So there remaineth nothing to fill the aphorisms but some good
quantity of observation; and therefore no man can suffice, nor in
reason will attempt, to write aphorisms, but he that is sound and
grounded. But in methods,
"Tantum series juncturaque pollet,
Tantum de medio sumptis accedit honoris,"
as a man shall make a great show of an art, which, if it were
disjointed, would come to little. Secondly, methods are more fit to
win consent or belief, but less fit to point to action; for they
carry a kind of demonstration in orb or circle, one part
illuminating another, and therefore satisfy. But particulars being
dispersed do best agree with dispersed directions. And lastly,
aphorisms, representing a knowledge broken, do invite men to inquire
further; whereas methods, carrying the show of a total, do secure
men, as if they were at furthest.
(8) Another diversity of method, which is likewise of great weight,
is the handling of knowledge by assertions and their proofs, or by
questions and their determinations.
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