earth), so that barely three or four of them agreed on such matters. The same occurs also with first philosophy First philosophy refers to metaphysicsThe branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, substance, and cause.: whose preeminence extends only to the contemplation of God, the Best and Greatest original: "Ottimo Maximo," a translation of the Latin "Optimus Maximus," a title expressing supreme goodness and power., and to the investigation of those divine Minds Likely referring to angels or celestial intelligences in the Aristotelian or Scholastic tradition. that continually assist His most holy eternal Majesty. This she cannot do, nor can she operate simply with irrefutable argument, without the sight of those things that fall under the power of our eyes; for the height of such arduous things obscures the light of our minds, no less than the splendor of the luminous sun dazzles the