The Opus Majus of Roger Bacon, Vol. 1 (English Translation)

the opinion to which they are sentimentally attached, rather than without obstinate prepossession to scrutinize that which they assert with the utmost positiveness.” Because of the viciousness of custom he asks in the first book on the Divine Nature, “Is not the investigator of nature ashamed to seek testimony to the truth from minds steeped in custom?” Moreover in opposition to the notions of the mob he says in the introduction to the second book of Disputations, “Philosophy is content with few judges, shunning purposely the multitude to which it is an object of suspicion and hatred.” In the same second book he says, “I think all things are the more praiseworthy if they occur without the knowledge of the public.” But others attack these three errors separately. For in Adalardus' book on Questions about Nature the following query is put about weak authority: “What else is authority of this kind than a halter? Just as brute beasts are led with any kind of halter whithersoever one wishes, and do not perceive whither they are being led nor why; so not a few, captive and bound by beastlike credulity, mere authority leads off into danger.” Moreover, in the book on the Eternity of the World he says, “The man who chooses one side of a question because of his love of custom cannot rightly discern the correct opinion.” Averroës also at the end of his second book on the Physics says, “Custom is the chief cause hindering us from grasping many clear truths. Just as certain actions though harmful will become easy to the man accustomed to them, and for this reason he comes to believe that they are useful; similarly when one has become accustomed to believe false statements from childhood, the habit so formed will cause him to deny the truth, even as some men have become so used to eating poison that it has become to them a food.” Averroës likewise maintains in his commentary on the second book of the Metaphysics that “the contraries of the principles, provided they be of general repute, are more gladly received by the multitude and by those who follow the testimony of the majority, than are the fundamental principles themselves.” And also Jerome in the introduction to the fifth book of his commentary on Jeremiah asserts that truth is contented with few supporters and is not dismayed by a host of foes. John Chrysostom in his commentary on Matthew says that those who have armed them-