De Piscibus Libri V et De Cetis Liber Unus

not necessarily (which has indeed seemed to be the case to some philosophers, though I think it would detract too much from the powers of the intellect!) lead to Pantheism. This appears to happen only when those who use the intellect theoretically hold the law of the intellect or formal thinking to be the sole law, also constituting the existence indicated by thought. Therefore, it is my view that in this matter also, one should not blame Philosophy, but rather the Philosophers, if I may be permitted to profess this freely, however much I am conscious of my own humbleness in philosophizing. Nor do I foresee that those who are less friends to themselves than they are to philosophy itself could take this ill.

They were published only once under the title already mentioned. In the same format exists a portrait of the Philosopher engraved on copper, which is therefore often found prefixed to copies of this edition. Often, however, it is missing, nor is it signified in the preface that it belongs to it. Enclosed in a double circle on a square base, it bears the name: BENEDICTUS DE SPINOZA, along with three distichs, worthy neither of a Poet nor a Philosopher:

To whom Nature, to whom God, to whom the order of things was known,
In this state Spinoza was to be seen.
Men's hands expressed the face, but to paint the mind
The artisans of Zeuxis could not manage.
It thrives in his writings: there he treats sublime things.
Whoever you are who wishes to know him, read his writings.