Previously Unpublished Works, Fascicle 1

and I will strengthen the authority of the philosopher Alcimus original: "Alchimi"; possibly referring to the rhetorician Alcimus or the philosopher Al-Kindi, whom Bacon frequently cites. with the authority of the blessed Jerome. No one would believe that those philosophers said so many wonderful things about Christ, angels, demons, and the glorification or damnation of men, unless Jerome or another saint confirmed that they had said them. Indeed, Cicero original: "Tullius" says in his book On Duties: "It was excellently written by Plato: 'We are not born for ourselves alone; our country claims a part of our birth, and our friends claim a part.' And, as the Stoics believe, all things are created for the use of humans, while humans were born for the sake of humans, so that they might benefit one another." A later hand altered the Latin "possent" to "possint," changing the grammatical mood of the verb "to be able." For Cicero says in the fifth book of the Academics: "Nothing is so noble as the sharing of benefits, for it is innate to man to have a certain social and communal quality which the Greeks call politikon original: "politicon"; meaning a person belonging to a city or a social being.." The editor suggests this may be a memory quotation from the third book of Cicero's On Duties rather than the Academics. But the very subject we are discussing, since it concerns the good of knowledge, naturally invites us to share it easily and generously. For this reason, Boethius A 6th-century philosopher whose works served as a bridge between classical antiquity and the Middle Ages. says in the prologue to Hypothetical Syllogisms: "Even if the study of truth should be pursued for its own beauty, it becomes more lovable when it is shared in common. For there is no good that does not shine more beautifully if it is confirmed by the awareness of many people." Another hand altered the Latin "completur" (is completed) to "comprobetur" (is confirmed). And Seneca, near the end of the first book of his Letters, says: "In this I rejoice to learn something: so that I may teach. Nothing will delight me, even if it is excellent and beneficial, if I am the only one who will know it. If wisdom were given to me with the condition that I keep it shut away and not share it, I would reject it. For the possession of no good thing is pleasant without a companion." Therefore, the magnificent king Alexander the Great original: "Alexander Macedo", a disciple of Aristotle, in a philosophical debate he had with Dindimus, the king of the Brahmans original: "Bragmanarum"; the Brahmans were often viewed in the Middle Ages as a race of naturally virtuous philosophers in India., encouraging him to share wisdom, spoke thus: "Sharing is a free thing and knows no loss when it is poured into another. It is like lighting many lights from a single torch: no damage is caused to the original source, which indeed gains the power to shine more whenever it finds reasons to provide more." For if greed for external things is condemned by the authority of all wise men, much more strongly is the greedy concealment of wisdom far...

1. On Duties, book 1, chapter 7.
2. Altered into "possint" by a later hand.
3. (sic) perhaps a memory quotation from book 3 of On Duties.
4. Boethius, Complete Works, Venice, 1492. "For it is even..."
5. Altered by another hand from "completur."
6. Letter 6.
7. Manuscript reads "datur."