So hath
Plato intermingled his philosophy with theology, and Aristotle with
logic; and the second school of Plato, Proclus and the rest, with
the mathematics; for these were the arts which had a kind of
primogeniture with them severally. So have the alchemists made a
philosophy out of a few experiments of the furnace; and Gilbertus
our countryman hath made a philosophy out of the observations of a
loadstone. So Cicero, when reciting the several opinions of the
nature of the soul, he found a musician that held the soul was but a
harmony, saith pleasantly, Hic ab arte sua non recessit, &c. But of
these conceits Aristotle speaketh seriously and wisely when he
saith, Qui respiciunt ad pauca de facili pronunciant.
(8) Another error is an impatience of doubt, and haste to assertion
without due and mature suspension of judgment. For the two ways of
contemplation are not unlike the two ways of action commonly spoken
of by the ancients: the one plain and smooth in the beginning, and
in the end impassable; the other rough and troublesome in the
entrance, but after a while fair and even.
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