,,the ,,philosophy ,,of ,,giambattista ,,vico4 ,,by ,,benedetto ,,croce ,,translated ,,by ,r4 ,g4 ,,collingwood ,,fellow ,,and ,,lecturer ,,of ,,pembroke ,,college1 ,,oxford ,,new ,,york ,,the ,,macmillan ,,company #aiac ,,to ,,wilhelm ,,windelband ,,preface ,my reasons for believing that a new exposition of ,vico's philosophy is required may easily be inferred from the observations on the effects of his work and the biographical notes which form respectively the second and fourth appendices to this volume4 ,here ,i merely wish to state that my exposition is not meant for a summary of ,vico's writings work by work and part by part4 ,it rather presupposes an acquaintance with these writings1 and1 where that is lacking1 is intended to induce the reader to procure them in order to follow better and to check the interpretation and estimate of them here offered4 ,on this supposition1 though ,i have made free use of my author's actual words1 especially in the chapters dealing with history1 ,i have not thought it desirable to mark them as quotations except where it was important to emphasise the precise phrase of the original4 ,i have in general combined such passages from fragments scattered over a wide field1 sometimes abbreviating1 sometimes amplifying1 and always freely adding words and phrases of my own by way of commentary3 and the continual use of quotation marks would merely have shown up in a manner more wearisome than valuable the reverse side of my embroidery1 which any reader who so desires can study by the help of the references given at the end of the book4 ,in my anxiety to show in every detail of my work1 so far as ,i could1 the veneration due to the great name of ,vico1 ,i have endeavoured to be brief with the brevity at which he himself aimed as the hall-mark of sterling scientific thought4 ,with this in view ,i have refrained even from controversy with his various interpreters1 and have either contented myself with mere remarks1 or more often left my details to be justified by the coherence of my view as a whole4 ,some of the interpretations supported by me ,i believe to be the mature fruit of the investigations and controversies which form the greater part of the literature on ,vico3 all the rest1 for which ,i am personally responsible1 and the general idea of my book1 ,i will defend against alternative and contradictory views when occasion arises1 should it ever do so1 in the detailed and direct manner which ,i have not thought it necessary to adopt in the course of my exposition4 ,i hope1 in fact1 that the present work will rekindle rather than quench the discussion of ,vico's philosophy3 since in him we have1 as ,goethe calls him1 the ,altvater whom a nation is happy to possess1 and to him we must hark back for a time in order to imbue our modern philosophy with an ,italian feeling1 however cosmopolitan it may be in thought4 ,the dedication of my book1 besides being a token of respect to one of the greatest modern teachers of the history of philosophy1 is intended to express the expectation and hope that the gap in this history to which ,i have called attention more than once1 especially on page #bgg of the present volume1 may soon be filled4 ,b4 ,c4 ,,raiano 7,,aquila71 ,september #aiaj4 ,,translator',s ,,note ,this volume represents the author's ,la ,filosofia di ,giambattista ,vico 7,bari1 #aiaa7 forming vol4 ii4 of his ,saggi filosofici2 and also contains a paper read before the ,accademia ,pontaniana in ,march #aiab entitled ,le ,fonti della gnoseologia vichiana1 which figures here as ,appendix ,,iii4 ,the whole of the translation has been revised by the ,author4 ,r4 ,g4 ,c4 ,,oxford1 #aiac4 ,,contents ,i4 ,,vico',s ,,theory ,,of ,,knowledge3 ,,first ,,phase ,,ii4 ,,vico',s ,,theory ,,of ,,knowledge3 ,,second ,,phase ,,iii4 ,,internal ,,structure ,,of ,,the ,,new ,,science ,,iv4 ,,the ,,imaginative ,,form ,,of ,,knowledge 7,,poetry ,,and ,,language7 ,v4 ,,the ,,semi-,,imaginative ,,form ,,of ,,knowledge 7,,myth ,,and ,,religion7 ,,vi4 ,,the ,,moral ,,consciousness ,,vii4 ,,morality ,,and ,,religion ,,viii4 ,,morality ,,and ,,law ,,ix4 ,,the ,,historical ,,aspect ,,of ,,law ,x4 ,,providence ,,xi4 ,,the ,,law ,,of ,,reflux ,,xii4 ,,metaphysics ,,xiii4 ,,transition ,,to ,,history3 ,,general ,,character ,,of ,,vico',s ,,treatment ,,of ,,history ,,xiv4 ,,new ,,principles ,,for ,,the ,,history ,,of ,,obscure ,,and ,,legendary ,,periods ,,xv4 ,,heroic ,,society ,,xvi4 ,,homer ,,and ,,primitive ,,poetry ,,xvii4 ,,the ,,history ,,of ,,rome ,,and ,,the ,,rise ,,of ,,democracy ,,xviii4 ,,the ,,return ,,of ,,barbarism3 ,,the ,,middle ,,ages ,,xix4 ,,vico ,,and ,,the ,,tendencies ,,of ,,contemporary ,,culture ,,xx4 ,,conclusion3 ,,vico ,,and ,,later ,,thought1 ,,philosophical ,,and ,,historical ,,appendices ,i4 ,,on ,,the ,,life ,,and ,,character ,,of ,g4 ,b4 ,,vico ,,ii4 ,,the ,,later ,,history ,,of ,,vico',s ,,thought ,,iii4 ,,the ,,sources ,,of ,,vico',s ,,theory ,,of ,,knowledge ,,iv4 ,,bibliographical ,,notes ,,note4--,,passages ,,of ,,vico',s ,,works ,,to ,,which ,,especial ,,reference ,,is ,,made ,,in ,,the ,,course ,,of ,,the ,,exposition ,,index ,,of ,,names ,,chapter ,i ,,vico',s ,,theory ,,of ,,knowledge3 ,,first ,,phase ,the earliest phase of ,vico's theory of knowledge takes the form of a direct criticism of and antithesis to the ,cartesianism which had guided ,european thought for more than half a century1 and was to maintain its supremacy over mind and spirit for another hundred years4 ,descartes1 as is well known1 had placed the ideal of perfect science in geometry1 and endeavoured to reform philosophy and every other branch of knowledge upon this model4 ,now the geometrical method proceeds analytically till it reaches a self-evident truth1 and thence by synthetic deduction it advances to more and more complex propositions4 ,accordingly1 if philosophy were to adopt a rigorous scientific method1 it also 7thought ,descartes7 must look for a solid foundation in the shape of an elementary and self-evident truth from which to deduce all its subsequent statements1 whether theological1 metaphysical1 physical1 or ethical4 ,thus self-evidence--the clear and distinct perception or idea--was the supreme test3 immediate inference--the intuitive connexion of thought with existence1 cogito with sum-- provided the elementary truth and the foundation of knowledge4 ,by means of the clear and distinct perception1 together with the systematic doubt which led him to the cogito1 ,descartes persuaded himself that he had once and for all made an end of scepticism4 ,but1 by the same argument1 all knowledge which had not been or could not be reduced to clear and distinct perception and geometrical deduction was bound to lose in his eyes all value and importance4 ,this included history1 as founded upon testimony2 observation of nature1 when not within the sphere of mathematics2 practical wisdom and eloquence1 which draw their validity from empirical knowledge of human character2 and poetry1 with its world of imaginary presentations4 ,such products of the mind were for ,descartes illusions1 chaotic visions1 rather than knowledge3 confused ideas1 destined either to become clear and distinct and so no longer to exist in their original nature1 or else to drag on a miserable existence unworthy of a philosopher's consideration4 ,the daylight of the mathematical method rendered useless the lamps which1 while they guide us in the darkness1 throw deceptive shadows4 ,vico1 unlike the other opponents of ,descartes1 did not confine himself to or waste time in scandalised outcries at the danger to religion entailed by the subjective method4 ,he did not inquire1 like the schoolmen1 whether the cogito was or was not a syllogism1 and if so whether it was or was not defective4 ,he did not join in the protest of outraged common-sense against the ,cartesian contempt of history1 rhetoric1 and poetry4 ,he went straight to the heart of the question1 to ,descartes' criterion of scientific truth itself1 the principle of self-evidence4 ,while the ,french philosopher believed himself to have satisfied all the demands of the strictest science1 ,vico saw that as a matter of fact1 in view of the need which he set out to meet1 his proposed method gave little or no assistance4 ,fine knowledge1 says ,vico1 this of the clear and distinct idea6 ,that ,i think what ,i think is certainly an indubitable fact2 but it has by no means the appearance of a scientific statement4 ,any idea1 however false1 may seem self-evident3 that ,i think it so does not give it the force of knowledge4 ,that he who thinks1 exists was a fact well known to ,plautus's ,sosia1 who expressed this conviction in almost the identical words of the ,cartesian philosophy3 but when ,i think1 ,i certainly exist 7sed quom cogito1 equidem certo sum74 ,but the sceptic will always reply to a ,sosia or a ,descartes that he has no doubt as to thought2 he will even strongly maintain that whatever seems to him cogent is certain1 and will uphold it against all objections2 and that he has no doubt as to existence3 in fact1 he is seeking after it in the right way by suspending judgment and not adding to the obscurity of facts other obscurities arising from opinions4 ,but while asserting all this he will still maintain that the certitude of his thought and of his existence is the certitude not of science but of consciousness1 and of common consciousness at that4 ,clear and distinct perception is so far from being science that since1 owing to ,cartesianism1 the principle has been applied to physics1 our knowledge of nature has become no more certain4 ,descartes tried to leap from the plane of common consciousness to that of science3 he fell back into common consciousness again without having touched his scientific ideal4 ,but in what does scientific truth consist1 if not in immediate consciousness8 ,how does science differ from simple consciousness8 ,what is the criterion1 or1 in other words1 what is the condition which makes science possible8 ,clearness and distinctness do not take us a step forward4 ,the formulation of an elementary truth does not solve the problem4 ,the question concerns not a primary truth1 but the form which truth must have to enable us to recognise it for scientific or real truth4 ,in meeting this question1 ,vico justified his criticism of the inadequacy of the ,cartesian criterion by appealing to a principle which at first sight may seem trite and obvious4 ,it is trite not because of the historic theory with which ,vico associated it1 a theory later refuted by himself3 not1 that is1 because it belongs to one of the earliest strata of ,italian philosophy2 but in the sense that it was common to and practically inseparable from ,christian thought4 ,to a ,christian who declares every day his belief in a ,god ,almighty1 ,omniscient1 ,maker of heaven and earth1 nothing is more familiar than the assertion that ,god alone can fully know all things1 because he alone is their creator4 ,the primal truth1 ,vico repeats1 is in ,god1 because ,god is the primal creator4 ,it is an infinite truth because he is the maker of all things1 and absolute because it displays to him the internal and external qualities of things1 all of which he contains in himself4 ,this same principle of religion and theology had been already invoked in a philosophical context by certain sceptics1 as a weapon against the presumptuous claims of human knowledge4 ,francisco ,sanchez1 for example1 in his ,quod nihil scitur 7#aeha71 in discussing the difficulty of knowing the nature and powers of the soul1 had observed that if man could have this knowledge in a perfect degree he would be like ,god1 or rather he would be ,god himself3 since it is impossible that one should know perfectly things which he has not created1 nor could ,god have created things of which he had not perfect foreknowledge1 nor ruled them when created3 he himself therefore1 being alone the perfect wisdom1 knowledge1 and intellect1 penetrates all things1 is wise concerning all things1 knows all things1 and understands all things1 because he is all things and in all things1 and all things are he and in him 7perfecte cognoscere quis quae non creavit1 nec ,deus creare potuisset nec creata regere quae non perfecte praecognovisset3 ipse ergo solus sapientia cognitio intellectus perfectus omnia penetrat omnia sapit omnia cognoscit omnia intelligit1 quia ipse omnia est et in omnibus1 omniaque ipse sunt et in ipso74#a ,but ,sanchez appeals to this thought only in passing1 and without grasping its philosophical import or realising that his hand was resting upon a treasure2 while ,vico for the first time drew from the praise of the infinite power and wisdom of ,god1 and from their contrast with the limited faculties of man1 the universal principle of his theory of knowledge1 that the condition under which a thing can be known is that the knower should have made it1 that the true is identical with the created3 verum ipsum factum4 ,this1 he explained1 is precisely what is meant by saying that science is to know by causes1 per causas scire4 ,since a cause is that which has no need of anything external in order to produce its effect1 it is the genus or mode of a thing3 to know the cause is to be able to realise the thing1 to deduce it from its cause and create it4 ,in other words1 it is an ideal repetition of a process which has been or is being practically performed4 ,cognition and action must be convertible and identical1 just as with ,god intellect and will are convertible and form one single unity4 ,now once this connexion of the true with the created is recognised as the ideal1 and indeed1 since the ideal is the truly real1 as the true nature of science1 the first consequence of such a recognition must be that science is unattainable to man4 ,if ,god created the world1 he alone knows it per causas1 he alone knows its genera or modes1 he alone possesses scientific knowledge of it4 ,did man make the world8 ,did he make his own soul8 ,to man is vouchsafed1 not science1 but only consciousness1 which merely traverses objects without being able to show the genus or form whence they proceed4 ,the truth of consciousness is the human side of divine wisdom1 related to it as the surface to the solid3 rather than truth1 we ought to call it certitude4 ,for ,god1 intellegere1 understanding2 for man only cogitare1 thought1 the faculty that gleans elements of reality1 but can never gather them all4 ,for ,god1 true demonstration2 for man1 observations undemonstrated and unscientific1 but either certain through indubitable evidence1 probable through sound reasoning1 or convincing because of a plausible guess4 ,certitude1 the truth of consciousness1 is not science2 but it is not on that account false4 ,vico was careful not to call the theories of ,descartes false3 his intention was only to lower them from complete truth to fragmentary truth1 from science to consciousness4 ,cogito ergo sum is very far from false4 ,that we find it expressed by ,plautus's ,sosia is an argument not for rejecting it1 but for accepting it2 only1 as a truth of simple consciousness4 ,thought is not the cause of my existence1 and as such is not the ground of scientific knowledge of that existence4 ,if it were1 since man1 as the ,cartesians admitted1 consists of body and mind1 thought would be the cause of the body3 a doctrine which would plunge us into all the mazes of the controversy on the mutual effects of mind and matter4 ,the cogito1 then1 is a mere sign or indication of my existence1 and nothing more4 ,the clear and distinct idea cannot serve as a criterion even of the mind itself1 to say nothing of other things2 since the mind1 though it knows itself1 does not create itself1 and accordingly is ignorant of the genus or mode by which it has this knowledge4 ,but the clear and distinct idea is all that is granted to human thought1 and1 as the only wealth it possesses1 is beyond price4 ,for ,vico1 too1 metaphysic holds the highest place among the human sciences1 and all others depend upon it2 but while for ,descartes it can proceed by a method of absolute demonstration parallel to that of geometry1 for ,vico it must be satisfied with probabilities4 ,it is a science not by causes1 but of causes4 ,and with probabilities it has been content in its greatest periods1 in ancient ,greece and in ,italy at the ,renaissance4 ,whenever1 intoxicated by the arrogance that declares that a wise man has no opinions 7sapientem nihil opinati71 it has sought to abandon the probable1 it has set its feet upon the path of confusion and decadence4 ,the existence of ,god is certain1 but not scientifically demonstrable2 and any attempt at such a demonstration must be considered a proof not so much of piety as of impiety1 since to demonstrate ,god we must create him3 man must become the creator of ,god4 ,similarly we must accept as true all that ,god has revealed2 but we must not ask how it comes to be true4 ,that we can never understand4 ,human science bases itself upon revealed truth and the consciousness of ,god1 and finds there its test of truth2 but the foundation itself is not science1 but consciousness4 ,just as ,vico depreciated metaphysics1 theology1 and physics1 the sciences upon which ,descartes had bestowed honour and attention1 so he reinstated those branches of knowledge which ,descartes had in turn despised2 namely1 history1 observation of nature1 empirical knowledge of man and society1 eloquence and poetry4 ,or rather1 he could vindicate them without reinstating them4 ,once he had shown that the lofty truths of a geometrically deduced philosophy were themselves brought down to mere probability1 to statements having the validity of simple consciousness1 the other forms of knowledge were ipso facto conclusively vindicated4 ,all now found themselves upon an equality in the position1 whether high or low1 which we have described4 ,the idea of a perfect human science1 holding itself aloof from another science unworthy of the title1 as founded not on reason but on authority1 was shown to be illusory4 ,the authority of observations and beliefs1 whether one's own or others'1 public opinion1 tradition1 the consciousness of mankind1 were restored to the position which they had always held3 a position which they held even for ,descartes himself1 who1 as often happens1 despised the resources in which he was richest and of which he made the greatest use4 ,a conspicuously learned man1 he depreciated learning and scholarship1 as one who has received nourishment from it might give himself the luxury of speaking with contempt of the common food which by now forms the very blood in his veins4 ,the ,cartesian polemic against authority had proved in some respects beneficial4 ,it put an end to the servile attitude1 all too common1 of continual appeals to authority4 ,but this error was not more prevalent than that of private judgment1 which presumed to reorganise knowledge from top to bottom on the strength of the individual consciousness3 a tendency which ultimately1 as in the case of ,malebranche1 leads to prophesying the immolation of all the ancient philosophers and poets1 and a return to the nakedness of ,adam4 ,it is a fallacy1 or at least an excess1 which should be avoided by adopting a sound middle course4 ,this course consists in following private judgment with due regard to authority2 in a true catholic union of faith with a criticism limited by and helpful to faith2 bearing in mind the necessary character of mere probability which is proper to human knowledge or science1 and avoiding the tendency of the ,reformation which elevates each man's inner consciousness into a divine guide in matters of belief4 ,to another group of the ,cartesian sciences1 however1 ,vico seems to grant a privileged position1 one1 that is1 not of consciousness but of science strictly so called1 in the sphere not of certitude but of truth2 namely1 the mathematical sciences4 ,these1 according to him1 form the only region in which man's knowledge is identical in character with ,god's1 perfect and demonstrative4 ,this is not due1 as ,descartes supposed1 to their self-evident character4 ,self-evidence1 when employed in physical science and in matters of action1 does not yield truth of the same conclusiveness as in mathematics4 ,nor is mathematics in itself self-evident4 ,what clear and distinct idea can lead1 for instance1 to the conception of a line as composed of points having no parts8 ,but the indivisible point which cannot be conceived in the world of reality1 can be nevertheless denned4 ,by defining certain names1 man creates the elements of mathematics2 by the postulates1 he carries them on to infinity2 by the axioms1 he establishes certain eternal truths2 and1 disposing these elements with the help of these infinities and this eternity1 he creates the truth which he teaches4 ,the validity of mathematics then arises not from the ,cartesian principle1 but precisely from ,vico's other proposition1 the conversion of knowledge with creation4 ,we demonstrate mathematics1 because we create their truth 7mathematica demonstramus1 quia verum facimus74 ,man assumes unity and multiplicity1 points and figures1 and creates numbers and quantities which he knows perfectly because they are his own work4 ,mathematics is a constructive science2 not only in its problems1 but even in its theorems1 which are commonly supposed to be mere objects of contemplation4 ,for this reason it is a science which demonstrates per causas1 in opposition to that other common view which excludes from mathematics the concept of causation4 ,it is in fact the only one among all the human sciences which truly demonstrates by causes4 ,hence its extraordinary accuracy4 ,the whole secret of the geometrical method lies first in defining the terms1 that is1 creating the concepts which are to be the subject matter of our reasoning2 secondly1 in establishing certain common principles by mutual consent of the disputants2 and lastly1 if required1 in making certain postulates of such a nature that they can be granted1 to enable us to proceed with our deductions1 which without such an agreement could make no progress2 then1 upon these principles1 to advance by degrees from the demonstration of the simplest truths to the most complex1 and not to affirm the complex propositions before examining singly their component parts4 ,it might be said that1 as to the validity of mathematics1 ,vico is in agreement with ,descartes2 he differs from him only in his reason for this validity4 ,and1 admitting that ,vico's reason must be thought the more profound1 this would only enhance and strengthen the mathematical ideal which ,descartes had set before science4 ,if mathematics is the one perfect form of knowledge attained by the human mind1 obviously we must found the others upon it1 and either remodel or condemn them according to its pattern4 ,vico1 in short1 was hasty in declaring ,descartes wrong3 he had found a better argument whose existence the latter had not suspected4 ,but1 however strongly this may appear at first sight 7and so it has appeared to some commentators71 on a closer examination it is seen that the high perfection attributed by ,vico to mathematics is more apparent than real2 that the vaunted conclusiveness of its method is by his own confession gained at the expense of truth3 in a word1 that the stress of his theory falls less on the truth of mathematics than on its arbitrary nature4 ,the fact is1 that man1 while occupying himself with the investigation of the nature of things1 and ultimately realising his total inability to attain it1 not having in himself the elements of which they are composed1 which are indeed all external to his nature1 is led by degrees to the intention of profiting by this very fault of his mind4 ,by means of abstraction--not1 be it remembered1 abstraction from material things1 for ,vico is opposed to the empirical origin of mathematics1 but abstraction brought to bear on metaphysical entities--he creates two fictions1 duo sibi confingit3 the point in geometrical figures1 and unity in multiplication4 ,each is a fiction1 utrumque fictum1 because the point when drawn is no longer a point1 and the unit when multiplied is no longer one4 ,then1 from these fictions1 by his own arbitrary fiat1 proprio iure1 he assumes an infinite process1 so that lines may be produced or the unit multiplied ad infinitum4 ,thus he constructs for his own purposes a world of forms and numbers1 all of which he embraces within himself2 and by lengthening1 shortening1 and combining the lines and adding and subtracting the numbers1 he performs infinite operations and learns infinite truths4 ,since he cannot define things1 he defines names2 since he cannot reach the elements of reality he satisfies himself with imaginary elements1 the ideas arising from which admit of no dispute4 ,like ,god1 ad ,dei instar1 from no material substrate and1 as it were1 out of nothing he creates the point1 the line1 and the surface2 the point1 assumed as that which has no parts2 the line1 as the locus of a point1 or as length without breadth or depth2 and the surface1 as the meeting of two different lines in one point1 that is1 length and breadth without depth4 ,thus mathematics overcomes the failing of human knowledge1 that its objects are always external to itself1 and that the mind which endeavours to know them has not created them4 ,mathematics creates what it knows2 it contains in itself its own elements1 and thus forms a perfect copy of the divine knowledge 7scientiae divinae similes evadunt74 ,the reader of these and other similar descriptions and praises by ,vico of the processes of mathematics seems to observe in them something like a tinge of irony2 which1 if not actually intentional1 certainly results from the facts of the case4 ,the brilliant truth of mathematics arises1 it appears1 from despair of attaining truth2 its tremendous power from the knowledge of impotence4 ,the similarity of the mathematician to ,god is not altogether unlike that of the imitator of an object to its creator4 ,what ,god is in the universe of reality1 man is in the universe of quantity and number1--a universe indeed1 but one peopled by abstractions and fictions4 ,the divinity which has been conferred upon man is only1 so to speak1 a ,twelfth-night ,godhead4 ,the different origin assigned by ,vico to mathematics results in a correspondingly profound change in the validity of its truth4 ,mathematics no longer1 as with ,descartes1 stands at the summit of human knowledge1 an aristocratic science1 destined to reclaim and to rule over the inferior sciences4 ,it occupies a field as strictly limited as it is unique1 beyond which if it ever attempts to pass it loses in a moment its magical virtue4 ,the power of mathematics is met by obstacles both a parte ante and a parte post1 in its foundations and in the superstructure which in its turn it is to support4 ,in its foundations1 because if it creates its own elements1 that is to say1 the initial fictions1 it does not create the matter of which they are formed1 which is given to it no less than to the other human sciences by metaphysics1 which while it cannot supply it with its true subject matter1 supplies it with definite images of it4 ,from metaphysics1 geometry takes the point by drawing it1 that is by annihilating it as a point1 and arithmetic the unit by multiplying it1 that is by destroying it qua unit4 ,but since metaphysical truth1 however certain it may seem to consciousness1 is indemonstrable1 mathematics itself rests in the last resort upon authority and probability4 ,this is enough to expose the fallaciousness of any mathematical treatise which makes use of metaphysics4 ,vico seems to be involved in a kind of circle between geometry and metaphysics1 of which the former1 according to him1 owes its truth to the latter1 and after receiving it gives it back again to metaphysics1 thus in turn supporting the human science by the divine4 ,but this conception1 the truth of which is more than doubtful1 indeed we may frankly call it inconsistent and contradictory1 recalls1 whatever its value1 the metaphysical or rather poetical or symbolic use made of mathematics by ,pythagoras and other philosophers of antiquity and the ,renaissance1 and has no resemblance to a mathematically-treated philosophy like the ,cartesian4 ,geometry in ,vico's opinion is the one hypothesis by which metaphysics passes over into physical science4 ,but while making this advance it remains a hypothesis1 a probability1 something intermediate between faith and criticism1 imagination and reason2 which indeed is the eternal character of metaphysics and human science in general according to ,vico's point of view in this first phase of his theory of knowledge4 ,just as mathematics cannot be the basis of metaphysics1 the science from which it is itself derived1 so it cannot provide a foundation for the other sciences1 although they follow it in order of derivation4 ,all objects other than number and size are beyond the reach of the geometrical method4 ,physical science is indemonstrable3 if we could demonstrate the physical world1 we should be creating it 7si physica demonstrare possemus1 faceremus73 but we do not create it1 and are accordingly unable to demonstrate it4 ,the introduction of the mathematical method into natural science has not helped it4 ,without the mathematical method1 science makes great discoveries2 by its means it has made none1 whether great or small4 ,the physical science of to-day is in fact like a house1 sumptuously furnished by former owners1 to which their heirs have added nothing1 but have occupied themselves merely in moving and rearranging the furniture4 ,accordingly1 we must reintroduce and maintain the experimental method in physical science1 as opposed to this mathematical method2 the ,english tendency as opposed to the ,french2 the cautious use made of mathematics by ,galileo and his school1 as against the ,cartesians' reckless and presumptuous employment of it4 ,the ,english are right in not allowing physical science to be taught in the mathematical style4 ,such a style admits of progress only when the terms are defined1 the axioms established1 and the postulates granted4 ,in physical science we have to define not terms but things3 we can make no unchallenged statements2 and the complexity of nature forbids our forming any postulates4 ,thus in the more favourable instances this method results in a mere harmless verbalism4 ,observations of nature are expounded with the phrases3 ,by definition ,,iv41 ,by postulate ,,ii41 ,by axiom ,,iii41 and concluded with the pompous abbreviation ,q4,e4,d4 ,but all this carries no demonstrative conviction4 ,the mind retains as much freedom of opinion as it had before listening to such noisy methods4 ,in these circumstances ,vico could not refrain from satirical comparisons4 ,the geometrical method1 he says1 in its proper sphere works unnoticed2 when it makes a noise1 it shows that it is doing no work2 just as a coward's attack consists of much shouting and no blows1 while a brave man holds his tongue and strikes home4 ,again1 the man who upholds the geometrical method in subjects where it fails to carry conviction1 when he pronounces this to be an axiom1 or that to be a demonstrated truth1 is like a man who draws amorphous pictures1 quite unrecognisable without assistance1 and then writes underneath ,this is a man1 or ,this is a satyr1 or ,this is a lion1 or the like4 ,hence it happens that the very same geometrical method served ,proclus to demonstrate the principles of ,aristotelian science1 and ,descartes to demonstrate his own1 though totally distinct from1 if not diametrically opposed to them4 ,yet each was a great geometrician1 whom no one could accuse of inability to use the method4 ,what ought to be introduced into natural science is not the method of geometry1 but its conclusiveness2 which is precisely what can never be done4 ,still less is it possible in other sciences1 in proportion as they are more material and concrete2 least of all in ethical science4 ,for this reason1 where the reality cannot be used1 the name is misused instead2 till1 just as the title ,master1 which ,tiberius once refused as too haughty1 is given to-day to the humblest man1 so the name demonstration1 applied as it is to arguments at best probable1 sometimes patently fallacious1 has impaired the respect due to truth4 ,even for mathematics itself ,vico apprehends danger from the substitution of analytic for geometrical or synthetic methods4 ,he doubts whether modern mechanics is really a product of analysis2 for analysis blunts the inventive faculty or talent1 and though infallible in1 its results 7opere7 is confused in its processes 7opera72 while the synthetic method is turn opere cum opera infallible4 ,analysis presents its grounds by inquiring whether the equations of which it is in search happen to be present2 it appears to be an art of guessing1 a kind of mechanism rather than thought4 ,for similar reasons ,vico attached no value1 to the more or less mechanical topics and arts of discovery and memory invented by ,lulle and ,kircher4 ,the sympathy with experimental methods which as we have seen estranged ,vico from the ,french tendency of thought1 that is from ,cartesianism1 and directed him towards the ,italian and ,english schools of ,galileo and ,bacon1 led him on the other hand to a hostile attitude towards ,aristotelianism and scholasticism4 ,inculcating as he did the pursuit of the particular and the use of inductive methods1 asserting that man possessed an inexhaustible wealth of physical knowledge which1 thanks to fire1 machinery1 and tools1 was able to issue in the creation of objects resembling the special products of nature1 and praising his own metaphysic as one subservient to 7ancillantem7 the ends of experimental science1 he was bound to realise how well deserved was the too universal discredit1 as he calls it1 into which ,aristotelian science had fallen4 ,if he disapproved of the introduction by ,descartes of physical forms into metaphysics1 and of his resulting materialistic tendencies1 he accused ,aristotle and the schoolmen of the opposite error of introducing metaphysical forms into natural science4 ,like ,bacon he held that the syllogism and sorites produce nothing new1 and only repeat what was already contained in their premisses4 ,he emphasised the many ill effects of the ,aristotelian universal in every department of knowledge2 in jurisprudence1 where empty generalities crush legislative wisdom2 in medicine1 which aims rather at propping up systems than at healing the sick2 and in practical life1 in which he describes the abusers of universals by the mocking title of ,thematists4 ,the use of universals results in homonymies or equivocations which cause all kinds of errors4 ,as against this distrust of universals in the sense of general or abstract conceptions1 ,vico showed a corresponding reverence for the ,platonic ideas1 the metaphysical forms1 or as he also called them1 kinds2 the eternal and infinitely perfect patterns of things4 ,a nominalist in mathematics1 ,vico was suspicious of nominalism in all other fields of knowledge4 ,he asserts the reality of the forms or ideas1 and tells how from his youth up he was attracted by this doctrine1 which he learnt from a teacher of his1 who as a ,scotist was a follower of the scholastic system most akin to ,plato's4 ,taken as a whole ,vico's first theory of knowledge is neither intellectualistic1 sensationalistic1 nor truly speculative4 ,it contains all these three elements1 harmonised to a certain extent1 not by a hierarchical subordination of any two to the third1 but by the subjection of all three to a recognition of the inadequacy of human knowledge4 ,its intention may have been to meet by a tactical manoeuvre dogmatics and sceptics at once1 the former by denying that we can know everything1 the latter by denying that we can know nothing at all4 ,but its actual outcome is an assertion of scepticism or agnosticism1 tinged1 however1 with a trace of mysticism4 ,god's knowledge is the complete sphere of knowledge1 the unity of which man's is but a series of fragments4 ,god knows all things because he contains in himself all the elements of which he makes them3 man tries to understand them by taking them to pieces4 ,human science is a sort of anatomy of the world of nature2 it divides man into body and soul1 and soul into intellect and will3 from body it abstracts figure and motion1 and from these existence and unity4 ,of these metaphysics studies existence1 arithmetic unity and multiplication1 geometry figure and its measurements1 mechanics the motion of the circumference1 physical science the motion of the centre1 medicine the body1 logic the reason1 and ethics the will4 ,but this anatomy meets with the same fate as that of the human body4 ,in the latter case1 the greatest physiologists doubt whether1 owing to the effects of death and of dissection itself1 it is possible at all to discover the true position1 structure1 and function of the organs4 ,existence1 unity1 figure1 motion1 body1 intellect1 and will are one thing for ,god1 for whom they coalesce into one1 and another for man1 to whom they remain distinct4 ,for ,god they live1 for man they are dead4 ,the clear and distinct perception is a proof not of the strength but of the weakness of the human understanding4 ,physical laws appear self-evident just until they are subjected to comparison with metaphysical4 ,the ,cogito ergo sum is absolutely conclusive when man considers himself as a finite being2 but when he includes himself in ,god1 the one true being1 he realises that in truth he does not exist at all4 ,by means of extension and its three dimensions we believe ourselves to establish eternal truths2 but in fact coelum ipsum petimus stultitia1 since the eternal truths exist in ,god alone4 ,the axiom that the whole is greater than the part may seem eternal1 but if we go back to the beginning1 we find that it is false3 we see that the centre of the circle contains in itself as much capacity for extension as the whole circumference4 ,wherefore1 ,vico concludes1 he has advanced in metaphysics who in the study of this science has lost himself4 ,to hold1 as some have done1 that these words show ,vico a simple ,platonist or a follower of the traditional ,christian philosophy1 would entail denying any importance whatever to his first theory of knowledge4 ,it would be a confession of adherence to the fallacious method of philosophical criticism and history which looks only at the general conclusions of a system and ignores the particular content which alone gives it its true individuality4 ,no doubt1 any philosophy must always in its ultimate conclusions be either agnostic1 mystical1 materialistic1 spiritualistic1 or the like3 in other words1 it must have its place in one or other of the eternal categories in which thought and philosophical inquiry move4 ,but to expound philosophers in this one-sided manner can only serve to perpetuate the mistakes repeated over and over again in the history of thought1 when it passes fruitlessly from one error to another1 leaving the old only to adopt the new1 itself perhaps an old one born again or painted with the colours of youth4 ,the ,platonismi agnosticism1 or mysticism of ,vico is in the fullest sense of the word original1 because it forms the accompaniment of doctrines not only not inferior to the average of contemporary thought1 but greatly in advance of it4 ,the first of these doctrines is the theory of knowledge as the conversion of the true with the created1 ,vico's substitute for the otiose criterion of the clear and distinct perception4 ,though this conversion represents for ,vico an ideal unattainable to man1 it yet does not bring with it an exact definition of the condition and character of knowledge1 the identity of thought and being1 without which knowledge is inconceivable4 ,the second is the revelation of the nature of mathematics1 as unique among the forms of human knowledge in origin1 rigorous because arbitrary1 wonderful but unfit to rule over and transform the rest of our knowledge4 ,finally1 the third doctrine is the vindication of the world of intuition1 empirical knowledge1 probability1 and authority1 all those forms of experience which intellectualism ignored or denied4 ,in these points ,vico the agnostic1 the ,platonist1 the mystic1 was neither agnostic nor mystic nor ,platonist4 ,he achieved a threefold advance upon ,descartes1 and upon all these three heads criticised him conclusively4 ,the one thing in which ,descartes was still in advance of ,vico was precisely that dogmatism of which ,vico would have none4 ,descartes1 whether he succeeded or not1 projected a perfect human science deduced from the internal consciousness4 ,vico1 on the other hand1 considering the ,french philosopher too confident and despairing of the success of his project1 proclaimed the transcendent nature of truth1 took his stand upon revelation1 and contented himself with producing a metaphysic worthy of man's weakness1 humana imbecillitate dignam4 ,his was a philosophy of humility1 as the ,cartesian was one of self-confidence4 ,now ,vico could not advance even to this position without relaxing to some extent part of his humility1 and taking over something of ,descartes's confidence3 without introducing into his ,catholic turn of mind some trace of the leaven of that ,protestantism he thought so dangerous1 and venturing to conceive a philosophy rather less worthy of man's weakness and correspondingly more worthy of man1 a creature at once strong and weak1 at once man and ,god4 ,this advance is to be seen in the next phase of his thought4 ,footnote #a3 ,in the appendix to his ,opera ,medica 7,tolosae ,tectosagum1 #afcf1 p4 #aaj74 ,windelband draws attention to this thought1 ,gesch4 der neueren ,philosophie1 #crd ed4 i4 p4 #bc4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,vico',s ,,theory ,,of ,,knowledge3 ,,second ,,phase ,the will to believe1 which in ,vico's case was very strong1 and the complete sway which the ,catholicism of his country and age held over his mind1 bound him firmly down to the ,christian ,platonic metaphysic and theory of knowledge2 a theory whose inherent contradictions were prevented by the above psychological facts from coming explicitly before his mind4 ,the idea of ,god at once dominated and supported him2 he neither had the audacity nor realised the necessity to probe to the bottom such problems as the validity of revelation1 the conceivability of a ,god apart from the world1 or the possibility of affirming the existence of ,god without in some sense demonstrating and therefore creating him4 ,for ,vico to open up and partially traverse a new path1 which should lead the human mind to transcend that of the ,christian ,platonists1 providence--to use for the moment an idea of his own which we shall explain later on--had perforce to deceive him2 to lead him by a long and circuitous way to the commencement of the new path without letting him suspect where it would end4 ,the writings in which ,vico expounds his first theory of knowledge1 ,de ratione studiorum and ,de antiquissima ,italorum sapientia1 together with the polemical works bearing upon them1 belong to the four years from #agjh to #agab4 ,in the following decade ,vico was gradually led to devote himself more and more to research in the history of law and of the ,state4 ,he read ,grotius as a preparation for writing the life of ,antonio ,carafa1 and plunged into the controversy on ,natural ,rights4 ,he pursued his studies of ,roman law and the science of law in general1 in order to fit himself for a chair of jurisprudence at ,naples ,university4 ,he pondered upon the origins of languages1 religions1 and states1 out of dissatisfaction with his own historical theories as set forth in the ,be antiquissima2 perhaps also his convictions were shaken by a well-directed criticism by the editor of the ,giornale dei letterati4 ,his profession1 the teaching of rhetoric1 gave him continual opportunities for meditating upon the nature and relations of poetry and the forms of language4 ,thus even if it is inaccurate to say that ,vico was led to his later position culminating in the ,scienza ,nuova by a philological1 not a philosophical process 7since clearly a philosophical position can only come into being through a process no less philosophical71 it is at least certain that the material and stimulus for his new thought were supplied by philological studies4 ,these studies seem to have impressed upon him a fact of great importance2 namely1 that this subject-matter could only be and had actually been worked over by his thought through the aid of certain necessary principles1 appearing on every page of the history which he had chosen for investigation4 ,he had once believed that the moral sciences1 as compared with the mathematical method1 took the lowest place as regards certainty4 ,but now1 in his daily acquaintance with these sciences1 he had come to hold the opposite view2 namely1 that nothing could be firmer than the foundation of the moral sciences6 ,this certainty was not the simple self-evidence of ,descartes1 in which the object1 however internal it is said to be1 remains extrinsic to the subject4 ,it was a truly internal certainty1 reached by an internal process4 ,in the assimilation of historical facts1 ,vico felt himself to be making more truly his own something that already belonged to him2 to be entering into possession of what was his by right4 ,he was reconstructing the history of man2 and what was the history of man but a product of man himself8 ,is not the creator of history simply man1 with his ideas1 his passions1 his will1 and his actions8 ,and is not the mind of man1 the creator of history1 identical with the mind which is at work in thinking it and knowing it8 ,the truth of the constructive principles of history then comes not from the validity of the clear and distinct idea1 but from the indissoluble connexion of the subject and object of knowledge4 ,the importance of this new discovery1 the discovery of the truth which ,vico now recognised in the moral sciences1 lay in the realisation of a new implication of the theory of knowledge laid down by himself in the former period of his speculations2 namely1 the criterion of truth consisting in the convertibility of the true with the created4 ,the reason why man could have perfect knowledge of man's world was simply that he had himself made that world4 ,when it happens that he who creates things also describes them1 then the history is certain in the highest degree4 ,connected as it thus was with his earlier view1 the assertion of the possibility of the moral sciences did not1 to ,vico's own mind1 present the importance and bring with it the consequences of a revolution entirely overthrowing the structure of his ideas1 and compelling him to adjust them afresh4 ,on the one hand1 this assertion seemed to him a confirmation of his former doctrine1 a new example to be added to those he had already collected of perfect knowledge2 namely1 ,god's knowledge of the universe and man's of the world of mathematics4 ,on the other hand1 it seemed to be an extension of the field of knowledge1 whose boundaries 7for definite boundaries still existed7 had at first been too narrowly drawn4 ,formerly he had described a small luminous sphere in the centre of a vast and dimly lighted field2 now the luminous sphere underwent a definite increase in size1 and the penumbral region a corresponding diminution4 ,this increase involved no sort of conflict with his religious beliefs2 in fact1 it seemed to support them and to gain support from them in turn4 ,for did not religion teach the liberty1 responsibility1 and consciousness which man has in respect of his own acts and creations8 ,thus ,vico did not feel obliged to write a new treatise on metaphysics4 ,it seemed enough to add a mere post-script to his former work1 and to correct to some extent his earlier assertions4 ,his new theory of knowledge1 while adhering strictly to the criterion of truth enunciated by him in opposition to that of ,descartes--the principle1 that is1 that only the creator of a thing can know it--divided the whole of reality into the world of nature and the world of man4 ,but1 while it laid down that the world of nature is created by ,god and that therefore ,god alone knows it1 it restricted its agnosticism to this field4 ,it asserted1 on the other hand1 that the human world1 being man's creation1 is known by man4 ,in this way it raised the knowledge of human affairs1 formerly considered merely approximate and probable1 to the rank of perfect science2 and it expressed surprise that philosophers should so laboriously endeavour to attain to science of the world of nature1 which is a sealed book to mankind1 while passing over the world of man1 the science of which is attainable4 ,the cause of this error he traced to the ease with which man's mind1 involved and buried as it is in the body1 feels bodily things1 and the labour and pains it costs it to understand itself1 as the bodily eye sees all objects outside itself1 but in order to see itself requires the help of the mirror4 ,in everything else his system remained unchanged4 ,beyond the world of man lay the supernatural world1 inaccessible to man1 and the world of nature1 itself also in a sense supernatural4 ,beyond the perfect knowledge which man could have of himself lay the metaphysic of ,christian ,platonism1 now reduced to impotence1 but continuing none the less to embarrass mankind4 ,the natural sciences were now1 as before1 regarded as incomplete forms of knowledge3 mathematics as a system of abstractions1 absolutely valid in the abstract but in face of reality powerless4 ,the ,aristotelian syllogism1 the ,stoic sorites1 and the ,cartesian geometrical method were pursued with the same hatred as before2 and the same enthusiastic praise was lavished upon the induction advocated and illustrated in his ,organum by ,bacon1 that great philosopher and great statesman1 and fruitfully employed by his countrymen in experimental philosophy4 ,vico's frequent claim to have constructed the science of human affairs on a strict geometric method might seem to indicate a change of opinion as to the applicability of that method4 ,but his continual warnings1 during the same period and in the same works1 against the use in physical and moral questions of the mathematical method1 which1 where there are no figures either of lines or numbers1 either gives us no conclusiveness1 or else1 instead of demonstrating the truth1 may often give an appearance of demonstration to falsehood1 would flatly contradict the supposed change of front were it not that we could interpret it so as completely to restore the coherence of ,vico's thought4 ,this interpretation is quite simple4 ,once the power of converting the true with the created is seen to attach to the moral sciences no less than to geometry1 these sciences could and indeed must develop on a method analogous to the synthetic method of geometry1 the method which proceeds from a truth to its immediate consequence4 ,in this manner they follow the progress of the world of man from its ideal origin to its perfect development2 so that the student must not hope to be able to investigate these sciences per saltum1 but must traverse them from beginning to end in detail1 without refusing to accept unforeseen conclusions any more than he can refuse to do so in geometry2 but concentrating his attention on the firmness of the bond between premisses and conclusion4 ,thus the method could be called geometric by analogy or synecdoche2 in fact1 however1 it was essentially speculative1 and not to be confused with the application of mathematics to questions of morals1 of which the ,cartesians and ,spinoza have left examples4 ,nor can we agree without reservation to the opinion of certain commentators that ,vico1 in asserting the existence of a single science of man1 to be studied in the modifications of the human mind1 was retreating to the position of a follower of ,descartes4 ,this opinion is often reinforced by another statement of ,vico's1 namely1 that to conceive his ,new ,science it would be well to return to a state of absolute ignorance1 as if no philosophers1 philologists1 nor books had even existed in the world4 ,it is true that with the new form of his theory of knowledge ,vico himself joined the ranks of modern subjectivism1 initiated by ,descartes4 ,in a sense1 indeed1 he had already done so in his activistic doctrine of truth as the reconstruction of the created4 ,in this quite general sense ,vico might himself be called a ,cartesian4 ,nevertheless1 if he was still behind ,descartes in making his subjectivism a principle not of the whole of knowledge but of the knowledge of the world of man only1 in another way he was ahead of the ,french philosopher1 in that for him the truth attained in the world of man was not static but dynamic1 not a discovery but a product1 not consciousness but science4 ,as for the advice that one should proceed as if there were no books1 no philosophical or philological doctrines in the world1 its meaning is merely the necessity of ridding oneself of all prejudice1 of all common habitual assumptions1 of all accretions of memory and fancy1 in order to attain the state of pure understanding1 empty of every particular form1 which is necessary for the discovery and apprehension of any new truth4 ,so far removed is this advice from the ,cartesian or ,malebranchian renunciation of learning and authority1 that--to mention one fact only--in the very passage to which we have just referred we find the warning that the ,new ,science presupposes a comprehensive and varied mass both of doctrine and of learning1 the truths of which it takes over as already known1 and uses them as terms in its new propositions4 ,in a word1 ,vico in his new theory of knowledge became not more ,cartesian but more ,vician--more himself4 ,descartes seemed to him not even a serviceable path by which to attain proof of the possibility of constructing the science of mind by means of the mind4 ,the true path was ,vico's own criterion of truth1 brought into relation with its author's observations made in the course of his historical studies4 ,if we wish to look for precedents in the history of philosophy for ,vico's theory of knowledge in its second form1 the division between the two worlds of reality and the two spheres of consciousness1 and the preference for moral as compared with natural studies1 would lead us back to the position adopted by ,socrates as against the ,physiologists of his time1 and the feeling of religious mystery which brought the ,athenian philosopher to a standstill in face of the natural world and directed his efforts to the study of the mind of man4 ,again1 as to the superior transparency of the moral sciences1 as dealing with objects created by man himself1 we might recall the ,aristotelian division of the sciences into physical1 treating of motion external to man1 and practical and poietic1 which deal with man's own creations4 ,the distinction passed into the philosophy of the schools3 ,thomas ,aquinas speaks of nature as an order which reason contemplates but does not create 7ordo quem ratio considerat sed non facit71 and of the world of human activity as an order which reason creates by contemplation 7ordo quem ratio considerando facit74 ,but no such reference is made by ,vico1 fond as he was of expressing the debt of his own thought to the ancient philosophers2 and admitting that the doctrine had some force before his time1 the divergence between this earlier view and that of ,vico on the knowableness of the world of man is as great as that between the assertion of the omniscience of ,god the ,creator and the theory of knowledge which ,vico was able to draw from it4 ,of this theory1 his doctrine of the moral sciences was neither more nor less than the first legitimate application4 ,both its author and the majority of his commentators are using inaccurate language in describing it as a simple extension of the previous applications--a second instance1 added to that of the mathematical sciences1 already examined4 ,in the mathematical sciences1 the principle of the conversion of the true with the created had been applied in appearance only4 ,the principle itself was original and sound3 so was the theory of mathematics4 ,but the connexion between the two truths was altogether artificial and false4 ,what was lacking was1 unless we are mistaken1 an effective relation between the concept of ,god who creates the world and1 as creating it1 knows it1 and that of the man who arbitrarily constructs a world of abstractions1 and in doing so either knows nothing at all1 or else1 when he ceases to be a geometer or arithmetician and becomes a philosopher1 when he is composing not ,euclid's ,elements but the theory of knowledge in the ,de antiquissima1 knows merely that his procedure is arbitrary4 ,if the mathematical sciences construct their concepts as they please1 if they produce not truth but definitions1 they are as a matter of fact not sciences at all1 nor any form of knowledge1 and cannot be compared with the divine knowledge1 the knowledge of actual reality4 ,in mathematics1 says ,vico1 man1 holding within himself an imaginary world of lines and numbers1 operates in this world by abstraction just as ,god operates in the universe by reality4 ,it is a luminous comparison2 but perhaps its light is that of metaphor rather than logic4 ,in the moral sciences1 on the other hand1 the comparison is so entirely logical that it should frankly be called coincidence4 ,human knowledge is qualitatively identical with divine1 and knows the world of man equally well2 it is1 however1 quantitatively more restricted1 and does not extend like the divine to the world of nature4 ,in the human field we no longer find the expedients of weakness1 definitions and falsifications2 knowledge is here at its highest point of concreteness4 ,man creates the human world1 creates it by transforming himself into the facts of society3 by thinking it he re-creates his own creations1 traverses over again the paths he has already traversed1 reconstructs the whole ideally1 and thus knows it with full and true knowledge4 ,here is a real world2 and of this world man is truly the ,god4 ,it seems undeniable1 then1 that the application of the verum-factum made in the ,new ,science is the only one which corresponds to the criterion previously formulated4 ,the earlier attempt at an application of it to mathematics1 though important in other respects and well calculated to free the mind from mathematical prejudice1 cannot be considered a true or strict use of it4 ,it is possible that ,vico was sometimes vaguely conscious of the difference between the two applications1 the strict and the metaphorical1 which as a rule he confused and treated as identical4 ,the science of the world of man1 he says1 proceeds exactly as does geometry1 which while it constructs out of its elements or contemplates the world of quantity1 itself creates it2 but with proportionately greater reality1 since order has no connexion with human affairs1 containing as they do neither points1 lines1 surfaces1 nor figures4 ,another indication of his gradually dawning consciousness that he had now for the first time in his doctrine of the world of man discovered a true and proper knowledge1 not a mere fiction of knowledge1 may perhaps be seen in the much greater conviction1 warmth1 and enthusiasm with which he now uses the epithet divine3 quite a different thing from the chilly1 if not absolutely ironical1 ad ,dei instar of the ,de antiquissima4 ,the proofs of the ,new ,science1 he says more than once1 with fervour1 are divine in their nature1 and should give thee1 ,reader1 a divine joy3 since in ,god knowledge and creation are one4 ,the conversion of the true with the created was bound to react upon the treatment of certitude in one1 perhaps the chief1 of the various meanings in which ,vico uses the word1 namely1 historical fact3 the peculiare1 certum1 as opposed to the commune or verum4 ,this forms the other important section of ,vico's second theory of knowledge4 ,in the former theory these cognitions were1 as we saw1 legitimised and protected by being put on a level with all other kinds of knowledge1 all of them equally weak or equally strong1 being all alike founded on probability or authority1 whether of the individual 7autopsy7 or of mankind4 ,but now that the knowledge of the human mind and its laws was rescued from the region of authority and probability1 historical fact1 although still in a sense1 by its very nature1 founded upon authority1 was placed in a new light4 ,the certain must enter into a new relation1 confronted as it now was not by another certainty1 that is1 mere probable knowledge of the human mind1 but by a truth1 a piece of philosophical knowledge4 ,this relation is also called by ,vico the relation between philosophy and philology3 the former dealing with necessities of nature1 necessaria naturae1 and contemplating the reason from which issues the science of truth2 the latter with decisions of the human will1 placita humani arbitrii1 and following the authority whence comes knowledge of the certain4 ,the one considers the universal1 the other the individual2 the one1 as ,leibniz would have said1 the vrits de raison1 the other the vrits de fait4 ,with ,vico the distinction is not so clearly expressed3 in fact1 authority as opposed to reason sometimes1 according to him1 becomes a part of reason itself1 or is confused with the knowledge of the human will as opposed to that of rational volition2 but the general sense is none the less quite plain4 ,by philology ,vico means not only the study of words and their history1 but1 since words are bound up with the ideas of things1 he means also the history of things4 ,thus philologists should deal with war1 peace1 alliances1 travels1 commerce1 customs1 laws and coinage1 geography and chronology1 and every other subject connected with man's life on earth4 ,philology in a word1 in ,vico's sense1 which is also the true sense1 embraces not only the history of language or literature1 but also that of events1 philosophy1 and politics4 ,it is true that philology1 the truth of fact or certitude1 had not always been so brutally treated as it was by the ,cartesians4 ,grotius had given evidence of immense historical learning employed on behalf of his doctrine of natural right4 ,gravina1 ,vico's contemporary and fellow-countryman1 demanded as necessary to the student of law not only the art of reasoning 7ratiocinandi ars7 but skill in the ,latin tongue 7,latinae linguae peritia7 and knowledge of history 7notitia temporum74 ,and ,leibniz1 whom we have just named1 reasserted the value of learning as against the ,cartesians1 and extended his patronage1 en grand seigneur1 to the varied collection of historical anecdotes which he scattered freely over his pages4 ,but ,vico observed that the philosophy and philology of his time always remained external to one another1 as they had been almost entirely in ,greece and ,rome4 ,all the quotations from historians1 orators1 philosophers1 and poets accumulated by ,grotius were a mere embellishment4 ,perhaps ,vico would have passed the same judgment upon the liberal use made of history by ,leibniz1 if he had known of it and expressed his opinion4 ,in reading the works of philologists he was conscious of such a sense of vacuity and weariness in the unintelligent jumble of historical observations1 that he was almost led to agree with ,descartes and ,malebranche in their hatred of scholarship3 for a time1 in fact1 he did entirely agree with them4 ,but these two philosophers--so his later thought ran--ought1 instead of despising erudition1 rather to have asked whether it were possible to reclaim philology to philosophical principles2 and the philologists for their part1 instead of marshalling facts for a display of learning1 ought to strive to make them the aim of science4 ,philology must be reduced to a science4 ,this was ,vico's idea of the relation of certitude to truth1 or philology to philosophy4 ,what was the meaning of reducing philology1 or history1 which is the same thing1 to a science or philosophy8 ,strictly speaking1 the reduction is impossible3 not because they deal with subject-matter different in kind1 but because their subject-matter is in point of fact homogeneous4 ,history is already essentially philosophy4 ,it is impossible to make the most insignificant historical statement without moulding it with thought1 that is with philosophy4 ,but since the existence of this philosophical basis of philology was not at that time realised1 indeed it was none too often realised in later times1 and in consequence easily denied2 and since most people1 as we have seen1 imagined either an aristocratic geometrical philosophy1 hating and avoiding the profane mob of facts1 or else1 as at first ,vico did1 a philosophy and a history equally devoid of cogency1 and merely matters of opinion3 for these reasons ,vico1 after the change of his philosophical point of view1 now that he had attained to the consciousness of the speculative method in the science of man1 and understood more deeply the human mind1 was bound to see how much current history stood in need of reform and extension2 to feel the lack of an improved philology as a consequence of the improved philosophy1 and to express it in terms of the theory of knowledge by the formula reuniting philology to philosophy3 that this second science1 as is fair1 should be the consequence of the first 7ut haec posterior1 ut par est1 prioris sit consequentia74 ,he was bound1 in other words1 to rescue history from its condition of inferiority1 where it was a mere slave to caprice1 vanity1 moralising and precept-making1 and other irrelevant aims1 and to recognise its own true end as a necessary complement of eternal truth4 ,philosophy nowadays is full of and intimate with historical fact3 and this gives it greater breadth and a more lively sense of dealing with concrete reality4 ,this is no doubt one meaning of ,vico's formula concerning the union of philosophy and philology1 and the reduction of the latter to a science4 ,it is1 however1 certain that in propounding this formula he had in view a further and1 as often happened1 a different meaning4 ,this other meaning might be most simply illustrated by comparing it1 as ,vico himself did with ,bacon and his more certain method of philosophising3 that method which ,bacon expressed in the title of his work by the words ,cogitata et visa1 and ,vico proposed to transfer from the natural to the human or political world4 ,in a word1 he demanded the construction of a typical history of human society 7cogitare7 which was then to be discovered in the facts 7videre74 ,thus the ideal construction would acquire certainty from the facts1 and the facts truth from the ideal construction3 authority would be confirmed by reason and reason by authority4 ,he demanded a science which should be at once a philosophy of man and a universal history of nations4 ,now this structure which he required--something intermediate between cogitare and videre1 thought and experience1 this mixture of the two processes--is intrinsically different from the unity of philosophy and philology1 in so far as that is a philosophical interpretation of factual data4 ,such an interpretation is living history3 the other is neither philosophy nor history1 but an empirical science of man and society1 drawing its materials from schemata which are neither the extra-temporal categories of philosophy nor the individual facts of history3 although it can never be constructed without philosophical categories and historical facts4 ,it is an empirical science2 and as such1 neither exact nor true1 but only approximative and probable1 and subject to verification and correction from the side both of philosophy and of history4 ,it would be impossible to decide either which of these two meanings of philology reduced to history is that of ,vico himself1 since both are included in his thought3 or which is the prevailing one1 since in point of fact now one1 now the other prevails3 although the second1 or empirical1 signification is the more often formulated4 ,we might even say that when ,vico entitled his treatise ,scienza ,nuova1 the principal meaning he attached to this invidious name referred precisely to this empirical science1 the science1 that is1 which was to be at once a philosophy and a history of man3 the ideal history of the eternal laws which govern the course of all nations' deeds in their rise1 progress1 points of rest1 decline and fall4 ,the fact is1 ,vico did not and could not unify the two different meanings2 he maintained the duality which1 simply because it was never made explicit1 presented an appearance of unity4 ,thus each of the tendencies shown by his interpreters is partially justified3 one group of whom maintain that ,vico laid down and employed the speculative method2 another1 that his procedure was both in intention and in effect empirical1 inductive and psychological3 the former believing that he aimed at a systematic philosophy of man1 the latter that he was bent upon a scheme of sociology or social psychology4 ,both views are one-sided1 but the second more so than the first4 ,if there actually were in ,vico elements both of ,bacon and of ,plato1 of the empiricist and the philosopher1 yet when we look at his intellectual personality as a whole1 when we penetrate into the depths of his mind and share in his difficulties and his colossal labours1 we must recognise that whatever he meant and believed ,vico was of the stuff of a ,plato and not a ,bacon3 that even the ,bacon of whom he speaks is in part his own invention1 a ,bacon tinged with ,platonism3 and that the ,new ,science seemed so new to him fundamentally1 not because it was an empirical structure on ,bacon's lines--indeed in that case no science could be older3 we need only cite ,aristotle's ,politics and ,machiavelli's ,discourses1 --but because it was impregnated throughout by a new philosophy1 which did in truth break into it on every side1 through all his empiricism4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,internal ,,structure ,,of ,,the ,,new ,,science ,the lack of clearness on the relation of philosophy to philology1 and the failure to distinguish between the two quite different ways of conceiving the reduction of philology to a science1 are at once the consequences and the causes of the obscurity which prevails in the ,new ,science4 ,by this name we refer to the whole mass of research and theory which ,vico was producing from #agbj to #agcj1 elaborated above all in three works1 the ,de uno universi iuris principio et fine uno and the first and second ,scienza ,nuova2 it attains its maturest and most developed form in the last of these1 and this is the most important for reference4 ,the ,new ,science1 agreeably to the various meanings of the terms philosophy and philology and of the relation between them1 consists of three groups of investigations1 philosophical1 historical and empirical4 ,altogether it contains a philosophy of mind1 a history1 or group of histories1 and a social science4 ,to the first named belong the ideas expressed in various axioms or aphorisms scattered up and down the work1 on imagination and the imaginative universal1 on the intellect and the logical universal1 on myth1 religion1 the moral judgment1 force and law1 certitude and truth1 the passions1 providence1 and all the other determinations affecting the course or development of the thought or mind of man4 ,to the second1 namely history1 belong the sketch of a universal history of primitive peoples from the time of the ,flood1 and of the origins of the various civilisations3 the description of the ancient barbaric or heroic society in ,greece and especially in ,rome1 with regard to religion1 customs1 law1 language and political constitution3 the study of primitive poetry1 concentrating upon the determination of the genesis and character of the ,homeric poems3 the history of the social struggles between the patricians and plebeians and the origin of democracy1 also studied chiefly in ,rome3 and the description of the return of barbarism or the ,middle ,ages1 also studied in all aspects of life and compared with primitive barbaric society4 ,finally1 to empirical science belongs the attempt to establish a uniform course of national history1 dealing with the succession both of political forms and of other correlative manifestations of life both theoretical and practical1 and the series of types successively drawn by ,vico of the patriciate1 the plebs1 feudalism1 the patriarchal family1 symbolic law1 metaphorical language1 hieroglyphic writing and so forth4 ,now if these three classes of inquiry and theory had been logically distinct in ,vico's mind and united and compressed within the limits of a single book for literary reasons alone1 the result might have been confused1 ill-proportioned1 out of harmony1 and therefore fatiguing to the reader1 but not obscure4 ,but in point of fact it cannot be said that the ,scienza ,nuova1 at least in its second form1 the final exposition of his thought given by ,vico1 lacks a general plan1 well enough conceived4 ,the treatise is divided into five books4 ,the first is intended to summarise general principles1 that is1 philosophy4 ,the second1 in addition to a short note on the most ancient universal history1 describes the life of barbaric society1 to which the third1 on the discovery of the true ,homer1 the most conspicuous example of barbaric poetry1 forms an appendix4 ,the fourth is meant to sketch the empirical science of the movement of national history3 and the fifth to exemplify the movement of reflux in the particular case of the ,middle ,ages4 ,and yet1 in spite of this fine architectonic scheme1 the second ,scienza ,nuova is the most obscure1 just as it is the most rich and complete of ,vico's works4 ,if on the other hand1 while keeping his ideas clear in his mind1 ,vico had used an unfamiliar terminology or a style of exposition either too compressed or too full of allusions or implicit presuppositions1 he would certainly have been a difficult writer1 but in this case1 as in the other1 not obscure4 ,but such a hypothesis does not suit the facts4 ,vico is very sparing of scholastic language2 he prefers living and popular terminology4 ,he is not compressed3 in fact1 he is fond of repeating his ideas1 emphasising them by repetition with great insistence4 ,and he lays all his cards on the table3 that is to say1 he shows all the material by which his doctrines have been suggested4 ,finally1 it amounts to very little to say that ,vico was not fully conscious of his own discoveries3 such consciousness is more or less deficient in every thinker1 and in fact none could have it more fully4 ,the obscurity1 the real obscurity which we find in ,vico is not superficial4 ,it does not come either from merely general or from secondary causes4 ,it really consists in the obscurity of his ideas2 in his insufficient understanding of certain connections1 and the substitution for them of fallacious ones2 in the arbitrary element1 that is1 which he introduces into his thought1 or to put it more simply in his own downright errors4 ,one might rewrite the ,new ,science1 recasting the order and changing and elucidating the terminology--the present writer has made the attempt for himself--and still the obscurity would remain1 or even increase2 for in such a translation the work in losing its original form would lose also the turbid but powerful strength which may at times take the place of clarity1 and1 while it does not illuminate1 stirs the reader's mind and generates waves of thought as it were by sympathetic vibrations4 ,that ,vico's obscurity1 his mistake or mistakes1 is due to the confusion or lack of distinction in his theory of knowledge mentioned above1 on the question of the relations between philosophy1 history and empirical science--a confusion which exists no less in his actual thought on the problems of the mind and history of man--that this is so can be seen by observing how philosophy1 history and empirical science pass into each other by turns in ,vico's mind1 and vitiating each other in turn produce the perplexities1 ambiguities1 exaggerations and hasty statements which perturb the reader of the ,new ,science4 ,the philosophy of mind masquerades now as empirical science1 now as history3 empirical science now as philosophy1 now as history3 and historical propositions assume the universality of philosophical principles or the generality of empirical schemata4 ,for example1 the philosophy of man undertakes to determine the forms1 categories or ideal moments of mind in their necessary succession1 and in this aspect it well deserves the title or definition of eternal ideal history according to which particular histories proceed in time2 while no fragment however small of actual history can be conceived in which this ideal history is not present4 ,but1 since ideal history is also for ,vico the empirical determination of the order in which the forms of civilisations1 states1 languages1 styles1 and kinds of poetry succeed one another1 it comes about that he conceives the empirical series as identical with the ideal series1 and as deriving validity from it4 ,hence he asserts that this series must always be exactly reproduced in the facts1 even if infinite worlds were produced from time to time through eternity3 an assertion which is plainly false1 since there is no reason why the empirical fact of ,greek or ,roman aristocracy should be repeated for ever1 with a must have been1 must be now1 must be hereafter2 or why civilisations should rise and fall precisely as did those of antiquity4 ,and this very treatment of the empirical course of events as absolute threw a shadow of empiricism over their ideal course2 since the latter once identified with the former took over its empirical and temporal character instead of the eternal and extra--temporal character which it had as originally conceived4 ,the same must be said of the various forms of mind which1 as ideal and extra--temporal1 are always all present in every fact2 but ,vico1 by confusing them with the real and concrete facts which empirical science splits up into its schemata1 destroyed them in their ideal form and distinction as soon as he had stated them4 ,it is true that the moment of force is not that of justice2 but the empirical type of barbaric society founded upon force1 precisely because it is a representative and approximative determination1 and is referred to a concrete and total state of things1 contains not only force but justice as well2 and when this ideal moment and this type of society are interchanged and treated as identical1 on the one hand the philosophical concept of force is confused with that of justice and becomes impure1 contradictory and incoherent1 and finally annuls itself3 on the other1 the empirical type of barbaric society becomes exaggerated and unduly rigid4 ,the confusion between the philosophic and the empirical is clearly expressed in ,vico's aphorism defining the nature of things4 ,nature of things is nothing else than their production at certain times and in certain manners3 and whenever these latter are of such a kind1 then the things produced are of such a kind and no other4 ,here we see the confusion between time and manner1 between ideal and empirical genesis4 ,similarly1 it is perfectly true that history ought to proceed in harmony with philosophy1 and that a philosophical absurdity can never be a historical event3 but1 since the distinction between philosophy and empirical science was not drawn by ,vico1 when evidence was lacking and philosophy therefore inapplicable he felt no less sure of attaining truth4 ,he merely filled the gap with a conjecture supplied by the schema of empirical science1 and persuaded himself that he had fallen back on a metaphysical proof4 ,or again1 if he found himself faced by uncertain facts1 instead of patiently waiting till the discovery of further evidence should dispel the doubt1 he cut the knot by accepting the facts1 as he put it1 in conformity with laws3 which always means the empirical schema4 ,a legitimate method1 doubtless1 when treated as hypothetical4 ,but this hypothesis became in its turn1 for ,vico1 a truth meditated in the idea3 so that the comparison with facts1 which none the less he recommends for the sake of confirmation1 became strictly speaking superfluous3 or1 if the comparison showed that the facts disagreed with it1 the facts1 as mere appearance1 must be in the wrong1 rather than the hypothesis1 which is laid down as philosophical truth1 and therefore indubitable4 ,hence arises the tendency observed in ,vico to do violence to the facts4 ,these examples are enough to indicate the deep-seated fault in the structure of the ,new ,science1 and to establish one point in our exposition and criticism of ,vico's thought1 in the course of which many other examples of the same point will arise of themselves1 and those already given will become more clear4 ,but another point which must be well established is that this fault is the fault of an organism in the highest degree healthy1 and that the different species of inquiry between which ,vico failed to distinguish were composed of investigations of extraordinary originality1 truth1 and importance4 ,it is in fact the fault often found in highly original and inventive intellects1 which seldom work out their discoveries in accurate detail1 while less inventive minds are generally more precise and logical4 ,depth and acuteness do not always flourish equally side by side3 and ,vico1 however much he fell short in acuteness1 was always profoundly deep4 ,light and shade1 truth and error1 which alternate and interweave at almost every point in the ,new ,science1 are variously distinguished according to the various temperaments of readers and critics3 and in conspicuous cases1 like that of ,vico1 such variations assume the most sharply defined form4 ,some minds are self-willed and suspicious1 quick to mark any trifling contradiction1 merciless in demanding proof of every statement1 and indefatigable in wielding the forceps of dilemma to dismember an unfortunate great man4 ,for them ,vico's work1 like many others of the same kind1 is a closed book4 ,at most1 it will provide them with a theme for what is known as a refutation3 an easy and congenial task1 yet hardly a successful one1 since the man they have demolished generally emerges from the slaughter more alive than before4 ,but there is another type of mind1 which1 at the first word which reaches the heart1 at the first ray of truth which dawns upon the eyes1 opens its whole self in desire1 abandons itself in faith1 and grows wild with enthusiasm2 which refuses to hear of faults and never sees difficulties1 or the difficulties at once vanish1 and the faults find the easiest of justifications3 and when it commits itself to writing1 its writings appear in the guise of defences4 ,for such a mind we fear that the ,new ,science is a book all too open4 ,no doubt1 if these two attitudes were the only alternatives1 if no third choice were open1 one would have to choose the fault of love rather than that of cold indifference2 the excess of faith1 which may yet enrich us by one or two aspects of the truth1 rather than the absence of faith which never lets us realise one4 ,but a third attitude is possible to1 and indeed incumbent on the critic2 namely1 that which never takes its eyes off the light1 but yet does not conceal the shade2 which transcends the letter to attain the spirit1 yet not ignoring the letter1 but always returning to it1 always endeavouring to play the part of a free but not a fanciful interpreter1 a warm lover but not a blind one4 ,the two points above established1 the strength and weakness essential to ,vico's intellect1 his tendency to confusion or his confusion of tendencies1 supply us with a kind of general canon of interpretation2 namely1 that of separating analytically at every step his pure philosophy from the empiricism and history with which he mixes1 and in which so to speak he embodies it1 and on the other hand separating the latter from the former3 and of observing1 in the process1 the causes and effects of the mixture4 ,the dross cannot be treated as non-existent1 bound up as it is with the gold in its natural state3 but it must not hinder us from recognising and purifying the gold4 ,or1 to drop the metaphor1 the history must be indeed a history1 but that it can only be if guided by intelligence4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,the ,,imaginative ,,form ,,of ,,knowledge 7,,poetry ,,and ,,language7 ,the chief1 almost indeed the only1 forms of the mind studied by ,vico in the ,new ,science are the inferior1 individualising activities to which he gives the general name of certitude4 ,these are1 in the region of theoretic mind1 imagination3 in that of the practical mind1 power or will3 and in the empirical science corresponding to the philosophy of mind1 the barbaric society and poetic wisdom whose examination occupies1 in his own words1 almost the whole bulk of the work4 ,his deep interest in these lower forms1 and in the primitive societies and barbaric histories which display them1 is further illustrated and explained1 among his external circumstances1 by the studies he undertook in ,roman law and its expressions and rhetorical figures3 by the still living tradition of ,italian humanism3 by the recently stimulated pursuit of the archaeological sciences3 by his own desire to investigate the earliest civilisation of ,italy1 and so forth4 ,but many of his contemporaries and countrymen were handling the same materials without acquiring any of his taste for and comprehension of imagination1 simplicity and force3 indeed ,vico himself1 when he wrote the ,de antiquissima1 had the taste for these things but as yet no comprehension of them4 ,the full reason for this interest is seen when we consider the development of ,vico as a philosopher1 without losing sight of the complexity of his nature in all its opposition to the ,cartesian type of mind4 ,cartesianism1 with its attention confined to the universalising and abstractive forms1 ignored the individualising3 and this necessarily attracted ,vico all the more towards them as towards a mysterious problem4 ,cartesianism shrank in horror from the tangled forest of history3 ,vico plunged eagerly into that very department of history where the historical flavour1 so to speak1 is strongest2 namely1 that which is furthest and psychologically most different from civilised periods4 ,cartesianism extended the psychology of civilisation to all periods and nations3 ,vico was led to investigate in all their profound divergencies and contradictions the modes of feeling and thought proper to various times4 ,the great effort which had to be made1 and actually was made by ,vico1 in order to penetrate through modern intellectualism and recapture the point of view of primitive psychology1 is expressed in his language about the grave difficulties entailed by his labour of fully twenty-five years in the attempt to stoop from these civilised natures of ours to those absolutely wild and savage minds1 which we cannot picture to ourselves at all1 and can only understand with great toil4 ,it is expressed again1 rather differently1 by his insistence on the impossibility1 now that1 even with the common people1 the mind of man is too completely separated from the senses1 accustomed to the free use of abstract terms1 sharpened by the art of writing1 and spiritualised so to speak by the employment of numbers1--the impossibility of entering into the chaotic fancy of primitive man1 whose mind was the very reverse of abstract1 acute or spiritual2 but rather sunk in the senses1 blunted by passion1 and buried in the body3 and of grasping such ideas as that of the sympathy of nature4 ,this necessary effort--a painful one1 but successful--was another reason for his feeling that his science was new4 ,he says indeed that this study of the ideal form and the historic period of certitude was entirely lacking to ,greek philosophy as a whole4 ,plato had attempted it in the ,cratylus1 but unsuccessfully1 because he knew nothing of the language of the first legislators1 the heroic poets1 and was deceived by the altered and modernised forms under which the laws existed in his time after continual revision at ,athens4 ,among the moderns1 ,j4 ,c4 ,scaliger1 ,francisco ,sanchez and ,gaspar ,schopp had fallen into a similar mistake when they attempted to explain language by the principles of logic1 and indeed of ,aristotelian logic1 in spite of its having arisen centuries after language itself4 ,grotius1 ,selden1 ,puffendorf and the other writers on natural rights also studied human nature as civilised by religion and law2 so that in retracing the course of history they began in the middle3 that is to say1 they confined themselves to the intellect1 ignoring the imagination1 and to the will under moral restraint1 passing over the undisciplined passions4 ,vico himself1 while he had shown his interest in this problem by undertaking to investigate the most ancient wisdom of ,italy1 was yet led astray in his study by following the lead of the author of the ,cratylus4 ,in its philosophical aspect1 the ,new ,science might1 owing to this prominence given to the study of the individualising forms1 above all the imagination 7since the doctrine that primitive man is a poet and thinks in poetic images is in ,vico's words the master key of the work7 be called1 without undue paradox1 a philosophy of ,mind with special attention to the ,philosophy of ,imagination or ,aesthetic4 ,aesthetic may in fact be considered as a discovery of ,vico's1 though with the reservations to which the determination of discoveries and discoverers is always subject2 and although he did not deal with it in a separate treatise or give it the happy title with which ,baumgarten christened it ten years or so later4 ,it is interesting however to notice that the terminology of the ,new ,science lights upon a name similar to one of the equivalents for ,aesthetic which ,baumgarten passes in review2 namely that of the ,logic of ,poetry4 ,but ultimately the name matters little3 what does matter is the fact3 and the fact is that ,vico adopted a theory of poetry which was then and was still for a time to be a bold and revolutionary innovation4 ,at that time1 as is well known1 the old practical or didactic theory held the field3 the theory which1 starting late in the history of the ancient world1 persisting through the ,middle ,ages1 and transplanted into the ,renaissance1 regarded poetry as an ingenious disguise for the popularising of lofty philosophical and theological ideas4 ,beside this theory1 though inferior in authority1 stood another1 which considered poetry as the product of or means to diversion and pleasure4 ,these views had come to alter the original meaning of the ,aristotelian treatise on poetry1 so as to be at last introduced into it and discovered there as if ,aristotle himself had held and written them4 ,nor was this mistake corrected by ,cartesianism1 which1 as we should expect from its general direction1 rather tended to enfeeble and annul the very object of these definitions1 as a thing of no value1 or practically none4 ,at a time when philosophers were trying to reduce metaphysics and ethics to a mathematical form1 and despised concrete intuition3 when men were devising a literature and a poetry suited to disseminate science among the common people or the world of fashion3 when experiments were being made in the construction of artificial1 logical languages1 superior to those of past or present usage3 when1 finally1 it was thought possible to lay down rules for composing musical airs without being a musician1 and poems without being a poet3 in this atmosphere of detachment1 coolness1 hostility and mockery1 only a miracle could arouse a different and indeed opposite feeling--a warm and vivid consciousness of the real nature of poetry in its original function3 and this miracle was worked by the keen1 restless and stormy mind of ,giambattista ,vico4 ,he criticised at once the three doctrines of poetry as a means of adorning and communicating intellectual truth1 as merely subservient to pleasure1 and as a harmless mental exercise for those who can do it4 ,poetry is not esoteric wisdom3 it does not presuppose the logic of the intellect3 it does not contain philosophical judgments4 ,the philosophers1 in finding these things in poetry1 have simply put them there themselves without realising it4 ,poetry is produced not by the mere caprice of pleasure1 but by natural necessity4 ,it is so far from being superfluous and capable of elimination1 that without it thought cannot arise3 it is the primary activity of the human mind4 ,man1 before he has arrived at the stage of forming universals1 forms imaginary ideas4 ,before he reflects with a clear mind1 he apprehends with faculties confused and disturbed3 before he can articulate1 he sings3 before speaking in prose1 he speaks in verse3 before using technical terms1 he uses metaphors1 and the metaphorical use of words is as natural to him as that which we call natural4 ,so far from being a fashion of expounding metaphysics poetry is distinct from and opposed to metaphysics4 ,the one frees the intellect from the senses1 the other submerges and overwhelms it in them3 the one reaches perfection in proportion as it rises to universality1 the other1 as it confines itself to the particular3 the one enfeebles the imagination1 the other strengthens it4 ,the one takes precautions against turning the mind into body1 the other delights in giving body to the mind4 ,the judgments of poetry are composed of sense and emotion1 those of philosophy are composed of reflection1 which if introduced into poetry makes it frigid and unreal3 and no one in the whole course of history has ever been at once a great poet and a great metaphysician4 ,poets and philosophers may be called respectively the senses and the intellect of mankind3 and in this sense we may retain as true the scholastic saying there is nothing in the intellect which was not first in the senses4 ,without sense1 we cannot have intellect3 without poetry1 we cannot have philosophy1 nor indeed any civilisation4 ,almost more miraculous than this conception of poetry is the fact that ,vico saw into the true nature of language1 a problem much less canvassed and investigated1 and no more satisfactorily solved1 by ancient and modern philosophy down to the present day4 ,language was as a rule alternately confused with logic and debased into a mere external and conventional sign1 or else in despair referred to a divine origin4 ,vico realised that the divine origin was in this case a mere refuge of indolence2 that language is neither logic nor convention1 and1 like poetry1 is neither esoteric wisdom nor due to a decision or agreement4 ,language arises naturally4 ,in its first form1 men express themselves by mute actions1 or by signs1 and by bodies having natural connexions with the ideas which they wish to indicate1 i4e4 by means of symbolic objects4 ,but in the case both of articulated languages and of common speech1 all philologists have1 with an excess of good faith1 which means a deficiency of insight1 accepted the view that meanings are decided at pleasure3 whereas at the so-called origin of language meanings must have been natural1 and every common word must certainly have started from one single individual of one nation1 and been derived from the primitive language of gestures and objects4 ,in ,latin1 as in other tongues1 it is to be noticed that almost all the words are formed to express natural properties1 or used by transference3 and the greater part of every language1 in every nation1 is metaphorical4 ,the opposite opinion was due to the ignorance of grammarians1 who1 meeting with a great number of words expressing confused and indistinct ideas1 and not knowing their origin1 which had formerly made them lucid and distinct1 invented for their own peace of mind the conventional theory2 and dragged in ,aristotle and ,galen as against ,plato and ,iamblichus4 ,the serious objection generally brought against the natural origin of language and in favour of the conventional1 namely the variations in the common speech among different nations1 is solved by considering that owing to diversities of climate1 temperament and custom nations looked at the same useful or necessary objects in different aspects1 and hence produced different languages4 ,this is also seen in the case of proverbs2 which are substantially identical maxims of human life1 but expressed in as many different forms as there are1 or have been1 different nations4 ,the insistence1 then1 with which ,vico claims to have discovered the true origin of languages in the principles of poetry is of especial importance4 ,on the one hand1 it entails the assertion of the spontaneous and imaginative origin of language1 and on the other it tends implicitly if not explicitly to suppress the dualism between poetry and language4 ,in these principles of poetry ,vico found not only the origin of languages1 but also that of letters or writing4 ,he pronounced the separation of the two ,origins1 connected as they were by nature and appearing1 in the primitive dumb language of signs and objects1 as identical1 to be a mere mistake of the grammarians4 ,here again1 it is no case of esoteric wisdom or convention4 ,hieroglyphics were not invented by philosophers as a means of concealing the mysteries of their lofty thoughts3 they were a universal and natural necessity to all primitive peoples3 and only the alphabetic scripts arose among nations by a free agreement4 ,in other words ,vico drew a distinction 7though in a confused manner7 within the so-called scripts1 between those which are true scripts and therefore conventional1 and others which are directly expressive and are therefore language1 story-telling1 poetry and painting4 ,these expressive scripts or languages are characterised by the inseparability of content from form4 ,they are poetical just in the sense that the story and its expression are one and the same thing1 namely a metaphor common to poetry and painting1 so that it could be depicted by a dumb man without verbal expression4 ,as examples1 ,vico quotes traditional anecdotes2 for instance1 the five real words 7the frog1 the mouse1 the bird1 the ploughshare and the bow7 sent by ,idanturas king of the ,scythians to ,darius when the latter had declared war on him3 and the parable of the tall poppies which ,king ,tarquin enacted before the eyes of his son ,sextus's ambassador1 concerning the means of ruling ,gabii--methods of expression parallel to practices still found among savages and the lower classes3--and in addition to these1 heraldry1 flags1 and the emblems upon medals and coins4 ,there is a frivolous legend which belittles and degrades the true value of heraldry by asserting it to have been invented in ,german tournaments as a custom of gallantry by young men seeking to win the love of noble maidens4 ,but in the ,middle ,ages heraldry was a serious thing4 ,it was1 so to speak1 the hieroglyphic script of the period3 a wordless language to eke out the poverty of ordinary speech and alphabetic writing4 ,it was only later1 in times of culture1 that it became a sport and a pleasure1 and gallant and learned blazonings were adopted which had to be enlivened by means of mottoes because their own meaning was now merely analogical2 while primitive and natural heraldry was dumb1 or rather spoke without needing an interpreter4 ,even in the days of culture a few such expressive forms retained this simplicity and naturalness4 ,flags or ensigns for instance form a kind of armed language with which nations1 as if deprived of speech1 make themselves understood in the wider affairs of the natural rights of peoples2 wars1 alliances and commerce4 ,thus in the light of ,vico's aesthetical idea poetry1 words1 metaphors1 writing and graphic symbols are all illuminated and spring to life3 great things and small1 epic poetry and heraldry4 ,the doctrine of imaginary forms was quite a new departure in the history of ideas3 for while ,vico opposed his own conceptions to those of the contemporary schools1 especially the ,cartesian1 he by no means attached himself to any other more or less remote school or tradition4 ,he himself felt that he was opposed not to a particular school but to all who had ever formulated doctrines on the subject4 ,he says that he has overturned all the theories about poetry held by ,plato1 ,aristotle1 and so on down to ,patrizio1 ,scaliger and ,castelvetro in modern times1 all of whom had lost themselves in ineptitudes which even to mention makes one ashamed4 ,patrizio made poetry begin with the songs of birds and the whistling of the wind6 ,as regards language1 he had been ultimately dissatisfied both with ,plato and with the moderns ,wolfgang ,latius1 ,scaliger and ,sanchez4 ,as regards writing1 once the theory of divine origin supported by ,mallinkrot and ,ingewald ,eling was refuted1 or rather interpreted in his own way1 which came to the same thing1 he made an attempt to discredit the futile1 vague1 ill-founded1 misshapen1 pompous and absurd opinions which derived it from the ,goths and through them from ,adam and personal instruction from ,god1 or more directly from the ,earthly ,paradise1 or from a ,gothic ,mercury as inventor4 ,finally1 as to heraldry1 he remarks that the writers on the subject have never understood anything about it1 and have only by a mere random guess let fall a hint of the truth in calling it heroic4 ,in fact it would be hard to find real and true precedents for ,vico's aesthetic conceptions4 ,at most1 we might indicate vague suggestions contained in various scattered statements which he collects3 a certain immediate stimulus in the discussions of the seventeenth century on the distinctions between intellect and genius1 reason and imagination1 dialectic and rhetoric3 and a certain convergence of external particulars1 such as the collection of rhetorical subtleties expressed in subtleties of language1 made by ,tesauro1 a rhetorician of the time4 ,these conceptions1 however1 produced as they were by a remarkable stroke of originality1 no sooner passed from general outline to particular determinations1 from the first idea or inspiration to concrete development1 than they appear to become confused1 fluctuating and unstable4 ,we may set aside the various opinions successively held by ,vico1 and bound up with the historical growth of his mind1 upon the subjects of poetry1 language or metaphor1 beginning with his academic orations1 passing thence by way of the ,de ratione and ,de antiquissima to the ,diritto universale1 from these to the first and thence to the second ,scienza ,nuova3 a study of these might supply subject-matter for a special essay1 but does not come within the scope of our treatise4 ,but even in the final form of his aesthetic thought1 contradictory doctrines exist side by side4 ,he is not content with saying1 as he does say1 that poetical form is the primary activity of the mind2 that it is composed of feelings of emotion2 and that it is entirely imaginative and devoid of concepts and reflection4 ,he goes on to add that poetry1 as opposed to history1 represents reality in its best idea1 and therefore fulfils the justice and gives every man the reward or punishment which he does not always get in history1 governed as the latter often is by caprice1 necessity and chance4 ,again1 he says that the end of poetry is to give life to the lifeless1 since its most sublime task is the attempt to give life and sensation to insensible objects4 ,he says that poetry is nothing but imitation2 that children1 with their great imitative powers1 are poets2 and that primitive races1 the children of mankind1 were also sublime poets4 ,he says that poetry has for its special subject-matter the impossible made credible3 for instance1 it is impossible that body should be mind1 and yet it was believed that the thundering sky was ,jupiter4 ,hence the miracles performed by magicians by means of incantations were a favourite subject of poetry4 ,he says that poetry is due to poverty1 that is1 that it is a pathological product of the mind4 ,since uncivilised man is of low brain-power and cannot satisfy the thirst he feels for the general and the universal1 he fills their place by inventing imaginary genera1 poetical universals or characters4 ,consequently the truth of the poet is identical with the truth of the philosopher3 the one abstract1 the other clothed in images3 the one a metaphysic of reason1 the other a metaphysic of feeling and fancy1 suited to the understanding of the people4 ,from poverty also1 that is from inability to articulate1 arises song1 and therefore mutes and stammerers utter sounds which are songs3 and metaphor arises from inability to express things in an accurate manner4 ,he says1 finally1 that the aim of poetry is to teach the people to act virtuously4 ,these sayings indicate very various ideas about poetry1 of which some are compatible with the central doctrine but thrown out in a disconnected manner and therefore not in fact reconciled with it3 others are quite incompatible4 ,vico might have been cited in turn1 on the testimony of single passages1 as a supporter of the moralistic theory of art1 the didactic theory1 the abstract or typical theory1 the mythological theory1 the animistic theory1 and so on4 ,and if he neither falls back into the old theories he hated1 nor loses himself among the new fallacies which followed him1 it is due to the fact that all these waverings and inconsistencies were continually submerged by the thought that poetry is the primary form of the mind1 prior to intellect and free from reflection and reasoning4 ,just as he was unable by the use of his leading principle to distinguish and reconcile the other theories on the nature of poetry which already existed or had been invented by himself1 so he did not succeed in escaping from the tyranny of old or new empirical classifications4 ,he struggled to reduce these in their turn to philosophical form1 and tried to deduce successively the various kinds of poetry1 epic1 lyric and dramatic3 the kinds of verse and metre1 spondaic1 iambic and prose3 the kinds of figurative language1 metaphor1 metonymy1 synecdoche and irony3 the parts of speech1 onomatopoeism1 interjection1 pronoun1 particle1 noun and verb3 the moods and tenses of the verb 7in which connexion he refers to a case of aphasia observed by himself in ,naples1 a gentleman seized with a severe apoplexy1 who utters nouns but has completely forgotten verbs73 the kinds of writing1 hieroglyphic1 symbolic and alphabetical3 and of languages1 according to their increasing complexity1 from monosyllables to compound words and from a preponderance of vowels and diphthongs to a preponderance of consonants4 ,in the course of these attempts he frequently offered new and sometimes correct interpretations of isolated facts3 but he did not and could not connect them into a scientific system4 ,moreover he never realised the relation between poetry and the other arts4 ,on the one hand1 he unites them1 as when he considers painting and poetry to be fundamentally identical and notes a number of analogies between the poetry and painting of the ,middle ,ages3 on the other1 he separates them sharply1 as when he asserts that delicacy in art is the outcome of philosophy1 and that painting1 sculpture1 casting and intaglio are the most delicate arts because they are compelled to abstract the surface of the material objects they represent4 ,these inconsistencies and errors which we have briefly reviewed are due partly to ,vico's insufficient power of distinguishing and elaborating1 partly--and this is the greater part--to that fundamental fault which we have already seen to exist in the structure of the ,new ,science4 ,in this case the fault is1 more precisely1 ,vico's confusion between the philosophical concept of the poetic form of the mind1 and the empirical concept of the barbaric form of civilisation4 ,this earliest age of the world1 as he himself says1 can be truly said to have concerned itself exclusively with the primary activity of the mind4 ,but the earliest age of the world1 composed as it was of men of flesh and blood1 not of philosophical categories1 cannot have been concerned with one solitary activity of the mind4 ,this single activity may have preponderated1 as we generally say3 the very word reveals the quantitative and approximative nature of the conception3 but all the others must have been at work simultaneously1 imagination and intellect1 perception and abstraction1 will and morality1 song and arithmetic4 ,vico could not shut his eyes to this obvious fact1 and introduced into this phase of civilisation not only the poet1 but also the theologian1 the physicist1 the astronomer1 the pater-familias1 the warrior1 the politician1 and the lawgiver2 but he tried to regard the activities of all these as poetical in character1 as he called it1 by a metaphor drawn from the alleged preponderance of the imaginative form of the mind2 and the whole system he called poetic wisdom4 ,the metaphorical nature of the terminology is suggested1 in fact leaps to the eye1 in certain characteristic passages1 as where the arts1 that is1 the mechanical crafts which produce objects of practical utility1 are called poetry with a certain kind of reality1 and where ancient ,roman law1 because of the abundance of formulae and ceremonies with which it was adorned1 is said to be a serious dramatic poem4 ,but the metaphors are dangerous1 since1 as in the case of the ,new ,science1 they light upon a soil favourable to their growth into concepts3 and in point of fact the historical phase of barbarism1 metaphorically expressed as poetic wisdom1 soon turned in ,vico's mind into the ideal phase of poetry1 and transferred all its own attributes to this ideal phase4 ,the former included theologians1 and accordingly ,vico regarded poetry as theology1 but an imaginative theology3 teachers1 and poetry became a teacher1 but of the common people3 natural scientists1 and it became science1 but the science of an imaginary world4 ,and since these barbarians1 uncultivated as they were and confined to the world of images1 could not think in concepts1 the imaginations of poetry1 individualised and particular1 and its judgments1 always expressed in material form1 were falsely interpreted as imaginative universals1 supposed to be something intermediate between the individualising intuition and the universalising concept4 ,poetry1 which ought to represent sense and nothing else1 came to represent a sense already intellectualised2 and the saying that nothing is found in the intellect that has not already been in the sense1 acquired the meaning1 that the intellect is nothing but the sense clarified1 and the sense nothing but the intellect confused4 ,thus there was no further need for the added caution except the intellect itself 7nisi intellectus ipse74 ,conversely1 barbaric civilisation became a kind of mythological or allegorical representation of the ideal phase of poetry1 and primitive tribes were transformed into crowds of sublime poets just as1 in the ontogenesis corresponding to this philogenesis1 children had been made into poets4 ,the concept of the imaginative universal unites in itself the double contradiction of the doctrine2 since to the imaginative element must be joined1 in this mental construction1 the element of universality which taken by itself would be a true and proper universal1 rational and not imaginative4 ,hence arises a petitio principii by which the origin of the rational universal1 the point requiring explanation1 is already presupposed4 ,on the other hand1 if the imaginative universal is interpreted as freed from the element of universality1 that is1 as a mere imagination1 ,vico's aesthetic doctrine would certainly become once more consistent3 but his poetic wisdom or barbaric civilisation would be deprived of an indispensable portion of its organism in parting with every kind of concept3 for concepts are1 so to speak1 the skeleton of the body4 ,to resolve the contradiction it was necessary to separate poetry from poetic wisdom3 and we do find some signs of this separation in ,vico4 ,he sometimes admits1 almost against his will1 the lack of correspondence between the philosophical category and the type of society1 and in dealing with the latter is compelled to fall back upon such phrases as very nearly and more or less4 ,he says1 for instance1 that primitive man consisted exclusively of strong imagination1 with no1 or very little1 reason3 that he was almost all body1 with hardly any reflection3 or again1 after making a show of philosophical distinction between the three languages of gods1 heroes and men1 he goes on to observe that the language of the gods was almost all dumb1 and very little articulate2 the language of heroes was composed of equal quantities of articulation and dumb-show2 the language of men was almost all articulated1 and very little in dumb-show4 ,he admits again in a fine simile that poetic speech out-lived poetic wisdom and survived far into the historic and civilised period1 as great and rapid rivers run far out into the sea and keep their waters fresh as they bear them along with the force of their flow4 ,even in modern times we cannot afford entirely to neglect imaginative speech3 to describe the operations of the pure mind1 we must avail ourselves of poetic language1 of metaphors drawn from the senses4 ,it appears that poetry does not end with barbarism1 for poets arise even in civilised times3 and if it is said that the poets of the earliest times were naturally imaginative1 those of later days artificially so1 that is1 according to ,vico1 by deliberately forgetting the proper use of words1 freeing themselves from philosophy1 filling their minds with childish and vulgar prejudices and submitting to the bondage of conventions like the use of rhyme--all these restrictions1 besides being easily refuted1 are merely an unsuccessful attempt to diminish the weight of the fact above mentioned1 namely that poetry belongs to all ages1 not merely to that of barbarism3 it is an ideal category1 not a historic fact4 ,but the restrictions prove1 as also do the infrequency and the unemphatic nature of the passages quoted1 that ,vico was not in a position to effect the separation of poetry from poetic wisdom1 hampered as he was by the hybrid character of the concept and of the actual method of the ,new ,science4 ,if1 on the other hand1 the idea of poetry as pure imagination had not remained firmly at the foundation of ,vico's thought1 in spite of all the confusions and inconsistencies in which it became involved1 and had not been at work underground1 so to speak1 in the ,new ,science1 it would have been difficult or perhaps impossible to understand the leading conception which dominates his philosophy of mind1 closely connected as it is with that idea4 ,this is the conception of the mind as a development1 or1 to use ,vico's own words1 a progress or unfolding 7corso1 spiegamento72 a conception which improved upon1 though it did not explicitly contradict1 the ordinary view which was almost exclusively confined to the enumeration and classification of the mind's faculties4 ,the doctrine of imaginative universals as spontaneous mental products1 rudimentary universals but not without an element of truth in them1 was at least an adequate weapon against the empirical theory which made civilisation the outcome of a highly developed and rational practical wisdom and the personal labour of ,god or of wise men who must have sprung from the earth or fallen from heaven in some unaccountable manner4 ,vico clearly stated the dilemma between the two1 and only two1 possible explanations of the origin of society4 ,either it came from the reflection of wise men1 or from a certain human feeling and instinct among brutish men4 ,he accepted the latter solution1 that of brutes which gradually became human3 the theory1 that is1 of the evolution of thought from the imaginative to the rational universal1 and the progress of social relations from force to equity4 ,but was this an adequate foundation for ideal history or the philosophy of mind8 ,in the philosophy of mind1 it could be translated into a similar if not identical view--the doctrine which1 owing to ,cartesianism and a certain recrudescence of the ,scholasticism of ,duns ,scotus1 lasted down to ,vico's own times and expressed the life of the mind by the successive stages of the concept1 obscurity1 confusion1 clarity and distinctness4 ,leibniz1 as is well known1 made a special study of obscure and confused perceptions1 the petites perceptions4 ,the doctrine was essentially intellectualistic1 since the concepts1 however confused or obscure1 were never anything else than concepts3 and hence it was unable to account either for poetry or even for mental development1 the dialectic of which cannot be understood if it is regarded as consisting of merely quantitative differences4 ,such differences are in reality not differences at all1 but identities and therefore the negation of change3 and in fact the whole of this school of thought was anti-aesthetic and static1 devoid both of a true theory of imagination and a true theory of development4 ,vico's thought1 on the other hand1 was averse to intellectualism and in sympathy with imagination3 it was entirely dynamic and evolutionary4 ,for ,vico1 mind is an eternal drama3 and since drama demands antithesis1 his philosophy of mind is rooted in antithesis1 that is in the real distinction and opposition between imagination and thought1 poetry and metaphysic1 force and equity1 passion and morality2 although he seems sometimes1 for the reasons given above1 to mistake its nature2 or rather1 although he actually does sometimes confuse it with empirical inquiries and doctrines1 and with the determinations of history4 ,,chapter ,v ,,the ,,semi-,,imaginative ,,form ,,of ,,knowledge 7,,myth ,,and ,,religion7 ,vico's doctrine of mythology1 while no less original and profound than that of poetry1 is also1 like the latter1 not entirely lucid3 for the relations between poetry and myth are so close that the shadow cast upon the one must of necessity extend to some degree over the other4 ,in proceeding to inquire1 as we have hitherto done and shall continue to do1 into the state of contemporary knowledge of the several sciences and problems with which ,vico set out to deal1 we may briefly recall propos of the study of mythology not only the great literary collections of myths formed during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries1 of which ,boccaccio had already given an example in the fourteenth century1 but also the learned defences of the two explanatory theories1 already known to classical antiquity and not entirely unknown in the ,middle ,ages4 ,these were1 first1 the theory of myth as allegory of philosophical truths 7moral1 political and so forth71 and secondly1 the theory of myth as the history of actual persons and events1 adorned by the fancy which made heroes into gods 7,euhemerism74 ,the former tendency inspired among other works the ,mythologiae sive explanationis fabularum libri decem of ,natale ,conti 7#aefh7 and ,bacon's ,de sapientia veterum 7#afji72 in which1 however1 this system had been advanced with a certain hesitation1 and with the explicit caution that1 even if it were not valid as historical interpretation1 it would always be of value as moralisation 7aut antiquitatem illustrabimus aut res ipsas3 we shall explain either antiquity or the facts themselves74 ,the latter was authoritatively represented by ,john ,leclerc 7,clericus71 the learned ,dutch ,genevese for whom ,vico expressed so much respect and gratitude for the attention he had deigned to bestow upon his ,diritto universale4 ,his edition of ,hesiod's ,theogony marked an epoch in the study of mythology1 and he was followed among others by ,banier1 author of the work ,les ,fables expliques par l'histoire7#agce74 ,a third system1 also not without some ancient precedent1 derived myths from particular nations1 the ,egyptians or the ,hebrews1 or from the original works of individual philosophers and poets4 ,this view1 when it neither resolved itself into a pure and simple historical supposition as to the origin of some or all myths1 nor appealed to divine revelation1 clearly involved the theory that myth is not an eternal form but a contingent product of the mind1 born at a certain time and capable of dying or already dead4 ,vico strongly opposed the first and third of these views of mythology1 namely the allegorical theory and that of historical derivation4 ,on the allegorical view1 he mentions ,bacon's treatise1 which had stimulated him to the study of the subject1 out which he considered more ingenious than sound3 on the other school1 which regarded myths as sacred history altered and corrupted by the ,gentiles and especially by the ,greeks1 he refers to ,vossius's ,de theologia gentili 7#afdb7 and to a dissertation by ,daniel ,huet4 ,myths or fables do not contain esoteric wisdom1 that is to say1 rational concepts1 subtly concealed by the veil of fable3 hence they are not allegorical4 ,allegory implies on the one hand the concept or thing signified1 on the other the fable or medium of concealment1 and between the two1 the art by which both are kept in equilibrium4 ,but myths cannot be split up into these three moments1 nor even into a thing signified and a thing which signifies it3 their meaning is univocal4 ,the theory also implies that a believer in the content does not believe in the form3 but the makers of myths believed fully and ingenuously in their own work4 ,once1 for instance1 that first divine fable was created1 the myth than which none greater was ever afterwards invented1 that of ,jupiter1 king and father of gods and men1 in the act of thundering1 the very men who had invented him believed in him1 and with their religion of terror feared1 reverenced and worshipped him4 ,myth1 in a word1 is not fable but history of such a kind as could be constructed by primitive minds1 and strictly considered by them as an account of actual fact4 ,the philosophers who arose later made use of myths to expound their doctrines in an allegorical manner2 or deceived themselves into thinking that they found them there owing to the feeling of veneration which attaches to antiquity1 and increases as our comprehension of it diminishes2 or thought it expedient to make use of such things for political purposes1 like ,plato ,homerising1 and at the same time ,platonising ,homer3 and in doing this they turned the myths into fables1 which they were not originally1 and are essentially not4 ,thus we may say that the philosophers and students of mythology who indulged in such strange fancies about the legends were the real poets1 while the primitive poets or myth-makers were the true students1 and intended to narrate the actual facts of their time4 ,for the same reason1 namely1 because myth is an essential part of poetic or barbaric wisdom1 and1 as such1 a spontaneous product of all times and places1 it cannot be attributed to one single nation as its inventor1 from which it passed to others2 as if it were a particular discovery of a particular man or the object of revelation4 ,this doctrine1 superior as it is to the allegorical and historical theories1 is another aspect of ,vico's vindication of the non-logical forms of knowledge as against the intellectualism which denied them and merely represented them either as artificial forms or as due to supernatural causes4 ,nor does the opinion seem acceptable which attaches ,vico to the ,neo-,euhemeristic school4 ,he does not indeed explicitly combat this school1 and we may even grant that he presents certain superficial resemblances to it3 but together with the resemblances there is this radical difference1 that for ,vico the stories are not alterations of actual history1 but are essentially history2 their supposed alteration is the actual truth as it appeared to the primitive mind4 ,vico did not and could not give a more precise determination of the nature of myth1 precisely because owing to the fluctuating character of his concept of poetry1 itself he was not in a position to lay down the boundary between the two forms4 ,he talks generally of poetry and myth as distinct things1 but he does not establish the distinction4 ,and yet ,vico was familiar enough with the concept which supplies this distinctive criterion1 and had enunciated it3 but instead of using it for his doctrine of mythology1 he had made of it one or more of his various definitions of poetry4 ,that poetic character1 that imaginative universal whose introduction into aesthetic as the explanatory principle of poetry causes so many insuperable difficulties1 is really the definition of mythology1 and as such provides the science of mythology with the true principle that is required4 ,if the concept of accomplishing great labours for the common welfare cannot be disengaged from the idea of a particular man who accomplished one of these labours1 this concept becomes for instance the myth of ,hercules3 and ,hercules is at once an individual man who does individual actions1 and kills the ,lernaean hydra and the ,nemean lion or cleanses the stables of ,augeas1 and also a concept3 just as the concept of beneficent and glorious labour is at once a concept and ,hercules3 a universal and an imaginary idea3 an imaginative universal4 ,again1 that sublime task which ,vico declared proper to poetry1 the task of giving life to inanimate objects1 belongs properly not to poetry but to myth4 ,mythology1 embodying its concepts in images1 which are always individual things1 at last animates them like living beings4 ,thus primitive man1 ignorant of the cause of lightning and therefore not possessing the scientific definition of it1 was led by the mythological tendency to conceive the sky as a vast living being1 who1 like man himself when1 in the grip of his fierce passions1 he shouted1 muttered or roared1 spoke and meant something by his speech4 ,it is mythology again1 not poetry1 whose origin must be traced to poverty1 to the weakness of men's minds and their inability to deal with the problems they would solve1 in their incapacity for thinking in rational universals and expressing themselves in accurate language1 whence arose imaginative universals and metonymy1 synecdoche and metaphor of all kinds4 ,the contradictions we have seen in the imaginative universal which make it incapable of acting as the foundation of an aesthetic doctrine are quite in keeping in the doctrine of myth3 for myth consists precisely of these contradictions3 it is a concept trying to be an image and an image trying to be a concept1 and hence a kind of poverty1 or even of powerful impotence1--a contrast1 a mental transition where white no longer exists and black has not yet come into being4 ,finally1 poetic wisdom1 that is1 the theology1 science1 cosmography1 geography1 astronomy and the whole system of other ideas and beliefs of primitive nations as ,vico describes them1 was really mythology1 not1 as he says1 poetry1 for the good reason1 given by himself1 that these things were their history3 and poetry is poetry and not history1 even more or less imaginary history4 ,the ,homeric poems are poetry in so far as they express the aspirations of ,hellenism3 the same poems1 in so far as they were recited and heard as accounts of actual facts1 are history3 the two things being forms of mental products which1 though they seem to be materially united in a single work1 are not for that reason to be identified4 ,all this was both seen and not seen1 or rather1 sometimes realised and sometimes overlooked1 by ,vico3 and hence he cannot be said to have succeeded in determining satisfactorily the distinction1 and solving the problem of the relation1 between mythology and poetry4 ,another problem of importance relating to the science of mythology1 and still the subject of controversy1 namely1 the question whether myth belongs to philosophy or to history1 might be supposed to have been decisively solved by ,vico3 since he repeats over and over again that myths contain the historical judgments of primitive peoples1 not the philosophical4 ,but in reality when we examine the point closely it appears that he neither solved the problem nor even propounded it4 ,the historical judgments of which ,vico is speaking are contrasted strictly not with philosophical judgments in general but with the mystical judgments of the earliest philosophy and the judgments of analogy which the writers criticised by ,vico found in mythology4 ,thus on the one hand his words repeat the criticism of the allegorical theory and1 on the other1 controvert that fallacious method of historical interpretation which ascribes the ideas and customs of to-day to the nations of antiquity4 ,the fact is that ,vico's theory is just as much in agreement with the theory connecting myth with philosophy as with that which connects it with history2 and as much with the eclecticism which admits both these elements as with the speculative view which also admits them both1 but because philosophy and history both in themselves and as constituents of myth are at bottom one and the same4 ,considered as poverty1 myth must be superseded4 ,in the natural effort of the human mind to rejoin ,god1 the true ,one1 from whom it has come1 and its inability owing to the exuberant animal nature of primitive man to make use of the faculty1 buried as it is beneath his too keen senses1 of abstracting from subjects their properties and universal forms1--in these circumstances1 it constructs for itself fanciful unities1 imaginary genera or myths3 but in its subsequent progress and development1 it gradually resolves the imaginary genera into intelligible genera1 poetic universals into rational1 and sets itself free from mythology4 ,thus the error of myth passes into the truth of philosophy4 ,vico knew and employed a concept of error1 error properly so called1 which proceeds from the will1 not from thought1 which is never in error as regards itself1 for the mind is always put under compulsion by truth1 since we can never lose sight of ,god 7mens enim semper a vero urgetur quia numquam aspectu amittere possumus ,deum72 the error which consists in the arbitrary conjunction of unmeaning words1 but words very often1 by the will of him who is lying1 escape the force of truth and desert the mind1 or even do violence to the mind and turn away from ,god 7verba autem saepissime veri vim voluntate mentientis eludunt ac mentem deserunt1 immo menti vim aciunt et ,deo absistunt72 the error1 in a word1 which exists when1 in his own powerful language1 though men speak with their mouth1 they have nothing in their minds2 since within their minds there is falsity1 which is nothing4 ,but he also knows that error is never pure error1 simply because there is no such thing as a false idea and falsity consists only in the wrong combination of ideas1 and therefore it always contains truth1 and every fable has a certain element of truth4 ,hence1 far from despising fables1 ,vico recognised their value as embryonic forms so to speak of stored-up knowledge or of what will one day develop into philosophy4 ,the poets 7which means1 in ,vico's new sense of the word1 myth-makers7 are the senses 7that is1 in its new meaning1 rudimentary and imperfect philosophy73 the philosophers are the intellect of mankind1 that is the more highly developed philosophy which derives from the former4 ,the idea of ,god evolves by degrees from the ,god who strikes the imagination of the isolated man1 to the ,god of the family1 divi parentum1 the ,god of a social class or country1 divi patrii1 the ,god of nations1 and finally to the ,god who is ,jupiter to all men1 the ,god of humanity4 ,the fables stimulated ,plato to understand the three divine punishments which not men but only gods could inflict1 oblivion1 infamy and remorse3 the passage through the lower world suggested to him the concept of the purgatorial journey by which the soul is purified of passions1 and the arrival in ,elysium suggested the journey of union by which the mind comes to unite itself with ,god by the contemplation of the eternal divine ideas4 ,from the similes and metaphors of the poets ,aesop drew the examples and fables by which he gave advice3 and the instance founded upon a single case which satisfies an untutored mind developed into induction1 drawing its validity from several similar cases1 as taught dialectically by ,socrates1 and thence the syllogism invented by ,aristotle1 which cannot exist without a universal4 ,the etymologies of words reveal the truths observed by primitive man and deposited by him in his language3 for instance the fact1 laboriously proved by modern philosophers1 that the senses themselves create the so-called sensible qualities is already suggested in the ,latin word olfacere1 which implies the idea that the sense of smell makes the odour4 ,vico attaches such importance to this connexion between poetic universals and rational universals1 between myth and philosophy1 that he is led to assert that such judgments of philosophers as cannot find parallel or precedent in poetic and popular wisdom must be wrong4 ,here we have another meaning sometimes assigned by him to the relation of philosophy to philology3 namely1 a reciprocal confirmation of common wisdom by esoteric wisdom and vice versa1 both of which are united in the idea of an everlasting philosophy of man4 ,simultaneously with his theory of myth and its relation to philosophy1 ,vico expounds his theory of religion1 and the relation it bears to philosophy4 ,two thoughts on this subject are to be found up and down the ,new ,science4 ,the first is1 that religion arises in the phase of weakness and savagery from the mind's need to allay its desire to understand more or less the phenomena of nature and man2 for instance1 to explain lightning4 ,the second is1 that religion is produced in the mind by fear of the person who threatens by lightning4 ,we might describe these two views as theories respectively of the theoretical and practical origin of religion2 and since according to ,vico's doctrine man consists of nothing but intellect and will1 clearly religion can have no other origin than these two4 ,now1 setting aside religion in its practical aspect1 to be discussed later1 religion in its theoretical aspect is surely nothing else than the imaginative universal1 poetic animism1 or myth4 ,to it belongs the institution which ,vico calls divination2 that is1 the methods of collecting and interpreting the language of ,jupiter1 the real words1 gestures and signs of ,god1 formed as imaginative universals and created by the animating fancy4 ,and as from myth come science and philosophy1 so in like manner from divination comes the knowledge of ground and cause1 philosophic or scientific prediction4 ,in this way ,vico escaped the prejudice which was beginning to prevail in his time--we may recall ,van ,dale's history of ancient oracles1 popularised by ,fontenelle1 and ,banier's book already mentioned--and was to be so powerful for a century1 of considering religions as some one else's imposture3 whereas1 he says1 they were really due to one's own credulity4 ,the man who refused to admit the artificial origin of myth could not admit it of religion4 ,but just as he denied no less the supernatural or revealed origin of myth1 so at the same time he proclaimed neither more nor less than the natural1 even the human1 origin of religions2 and--a fact especially worthy of notice--placed this origin in an inadequate form of the mind1 namely the semi-imaginative form identical with mythology4 ,nor need we attach weight to certain brief and incidental remarks which seem to contradict this theory1 as when he says that religion precedes not only philosophy but language itself1 which presupposes the consciousness of some community between man and man3 such equivocations are due to the invariable confusedness of his method and his habitual lack of clearness4 ,the identification of religion with myth1 and its human origin1 are ideas not only emphatically expressed1 but essential to ,vico's whole system4 ,it is a human origin which in his own words does not exclude a different concept of religion1 namely as revealed and hence of supernatural origin4 ,in fact he always separates poetic theology1 which is mythology1 and natural theology1 which is metaphysics or philosophy1 from revealed theology4 ,but this last concept is admitted by him not because it is connected with the others and derived from a principle common to them1 but simply because ,vico asserted its existence no less than theirs4 ,the human origin1 poetic theology1 followed by metaphysical theology1 is the form valid for the ,gentile portion of mankind1 that is the whole human race except the ,hebrew people with its privilege of revelation4 ,the motives that led ,vico to maintain this dualism and the annoying inconsistencies in which it compelled him to rest will be seen later on in their own place4 ,but precisely because ,vico left this dualism without mediation1 we must in expounding his thought hold fast both terms of the dualism3 and for the time being we will confine ourselves to the merely human origin--religion as a product of the theoretical needs of man in a condition of comparative moral poverty4 ,this conception has only an indirect connexion with ,bruno's view of religion as a thing necessary to the ignorant and undeveloped mob1 and with ,campanula's theory of natural or permanent religion1 an eternal rational philosophy coinciding with a ,christianity freed from its abuses4 ,its parallels in contemporary authors are few and distant3 even when they mention it in passing1 they grasp it only in a superficial way and propound it without connecting it at all with their other ideas3 they attack religion as a form of ignorance1 and omit the wisdom of the ignorance1 or religion as truth4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,the ,,moral ,,consciousness ,vico's other doctrines on the theoretical reason1 that is to say on the logic of philosophy1 of physical and mathematical science and of historical study1 have been expounded above in the statement of his theory of knowledge1 and are drawn almost entirely from his early works1 since in the ,new ,science the phase of the completely developed mind hardly appears except as a limit of the field of study4 ,here it will suffice to mention that he also touches upon the problem of the relation of poetry to history3 but1 still because of the confusion of philosophy with social science1 he fails fully to solve it4 ,from one point of view it seems to ,vico that history is prior to poetry1 because the latter1 as he says1 presupposes reality and contains an imitation of the second degree3 from another1 poetry is the primary form1 because among primitive peoples history is poetry1 and the first historians are poets4 ,at any rate he insists upon the poetic element essential to history3 of ,herodotus1 the father of ,greek history1 he observes that not only are his books full1 for the most part1 of fables1 but the style retains a very great ,homeric element1 a feature which all subsequent historians retained1 using as they did a phraseology intermediate between the poetic and the colloquial3 almost the words of the poets1 verba ferme poetarum1 as he says elsewhere in a phrase borrowed from ,cicero4 ,nor are the relations between theory and practice1 intellect and will1 explained in detail by ,vico1 although on the whole he suggests the general idea that as in ,god intellect and will coincide1 so it is in man1 ,god's image2 whose mind is not divided into thought and will--thought proceeding according to one method and will according to another--but his thought and will interpenetrate and form one single whole3 a view far superior to that of the contemporary philosophy of ,leibniz1 which retained the idea of a divine arbitrament and therefore of irrationality4 ,another view1 peculiar to ,vico1 might be taken by a hasty interpreter to imply the priority of practice to theory4 ,he says that philosophers arrive at their conceptions thanks to experience of social institutions and laws in which men agree as a kind of universals3 that ,socrates and ,plato1 for instance1 presupposed the ,athenian democracy and law-courts4 ,but the succession of religions producing republics1 republics producing laws1 and laws producing philosophical ideas1 which he calls a fragment of the history of philosophy philosophically narrated1 is really a theory of sociological1 not of philosophical value4 ,as regards his doctrines of practical reason1 which we are here beginning to consider1 it might be thought that ,vico1 unlike his attitude with regard to the theoretical reason1 did not stand in sharp opposition to the thought of his time1 but actually united himself with a contemporary movement1 namely the school of natural rights4 ,the head of the school and leader of the movement1 ,hugo ,grotius1 was called by ,vico one of his four authors1 together with ,plato1 from whom he had drawn his aspirations towards an idealistic philosophy1 ,bacon1 who had aroused in his mind the idea of a positive and historical science of society1 and ,tacitus1 his debt to whom1 or at least the debt which he believed he owed him1 we shall examine later on4 ,along with ,grotius he frequently mentions the other chief authorities on natural rights1 ,selden and ,puffendorf1 omitting their innumerable followers1 whom he considers less as scientific authorities than as adorners of the ,grotian system4 ,his adherence to the school1 in a certain sense1 is clear1 and is admitted and proclaimed by ,vico himself4 ,but it is also beyond doubt that he was no mere adherent3 he was not a follower of the kind that retains the general or leading ideas while developing and correcting details4 ,he was a follower in the dialectical sense only1 that is1 in so far as he thought it necessary to contest the primary theses1 or to accept them only in a profoundly modified form4 ,natural right offered him not solutions but problems3 and of these1 while some came before him already clearly formulated1 others1 and these were the more important1 arose only in his own mind3 problems either unsolved or unrealised1 till ,vico propounded and in part solved them4 ,natural rights presented many aspects and many tendencies3 and it would be well to begin by distinguishing and enumerating these4 ,in the first place1 the school taken as a whole and in its essential character expressed the social progress by which ,europe1 on emerging from feudalism and religious warfare1 acquired a new consciousness1 distinctively bourgeois and non-clerical in character2 and it observed that the growth of this consciousness was contemporaneous with the anti-clerical and bourgeois institution of masonry4 ,the word natural meant1 among other things1 not supernatural3 and hence implied hostility or indifference towards the supernatural1 the institutions representing it1 and the social conflicts resulting from it4 ,it was not by accident that ,grotius was an ,arminian2 that ,puffendorf went to law with theologians2 that ,thomasius is remembered as one of the champions of freedom of conscience4 ,the protestations of respect for religion and the church1 habitually and liberally inserted by these publicists in their works1--which are draped1 so to speak1 with a veil of piety1--were merely politic safeguards1 enabling the author to threaten the enemy unobserved and to strike from under cover4 ,this caution is praised1 in ,grotius's case for example1 by a follower of the school 7the author of ,pauco plenior iuris naturalis historia1 #agai71 who extols the master as the instrument of divine providence1 coming like ,messiah to redeem the natural light from its bondage to the supernatural1 and as such gifted with all the power and ability he could need3 so that after tasting the persecutions of ,scholasticism1 he behaved with caution1 to avoid further irritating the jealousy against his natural and reasonable prudence that had issued forth from its lair at his threats 7caute versabatur 444 ne maius bilem adversus prudentiam naturalem et rationalem ex latebris productam tam minis irritaret71 and in proceeding to separate human from divine laws1 did not execute a frontal assault on the theological school when he attacked its fundamental errors1 but even praised it in the preface to his work4 ,the word natural also denoted what is common to individuals of different nations and ranks3 and hence from a practical point of view provided an admirable war-cry for uniting the bourgeoisie of different countries in definite common aspirations and struggles4 ,the treatises of natural rights were for the bourgeoisie of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries what the ,manifesto of the communists and the cry ,proletariates of the world1 unite attempted to be for the working classes of the nineteenth4 ,in so far as this school and this publicism were signs of a practical movement1 the philosophical interest held in them a secondary place and discharged a function of minor importance3 so that1 secondly1 the works on natural right1 philosophically considered1 did not as a rule rise above a simple popular empiricism4 ,the principles on which they rest are not examined and often not even superficially reconciled3 the concepts which they use are less concepts than general representations3 and the form of the writing is systematic in appearance only4 ,some of these writers endeavoured to harmonise their doctrines of natural right with the ,platonic1 ,stoic or ,cartesian philosophies1 or appealed to logical or metaphysical axioms1 or made use of deduction and the mathematical method4 ,but all this was mere aggregation1 not fusion2 ornament1 not reinforcement3 at most1 it was of value as a proof of diligence and earnest intentions4 ,the philosophy1 however1 which was more or less implicit in the pamphleteers of natural rights1 and explicit in the philosophers who set out to elaborate the doctrine1 agreed with the spirit of the time1 whose general characteristics are well known4 ,thus arose the third or ethical aspect of natural right1 namely its utilitarianism2 sometimes more or less concealed1 sometimes openly declared1 and worked out from time to time by a philosophy of mathematical or sensationalistic methods1 and of materialistic or rationalistic tendencies3 or else1 what comes practically to the same thing1 an abstract and intellectualistic morality1 threatening at any moment to fall into utilitarianism4 ,from this intellectualism and utilitarianism1 combined with the practical and revolutionary character of this mental movement1--which was bent rather upon bringing about the triumph of an abstract system of right than upon recognising that which really develops in history1 in all the complexity of its many forms and vicissitudes--derived its fourth characteristic1 the lack of historical sense1 or the anti-historical attitude of the school1 which set up the abstract ideal of a human nature apart from human history instead of fused with and living in it4 ,finally1 bourgeois1 anticlerical1 utilitarian and materialistic as it was1 the movement of natural right had a fifth important trait1 namely its aversion to transcendence and its tendency towards an immanental conception of man and of society4 ,this characteristic is neither fully explained nor fully worked out in the doctrines1 but is none the less easily recognised among the total views of the school4 ,now ,vico's genius was truly and indeed exclusively theoretical1 and not at all practical or reformatory3 his method was profoundly speculative and contemptuous of empiricism1 his mind idealistic and opposed to materialism and utilitarianism3 his theory of knowledge eager for the concrete1 for certitude1 and1 as such1 of historical sympathies4 ,consequently his doctrine of the practical reason1 though deriving its impetus from the theory of natural rights1 was bound to emerge in a shape different from or even contrary to that theory in all the first four characteristics enumerated above4 ,and if it did in one respect coincide--which it only does in the conclusion1 not in the path by which the conclusion is reached--it did so in the very point in which ,vico would least have wished it3 in its immanental or anti-religious tendency4 ,but since our subject is not the criticisms and modifications which the theory of natural right received from ,vico's thought1 but rather that thought itself1 it is time to pick up the thread of the exposition1 following an order somewhat different from that in which we have summed up the various characteristics of the theory1 and beginning by observing ,vico's opposition to the professed or implicit utilitarianism of the school1 and the ethical doctrine by which he replaced it4 ,the two chief representatives of utilitarianism in the seventeenth century1 whom ,vico always keeps in view1 are ,hobbes and ,spinoza3 but in addition to them1 he refers to ,locke and ,bayle and1 in the preceding century1 ,machiavelli2 and going back to the ancients1 the ,stoics with their conception of faith and the ,epicureans with that of chance1 ,carneades and his scepticism1 and finally the unconscious theory contained in the saying ,vae victis attributed to ,brennus1 chief of the ,gauls who took ,rome4 ,he admired ,hobbes's splendid attempt to enrich philosophy by a theory which had been lacking to the greatest days of ,greece1 the theory of man considered in the whole society of the human race3 but he pronounced the result unsatisfactory1 and the attempt1 whose outcome1 like that of ,locke's system1 was hardly distinguishable from ,epicureanism1 a failure4 ,hobbes did not observe that he could never have propounded his problem of the natural rights of mankind had not his motive been supplied by the ,christian religion itself1 which commands not indeed justice but charity to all mankind4 ,with the ,stoics on the other hand1 with the fatalism and determinism which made it impossible for them to reason soundly about the state and laws1 with the so-called ,spinozists of antiquity1 he ideally united ,spinoza2 the uniqueness of whose utilitarianism1 equally removed from the ,lockian spirit and the ,hobbist1 since ,spinoza judges of the truth of things by the mind1 not by sense 7mente non sensu de veris rerum diiudicat71 did not escape ,vico's notice4 ,but unique though it was1 it led ,spinoza to think of the state in a somewhat undignified way as of a mere society of shopkeepers4 ,these utilitarian doctrines1 with their libels upon human nature1 seemed to ,vico only fit for men without hope1 too insignificant ever to have a share in the state or proud enough to believe themselves repressed and denied access to the positions of which in their arrogance they thought themselves worthy4 ,among these he counted the unfortunate ,spinoza1 who1 he thinks1 having as a ,jew no country of his own1 was moved by envy to devote himself to the construction of a metaphysic intended to overthrow all the nations of the world4 ,he passes stern judgment upon the state of contemporary ethics1 which was all that it could be on the basis of a mechanistic and materialistic metaphysic without a gleam of finalism4 ,descartes produced nothing at all in this field1 since his few written remains on the subject do not amount to a doctrine1 and his treatise of the ,passions belongs rather to medicine than to morals4 ,malebranche and ,nicole were equally sterile1 and ,pascal's ,penses1 the one exception1 are but scattered lights4 ,of the ,italians1 ,pallavicino's treatise ,del bene offers no very profound depths of ethics3 and ,muratori's attempt in his ,filosofia ,morale was a very unsuccessful one4 ,utility is not the explanatory principle of morality1 because it proceeds from man's bodily nature1 and on that account is subject to change1 while morality1 honestas1 is eternal4 ,to derive morality from utility is to confound the occasion with the cause1 to confine oneself to the surface and to offer no explanation at all of the facts4 ,none of the various modes in which philosophers have successively called the utilitarian principle to life1 fraud or imposture1 force1 desire1--none of these accounts for differentiation1 that is1 for the social organism4 ,what fraud could ever have seduced and deceived the supposed simple and frugal first owners of the land1 living as they did perfectly contented with their lot8 ,what force could have succeeded1 if the rich1 the alleged usurpers1 were few1 and the poor1 the robbed1 were many8 ,such explanations are ridiculous1 and unworthy of a serious problem4 ,these strong and powerful men were really powerful with something other than mere strength3 thus they became protectors of the weak and enemies of destructive and anti-social tendencies3 their rule was one of force1 it is true1 but imposed by a more powerful character 7a natura praestantiori dictata72 a fact which the barbarian ,brennus may be pardoned for not knowing1 but not so a philosopher4 ,the force which created and organised the earliest states was nothing but noble human nature1 to which states must always hark back1 although they may have been won by fraud and force1 in order to subsist and maintain themselves3 which agrees with ,machiavelli's advice to hark back to the beginnings1 but with the implication that the deepest beginnings are to be found in mercy and justice4 ,men are held together by something stouter than utility4 ,human society cannot originate and endure without mutual trust2 unless people accept each other's promises and take each other's word for facts they cannot examine4 ,could this trust be perhaps ensured by strict penal laws against falsehood8 ,but laws are a product of society1 and this mutual trust is necessary that society may arise4 ,it may be said1 as it is by ,locke1 that we are dealing with a psychological process1 by which men gradually acquired the habit of believing when some one spoke to them and promised to tell the truth4 ,but in that case these men already understood the idea of a truth which by mere disclosure compelled assent without any personal teaching2 and the psychological principle of habituation is transcended4 ,the true cause of human society then is not utility1 which only assists the action of the cause as its occasion1 and brings it about that men1 with all the weakness and poverty of their nature1 and the divisions among them due to original sin1 are led to extol their social nature under compulsion of facts 7rebus ipsis dictantibus71 in the phrase of the jurist ,pomponius1 quoted with approval by ,vico4 ,objects1 facts and circumstances in morality change1 though morality itself does not change3 and hence arises the illusion of the utilitarians1 who cling to the external1 confine themselves to the appearance and see the change but not the permanence4 ,murder is forbidden3 but the approval1 bestowed upon the man who when his life is threatened and he cannot otherwise save himself kills his unjust aggressor1 does not imply that the moral judgment upon homicide varies2 since in these particular circumstances the case is really one not of homicide but of capital punishment inflicted by the unjustly attacked person finding himself alone3 a power tacitly delegated to him so to speak by society4 ,theft is forbidden3 but the man who in order to preserve his life steals a loaf from another does not violate morality because he is exercising a right founded upon equity4 ,the only philosophy which carries with it a true ethic seems to ,vico to be the ,platonic1 resting as it does upon a metaphysical principle1 the eternal idea which draws out of itself and creates matter3 while the ,aristotelian ethic is founded upon a metaphysic leading to a physical principle1 that of the matter from which particular forms are drawn1 a principle which makes ,god a potter shaping objects external to himself4 ,the ethic of the ,roman lawyers was doubtless rich in fine aphorisms3 but it was nothing but a mere art of equity1 conveyed by means of endless minute maxims of natural justice1 sought for by the writers in the reason of the laws and the will of the lawgiver4 ,hence it cannot be regarded as a moral philosophy1 in which the best method is to proceed from a very small number of eternal truths1 established by ideal justice in the fabric of metaphysic4 ,for analogous reasons ,vico could not rest satisfied with ,grotius and the school of natural rights3 of which in general he makes the perfectly just remark that their ponderous tomes1 in spite of the impressive titles they bear1 contain nothing that is not universally known4 ,if ,grotius's principles be weighed in the accurate balance of criticism1 they are all found to be probable or plausible rather than necessary and incontestable4 ,in dealing with the question of utility1 ,grotius missed the exact point by failing to distinguish the occasion from the cause3 nor did he nail down--that is1 he did not end--the ancient dispute as to whether right is a question of nature or of human opinion only1 the same controversy as that carried on by philosophers and theologians with ,carneades the sceptic and ,epicurus3 he advances the hypothesis of primitive men who were simpletons1 but quite omits to give reasons for it4 ,and since these simpletons of his1 after suffering injuries from their beast-like isolation1 initiated a sociable life1 a step to which they were determined by utility1 ,grotius himself slipped unawares into utilitarianism and ,epicureanism4 ,vico on the other hand answered the question1 whether right is natural or conventional1 by the grave aphorism except in their natural condition1 things neither progress nor endure4 ,to the question1 whence society arises1 he replies by mentioning the common feeling of humanity1 the conscience1 the need which man feels of escaping from the internal enemy1 which tortures his heart4 ,the origin of society certainly lies in fear1 but it is fear of oneself1 not of another's violence3 it lies in the agonies of remorse1 the shame whose tinge suffusing the cheeks of the earliest men lit the first beacon of morality upon earth4 ,shame is the mother of all virtues1 honour1 frugality1 honesty1 loyalty to the pledged word1 truthfulness in speech1 abstention from others' property1 and chastity4 ,in extolling society1 man is extolling human nature4 ,shame or the moral consciousness1 translated into terms of the corresponding empirical science1 becomes that common consciousness of man upon matters of human necessity or utility which is the source of the natural right of nations4 ,this common consciousness1 says ,vico1 is an unreflective judgment1 felt in common by a whole class1 a whole people1 a whole nation and the whole of mankind4 ,an unreflective judgment is not strictly a judgment at all1 since reflection is inseparable from judgment3 it is not judgment1 because it is felt and not thought4 ,but on the other hand it is not what is called a feeling1--a vague term unknown to ,vico1 as it is to traditional philosophy4 ,it is rather a practical attitude of mind1 similar on the whole in persons living in similar conditions and producing similar customs in the various social groups1 from the customs of a particular class to those of all mankind4 ,the attitude is quite spontaneous1 and for this very reason unreflective2 so that customs arise from within1 not from without1 and their similarity does not depend upon imitation 7without one nation taking example from another74 ,through this sensus communis the moral consciousness embodies itself in compact and unyielding institutions3 and thus the sensus communis reduces to certitude the free will of man1 which is in itself quite uncertain4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,morality ,,and ,,religion ,but this internal fear1 shame or moral consciousness is aroused in man by religion4 ,the fear is the fear of ,god1 the shame is abasement before his face4 ,primitive man wanders over the earth alone1 wild1 fierce1 without articulate speech1 without a permanent mate1 at the mercy of his unbridled and violent passions1 a brute rather than a man4 ,what can restrain him8 what can rescue him from at last destroying himself8 ,wise men cannot direct him1 for we cannot say whence or how they can reach him4 ,the intervention of ,god cannot save him3 ,god has withdrawn himself to his chosen people1 and has no dealings with the rest of mankind1 the ,gentiles4 ,but this brute is still a man3 ,god1 while abandoning him1 has left a spark of his own essence at the bottom of his heart4 ,see6 the sky lightens3 the wild creature stands awestruck and afraid3 in his mind arises the shadowy idea of something greater than he1 something divine4 ,so he conceives or rather imagines a first ,god1 a ,sky-god1 a thundering ,jupiter3 and to this deity he turns to appease his wrath or invoke his aid4 ,but in order to conciliate him and secure his help1 he must shape his own life conformably to his purpose3 he must humble himself before his ,god1 overcome his own pride and arrogance1 abstain from certain actions and perform others4 ,thus the conception of a deity lends power to that peculiar possession of the human will1 the attempt1 that is1 the liberty1 to control the movements communicated to the mind by the body and to annul or to redirect them simultaneously4 ,with these acts of self-control1 with freedom1 morality comes into existence3 the fear of ,god has laid the foundations of human life4 ,altars arise all over the earth3 the caves of her mountains1 whither the man now bears the woman1 ashamed as he is of gratifying his desires before the face of the sky1 which is the face of ,god1 preside at the first marriage-rites and shelter the first families3 her bosom opens to receive the sacred trust of the bodies of the dead4 ,the first and fundamental ethical institutions--worship1 wedlock and burial--have arisen4 ,this social and ethical power of the idea of ,god appears again in the course of subsequent history3 since when nations have relapsed into savagery through warfare1 and human laws have no more power over them1 religion is the only means of subduing them4 ,it reappears again in the individual development of human life3 children indeed cannot learn piety except through the fear of some deity2 and when all natural help fails him man requires a superior being to save him1 and this being is ,god4 ,all nations believe in a divine providence3 tribes living in a society without any consciousness of ,god1 for instance in some parts of ,brazil1 among the ,kafirs1 and in the ,antilles1 are travellers' tales1 an attempt to increase the sale of their books by the narration of portents4 ,if this is so1--and doubtless it is--then no doctrine can be more foolish than that which claims to conceive a morality and civilisation without religion4 ,just as no well-established physical science is possible without the guidance of abstract mathematical truth1 so no knowledge of morality can arise except together with abstract metaphysical truths1 without1 that is1 the idea of ,god4 ,when the religious consciousness is extinguished or obscured the conception of society and the state is extinguished or obscured with it4 ,jews1 ,christians1 ,gentiles and ,mahommedans possess this conception because all alike believe in some deity1 whether as an infinite free spirit1 or as several gods consisting of mind and body1 or as one single ,god1 an infinite free spirit in an infinite body4 ,the ,epicureans did not possess such a conception1 attributing to ,god as they did body alone1 and chance together with body3 nor did the ,stoics1 who made him subject to fate4 ,and ,cicero made the admirable remark to the ,epicurean ,atticus1 that he could not discuss laws with him unless he first granted the existence of the divine providence4 ,hobbes1 who revived ,epicureanism1 and ,spinoza1 who revived ,stoicism1 as we have seen entirely failed to understand the nature of society and the state4 ,one must consort with primitive man1 stupid1 hirsute1 unclean and dishevelled1 to refute those learned authors of desiccated literature1 with ,peter ,bayle at their head1 who maintain that human society can and indeed does live without religion4 ,the absence of the idea of ,god supplied the chief argument in ,vico's criticism of ,grotius and ,puffendorf1 two of these authors whom he held in great honour as princes of the school of natural rights4 ,neither of these writers1 he says1 lays down the principle of divine providence as primary and essential4 ,grotius does not expressly deny it3 but on account of his very attachment to truth1 he endeavours to exclude it1 and asserts that his system will stand even if all knowledge of ,god be removed4 ,hence ,vico accuses him of ,socinianism1 since he makes human innocence consist in the simplicity of human nature4 ,puffendorf is still worse3 he seems to ignore providential direction1 and begins with the scandalously ,epicurean supposition that man is thrown into this world with no help or attention from ,god1 without even that spark within his heart which is destined to grow into the flame of morality3 and having been reproved for this1 he tries to justify himself in a special essay1 but does not succeed in discovering the true principle on which alone society can be explained4 ,now why1 in face of all these energetic declarations and arguments of ,vico's on the necessity of religion to morality1 did we say above that the only point of real resemblance between him and ,grotius1 ,puffendorf and the natural-right school generally was his purely immanental conception of ethics8 ,because1 if we examine the point closely1 ,vico is not in opposition to the method of that school4 ,like them1 in constructing his science of human society he excludes with ,grotius all idea of ,god1 and with ,puffendorf considers man as without help or attention from ,god1 excluding him1 that is1 from revealed religion and its ,god4 ,as for these two writers1 so for ,vico the subject under consideration is natural rights1 not supernatural3 the law of the ,gentiles1 not of the chosen people3 the law which arises of itself among the caves1 not that which comes down from ,sinai4 ,vico's opposition1 which he expresses with his accustomed confusion and obscurity1 turns not upon assertions like these1 but upon the actual conception of religion4 ,in one word1 the religion of which he speaks is not the same as that of which ,grotius and ,puffendorf spoke1 or rather did not speak4 ,religion1 as we have already seen1 means for ,vico not necessarily revelation1 but conception of reality3 either that which expresses itself as it does in the period of fully developed mind in the form of intelligible metaphysic1 which passes from the thought of ,god to explain logic by its reasoning and to condescend to purify the human heart by morality3 or that which takes concrete shape1 as it does in the earliest stage of humanity1 in the form of poetical metaphysics4 ,one may easily ignore revealed religion when inquiring into the foundations of morality3 but how can one ever ignore this natural religion1 identical as it is with knowledge of the truth8 ,plutarch1 discussing the primitive religions of terror1 asks the question whether it would not have been better1 instead of worshipping the gods in so impious a manner1 that there should be no religion at all3 but he forgot that from these cruel superstitions brilliant civilisations developed1 and no civilisation could ever have grown from atheism4 ,without a religion1 whether gentle or fierce1 rational or fantastic1 to give the idea1 more or less clearly defined1 more or less elevated1 of something superior to the individual and uniting all individuals1 the moral will would have no object for its volition4 ,at this point we see the meaning of what we have described as the second1 practical or ethical1 signification of the word religion in ,vico4 ,in this signification1 ,vico justifies and vindicates the impious saying that fear creates the gods3 he even places the source of religion in the longing for eternal life which man feels when stirred by a universal sense of immortality hidden in the depths of the mind4 ,in this second signification1 religion is a practical fact1 indeed it is morality itself1 as in the first meaning it was truth itself4 ,if the meaning of religion for ,vico1 either as the condition of morality1 in the first sense of the word1 or as synonymous with it1 in the second1 is once understood1 it is clear that when he condemned ,grotius and ,puffendorf for their omission of this most important concept1 he was substantially doing nothing but clenching his criticism of the insipid moralising and the concealed utilitarianism of these two thinkers4 ,on other occasions also he resorted to the valuable weapon of the concept of religion1 with the same end in view4 ,because if he sometimes credited philosophy with the task of assisting mankind by raising and directing fallen human nature1 at other times he decided that philosophy is rather adapted to reasoning1 and that the moral philosophers with the greatest powers of reasoning are of value only to stimulate the senses by their eloquence to perform the duties of virtue1 while religion alone has the power of making men act virtuously4 ,then in the empirical science corresponding to this part of the philosophy of mind1 ,vico turns religion 7or poetical metaphysic7 and philosophy into two historical epochs1 making the former characteristic of the barbaric period and the latter of the civilised4 ,he maintains1 as he is clearly bound to do1 that religion is the sole foundation of all civilisation and of philosophy itself1 and rejects ,polybius's saying that if there had been philosophers in the world religion would have been unnecessary4 ,how could philosophy have arisen1 he objects1 had not states1 that is1 civilisation1 arisen first8 and how could states have arisen without the aid of religion8 ,thus the saying ought to be reversed3 without religion there is no philosophy4 ,it was religion1 it was the divine providence that tamed the sons of ,polyphemus and reduced them to the humanity of ,aristides and ,socrates1 of ,laelius and ,scipio ,africanus4 ,the conception again of the state of nature1 which served in the treatises of the school of natural rights as an hypothesis and a means of exposition with a view either to developing the argument independently of mystical theology without evoking too many protests1 or to conveying implicitly their utilitarian theories1 acquired in ,vico's hands a new function and a new content4 ,a perfectly honest ,catholic1 having satisfied his conscience by separating revealed from human religion1 he was in a position to assume the state of nature as a literal and actual reality4 ,it is an ideal reality1 in so far as it represents in the dialectic of the practical consciousness a moment necessary for the genesis of reality1 the pre-moral moment3 a historical and empirical reality1 as the approximately actual condition of those periods of anarchy and disturbance which precede the rise of civilisations or follow upon their fall4 ,the natural-right school acquiesced more or less in the traditional doctrine of the church1 namely that the ,gentiles1 in the dispersion following on the confusion of ,babel1 had taken away with them a residuum of revealed religion1 a vague memory of the true ,god1 and that hence arose the possibility of social life and of false gods1 shadows of the true ,god3 and thus the state of nature had been put forward in their system as something abstract and unreal4 ,vico worked out strictly the distinction between ,jews and ,gentiles1 and conceived the state of nature as devoid of any help coming from previous revelation3 as a state in which man stood alone1 so to speak1 face to face with his own chaotic and turbulent passions4 ,it was a state actually without morality1 but--in contradistinction to the utilitarian hypothesis--pregnant with moral requirements1 and was transcended by this implicit character becoming explicit4 ,but this transcendence was brought about naturally1 not by means of divine grace3 the true divine grace is human nature itself1 shared by ,gentiles no less than ,jews1 all equally illuminated by a divine light4 ,man's will is free1 weak though it is1 to make his passions into virtues2 and in his struggle towards virtue he is helped in a natural manner by ,god through providence4 ,certainly ,vico did not intend to deny the efficacy of direct and personal divine grace as well3 but following his usual method he separates the latter from the natural operation of providence1 which is the only question of importance for him and the only one he considers4 ,so far as concerns the controversies on grace1 he always likes to maintain a middle position between two extremes represented typically1 according to him1 by ,pelagianism and ,calvinism3 and ever since as a young man he studied the works of ,richard1 the theologian of the ,sorbonne1 he had accepted his demonstration of the superiority of the ,augustinian doctrine1 just because it was intermediate between these extremes4 ,a moderate doctrine of this kind seemed to him1 as he says1 to provide a suitable foundation for a principle of the natural rights of nations which should explain the origin of ,roman and other ,gentile law1 while at the same time remaining in agreement with the ,catholic religion4 ,he was inclined to admit that there was a privileged nation1 namely the ,jewish2 and that in the struggle against the passions the ,christian had an advantage over the non-,christian1 because in cases where natural grace failed he might be helped by supernatural4 ,but1 in a word1 miracles are miracles1 and the ,new ,science is not a science of the miraculous4 ,that it is not1 is proved by ,vico's criticism on the third of the principles of natural rights1 against ,john ,selden1 a famous man in his day though forgotten later1 and author of ,de iure naturali et gentium iuxta disciplinant ,hebraeorum 7#afdj74 ,selden disagreed with ,grotius1 in this as in certain other questions1 in not denying1 and even in exalting1 the value of religion3 he conceived moral and civil life impossible for mankind except through revelation4 ,this revelation1 made by ,god to the ,jewish people1 passed from them according to ,selden by several channels to the ,gentiles3 ,pythagoras for instance had learnt from ,ezekiel2 ,aristotle1 at the time of the campaigns of ,alexander in ,asia1 formed a friendship with ,simon the ,just2 ,numa ,pompilius acquired some knowledge of the ,bible and the prophets4 ,this was enough to reassure any believer who had been frightened away from the works of the natural-right school by their heterodox tendencies4 ,but ,vico will have none of this ultra-religious system4 ,if ,grotius ignored providence and ,puffendorf denied it1 ,selden was wrong1 said ,vico1 in supplying it1 making it a deus ex machina1 without explaining it by the essential character of the human mind4 ,it was a system not only unphilosophical but incompatible with sacred history1 which admits to a certain extent even in the case of the ,jews a natural1 not revealed1 law3 and it was only because1 during the captivity in ,egypt1 they lost sight of this that the direct intervention of ,god with the laws given to ,moses took place4 ,nor did the theory agree1 as to the alleged dissemination of ,jewish knowledge and laws among the ,gentiles1 with the words of the ,jew ,josephus and of ,lactantius2 and in general1 it was unsupported by even the smallest documentary evidence4 ,vico's conclusion therefore remains unaltered4 ,the ,jews enjoyed in addition the extraordinary aid of the true ,god3 but the other nations attained civilisation solely through the ordinary light of providence4 ,whether or no ,vico quoted and interpreted ,grotius and ,puffendorf accurately is for us a question of small importance4 ,his exposition and estimate of other philosophers matter less than his own doctrines1 whatever their historical relations1 which1 to tell the truth1 are many in number4 ,nevertheless it will be as well to indicate briefly1 as regards the difficulties which may arise upon this point1 the answer which we think plausible4 ,any one who after reading ,vico's censures opened the ,de iure belli et pacis and found that ,grotius explicitly includes among his three fundamental principles1 with reason and the social nature1 the divine will1 and that this ignoring of ,god amounts to little more than a mere phrase laying emphasis on the power of the social nature and reason1 which would take effect even if we were to grant that ,god does not exist 7etiamsi dar emus non esse ,deum7 or that he does not care for human affairs1 which cannot be granted without the grossest impiety 7quod sine summo scelere dari nequit73 any one who opened ,puffendorf and read a most solemn denunciation of the ,grotian hypothesis as impious and absurd1 and a declaration that natural laws would remain hanging in the air devoid of force apart from the will of ,god as legislator2 any one who read these words might be led to accuse ,vico of negligence or even of insincerity in his criticisms of his predecessors4 ,but in truth ,vico did not know what to make of a ,god set side by side with other sources of morality1 or set above them as a superfluous source for the sources3 he1 searching for ,god as he did in the heart of man1 saw and felt the gulf fixed between him and those who no longer had him in their hearts and barely kept him on their lips through habit or prudence4 ,a more subtle question would be to ask why1--if ,vico agreed with the natural-right school in ignoring revelation1 and if he instead of rejecting it deepened their superficial immanental doctrine1--why he put himself forward as their implacable enemy and persisted in boasting loudly before prelates and pontiffs of having formulated a system of natural rights different from that of the three ,protestant authors and adapted to the ,roman church4 ,the supposition that he acted thus through politic caution might be advanced if instead of ,vico we were dealing with1 for instance1 a passionate and powerful but deceitful friar like ,tommaso ,campanella3 but the spotless character of ,vico entirely precludes it1 and we can only suppose that1 lacking as his ideas always were in clarity1 on this occasion he indulged his tendency to confusion and nourished his illusions1 to the extent of conferring upon himself the flattering style and title of ,defensor ,ecclesiae at the very moment when he was destroying the religion of the church by means of the religion of humanity4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,morality ,,and ,,law ,with the dazzling light of his originality still shining before our eyes1 it is impossible to fix our attention upon those doctrines and classifications which ,vico drew from the traditional philosophy and placed especially in the first book of the ,diritto universale3 though it is precisely these that have become favourites with many readers1 and are now almost common property through the frequent quotation of them4 ,that ,god is infinite power knowledge and will 7posse nosse velle infinitum7 and man finite power knowledge and will struggling towards the infinite 7posse nosse velle finitum quod tendit ad infinitum73 that the state is the image of ,god1 and because it has all things beneath it1 nothing above 7omnia infra se1 nil superius habet71 therefore it renders account to ,god alone and to no one else 7uni ,deo1 praeterea reddat rationem nemini71 and that just as in ,god freedom is inherent in his eternal reason1 so the state freely obeys the laws it has itself established3 that justice directs and equates utilities 7utilitates dirigit et exaequat71 directing1 like an architect1 in the building-up of the state1 the two particular kinds of justice1 commutative and distributive1 the two divine artisans that measure utility with the two divine measures1 arithmetic and geometry1 so that what is equal when you measure is also just when you choose 7quod est aequum cum metiris1 idem est iustum quum eligis71 these and similar assertions seem not merely lacking in originality but even false or meaningless1 adorned though they may be with the name either of ,aristotle or of ,campanella or of other philosophers of the ancient world or the ,renaissance4 ,if1 to take one1 justice consisted in measuring1 a philosophy of justice would be unnecessary1 for the science of calculation and measurement would be enough4 ,vico himself at one point involuntarily and ingenuously discloses the vicious circle of this metaphor substituted for a concept1 by saying that men ought to share utility equally among themselves1 only preserving a just difference where it is a question of desert1 and that to preserve the equality4 ,more profitable than collecting these second-hand formulae would be to collect the many acute observations of moral psychology found here and there in his writings1 expressed in his gem-like style2 or to recall his little-known theory of laughter1 which he derives from disappointed expectation and from the weakness of the mind1 and therefore denies the faculty both to animals and to the perfect man1 considering a man who laughs to be a satyr or faun1 intermediate between a brute and a man4 ,but abstaining from such a collection1 which forms no part of our plan1 we would rather observe that even in the commonplace distinctions and classifications mentioned above ,vico shows a certain merit3 he recognises1 even while he propounds them1 the necessary confusion and identification of all or many of these distinctions4 ,thus after distinguishing the two kinds of justice1 the three kinds of virtue and the three kinds of law1 he ends by declaring that these dualities1 triplicities and multiplicities each form a unity4 ,justice and virtue also1 for ,vico1 form a unity1 since that power of truth1 or human reason1 which is virtue in so far as it struggles with selfishness1 is also justice in so far as it directs or equates utilities4 ,this implies that ,vico does not distinguish1 at least in the systematic exposition of the ,diritto universale1 between law and morality3 a distinction which indeed received little emphasis in the doctrine of natural rights1 and is barely indicated in ,grotius1 for instance1 as one between a greater and less degree of morality4 ,vico's doctrine of punishment is also purely moral1 and deduced from the ethical concept of remorse4 ,it is inflicted1 he says1 by the law1 and is nothing but a social reinforcement of the individual conscience1 in the case where the offender does not himself expiate his crime by means of remorse and internal punishment4 ,but the more the problem of the relation between law and morality is absent in ,vico's theoretical formulation and systematic treatment1 the more present it is in his particular observations2 indeed it may be said to pervade the whole of the ,new ,science4 ,nor could it be otherwise1 seeing that this relation refers to the distinction between the moral will and the inferior or earlier forms of will2 and we know that all ,vico's tendencies were towards exploring the lower and obscure region of the mind1 both cognitive and practical1 in the sphere alike of imagination1 will and passion4 ,he always realised the supreme importance of the passions2 and if he could not approve of giving them the upper hand1 if he always considered the ,epicurean morality a morality of idlers shut up in their pleasure-gardens1 he did not at all approve of excessively severe moralities such as that of the ,stoics1 which was no less than the other a morality of solitaries1 not one for men living in a state4 ,stoicism certainly preaches an eternal and immutable justice1 and makes honour the criterion of human action2 but it does violence to human nature1 dehumanises it1 annuls it and drives it to despair by pretending that it is quite insensible to the passions1 by ignoring the utility and necessity of the bodily nature1 by inculcating that rule--a rule harder than iron--that sins are all equal and that he who strikes a slave is as guilty as he who kills his father4 ,the same doubts must have been aroused in ,vico's mind by ,jansenism1 as he complains that out of hatred of probability1 ,christian morality in ,france is becoming rigidified4 ,we ought to follow not these solitary philosophers but rather those political ones1 especially the ,platonic type1 which recognises that the passions should be not eradicated but moderated and converted into human virtues4 ,thus out of cruelty1 avarice and ambition1 the three universal faults of mankind1 ,providence elicits the warrior1 the merchant and the judge2 the bravery1 wealth and wisdom of states4 ,from these three failings1 which would destroy mankind on the earth1 civil prosperity is formed4 ,concerning matters of utility1 ,vico observes that in themselves1 ex se1 they are neither good nor bad 7neque turpes neque honestae7 but become so merely through their relation to the moral consciousness 7but their unfairness is baseness1 their fairness1 honour3 sed earum inaequalitas est turpitudo1 acqualitas autem honestas74 ,in the empirical science of utility1 he defends against ,grotius a prior natural law1 ius naturale prius1 to which belong self-defence and the procreation and upbringing of children3 and this right he connects with the ,stoic 4 ,that it has no moral authority is proved by the fact that the law which follows it in the historical order1 the posterior natural law1 ius naturale posterius1 defined by ,justinian as that which is established among all men by natural reason and is preserved by all nations alike 7quod naturalis ratio inter omnes homines constituit et apud omnes gentes per aeque custoditur71 is prior in the order of right1 prius iure1 overcomes the former when they conflict and sets upon it the seal of immutability4 ,now1 although this first natural law is defined and exemplified in a merely empirical manner1 it is surely at bottom nothing but pure law1 law not yet moralised4 ,but it is upon the concept of certitude that law as distinct from morality properly1 according to ,vico1 rests4 ,the word certitude is used by him in many senses1 neither clearly distinguished nor harmonised nor deduced one from another3 though they all as we have seen unite1 rather confusedly1 in the general idea of the spontaneous as distinguished1 from the reflective form of the mind4 ,certitude in its practical signification implies among other things an opposition to the truth of volition1 and is1 in a word1 force as against equity and justice1 authority as against reason1 mere will as against the moral will4 ,these are distinctions occurring to our own thoughts1 rather than stated by ,vico1 who both distinguishes and fails to distinguish4 ,for instance1 he affirms that certitude proceeds from authority1 truth from reason 7certuni ab auctoritate est1 verum a ratione7 and immediately afterwards adds that it is quite impossible for authority to conflict with reason1 for in that case there would be not laws but abortive laws 7auctoritas cum ratione omnino pugnare non potest1 nam ita non leges essent1 sed monstra legum74 ,at any rate1 the ,new ,science seems to him1 by reason of this treatment of certitude1 to contain a philosophy of authority1 which1 he adds1 is the source of what theological moralists call external justice4 ,that is to say1 he connected the concept of certitude with the distinction and terminology of external and internal1 already employed by the scholastic morality1 which1 used about this time by ,christianus ,thomasius1 were destined without any great philosophical merit on his part to give an impetus to the investigation of the philosophical relations between law and morality4 ,another and kindred meaning of practical certitude in ,vico is the so-called letter of the law1 formula legum2 which may stand in opposition to reason and the moral consciousness1 but none the less has its own peculiar value3 dura lex1 sed certa3 durum sed scriptum est--the law is harsh1 but it is certain2 it is harsh1 but so it is written4 ,it is in a word the value of law simply as law1 which though devoid of any real ethical content yet has always the value that comes from a command over the will4 ,the certitude of law 7writes ,vico7 is a darkening of the reason supported merely by authority1 and makes the law harsh in practical experience by laying down their certitude1 which in good ,latin 7certuni7 means particularised1 or in the scholastic terminology individualised4 ,to a certain extent ,vico grasped the individual character which lies at the root of every law4 ,that one must judge according to law1 not according to example 7legibus non exemplis iudicandum7 is a comparatively late principle3 the first laws were strictly exempta1 exemplary punishments4 ,from real examples were derived the ideal examples employed by logic and rhetoric3 and when the intelligible universal was understood1 it was recognised that law had a certain universal character4 ,the primitive society sketched by ,vico is1 in its juristic aspect1 the myth so to speak of pure law or practical force4 ,once upon a time men lived possessed of immense bodily strength1 and proportionately feeble in understanding1 who thought all strength greater than their own divine1 and this belief constituted their law4 ,they thought of the gods simply as beings stronger than themselves1 whom they were compelled to obey1 though with a bad grace3 like ,polyphemus1 who if he had been strong enough would have fought ,zeus himself1 or ,achilles1 who told ,apollo that if only they were equally matched he would not hesitate to try his strength against him4 ,the wisdom of providence decreed that these fierce men1 not tamed as yet by the rule of reason1 should at least fear the divine nature of force and measure reason by its standard4 ,this is the foundation of the principle of the external justice of war4 ,but the myth of the period of force cannot have the strictness of a philosophical concept1 and consequently these strong men are considered by ,vico from another point of view as ethically the best3 strongest and best1 fortissimi and optimi1 are regarded as synonymous terms3 and their law1 though not truth or rational law1 is not pure certitude1 but truth mixed with certitude1 ex certo mixtum4 ,but the very mixture of certitude with1 and its preponderance over1 truth1 which is here asserted1 postulates the concept of pure certitude as presupposed by ,vico4 ,when ,vico accused ,grotius and the school of natural rights of commencing their history half-way1 with the civilised ages1 and overlooking the earlier periods1 the accusation1 in its bearing upon the philosophy of practice1 may be translated into a charge of ignoring the ideal moment of force and confining the attention to justice1 equity and morality4 ,the moment of force1 constituting the other and earlier half1 was the field chosen by ,hobbes1 before him by ,machiavelli1 and still earlier by ,epicurus1 all of whom treated of this moment alone1 with impiety towards ,god1 infamy to rulers and injustice towards nations4 ,hence the conclusion is easy1 that in refuting the utilitarians and the theorists of force1 ,vico was at the same time recognising and absorbing the need which they represented1 their only mistake having been that they developed this need in an abstract and one-sided way4 ,his state of nature is in some respects like that of ,hobbes1 with the difference that mankind transcends the latter owing to the recognition of utility1 the former owing to the religious and moral consciousness4 ,but ,vico does not on this account express any gratitude to ,hobbes or ,spinoza1 ,machiavelli or ,epicurus1 since he believed himself to have found in a classical author all the materials and the stimulus he required1 all the counter-poise necessary to the ,platonic philosophy4 ,this was one of his four authors1 the one of whom we said earlier that we had still to see the use which ,vico made1 namely ,tacitus4 ,this writer for his part contemplates with his unequalled metaphysical powers man as he is1 while ,plato contemplates him as he ought to be4 ,just as ,plato in his universal science explores every corner of nobility1 so ,tacitus descends into every scheme of utility1 in order that among the infinite chaotic chances of malice and fortune the man of practical wisdom may act well4 ,to the union in his mind of ,greek philosopher and ,roman historian1 which he interprets1 as is easily seen1 in the manner usual among the ,tacitean politicians of the seventeenth century1 ,vico attributes his own success in sketching a real idea of eternal history1 which the wise man would construct both of esoteric wisdom such as ,plato's1 and of common wisdom such as that of ,tacitus4 ,to ,tacitus1 finally1 he owed the impulse towards the supreme task of making concrete his ideal1 and realising the republic of ,plato in the dregs of ,romulus4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,,the ,,historical ,,aspect ,,of ,,law ,as the cognitive mind passes from feeling without noticing to noticing with disturbed and confused faculties1 and thence to the reflection of the clear mind1 so analogously the volitional mind passes from the state of nature to practical certitude and thence to practical truth4 ,in the correlative empirical science1 the transition is more or less that from the savage to the heroic or barbaric condition and from the latter to the civilised4 ,in these three types of society1 all the manifestations of life correspond3 thus there are three kinds of character1 three kinds of manners and customs1 three kinds of law and therefore of states1 three kinds of language and writing1 three kinds of authority1 reason and justice1 and three divisions of history4 ,confused and sometimes self-contradictory though ,vico may be in fixing the particulars of these various correspondences1 his general idea is plain4 ,where reflection is at a low ebb and imagination flourishes1 the passions also flourish1 habits are violent1 governments aristocratic or feudal1 families subjected to strict paternal rule1 laws severe1 legal procedure symbolical1 language couched in metaphor and writing in hieroglyphics4 ,where on the other hand reflection predominates1 poetry becomes either separate from or charged with philosophy1 manners and customs lose their violence1 the passions are brought into subjection1 the people take the government into their own hands1 all members of the family are alike citizens of the state1 law is mitigated by equity and its procedure simplified1 language loses its metaphorical clothing and writing becomes alphabetical4 ,mixed forms1 which some politicians aim at producing artificially1 would be abortions3 and though we do find natural hybrid forms which retain a tinge of the earlier1 each one1 by reason of its own unity1 always tries so far as possible to divest its subject of every property belonging to other forms4 ,which of the various social types forms the foundation of the others and supplies the criterion for judging them8 or what is the criterion and standard by which they must all alike be judged8 ,for ,vico1 such a question is meaningless4 ,governments1 he says1 must adapt themselves to the nature of the people governed3 the school of princes is the morality of nations4 ,we may shudder at war1 at the law of the stronger1 at the reduction of the conquered to slavery1 that is1 to chattels3 but the society which expressed itself in these customs was necessary and therefore good4 ,the worship of strength1 as we have said1 occupied the position and discharged the function of the as yet impossible rule of reason4 ,later came the period of fully developed human reason1 when men no longer valued each other by the standard of force1 but by virtue of their rational nature1 which is the true and eternal human nature1 recognised one another as equals4 ,the change of time brought change of customs3 and the new were no less good1 but no more so1 than the old4 ,it would be as useless to seek the common measure of these various social types1 as to ask what is the real age of the individual life1 the common measure of childhood1 youth1 maturity and old age4 ,the comparison is one presented by ,vico himself4 ,as children shape all their ideas according to their whims and carry them out with violence1 as youths animate everything by their imagination1 as grown men guide their affairs rather by pure reason and old men by sound prudence2 so it is with the human race1 which after its feeble1 isolated and poverty-stricken origins1 grows at first in unrestrained liberty1 then rediscovers the necessaries1 utilities and comforts of life by genius and imagination 7the age of poetry71 and finally cultivates wisdom by means of reason 7the age of philosophy74 ,similarly1 natural right arose first in laws so to speak of just passion and just violence3 then it was clothed in various myths of just reason3 and finally it was openly proclaimed in its pure rationality and noble truth4 ,by such a method of handling and passing judgment upon governments1 laws and customs1 ,vico1 escaped another of the leading doctrines or suppositions of the school of natural rights1 the abstraction and anti-historicism we mentioned in its own place1 which resulted in the conception of a natural law standing above positive law and therefore constituting a kind of eternal code1 a perfect scheme of legislation1 not yet fully actual but to be actualised1 whose outlines show up clearly in the works of the school through their veil of doctrine and philosophy4 ,but this eternal code was in its most important part a contingent and transitory code2 or at least it advocated a code in agreement with the reformatory and revolutionary tendencies of these writers1 publicists as they were rather than philosophers4 ,vico rids himself of the ideal eternal code without seeming to do so3 though he is quite ready to recognise that the philosophers' natural right1 ius naturale philosophorum1 is in idea eternal1 and inexorably laid down in accordance with eternal reason1 ad rationis aeternae libellam4 ,but from this verbal concession of eternity made out of respect for the old traditional scholastic philosophy1 whose influence he felt now and then1 he goes on to deny its real eternity and supra-historical character2 since instead of placing it above and outside history he puts it in the place which belongs to it1 within history4 ,the law of violence or heroic law1 after passing into the law of uncivilised society1 gradually attains a certain limit of clarity1 in which state the only thing wanting to its perfection is that some school of philosophers should complete it by establishing it with reasoned principles1 upon the idea of eternal justice3 and this reasoning and systematisation is the ius naturale philosophorum the extreme form of the historical development of law1 not its unchanging rule2 a product1 not a standard4 ,hence ,vico's charge against ,grotius of confusing the ius naturale philosophorum1 the law composed of reasoned principles derived from moralists1 theologians and1 in part1 jurists1 with the natural law of nations1 ius naturale gentium 7in ,grotius's language1 confusing natural law with an arbitrary or positive form of law73 of misunderstanding the ,roman jurists1 who intended to speak solely of the latter3 and of offering to correct and venturing to criticise writers whose faults on inspection vanish4 ,the eternal code1 considered in its essentials1 is a ,utopia3 and since the first and greatest of ,utopias is ,plato's ,republic1 it is important1 in order better to decide the point at issue1 to examine ,vico's attitude towards the political scheme of ,plato4 ,if we may listen to his own words1 the ,republic was another of his many incentives and examples when he conceived the ,new ,science4 ,with the study of ,plato began the unconscious awakening in him of the thought of conceiving an ideal eternal law1 to be expressed in a universal state built on the idea or plan of providence1 on which idea1 indeed1 are founded all the states of every period and race3 an ideal ,republic like that which ,plato ought1 as a consequence of his divine metaphysic1 to have conceived4 ,he ought1 but could not1 owing to his ignorance of the first man's fall2 ignorance1 that is1 of the original state of nature and of the exclusively poetic or common wisdom which followed it3 an ignorance maintained by the error1 common to the minds of all men1 of measuring by oneself the almost unknown nature of other people1 as ,plato exalted the rude and barbaric beginnings of ,gentile man to the perfect state of his loftiest esoteric knowledge of the divine1 and fancied these earliest men to possess a high degree of this esoteric wisdom1 whereas on the contrary they were really brutes1 all stupidity and ferocity4 ,in consequence of this learned error ,plato1 instead of conceiving an eternal ,republic and the laws of an eternal justice by which ,providence governs the nations of the world and directs it by means of the common needs of mankind1 by which it is led to the common consciousness of the whole human race1 conceived an ideal ,republic and a merely ideal justice1 by which nations are not guided at all4 ,in fact1 they ought not to be guided by it3 since among the determinations of the perfect state there are some which are dishonourable and detestable1 such as the community of wives4 ,thus ,vico took from ,plato the idea of an eternal state1 but entirely inverted it by the reservation which he added to it1 that the true eternal republic is not the abstract state of ,plato1 but the course of history in all its phases1 including the brutes at one end and ,plato at the other4 ,this is the republic of mankind1 the great state of mankind1 the universal republic 7generis humani respublica1 magna generis humani civitas1 respublica universa7 of which he means to investigate the form1 ranks1 societies1 occupations1 laws1 crimes1 punishments1 and science of jurisprudence 7formam ordines societates negotia leges peccata poenas et scientiam in ea tractandi iuris7 and to follow the development of all these from their origin1 the beginnings of humanity1 under the control of divine ,providence1 national custom and authority 7a suis usque primis humanitatis originibus1 divina providentia moderante1 moribus gentium ac proinde auctoritate71 that is to say1 by means of the various elements of human utility and necessity1 or even by means of opportunities arising by the spontaneous action of circumstances 7per varia utilitatum et necessitatum1 humanarum rudimenta1 sive adeo per ipsarum sponte rerum oblatas occasiones74 ,the great state of the nations founded and governed by ,god is thus nothing else than ,history4 ,while refusing a fixed code and the draft of a model society1 we do not mean to deny the possibility of a practical aspect of the science conceived by ,vico1 the ,new ,science in its triple form of ideal history1 typical history and historical history4 ,every truth has its practical side1 that is to say1 its practical consequences3 and thinking in this or that way of the nature and development of mankind involves this or that practical line of conduct4 ,a man who believes for instance in the docile innocence of savage races will approach them with a smile on his face1 kindly words on his lips and the alphabet and catechism of rights and duties in his hand3 one who believes in ,vico's brutes will adopt somewhat sterner methods1 perhaps even fire and the sword4 ,one who1 like ,vico1 believes that custom is more potent than law and that custom changes not at a blow1 but gradually and slowly will not be inclined to hasty legislation1 and will not delude himself into thinking he can remodel human nature after an ideal of his own devising4 ,such conduct in any case is not theory1 but practice3 and when the attempt is made to reduce it to theory1 either a chaotic confusion of necessary and contingent determinations results1 or else if we avoid these errors and strive to attain a strictly doctrinal form of conduct1 we get neither more nor less than the scientific theory itself1 from which our conduct derived4 ,the thought of following up the ,new ,science with a practical theory appropriate to it evidently occurred to ,vico4 ,even in the first ,italian edition of the work he stated two practical corollaries3 first1 a new art of criticism1 to serve as a light to distinguish the truth in obscure and legendary history2 and secondly an art of diagnosis1 so to speak1 for determining the degrees of necessity or utility in human affairs1 and as its ultimate consequence1 the chief end of this science1 consisting in the recognition of indubitable symptoms of the conditions of nations4 ,properly considered1 these arts of criticism and diagnosis unite into one1 namely the better knowledge which it was possible1 owing to the principles laid down by ,vico1 to obtain concerning the past and present life of nations4 ,this idea is repeated and explained in other parts of the same work4 ,the sciences1 studies and arts developed up to now1 says ,vico1 deal with particular objects3 the ,new ,science1 on the other hand1 investigating as it does the principles themselves which lie at the source of all studies1 is able to establish the or state of perfection of the entire system1 and the degrees and extremes by which and within which human nature like all other mortal things must run its course and come to an end3 so that through this science we can answer the practical questions how a nation in its rise may come to its state of perfection1 and how in its decadence it may be stimulated to new life4 ,the state of perfection would consist in a nation's resting upon fixed principles both demonstrated by unchanging reason and put into practice by human habits2 principles in which the esoteric wisdom of the philosopher would extend a helping hand to the common wisdom of nations1 thus uniting men of the greatest academic reputation with all those of wisdom in the state1 the philosophers with the statesmen2 and the science of civil matters divine and human1 religion and law1 a theology and morality imposed by command and acquired by habituation1 would be supplemented by the science of natural laws divine and human1 a theology and morality imposed by reason and acquired by ratiocination3 so that to transgress such principles would be true error1 the wandering not of men but of wild animals4 ,the practical aspect of the ,new ,science1 then1 was simply a summary or duplicate of the science itself1 emphasising the two leading elements of spontaneous and reflective wisdom1 certitude and truth1 and the necessity of bearing both in mind4 ,years later1 in one of the elaborations of the second ,scienza ,nuova made by ,vico1 we again meet with the idea and the phrase of a practical aspect of this science1 in the title of a special concluding paragraph which he proposed to add to his work4 ,it begins thus3 ,the whole of this work has now been thought out as a mere contemplative science dealing with the common character of nations3 for this reason it may seem to offer no assistance to human prudence in order either to prevent or to delay the entire ruin of nations on the path of decadence1 and thus to lack the practical side which every science must have whose subject-matter is dependent upon the human will1 all such sciences being called practical4 ,now in what could such a practical side consist8 ,this practical application can easily be found from the contemplation itself of the course of the history of nations3 which the wise men 7statesmen7 and princes of states observing1 could by means of good ordinances1 laws and examples recall peoples to their or state of perfection4 ,in other words3 a man warned is half saved4 ,contemplation is the only principle of conduct which the ,new ,science can supply4 ,the other half of salvation depends not on the person warning1 namely thought1 but upon the person warned1 upon action4 ,it does not occur to ,vico to try to determine the ordinances1 laws and examples whose adoption would be of value in this or that crisis or situation4 ,this would not be a philosopher's task1 as in fact he himself clearly recognises next moment1 when he says3 ,the only practical principles we philosophers can supply are ones which can be confined to the academic sphere4 ,it would certainly be rash to claim precise knowledge of ,vico's reasons for omitting this note on practical principles in the final manuscript of the last edition of the ,scienza ,nuova1 just as he had omitted in the second work of that title the assertions on the subject which had appeared in the first4 ,but we may at least venture to guess that the principal reason was the obvious emptiness of this passage1 promising as it did a practical application which it failed to provide1 and finally confessing that such a practical application was either impossible or already included in the theory itself4 ,,chapter ,x ,,providence ,the true and only reality then1 in the world of nations1 is the course of their history3 and the principle which regulates this course is ,providence4 ,from this point of view the ,new ,science may be defined as a rational civil theology of the divine providence4 ,bacon1 among his historical sciences1 had named a ,historia ,nemeseos 7history of ,divine ,retribution74 ,what for ,bacon was little more than a mere name was for ,vico a clearly stated problem and a developed theory4 ,philosophers1 according to him1 when they did not ignore ,providence entirely1 as materialists and determinists1 considered it solely in the sphere of natural law1 calling metaphysic by the name of natural theology1 and supporting the identification of ,god with the natural order observed in the motions of bodies1 such as the spheres and the elements1 and with the final cause which was seen to exist over and above the other natural causes4 ,as against all this it was important to work out the doctrine of ,providence in the economy of matters civil4 ,it was observed by some of his earliest commentators1 and the observation has been frequently repeated since1 that ,vico used the word providence indifferently in a subjective and an objective sense3 sometimes to indicate the human belief in a provident deity controlling their doctrine1 sometimes to denote the actual operation of this providence4 ,the double or triple meaning of a single word in ,vico's terminology is a thing which by now need cause no astonishment4 ,we have often already been obliged to take pains to distinguish his homonyms and unite his synonyms4 ,hence we may at once recognise that one meaning of ,providence for ,vico might be and indeed is the belief in ,providence1 man's idea of ,god1 first in the form of myth and later in the pure and rational form of philosophy4 ,the ,gentile nations of antiquity1 he says1 began their metaphysical poetic wisdom by contemplating ,god in the attribute of his providence1 upon which rested augury and divination4 ,without this idea1 then1 wisdom1 the consciousness of the infinite1 cannot take shape within man1 nor can morality1 the fear of and respect for the higher power which governs the affairs of men1 arise4 ,but in this sense of the word a further discussion of providence is unnecessary1 after what we have said on the subjects of mythology and of the relation between morality and religion4 ,we therefore pass at once to ,providence in its second sense1 the real and strict conception of it2 and here it seems advisable to leave ,vico for a moment and to clear up certain points of doctrine4 ,it is a common observation that to create a given fact is one thing1 to know it when created quite another4 ,the knowledge of what a fact really is often comes in the life of the individual years later1 in the life of mankind centuries later1 than the fact itself4 ,the very persons who are directly responsible for a given fact as a rule do not know it1 or know it in a very imperfect and fallacious manner2 so much so that the illusions which are said to accompany human activity have passed into a proverb4 ,the poet thinks he is singing of purity when he is really singing of sensuality1 and of strength while he is really singing of weakness2 he believes himself to be a dreadful pessimist and is really childishly optimistic3 imagines himself a devil1 when he is a good fellow without an ounce of vice in him4 ,philosophers deceive themselves no less4 ,we need not go far to find examples4 ,the philosopher we are studying supplies a whole series of them2 few have been more in the dark as to the real tendencies of their own thought4 ,the politician also deceives himself2 very often he believes and declares himself to be fighting for liberty while he is a mere reactionary1 or while believing himself to be serving the cause of reaction is really inciting to revolt and aiding the cause of freedom3 and so on4 ,such illusions are easy to understand4 ,individuals and nations in the heat of creation1 or scarcely yet passing out of such a state1 can perhaps express their state of mind1 but cannot treat it in the critical spirit of historical narration3 and accordingly1 when they cannot reconcile themselves to waiting in silence1 they compose imaginary histories of themselves1 ,wahrheiten und ,dichtungen at once4 ,in fact this proved difficulty of understanding one's actions while acting is one motive of the wise advice to speak of oneself as little as possible and of the suspicion with which autobiographies and memoirs are regarded4 ,such works are interesting and possibly even valuable2 but they never present the strict historical truth of the facts they narrate4 ,human labours are thus veiled in the mists of illusion which arise from individuals4 ,the superficial historian clings to the veil1 and in his attempt to describe the course of events1 uses these illusions to make his voice carry4 ,in this way the history of poetry takes the form of a narration of the intentions1 opinions and aims of poets1 or of those attributed to them by their contemporaries2 the history of philosophy becomes a series of anecdotes concerning the sentiments1 whims and practical aims of philosophers3 the history of politics1 a tissue of intrigue1 base interests1 gossip and greed4 ,but a more careful historian1 or one of a different type1 will have nothing to do with history of this kind4 ,his first act is to dispel the mists1 to sweep away the individual and his illusions1 and to look facts in the face as they appeared in their objective succession and their supra-individual origin4 ,real1 true history arises independently of individuals1 as a product growing to completion behind their backs1 the product of a force apart from individual agents1 which may be called ,fate1 ,chance1 ,fortune or ,god4 ,the individual1 who at first was everything1 and filled the whole stage with his posturing and declamation1 is now1 in this second aspect of history1 less than nothing2 his actions and cries1 stripped of all serious potency1 provoke laughter or pity4 ,we look in terror at the ,fate that dominates him1 we stand aghast at the strange coincidence of chance or the caprices of ,fortune1 we bow before the inscrutable designs of the divine providence4 ,the individual appears in turn as the inert material1 the powerless plaything and the blind instrument of these forces4 ,but deeper thought leads us beyond even this second view of history4 ,the pity which the individual seems to arouse and the amusement he evokes are in reality deserved not by him but by his fancies1 or rather1 by those individuals who mistake fancy for truth4 ,real history is composed of actions1 not of fancies and illusions3 but actions are the work of individuals1 not indeed in so far as they dream1 but in the inspiration of genius1 the divine madness of truth1 the holy enthusiasm of the hero4 ,fate1 ,chance1 ,fortune1 ,god--all these explanations have the same defect3 they separate the individual from his product1 and instead of eliminating the capricious element1 the individual will in history1 as they claim to do1 they immensely reinforce and increase it4 ,blind ,fate1 irresponsible chance1 and tyrannical ,god are all alike capricious3 and hence ,fate passes into ,chance and ,god1 ,chance into ,fate and ,god1 and ,god into both the others1 all three being equivalent and identical4 ,the idea which transcends and corrects alike the individualistic and supra-individualistic views of history is the idea of history as rational4 ,history is made by individuals3 but individuality is nothing but the concreteness of the universal1 and every individual action1 simply because it is individual1 is supra-individual4 ,neither the individual nor the universal exists as a distinct thing3 the real thing is the one single course of history1 whose abstract aspects are individuality without universality and universality without individuality4 ,this one course of history is coherent in all its many determinations1 like a work of art which is at the same time manifold and single1 in which every word is inseparable from the rest1 every shade of colour related to all the others1 every line connected with every other line4 ,on this understanding alone history can be understood4 ,otherwise it must remain unintelligible1 like a string of words without meaning or the incoherent actions of a madman4 ,history then is the work neither of ,fate nor of ,chance but of the necessity which is not determination and the liberty which is not chance4 ,and since the religious view1 that history is the work of ,god1 has this advantage and superiority over the others1 that it introduces a cause for history other than fate or chance1 and therefore not properly speaking a cause at all1 but a creative activity1 a free and intelligent mind1 it is natural that out of gratitude to this higher view no less than by the suitability of the language we should be led to give to the rationality of history the name of ,god who rules and governs all things1 and to call it the ,divine ,providence4 ,in so naming it1 we at the same time purge the title of its mythical dross which debased ,god and his providence afresh into a fate or a chance4 ,thus providence in history1 in this final logical form1 has double value as a criticism of individual illusions1 when they come forward as the entire and only reality of history1 and as a criticism of divine transcendence4 ,and we may say that this is the point of view which always has been and always is adopted1 as if instinctively1 without the profession of an explicit theory1 by all minds naturally gifted with that particular faculty which we call the historic sense4 ,if now1 to return to ,vico1 we ask how he solved the problem of the motive force of history1 and what was the precise content for him of the concept of providence in the objective sense1 it is perfectly easy to exclude the supposition that his was the transcendent or miraculous ,providence which had formed the subject of ,bossuet's eloquent ,discours4 ,it is easy both because in all his philosophy he invariably reduces the transcendent to the immanent1 and repeats over and over again here that his providence operates by natural means or 7using scholastic phraseology7 by secondary causes3 and because upon this point his interpreters are practically unanimous4 ,no less insistent is his criticism of fate and chance1 or according to his threefold division fortune1 fate and chance4 ,he observes that the doctrine of fate moves in a vicious circle1 because the eternal series of causes in which it holds the world bound and chained1 depends upon the will of ,jupiter1 and at the same time ,jupiter is subject to fate2 whence it results that the ,stoics are themselves entangled in that chain of ,jupiter with which they would imprison all things human4 ,these three concepts1 corresponding to that of opportunity when an object of desire is in question1 to that of good luck in the case of unhoped-for events1 and to that of accident in the case of the unexpected1 are distinctions of the subjective understanding rather than anything else3 objectively they come under one single law which may also be called fortune1 if with ,plato we recognise opportunity as the mistress of human affairs3 and all three are manifestations and paths of the divine ,providence which is intelligence1 liberty and necessity4 ,the creator of the world of nations was indeed ,mind1 since men made it by their intelligence3 it was not ,fate1 because they made it by free choice1 nor yet ,chance1 since to all eternity on doing thus the same results follow4 ,vico lights up in the most fanciful ways the comedy of errors formed by man's illusions as to the end of his own actions4 ,men thought they were escaping the threats of the thundering sky by carrying their women into caves to satisfy their animal passions out of ,god's sight3 and by thus keeping them safely secluded they founded the first chaste unions and the first societies2 marriage and the family4 ,they fortified themselves in suitable places with the intention of defending themselves and their families3 and in reality1 by thus fortifying themselves in fixed places they put an end to their nomadic life and primitive wanderings1 and began to learn agriculture4 ,the weak and disorderly1 reduced to the extremity of hunger and mutual slaughter1 to save their lives took refuge in these fortified places1 and became servants to the heroes3 and thus without knowing it they raised the family to an aristocratic or feudal status4 ,the aristocrats1 feudal chiefs or patricians1 their rule once established1 hoped to defend and secure it by the strictest treatment of their servants the plebeians3 but in this way they awoke in the servants a consciousness of their own power and made the plebeians into men1 and the more the patricians prided themselves on their patriciate and struggled to preserve it1 the more effectively they worked to destroy the patrician state and to create democracy4 ,thus1 says ,vico1 the world of nations issues from a mind widely different from1 sometimes quite opposed1 always superior1 to the particular ends set before themselves by men3 which restricted ends have been made means to wider ends1 and employed to preserve the human race upon this earth4 ,it may be gathered from some of our quotations from ,vico that he sometimes tended to conceive men as conscious of their own utilitarian ends but unconscious of moral ends4 ,this would logically lead to explaining social life on exclusively utilitarian principles1 and to considering morality as an accident relatively to the human will and therefore not really moral3 an external accretion more or less capable of holding mankind together1 or the obscure work of a supramundane providence4 ,this utilitarianism especially creeps into a passage where he says that man1 on account of his corrupt nature1 being under the tyranny of self-love which compels him to make private utility his chief guide and to want every useful thing for himself and nothing for his fellow1 unable to hold his passions in check so as to direct them by justice1 in the state of nature desires only his own safety2 after taking a wife and begetting children1 desires his safety and the safety of his family2 after attaining civil life1 desires his own safety together with the safety of his city2 after extending his rule over other peoples1 he desires the safety of the nation2 after joining with other nations in wars1 treaties1 alliances and commerce1 he desires his safety and that of all mankind3 and in all these circumstances he principally desires his own interest4 ,for this reason it can be nothing else than divine providence that binds him down within such ordinances as to maintain by justice the society of the family1 the state and ultimately of mankind2 by which ordinances since man cannot attain what he wants1 at least he wants to attain as much utility as is permitted3 and this is what is called justice4 ,the public virtue of ,rome1 he writes elsewhere1 was nothing but a good use made by providence of grave1 unsightly and cruel private faults1 that states might be preserved at a time when human minds1 being in a state of extreme particularity1 could not naturally understand a common good4 ,utilitarianism was however1 as we know1 strongly repugnant to ,vico's observed ethics1 founded as the latter is upon the moral consciousness or shame2 and hence these statements1 which unconsciously tend in that direction1 can only be explained as resulting from the disturbance sometimes produced in his mind by the lingering remains of the transcendent or theological conception of providence1 and also from the confused character of his thought1 which prevented him from keeping the idea of individual illusions clearly distinguished from that of individual aims2 so that he sometimes substituted the second when he ought to have been dealing solely with the first4 ,if the provident deity is the unity of the spirit which informs and animates the world of nations1 these do not fail to obtain their particular ends in order that it may move on to its universal ones1 but both alike are realised in them3 and man is at every moment both utilitarian and moral1 or at least supposes himself to be moral when he is utilitarian or utilitarian when he is really moral4 ,in any case1 and in spite of these vacillations or rather confusions1 the conception of particular ends as the vehicle of universal and of illusion as accompanying and co-operating with action implies a dialectical conception of the movement of history1 and the transcending of the problem of evil4 ,this problem is in fact very little emphasised by ,vico1 owing to the strength of his belief in the universal government of providence and of his persuasion that so-called evil is not only willed by man under the appearance of good1 but is itself essentially a good4 ,in a few rare passages in his earliest writings1 where he encounters the problem of evil1 ,vico solves it simply in the sense that we men because of our iniquity which leads us to regard ourselves1 not this universe of things 7nosmetipsos1 non hanc rerum universitatem spectamus7 consider as evil those things which run counter to us1 which yet1 since they contribute to the common nature of the world1 are good 7quae tamen1 quia in mundi commune conferunt1 bona sunt74 ,vico's conception of history thus became truly objective1 freed from divine arbitrament1 but freed equally from the rule of trifling causes and gossiping explanations1 and acquiring a knowledge of its own essential end1 which is to understand the nexus of facts1 the logic of events2 to be the rational reconstruction of a rational fact4 ,historical study at this time suffered less from the first of these errors 7the theological conception had been ever since the beginning of the ,italian ,renaissance falling into universal decay7 than from that form of history which was just then acquiring the name of pragmatic1 which restricted itself to the personal aspect of events1 and failing by these means to reach full historical truth tried to gain warmth and life by means of political and moral instruction4 ,a monument of pragmatic history arose in ,vico's own country and contemporaneously with the ,scienza ,nuova3 ,pietro ,giannone's ,civil ,history of the ,kingdom of ,naples4 ,the author was a man of his own district and age1 and wrote a great work in the sphere of polemic1 and even in certain respects of history3 but such that all its greatness only serves to emphasise the greatness of ,vico's book4 ,if ,vico had had to describe the origins of ecclesiastical property and power in the ,middle ,ages1 he would have been able to write of something very different from the guile of popes1 bishops and abbots1 and the simplicity of dukes and emperors4 ,and as we shall see1 whenever he undertook to investigate any part of history he actually did discover in it something very different from these things4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,,the ,,law ,,of ,,reflux ,the mind1 after traversing its course of progress1 after rising from sensation successively to the imaginative and the rational universal and from violence to equity1 is bound in conformity with its eternal nature to re-traverse the course1 to relapse into violence and sensation1 and thence to renew its upward movement1 to commence a reflux4 ,this is the philosophical meaning of ,vico's reflux1 but not the exact manner in which we find it expressed in his writings1 where the eternal circle is considered almost exclusively as exemplified in the history of nations1 as a reflux in the civil affairs of man4 ,civilisation comes to an end in the barbarism of reflection1 which is worse than the primitive barbarism of sensation2 for while the latter was not without a wild nobility1 the former is contemptible1 untrustworthy and treacherous2 and thus it is necessary that this evil subtlety of malicious intellect should rust away through the long centuries of a new barbarism of sensation4 ,we must however withdraw and purge the conception of reflux from historical facts and the sociological scheme1 not only to explain the absolute and eternal character which ,vico attributes to it1 but also to justify the historical representation and sociological law founded upon it1 and drawing their cogency primarily from it4 ,the laws of flux and reflux1 laid down by the philosophers and politicians of ,greece and of the ,italian ,renaissance1 were founded no less than ,vico's upon a philosophy1 but upon a very superficial one2 they assumed their object to possess external and empty political forms1 and endeavoured to fix the succession of these forms upon data of experience or by vague reasonings4 ,but ,vico's object is the forms of culture1 including in themselves all the activities of life1 economy and law1 religion and art1 science and language1 and referring them back to their inmost source1 the human mind1 he establishes their succession according to the rhythm of the elementary forms of the mind4 ,thus all the learning which has been expended in comparing the ,vician reflux with the theories of ,plato or ,polybius1 ,machiavelli or ,campanella1 is practically wasted3 the more so that ,vico 7who1 as we know1 though often misunderstanding his predecessors cannot be accused of wishing to pass them over3 in fact1 where he thought he found parallel or identical ideas in them1 he was apt to boast of the fact7 felt no need of mentioning this point1 or thought it unimportant4 ,the circular movement 77 of ,polybius1 the economy of nature by which states alter1 change and return to the same point1 has been thought almost an anticipation of the eternal ideal history2 but ,vico sets ,polybius with the others1 when he asks the reader to consider how 7little7 philosophers have thought with knowledge upon their principles of civil government1 and with what 7little7 truth ,polybius has reasoned upon its changes4 ,campanella connected his historical cycles with astrological laws2 and ,machiavelli conceives the catastrophe which opens the reflux thus3 ,when human craft and malignity have gone as far as they can go1 it happens of necessity that the world purifies itself by one of the three methods 7pestilence1 famine and deluge1 beside the human methods of new religions and languages7 in order that men1 having become few and chastened1 may live more conveniently and become better4 ,the one precedent to which ,vico refers1 but only to interpret it in a way altogether his own and in fact to give it a totally new content1 is the ancient ,egyptian tradition of the three successive ages of gods1 heroes and men4 ,if the philosophy lying at its root gives strength to ,vico's sociological theory of reflux1 the historical element with which it is leavened to some degree weakens it4 ,vico was especially versed in and attached to ,roman history1 which had been the first of his historical studies and the object of many years' devotion4 ,the history of ,rome accordingly1 whether because of his deeper study of it or because of its complexity1 impressiveness and long duration1 came to stand in ,vico's mind as the typical or normal history1 to serve as a standard for all others1 and be confused with the law of flux and reflux itself4 ,rome showed him the asylum of ,romulus1 that is1 the transition from the state of nature to the political organism3 aristocracies1 monarchical at first in appearance only1 later not even in appearance3 democracy1 issuing from its struggle with aristocracy and ending in real monarchy1 the perfect form of civil life2 thence by a process of degeneration1 the barbarism of reflection or civilisation1 incomparably worse than the primitive noble barbarism1 and following in its train a second condition of wandering in a state of nature and a new barbarism1 a new youth1 the ,middle ,ages4 ,it is the history of ,rome hardly generalised at all and supplemented here and there by that of ,greece1 that appears in the ,vician aphorisms formulating the laws of social dynamics4 ,men first feel the prick of necessity1 then the attraction of utility3 next they become aware of convenience1 and after that take delight in pleasure2 then dissipate themselves in luxury and finally fall victims to the madness of abusing their resources4 ,there must at first be men of brute strength like ,polyphemus1 that man may obey man in the state of family life1 and to induce him to obey the law in the future state of civil life4 ,there must be noble and proud men like ,achilles1 not inclined by nature to yield to their equals1 in order to establish over the family the aristocratic type of republic4 ,then valiant and just men like ,aristides and ,scipio ,africanus are necessary1 to open the path to popular liberty4 ,after this arise men of great apparent virtues accompanied by faults no less great1 like ,alexander or ,caesar1 acquiring immense popular reputations and introducing monarchy4 ,later still there must be serious reflective natures like ,tiberius to consolidate the monarchy2 and lastly wild1 dissolute and shameless characters like ,caligula1 ,nero and ,domitian to overthrow it4 ,owing to this rarefaction of ,roman history into typical history1 and the simultaneous consolidation of typical history into the history of ,rome1 ,vico's law of reflux is riddled with exceptions1 much more common and serious than those of the corresponding empirical laws2 so that if as he believes his empirical science is identical with the ideal laws of the mind1 its alleged permanency throughout all eternity and the whole universe seems the merest irony4 ,he says that ,carthage1 ,capua and ,numantia1 the three cities which threatened to dispute with ,rome the empire of the world1 failed to accomplish the ordained course of human affairs3 since the ,carthaginians were thwarted by the acuteness of the native ,african temperament1 which by maritime commerce they increased still further3 the ,capuans by the soft climate and fertility of rich ,campania3 and the ,numantines by their suppression in the first burst of heroism at the hands of ,rome1 led by ,scipio ,africanus the conqueror of ,carthage1 and aided by the forces of the world4 ,and passing from ancient to modern times1 ,america would now be traversing the path of human affairs but for its discovery by ,europeans3 ,poland and ,england are still aristocratic1 but would have arrived at perfect monarchy had not the natural course of civil affairs been hindered by extraordinary causes4 ,as for the ,middle ,ages1 they cannot be considered as in ,vico's estimation a true return to the state of nature1 if they open with the establishment of ,christianity1 the religion of the true ,god2 nor in any case does the return to the state of nature and to barbarism seem the only path open to a nation that has attained its 1 its culmination4 ,the alternative is that a decadent nation should lose its independence and fall under the rule of a better4 ,nor1 lastly1 is decadence inevitable if statesmen and philosophers working in harmony can preserve the perfection that has been reached and check the threatened destruction1 and if in point of fact1 as he observes1 the aristocratic republics which survived his own day as remnants of the ,middle ,ages succeeded in preserving themselves by arts of superfine wisdom4 ,his own time ,vico thought to be one of high civilisation4 ,a complete humanity1 he says1 seems to be scattered to-day over all nations4 ,a few great monarchs rule the world of nations1 and those barbarian monarchs who still exist do so either owing to the persistence of the common wisdom of imaginative and cruel religions1 or because of the natural temperaments of their respective peoples4 ,the nations which form the empire of the ,czar of ,russia are of a sluggish disposition2 those of the ,khan of ,tartary are an effeminate race2 the subjects of the ,negus of ,ethiopia and the ,king of ,fez and of ,morocco are few and weak4 ,in the temperate zone ,japan maintains a heroic character not unlike that of ,rome in the period of the ,punic wars2 her people are warlike1 her language resembling ,latin1 her religion a fierce one of terrible gods all loaded with formidable weapons4 ,the ,chinese on the other hand1 whose religion is mild1 cultivate literature and are humane in the highest degree3 the peoples of the ,indies are also humane and practise the arts of peace2 the ,persians and ,turks mingle the rude doctrine of their religion with an ,asiatic softness1 the ,turks especially tempering their arrogance with pomp1 magnificence1 liberality and gratitude4 ,europe is above all humane1 composed as it is of great monarchies and universally professing the ,christian faith which inculcates an infinitely pure and perfect idea of ,god and commands charity to the whole human race4 ,vico fixed his attention upon the confederacy of the ,swiss cantons and the united provinces of ,holland1 which reminded him of the ,aetolian and ,achaean leagues1 and on the composition of the ,german ,empire1 a system of free states and sovereign princes1 which seemed to him a kind of attempt in the direction of a great aristocratic state2 the most perfect of all1 and the ultimate form of civil life1 since no other can be conceived superior to it1 reproducing as it does the earliest form1 the aristocracy of patricians each supreme in his own family and all united in the ruling class of the first state2 but reproducing it in a form not of barbarism but of the highest civilisation4 ,such is the humanity by which ,europe is on every hand distinguished1 that it abounds with every element contributory to human happiness1 mental pleasures no less than bodily comforts1 and all this in virtue of the ,christian religion1 teaching as it does sublime truths1 supported by the most learned philosophers of the ,gentile races and of the three greatest languages of the world1 ,hebrew1 ,greek and ,latin1 and thus uniting the wisdom of authority with that of reason1 the choicest philosophical doctrine with the most highly developed philological learning4 ,can this lofty civilisation1 safeguarded as it is by ,christianity1 be moving1 or ever likely to move towards a new state of nature8 ,it is difficult to discover ,vico's real opinion on this point4 ,among his verses there is a poem of a profoundly pessimistic tone1 but this is a youthful effusion1 and in any case refers to the end of the world as imminent1 rather than to a future social decadence4 ,in his letters there is a melancholy picture of the condition of learning in his time3 but it applies to this restricted field only1 not to the sphere of social and political life4 ,on the other hand1 in his last philosophical work1 the ,de mente heroica1 referring to those who declared that all things were now perfect and that no new tasks could arise1 he says that the tide of progress is flowing at its strongest4 ,the world is still young3 for only in the last seven hundred years1 four hundred of which were spent in barbarism1 how many new discoveries have been made6 ,how many new arts have arisen6 ,how many new sciences have been developed6 7,mundus iuvenescit adhuc2 nam septingentis non ultra abhinc annis1 quorum tamen quadringentos barbaries percurrit1 quot nova inventa6 quot novae artes6 quot novae scientiae excogitatae67 ,but we may observe that the ,de mente heroica is an official oration1 and that ,vico may on that account have suppressed for the occasion his doubts or his deepest convictions4 ,in any case1 how can we reconcile the prophecy of an imminent collapse with the rise of that creation of providence1 the ,new ,science1 shedding upon the life of nations a light which rendered possible the diagnosis and cure of their ailments8 ,on the whole it is probable that the difficulty of determining ,vico's opinion as to the fate of contemporary society is due to the fact that he had really no settled conviction on the subject1 and was led hither and thither in various and contrary directions by the influence of hopes and fears4 ,if it had not been disturbed by the scheme of ,roman history1 the empirical theory of the reflux would never have been forced to admit so many and serious exceptions2 nor would it have fallen into such painful confusions4 ,it would have accommodated its author's historical observations with greater ease1 and its general characteristics would have been much simpler and more general4 ,it would have consisted primarily in the determination and illustration of the connexion between predominantly imaginative and predominantly intellectual1 spontaneous and reflective1 periods1 the latter periods issuing out of the former by an increase of energy1 and returning to them by degeneration and decomposition4 ,political history shows over and over again the spectacle of aristocracies declining from their first strength to a debased and contemptible state and yielding before the onset of classes less refined or even absolutely uncultured1 but of stouter moral fibre2 while these again1 after becoming civilised in their turn and attaining the highest development of the historical idea whose germ they bear within themselves1 enter upon a new period of decay and fermentation1 from which issues a new ruling class in the vigour of a youthful barbarism4 ,the history of philosophy again shows positive and speculative periods2 philosophical solutions congeal into scholastic theory and dogma1 the mind reverts to the mere unthinking observation of particular fact1 and the speculative process arises once more4 ,literary history1 too1 speaks of periods of realism and idealism1 romantic and classical periods3 of a corrupt classicism1 ,alexandrian or decadent art1 and of a romantic barbarism which arises from it4 ,these are true cases of ,vico's reflux4 ,but since the nature of the mind which underlies these cycles is outside time and therefore exists in every moment of time1 we must not exaggerate the difference of the periods3 and if on the one hand the outline of the law must be distinct1 it must on the other hand not lose a certain elasticity4 ,we must never forget that at every period1 aristocratic or democratic1 romantic or classical1 positive or speculative1 and even in every individual and every fact1 moments both aristocratic and democratic1 romantic and classical1 positive and speculative can be observed2 and that these distinctions are to a great extent quantitative and made for the sake of convenience4 ,these facts should lead us to avoid alike maintaining the law at all costs and so falling into artificiality1 and rejecting it entirely and so refusing the help which may be derived from general and approximative views4 ,thus understood and amended1 not only is the theory free from the great and striking exceptions which are necessary when it is modelled upon the history and final catastrophe of ,rome1 but the accusations of undue uniformity lodged against ,vico disappear4 ,vincenzo ,cuoco1 one of the first1 if not the first intelligent student of ,vico's works1 remarks concerning and in criticism of the law of reflux1 that nature never resembles itself2 it is man who by compounding his observations forms classes and names4 ,this is perfectly true2 but if applied to this case it would be an argument not against the ,vician reflux but against every sort of empirical human science4 ,others accused ,vico of overlooking groups of causes of great historical weight1 such as climate1 racial and national character1 and exceptional occurrences4 ,but1 omitting the fact that he often mentions these things1 for he connects national character and climate with the forms and changes of states1 and mentions events and circumstances which upset the natural and ordinary course of national history1 for example in his discussion of ,greek history1 the truth is that he was bound to ignore them and could not waste time over such things1 since his concern was with uniformities and not with divergences1 or rather with certain uniformities and not with certain others which compared with the former were negligible divergences4 ,similarly--the parallel is an obvious one1 and indeed is more than a parallel--any one who attempts to trace the general characteristics of the different periods of life1 infancy1 childhood1 adolescence and so forth1 will ignore the comparative rapidity and slowness of development due to differences of climate1 race or accidental circumstances4 ,another of these true but irrelevant charges is that ,vico denied the communication and interpenetration of civilisations1 and insisted that they arise separately in different nations without any mutual knowledge and therefore without reciprocal imitation4 ,this charge has been met by the observation that ,vico does not fail to record cases of the influence of one people upon another and of the transmission of civilisations and their products2 the transmission for example of alphabetic writing from the ,chaldaeans to the ,phoenicians and from them to the ,egyptians2 and that in any case his law is not empirical but philosophical and refers to the spontaneous creative activity of the human mind4 ,the point at issue is however precisely the empirical aspect of this law1 not the philosophical3 and the true reply seems to us to be1 as we have already suggested1 that ,vico could not take and ought not to have taken other circumstances into account1 just as--to recall one instance--any one who in studying the various phases of life describes the first manifestations of the sexual craving in the vague imaginations and similar phenomena of puberty1 does not take into account the ways in which the less experienced may be initiated into love by the more experienced1 since he is setting out to deal not with the social laws of imitation but with the physiological laws of organic development4 ,if it is said that even without imitation or sophistication the sexual craving arises no less and demands satisfaction1 such a statement doubtless merely asserts the incontrovertible truth of a certain very ancient ,eastern tale included by ,boccaccio in the ,decameron3 but at the same time it supplies the most complete parallel to the famous and much controverted aphorism of ,vico4 ,nor is the ,vician law of reflux necessarily opposed1 as has often been thought1 to the conception of social progress4 ,it would be so opposed if instead of being a law of mere uniformity it were one of identity1 in agreement with the idea of an unending cyclical repetition of single individual facts which has been adopted by certain extravagant minds of both ancient and modern times4 ,the reflux of history1 the eternal cycle of the mind1 can and must be conceived1 even if ,vico does not so express it1 as not merely diverse in its uniform movements1 but as perpetually increasing in richness and outgrowing itself1 so that the new period of sense is in reality enriched by all the intellect and all the development that preceded it1 and the same is true of the new period of the imagination or of the developed mind4 ,the return of barbarism in the ,middle ,ages was in some respects uniform with ancient barbarism2 but it must not for that reason be considered as identical with it1 since it contains in itself ,christianity1 which summarises and transcends ancient thought4 ,whether the conception of progress is formulated and thrown into relief by ,vico is quite another question4 ,vico does not deny progress2 he even refers to it in speaking of the conditions of his own time as an actual fact3 but he has no conception of it and still less does he throw such a conception into relief4 ,his philosophy1 while it attains the lofty vision of the process of mind in obedience to its own laws1 nevertheless retains by reason of this failure to apprehend the progressive enrichment of reality an element of sadness and desolation4 ,the individual character of men and events is obliterated in ,vico2 individuals and events are represented merely as particular cases of one aspect of the mind or of one phase of civilisation4 ,hence we always find ,aristides alongside of ,scipio and ,alexander alongside of ,caesar3 never ,aristides simply as ,aristides1 ,scipio as ,scipio1 and ,alexander and ,caesar as ,alexander and as ,caesar4 ,progress implies that each fact and each individual has its own unique function2 each makes its own contribution1 for which no other can be substituted1 to the poem of history2 and each responds with a deeper voice to the one that went before4 ,but the reason why ,vico was bound to miss the idea of progress and why his studies in history were inevitably one-sided can be clearly perceived only after a review of his metaphysics4 ,,chapter ,,xii ,,metaphysics ,by metaphysics we understand ,vico's conception of reality as a whole1 not of the world of man by itself2 and we also include in the meaning of the word his ultimate negative conclusion asserting the unknowability or the imperfect knowability of one or more spheres of reality1 or of that highest sphere in which the others reunite4 ,in point of fact1 as we observed in considering the second and latest form of his theory of knowledge1 ,vico drew a sharp line between the world of man and the world of nature3 the former transparent to man because created by him1 the latter opaque1 because only ,god its ,creator has knowledge of it4 ,and his conception of the total and ultimate reality1 the metaphysic which he expounds together with his earlier theory of knowledge1 retains the value granted to it by that theory and no other3 it is a probable conjecture1 but one incapable of verification1 and reaches completion in the certitude of revealed theology4 ,hence this metaphysic remains out of all possible connexion with the ,new ,science1 which proceeds by the certain method of truth and cuts itself off from revelation4 ,vico never rejected it4 ,he discusses it in his autobiography of #agbe1 the year of the first ,scienza ,nuova2 he refers to it with satisfaction in #agcg1 seven years after the second ,scienza ,nuova1 when his scientific life was1 as he himself considered1 at an end4 ,but though he never rejected it he always kept it aside1 so to speak1 in a corner of his mind4 ,this point established1 it might seem that there can be nothing more to be said of any philosophical importance about ,vico's metaphysics4 ,but this is not the case4 ,since every department of philosophy implies in itself every other1 and since we can therefore always deduce from the treatment of one of the so-called particular philosophical sciences the character of the whole1 it is legitimate to examine the ,new ,science and to consider what metaphysic is implicit therein2 to determine what philosophical complement is logically supported and demanded by this science4 ,the ,new ,science1 which asserted the full knowability of human affairs1 not merely on the surface1 like a psychological treatment1 but in the depths of their nature3 the ,new ,science1 which transcended the individual to attain the conception of the mind which informs all things and is ,providence3 the ,science which with divine pleasure contemplated the eternal cycle of the mind1 elevated as it was to such a height1 necessarily tended to interpret the whole of reality1 both ,nature and ,god1 as ,mind4 ,that this tendency was objective to the ,new ,science1 and not subjective to ,vico1 in whose mind the science so to speak thought itself out1 need hardly be repeated4 ,vico personally not only did not encourage it but actually curtailed and repressed it so energetically as to leave no trace of it in his works4 ,there was no philosophical doctrine of which he had such terror and against which he so frequently waged war as that of pantheism2 and perhaps this polemical preoccupation is the only trace1 though quite an involuntary trace1 visible in his writings of the tendency which he must have observed in himself4 ,he was1 and wished to remain1 a ,christian and a ,catholic2 transcendence1 the personality of ,god1 the substantiality of the soul1 though his science did not lead him towards them1 were uncontrollable necessities to his consciousness4 ,but just as this fact allowed ,vico to repress but not to eradicate the essential logical tendency of his thought1 so it enables us to recognise that tendency in the facts themselves4 ,an ,italian critic1 ,spaventa1 is right when he says that in ,vico the necessity of a new metaphysic makes itself felt2 another1 a ,german ,catholic1 is equally right in denning his system as semi-pantheistic4 ,it would perhaps be more dangerous to go on to say1 with the ,italian above mentioned1 that ,vico makes an advance on the ,cartesian idea of two substances and the ,spinozistic of two attributes1 and even on the ,leibnitian doctrine of the monad1 and that he transcends parallelism and pre-established harmony by distinguishing the two providences1 the two attributes1 nature and mind1 in such a way that the one is a step to the other1 and by conceiving the point of union and the origin of the opposition as an unfolding or development1 so that nature is regarded as the phenomenon and proper basis of mind1 the pre-supposition which mind creates to itself in order to be really mind1 to be a true unity4 ,for while we may doubt whether the distinction of the two attributes or two providences1 the natural and the human1 is a well-grounded and inevitable consequence of conceiving substance as mind and thought1 it is impossible to deduce the evolutionary transition from one to the other as a tendency implicit in ,vico's conception of thought4 ,there is certainly particular documentary evidence for this latter particular tendency3 but it is scanty and unconvincing1 and occurs not in the system of the ,new ,science but rather in the chronologically earlier system4 ,for the metaphysic laid down by ,vico in the earlier phase of his thought is not1 as it has seemed to some1 and as it may at first sight appear1 entirely devoid of significance and value4 ,it shows the same aversion to materialism and the same love of idealism which inspire the meditations of the ,new ,science4 ,the philosophy of ,epicurus1 which takes as its starting-point matter already formed and divided into ultimate particles of various shapes1 composed of other parts which are supposed to be indivisible owing to the absence of void between them1 seemed to him a philosophy such as to satisfy the nave mind of a child or the uncritical mind of a woman2 and the delight with which he followed the explanation of the forms of material nature according to this philosopher1 in the poem of ,lucretius1 was equalled by the amusement and pity with which he watched him forced by stern necessity to lose himself in countless ineptitudes and follies in trying to explain the phenomena of thought4 ,vico accused the ,cartesian physics no less than the ,epicurean of a false position1 since it also takes ready-formed matter as its starting-point1 differing from the ,epicurean matter in that1 while the latter limits the divisibility of matter at the atoms1 the former makes its elements infinitely divisible2 that the one places motion in the void1 the other in the solid2 the one initiates the shaping of its infinite worlds by a casual declination of atoms from the downward path of their own weight and gravitation1 the other generates its indefinite vortices from an impetus imparted to a section of inert and therefore not yet divided matter1 which on receiving this motion divides into fragments1 and1 hampered by its mass1 necessarily makes an effort to move in a straight line1 and being unable to do so through its solidity begins1 divided as it is into fragments1 to move about the centre of each fragment4 ,in this way while ,epicurus entrusted the world to chance1 ,descartes subjected it to fate2 and it was in vain that to save himself from materialism he superimposed upon his physics a quasi-,platonic metaphysic1 by which he attempted to establish two substances1 the one extended and the other intelligent1 and to make room for an immaterial agent2 for these two parts were not reconciled in his system1 since his mechanical physics included in itself a metaphysic like the ,epicurean1 establishing one kind and one only of active material substance4 ,for similar or analogous reasons ,vico rejected the philosophies of ,gassendi1 ,spinoza and ,locke2 and the physical science of other authors such as ,robert ,boyle seemed to him valuable for purposes of medicine and the spargiric art1 but useless for philosophy4 ,galileo he considered to have looked at physical science with the eye of a great geometrician1 but without the aid of the full light of metaphysics4 ,he had sympathy with philosophers who were also geometricians1 and therefore with the ,pythagorean or ,timaean physics1 according to which the world consists of numbers2 with the ,platonic metaphysics1 which from the form of our minds without any other hypothesis establishes1 upon our knowledge and consciousness of certain eternal truths which are in our mind and cannot be ignored or denied1 the eternal idea as the principle of all things2 with the doctrine of metaphysical points1 attributed by him to ,zeno the ,stoic2 and finally with the philosophy of the ,italian ,renaissance1 the period adorned by ,ficino1 ,pico della ,mirandola1 ,steuco1 ,nifo1 ,mazzoni1 ,piccolomini1 ,acquaviva and ,patrizio4 ,the fundamental concept of his cosmology was supplied by the metaphysical point1 in which the employment of mathematics in metaphysics1 a process admitted by ,vico as analogous to that of construction1 found expression4 ,just as from the geometrical point proceed the line and the surface1 and the point which is defined as having no parts supplies the proof that lines otherwise incommensurable can be divided equally into their component points1 so it is legitimate to postulate points not geometrical but metaphysical1 which though not extended generate extension4 ,between ,god1 who is rest1 and matter1 which is motion1 the intermediate place is taken by the metaphysical point1 whose attribute is conation1 the indefinite energy and attempt on the part of the universe to bring into being and sustain each particular thing4 ,the existence of matter is nothing but an indefinite power of keeping the universe extended1 which underlies all extended objects equally however unequal they may be1 and also an indefinite power of motion underlying all particular motions1 however unequal4 ,behind a grain of sand lies something which when this particle is divided gives to it and preserves in it an infinite extension and magnitude2 so that the whole mass of the universe is included in the grain of sand1 if not actually1 yet potentially and in capacity4 ,this effort of the universe1 underlying each smallest particle of matter1 is neither the extension of the particle nor the extension of the universe3 it is the thought of ,god1 which1 free from all materiality1 gives motion and impulse to the whole4 ,every particular determination of reality agrees with this fundamental truth4 ,time is divisible1 eternity indivisible2 disturbances of the mind wax and wane1 its quiescence has no degrees2 extended things are corruptible1 unextended things permanent in their indivisibility2 body can be divided1 mind cannot2 possibilities are at a single point1 accidents are everywhere2 science is one1 while opinion produces differences2 virtue is neither in one place nor another1 vice walks up and down in every direction2 the good is one1 the bad is innumerable2 in every kind of thing in a word the best occurs in the category of the indivisible4 ,substance in general1 which underlies and sustains things1 is divided into two species1 extended substance or that which equally supports unequal extensions1 and thinking substance which equally supports unequal thoughts4 ,and just as one part of extension is divided from another but indivisible in the substance of the body1 so one part of thought1 that is to say a determinate thought1 is divided from another but indivisible in the substance of the soul4 ,activity or freedom is peculiar to the soul1 and entirely denied to body3 and ,descartes1 in making a conation of body the beginning of his physics1 was strictly adopting the methods of a poet and falling into the anthropomorphic conceptions of primitive races4 ,the phenomena which students of mechanics call activities1 forms1 or powers1 are insensible movements by which bodies move either1 as the ancients said1 towards their centres of gravity1 or1 as the modern theory of mechanics asserts1 away from their centre of motion4 ,the communication of motion1 moreover1 is just as inconceivable in body as is activity4 ,to grant it would be equivalent to granting the interpenetration of bodies1 since motion is nothing but matter in motion2 the blow given to a ball is only the occasion for the energy of the universe1 which was so weak in the ball as to make it seem at rest1 to expand and thus to give it an appearance of more sensible motion4 ,on the other hand1 ,vico agreed with the ,cartesians1 especially ,malebranche1 as to the origin of ideas1 which he inclined to believe that ,god creates in us from time to time4 ,he also held with the ,cartesians that the lower animals are automata2 and he agreed with all contemporary thought as to the subjectivity of secondary qualities4 ,setting aside these last doctrines1 which are not ,vico's own1 indeed he scarcely refers to them1 the fundamental doctrine of metaphysical points is all his own4 ,his attribution of it to an imaginary ,zeno1 in whose person were combined and confused the ,eleatic and the ,stoic 7a mistake common in the philosophical literature of the time71 can deceive nobody1 and did not even deceive ,vico himself1 who when pressed explained how he had been led to that interpretation of ,aristotle's statements about ,zeno1 and finally says that if the doctrine cannot be accepted as that of ,zeno1 he will adopt it as his own1 without the patronage of any great names4 ,nor on the other hand can it be traced to the ,leibnitian monadology4 ,we cannot be sure that ,vico was acquainted with this doctrine4 ,in any case he does not mention it1 while ,leibniz he does mention in terms of deep respect3 and the resemblance is very vague1 for the metaphysical points are not monads4 ,the discovery by ,leibniz and ,newton of the differential calculus may however be said to have influenced him4 ,it was then for the first time becoming known in ,italy2 and its terminology of maximum infinities1 greater and less infinities1 and so on would1 says ,vico1 completely baffle the human understanding1 since the infinite admits neither of degrees nor of multiplication1 but for the help of a metaphysic which shows that all actual extension and actual movement is a power or capacity for extension and motion always equal to itself and infinite4 ,the contributions of ,platonic lines of thought 7the ,platonism of the ,renaissance7 and those of ,galileo1 especially the latter1 to ,vico's conception have been worked out with even more justice3 his originality however is in no degree impaired by these facts4 ,the idea in which his originality found expression was1 no doubt1 fantastic and arbitrary1 and in consequence bound to remain undeveloped and without influence on ,vico's other conceptions4 ,to the reviewer in the ,giornale dei letterati1 who called this metaphysic a mere sketch1 the author replied that it was quite complete3 an abortion in fact1 rather than a sketch1 and1 as such1 complete4 ,and in the ,scienza ,nuova1 beside a few references to the refusal to attribute activity to matter1 there is one fugitive but interesting attempt at a connexion with a geometrical or arithmetical metaphysic on the model of that described above4 ,in this passage it is stated that upon the order of material and complex civil affairs the order of numbers1 which are abstract and absolutely simple1 is imposed3 and the fact is noted that governments begin with the one1 in domestic monarchy1 pass to the few in aristocracy1 advance to the many and the all in popular republics1 and finally return to the one in civil monarchies1 so that humanity moves perpetually from the one to the one1 from domestic monarchy to civil monarchy4 ,but if we can and must deny all value to ,vico's cosmology1 if the contradictions and obscurities in which he involves himself are manifest1 and were observed by critics of his own time1 still we cannot deny its dynamic nature as opposed to the mechanicism of contemporary philosophy4 ,the theory of metaphysical points1 in which ,god appears as the great geometrician who creates by knowing and knows by creating the realities of the universe1 is as it were a symbol of the necessity of interpreting nature in idealistic language4 ,we find here and there a theologian ,vico1 an agnostic ,vico1 or even a fanciful ,vico composing cosmological and physical romances3 but look where we will among his works1 we shall never find a materialistic ,vico4 ,even this by no means overbold metaphysic aroused suspicions of pantheism1 though the author insisted upon the theological doctrine that ,god's activity is convertible ab intra with the thing created and ab extra with the fact1 and that therefore the world was created in time2 that the human soul1 which as a mirror of the divine thinks infinity and eternity1 is not bounded by the body and therefore not by time1 and is therefore immortal2 and that man1 even if ,god were to reveal it to him1 cannot understand how the infinite enters into finite objects4 ,however1 he thought it necessary to conclude his replies to his critics by collecting statements demonstrating his orthodoxy1 and clinching the matter with the remark that since ,god is in one sense substance and in another ,his creatures1 and since the ratio essendi or essence is proper to substance1 the created substances even as regards their essence are diverse and distinct from the substance of ,god4 ,vico's thought was limited by the idea of transcendence1 which prevented him from attaining not only the unity of reality1 but also a truly complete knowledge of that world of man which he had so powerfully explained by means of the opposite principle4 ,we now see why ,vico1 though he did not deny the fact of progress1 could have no real conception of it4 ,it has been observed that the conception of progress is foreign to ,catholicism and dates from the ,protestant ,reformation1 and that therefore the ,catholic ,vico was bound to deny himself the use of it4 ,but the conception of an immanent providence is no less irreconcilable with ,catholicism1 and yet ,vico is saturated with this idea4 ,this means that he did not lack the impulse3 rather he was unable to pass a certain point beyond which his faith would have been too obviously defeated4 ,progress1 deduced from the immanent providence and introduced into the ,new ,science1 would have accentuated the difference within the uniformity1 the origin at every moment of something new1 the perpetual enrichment of the flux at every reflux3 it would have changed history from an orderly traversing and retraversing of the line drawn by ,god under the eye of ,god to a drama whose ratio essendi is contained within itself3 it would have enmeshed and drawn with it the whole universe and realised the thought of infinite worlds4 ,in face of this vision ,vico paused in apprehension and stubbornly refused to proceed3 the philosopher in him had yielded to the ,catholic4 ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,transition ,,to ,,history3 ,,general ,,character ,,of ,,vico',s ,,treatment ,,of ,,history ,it is clear from the facts above discussed that the historical portion of the ,new ,science could not take the shape of a history of the human race in which peoples and individuals were recognised as playing each its own unique part in the whole course of events4 ,to enable it to fulfil such a function ,vico would have had to close up his system of thought1 which was still at one point incomplete and not impervious to the religious idea1 and to elevate his provident deity into a progressive deity1 determining flux and reflux as the eternal rhythm of the process4 ,or on the other hand in order to attain the vision of individuality1 in the diametrically opposite sense1 in history1 he would have had to abandon his rudimentary idealistic philosophy1 break down the distinction between ordinary and extraordinary providence1 and trace the history of man on the plan which ,god had revealed or permitted him to discover4 ,vico's orthodoxy rebelled against the former alternative1 while his philosophy kept him from the second3 and the result of his dilemma was that the history he reconstructed was not and could not be a universal history4 ,in consequence1 it was not what is called a philosophy of history1 if that phrase is taken in its original sense of a universal history --one which concentrates its attention upon the broadest and least obvious connexions of facts--philosophically narrated1 more philosophically1 that is1 than is usual with annalists1 anecdotists and compilers dealing with courts1 politics and nations4 ,the controversy as to whether ,vico or ,herder can claim to be the founder of the philosophy of history must be frankly decided in favour of ,herder1 whose work shows just that procedure of universal history which is lacking in the ,new ,science4 ,on the other hand it would be easy to find numerous predecessors for ,herder1 beginning with the ,hebrew prophets and the scheme of the ,four ,monarchies1 which remained not only in the ,middle ,ages but well into modern times the constructive scheme of universal history4 ,nor would it be out of place to add that the so-called philosophy of history1 in so far as it is a universal history1 constitutes neither a special philosophical science nor a form of history capable of sharp distinction from the rest1 except when the passion for making it self-subsistent gives it the appearance of an abstract history or a historicised philosophy4 ,thus when ,vico or ,herder is credited with the foundation of a new science in the philosophy of history1 the compliment is a doubtful one3 a fact which especially in the case of ,vico has gone far to obscure the value of their work4 ,in fact1 the ,new ,science of the common character of nations1 understood as the equivocal science of the philosophy of history1 has eclipsed the ,new ,science as a new philosophy of mind and a rudimentary metaphysic of thought4 ,the conflict which for the general consciousness existed between science and faith reappears in ,vico's treatment of history as a distinction and opposition between ,jewish and ,gentile history1 sacred history and profane4 ,jewish history was not subjected1 he believed1 to the laws of history in general4 ,its course was unique1 and its development proceeded on principles peculiar to itself1 namely1 the direct action of ,god4 ,the ,new ,science1 which in its philosophical part did not give the explanatory principles of this process1 was in consequence not compelled to deal with it in its historical part4 ,this is perhaps what ,vico would have wished4 ,but the wish was met1 setting aside the necessity of guarding against the charge of impiety1 which was certainly a danger1 by his scruples as a believer1 and a conscientious believer2 which urged him to look for some kind of harmony between the two histories1 since however sharply distinguished 7he recalled how even a ,gentile writer1 ,tacitus1 had described the ,jews as unsociable71 both alike developed under terrestrial conditions and had points of mutual contact1 at least in the origin of mankind and its regeneration by means of ,christianity4 ,following the inherent tendencies of his thought1 ,vico ought to and would willingly have avoided the narration of universal history and confined himself exclusively to questions of philosophy and philology4 ,but as it happened1 he was compelled now and then to depart from his programme and to attempt at once a unification of the two histories and a defence of sacred history based on arguments supplied by science and profane history4 ,this is the least successful1 but a profoundly significant part of his work4 ,he was forced to admit1 though the admission was opposed by all his discoveries and outraged his whole system of thought1 that the ,hebrews had enjoyed the privilege of always keeping intact their memories of the beginning of the world1 a memory which other nations claimed in vain2 and hence sacred history must supply the true origin and succession of universal history4 ,the necessity of connecting his views on primitive civilisation with ,biblical chronology1 with the date usually assigned to the creation of the world1 with the traditions of a universal deluge and of a race of giants--the necessity of finding1 as he says1 the continuity of sacred with profane history--led him to the most extravagant flights of fancy4 ,after the flood1 in the year #afef from the creation1 at the separation of the sons of ,noah1 while the ,hebrews began or continued their sacred history with ,abraham and the other patriarchs and then with the laws given to ,moses by ,god1 all the other descendants of ,shem1 ,ham1 and ,japhet1 the first race more slowly and for a shorter period1 the second and third with greater rapidity and for a longer time1 lapsed into the state of nature and wandered over the earth as insensible and savage brutes4 ,and while the ,hebrews1 subjected to their theocratic government1 strictly educated and practising ablution1 remained of normal stature1 the members of the other races1 living without either physical or moral discipline1 wallowing in dirt and excrement and absorbing nitrogenous salts 7just as the earth is enriched and made fertile by excrement71 grew to monstrous and gigantic size4 ,the state of nature lasted a hundred years for the ,semites and two hundred for the other two races2 at the end of which the earth which had long been sodden with the moisture of the universal deluge began to dry up and emit dry exhalations or fiery matter into the air so as to generate lightning4 ,with lightning1 as we already know1 and with the mythology of the thundering sky1 which is ,jupiter1 arose in these brutes the consciousness of ,god and of themselves1 by which they became human4 ,thus begins the age of the gods1 which1 socially1 is that of domestic monarchy where the father is king and priest4 ,in the course of this age the system of greater deities was gradually established1 and the giants1 by means of their religions of terror and their domestic education taming the flesh and developing the spiritual element in them1 and by the practice of washing1 shrank by degrees to the normal size of the men whom we find at the beginning of the next or heroic age4 ,such are the chief points in ,vico's quaint reconstruction of the earliest history of man upon the earth1 harmonised with the account in sacred history4 ,we shall be less inclined to amusement or ridicule if we reflect upon the tragedy underlying the comedy3 the tormented conscience of the believer which in its struggle with the philosopher seeks refuge in these extravagant ideas4 ,at any rate1 they gave ,vico a series of insecure stepping-stones--the flood1 the giants1 the dry exhalations--which enabled him to cross the torrent of religious tradition and reach the dry land of critical history1 where he found the primary starting-point of his philosophy of mind1 the state of nature4 ,it may further be suggested that the contact with ,hebrew history--the only one which presented itself to him as a history in the strict sense1 a unicum1 something absolutely individualised even if in a miraculous manner--suggested to him the few attempts met with in his works to assign to various peoples a special function or mission2 thus it sometimes appeared to him that the ,hebrews represented mens1 the ,chaldeans ratio1 and the ,japhetic races phantasia4 ,parallel to this imaginary history of the origin of the human race on the earth is ,vico's attempt at ,biblical apologetics4 ,he lost no opportunity of adducing proofs from profane sources to confirm the statements of sacred history4 ,for instance1 a confirmation of the flood and the giants is supplied by the similar traditions of ,greek and other nations4 ,the theocratic government1 which is not definitely mentioned by any profane history but merely alluded to obscurely by poets in their tales1 is met with in the government of the ,hebrews before and after the flood4 ,the ,hebrews again knew nothing of divination because they lived in direct contact with the true ,god1 while the ,chaldees had a system of magic or divination according to the movements of the stars1 and the ,european peoples a system of augury4 ,one certainly feels in all this something of an effort1 a will to see or not to see3 a kind of self-interruption and stimulation to belief4 ,it is not infrequent among cultured and scientifically educated believers4 ,again1 in his exposition of the historical genesis of grammatical forms1 where he says that verbs began with the imperative1 the monosyllabic command given by the father to wife1 child or slave 7es1 sta1 i1 da1 fac1 etc471 ,vico draws from this an indirect demonstration of the truth of ,christianity1 because the roots of ,hebrew verbs are always found in the third person singular of the past tense2 a clear proof that the patriarchs must have given their commands to their families in the name of a single ,god 7,deus dixit74 ,this1 in ,vico's opinion1 is a lightning to confound all those writers who have believed the ,hebrews to be a colony proceeding from ,egypt2 since from the beginning of its foundation the ,hebrew tongue had its origin in a single ,god4 ,but in truth these lightnings instead of descending upon the head of the unbeliever serve only to illuminate the poverty of the arguments upon which apologetics rest1 even with a man like ,vico2 and1 objectively considered1 the division introduced by religious scruple between sacred and profane history1 and the consequent dogmatic treatment of the one1 with its strange hypotheses and defences1 and critical treatment of the other1 produced and still produces an irresistible impression that the seclusion of sacred history from human science is due to the impotence not of the human science but of the sacred history2 its impotence1 that is1 to preserve itself intact within the limits of science4 ,seldom has a religious scruple so endangered the cause of religion4 ,but ,vico had far too genuine and exacting a scientific sense added to his natural antipathies to permit him ever to become a ,selden or a ,bossuet2 and hence this apologetic for and harmonisation of sacred history remains in him a mere episode1 which it is possible to ignore4 ,and since on the other hand he was not permitted to treat philosophy and history as entirely profane and to represent the complex movement of history according to the fundamental criterion of progress1 his only course was to look at the facts from the point of view which his philosophy left open to him1 that of flux and reflux1 the eternal process and the eternal phases of the mind4 ,here lay his strength4 ,here he could recognise the specific1 if not strictly the individual1 character of laws1 customs1 poetry and myth1 of whole social and cultural formations which history down to his own time had entirely misunderstood4 ,for this reason1 in narrating history he was bound to confine himself to emphasising the common aspects of certain groups of facts belonging to various nations and periods4 ,in the ,new ,science1 he says1 the whole history of the laws and deeds of ,rome and ,greece is set forth1 not in its particularity and in time1 but following the substantial identity of intention and diversity of the modes of expression4 ,elsewhere he says1 the facts are adduced after the fashion of examples1 because they are understood by means of principles1 for to see the principles confirmed by the innumerable host of their consequences is a thing which must await certain other works of ours1 which are either as yet unpublished or now in process of publication4 ,in other words1 as we know1 this science contains on the one hand a philosophical side1 and on the other a descriptive or empirical1 exemplified in history1 in which the ,romans figure not as ,romans but in virtue of the common nature which they share with ,greeks and possibly with ,japanese2 the history of ,rome under the kings or in the early ,republican period demonstrates its affinity with that of the earlier centuries of the ,middle ,ages2 and ,homer stands not as ,homer but as an example of primitive poetry1 and across the centuries finds and greets his brother in ,dante4 ,it is at once a strength and a limitation1 because history emphatically does not fundamentally consist of these resemblances2 but without the perception of the resemblances how could we ever determine the differences8 ,dante is not ,homer1 the barons are not the patres1 the ,athenian ,solon is not the ,roman ,publilius ,philo2 but certainly ,dante is in some respects more closely related to ,homer than to ,petrarch1 the early barons are nearer to the patres than to the later courtier-nobles1 and ,solon is more akin to a ,roman tribune or dictator than to any other of the seven sages among whom he is usually placed4 ,to observe these resemblances means denying or rejecting other more superficial ones1 and preparing the way for knowledge of individuality by indicating the approximate place where the truth is to be found4 ,vico classifies1 rather than narrates and represents2 but there is classification and classification2 it may be pressed into the service of a superficial thought or of a profound one4 ,and the historical side of the ,new ,science is one great substitution of profound for superficial classifications4 ,in this process1 which constitutes the strength of ,vico's treatment of history1 the deficiencies and errors come not from outside the limits of the process but from causes at work within these limits themselves4 ,it has been alleged in defence of ,vico that a great part of his errors is due to the scantiness and inadequacy of the materials at his disposal4 ,but the materials for any study are always scanty and inadequate compared to our thirst for knowledge2 and in judging a historian the question is not this1 but the method1 cautious or incautious1 on which he employs the materials that are at his disposal4 ,again1 it has been said that ,vico has the faults of his age2 but this is to forget that he was born in the century which saw the development of the highly critical philology of ,joseph ,scaliger and the whole ,dutch school1 and that ,zeno1 ,maffei and ,muratori were his contemporaries in ,italy4 ,the truth is that just as the attitude of thought already described in ,vico confused pure philosophical method with the determinations of empirical science and historical data1 so it confused historical research with the mixture of philosophy and empirical science4 ,vico was in a state similar to that of drunkenness2 confusing categories with facts1 he felt absolutely certain a priori of what the facts would say3 instead of letting them speak for themselves he put his own words into their mouth4 ,a common illusion with him was to seem to see connexions between things where there was really none4 ,this made him turn every hypothetical conjunction into a certainty1 and read in other writers instead of their actual words things that they had never written1 but which were internally spoken by himself unawares and projected into the writings of others4 ,exactitude was for him an impossibility1 and in his mental excitement and exaltation he almost despised it3 what harm can ten1 twenty1 a hundred errors do to what is substantially true8 ,exactitude1 diligence1 as he says1 must lose itself in arguments of any size1 because it is a minute1 and because minute also a slow-footed virtue4 ,fanciful etymologies1 daring and groundless mythological interpretations1 changes of name and date1 exaggerations of fact1 false quotations are met with throughout his pages1 and many may be found noted in the fine edition of the second ,scienza ,nuova by ,nicolini4 ,thus1 as we observed in speaking of his philosophy that ,vico's was not an acute mind1 so now in speaking of his historical work we must say that it was not critical4 ,but as while we denied him acuteness on a small scale we acknowledged his profundity or acuteness on a large scale1 so here also we ought to add that if ,vico lacked the critical sense in small matters1 in great matters he had abundance of it4 ,careless1 headstrong and confused in detail2 cautious1 logical and penetrative in essentials2 he exposes his flank or rather his whole body to the attacks of the most miserable and mechanical pedant1 and over-awes and inspires respect in every critic and historian however great4 ,and1 totus mens though he is and all absorbed by his own discoveries1 often he does not give his power of investigation and observation time and room to develop1 and instead of history he invents myths and investigates romances2 but when he allows the power free play1 it does wonders in the field of history too1 as we shall try to show in the following chapters4 ,but to judge the historical views of ,vico by confronting them1 as many have done1 with those of modern historical research and praising or depreciating them accordingly would hardly be conclusive4 ,where the two terms of the comparison agreed the agreement might be fortuitous3 where they diverged1 the later doctrine might be but a development or consequence of the earlier attempt1 and in any case the modern state of historical knowledge by no means provides an absolute standard4 ,on the other hand it would be out of place1 as well as beyond our power1 to rehandle all the problems dealt with by ,vico to see what there is of truth and falsehood in his conclusions4 ,that would mean no less than writing a third ,scienza ,nuova more adapted to our own times4 ,our task is merely to indicate the principal historical problems which ,vico set before himself1 to state the solutions he gave1 and always to keep in mind the state of knowledge not in our own day but in ,vico's1 so as to determine what progress in historical study may be set down to his influence4 ,,chapter ,,xiv ,,new ,,principles ,,for ,,the ,,history ,,of ,,obscure ,,and ,,legendary ,,periods ,the period of historical research which preceded the life of ,vico was1 as we have said1 by no means credulous or uncritical4 ,the day was past when chronicles of the world were compiled1 when any fable and any falsification however gross was accepted as history3 and the seed sown by a few humanists had borne fruit in the ,italian men of learning1 the ,french juridical school1 the school of ,scaliger mentioned above1 and all the great chronologists1 epigraphists1 archaeologists1 topographers and geographers who in the seventeenth century formed the first immense critical collections of sources for ancient history4 ,while the philologists were thus improving and perfecting their methods1 detecting impostures and bridging lacunae1 ,bayle1 ,fontenelle1 ,saint-vremond and many others were engaged in spreading a scepticism or historical ,pyrrhonism as it was also called1 due to the intellectualistic philosophy2 and thus anticipating the polemic against the truth and utility of history which was to arise with immense vigour in the following century4 ,this latter tendency was hypercritical rather than critical1 its end being the destruction of history in general3 and since historical scepticism was very apt to assume the character of a paradox adapted to the needs of elegant society and the wits1 its influence on the progress of research was very small1 or at most it succeeded in producing strong reactions1 one of which is represented by ,vico1 in favour of tradition and authority4 ,it is on the other hand only proper to observe the failings of the first seriously scientific efforts of philologists and antiquaries4 ,they rehabilitated witnesses1 laid bare falsifications1 reconstructed lists of rulers and magistrates1 connected chronology and contradicted certain legends3 but1 whether owing to the tendencies of thought usual among pure scholars and philologists or because of the general atmosphere of their century's culture1 they neither had nor conveyed a feeling for the antique and the primitive4 ,strong in detail1 they were weak in essentials4 ,when one of the most brilliant grasped1 for instance1 the importance of ballad-literature as a means of transmitting history at a period when the use of writing was unknown or uncommon1 he did not receive from this observation and others like it such a shock as might stimulate him to recast from top to bottom his intuition and conception of primitive life1 as was the case with ,vico1 who almost in a flash grasped the philosophical form of certitude and the two periods of mental and social life corresponding to it in actual history3 the periods of obscurity and of legend4 ,vico himself started from a kind of scepticism1 a scepticism as regards the prejudices of scholars and nations generally about the character and facts of antiquity3 and in combating these prejudices he drew up a series of principles or aphorisms1 inspired apparently by ,bacon's idola1 to which they present an analogy in the field of historical research4 ,vico puts the student on his guard first against the magnificent opinions which have been held up to his own day concerning the most remote and least known antiquity3 a nave illusion whose origin he traces to the fact that man when in a state of entire ignorance erects himself into a rule for the universe4 ,here is the closest analogy with ,bacon3 for this statement is precisely like the class of idola tribus1 in which thought makes itself the rule of things on the analogy of man1 not of the universe 7ex analogia hominis1 non ex analogia universi74 ,on the same observation is founded the remark that rumour grows in its course1 fama crescit eundo1 and ,tacitus's omne ignotum pro magnifico est1 everything unknown is taken for something great4 ,hence arises the habit of interpreting ancient customs in the expectation of finding them similar or superior to those of modern civilised life4 ,thus ,cicero admired the humanity of the early ,romans in calling enemies in war guests3 not realising that the fact was precisely the opposite of this1 and that guests were hostes1 strangers and enemies4 ,in the same way ,seneca1 by way of proving the duty of kindness to slaves1 recalled that masters were anciently called fathers of the family2 as if patres familias might not have been the very reverse of kind not only to slaves and servants but to their own children1 regarded as on the level of slaves4 ,the same prejudice led ,grotius1 in his desire to show the gentleness of the ancient ,germans1 to collect a great number of barbaric laws in which homicide was punished by a fine of a few pence3 which is on the contrary really a proof of the cheapness of the blood of poor rustic vassals1 who are precisely the homines mentioned by these laws4 ,in the second place1 he warns us not to trust to the conceit of nations1 all of which1 ,greek or barbarian1 ,chaldean1 ,scythian1 ,egyptian1 or ,chinese1 claimed1 as ,diodorus ,siculus observes1 to have founded humanity1 discovered the amenities of life1 and preserved their memory intact from the beginning of the world4 ,each of them1 having for several thousand years had no communication with the others which might have led to the sharing of ideas1 resembled in the obscurity of its chronology a man who sleeping in a very small chamber is misled by the darkness into believing it much too large ever to touch it with his hand4 ,he who accepts these dreamer's boasts for certain knowledge finds himself in the difficulty of having to choose between the various memories of various nations1 all of which with equal justification claim to be original4 ,by the side of national conceit ,vico placed the conceit of the learned1 who desire their own knowledge to be as old as the world1 and consequently delight in fancying an inaccessible esoteric wisdom among the ancients1 coinciding miraculously with the opinions professed by each one of themselves1 which they dress in the garb of antiquity in order to enforce their acceptance4 ,such was the mistake not only of ,plato1 especially in the researches of the ,cratylus1 but of all historians1 ancient and modern3 ,vico himself had fallen into it1 and was therefore able to study it closely in his own case1 when in the ,de antiquissima he believed himself to have found in the etymologies of ,latin words the proof of an ,italian metaphysic exactly agreeing with his own doctrines of the conversion of the veruni with the factum and of metaphysical points4 ,from these three prejudices1 especially from the conceit of the learned1 follows the fourth1 here called that of the sources or channels of culture1 ironically called by ,vico the theory of scholastic succession among nations4 ,upon this theory ,zoroaster for instance instructed ,berosus for ,chaldaea1 ,berosus in his turn ,mercurius ,trimegistus for ,egypt1 ,mercurius taught ,atlas the ,ethiopian lawgiver1 ,atlas ,orpheus the ,thracian missionary1 and finally ,orpheus established his school in ,greece4 ,long journeys these1 and easy forsooth to those primitive nations which1 scarcely out of the state of savagery1 lived perched on mountains in almost inaccessible situations1 unknown even to their neighbours6 ,and these long journeys were undertaken with the object of spreading discoveries1 which any nation could make for itself4 ,if1 when nations came to know each other through wars and treaties1 they were found to agree1 that was because they all contained some motive of truth and sprang from the same needs of man4 ,was it necessary to suppose the ,athenian or ,mosaic law to have affected that of the ,romans1 as did these comparers or delivers of laws1 in order to explain the origin of the right recognised in ,palestine1 ,athens and ,rome to kill the thief by night8 ,was it necessary for ,pythagoras to travel spreading the doctrine of the transmigration of souls1 which we find as far afield as ,india8 ,there remained the prejudice of considering the ancient historians as best informed about primitive times3 whereas in the history of origins they knew as little as1 or less than1 ourselves4 ,as for ,greek history1 ,vico found1 or rather imagined that he found1 in ,thucydides1 a confession that the ,greeks up to the generation preceding that historian knew nothing of their own antiquity3 and he also observed that it was only in the time of ,xenophon that ,greek historians began to have any precise information upon ,persian affairs4 ,roman historians commonly began with the foundation of ,rome3 but the beginning of ,rome was certainly not the beginning of the world4 ,rome was a new city founded in the midst of a large number of small and more ancient peoples in ,latium3 and even in the case of ,rome ,livy refuses to guarantee the truth of the facts of the earlier centuries of its history up to the ,punic wars1 which he is in a position to describe more accurately4 ,he even confesses frankly that he does not know at what point ,hannibal made his great and memorable entry into ,italy1 whether by the ,cottian ,alps or the ,apennines4 ,so well informed were the ancient historians6 ,owing to these and similar sceptical principles1 the whole of ,greek history to the time of ,herodotus and of ,roman down to the second ,punic war seemed to ,vico quite uncertain1 an unclaimed territory1 so to speak1 where one might enter and take possession by squatter's right4 ,he entered armed with positive principles directly issuing from the negative ones we have enumerated4 ,for if ,vico denied the credibility of historians distant in time from the facts they described1 if he discounted national pride1 if he laid bare the illusions and charlatanism of the learned1 he nevertheless did not rest content with this work of destruction4 ,in place of the old untrustworthy method he had banished1 he endeavoured to supply a new1 of better qualities and greater tenacity2 a system of methods by which it was possible to acquire new historical documents and also to improve the study of those already known4 ,no advance in historical knowledge is in fact ever made except by thus turning from the received narrative to the document underlying it1 which alone has the power of confirming1 correcting and enriching the narrative4 ,the first of ,vico's contributions to historical method1 the first source for the knowledge of the earliest civilisations which he exposed1 is the etymology of language4 ,the usual methods of this study in his time were purely arbitrary3 it proceeded by considering the sound of each syllable or letter and looking for other superficial resemblances1 and inferring from these facts the derivation of a word from this or that language1 ,latin1 ,greek or ,hebrew4 ,but etymology becomes a fruitful study only when it is remembered that language is the best evidence for the ancient life of a people1 the life lived by them while the language was in the making3 and when the student accordingly never ceases to explain language by customs and customs by language4 ,thus the etymology of abstract words leads us into the heart of a purely rustic society2 for intellegere1 to understand1 for example1 recalls legere1 to collect the produce of the fields 7hence legumina1 vegetables72 disserere1 to discuss1 refers to scattering seed2 and the majority of words for inanimate things reveal relations with the human body and its members1 and the sensations and passions of man2 thus mouth means any aperture1 lip the edge of a pot1 forehead and back are used for before and behind2 and so on4 ,vico aimed at one science of etymology common to all native languages1 composed of monosyllabic1 and largely onomatopoeic roots3 another of foreign loan-words1 introduced after nations became mutually acquainted3 a third1 of universal application1 for the science of international law1 from which it should appear how the same men1 facts or objects1 looked at from the different points of view of different nations1 received different names2 and finally a dictionary of mental words1 common to all nations1 which should explain the uniform ideas of substances and the different modifications of them in national thought concerning the human needs and utilities common to all1 according to the differences of their situation1 climate1 character and customs1 and should thus narrate the origins of the various vocal languages1 all converging in an ideal common language4 ,the second source revealed by ,vico is the interpretation of myths or fables1 which agreeably to his doctrine were not allegories1 fictions or impostures1 but the science of primitive man4 ,in the ,diritto universale ,vico distinguished four different and successive characters of the gods4 ,at first they represented natural facts1 ,jupiter the sky1 ,diana the flowing water1 ,dis or ,pluto the lower earth1 ,neptune the sea1 and so on2 secondly1 natural human affairs1 for instance1 ,vulcan fire1 ,ceres corn1 ,saturn the seed2 thirdly1 social facts2 and finally they rose to heaven and were translated to the stars1 and terrestrial and human things were distinguished from divine4 ,but in the two ,scienze ,nuove he emphasised almost exclusively the third or social meaning1 which became in his eyes the original2 since1 he appears to have thought1 the earliest nations were too much intent upon themselves1 too much immersed in their hard and difficult life1 to speculate in abstraction from social matters4 ,hence he found reflected in mythology the institutions1 inventions1 social cleavages1 class-struggles1 travels and warfare of primitive nations4 ,even in considerably advanced periods ,vico was hostile to naturalistic or philosophical explanations4 ,the saying know thyself attributed to the ancient sage seemed to him merely a piece of advice to the ,athenian democracy1 to know its own strength1 later transferred to a metaphysical and moral sense4 ,beside this principle of social interpretation he established another of great importance3 namely1 that indecent meanings were inserted in myths at a late and corrupt period when men interpreted early customs in the light of their own1 or tried to justify their own lusts by fancying that the gods had set them the example4 ,hence arose the adulterous ,jupiter1 ,juno as the implacable enemy of ,hercules' virtue1 the chaste ,diana soliciting the embraces of the sleeping ,endymion1 ,apollo persecuting modest maidens even to their death1 ,mars1 not content with committing adultery with ,venus by land1 but pursuing her even into the sea1 and1 worst of all1 the love of ,jupiter for ,ganymede and of ,jupiter again1 transformed into a swan1 for ,leda4 ,such representations can only result in unrestrained vice1 as happened in the case of the young ,chaereas in ,terence's comedy4 ,but in their original shape and meaning all myths were serious and austere1 worthy of the founders of nations4 ,the pursuit of ,daphne by ,apollo for instance referred to the magicians or diviners who arranged weddings and followed women through the woods where they were still liable to promiscuous ravishing2 ,venus1 covering her nakedness with the cestus1 was a modest symbol of solemn matrimony2 the heroes1 sons of ,jupiter1 were not the offspring of adultery1 but born of permanent and solemn marriages celebrated according to the will of ,jupiter as revealed by the diviners4 ,to the pure all things are pure1 and impure to the impure3 the forests and mountain-tops could never beget the fancies of the closet and the brothel4 ,beside these two rich sources1 language and mythology1 ,vico names and employs a third1 which he calls the great fragments of the ancient world1 that is to say1 the memories preserved by historians and poets1 such as the ,egyptian tradition of the three ages of gods1 heroes and men2 the language of the gods mentioned in ,homer2 the thirty thousand names of the gods collected by ,varro and referring to a like number of needs in the natural1 moral1 economic and civil life of the earliest times2 the grove of ,romulus1 which ,livy calls the ancient plan of founding cities1 and a few other golden sayings of ancient historians4 ,till now these fragments had been useless for the purposes of science1 lying as they did in dirt1 confusion and incompleteness3 but when cleaned1 restored and fitted together they conveyed valuable information4 ,nor did he overlook the monuments of architecture and sculpture1 though the use he made of them was slight1 and he saw that they were in the long run of little practical value4 ,he declared that as for the historic period the most certain documents are the public coins1 so for the legendary and obscure period their place is taken by certain traces remaining in marble1 as proofs of ancient customs1 like the ,egyptian pyramids with their hieroglyphic inscriptions and other fragments of the ancient world found in every region and bearing similar pictographic characters4 ,it is also worthy of remark that he gives examples of arguments founded on technical observations and leading to conclusions in the sphere of prehistoric archaeology3 as for instance when he says that one early period of human life is distinguished by the eating of roasted flesh1 the simplest and least elaborate kind of food1 because it requires nothing except the fire3 a later period by boiled flesh1 which also requires water1 caldron and tripod4 ,one powerful method of investigation in ,vico's hands is the comparative method1 consisting in the comparison of better-known processes of development with those known imperfectly or in parts only1 and the consequent reconstruction of the latter on the basis of the former4 ,so for instance the principle of heroism1 revealed by evidence found in ,roman history1 helps to explain the legendary history of the ,greeks1 to supply the deficiencies of that of ,egypt and to shed light on the unknown history of all other nations of antiquity4 ,without denying the fact of transmission from one nation to another1 ,vico poured scorn upon the abuse of this conception1 and minimised its value in the case of primitive societies3 using in its place the idea of spontaneous development and endeavouring to reconstruct the process by the comparative method4 ,but he took this method in a very broad sense1 and made use in it of materials drawn from the most widely varying countries and periods4 ,to explain for example how the thundering sky suggested to primitive man the idea of a god1 he mentions the fact that the natives of ,america1 when first they heard the noise and recognised the deadly effects of firearms in the hands of the ,spaniards1 believed them to be gods3 the rhapsodists of the ,homeric poems reminded him of the singers on the quay at ,naples with their ballads of ,roland and the paladins3 the transformations or metamorphoses described by the ancient poets resembled the tales of goblins and fairies still told by mothers to amuse little children1 or the widely-scattered mediaeval legends of the magician ,merlin3 he traces the mythology of the hearth down to the custom of the log which in ,boccaccio's time at ,florence the head of the family used to light upon the hearth at the new year1 sprinkling incense and wine on it1 and the ,christmas-eve log among the lower classes at ,naples2 not to mention the custom in the ,neapolitan kingdom of counting families by hearths4 ,he brought the serpent ,python and all other mythical serpents into relation with the viper of the ,visconti che i milanesi accampa 7which calls to arms the ,milanese7 and the hieroglyphic script with the rbus de ,picardie used in the north of ,france4 ,it would be useless to look in earlier or contemporary philology for clear general precedents for these principles1 negative and positive1 established by ,vico for the history of obscure and legendary periods4 ,they are too closely bound up with and essential to his whole philosophical thought ever to have originated apart from this thought itself4 ,the rude fragments of ancient ,roman laws1 customs and formulae1 the ,homeric poems1 the words of the ,latin language1 when examined with unprejudiced eyes--the power which enables a man of genius to see things without distortion--and worked over by a mind ready to accept them in their true nature1 were bound to excite in ,vico1 compared with the learned but colourless or falsely-coloured historical research of his day1 a rebellion and upheaval like that which took place a century later in the mind of ,augustin ,thierry when he saw1 depicted in the pages of ,chateaubriand's poetical prose1 ,pharamond and his ,franks1 with their unrestrained movements1 their rude and savage arms1 their terrible war-cries and their barbaric songs4 ,,chapter ,,xv ,,heroic ,,society ,as the ,franks1 in the compilations of national history made by the ,jesuit colleges and other ,french schools1 appear stripped of all their characteristic features and reduced to wise monarchs1 pious queens and devoted warriors of the ,church1 so ancient and primitive history1 thanks to the rhetoric and the nave ideas of scholars1 has been painted in brilliant and untrue colours of the same kind as those with which ,lebrun or ,luca ,giordano painted their pompous and theatrical pictures4 ,kings who devoted themselves to sage counsel in order to aid their subjects while at the same time not diminishing the splendour of their courts and the brilliancy of their happy nobles1 philosopher kings such as made ,plato sigh for the day when philosophers should rule or kings philosophise2 loyal and valiant knights1 eager to sacrifice themselves for the common welfare2 statesmen who used to accomplish pilgrimages at speed in order to bring back from afar to their waiting citizens laws more wise than their own2 good fathers of families1 admirable mothers1 brave and obedient young men1 loving and modest maidens1 every one a personification of some virtue or even of all virtues at once1 models of human perfection3 such are the figures which sanctified by their venerable antiquity fill alike volumes and imaginations4 ,these are the heroes of ,greek and ,roman history3 and all this splendid cloth-of-gold decoration must be torn off and cleared away if we would attempt to discover in the deepest recesses of the memory of mankind the true heroes1 the heroes of reality1 not of literature1 of life1 not of the stage3 ignorant1 superstitious1 fierce1 selfish1 harsh to their families1 cruel to their inferiors1 avaricious1 grasping1 and yet1 in spite of or even because of these same characteristics of barbarism1 heroes3 virtuous with the one kind of virtue possible and necessary in primitive times1 the virtue of strength1 discipline1 and a deep and uncompromising sense of religion4 ,the misrepresentation of the primitive hero as a wise and virtuous member of a civilised society reaches its height1 so far as political history is concerned1 in the failure to understand the three chief words which sum up the constitution of the state3 king1 people and freedom4 ,by a misunderstanding of the first1 it is believed that the original form of the state was monarchy1 the absolute monarchy which rests on the strength of the people and keeps in check the nobles3 which is really a late development in history1 if not the latest4 ,into this error had fallen ,jean ,bodin1 whom ,vico chose as the object of his polemic4 ,but ,bodin1 more acute than other political writers1 involved himself in a contradiction1 because though he accepted the common error he nevertheless1 observing the effects of an aristocratic republic in the supposed freedom of ancient ,rome1 propped up his system by distinguishing between state and government1 and asserting that ,rome in the earliest period was popular in state but aristocratically governed2 and since this prop was too weak to bear the whole weight of the facts he at last confessed that this republic was aristocratic both in government and in state1 thus contradicting the whole of his own doctrine as to the necessary succession of states4 ,the truth is that the kings of these earliest periods were at ,rome1 as at ,sparta and elsewhere1 not monarchs at all4 ,the fathers1 patricians or heroes were monarchical kings only in the period of domestic monarchy1 when each family lived separately2 but they were kings of a special kind1 subject to no one but ,god1 armed with religions of terror and consecrated with the most cruel penalties4 ,on emerging from this first state1 when the fathers united into a patrician order1 their king was simply one or more of themselves1 the mere magistrate of the order4 ,hence ,rome1 after expelling the ,tarquins by a purely aristocratic revolution1 did not change her state at all4 ,she preserved her kings in the shape of two consuls1 annual kings1 two aristocratic kings who were deprived of no single detail of the royal power4 ,the two kings of ,sparta had the same character2 they were liable like the consuls to be held accountable for their actions and could be condemned to death by the ephors4 ,as these states had been falsely considered monarchical1 so1 no less falsely1 they had been taken as popular in character4 ,the people referred to in this way does not coincide with1 in fact it excludes1 the plebs3 the populus was simply the patrician order1 and freedom meant simply the freedom of the patricians1 the liberty of the master3 and the patria was appropriately so called1 because it really was res patrum1 the property of a few fathers4 ,it is absurd to think that the plebs1 a horde of the most worthless labourers treated as slaves1 could possess the right of electing the king1 and that the fathers confined themselves to merely approving this election in the senate4 ,the relations between fathers and plebeians were quite other than neighbourly peace1 mutual trust and hearty co-operation4 ,the heroes1 according to a passage of ,aristotle1 took a solemn oath to be eternal enemies of the plebs3 that was the form their democratic spirit took4 ,and the ,roman virtue which sets before us so many and such glorious examples1 gives no example of kindliness to the common people4 ,brutus1 who dedicated his house in the persons of his two sons to the cause of freedom3 ,scaevola1 who terrified ,porsena by punishing his own right hand in the fire3 the stern ,manlius1 who executed his own son when he returned victorious through a successful breach of military discipline3 ,curtius1 who leapt in full armour with his horse into the fatal chasm3 ,decius1 who devoted himself for the safety of his army3 ,fabricius and ,curius1 who refused the ,samnite gold and the kingdom of ,pyrrhus3 ,attilius ,regulus1 who went to certain death to preserve the sanctity of a ,roman's oath3 what did these men ever do for the commons1 except increase their miseries by war1 plunge them deeper into the waters of usury1 and immure them more closely in the private dungeons of the nobles where they were flogged bare-backed like the vilest slaves8 ,and woe to any aristocrat who allowed himself the slightest desire to alleviate these miseries6 ,he was promptly accused of sedition and treason and sent to his death2 the fate that in ,rome befel ,manlius ,capitolinus1 who saved the ,capitol from the fires of the ,gaul1 and yet for his democratic sympathies was thrown from the ,tarpeian rock2 the fate that came in ,sparta1 the hero-city of ,greece as ,rome was the hero-city of the world1 to the great-souled king ,agis1 the ,manlius ,capitolinus of ,lacedaemon1 who1 for trying to lighten the burden of the unhappy commons by a law abolishing debts and to aid them by another giving them testamentary rights1 was strangled by the ephors4 ,the famous ,roman virtue amazes any one who is obsessed by the modern idea of a virtue consisting in justice and benevolence to all mankind4 ,what virtue could live with such pride8 ,what moderation with such avarice8 ,what mercy with such cruelty8 ,what justice with such inequality8 ,the heroes treated their own families no less harshly than the plebs4 ,the education of children was stern1 rough and cruel4 ,the ,spartans1 in order that their sons might not fear pain and death1 beat them within an inch of their lives in the temple of ,diana1 so that they often fell dead in agonies of pain beneath their father's blows4 ,in ,greece as in ,rome it was lawful to kill innocent new-born children1 a custom the reverse of the modern1 by which the delights which surround little children shape the softer side of human nature4 ,wives were bought by the dowries of the heroic period1 a survival of which was the practice solemnly observed in ,rome of marriage coemptione et farre 7a similar custom is ascribed by ,tacitus to the ancient ,germans and must be considered universal among barbarous peoples71 and were maintained simply as a necessity of nature for the procreation of children and in other respects treated like slaves2 as can still be seen in many parts of the old world and almost everywhere in the new4 ,the acquisition of children and the thrift of the wife were simply reckoned as so much profit to the father and husband4 ,the counterpart of this political and domestic system is found in the ordinary life of the period1 which was innocent of all luxury1 refinement and ease4 ,pastimes were arduous1 such as wrestling and hunting1 to harden body and mind1 or else dangerous1 like jousting or hunting big game1 to accustom men to think lightly of wounds and death4 ,wars were carried on under a religious aspect and were always therefore extremely bitter4 ,from such wars resulted the system of heroic slavery1 by which the conquered were held to be men without ,god1 so that they lost civil and natural liberty at once4 ,foreigners were considered enemies3 the earliest nations were intensely inhospitable4 ,brigandage and piracy were recognised2 and ,plutarch says that the heroes considered it a great honour and prize of valour to be called robbers4 ,it was1 in fine1 a society immediately proceeding out of that of the gods1 which as we know was the climax of the state of nature4 ,in its passage from the prehistoric age as we should say in modern language into the dawn of history it still retained much of the earlier customs1 those customs which ,vico thinking of the lonely ,polyphemus in his cave called ,cyclopean rules4 ,the age of gold out of which it came1 innocent1 kindly1 humane1 tolerant and dutiful1 as scholars and poets believed1 was in reality one perpetual superstitious fanaticism1 tormented by a continual terror of the gods1 to placate whom men used to offer human sacrifice1 traces of which remain among the historic ,phoenicians1 ,scyths and ,germans1 the tribes of ,america and even the ,romans themselves1 who afterwards substituted for it the ceremony of throwing straw puppets into the ,tiber4 ,even the sacrifice of children was not unknown2 memories of it are preserved in ,agamemnon's sacrifice of ,iphigenia and elsewhere4 ,but in this age of the gods1 in spite of or by means of this cruel superstition1 were founded the great institutions of humanity2 religious cults together with augurial divination1 marriage and burial4 ,weddings1 judgment-seats and altars1 and the removal of the bodies of the dead from the reach of the malignant air and the wild beasts taught the human brutes to be pious as ,foscolo says in his ,sepolcri1 merely versifying ,vico's prose4 ,these ,cyclopes who conjoined and confused in themselves the functions of king1 wise man 7that is divination7 and priest1 at first placed their dwellings on the heights of mountains1 in places airy and therefore healthy1 naturally fortified1 and near the perennial springs1 where were the nests of eagles and vultures1 the birds with which augury dealt4 ,hence the importance of water and fire1 which became symbols of the family2 the earliest marriages were solemnised aqua et igni between parties who shared a common spring and hearth1 and therefore belonged to the same household2 so that they must have been between brothers and sisters4 ,the period of the cyclopes was a strongly moral period4 ,it was not true of it that pleasure and law were one in the sense fancied by later effeminate poets2 for these men1 whose minds like those which we may still find among the peasants of to-day were insensible to the refinements of vice1 found that alone pleasant which was lawful and that alone lawful which was useful4 ,they were just with the justice of a savage towards his god2 continent1 for they had made an end of promiscuous intercourse2 brave1 hard-working and high-spirited1 as they were bound to be1 surrounded as they were by hardships and perils4 ,it was only later that these primeval groups of humanity descended into the plains and began to till them1 and then1 from living inland as they did at first1 travelled gradually to the sea1 learnt the art of navigation and founded colonies4 ,in this way families or gentes existed before states4 ,states were in fact formed of families grouped into an order of gentes maiores or ancient noble houses as they were afterwards called to distinguish them from others added later to the order 7for instance at the time of ,junius ,brutus1 to fill the vacancies in the ,roman senate after the expulsion of the kings7 and called gentes minores4 ,but these gentes had within themselves an element of differentiation and strife4 ,families were not composed1 as is generally believed owing to the common mistake of giving modern meanings to ancient words1 of wives and children alone2 but also of slaves1 famuli1 those who1 being less strong and remaining longer in the nomadic state of nature1 finally as sometimes wild animals1 driven either by extreme cold or by hunters1 to save their life betake themselves to inhabited places had sought refuge with the stronger1 in the fortresses of the fathers4 ,in return for the protection thus granted they tilled the father's land1 and were bound and as it were tied to them1 and hence called nexi2 they followed them and served them1 and therefore gained the name of clientes4 ,the relation of slaves to fathers was the second form of human relation1 the first being the natural one of matrimony2 it constituted the feudal status1 which has wrongly been believed peculiar to a certain definite period of barbarism1 the ,middle ,ages1 whereas it existed in all heroic societies1 and was the eternal feudal principle whence sprang all the republics of the world4 ,as ,tacitus says1 speaking of the ,germans1 the chief oath of these slaves and clients was to guard and defend each his own master and to assign to his master's glory his own deeds of valour 7suum principem defendere et tueri1 sua quoque fortia facta gloriae eius adsignare1 praecipuum iuramentum erat72 which is one of the severest conditions of the feudal system4 ,moreover the father's children are rather confused with the slaves than distinguished from them4 ,they are distinguished by their title of liberi1 but are identified by their similar position of obedience and lack of separate personality4 ,the need felt by the fathers of securing themselves against the frequent mutinies of the slaves led to the mutual alliance of fathers1 the patrician order and the heroic state4 ,of this state the slaves constituted the first plebs4 ,they had no citizen's rights1 since they were not citizens2 no solemnities of marriage1 since the auspices were a monopoly of the fathers2 nor the right of making wills1 since that right had and always kept the political character of a command4 ,they were therefore excluded from the comitia curiata held by the patricians under arms1 which survived later for dealing with sacred questions2 profane matters being everywhere in the earliest times1 at ,rome as in ,greece and ,egypt1 considered as sacred4 ,the king of the patricians1 whom we have called the magistrate of the order1 was thus especially their leader and general in their resistance to the slaves or plebeians4 ,but the heroes did not provide for the stability of their order by means of forcible resistance alone4 ,just as1 when they abdicated their position of sovereignty in their respective families for one of subordination to the higher sovereignty of the order1 they formed a kind of noble or armed feudal system1 so to keep their slaves more or less reconciled to obedience they granted them1 without admitting them to citizenship1 a kind of rustic feudalism4 ,the origin of property is thus explained in a way entirely different on the one hand from the charmingly poetical theory according to which men adorned with all the virtues of the golden age when justice dwelt on earth1 foreseeing the disorder that might result from communism1 themselves with kindly arbitration marked out the limits of fields1 endeavouring not to assign to one nothing but fertile1 to another nothing but barren ground2 to one a waterless portion1 to another one abounding in perennial streams3 and different on the other hand from the philosophical origin by a voluntary submission to the wise1 or that invented by politician kings who derived property from violence4 ,the granting of this rustic feudalism1 which might be called the first agrarian law1 distinguished three kinds of land-tenure3 bonitary for the people1 quiritary or noble1 supported by arms1 for the fathers1 and eminent1 belonging to the whole order4 ,and since the strength of the order rested upon its wealth1 it did all in its power to prevent the enrichment of the plebs2 and in war--here we see the social motive of the ,roman clemency--deprived the conquered of their arms only1 leaving them in bonitary possession of their lands and imposing upon them a suitable tribute4 ,for the same reason the patricians were very reluctant to go to war1 for then the plebeian multitude gained experience of warfare and became dangerous4 ,the detachment of law from force was slow1 and traces of the latter remained in every part of the former4 ,in the heroic republic there were at first no laws providing for the punishment of offences and the restitution of private injuries2 hence1 failing judiciary laws1 arose the need of duels and reprisals1 which perpetuated the customs of the age of innocence or of the gods4 ,poetry and history describe some of these duels1 which were armed judgments3 for instance1 that of ,menelaus and ,paris under the walls of ,troy1 and that of the ,horatii and ,curiatii1 between ,rome and ,alba4 ,it was a plan of divine providence1 in order that between barbaric nations of scanty understanding and incapable of listening to reason war should not always beget war3 that right and wrong might be to some degree determined by a belief in the favour or disfavour of the gods as the cause of victory or defeat4 ,these ordeals by battle were accompanied and superseded by ordeals by verbal formulae1 used in their religious habit of mind with the most minute and scrupulous exactitude and with care not to alter a single letter 7religio verborum74 ,horatius1 who by killing his sister fell under the law horrendi carminis1 could never have been acquitted by the decemvirs1 however free from blame they thought him2 and the people acquitted him1 says ,livy1 more through admiration of his valour than the justice of his cause 7magis admiratione virtutis quant iure causae74 ,in later days ,roman law still retained this character of verbal precision to such a degree that it forms the crux of several of ,plautus's comedies1 in which panders are at the mercy of enamoured young men who have led them to violate some legal formula4 ,the private law of this society corresponded closely with its economic constitution4 ,it was an entirely natural society1 confined to the necessaries of life1 and did not use money2 hence the law knew nothing of contracts formed1 according to the law of a later period1 by mere consent4 ,all obligations were ratified by giving the hand2 the first buying and selling was barter2 the rent of a house consisted in a mortgage on the soil for building it1 the rent of land in planting it2 companies and credit were unknown4 ,the material character of the first contracts and the forcible character of early legal processes were gradually modified as time went on1 and became symbolic4 ,as the fiction of force in marriage-rites recalled the actual force with which the giants dragged the first women into caves1 so no less the ceremonies of mancipatio1 usucapio and vengeance had formerly been acts really performed4 ,mancipatio was performed as we said with the actual hand1 that is with real force2 for instance1 in occupation1 the original source of all rights of possession2 usucapio by the permanent planting of the body upon the thing possessed2 vengeance was originally a duel or a conditio1 private retaliation4 ,then they became ceremonies or fictions3 mancipatio became a civil transference with solemn acts and phrases 7si quis nexum faciet mancipiumque uti lingua nuncupassit ita ius esto--,if any one makes a thing bond to him and his possession1 let the law be so that he publish it with his tongue72 usucapio a tenure which is supposed to last as long as life2 retaliation a series of personal actions accompanied by a solemn declaration of them to the debtor4 ,there were worn in the forum as many masks as there were legal personalities1 and under the person or mask of a paterfamilias were hidden all the children and all the slaves of the house4 ,instead of abstract forms1 which were not yet thought of1 living bodily forms were used4 ,heredity for instance was invented as mistress of hereditary property1 and imagined to exist completely in every particular piece of inherited goods2 the idea of indivisible right again1 was materialised in the glebe or clod of earth presented to the judge with the formula hunc fundum ,this ancient jurisprudence was throughout poetical2 its fictions turned facts into falsehoods and falsehoods into facts1 made the unborn live1 the living dead1 and the dead to survive in their posterity4 ,it created numbers of empty legal personalities without subjects 7iura imaginaria71 rights invented by the imagination2 and the formulae in which the laws were expressed were called because of their strict rhythm of such and so many words verses--carmina4 ,the fragments of the ,twelve ,tables1 if carefully considered1 end their sentences for the most part in an ,adonian verse1 which is ultimately a fragment of the hexameter metre2 and ,cicero1 realising this1 begins his ,laws with the sentence ,deos caste adeunto pietatem adhibento4 ,cicero also tells us that the ,roman boys used to sing the laws of the twelve tables like a regular song 7tanquam necessarium carmen71 and ,aelian says the same of the ,cretan children and the laws of ,minos4 ,the ,egyptian laws according to one tradition were poems of the goddess ,isis1 and those given by ,lycurgus to the ,spartans and by ,draco to the ,athenians were formulated in verse4 ,the whole of the ancient ,roman law was a serious poem1 or as ,vico says elsewhere a kind of ,roman drama1 poema quoddam dramaticum ,romanum1 performed by the ,romans in the forum2 and ancient jurisprudence was a severe poetry4 ,this poetic atmosphere in heroic society and this metrical tendency in its language are facts borne out by many witnesses and proofs1 by the observations and conjectures of scholars and by the narrations of travellers and missionaries4 ,hebraists are divided upon the question whether ,hebrew poetry is metrical or rhythmical2 but ,josephus1 ,origen and ,eusebius are in favour of metre1 and ,st4 ,jerome asserts that a great part of the book of ,job is in hexameter verse4 ,the ,arabs1 who had no knowledge of writing1 preserved their language down to the time when they overran the eastern provinces of the ,greek empire by handing on the memory of their national poems4 ,the ,egyptians wrote the lives of the dead in verse2 the ,persians and ,chinese committed to verse their earliest history1 as also1 according to ,tacitus1 the ,germans and1 according to ,justus ,lipsius1 the ,americans4 ,and since of these two last nations the former was only known to the ,romans late in their history and the latter to ,europe at the end of the fifteenth century1 there is good reason to suppose that the same is true of all other barbaric nations ancient and modern4 ,the earliest metre1 found not only in ,greece but in ,assyria1 ,phoenicia and ,egypt1 was the heroic or hexameter4 ,owing to the slowness of thought and the difficulties of pronunciation it was bound at first to have a spondaic character 7hence the final foot in the line was always a spondee7 and only later when mind and tongue became more active did it admit the dactyl4 ,then1 when this activity still further increased1 arose the iambic 7pede praesto as ,horace calls it7 which approximates most nearly to prose2 so much so1 indeed1 that the early prose writers before ,gorgias practically used the iambic metre of poetry1 and prose frequently passed over into iambic verse4 ,tragedy was composed in iambics1 a metre which is naturally adapted to it1 produced as it was to give expression to wrath1 according to the story which makes ,archilochus invent it to express his anger against ,lycambus2 and if comedy afterwards adopted the same metre1 it was only by the meaningless following of example1 not because the iambic metre was naturally suited to it as it was to tragedy4 ,the primitive language of these societies was poetical not only through its use of metre but also by being composed through and through of lively metaphors1 vivid fancies1 striking resemblances1 apt comparisons1 expressions by means of cause or effect1 whole or part1 elliptic or pleonastic figures of speech1 onomatopoeisms or imitations of sounds by words1 abbreviations1 compound words1 minute circumlocutions1 characteristic epithets1 contortions in syntax and episodes4 ,all these are ways of making oneself understood devised by men ignorant of the precise words required1 or of a word1 if in conversation1 understood by both parties4 ,the episode is characteristic of women and peasants1 who are unable to select what they need and omit what is alien to their subject2 contorted language is the result of inability to express oneself directly1 or of being prevented from doing so1 as may be seen in the case of irascible or contemptuous persons1 who make use of the nominative and oblique cases but do not utter verbs4 ,the very words of these languages taken one by one reveal in the frequency of their diphthongs a trace of the song out of which speech arose2 and this abundance of diphthongs still remains in the ,greek and ,french languages1 which passed rapidly and prematurely from the age of spontaneity to that of reflection4 ,the ,german language would certainly offer a rich store of heroic forms1 with its abundance of compound words which so happily translate those of ,greek1 and its syntax which exceeds ,latin in complexity as ,latin does ,greek4 ,if ,german scholars1 says ,vico several times with a wistful glance at a field of study closed to himself1 would use the principles of the ,new ,science in research upon the origins of their language1 they would certainly make wonderful discoveries4 ,the conception of the universe prevalent among the men of this period1 and the histories of themselves which they related1 of their origins1 warfare and fortunes1 were also poetical1 or rather mythical4 ,it was even the case as we have seen that their conceptions in the sphere of social history preceded those of a cosmological1 physical or psychological character4 ,by a rigid application of this principle ,vico developed his doctrine of natural theogony1 arising naturally in the imagination on the occasion of certain human needs and utilities3 the genesis of the twelve greater ,gods1 ,di maiores1 that is to say1 the gods invented by the gentes maiores and1 to a great extent1 brought by them to the foundation of the state4 ,jupiter or the sky1 with his language of lightning1 was the author of the first laws of the family2 ,juno symbolised marriage1 ,diana matrimonial chastity1 ,apollo the light of civilisation2 ,vulcan1 ,saturn and ,cybele were respectively the fire with which the forests were burnt to make clearings1 the sowing of seed and the tilling of land2 ,mars symbolised the warfare of the heroes pro aris et focis1 and ,venus civilised beauty4 ,in addition to this celestial ,venus arose a plebeian ,venus to whom was given the attribute of doves2 not as typifying the passion of love1 but because they were degeneres common birds in comparison with the eagle4 ,a double signification1 patrician and plebeian1 was given in the same way to ,vulcan and ,mars4 ,the stormy relations of the fathers with the slaves1 the struggles and penalties referred to in the myths of ,tantalus and ,sisyphus1 begin to be reflected in the twelve greater gods4 ,hercules1 struggling with ,antaeus1 signifies the nobles of the heroic cities1 and ,antaeus the mutinied slaves led back into the primitive cities on the mountain-tops 7,antaeus lifted up into the air7 and overcome and bound down to the earth1 that is to say forced back to their servile labour4 ,the birth of the tenth divinity1 ,minerva1 expresses the weakening and diminution of the heroic power1 since the plebeian ,vulcan 7the mutinied slaves7 strikes the head of ,jupiter with an axe1 the tool of a servile art4 ,mercury represents the granting of bonitary rights to the plebs and the maintenance of quiritary rights by the fathers4 ,the last of the twelve deities1 ,neptune1 arose when the peoples descended to the sea-coast2 and the legends of ,minos1 the ,argonauts1 the ,trojan war1 the return of ,ulysses1 ,europa and the bull1 the ,minotaur1 ,perseus and ,theseus refer to colonisation and piracy4 ,the mythological interpretation of history does not cease with the foundation of states4 ,the founders of civilisation1 ,zoroaster and ,mercurius ,trimegistus1 ,orpheus and ,confucius1 even if they are not strictly gods1 are at least poetical characters4 ,aesop is typical of the socii or slaves of the heroes and hence is represented as ugly1 that is1 devoid of civilised beauty 7honestas72 and his fable of the lions' society shows to perfection the real relation of the heroes to their slaves1 in which the latter share the toils1 but not the spoils4 ,draco1 of whom ,greek historians tell us nothing but that he imposed a stern code of laws1 symbolises the cruelty of the heroes to their slaves4 ,solon was either a party-leader of the ,athenian plebs1 or else a simple personification of the plebs itself1 considered from the point of view of its vengeance4 ,in the history of ,rome we find poetical figures in ,romulus1 to whom were ascribed all the laws of the orders2 in ,numa1 author of the laws dealing with sacred matters and religious ceremonies2 in ,tullus ,hostilius1 who organised and legislated for the military system2 in ,servius ,tullius the author of the census 7which has been imagined1 contrary to all historical truth1 the foundation of a popular republic1 whereas it was really the foundation of an aristocratic72 and in ,tarquinius ,priscus1 who invented insignia of rank and military uniforms2 lastly1 the ,decemvirs and the ,twelve ,tables are turned into poetical figures1 since to these events and persons were ascribed a great number of laws favourable to liberty and really dating from a later period4 ,thus1 before philosophers began to elaborate the system of myths by creating new ones when they believed they were interpreting the old 7,plato for instance introduced into the myth of ,jupiter the idea of the omnipresent and all-pervading ether1 his own invention1 and other philosophers saw in the birth of ,minerva from the head of ,jupiter a description of the divine wisdom1 or in ,chaos and ,orcus the confused mass of the universal seeds of nature and the primitive matter of the world71 poet-theologians had expressed their ideas in mythology1 ideas in which the metaphysical and physical elements were very small1 but containing a large nucleus of human and political fact4 ,the ,chaos of these theologian-poets was the confusion of human seed during the period of brutal community of women2 it was confused because devoid of human regulation1 obscure because devoid of the light of civilisation4 ,the misshapen monster ,orcus devoured everything because men in this community had no human shape1 and were absolved by the void1 because through the impossibility of knowing their offspring they left no trace of themselves behind4 ,the four elements of the world corresponded to the four elements of social life3 the air where ,jupiter lightened1 the water of the perennial springs1 the fire that burnt the forests1 and the earth1 the scene of man's labours4 ,being and subsisting were conceived the former as the act of eating 7peasants still say of a sick man1 meaning that he is not dead yet1 that he is still eating7 and the latter as standing upon one's feet4 ,the composition of the body was analysed into solids and liquids1 that of the soul into air3 generation into the act of concipere or concapere1 that is1 taking hold of neighbouring material bodies1 overcoming their resistance and adapting and assimilating them to one's own nature3 and all the internal functions of the soul were ascribed to the head1 the breast or the heart4 ,cosmographical ideas were narrow1 confined as they were to the life of these societies4 ,the first heaven was placed no farther off than the tops of the mountains1 where the giants saw the lightning play3 the lower world was no deeper than a ditch1 and was only by degrees enlarged and sunk into the valleys as opposed to the sky1 that is to say to the mountain-tops2 the earth was identified with the limits of the cultivated fields4 ,in the course of time the sky1 the object of contemplation from which auguries were drawn1 was lifted to a greater height1 and with it the gods and heroes who were attached to the planets and constellations2 and thus arose poetical astronomy4 ,geographical knowledge extended no farther than the country inhabited by each nation2 and this is the reason why peoples travelling into foreign and distant lands gave to the new cities and to the mountains1 hills1 passes1 islands and promontories the same names which were borne by those of their native land4 ,asia or ,india was at first for the ,greeks the eastern part of ,greece itself1 ,europe or ,hesperia its western1 and ,thrace or ,scythia its northern district4 ,but we will not enter into further details2 indeed we have omitted much already4 ,it is not the detail that gives its value to ,vico's picture of the heroic age4 ,his etymologies1 his mythical interpretations1 the genesis and chronological succession of his gods1 the genesis and succession of his phonetic1 metrical and stylistic forms--each1 taken by itself1 may be contested2 but taken as a whole they are rich with a truth which transcends the single propositions4 ,this truth is the mighty effort to recall a form of humanity and society still doubtless living in surviving records and monuments1 still recognisable here and there in a fragmentary form in various parts of the modern world2 but for centuries1 even in ,vico's days1 buried beneath a mass of irrelevant fancies1 conventional types1 and prejudices of every kind1 which prevented its true characteristics from appearing4 ,,chapter ,,xvi ,,homer ,,and ,,primitive ,,poetry ,the poet of primitive society was ,homer3 and if such was his character1 he could not have enjoyed the profound wisdom1 the delicate and lofty sense of morality1 and the supreme knowledge of all the sublimest arts and sciences which ancient philosophers and writers fancied him to possess1 and the common opinion of literary men and critics still attributed to him in the seventeenth century4 ,what an extravagant philosopher ,homer would have been1 if he had indeed been a philosopher3 how miserably1 had he set out to do so1 would he have organised ,greek civilisation6 ,his ,jupiter indicates force1 brute force1 as the standard of the respect due to him2 his ,minerva despoils ,venus1 knocks ,mars down with a stone1 strikes ,diana and is in turn insulted by ,mars2 and both ,venus and ,mars are wounded by ,diomed1 a mere mortal4 ,the heroes ,achilles and ,agamemnon exchange insults such as would hardly be used by servants in a comedy to-day3 they call each other dogs and quarrel in the most uncivil manner for the possession of ,briseis and ,chryseis4 ,ferocious in their customs1 they leave the bodies of their enemies to dogs and crows3 intemperate in their pleasures1 they drink to excess4 ,lofty intelligence1 kindness of heart1 balance of mind may be sought in vain in all their actions and sentiments4 ,the fact is1 these heroes show themselves men of the scantiest understanding1 the wildest imagination1 the most violent passions2 boorish1 barbarous1 intractable1 fierce1 arrogant1 defiant and obstinate in their resolves and at the same time flighty in the extreme1 at the mercy of any new object that presents itself to their eyes4 ,here again1 the most striking parallel may be found in the psychology of the peasant1 who as may be seen every day embraces any reasonable motive proposed to him but owing to the weakness of his intellect soon abandons the idea he has been persuaded to adopt and slips naturally back to his first intention4 ,in the same way the ,homeric heroes sometimes acquiesce in the first word of opposition offered to them2 sometimes at a sudden mournful recollection they burst into bitter lamentation in the midst of their anger3 or else1 if while in the greatest misery they meet with something pleasant1 like ,ulysses at the feast of ,alcinous1 they lose all memory of their sorrows and become completely cheerful2 or else1 when in a calm and peaceful state of mind1 they take offence at a harmless word and flying into a blind passion threaten the speaker with a cruel death4 ,even the virtues which they possess in an eminent degree1 their frankness1 vigour1 magnanimity and generosity1 are tinged with this same character of unreflective passion4 ,the hero of heroes1 ,achilles1 who bears on his shoulders the destinies of ,troy1 owing to a private wrong he had received from ,agamemnon--a grave wrong1 but an insufficient motive for the ruin of his country and his whole nation--condemned all the ,greeks to defeat and destruction at the hands of ,hector2 and he only determined to aid them in order to assuage the personal grief caused by ,hector's slaying his friend ,patroclus4 ,if only this extreme aloofness had been due to passion and jealousy6 ,but though when ,agamemnon deprived him of ,briseis he made enough noise to fill heaven and earth and supply the plot of the entire ,iliad1 yet he never in the whole course of the poem shows a spark of real love3 just as ,menelaus mustered the whole of ,greece against ,troy to avenge the rape of ,helen but never suffers the least pang of jealousy against ,paris who is enjoying her4 ,so devoid is ,achilles of common humanity1 that when ,hector wishes to arrange that the victor in the fight shall bury the vanquished1 he forgets that they are equals in rank and that death levels all1 and savagely answers3 ,when have men ever made a truce with lions1 and when have wolves and lambs had the same wish8 and he adds1 ,if ,i slay thee1 ,i will drag thee bound naked to my chariot round the walls of ,troy three days 7as he actually did in the sequel7 and finally1 ,i will give thee to my hounds to devour4 ,and he would have carried out his threat1 had not the unhappy father ,priam come to him to ransom the corpse4 ,but even in this deeply-moving interview1 when he has received ,priam in his tent after the latter has1 escorted by ,mercury1 passed alone through the midst of the ,greek camp1 when he has welcomed him to his table1 at a single involuntary word that falls from the lips of the unhappy old man as he bewails the loss of so valiant a son ,achilles forgets the sacred law of hospitality2 and1 ignoring the full and complete trust which ,priam had placed in him1 untouched by the terrible misfortunes of such a king1 by the respect due to a father and the veneration due to so old a man1 without reflecting on the reversal of his fortunes1 of all things the most apt to excite pity1 flies into a bestial rage and shouts a threat that he will cut off his head6 ,death itself does not end his anger at the loss of ,briseis1 were it not that the beautiful and unhappy princess ,polyxena1 daughter of the once rich and powerful ,priam and now a wretched slave1 is sacrificed on his tomb1 that the shade glutted with revenge may drink the last drop of her innocent blood2 and in the lower world1 when ,ulysses asks him what state he prefers1 ,achilles answers that he would rather be the commonest slave1 but alive6 ,such is the hero whom ,homer adorns with the permanent epithet of without reproach 77 and celebrates in the hearing of ,greece as a pattern of heroic virtue4 ,such a hero1 whose reasoning powers are concentrated in his spear-point1 can only be classed with those self-satisfied persons of whom we say nowadays that they are too fine to breathe the common air4 ,if ,homer's greatest characters are so discordant with our civilised nature1 the similes which he uses are drawn from savage beasts and wild nature generally4 ,if the life which he represents--a life of children in its intellectual futility1 of women in its imaginative vigour1 and of headstrong youths in the violence of its passion--and the tales of which the ,odyssey is full1 tales worthy of an old woman engaged in amusing children1 prevent our attributing any esoteric wisdom to ,homer1 the striking success of these wild similes is certainly not characteristic of a mind tamed and civilised by philosophy of any sort4 ,nor could that truculent and savage style in which he describes the various sanguinary battles1 the diverse and extravagantly bloodthirsty species of butchery which especially go to make the sublimity of the ,iliad1 have originated in a mind humanised and softened by philosophy4 ,but who was ,homer8 ,what opinions as to him can we find in ancient writers1 and what facts can we draw from his poems8 ,an unprejudiced reader of the ,iliad and ,odyssey is at every step aware of and baffled by extravagant and inconsistent statements4 ,the life portrayed is inconsistent3 it takes us now here1 now there1 over a long period of time2 on the one hand we find ,achilles the hero of force1 on the other ,ulysses the hero of wisdom3 on the one hand1 cruelty1 barbarism1 ferocity and brutality1 on the other the luxury of ,alcinous1 the delights of ,calypso1 the pleasures of ,circe1 the songs of the ,sirens and the pastimes of suitors who tempt and even win over the chaste ,penelope4 ,on the one hand we are shown boorish and uncivilised manners1 on the other jewels1 magnificent clothing1 exquisite foods and the arts of sculpture in bas-relief and metal-founding2 on the one hand a strictly heroic society1 on the other some signs of popular liberty4 ,this delicate life fits ill with the savage and cruel life which especially in the ,iliad is ascribed to the same heroes at the same time4 ,to regard them thus as contemporaneous is an impossibility4 ,from the customs of the ,trojan period we have leapt abruptly into those of the time of ,numa1 to such an extent that ne placidis coeant inmitia we are compelled to suppose that the two poems were the work of many hands extending over many ages4 ,the geographical allusions are equally inconsistent4 ,these1 no less1 bring us into varied and distant physical surroundings4 ,the scene of the ,iliad lies to the east of ,greece1 inclining to the northward3 that of the ,odyssey in the west1 inclining to the southward4 ,the language1 again1 is inconsistent4 ,the confusion of dialects persists in spite of the revision of ,aristarchus1 and has been explained by the most extraordinary hypotheses1 such as the theory that ,homer drew the elements of his vocabulary from all the various ,greek nationalities4 ,passing from the poems to the traditions of their author1 the lives of ,homer by ,herodotus 7if ,herodotus really wrote it7 and ,plutarch are valueless4 ,the most elementary facts about ,homer are unknown3 it is precisely concerning the man whom they considered the greatest luminary of ,greece that the ancients leave us most completely in the dark4 ,we know neither ,homer's date nor his birthplace3 each one of the ,greek peoples claimed him as their citizen4 ,it is said indeed that he was poor and blind1 but it is just these details which excite our suspicion1 as our laughter is aroused by the argument of ,longinus which makes the ,iliad the work of his youth and the ,odyssey that of his old age4 ,it would be indeed remarkable if such knowledge were current concerning a man in whose case the two trifling details of time and place were unknown6 ,above all1 criticism must ask how a single man could ever have composed two poems of such a length at a time when writing was not in existence3 since the three inscriptions of heroic age1 one of ,amphitryon1 another of ,hippocon and a third of ,laomedon mentioned with an excess of good faith by ,vossius are mere forgeries like those made by the strikers of false coins4 ,all these considerations led ,vico to suspect that ,homer himself was not a real person but one of those poetic characters to whom the ancient world ascribed long series of actions1 works and events4 ,if we try to conceive the ,homeric poems not as the work of an individual but as two great storehouses of the manners and customs of earliest ,greece1 containing the history of its natural law and heroic period2 if instead of a single poet we imagine a whole nation of poets1 and instead of a single act of creation1 a national poetry developing in the course of centuries1 everything falls into its place and finds an explanation4 ,the extravagance of the legends is explained by the fact that the composition of the ,iliad and ,odyssey falls in the third period of their existence4 ,in the hands of the theological poets they were true and severe1 by the heroic poets they were altered and corrupted1 and in this corrupt state they were incorporated in the two poems4 ,the variety of customs is explained if we consider the various periods of composition1 and so also the young ,homer and old ,homer1 which are symbolic of the earlier and later periods of primitive ,greece4 ,the diversity of sites assigned to his birth and death and the variety of his dialects are accounted for by the fact that different peoples produced the lays4 ,finally1 it is explained why every ,greek people claimed him as a citizen1 just because these peoples were themselves ,homer2 and why he was called blind and a beggar1 because such were as a rule the singers who went about from fair to fair reciting their tales4 ,thus in order to be rightly understood ,homer must lose himself in the crowd of ,greek peoples and be considered an idea or heroic character2 a type of the ,greeks in so far as they narrated tales in ballad form4 ,thus facts which had only caused confusion and lacked plausibility in ,homer as then understood became natural and necessary elements of the ,homer now rediscovered4 ,above all1 this latter ,homer deserves the high praise of being the first of all historians of ,greece known to us4 ,in ,homer we have a proof of the original identity of history and poetry1 and a confirmation of ,strabo's assertion that before ,herodotus1 before even ,hecataeus of ,miletus1 the history of the ,greek peoples was written by their poets4 ,in two golden passages of the ,odyssey a man is praised for having told a story well and said to have told it as a musician and a singer4 ,vico did not undertake a detailed investigation into the way in which the ,homeric poems were elaborated4 ,he seems however to incline towards two chief poet-authors1 one1 a native of the east of ,greece1 towards the north1 for the ,iliad1 the other for the ,odyssey1 a native of the west towards the south3 and by the title ,homer he understands a composer and compiler of legends4 ,but on the other hand1 owing to the purely ideal meaning which this name has for him1 we must not rule out the interpretation that the two ,homers in their turn may be two streams of poetry and two groups of peoples or of popular singers4 ,the historic figures whom ,vico finds before him are the rhapsodes1 men of the people who wandered independently about the fairs and festivals of the ,greek cities reciting the songs of ,homer4 ,from the time of their primitive composition long ages elapsed before the ,pisistratidae had them divided and arranged into two groups1 the ,iliad and the ,odyssey1 a fact which shows clearly that in their time only a confused mass of material was to be found1 and decreed that they should henceforth be sung by the rhapsodes at the ,panathenaea4 ,it is however certainly not in the resolution1 materially understood1 of the individual ,homer into a myth or poetic character that the importance of ,vico's theory lies3 and the same is perhaps the case with its truth4 ,from the inconsistencies observed by him1 and not always accurately observed 7which are moreover unimportant1 since the inaccuracies he notes might easily be balanced by the correct statements he omits71 there was no strictly logical passage to the denial of the existence of an individual ,homer1 the principal author of one or both poems4 ,these inconsistencies might serve to demonstrate that the poet or poets were working upon a rich fund of traditional material1 of origin very various both as to time and place1 and not regularly stratified according to origin1 but having its strata confused and contorted4 ,one or more poets1 or even many poets and an able compiler of their lays1 or a society of able compilers3 these and similar hypotheses might equally well have been suggested1 as happened later1 and supported1 as was later the case1 by arguments neither more nor less cogent1 because incapable of documentary proof4 ,but underlying this resolution of ,homer into a poetic character1 as it underlay other resolutions made or attempted by ,vico1 lay the discovery of the long and laborious historical genesis through which the matter of these poems had passed1 so that in this sense they might really be called a product of collaboration on the part of the whole ,greek people4 ,the substitution of a nation of ,homers for a single ,homer was only another case of mythology constructed according to the principles discovered by ,vico himself3 mythology which must be retranslated into scientific prose4 ,in the same way ,vico's analysis of the customs described in the ,homeric poems may be1 and is1 not only here and there adulterated with a few inaccuracies1 but is on the whole exaggerated and one-sided4 ,still1 this analysis taken as a whole was a great advance and opened new paths to ,homeric criticism4 ,how could the stubborn illusion of the noble ,homeric hero1 a great lord and a good ruler1 a shining example of all civil1 military and domestic virtues1 be dispelled except by setting against it the picture of a boorish ,achilles1 full of elemental passions1 violent1 stubborn1 unreasoning1 quick to a generous impulse but no less quick to outbursts of brutal wrath8 ,vico's progress in artistic appreciation of the ,homeric poetry was no less marked4 ,the recognition that a sound and rational philosophy was not to be found in the poet ,homer would1 in the mouth of any other critic of the time1 have amounted to a slur on the poet3 as expressed by ,vico and as the consequence of his new aesthetic ideas it was a compliment4 ,the errors which intellectualism and neo-classical criticism discovered in ,homer led the critics to repeat freely the saying of ,horace that good ,homer nods at times3 whereas ,vico on the contrary exclaims if he had not nodded so often he would never have been good6 7nisi ita saepe dormitasset1 nunquam bonus fuisset ,homerus74 ,homer was a great poet precisely because he was not a philosopher4 ,he had a retentive memory1 a strong imagination and a sublime mind2 and neither the philosophies nor the arts of poetry and criticism which came after him could ever produce a poet at all like him4 ,he was the only poet who could conceive heroic characters3 his comparisons are incomparable1 his speeches sublime1 expressive of the individuality of the speaker1 and created by the power of a vivid imagination3 his diction is clear and splendid1 his language composed entirely of similes1 images and comparisons1 and has none of those ideas of genus and species by which things are intellectually defined4 ,he is not delicate but grand1 for delicacy is a small virtue and grandeur naturally despises small things3 or even1 just as a great and rushing torrent cannot help the turbidness of its water1 and must perforce sweep rocks and trees with it in the violence of its course1 so too in ,homer we may find things of no value4 ,but the torrent with all its impurities sweeps on its way superb and impetuous2 and ,homer in spite of and partly because of his ruggedness is for ever the father and prince of all sublime poets4 ,this new departure in ,homeric criticism brought with it implicitly a complete revolution in the history of ancient literature4 ,but on this subject ,vico made only a few scattered remarks4 ,he was no specialist3 he did not write from a specialist's point of view1 and too often when documentary evidence and thought were unable to solve a difficulty he solved it by means of his fancy1 a faculty which was however in his case radiant with gleams of insight4 ,thus1 the cyclic poets were not so called because of the circle of listeners in the centre of which they declaimed their poems1 like the ,rinaldi or ballad-singers whom ,vico saw on the quay at ,naples1 and this circle had no connexion with the vilem patulumque orbem of ,horace3 but the observation that they differed little from these ballad-singers was sound4 ,in the same way1 we need not linger on his guesses at the dates of ,homer and ,hesiod1 nor need we take literally his division of lyric poetry into three periods1 namely those respectively of religious hymns1 funeral chants for dead heroes and melic lyrics or musical airs1 the last including ,pindar1 and admired1 flourishing as it did at the epoch of the pompous virtue of ,greece1 at the ,olympic games where these poets sang4 ,but still ,vico has here put his finger on the difference between primitive and refined or cultured lyric poetry4 ,the origin of tragedy he ascribes to the dithyramb or dramatic satire1 of which no example has come down to us1 and in rural customs compared by him to those which were still in evidence during his own lifetime in ,campania at vintage season2 and he notes the relation between tragedy and the epic4 ,tragedy had its rude beginnings at a time when the heroic spirit was already dead3 it perfected itself by becoming subordinate to the ,homeric poetry1 deriving its inspiration from ,homeric characters and avoiding original ones4 ,the old comedy was closely related to tragedy4 ,like the latter it was derived from a chorus1 and it preserved its archaic character in that it displayed living persons and real actions4 ,the new comedy on the other hand was marked off by a profound change of spirit4 ,here the effects of philosophy were directly felt4 ,imaginative genera were superseded by intelligible and rational universals3 and ,menander and the other poets of the new comedy1 living in the most humane period of ,greek history1 took their intelligible genera from human life and depicted them in their comedies1 over which one feels that the breath of ,socratic philosophy has passed4 ,the persons of the new comedy were cast in a mould1 and were not public but private characters3 and as the chorus represents the public and argues about public affairs only1 there is no room for it in the new comedy4 ,about this time began the practice of inserting idealised heroes of perfect morals into poetry4 ,aristotle1 remembering the strongly individualised characters of ,homer1 still maintained as a principle of poetic composition that the heroes of tragedy should be neither very good nor very bad1 but rather a mixture of great virtues and great faults4 ,but the poets of the late period1 making use of the idea originated by philosophers1 formed a heroism of virtue3 a heroism which may be called gallant4 ,accordingly they either invented entirely new legends or else used old legends which had originally presented themselves to the founders of the nation in an appropriately stern and severe form1 but softened them by adapting them to the softening of manners4 ,equally gallant is the shepherd of the ,greek ,bucolic poets1 ,bion and ,moschus1 wasting away with the most delicate love1 ,he makes the general observation on ,greek and ,latin literature1 that the boundary between verse and prose was so strictly guarded on both sides that no ancient writer ever composed both orations and poems--a rule to which perhaps the only exception is the wretched verses 7ridenda poemata7 of ,cicero3 and ,vico tried to explain this fact by the democratic habits which compelled orators studiously to avoid the cultivation of lofty and fanciful modes of expression1 which would have puzzled the people and hindered their full and clear comprehension of the point at issue4 ,vico does not treat ,roman literature so fully as ,greek1 which provided him with much more primitive documents4 ,but he detected certain analogies between the origins of ,latin and ,greek literature4 ,the first poets and authors in the ,latin language were the ,salii1 sacred poets2 and this was natural in the beginning of a nation's culture2 for in the primitive religious period the gods are the only object of praise4 ,and just as the earliest fragments of ,latin known to us1 the remains of the hymns of the ,salii1 give an impression of hexameter verse1 so the same metre is felt in the records of ,romans who celebrated triumphs1 such as the duello magno dirimendo1 regibus subiugandis of ,lucius ,aemilius ,regillus and the fudit fugat prosternit maximas legiones of ,acilius ,glabrio4 ,the first ,roman poets1 too1 sang true stories3 this was the case with ,livius ,andronicus and his ,romanid containing the annals of early ,rome1 and with ,naevius1 and later ,ennius1 who described the ,punic wars4 ,satire also was levelled against real and for the most part notorious persons4 ,the ,romans however differed from the ,greeks in advancing with a more measured step and not making the swift and abrupt transition from barbarism to effeminacy3 so that they entirely lost the history of their gods 7which ,varro called the obscure period of ,rome7 and preserved their heroic history1 extending down to the ,publilian and ,petelian laws1 in common speech only4 ,in its greatest manifestations the literature of ,rome is the work of cultivated poets like ,virgil1 whom ,vico admires for his profound knowledge of heroic antiquity1 but says of him that so far as poetical power is concerned he is not to be compared with ,homer2 a verdict agreeing with that of ,plutarch and ,longinus1 but in opposition to the view of neo-classical criticism4 ,another example of cultivated and reflective poetry is to be found in ,horace1 who like ,pindar in the pompous period of ,greece composed his odes at the most ostentatious epoch of ,roman history1 the ,augustan age4 ,the ,biblical literature would have given ,vico materials of great value for the study of primitive poetry2 and he actually did move a few steps towards it when he observed that poetry was the primitive language of all nations including the ,hebrews2 and that ,moses made no use of the esoteric wisdom of the ,egyptian priests and wrote his history in a style which has much in common with that of ,homer and often surpasses him in sublimity of expression4 ,but ,vico drops the subject at once1 as if he instinctively guessed what might come of treating the ,pentateuch as he had done the ,iliad1 and ,moses like ,homer4 ,so he prefers to wax enthusiastic over the phrase in which ,god describes himself to ,moses ,ego sum qui sum1 to which he ascribes a metaphysical profundity only attained by the ,greeks when ,plato conceived ,god as to on1 and unknown to the ,latins down to the latest period1 for the word ens is not pure ,latin but belongs to debased ,latin4 ,or he contents himself with emphatically pointing out that at a time when ,greece was under the sway of a superstitious and natural law1 ,god gave to his people a code so full of weight as regards the dogmas of divinity and so full of humanity as regards the practice of justice1 that not even in the humanest period of ,greek history could a ,plato have conceived or an ,aristides executed it2 a code whose ten chief enactments contain an eternal and universal justice founded upon the excellent conception of a purified human nature1 and are capable of forming by habituation a character such as the maxims of the greatest philosophers could only with great difficulty form by ratiocination2 whence ,theophrastus called the ,hebrews philosophers by nature4 ,the success that attended the will to believe was all the more striking if as we suspect ,vico had read the abhorred ,spinoza's ,tractatus ,theologico-politicus1 where the ,hebrew prophets1 while their piety is recognised1 are said to be entirely devoid of sublime thoughts4 ,spinoza maintains that they only taught very simple things which any one could easily discover1 and adorned these with a style and supported them by reasons most calculated to move the mind of the multitude to devotion towards ,god2 and that the laws revealed by ,god to ,moses were nothing but the laws of the particular government of the ,jews3 and he sets out to examine the text of the ,bible and the problem of the authenticity of the ,pentateuch and the respective authors of its various books4 ,we might almost venture to say that it was ,spinoza's ,biblical criticism that suggested to ,vico his criticism of the composition and spirit of the ,homeric poems2 but that the latter1 after passing in this way from sacred to profane history1 from ,moses to ,homer1 set his face stubbornly against the opposite transition from ,homer to ,moses1 from profane history to sacred4 ,,chapter ,,xvii ,,the ,,history ,,of ,,rome ,,and ,,the ,,rise ,,of ,,democracy ,heroic society in the period of youthful vigour above described contains within itself1 rigorously repressed1 and in fact made into a support1 the element of opposition2 the slaves1 clients or vassals1 that is to say the plebs4 ,but this element little by little succeeds in detaching itself from and opposing itself to the society1 engaging it in a continual and undisguised conflict1 so as by degrees to overthrow this old society and give life and form to a new society of which it is itself the material3 a democratic society1 the popular republic4 ,vico believes this process to be uniform in all peoples2 but since references to histories other than that of ,rome are either absent or very vague 7he hardly mentions the origin of the ,athenian democracy7 the description of this process appears in the pages of the ,new ,science as a fragment of ,roman history1 or as we should nowadays call it the social history of ,rome4 ,vico's guesses about the population and primitive culture of ,italy are of no great importance4 ,the subject belongs rather to archaeology and ethnography than to history1 and ,vico did not make a special study of it4 ,in the ,de antiquissima sapientia ,italorum he had provided the origins of ,rome with a basis in an ,italian civilisation of high antiquity1 earlier than the ,greek and derived from ,egypt1 which the ,romans absorbed in a manner agreeing with their character2 by rejecting1 that is to say1 its theoretical hypotheses while taking over their practical results1 just as they adopted from the ,etruscans their tragic religion and their art of tactics1 and as they later adopted laws from ,athens and ,sparta4 ,in this way their ignorance and savagery remained unchanged1 and hence they spoke the language of philosophers without being philosophical4 ,in his later writings ,vico still for a time maintained the priority and independence of the earliest ,italian civilisation as regards that of ,greece1 and considered ,pythagoras less as the founder than as the student of ,italian wisdom4 ,finally1 however1 he seems to have given up this view1 just as he definitely abandoned that which explained the origins of ,roman religion1 language1 customs and law by the imitation of foreign peoples and frankly confessed that he had been in error here owing to the example of ,plato's ,cratylus4 ,what conditions brought about the rise of ,rome ,vico does not precisely say4 ,he is certain that if ,rome and the world did not begin together1 at least the foundation of ,rome was a new beginning4 ,the point of departure which he assumes is the asylum of ,romulus1 consisting of the families of fathers who gave their hospitality to wanderers and made them into famuli4 ,there was no ,trojan colonisation2 ,vico knows ,bochart's treatise 7#affc7 criticising the legend of ,aeneas's arrival in ,italy and accepts its conclusions1 which only confirm the doubts already entertained by certain ancient historians4 ,for ,vico1 the ,trojan origin of ,rome is a legend sprung from the union of two different examples of national arrogance3 that of the ,greeks1 who made such a noise about the ,trojan war and forced their ,aeneas into the history of ,rome1 and that of the ,romans1 who accepted him in order to boast of a distinguished foreign origin4 ,the legend moreover could not have arisen much before the time of the war with ,pyrrhus1 when ,rome began to acquire a taste for things ,greek4 ,in order to explain the infusion of ,greek names and myths into the story of primitive ,rome and the similarity of the ,roman alphabet to the ancient ,greek1 ,vico would incline rather to the hypothesis that early in their history the ,romans conquered and destroyed some ,greek colony on the ,latin coast1 of which all trace has since been lost in the mists of antiquity2 and that through receiving its inhabitants in ,rome as refugees and allies1 they came under the influence of several ,hellenic traditions and customs4 ,vico does not spend much time over the historical events of the royal period4 ,here in fact lay one of the chief differences between his criticism and that which had already been originated and was continued after his time dealing with the first centuries of ,roman history4 ,vico aims not at substituting historical for legendary anecdotes but at understanding the essence of institutions and the ways in which they change4 ,he uses two guiding principles1 as we have seen in considering the royal period3 first1 that it was a period not of monarchy but of aristocracy and that therefore the type of heroic society or the patriarchal republic is applicable to it3 secondly1 that the names of the kings are symbols or poetic characters for the institutions of this society4 ,in ,vico's judgment1 as we have had occasion to observe1 the constitution of ,servius ,tullius should not be considered the basis of popular liberty1 as the later ,romans considered it2 it was really the basis of the liberty of the feudal lords1 since by it the patricians granted to the plebeians the bonitary tenure of their land together with the duty of paying rent to and serving at their own expense in war themselves1 the patricians4 ,and ,junius ,brutus1 in driving out the ,tarquins and replacing them by two consuls or annual aristocratic kings1 restored to the ,roman republic its primitive form2 that is to say1 he delivered the lords from the domination of their tyrants but left the people under the domination of their lords4 ,the patricians' oppression of the plebeians after the restoration of ,junius ,brutus and the struggles and resistance caused by it constitute the soul of the new development and contain the secret of the greatness of ,rome1 the key to universal ,roman history1 clavis historiae ,romanae universae4 ,polybius's explanation of this greatness is too vague4 ,he describes it as due to the virtue or the religion of the patricians and relates the facts of this virtue rather than their cause4 ,vico also criticises ,machiavelli1 at one time because he adduces certain civil and military institutions as the cause of ,rome's greatness without investigating the cause of those institutions1 that is to say the character of ,roman society3 at another time for adducing what was only a partial cause1 the high spirit of the plebeians4 ,he thinks ,plutarch worst of all1 since envy of the virtue and wisdom of ,rome leads him to ascribe her greatness to fortune4 ,the fact was that ,rome subjugated the other cities of ,latium and then ,italy and the world because her heroism was still young1 while among the other ,latin peoples it had begun to decay4 ,thanks to this youthful vigour the patricians were strong enough to preserve their order and the religion which formed its foundation and safeguard 7the nobles1 ,vico observes at this point1 were always and everywhere religious1 so that the first sign of contempt for religion among them is a symptom of national decadence72 the plebeians were spirited enough to demand a share in religion1 auspices and all civil rights2 the lawyers1 lastly1 were wise enough to interpret the old laws and apply them to any new case that might arise1 and strove with all their might to alter the text of these laws as little and as slowly as possible4 ,these were the chief causes of the growth and permanence of the ,roman empire2 for in all its political changes it contrived to remain faithful to its principles4 ,prowess in war was another result of the rivalry of the orders2 since the nobles were naturally consecrated to the safety of their country1 as the only means of preserving the civil privileges of their order1 and the plebeians accomplished brilliant deeds in order to prove themselves worthy of patrician honours4 ,and when the ,romans extended their conquests and their victories over the whole world1 they made use of four rules which they had already applied to the plebeians within ,rome itself4 ,they reduced barbarian provinces to the position of clients by planting colonies in them3 they granted civilised provinces bonitary tenure of their land3 to ,italy they gave the quiritary tenure3 and to the municipia1 the towns which had earned better treatment1 they accorded the same equality with themselves which the plebs had finally won4 ,the result of the first struggles1 in which the point at issue was according to ,vico the bonitary possession of land 7a right already recognised in the constitution of ,servius1 but cancelled by the nobles in return for arrears of rent71 is seen in the tribunate1 and later1 when the plebeians claimed the right of quiritary tenure1 in the laws of the ,twelve ,tables1 ratifying this plebeian victory4 ,but the law of the ,twelve ,tables represented at the same time the victory of written law1 the end of the secrecy with which the laws had been fenced round by the patricians1 who alone knew1 understood1 interpreted and therefore applied them as they thought fit4 ,this publication and codification of a written law cannot have been benevolently granted by the patricians out of that anxiety not to despise the wishes of the plebs of which ,livy speaks2 rather they must have resisted it with all the stubbornness which ,dionysius of ,halicarnassus describes and expresses in the phrase mores patrios servandos1 leges ferri non oportere 7our fathers' customs must be preserved1 and laws must not be passed74 ,later historians decorated the origin of the ,twelve ,tables with various legends4 ,they told1 among other things1 of the mission sent by the decemvirs to ,athens to bring back new laws3 a tale given by ,livy and ,dionysius1 but unknown to ,polybius and discredited by ,cicero4 ,how1 in the savage aloofness of primitive nations1 between whom oral communication could only have been instituted by the necessities of warfare1 alliances and commerce1 could the fame of ,solon's wisdom have crossed the seas from distant ,attica to ,rome8 ,how could the ,romans of that time have possessed such accurate knowledge of the quality of ,athenian law as to believe it capable of setting at rest the strife between their plebeians and their nobles8 ,how could ambassadors have travelled between ,greece and those ,romans whom seventy-two years later the ,greeks of ,tarentum could still maltreat as strangers8 ,and what shall we say of ambassadors who returned carrying with them the ,greek laws from ,athens but without knowing what they meant2 so that but for the coincidence by which ,hermodorus the pupil of ,heraclitus1 an exile from his country1 happened to be in ,rome1 the ,romans would have been unable to make any use of this unintelligible and inaccessible treasure8 ,again1 how could ,hermodorus have translated the laws into ,latin of such purity that ,diodorus ,siculus pronounced it devoid of the slightest taint of ,hellenism1 and with a perfection unattained by any subsequent writer of any period in a translation from the ,greek8 ,how did he contrive to clothe ,greek ideas in ,latin words so appropriate 7for instance1 auctoritas7 that ,greeks1 ,dio ,cassius among them1 declare that their own language has no corresponding words by which to explain them8 ,heraclitus's letter to ,hermodorus must have been conveyed by the same mail that served ,pythagoras in his distant voyages up and down the world3 it is1 in fact1 an imposture of the first quality1 and the whole story of the ,athenian origin of these laws is due to the arrogance of scholars1 who derived them first from the other ,latin peoples 7such as the ,aequi71 then from the ,greek cities of ,italy1 then from ,sparta and finally from ,athens1 with whose name1 thanks to the renown of the ,athenian philosophers1 they were at last satisfied4 ,no doubt1 the laws of the ,twelve ,tables present resemblances not only to ,athenian or ,spartan laws but to those of various nations1 the ,mosaic code among others2 but this is due to the uniformity of national history4 ,no doubt1 the decemvirs were in antiquity supposed to have originated laws bearing clear traces of ,greek influence1 such as that prohibiting the ,greek style of mourning at funerals3 but this is because as we have seen the decemviral legislation1 like the names of the various kings1 became a poetic character1 and to it were referred all laws later recorded in the public archives which tended to the equalisation of liberty4 ,but the original law of the ,twelve ,tables1 with its primitive rudeness1 inhumanity1 cruelty and ferocity1 which agrees so ill with the period of highly-developed civilisation at ,athens1 is a document of the greatest value for the ancient natural law of the ,latin peoples1 and the customs which had existed among them from the age of ,saturn4 ,quiritary tenure of land and a written code of law once gained1 the struggle recommenced over the question of the right of marriage4 ,the true meaning of this contest has been lost among the absurdities written on the subject by the ancient historians themselves1 in the belief that its basis was the desire on the part of the plebeians 7who were little more than wretched and common slaves7 to be allowed to form connexions with the nobles4 ,this error has made ,roman history even less credible than the legendary history of ,greece2 for if we do not know the meaning of the latter1 the former is in opposition to the true order of human desires4 ,it shows us a plebs aspiring first to nobility1 secondly to offices and magistracies1 and finally to wealth3 whereas men desire first of all wealth1 then offices in the state1 and lastly nobility4 ,what the ,roman plebs really claimed was not connubio1 cum patribus but connubio1 patrum3 not the right of connexion by marriage with the nobles--a claim which they would not have wished to make1 and was at bottom unimportant--but the right of contracting solemn marriages as the nobles did4 ,for without such solemn marriages1 without privilege of the auspices1 the plebeians were in fact unable to enjoy the quiritary tenure of land and to transmit it to their families1 deprived as they were of descent1 kindred and relatives4 ,the demand for connubio was1 in a word1 simply equivalent to a demand for the rights of citizens1 and it was satisfied by the ,canuleian law4 ,the next demand of the plebeians was for privileges depending on public rights4 ,of these they gained first the imperium together with the consulship1 and lastly the offices of priest and pontifex1 which carried with them knowledge of the law4 ,in this way the system of seigneurial liberty planned by ,servius ,tullius grew into a system of popular liberty1 and the census1 which was originally paid to the patricians1 was paid hereafter into the public treasury1 out of which the expenses of the plebeians in war were paid4 ,the tribunes now proceeded to demand the power of legislation2 for the previous laws1 the ,horatian and ,hortensian1 had not made plebiscites binding on the whole people1 except upon the two special occasions which led to the secession of the plebs to the ,aventine and ,janiculum respectively4 ,this new victory1 which established the superiority of the plebs and transformed the aristocratic into a popular republic1 was the ,publilian law due to the ,dictator ,publilius ,philo and decreeing that plebiscites should be binding on all the ,quirites 7omnes quirites tenerent74 ,the authority of the senate came out of the struggle somewhat impaired1 for while formerly the fathers had acted as auctores for the deliberations of the people1 they were now the proposers of law to the people1 which the latter then approved according to the formula submitted to them by the senate1 or else antiquated the proposal 7antiquo1 to vote against a measure7 and decided to make no innovation4 ,besides this1 the plebs won the last office to be conceded to them1 that of censor4 ,the ,petelian law1 a few years later1 abolished the last remnant of feudalism1 the bond 7nexus7 which made the plebeians the bondmen of the nobles for debt and often compelled them to spend their lives working in their private prisons4 ,some time later1 when the division between patriciate and plebs with the corresponding comitia curiata and tributa was replaced by ,fabius ,maximus's division according to the property of citizens1 who were now grouped into three classes of senators1 knights and plebeians1 the order of the nobles disappeared entirely3 senator and knight were no longer synonymous with patrician1 nor plebeian with base-born4 ,the ,senate however preserved sovereign dominion over the finances of the ,roman ,empire1 though the ,empire itself had passed to the plebeians2 and thanks to the so-called senatusconsultum ultimum it maintained this dominion by force of arms as long as ,rome remained a popular republic4 ,whenever the people attempted to take it into their own hands1 the ,senate armed the ,consuls1 who forthwith declared traitors and put to death plebeian tribunes who had originated these attempts4 ,this may be explained as a right of feudal sovereignty subject to a higher sovereign1 a view confirmed by the language of ,scipio ,nasica when he armed the people against ,tiberius ,gracchus3 whoever wishes for the safety of the republic1 let him follow the consul 7qui rempublicam salvam velit1 consulem sequatur74 ,and indeed1 once the road to office was opened by law to the multitude which rules in a popular republic1 there was nothing left in time of peace but to contest its rule not by laws but by force of arms1 and for those in power to pass laws for self-enrichment like the ,gracchan agrarian measures1 resulting at once in civil wars at home and unjust wars abroad4 ,with the triumph of the plebs and the change of constitution from aristocratic to popular1 the whole face of society changed4 ,in the first place1 the aspect of the family changed4 ,here1 during the rule of the patriciate1 testamentary succession was admitted only at a late date and was easily cancelled1 in order to keep wealth in patrician hands3 kindred even in the seventh degree excluded the emancipated son from the paternal heritage3 emancipation had the effect of a penalty3 legitimising was not allowed3 and it is doubtful whether a woman could inherit4 ,but in the democratic society1 since for the plebs wealth1 strength and power all depended on the number of their children1 family feeling began to grow up1 and the praetors began to consider its claims and to satisfy them by means of the honorum possessiones1 thus remedying the faults or shortcomings of wills and facilitating the diffusion of wealth1 the only thing desired by the common people4 ,a change took place1 again1 in the meaning of the institutions of property4 ,the civil tenure was no longer a matter of public right1 but was dispersed among the various private tenures of the citizens now forming the body of the popular state4 ,eminent tenure no longer signifies the strongest kind of tenure1 unencumbered by any actual charge1 even a public charge1 but applies simply to an estate free from any private charge4 ,quiritary tenure is no longer that of which the noble was feudal lord and under the obligation to aid his client1 the plebeian1 if ousted from it3 it has become a private civil tenure1 capable of being defended by a civil suit as opposed to the bonitary which could be maintained by possession only4 ,the forms of legal process were pruned of the luxurious growth of fictions1 solemn formulae and symbolic acts1 simplified and rationalised3 the intellect1 the thought of the legislator was brought into play and the citizens conformed to an idea of a common rational utility1 understood as spiritual in value4 ,causes1 which were originally formulae safeguarded by accurate and precise language1 became affairs or negotiations solemnised by agreement and1 in the case of transference of tenure1 by natural tradition2 and it was only in contracts said to be completed by word of mouth1 that is to say in stipulations1 that the safeguards remained causes in the strict ancient meaning of the word4 ,thus the certitude of the law1 when the human reason was fully developed1 passed into the truth of ideas determined by the circumstances of fact1 a formula devoid of any particular form 7formula naturae1 as ,varro calls it7 which1 like a light1 informs in all the minutest details of their surface the details of fact over which it extends4 ,in popular republics the ruling principle is the aequum bonum1 natural equity4 ,the harsh punishments of the periods of domestic monarchy and heroic society 7the laws of the ,twelve ,tables condemned those who set fire to another's crops to be burnt alive1 perjurers to be thrown from the ,tarpeian rock1 and insolvent debtors to be cut in pieces while living7 were replaced by milder penalties1 since the multitude1 whose members are weak1 is naturally disposed to clemency4 ,laws1 which under the aristocracy were few1 inflexible and religiously observed1 multiplied under the democracy and became liable to change and modification4 ,the ,spartans1 who preserved their aristocracy1 said that at ,athens they had many laws and wrote them2 at ,sparta few1 but they obeyed them4 ,the ,roman plebs1 like the ,athenian1 passed new laws every day1 and the attempt by ,sulla1 the leader of the noble party1 to reduce them by the institution of quaestiones perpetuae or permanent courts was in vain1 for after his time laws were again multiplied4 ,war itself1 which was under the aristocratic republics very cruel and resulted in the destruction of conquered towns and the reduction of the vanquished to the condition of labourers scattered over the country-side and cultivating it on behalf of the victors1 was mitigated by the popular republics1 which while they deprived the conquered of the rights of heroic society left them in possession of the natural rights of the human race4 ,empires grew1 since a popular republic is much more adapted to conquest than an aristocratic1 and a monarchy most of all4 ,but with all this humanisation of customs1 the power of wise rule1 political virtue1 diminished4 ,the ancient patricians enforced a rigid respect for law2 and each1 possessing a large share of the public utility1 set his own minor personal interests below this greater particular interest1 guaranteed as it was by the state4 ,hence all courageously defended and wisely consulted for the good of the state4 ,in a popular state on the other hand since the citizens controlled the state property by dividing it among themselves into as many small portions as there were citizens in the body of the people1 and through the causes which produced that form of state1 ease1 paternal affection1 conjugal love and desire of life1 men were led to consider the smallest details favourable to their own private interest2 that is to regard nothing but the aequum bonum1 the only interest of which a multitude is capable4 ,at this point arises spontaneously a new form of government1 which has long been preparing and has now become inevitable1 namely monarchy4 ,the ordinary political writers make monarchy originate1 without any of the numerous and complex causes which are necessary to produce it1 at the very outset of human history1 as a frog1 says ,vico1 is born of a summer shower4 ,still less did it originate artificially by the royal law which ,tribonian believes to have deprived the ,roman people of its free and sovereign power and conferred it upon ,octavius ,augustus4 ,the law which brought monarchy into being was a natural law whose formula of eternal validity is as follows3 when in a popular republic every one seeks his private interest only and presses the public forces into its service at risk of destruction to the state1 to preserve the latter from ruin a man must arise1 as ,augustus did at ,rome 7who as ,tacitus says received under his sovereign power the whole state1 worn out with civil wars1 taking the title of ,princeps3 qui cuncta bellis civilibus fessa nomine principis sub imperium accepit73 a single man1 who by force of arms takes in hand all the affairs of the state and leaves his subjects to look after their own affairs or after any public business he may entrust to them2 surrounding himself with a small number of statesmen as a cabinet to discuss public questions or principles of civil equity4 ,such a monarch is welcomed by nobles and plebeians alike3 by the nobles1 who after having been already humiliated by their subjection to plebeian rule abandon their ancient aristocratic claim to sovereignty and think only of securing a comfortable life2 and by the plebeians1 who after an experiment in anarchy or unbridled demagogy 7than which no tyranny is worse1 since it produces as many tyrants as there are bold and dissolute men in the state7 are led by their own misfortunes to welcome peace and protection4 ,monarchy is then a new form of popular government4 ,in order that a powerful man may become sovereign1 it is necessary that the people shall take his side1 and that he should rule in a popular manner2 making all his subjects equal1 humiliating the great to protect the multitude against their oppression1 keeping the people satisfied and content as regards the necessaries of life and the enjoyment of natural liberty1 and employing a well-balanced system of concessions and privileges granted sometimes to whole classes 7in which case they are called privileges of liberty7 sometimes to particular persons1 by promoting into a higher class men of unusual merit and exceptional virtues4 ,in monarchy1 a humane government no less than democracy1 the process of humanisation or softening of customs and laws1 already begun under popular republics1 still continues4 ,the rigid bonds of the patriarchal family and kinship relax further4 ,the ,emperors1 who tended to be overshadowed by the splendours of the nobility1 made efforts to promote the rights of human nature common to nobles and plebeians4 ,augustus strove to safeguard the trusteeships by which formerly property had passed to persons incapable of inheritance thanks only to the conscientiousness of the injured heir2 he transformed such understandings from a right into a necessity1 by obliging heirs to execute them4 ,a number of senatusconsulta followed which placed cognati 7relations generally7 on a level with agnati 7relations through the father74 ,finally1 ,justinian abolished the difference between property inherited and property in the hands of trustees1 confused the ,falcidian quarter with the ,trebellian and put cognati and agnati on precisely the same footing as regards inheritance ab intestato4 ,the latest ,roman law was so entirely on the side of testaments that1 while originally these could be broken for the slightest cause1 they now had to be interpreted in the way most adapted to secure their validity4 ,once the cyclopean right of the father over the persons of his children had disappeared1 his economic right over property acquired by them disappeared also2 and hence the emperors first introduced the peculium castrense 7property obtained during military service7 to attract young men to war1 then the peculium quasicastrense1 to attract them into the praetorian guard1 and finally to satisfy those who were neither soldiers nor scholars the peculium adventitium4 ,they deprived the patria potestas of its influence over adoptions1 now no longer restricted to the small circle of relations2 they uniformly countenanced formal adoption 7arrogatio7 which was somewhat difficult owing to the difficulty of a father's becoming a subordinate member of another family2 they considered emancipation as a benefit and gave to legitimization by a subsequent marriage all the efficacy of solemn wedlock4 ,the imperium paternum1 as an arrogant title seeming to detract from the imperial majesty1 was altered into patria potestas4 ,the humane tendencies of the monarchs extended moreover to that part of the ancient family which consisted of slaves3 for the emperors restrained the cruelty of masters towards these1 and benefited them by increasing the force and decreasing the solemnity of manumission2 and citizen rights1 which were given originally only to distinguished foreigners who had deserved well of the ,roman people1 were granted to every one born in ,rome1 even of a slave father provided his mother were free or enfranchised4 ,punishments were also made milder1 and the monarchs distinguished themselves by the gracious title of clement4 ,the letter of the law always tended to be more freely interpreted in the light of natural equity1 and it may be said that ,constantine absolutely cancelled the letter when he laid down the principle that any particular motive of equity should override the law4 ,thus was attained the precise opposite of the privilegia ne irroganto of the ,twelve ,tables 7that no exceptions be made73 all privileges were exceptions to the law dictated by some particular merit in the facts which lifted them out of the sphere of legal generalisations4 ,the restriction of rights to particular peoples was by degrees abolished3 under ,caracalla the whole ,roman world was converted into a single ,rome1 since great monarchs desire the whole world to become one city1 according to the thought of ,alexander the ,great1 when he said that for him all the world was a single city of which his phalanx was the citadel4 ,the praetor's edict gives place1 under ,hadrian1 to the perpetual edict of ,salvius ,julianus1 almost exclusively composed of provincial edicts4 ,with monarchy1 the natural law of races gives place to the natural law of nations2 and hence this political1 social and juridical form is the most suitable to human nature at its fullest rational development4 ,here too1 as we have already had occasion to remark1 we reach again after a long process the unity which existed in the person of the primitive father under domestic monarchy2 and the course of national history must be considered as absolutely complete4 ,to go further is impossible3 the only possibility1 at this stage of the highest human civilisation and refinement1 is corruption1 the return of barbarism as a barbarism of reflection and a relapse into a kind of new state of nature1 to return once more into a new and heroic barbarism4 ,,chapter ,,xviii ,,the ,,return ,,of ,,barbarism3 ,,the ,,middle ,,ages ,of this kind of reflux ,vico mentions and examines only one instance3 the period of ,european history which had in his own days for the first time been marked out definitely by historians and given the name 7though ,vico does not use it7 of the ,middle ,ages4 ,that this was a period of decadence and barbarism was certainly not a new thought for consciousness3 for1 especially in the humanistic period1 a general feeling of estrangement and repulsion had been felt towards these centuries of middle and low ,latinity in which the treasures of the classical literatures were neglected and scattered1 and humane studies either lost their vigour or disappeared completely4 ,this consciousness1 general on the part of cultivated ,europe1 was especially full and vivid in ,italy2 for that country could never forget that though for other peoples the ,middle ,ages had seen the rise of their fortunes1 power and civilisation1 for her they had meant the end of ,rome's greatness1 the humiliation of her name before the arrogant ,vandal1 ,visigoth and ,lombard1 the devastation of rich cities1 and the destruction of majestic monuments whose miserable wreckage could be seen on every hand4 ,machiavelli had opened his ,histories with a famous and striking picture of the general change which followed the fall of the ,western ,empire4 ,but to pass in review the ruins or to collect the antiquities of the ,middle ,ages was not the way to penetrate into the spirit of the period1 any more than to note a man's faults and the marks which distinguish him from another is the same thing as understanding the soul of either4 ,vico was the first to understand the soul of the ,middle ,ages1 that is to say1 the mental1 social and cultural constitution of the period4 ,though living in a part of ,italy rich not only in documents but in survivals of the ,middle ,age1 ,vico confesses that this second period of barbarism is much more obscure to him than the first1 and that it is only the first that has enabled him to throw light upon the second4 ,this he expressed by the mere fact that he named the period the second barbarism1 or the return or reflux of barbarism1 and thus considered it as an instance of his ideal law of reflux4 ,the ,middle ,ages seemed to him both a representation of the primitive conditions of life1 and in consequence a reproduction of the social process developing out of them4 ,it was a view as original as it was rich in truth3 and it is no objection to it to say that ,vico reveals the generic characters rather than the particular traits of the ,middle ,ages1 because we know that the problem he set before himself was precisely the investigation of generic characters or uniformities1 and that he avoided history properly so called in order to escape a dilemma between science and faith1 between the purely immanental conception of history1 excluding revelation and miracle1 and the purely transcendent conception1 miraculous and therefore difficult to treat in a scientific manner4 ,even in our own times1 it is a fact worth noticing that we have seen a recrudescence of this attempt to harmonise religion and history by abstracting from the individual aspect of events and reducing history to a history of institutions and uniformities4#a ,in this position assumed by the problem in ,vico's mind we may see the reason for the fact1 which some have thought very strange in a ,catholic1 that he lays no stress on ,christianity1 and when he encounters it at the outset of the ,middle ,ages dismisses it in a few words2 saying that ,god1 having by superhuman ways shown clearly the truth of the ,christian religion1 when he opposed the virtue of the martyrs to the power of ,rome1 and the doctrine of the ,fathers1 together with the miracles1 to the empty wisdom of ,greece1 and knowing that armed nations must arise on every hand ready to fight for the divinity of that religion's author1 permitted the birth of a new order of civilisation among the nations1 in order that the true religion might be established according to the natural course of human affairs4 ,we must be content then with the resemblances observed by ,vico between mediaeval society and that of the early centuries of ,greece and ,rome1 and not take offence if his exemplifications and proofs very often seem fallacious and fanciful4 ,his main historical thought as we know already is robust enough to pass over the errors or to live in the midst of them unimpaired4 ,we see 7to reconstruct his story or picture1 with some rearrangement7 in the ,middle ,ages groups of dwellings everywhere springing up on the mountains1 each dominated by its fortress as in the divine age of the ,cyclopes2 for the unhappy people1 ground down by the violence of barbarian invasions and intestine strife1 had no other means of defence4 ,the most ancient cities built in the ,middle ,ages and almost all capitals of states are as a matter of fact placed upon heights2 all new seigneuries formed at the time were called castella by the ,italians2 and this perhaps is also the reason why nobles were called men born in a high or conspicuous position 7summo1 illustri loco nati7 while the plebeians living in the plains below were born in a low or obscure place 7imo1 obscuro loco nati74 ,we find asyla or sanctuaries again open especially with the ecclesiastical lords1 who were in humanity in advance of their savage times2 here took refuge the oppressed and the terrified1 to seek protection for person or property4 ,hence in ,germany1 a country which must have been wilder than the other parts of ,europe1 there remained almost more ecclesiastical than secular lords4 ,a famous example of these political formations was the ,abbey of ,st4 ,laurence at ,aversa in the kingdom of ,naples1 with which was incorporated that of ,st4 ,laurence at ,capua4 ,this monastery governed either directly or by abbots or monks dependent upon it no less than a hundred and ten churches in ,campania1 ,samnium1 ,apulia and the ancient ,calabria1 from the river ,volturnus to the gulf of ,tarentum2 the abbots of ,st4 ,laurence were lords or barons of almost the whole of this country4 ,the small chapels which they built in mountainous and remote places for the celebration of the mass and other religious offices became natural sanctuaries for the population1 and they built their houses round them3 and this is the reason why in ,europe so many cities1 lands and castles bear the names of saints1 and why the churches are the most ancient monuments of this period4 ,consequently we also find feudalism1 not establishing itself in ,europe for the first time1 but appearing once more4 ,it has been mistakenly believed to be a relic of ,roman law after its destruction by the barbarians 7such is the theory of ,oldenorp and all other jurists7 whereas really ,roman law itself arose out of the ruins of the feudalism of early ,latin barbarism1 and mediaeval feudalism was not a new law of the ,european nations1 but a very ancient law renewed by the last barbarism4 ,this feudalism is far from being the vile matter which ,cujas calls it3 it is a heroic matter1 one worthy to be celebrated by the most erudite and profound learning of ,greece and ,rome4 ,and to what is it due1 if not to this essential unity of nature1 that the choicest expressions of ,roman law1 which ,cujas himself allows to mitigate the barbarism of feudalistic learning1 are so precisely adequate to express the properties and attributes of the system that no better terminology could be desired8 ,with the ,middle ,ages1 then1 we return to the fundamental division between heroes and slaves1 between viri or barons 7varones is the word still used for men1 viri in ,spanish7 and mere homines as the vassals were called3 between patres or patrons and serfs4 ,the learned students of feudalism who translate feudum by clientela are really giving something1 much more than a good linguistical equivalent2 they are unawares giving a historical definition of the feoff4 ,the first feoffs of the ,middle ,ages were necessarily personal1 like the first clientelae of ,romulus3 a form of vassalage still extant in ,vico's time in the north1 especially in ,poland1 where the kmet were a kind of slaves who were often used as stakes in their lord's games1 and passed with their families into the hands of the winner4 ,then came rustic feoffs1 real in character and consisting in uncultivated land assigned by the victors to the conquered for their sustenance1 while they themselves kept the cultivated land3 these feoffs were called by the feudalists1 with a new elegance of ,latinity and an equally sound historical truth1 beneficia4 ,the ancient next were the new liege or bound men1 who were compelled to join in all the friendships and quarrels of their lord1 and supplied what in ,rome was called opera militaris1 and in the ,middle ,ages militare servitium4 ,the feudal bond extended itself to larger political relations1 and just as conquered kings became allies or socii of ,rome and upheld the majesty of the ,roman people1 so there were sovereign feoffs subordinated to higher sovereignties whose representatives1 the great kings and lords of large kingdoms and numerous provinces1 took the title of majesty4 ,republics became aristocratic once more in government if not in constitution3 this is admitted by political writers1 among others by ,bodin1 who even says that his own kingdom of ,france was purely aristocratic in constitution under the ,merovingian and ,capetian dynasties4 ,till the end of the sixteenth century living witnesses to the past remained in the aristocratic kingdoms of ,sweden and ,denmark2 and ,poland1 mentioned above1 preserved the same constitution down to ,vico's own time4 ,the first state parliaments of ,europe must have consisted like ,romulus's senate of the elders of the nobility 7seniores1 hence seigneurs72 and were armed courts of barons or peers like the comitia curiata of old4 ,in these parliaments were decided feudal causes concerning rights or successions or the devolution of feoffs through felony or default of heirs3 which causes1 confirmed many times by these judgments1 formed the customs of feudalism4 ,vico saw a relic of these parliaments in the ,sacred ,royal ,council at ,naples1 the president of which assumed the title of ,sacred ,royal ,majesty1 as the councillors did the title of milites1 and whose sentences admitted of no appeal to any other tribunal1 but only a request for revision by the ,council itself4 ,the governments1 beside being aristocratic1 were enveloped in an atmosphere of religion to such an extent that not only were bishops and abbots very often1 as we saw1 feudatories1 but feudatories and sovereigns adorned themselves freely with religious insignia2 ,catholic kings everywhere1 in order to defend the ,christian religion whose protectors they were1 wore the dalmatic of the diaconate1 consecrated their persons 7whence the title ,sacred ,royal ,majesty71 and took rank in the church1 as ,hugh ,capet took the title of ,count and ,abbot of ,paris2 thus as we see from the earliest documents the ,french lords called themselves dukes and abbots or counts and abbots simultaneously4 ,these early ,christian kings were the first to institute armed religious orders1 by the help of which they defended ,catholicism against ,arians1 ,saracens and other infidels4 ,pura et pin bella returned once more as in the heroic period2 the globe surmounted by the cross worn by the ,christian potentates on their crowns recalls the cross upon the standards in the holy wars or crusades4 ,heroic slavery returns1 and lasts a long time among ,christian nations because1 considering war as the judgment of ,god1 the victors believed the vanquished to be abandoned by ,god and held them no better than beasts 7thus the ,christians called the ,turks dogs and were in turn called pigs by them74 ,the ancients deprived the conquered of all things human and divine4 ,the new barbarians on occupying a city endeavoured above everything to search out and carry off the tombs or relics of saints1 which the peoples of that time buried and concealed with all possible care2 and thus almost all translations of relics took place at this time4 ,a trace of this custom survives in the rule by which a conquered nation must buy back from the victorious generals all the bells in the cities they have taken4 ,analogous resemblances may be found in the juridical regulation of property4 ,the primary division of property in feudal law is that into feudal goods and allodial goods4 ,allodial tenure was in origin a highly secure right1 unencumbered by any external charge1 even a public one2 and applied to property directly acquired or conquered by the patricians or barons4 ,feudal tenure required the approval of the lord by whom it had been granted4 ,allodial tenure thus corresponded to quiritary ex optimo iure1 and feudal to bonitary2 and it was only when later in modern ,europe as previously in ancient ,rome a new census and treasury were formed1 and when allodial property was made subject to public charges1 that it could be contemptuously described as goods of the spindle as opposed to feudal1 goods of the lance4 ,thus1 to take an example1 the provinces which were later incorporated into the ,french kingdom had formerly been sovereign principalities feudally dependent upon the ruler of the said kingdom2 their sovereign princes being free from all public charge in the tenure of their 7allodial7 possessions4 ,later1 when through succession1 rebellion or failure of heirs these provinces became part of the kingdom1 the property was made liable to taxation and tribute2 the tenure ex optimo iure was confused with private non-feudal tenure subject to these charges1 and allodials in the noble sense of the word were identified with allodials in the common sense4 ,the later students of feudalism missed the point of the primitive distinction just as the late ,roman jurists forgot the meaning of tenure ex optimo iure4 ,to the feudal tenure belonged emphyteosis 7so that the allodial right ultimately signified both what the vassal paid to the sovereign and the planter to his immediate lord73 commendations1 identical with the ancient clientela3 the census by which the vassals were bound to serve their lords in war 7the tributaries1 angarii or perangarii1 being equivalent to the ,roman assidui73 the precaria1 which must originally have been land granted by lords in response to the prayers of the poor3 and libelli or transferences of non-movable property which in this agricultural economy took the place of commerce4 ,the exclusion of women from inheritance1 which went back to the beginnings of ,roman law1 was renewed in the form of the salic law in ,germany and among all the early barbarian nations of ,europe1 though it preserved its force only in ,france and ,savoy4 ,punishments were cruel2 death was called the ordinary penalty4 ,but there was in the ,middle ,ages no real penal law and procedure dealing with private offences4 ,the murder of a plebeian was committed either by his own lord1 whom nobody could accuse1 or by another lord1 who could indemnify the man's own lord for his loss as if he had been a slave4 ,this custom was still in force in ,poland1 ,lithuania1 ,denmark1 ,sweden and ,norway4 ,under the name of canonical purgations 7though unrecognised by canon law7 certain kinds of divine judgments or duels were practised throughout ,europe2 and private vengeance flourished down to the time of ,bartolo4 ,in judgments concerned with allodial rights1 the lords met in arms2 and in the kingdom of ,naples even in ,vico's own days barons avenged intrusions upon their own feoffs on the part of other barons not by civil suits but by duels4 ,in a society ruled by force1 what wonder that the robbers of the heroic age returned1 and that pirate became a title of nobility8 ,never has the fortune of kingdoms been so various or so inconstant4 ,the ,roman law of ,justinian1 penetrated as it was by the idea of equity1 was abandoned and fell into oblivion4 ,in ,france and ,spain any one who dared to appeal to it in a cause was severely punished2 in ,italy it is certain that the nobles considered it dishonourable to regulate their affairs by ,roman law1 and professed to live according to that of the ,lombards2 while the plebeians1 slower in throwing off ancient customs1 continued to practise certain parts of the ,roman law by force of habit4 ,in fact the law of the period consisted rather of habits than of statutes3 rigid formulae and solemn ceremonial once more acquired importance1 and a distinction was made between pacta nuda1 naked agreements1 and pacta vestita1 agreements clothed and reinforced by these formulae and ceremonies4 ,an example of the respect in which formulae were held is afforded by the action of the ,emperor ,conrad ,,iii4 ,on taking ,weinsberg1 a town which had supported his rival for the empire1 he condemned it to extermination1 making an exception only in favour of the women and all they could bring out with them4 ,the women came out of the doomed city carrying on their backs their sons1 husbands and fathers3 and the ,emperor1 standing before the gate at the head of his army with swords drawn and lances in rest to satisfy their leader's terrible wrath1 watched them and allowed them to pass safe and sound out of respect for the letter of his own decree4 ,it was an illiterate period1 a fact expressed by ,vico in the statement that languages again became mute or hieroglyphic4 ,the common tongues1 ,italian1 ,french1 ,spanish and ,german1 were not written down3 only a few ecclesiastics wrote a barbarous ,latin1 and hence cleric and scholar became synonymous terms2 but among the very priests such ignorance prevailed that we find documents signed by bishops with the sign of the cross1 as they were unable to write their own names4 ,owing to this paucity of learning an ,english law laid down that a man condemned to death should be reprieved if he could write1 as a valuable craftsman2 and man of letters as well as cleric or clerk remained a name for a learned man4 ,hence the value and general employment of family arms to indicate the owners of a house1 a tomb1 land or livestock1 and the frequency with which coats-of-arms are found on buildings of the time4 ,with barbarism returned the predominance of verse over prose4 ,the prose of the ,fathers of the ,latin ,church--and the same is true of those of the ,greek--is full of poetic rhythms1 so as to resemble a chant4 ,the first modern lyric poetry was religious2 and if there was not strictly a ,christian religious poetry1 this was because the subjects of our theology transcend all intelligence and imagination and crush the poetic faculty4 ,poetry and history were once more confounded2 the romantic poets1 the heroic poets of the return to barbarism1 believed their own stories to be true1 and thus ,boiardo and ,ariosto took as subject for their poems ,turpin1 ,bishop of ,paris4 ,and just as the ,french language1 when owing to the famous ,parisian school and the highly subtle scholastic theology it passed at a stroke from spontaneity to reflection1 preserved pure diphthongs in great number while adopting abstract terms1 so the story of ,turpin survived in ,france like a ,homeric poem4 ,these authors of ,latin poems confined themselves entirely to history1 for instance1 ,william of ,apulia's ,de gestis ,normannorum in ,italia and ,gunther's ,carmen heroicum de rebus a ,frederico ,barbarossa gestis4 ,the first writers in the vernacular were in ,italy poets no less than in ,provence and ,france4 ,a punctilious virtue like that of ,achilles again appeared1 the complete morality of the duellist2 hence arose the proud laws1 the lofty duties and the vindictive satisfactions of the knight-errants sung by the romantic poets4 ,does not ,cola di ,rienzo seem to be a real ,homeric character in his swift outburst of emotion when1 as we read in his life1 while speaking of the unhappy state of ,rome he excited both himself and his listeners to unrestrained tears8 ,hyperbole was a common type of thought1 as in children2 for ,i often remember1 writes ,vico1 when walking abroad that the gentle slopes which unfold themselves before my eyes appeared when ,i was a child to be steep and lofty mountains4 ,thus in the ,middle ,ages ,roland and the other paladins were represented as gigantic in stature3 and images of divine beings1 the eternal ,father1 ,christ1 or the ,virgin1 painted or sculptured1 were of colossal dimensions4 ,but the human mind is like land which1 after lying waste for long centuries1 when first cultivated bears crops of wonderful quality1 size and abundance4 ,thus at the close of barbarism in ,italy after four savage and stormy centuries1 arose ,dante1 the ,homer of the second barbarism1 just as somewhat later flourished the delicate verse of ,petrarch and the gallant and graceful prose of ,boccaccio2 all three incomparable in their way4 ,and since barbarism is1 as we have already indicated1 truthful1 frank1 faithful1 generous and magnanimous by nature1 ,dante puts on the stage real persons and real actions of the dead2 and his poem is called a comedy in allusion to the ancient comedy which followed the same principle4 ,it is a poem in which both the ,iliad and the ,odyssey find parallels2 the former in the ,inferno1 where ,dante employs his choleric genius and all his vast imagination in describing the effects of implacable wrath and recalling numbers of merciless punishments1 a worthy companion-picture to the horrid slaughters of ,homer 7whose descriptions of them inspire pity in us1 but gave nothing but pleasure to his own audience72 the latter1 the ,odyssey1 which celebrates the heroic endurance of ,ulysses1 is paralleled by the ,purgatorio1 a spectacle of severe punishments borne with immovable patience1 and the ,paradiso where infinite joy is experienced with an infinite tranquillity of mind4 ,another similarity between ,dante and ,homer lies in the physiognomy of the former's language1 which is so varied that some suppose him to have collected it like ,homer from all the dialects of his nation2 an opinion of sixteenth-century scholars which will not stand criticism1 for it is certain that when ,dante used them these expressions must have been current at ,florence1 and that a lifetime would have been insufficient to collect them from this side and from that when there were no writers in the various dialects4 ,but the most important resemblance of ,dante to ,homer is in poetic sublimity4 ,dante is a divine poet who to the delicate imaginations of to-day seems rough and uncivilised1 and often shocks by unwonted harmonies an ear that has become morbidly sensitive through effeminate music4 ,but he is received very differently by men of severe tastes who refuse to be satisfied with flowers1 ornaments and graces4 ,like ,homer too he is great not in esoteric wisdom but in the vigour of his imagination4 ,dante was undoubtedly a very learned theologian1 but that was his weakness rather than his strength4 ,if he had known neither ,scholasticism nor ,latin1 he would have been a still greater poet1 and perhaps the ,tuscan language would have had what ,latin never had1 a poet who could in everything bear comparison with ,homer4 ,the man who wrote this page of criticism on ,dante and vindicated him once more after centuries of anti-,dantesque taste 7or mere ,dantesque grammar or ,dantesque scholasticism7 and vindicated him in the very height of the prosperity of the ,arcadianism so hostile to him1 deserved to have made the acquaintance of ,william ,shakespeare genius1 which he was perhaps the only man alive capable of understanding4 ,but in ,italy1 as in most countries outside ,england1 nothing was known of ,shakespear at this time1 and ,vico has only the vague and belated remark about him that the ,english1 untouched by the prevailing delicacy of the century1 took no pleasure in tragedies which had not an element of atrocity in them1 just as the earliest taste of ,greek drama was for the abominable feast of ,thyestes and ,medea's impious slaughter of her brother and children4 ,the tendency towards ,teutonic poetry and literature remained in ,vico as we know an aspiration only2 he was unable to get a clear view of it however closely he tried to examine it2 and when he does mention it upon the strength of second-hand information1 it is only to say that in the ,german nation1 especially in the purely agricultural province of ,silesia1 poets arose naturally2 in his search for an unsophisticated popular poetry he had in fact stumbled without realising his mistake upon the ,silesian school of ,hoffmanswaldau and ,lhenstein1 the ,german imitators of the ,neapolitan ,marino4 ,but the only value of the anecdote is to illustrate anew the tricks played upon ,vico by his lively fancy4 ,how the world emerged from the second barbarismi and the feudal constitution1 ,vico does not say4 ,he does not seem to have fixed his attention upon the communal movement which presents so many analogies with the struggles of the ,roman plebs and the formation of ancient democracy4 ,he makes game1 here again1 of those who traced the genesis of modern monarchies such as the ,french to a simple law like that of ,tribonian by which1 he explains ironically1 the paladins of ,france deprived themselves of their power and conferred it upon the kings of the ,capetian dynasty4 ,he also observes that the baronial power1 being dispersed and dissipated by reason of civil wars in which they were obliged to depend upon the people1 was the more easily gathered up by sovereign monarchs2 and that thus the obsequium of vassals to their baron passed into the obsequium principis4 ,but he gives quite a special importance to the rediscovery of ,roman law 7that natural law of the ,european nations as ,grotius had called it7 by the studies undertaken in the ,italian universities4 ,men thus learnt anew the principles of natural equity2 the nobles and plebeians became equal in the eyes of civil law as they are already in human nature1 the secrets of the laws passed out of the hands of the feudatories1 whose power consequently diminished by degrees1 and the humane government of free republics and perfect monarchies came into being4 ,the reflux of heroic society had now undergone a contrary reflux2 it was no longer possible1 under the conditions of modern civilisation1 to recall it to life1 just as it was impossible for the attempts of the ,pythagoreans and ,dion of ,syracuse to restore the ancient aristocracies4 ,the plebeians1 once recognised as naturally equals of the nobles1 no longer submitted to remaining inferior to them in civil life4 ,and the few aristocratic republics which here and there survived in ,europe were compelled to take infinite pains and all manner of wise measures in order to keep quiet and contented the multitudes whom they governed4 ,footnote #a3 ,see my preface to ,sorel's ,reflections on ,violence 7,italian tr41 ,bari1 #aiji74 pp4 xxii-xxvii4 ,,chapter ,,xix ,,vico ,,and ,,the ,,tendencies ,,of ,,contemporary ,,culture ,having reached1 in his review of the course of history1 his own time1 a time of civilisation spread over all nations1 ,vico gives a rapid description of the contemporary world and then says no more3 perhaps unsatisfied1 at any rate uncertain or cautious4 ,as he was not led to embark upon the ,new ,science by the direct call of political problems1#a at least in the ordinary meaning of the phrase1 he never descends from the contemplations of the ,new ,science to3 the practical life1 even in the form which it most usually takes with a philosopher1 a work or short treatise criticising laws and institutions or suggesting improvements4 ,even when he does dimly conceive the idea of a practical aspect of his science1 he never supposes that so far as he is concerned it could ever exist except within the academies4 ,practical philosophy within the academies1 that is to say1 within the sphere of culture1 is however still practical and political2 and it is assuredly not the least important branch of politics4 ,and a historian or philosopher can never entirely avoid it1 though he can emphasise it more or less and develop it more or less fully4 ,vico does emphasise and develop it freely4 ,the first expression of his scientific life was precisely an examination of modern methods of study and education as compared with those of the ancients3 an examination which after various attempts and uncertainties in his first discoveries1 took form in his ,university inaugural lecture of #agjh1 ,de nostri temporis studiorum ratione4 ,in the following years1 engaged as he was upon the ,new ,science1 he gave no further public demonstration of his discontent with the prevailing tendency of studies2 but he expressed his feelings on the subject all the more often and all the more strongly in private letters1 and did not wish to pass over the question in his autobiography4 ,we need not then infer his polemical attitude from hints and chance phrases of his chief work2 since he has himself more than once converted these hints into explicit statements and these chance phrases into leading propositions4 ,this polemic occupies two closely-related spheres corresponding to the double aspect of the ,new ,science as a ,philosophy of ,mind and a ,generalising ,science4 ,under the first aspect ,vico had vindicated the claims of imagination1 the imaginative universal1 probability1 certitude1 experience and authority1 and therefore also of poetry1 religion1 history1 observation of nature1 scholarship and tradition4 ,under the second1 he had traced a scheme of the natural development of the mind both in the history of mankind and in that of the individual1 which he brings into constant relation with the phases of history4 ,hence his examination was bound to extend on the one hand to the mental condition of his own time and on the other to the way in which the education of children and young people was conceived and undertaken4 ,in both spheres ,vico saw the same defects2 he was met by the same and intellectualism which had made impossible the process of thought and had mutilated and falsified the truth of human history4 ,on emerging from grammar-schools1 boys were immediately plunged into logic4 ,the logic studied might be1 according to the teacher's taste1 either the scholastic or more often that composed by ,arnauld and called the ,port-,royal ,logic1 itself in substance ,aristotelian and ,scholastic1 but full of dry judgments concerning abstruse subjects in advanced sciences and far removed from common knowledge2 overloaded in fact with examples drawn from such sciences4 ,such a discipline was meant to make boys critical and to eradicate from their minds not only false1 but even probable and plausible opinions4 ,as a matter of fact it eradicated nothing1 since their minds were still empty or scantily furnished1 and unable to make any use of criticism for lack of matter to criticise4 ,they were to be taught to judge before being taught to apprehend1 an order false to the natural course of ideas1 which are first apprehended1 then judged1 and finally reasoned4 ,the result was that minds educated in this way became arid and unfruitful in development1 and believed themselves capable of judging everything1 while able to create nothing4 ,they remained all their lives intensely acute in formal thinking1 but incapable of any great labour2 critical1 in fact1 but sterile4 ,this caused not only unsoundness and arrogance of judgment but incapacity in practical life1 dealings with men1 and civil eloquence1 which is founded less upon criticism than upon plausibility1 and attains its end by making opportune remarks1 understanding the psychology of one's inter-locutor and acting in a manner adapted to it4 ,vico himself had suffered from the logico-critical method of education4 ,one of his first teachers1 the ,jesuit ,del ,balzo1 had put into his hands the works of the epitomist ,paulus ,venetus3 and his mind1 being too weak as yet to cope with this kind of ,chrysippean logic1 almost broke down under the strain2 so that having given up his studies in despair it was eighteen months before he resumed them4 ,he preserved a happier memory of his youthful essays in poetry in the wildest style of the ,neapolitan school of ,marino3 a form of diversion1 he says1 almost necessary to the mind of the young when metaphysic has rendered it too subtle and too rigid in precisely those years when the ardour of youth ought to lead the mind into errors1 so as to save it from becoming chilly and dry4 ,this age1 the barbarism of intellect1 vigorous in imagination and also1 through the close connexion that exists between the two1 in memory1 requires to be nourished and exercised by the reading of poetry1 history and rhetoric as well as by the study of languages4 ,the art which it ought to learn is not criticism but topic1 the true art of the ingenium or faculty of invention4 ,by means of this art children acquire materials which enable them to form sound judgments in later life2 for sound judgment depends upon a complete knowledge of its subject-matter1 and topic is the art of discovering the whole content of any given thing4 ,in this way young people simply by following the course of nature become at once philosophers and good speakers4 ,some antidote is doubtless necessary to the exuberance of the imagination4 ,but this must be sought in linear geometry rather than in logic3 for geometry is to some extent pictorial in character1 while it strengthens the memory by the great number of its elements1 ennobles the imagination by the delicacy of its figures and stimulates the inventive faculty by forcing it to review all these figures in order to choose those suitable to the demonstration of the quantity required4 ,but the whole value of geometry also was annulled by the method then in favour with the schools1 the algebraic method2 which like the scholastic logic numbs all the vigour of youthful faculties1 obscures the imagination1 enfeebles the memory1 and renders the inventive power and the understanding sluggish2 thus damaging the liberal arts in four distinct ways1 in the knowledge of languages and history1 in invention and in prudence4 ,more particularly algebra is fatal to the inventive faculty1 because in using the algebraic method one is conscious only of the immediate field of vision2 it weakens the memory because once the second sign is found the first need no longer be remembered2 it blinds the imagination1 because that faculty is not used at all2 it destroys the understanding1 because it lays claim to the power of divination4 ,young men who have devoted their time to it on proceeding to deal with the affairs of civil life find themselves1 to their great grief and remorse1 unfitted for such a life4 ,hence1 to make it useful in some degree and to prevent these ill effects1 it should be studied for a short time only at the close of the mathematical course1 and employed only as a means of abbreviation4 ,the habit of reasoning is formed much better by metaphysical analysis1 which in all questions begins by taking truth in the infinity of being1 and then descends by degrees2 through the genera of the substance1 eliminating in every species that which the thing is not1 till it arrives at the ultimate differentia constituting the essence of the thing we wish to know4 ,education as a whole was suffering from an excess of mathematics and a lack of concreteness4 ,as if boys1 on emerging from academic life1 were to enter a human world composed of lines1 numbers and algebraic symbols1 their heads were crammed with the magnificent phrases demonstration1 demonstrative truth1 and evidence1 and the rule of probability was condemned2 though this rule is the only guide of statesmen in their counsels1 generals in their campaigns1 orators in their treatment of a cause1 judges in giving a decision1 physicians in treating bodily diseases1 and moralistic theologians in treating those of the conscience2 the rule which the world accepts1 and upon which it rests in all disputes and controversies1 in all measures1 and in all elections2 which are universally determined by unanimity or the majority of votes4 ,such an education bred up an empty and inflated generation1 pedantry without wisdom and argument without truth4 ,the educators themselves1 that is to say1 the general atmosphere of culture1 resembled this scheme of education4 ,poetry was dead4 ,the analytic methods had numbed 7to repeat once more a word which ,vico uses with great frequency and force7 all the generosity of the better poetry4 ,and indeed ,europe was never so entirely barren of all poetic growth as it was in the first half of the eighteenth century4 ,italy was reduced to the drama of ,metastasio2 ,france had produced no one to succeed ,corneille and ,molire2 in ,spain the national drama1 that great outburst of the national spirit1 was dead1 and a rationalism imitating that of ,france was taking its place2 ,england seemed to have entirely forgotten that she once gave birth to ,shakespear1 and even ,germany was wasting her time over neo-classical imitations4 ,not only did nobody create new poetry1 but nobody wanted it4 ,the philosophers1 following ,descartes and ,malebranche1 had declared a war of extermination against all the faculties of the mind which depend upon sense1 and especially against the imagination1 which they hated as the source of every error4 ,they condemned the poets on the false pretext that they told fables1 as if the fables they told were not those eternal properties of the human mind which to the political philosophers1 economists and moralists are the subject-matter of reasoning1 and to the poets that of representation4 ,the ,cartesians also used their authority to belittle the study of languages4 ,did not ,descartes say that the knowledge of ,latin was no greater knowledge than was possessed by ,cicero's servant-girl8 ,serious scholarship in ,latin and ,greek had come to an end with the writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries2 the study of oriental languages was confined to the ,protestants2 and ,holland was the only country in which law was still a subject of research4 ,the famous library of ,valletta at ,naples1 rich in the finest editions of ,greek and ,latin works1 was generously bought by the fathers of the ,oratory1 but for less than half its original value owing to the depreciation of books4 ,in ,france the library of ,cardinal ,dubois found no purchaser and was sold in small lots4 ,princes no longer loved good ,latin1 and none of them thought of preserving to posterity by the pen of pure ,latin scholarship even an event so weighty as the ,war of the ,spanish ,succession1 comparable only to the second ,punic war4 ,new methods were in great favour3 but none of these could point to new facts discovered by their help4 ,new formulae1 old facts2 and instead of facts1 a futile hope of attaining universal knowledge in the shortest time and with the smallest effort4 ,civil and political learning was neglected for physical science1 and physical science for mathematical2 experience was almost ignored2 the inventive thought of the previous century all but entirely exhausted4 ,scepticism1 the result of the ,cartesian method1 invaded the field of knowledge4 ,the whole of ,europe was during this period still under the dominion of the ,french language1 a language which differs from the ,italian in its hostility to poetry and eloquence2 rich1 says ,vico1 in terms of substance1 and consequently1 since substance is a brutal and immobile thing and does not admit of comparisons1 incapable of giving colour1 amplitude or weight to its statements2 it resists inversion and is barren of metaphor4 ,the ,french have no periods but only members of periods3 their prosody has no verse better than the so-called ,alexandrine1 a system of couplets more thin and lifeless than the elegiac3 and their words admit of no accent except those on the last two syllables4 ,french is a language incapable of the sublime1 but well adapted to the petty3 owing to its abundance of terms of substance or abstract terms it is adapted also to the didactic style1 and instead of eloquence it offers esprit4 ,it was not unfitting that criticism and analysis originated in ,france and made use of the ,french tongue4 ,the only possession of value which grew up day by day in all this poverty was the abstracts1 the encyclopaedias1 the dictionaries of science which bore the names of such men as ,bayle1 ,hoffmann and ,moreri3 the idlest and most casual method of learning that could possibly be devised4 ,the genius of the age was more drawn towards expounding second-hand knowledge in an abbreviated form than towards attempting to enlarge its bounds4 ,that seemed impossible3 so men went on compiling dictionaries of mathematics4 ,every one felt a thirst for cheap science4 ,to be thought good1 a book must be clear and simple1 capable of being discussed with ladies as a pastime2 if it demanded wide and copious erudition of the reader1 and forced upon him the unpleasant exercise of thought and synthesis1 it was condemned as unintelligible4 ,these dictionaries and abstracts recalled to ,vico's mind the similar products of the ,greek decadence1 the anthologies1 lexicons and encyclopaedias of ,suidas1 ,stobaeus and ,photius4 ,the whole culture of his time seemed to him to be repeating the downfall of ,greek science1 exhausting itself in a metaphysic either useless or harmful to civilisation and a mathematics engaged in investigating quantities intangible by rule and compass1 and incapable of application4 ,like others among the best minds of his country he was persuaded that the republic of letters was approaching dissolution1 if the divine providence failed by one of its innumerable secret paths to infuse new vigour into it4 ,where was now the wise man1 the real sapiens whom ,vico had found in history1 first in the barbaric figure of the theologian-poet1 then in the civilised and rational figure of ,greek philosopher and ,roman jurist1 the man whom for to-day he hoped to find in the master of eloquence like himself1 called to give unity1 life and power to all knowledge8 ,wisdom is indeed not this or that science1 nor yet the sum total of science2 it is the faculty which rules over all studies and by which all the sciences and arts that go to make humanity are acquired4 ,and since man is both thought and spirit1 intellect and will1 it must satisfy both these sides of man1 the second as a result of the first3 it must teach the knowledge of divine things1 to bring to perfection things human4 ,the wise man is man in his totality and entirety1 the whole man4 ,the ideal is no doubt lofty1 and the criticism upon the educational method and tendencies of thought current in his age are1 no doubt1 perfectly just4 ,and yet among all these admirable truths1 far in advance of the eighteenth century as they are1 we feel in ,vico the educationalist and critic something of the reactionary4 ,we feel that1 in his exclusive care for the fate of the highest and most austere science and his exclusive attention to the most complete form of human life1 he failed to grasp the revolutionary importance of this scepticism or rationalism1 this rebellion against the past1 the necessary weapon of a warfare against kings1 nobles and priests2 of these abstracts and dictionaries which were to develop into the ,encyclopaedia2 of this popular science1 the forerunner of journalism1 and these booklets for the use of ladies in fashionable conversation which were the nourishment of the eighteenth-century salons and prepared men's minds for the radicalism of the ,jacobins4 ,we feel in him here as in his philosophical system1 the ,catholic chained to the philosopher1 the ,christian pessimist weighing down the dialectic of immanence4 ,unable to realise his adversaries' progress1 he does not comprehend their real nature as lower than himself1 but yet constituting steps leading up to himself1 steps which he ought to have traversed in order to attain a truer understanding and grasp of himself4 ,his polemical attitude towards the culture of his time completes and confirms the analysis already given of the merits and defects of his philosophy4 ,,chapter ,,xx ,,conclusion3 ,,vico ,,and ,,the ,,later ,,developments ,,of ,,philosophical ,,and ,,historical ,,thought ,the reader need not expect that having brought our exposition to a close we shall add a verdict upon ,vico's work1 or what is known as an appreciation of it4 ,if the verdict has not already emerged as a result of the exposition itself1 or as identical with it1 if description and criticism have been not one and same1 the fault lies either with ourselves or with the reader's lack of attention2 and in either case it cannot now be repaired by ornamental additions or redundant repetitions4 ,we confess also that we feel no sympathy with the chapters commonly placed at the conclusion of critical works upon philosophers and narrating the later history of their ideas4 ,for if these ideas are understood in an extrinsic sense1 in their influence upon society and culture1 such a review may indeed have a value of its own1#a but is foreign to the history of philosophy properly so called3 if on the other hand they are considered as real and living philosophical ideas1 their later history amounts to neither more nor less than the history of subsequent philosophy1 and there is no reason for appending it to a study of one philosopher rather than another4 ,any other method implies the uncritical theory that ideas are something solid and crystallised1 like precious stones handed on from one generation to another1 whose shape and glitter can always be recognised unaltered in the new diadems they compose and the new brows they adorn4 ,but in reality ideas are nothing but the unremitting thought of man1 and transmission for them is nothing less than transformation4 ,it is nevertheless a fact that no one has written on ,vico without feeling a need of casting his eyes over later years and noting the resemblances and analogies between the ,neapolitan philosopher's doctrines and those of fifty or a hundred years after4 ,and further1 we ourselves1 in spite of the antipathy we admittedly feel1 and the methodical criteria we professedly employ1 yet recognise now the same necessity4 ,why is this8 ,because ,vico in his own day passed for an eccentric and lived as a recluse2 because the later development of thought was almost entirely untouched by his direct influence2 because even to-day1 though well enough known in certain restricted circles1 he has not taken the place he deserves in the general history of thought4 ,how then can we show the manner in which his doctrines1 true or false1 respond to the deepest needs of the mind1 more simply than by recording the similarity of the ideas and attempts which later appeared in such profusion and intensity as to stamp their individuality upon the philosophical and historical labours of a whole century8 ,and even if after our intrinsic examination of his thought this comparison with the facts of later history seems unnecessary1 it will at least be granted that if our discourse like any other must have its rhetorical conclusion1 no peroration occurs more naturally than one consisting in a rapid review of subsequent philosophy and philology and emphasising their points of contact with the thought of ,vico4 ,we might even adopt the method by which he compares the second barbarism with the first1 and present the later history of thought as a reflux of ,vico's ideas4 ,in the first place his criticism of ,descartes' immediate knowledge recurs1 together with his conversion of the true with the created1 in the speculative movement beginning with ,kant and ,hegel and culminating in the doctrine of the identity of truth and reality1 thought and existence4 ,his unity of philosophy and philology recurs in the vindication of history against the scepticism and intellectualism of the eighteenth century due to ,cartesianism2 in the priori synthesis of ,kant which reconciles the real and the ideal1 experience and the categories2 and in the historical philosophy of ,hegel1 the greatest exponent of nineteenth-century historical tendencies4 ,this unity of philosophy and philology1 a unity with ,vico sometimes confused and impure in method1 recurred in its faulty aspects also in the ,hegelian school2 so that this mental tendency might with justice be entitled ,vicianism4 ,the limitation which ,vico tried to impose on the value of mathematics and exact science recurred1 as did his criticism of the mathematical and naturalistic conception of philosophy1 in ,jacobi's critique of ,spinozistic determinism and ,hegel's of the abstract intellect2 and in the case of mathematics in particular ,dugald ,stewart and others recognised that its validity lay not in the postulates but in the definitions1 and the fictions of which ,vico speaks reappear in the modern terminology of the philosophy of these sciences4 ,his poetical logic or science of the imagination passes into ,aesthetic1 so ardently studied by the philosophers1 literary men and artists of ,germany in the eighteenth century1 brought by ,kant into great prominence by his criticism of the ,leibnitian doctrine of intuition as confused conception1 and further advanced by ,schelling and ,hegel1 who place art among the pure forms of the mind and so approach the position of ,vico4 ,romanticism too1 especially in ,germany but also more or less in other countries1 was ,vician1 emphasising as it did the original function of the imagination4 ,his doctrines of language recurred when ,herder and ,humboldt treated it not intellectualistically as an artificial system of symbols1 but as a free and poetic creation of the mind4 ,the theory of religion and mythology abandoned the hypotheses of allegory and deception1 and with ,david ,hume recognised that religion is a natural fact1 corresponding to the beginnings of human life in its passionate and imaginative state2 with ,heyne1 that mythology is symbolic speech1 a product not of arbitrary invention but of necessity and poverty1 of the lack of words1 which finds expression in comparisons with things already known 7per rerum iam tum notarum similitudines72 and with ,ottfried ,mller1 that it is impossible to understand mythology without entering into the very heart of the human soul1 where we may see its necessity and spontaneity4 ,religion was regarded no longer as something extraneous or hostile to philosophy1 as a piece of stupidity or of deception practised by the unscrupulous upon the simple1 but according to ,vico's own doctrine as a rudimentary philosophy2 so that the whole content of reasoned metaphysic was already to a certain extent implicit in poetical or religious metaphysic4 ,similarly1 poetry and history were no longer kept distinct or set face to face to destroy each other2 and as one of the great inspirers of the new ,german literature1 ,hamann 7who in many ways resembles ,vico in tendency1 though unequal to him in mental power71 had already foreseen when he uttered the warning1 if our poetry is worthless1 our history will become leaner than ,pharaoh's kine1 a breath of poetry revived the historical study of the nineteenth century2 once colourless1 it became picturesque3 once frigid1 it regained warmth and life4 ,the criticism of ,hobbes' and ,locke's utilitarianism1 and the affirmation of the moral consciousness as a spontaneous sense of shame and a judgment entirely free from reflection reappeared in full panoply with the ,critique of the ,practical ,reason2 and that of their social atomism and consequent contractualism in ,hegel's ,philosophy of ,right4 ,the liberty of conscience and religious indifferentism professed and inculcated by the publicists of the seventeenth century were negated as a philosophical doctrine2 and a nation without ,god seemed to ,hegel1 as it did to ,vico1 a phenomenon not to be found in history and existing only in the gossip of travellers in unknown or little-known lands4 ,carrying on the work of the ,reformation1 which ,vico could neither grasp nor truly appreciate1 the idealistic philosophy of ,germany aimed not at exterminating religion1 but at refining it1 and at giving philosophy itself the spiritual value of religion4 ,the certitude1 the hard certitude which ,vico distinguished from truth in the sphere of law1 formed the subject of thought from ,thomasius to ,kant and ,fichte and so on to the most recent writers1 who have sought even if they have never found the distinctive criterion of the two forms2 all or nearly all show a vivid consciousness of what is called constraint or compulsion1 a fact which had been almost forgotten in the old superficial and rhetorical moral theory4 ,the historical school of law1 in its reaction against the abstract revolutionary and reformatory tendencies of the eighteenth century1 was bound to recall ,vico's polemic against the ,platonic or ,grotian theory of an ideal republic or a natural law above and outside history and serving as a standard for history1 and to recognise with ,vico that law is correlative to the whole social life of a people at a given moment of its history and capable of being judged only in relation to it2 a living and plastic reality1 in a continual process of change like that of language4 ,finally1 ,vico's providence1 the rationality and objectivity of history1 which obeys a logic different from that attributed to it by the fancies and illusions of the individual1 acquires a more prosaic name1 but without changing its nature1 in the cunning of the reason formulated by ,hegel3 it appeared again1 ingeniously but perversely treated1 in ,schopenhauer's cunning of the species1 and again1 treated with little ingenuity on a purely psychological method1 in ,wundt's so-called law of the heterogenesis of ends4 ,almost all the leading doctrines of nineteenth-century idealism1 we have seen1 may be regarded as refluxes of ,vician doctrines4 ,almost all2 for there is one of which we find in ,vico not the premonition but the necessity1 not a temporary filling but a gap to be filled4 ,here the nineteenth century is no longer a reflux of1 but an advance upon ,vico2 and discordant voices of warning or reproach rise up against him4 ,his distinction of the two worlds of mind and nature1 to both of which the criterion of his theory of knowledge1 the conversion of the truth with the thing created1 was applicable1 but applicable to the former by man himself because that world is a world created by man1 and therefore knowable by him1 to the second by ,god the ,creator1 so that this world is unknowable by man2 this distinction was not accepted by the new philosophy1 which1 more ,vician than ,vico1 made the demigod ,man into a ,god1 lifted human thought to the level of universal mind or the idea1 spiritualised or idealised nature1 and tried to understand it speculatively in the ,philosophy of ,nature as itself a product of mind4 ,as soon as the last remnant of transcendence was in this way destroyed1 the concept of progress overlooked by ,vico and grasped and affirmed to some extent by the ,cartesians and their eighteenth-century followers in their superficial and rationalistic manner shone out in its full splendour4 ,but if in this point ,vico cannot stand the comparison with later philosophy1 the failure is amply atoned by the full agreement between his historical discoveries and the criticism and research of the nineteenth century4 ,above all1 he agrees with his successors in his rules of method1 his scepticism as regards the narrative of ancient historians1 his recognition of the superiority of documents and monuments over narrative1 his investigation of language as a store-house of primitive beliefs and customs1 his social interpretation of mythology1 his emphasis on spontaneous development rather than external communication of civilisation1 his care not to interpret primitive psychology in the light of modern psychology2 and so on4 ,in his actual solutions of historical problems he also agrees with later historians4 ,these restated the archaic and barbaric character of primitive ,greek and ,roman civilisation1 and the aristocratic and feudal tendency of its political constitution3 they took up the view of ancient legal ceremonial as a dramatic poem containing allusions to the actions of fighting3 the transformation of the ,roman heroes into heroes of democracy came to an end with the ,jacobins in ,france and their imitators in ,italy and elsewhere2 ,homer was considered great in proportion to his ruggedness2 the history of ,rome was reconstructed chiefly on the basis of ,roman law1 and the names of the seven kings appeared as symbols of institutions and the traditional origin of ,rome as a late invention derived from ,greece or from ,greek models3 the substance of this history was seen to consist in the economic and juridical struggle between patriciate and plebs1 and the plebs was derived from the famuli or clients3 the struggle of the classes1 which ,vico was the first to illuminate clearly1 was recognised as a criterion of wide application to the history of all time and serving as an explanation of the most sweeping social revolutions3 the ,middle ,ages1 especially during the ,restoration which followed the ,napoleonic period1 exercised a powerful appeal to sentiment and influence on thought1 being admired and regretted as the antithesis of the rationalistic bourgeois society1 and understood in consequence as the religious1 aristocratic and poetical period discovered by ,vico1 the youth of modern ,europe4 ,thus ,italy rediscovered the greatness of her own ,dante1 and the criticism of that poet which ,vico had initiated was carried to completion by ,de ,sanctis4 ,in the same way1 ,niebuhr and ,mommsen brought to maturity his view of ,roman history2 ,wolf1 his theory of ,homer2 ,heyne1 ,mller and ,bachhofen1 his interpretation of mythology2 ,grimm and other philologists his projected reconstruction of ancient life by means of etymology2 ,savigny and the historical school1 his study of the spontaneous development of law1 and his preference for custom rather than statute and code3 ,thierry and ,fustel de ,coulanges in ,france1 ,troya in ,italy and a host of scholars in ,germany his conception of the ,middle ,ages and of feudalism3 ,marx and ,sorel his idea of the struggle of classes and the rejuvenation of society by a return to a primitive state of mind and a new barbarism3 and lastly the superman of ,nietzsche recalls in some degree ,vico's hero4 ,these are merely a few names picked without care and almost at random2 for to mention all1 and each in his right place1 would mean writing the whole history of the latest phase of ,european thought1 a history which is not yet finished1 though it has undergone1 under the name of positivism1 a parenthetical recurrence of the abstract and materialistic thought of the eighteenth century1 a parenthesis which now however seems to be at an end4 ,these innumerable reappearances of the work of an individual in the work of several generations1 this parallelism between a man and a century1 justify a fanciful phrase with which we might draw from the later developments in order to describe ,vico2 namely that he is neither more nor less than the nineteenth century in germ4 ,the description may serve to summarise our reconstruction and exposition of his doctrines1 and to contribute towards a right understanding of his place in the history of modern philosophy4 ,he may rightly be placed side by side with ,leibniz1 with whom he has so often been compared2 but not1 as has been believed1 because of any resemblance 7the comparisons made in this belief have been shown to be false or superficial7 but precisely because he is unlike him and in fact his very opposite4 ,leibniz is ,cartesianism raised to its highest power2 an intellectualist1 in spite of the petites perceptions and the confused knowledge2 a mechanicist1 in spite of his dynamism1 which perhaps exists in his fancy rather than in his actual thought2 hostile to history1 in spite of his immense historical erudition2 blind to any knowledge of the true nature of language1 though deeply interested in language all his life2 devoid of dialectic1 in spite of his attempt to explain the evil in the universe4 ,in relation to later idealism1 the ,leibnitian philosophy stands as the most complete expression of the old metaphysic which had to be transcended3 that of ,vico is the sketch of the new metaphysic1 only needing further development and determination4 ,the one spoke to his own century1 and his century crowded round him and echoed his words far and wide4 ,the other spoke to a century yet to come2 and the place in which he cried was a wilderness that gave no answer4 ,but the crowd and the wilderness add nothing to and take nothing from the intrinsic character of a thought4 ,footnote #a3 ,see ,appendix ,,ii4 ,,appendices ,,appendix ,i ,,on ,,the ,,life ,,and ,,character ,,of ,g4 ,b4 ,,vico#a ,i ,the transformation1 half rhetorical1 half mythical1 which the heat of the national reawakening effected in poets1 philosophers1 and almost every character of any importance in ,italian history1 representing them as patriots1 liberals1 and in open rebellion or secret revolt against the throne and the altar1 tried for a time to touch with its magic wand and to work its will upon ,giambattista ,vico4 ,it was said1 among other things1 that ,vico1 conscious of the severe blow dealt by his thought to the traditional beliefs of religion1 and warned by his friends1 took pains to plunge the ,new ,science into such obscurity that only the finest intellects could perceive its tendencies4 ,but though this legend1 energetically spread as it was by the patriots and republicans of #agii1 was believed here and there1 it could not long stand out against criticism or even against common sense2 and ,cataldo ,iannelli was right to pass over it with a few words of contemptuous irony4#b ,it is certain from an objective point of view that ,vico's doctrines implicitly contained a criticism of ,christian transcendence and theology as well as of the history of ,christianity4 ,from the subjective point of view it may be that ,vico during his youth 7of which we know very little7 was the victim of religious doubts4 ,such doubts may have been suggested to him not only by his reading1 but by the society of young men of his own age1 among whom libertines1 or as contemporary literature still called them epicureans or atheists1 were not uncommon4#c ,in a letter of #agbj to ,father ,giacchi1 he says that at ,naples the weaknesses and errors dating from his early youth are remembered against him1 and that these1 fixed in the memory1 became as often happens eternal criteria for the judgment of everything beautiful and complete which he subsequently succeeded in doing4#d ,what can these errors and weaknesses have been8 ,again when the ,de universi iuris uno principio et fine uno appeared1 or rather the ,synopsis which announced its programme1 the first voices which ,vico heard raised against him were tinged with an assumed piety4 ,he found protection and consolation in the face of such criticism in religion itself1 that is to say in the approval of ,giacchi1 the leading light of the strictest and most holy order of religious4#e ,but just as we possess no detailed information as to the criticisms levelled against him on this head1 so we have no certain knowledge even of the most general kind as to the religious doubts that may have troubled him4 ,all ,vico's writings show the ,catholic religion established in his heart1 grave1 solid and immovable as a pillar of adamant2 so solid and so strong that it remained absolutely untouched by the criticism of mythology inaugurated by himself4 ,nor was ,vico an irreproachable ,catholic in external demonstration only4 ,he not only submitted every word he ever printed to the double censorship1 public and private1 of ecclesiastical friends1 and led his life as a philosopher and writer among priestly vestments and monastic cowls no less than among legal gowns2 he was even scrupulous enough to desist from his commentary on ,grotius1 thinking it unseemly that a ,catholic should annotate a ,protestant writer2#f and so delicate was his sense of ,catholic honour that he refused to admit polemic upon matters of religious feeling4 ,as to this difficulty1 he says to his critics of the ,giornale dei letterati1 like that which you propound to me concerning the immortality of the soul1 where it appears that you have in hand seven distinct arguments1 if they had not been prepared for me by you1 ,i should judge that they go deeper and penetrate to a region which is not only protected and secured by my life and conduct1 but which to defend is to outrage4 ,but let us return to our subject4#g ,his ,catholicism was untainted by the superstition so general and so deeply rooted at the time1 especially at ,naples1 where ,st4 ,januarius intervened as an actor and director in every event of public and private life4 ,it was the ,catholicism of a lofty soul and mind1 not the faith of a charcoal-burner4 ,but ,vico never assumed the part of censor of superstitions4 ,he was content with not speaking of them1 as one keeps silence concerning the failings of persons or institutions which command one's respect4 ,footnote #a3 ,since the preceding portions of this work are strictly confined to the analysis of ,vico's philosophy and give no information as to his life and personal character1 the reader will not be displeased to find in this appendix a lecture delivered by myself upon the latter subject before the ,neapolitan ,societ di storia patria on ,april #ad1 #aiji1 and later written down and published in the ,florence ,voce7#ast year1 ,no4 #dc1 ,october #g1 #aiji74 ,i add for convenience of memory that ,vico was born at ,naples on ,june #bc1 #affh 7not #afgj as he says in his autobiography71 and died on ,january #bc 7not #bj as all his biographers say71 #agdd3 the new edition of the ,autobiografia1 carteggio e poesie varie 7,bari1 ,laterza1 #aiaa71 pp4 #aja1 #abc1 #abd4 ,footnote #b3 ,see for the whole question ,croce1 ,bibliografia vichiana1 pp4 #ia-e4 ,footnote #c3 ,in the ,giornali of ,confuorto 7,,mss4 in the library of the ,neapolitan ,historical ,soc4 xx4 c4 #bb1 vol4 iii4 f4 #aaa7 under ,august #afib1 we find certain civil persons were imprisoned in the prisons of ,st4 ,dominic by the tribunal of the ,holy ,office2 among them the doctor ,giacinto de ,cristofaro1 son of the doctor ,bernardo2 many others escaped1 members of the ,epicurean or ,atheist sect1 who believe the soul to perish with the body4 ,this ,de ,cristofaro is the famous ,neapolitan mathematician and jurisconsult1 for whom see ,f4 ,amodeo1 ,vita matematica napoletana1 part iii4 7,naples1 ,giannini1 #aije71 pp4 #ca-dd2 he was ,vico's friend4 ,for other notices of the ,epicureans at ,naples at this time see ,carducci1 ,opere1 vol4 ii4 pp4 #bce-f4 ,footnote #d3 ,letter of ,october #ab1 #agbj4 ,footnote #e3 ,ibid4 ,footnote #f3 ,autobiografia1 in ,opere1 ed4 ,ferrari1 #bnd ed4 iv4 p4 #cfg4 ,footnote #g3 ,the subject is therefore not the religious objections1 which he regarded as a personal insult 7,riposta al ,giornale dei letterati1 in ,opp4 ii4 p4 #afj74 ,,ii ,vico's attitude towards social and political life resembles in more than one respect his attitude towards religion4 ,there is in him no trace of the missionary1 the propagandist1 the agitator or the conspirator as there was in some of the ,renaissance philosophers1 notably ,giordano ,bruno and ,campanella1 whom although--perhaps because--a ,neapolitan1 ,vico never mentions4 ,certainly1 his age and his country were not the time or place for heroes2 there was none of that rapid social change and revolution from which heroes spring4 ,political parties however were active in favour of ,austria and ,france1 and men were arising who devoted their labours and their lives to one or other of these parties1 or were persecuted and fled into exile3 and above all this was the period in which culminated the struggle between ,church and ,state1 between ,naples and ,rome1 in the person of ,pietro ,giannone1 a man of whom ,vico never speaks1 just as he never mentions and in fact seems to ignore the entire movement4 ,political life rolled past over his head1 like the sky and its stars1 and he never wasted his strength in a vain attempt to reach it4 ,political and social controversy1 like religious1 was outside the sphere of his activity4 ,he was indeed a non-political person4 ,we cannot describe it as a fault or a weakness1 for every one has his limitations2 one struggle excludes another1 and one labour makes others impossible4 ,not that he avoided all contact with political life and its representatives4 ,only too often he was compelled to pay his respects to both1 in the form of histories1 speeches1 verses and epigrams in ,latin and ,italian2 and these alone would be sufficient material for the reconstruction of ,neapolitan history in all its vicissitudes from the end of the seventeenth century to the middle of the eighteenth3 the ,spanish viceregency1 the conspiracy and revolution attempted by the partisans of ,austria1 the reaction and re-establishment of the ,spanish viceregency1 the ,austrian conquest1 the ,austrian viceregency1 the ,spanish reconquest and the reign of ,charles ,bourbon4 ,but ,vico1 very pliant because of his necessity#h and as professor of eloquence in the royal university1 was compelled to supply the literary compositions required by the solemnities of the day1 just as the draper supplied hangings and the plasterer volutes and arabesques4 ,and what hangings and arabesques he produced6 ,the ,spanish style of the seventeenth century was still predominant in literature2 and this fact is alone almost enough to explain the extravagance and ornateness1 as it seems to us1 of ,vico's flood of panegyrics4 ,the indifference and innocence of his own attitude may be illustrated by the passage in his autobiography where after mentioning the ,panegyricus ,philippo ,v inscriptus composed by himself to the order of the ,spanish viceroy1 the ,duke of ,ascalona1 he goes on as if it was a mere nothing1 with no connexion but a simple soon after3 soon after1 this kingdom having passed under the rule of ,austria1 the lord ,count ,wirrigo of ,daun1 at that time governor of the imperial armies in this country1 ordered me to compose inscriptions for the expiatory monuments to ,guiseppe ,capece and ,carlo di ,sangro1#i the two rebels against ,philip ,v4 executed by the previous government some years before in the suppression of the conspiracy of ,macchia described by ,vico from the ,bourbon point of view in his ,de ,parthenopea coniuratione4 ,but this implies no baseness of character on ,vico's part4 ,it must be said that in these writings of his1 orator and panegyrist though he is1 he can never be called a flatterer4 ,the flatterer1 the man without a conscience1 reviles and calumniates the enemies of the man he is praising1 or even strikes the conquered3 and this is servility4 ,but ,vico1 who though he knew who the ,italian or ,neapolitan was that sent to the ,acta ,lipsiensia the note injurious to himself1 and might easily have ruined him1 since the note was anti-,catholic in tendency1 generously refused to reveal his name1#aj gave no doubt his services as professor of eloquence but refrained from trafficking in the interests of the patrons whom he praised4 ,of the ,life of ,antonio ,carafa which he composed for a commission and married one of his daughters on the proceeds1 he says that the work was tempered by honour towards the subject1 reverence towards princes and the just claims of truth4#aa ,and to return to the case of ,capece and ,sangro mentioned above1 when he spoke in the ,de ,parthenopea coniuratione of the death of these two enemies to the triumphant party1 he shows here too in various details the nobility of his spirit3 of ,capece1 who refused to surrender to the ,spanish soldiers1 he writes exposing his breast to death1 and demanding death with his warlike arms1 he fell unrepentant1 a most valiant manner of death1 were it only honoured in its cause 7ostentans pectus neci eamque infensis armis efflagitans1 inexoratus occubuit1 fortissimum mortis genus si causa cohonestasset74 ,of ,sangro too1 having reported the rumour that ,louis ,,xiv4 sent him a reprieve which arrived too late1 he adds3 whence the condemned man1 who had already suffered the penalty1 is the more to be pitied 7unde maior damnati qui iam poenas persolverat1 miseratio74#ab ,he must have known1 and doubtless did know1 that most of the persons whose praises he composed were of very little worth4 ,to read his panegyrics1 one would suppose that ,naples was adorned with a nobility resplendent in its virtue1 cultivation and learning3 and yet1 in giving ,father ,de ,vitry the information he desired upon the condition of studies in ,naples1 ,vico did not conceal the facts3 the nobles slumber amid the enjoyments of a life of pleasure4#ac ,his pupil ,antonio ,genovesi has preserved to us one of his satirical expressions upon this nobility1 often in extreme poverty but always proud and ready to go hungry at home in order to drive abroad in coaches sumptuously dressed4#ad ,with reference to the literary duke of ,laurenzano1 he formulated the theory that noble writers could not fail of excellence3#ae and yet ,i have discovered among his papers the manuscript of a book by this duke1 rewritten from end to end by the same ,vico4#af ,such are the contradictions and the transactions into which a poor man falls when the pressure of want has made him timid and cautious2 so that it is not easy to determine how far his admiration was merely assumed at command or by complaisance1 or how far his feeling of social inferiority developed into a real admiration for those above him in the scale1 who possessed riches and dignity and everything he lacked and were the seigneurs4 ,footnote #h3 ,opp4 vi4 p4 #bj4 ,footnote #i3 ,autob4 in ,opp4 iv4 p4 #cid4 ,footnote #aj3 ,letter of ,december #d1 #agbi3 in ,opp4 vi4 p4 #cb4 ,footnote #aa3 ,autob4 in ,opp4 iv4 p4 #cff4 ,footnote #ab3 ,opp4 i4 pp4 #cfg1 #cfh4 ,footnote #ac3 ,opp4 vi4 p4 #i4 ,footnote #ad3 ,he said that many of them dragged their carriages with their own guts 7,suppl4 alla ,bibl4 vich4 p4 #aj74 ,footnote #ae3 ,opp4 vi4 p4 #ie4 ,footnote #af3 ,bibl4 vich4 pp4 #bg-h4 ,,iii ,for1 as is well known1 his financial state was always of the gloomiest4 ,the son of a small ,neapolitan bookseller1 he was at first compelled to go as a private tutor to a wild town of the ,cilento2 later1 returning to ,naples1 he tried in vain to obtain the position of secretary of the city1 and having in #afii been elected to the chair of rhetoric1 he held that position for thirty-six years at an annual stipend of a hundred ducats 7#ag74 ,his attempt to pass to a chair of greater importance in #agbc failed1 whether owing to ill-luck or to inability--he recognised that he was a man of little spirit in matters of utility1#ag--;he was compelled to give up hopes of academic advancement4 ,he was therefore obliged to eke out his resources by literary work such as we have mentioned1 and still more by private lessons2 he not only kept school at his own house as well as at the university1 but he went up and down other men's steps to teach grammar to youths or even to children4 ,his family fife was not a happy one4 ,his wife was illiterate1 and had not the qualities with which her sex sometimes compensates the defect2 she was incapable of any domestic employment whatever1 so that her husband had to take her place4 ,of his children1 one girl died after a long illness and the heavy expenses which embitter the diseases of the poor2 one boy showed such strong vicious tendencies that the father was compelled to seek the intervention of the police and place him in a house of correction4 ,so sublimely irrational was his fatherly affection that upon this occasion when he saw from the window the police officers he had called in1 coming to take his miserable and beloved son away1 he ran to him crying1 my son1 flee6#ah ,he was indeed of an extremely affectionate disposition2 a fact which may be gathered for instance from the noble and touching speech he composed on the death of his friend ,donna ,angela ,cimini1 from the tone of pity and indignation with which in the ,scienza ,nuova he spoke of the oppressed plebeians whose history he is investigating or of the tragic figures of ,priam and ,polyxena1 the romance of which he feels keenly2 and finally1 from certain stylistic details scattered here and there1 such as the aphorism 7no4 xl47 where he says that witches in order to solemnise their rites slay without pity and cut in pieces most lovely and innocent children1 quite upset1 in the most inopportune but significant fashion1 by the fate of these little persons1 whom his excited imagination adorns with a superlative loveliness4 ,his greatest domestic happiness came from his daughter ,luisa1 a cultured and poetical soul1 and his son ,gennaro1 who shared with him and ultimately succeeded to his chair4 ,when1 in his panegyric on the ,countess of ,althann1 he calls ironically upon the philosophers who dispute as they walk in pleasant gardens or beneath painted porticoes1 free from the agony and weariness of wives in travail and children wasting away with disease1#ai we feel that he is speaking from his own experience and smarting under the memory of domestic troubles4 ,we often meet1 especially in these days1 with men of some talent who consider themselves freed from this or that humble duty3 and we ought the more to admire this man of genius who on the contrary accepted them every one1 and 7to use a phrase of ,flaubert's7 while thinking the thought of a demigod lived the life of a townsman or even that of a man of the people4 ,he had acquired the habit of reading1 writing1 thinking and composing his works while discussing matters with his friends amid the uproar of his children4#bj ,his health was never very good3 his friends called him ,mastro ,tisicuzzo3#ba very weak in youth1 he was in his old age afflicted with ulcers in the throat and pains in his thighs and legs4 ,in a word1 the repose1 the peace1 the tranquillity which other philosophers enjoy all their life or for long periods together was always lacking to ,vico4 ,he was forced to play both ,martha and ,mary3 working at every moment for his own and his family's practical needs and working at the same time to fulfil the mission to which he was devoted from his birth and to give concrete form to the spiritual world that moved within him4 ,footnote #ag3 ,autob4 in ,opp4 iv4 p4 #cdi4 ,footnote #ah3 ,villarosa in the additions to the ,autobiography 7,opp4 iv4 p4 #dbj74 ,footnote #ai3 ,opp4 vi4 p4 #bce4 ,footnote #bj3 ,autob4 in ,opp4 iv4 p4 #cff4 ,footnote #ba3 ,mr4 ,skin-and-bones3 cf4 ,bibl4 vich4 p4 #hg4 ,,iv ,thus we need not invent or demand a heroic ,vico1 looking for him in the life of religion1 society or politics4 ,the true hero is the ,vico who stands before us1 the hero of the philosophic life4 ,others beside ourselves have noticed his love for the word hero and all its derivatives1 heroism1 heroic1 and so on3 and the continual use and varied application he makes of it4 ,heroism was for him the mighty virgin force which appears in the beginning and reappears in the reflux of history4 ,this force he must surely have felt in himself as he laboured for the truth and1 overthrowing obstacles of every kind1 opened up new paths of science4 ,it was this force that enabled him to overcome the youthful uncertainties1 fears and defeats which sometimes plunged him in a profound individual and cosmic pessimism1 visible in the poem entitled ,feelings of ,one in ,despair1 to rise to the certainty of scientific method enunciated in the ,de nostri temporis studiorum ratione and his first attempt at philosophico-historical research represented by the ,de antiquissima ,italorum sapientia2 and from this point1 abandoning in part his own thought and weaving a new tissue of what remained1 led him to the ,de uno universi iuris principio et fine uno and to the ,scienza ,nuova after twenty-five years1 as he says of the discoveries contained in that work1 of unremitting and toilsome thought4 ,the work completed by this poor teacher of grammar and rhetoric1 by this pedagogue whom a contemporary satirist saw lean1 with a rolling eye1 ferule in hand1#bb by this unhappy paterfamilias1 is amazing and almost terrifying2 such is the mass of mental power compressed into it4 ,it is a work at once reactionary and revolutionary3 reactionary in relation to the present1 by its attachment to the traditions of the ancient world and the ,renaissance2 revolutionary as against the present and the past in laying the foundations of that future later to be known as the ,nineteenth century4 ,within the domain of science1 this humble man of the people became an aristocrat3 and the lordly style#bc which he falsely ascribed to the wretched writings of the proud nobles and pompous prelates of his day was in reality his own4 ,he loathed the polite and social literature which was gradually spreading in ,france and ,italy and other ,european countries1 the ladies' books4#bd ,but he avoided no less that other class of treatise which we nowadays call handbooks1 which explain in detail elementary definitions and facts ascertained by others2 books useless except to the young4#be ,vico1 who suffered quite enough from the young within the circle of his school1 saw no need to sacrifice to them any part of his own inviolable life of science4 ,the public towards which he looked was not composed of boys1 lords and ladies4 ,when he wrote1 his first practical thought was1 what would a ,plato1 a ,varro or a ,quintus ,mucius ,scaevola think of the fruits of his thought8 and secondly1 what will posterity think8#bf ,among his contemporaries he looked only at the republic of letters1 the brotherhood of scholars1 the ,academies of ,europe3 a public which did not require him to repeat what had been already discovered and stated in the course of the history of science1 and was perfectly familiar to him1 but only demanded the exposition of such thoughts as constituted a real advance of knowledge3 not voluminous works1 but little books1 all full of original things4#bg ,his public was an ideal one1 which sometimes in his simplicity he confused with the actual professional scholars and the critics of literary reviews3 and the mistake often caused him surprise4 ,short books on metaphysical subjects seemed to him to have a peculiar power1 as in fact they have2 he compares them very justly with religious meditations which briefly set forth a small number of points and are more valuable for the development of the ,christian spirit than the most eloquent and lucid sermons of the most gifted preachers4#bh ,this love of brevity inspires his refusal to burden with many books the republic of letters1 which1 he says1 is already sinking beneath the weight4 ,he left his discourses unpublished1 only printed his ,de ratione out of a sense of duty1 and often expressed a desire that the ,scienza ,nuova alone should survive him1 as the work which summed up in itself the concentrated and perfected fruits of all his earlier efforts4 ,his aristocratic ideal was accompanied by the loftiest dignity and the profoundest loyalty in his conception of the life of science4 ,from his polemics we might compile a whole catechism on the right method of conducting literary controversy4 ,we must aim at victory1 he says1 not in the controversy but in the truth2 hence he desires that it should be conducted in the calmest manner of reasoning1 because he who is strong does not threaten1 and he who is right does not use insults2 the dispute must at any rate be interspersed with peaceful words showing that the minds of the disputants are placid and tranquil1 not excited and perturbed4 ,to opponents whose objections are vague he replies1 the judgment is in too general terms3 and serious men never deign to reply except to particular and determinate criticisms made upon them4 ,when these same opponents appeal to the refined taste of the age1 which has banished1 etc41 etc41 he replies contemptuously1 a grave criticism this1 in truth3 it is no criticism at all4 ,in thus taking refuge from one's opponents before the tribunal of one's own judgment1 by saying that what they say is a thing of which one has no idea1 from an opponent one becomes the judge4 ,he refused to rely upon his authorities1 but yet did not undervalue them2 authority ought to make us attentive to seek the causes which could have induced authors1 especially the most weighty1 to adopt such and such opinions4 ,again1 accused of attributing errors to philosophers so as to be able to refute them with ease1 like ,aristotle1 he protests with dignity3 ,i would rather enjoy my own small and simple stock of knowledge than be compared in bad faith with a great philosopher4 ,his moderation may be illustrated by his splendid eulogy of ,descartes1 though he spent the best part of his mental powers in opposing him4 ,his loyalty is shown by his prompt recognition of his own errors3 ,i admit1 he says at one point to the critics of the ,giornale dei letterati1 that my distinction is faulty4#bi ,the reader must not think it ostentatious in us 7he writes in the second ,scienza ,nuova71 that not satisfied with the favourable judgments of such men as these upon our works1 we yet disapprove and reject these works4 ,on the contrary1 it is a proof of the high veneration and respect in which we hold these men4 ,for rude and haughty writers uphold their works even against the just accusations and reasonable corrections of others3 some1 who by chance are of a small spirit1 sate themselves with the favourable judgments they receive and because of these go no further towards perfection3 but in our case the praise of great minds has increased our courage to amend1 to complete1 and even to recast in a better form this work of ours4#cj ,his scientific life was upright1 worthy of a serious searcher after truth2 his emotional life disturbed and restless1 worthy of one who sees face to face the truth he has long sought and desired1 and rejoices in the power of laying it before mankind4 ,hence his lofty poetry1 expressed not in verse but in prose1 and especially in the ,scienza ,nuova4 ,vico is a poet1 writes ,tommaseo3 he brings fire from smoke1 and lively images from metaphysical abstractions3 he reasons as he narrates and depicts while he reasons3 over the mountain-tops of thought he does not walk1 he flies2 and in one sentence he often compresses more lyrical feeling than may be found in many an ode4#ca ,de ,sanctis saw in the ,scienza ,nuova the progress of a poem1 almost a new ,divina commedia4 ,sublime like ,dante1 he was more severe than ,dante himself2 if the lips of the ,ghibelline show at times the flicker of a passing smile1 ,vico looks at history with a face that never smiles4 ,moreover1 the man whose style has been so often criticised is not a commonplace writer2 he was as careful a student of pure ,tuscan#cb as he was a fine connoisseur1 according to ,capasso1 of ,latin phraseology4#cc ,but he was faulty in the arrangement of his books1 because his mind did not master all the philosophical and historical material it had accumulated2 he wrote carelessly because wildly and as if possessed by a demon3 and hence arise the lack of proportion and the confusion in the various parts of his work1 within single pages and single paragraphs4 ,he often gives the impression of a bottle of water quickly inverted1 in which the liquid trying to issue forth so presses against the narrow opening that it comes out painfully1 drop by drop4 ,painfully1 by fragments1 and disjointedly4 ,one idea while he is expressing it recalls another1 that a fact1 and that another fact3 he tries to say everything at once1 and parenthesis branches off into parenthesis in a manner to make one's brain reel4 ,but these chaotic periods1 weighted as they are with original thoughts1 are no less woven of striking phrases1 statuesque words1 phrases full of emotion1 and picturesque images4 ,a bad writer1 if you will1 but his is the kind of bad writing of which only great writers possess the secret4 ,footnote #bb3 ,bill4 vich4 p4 #hb4 ,footnote #bc3 ,opp4 vi4 p4 #ic4 ,footnote #bd3 ,ibid4 vi4 p4 #e4 ,footnote #be3 ,ibid4 v4 p4 #ej 7note74 ,footnote #bf3 ,ibid4 ii4 p4 #abc4 ,footnote #bg3 ,ibid4 ii4 p4 #adh4 ,footnote #bh3 ,for instance in his letter to ,saliani1 ,november #ah1 #agbe1 published in ,bibl4 vich4 pp4 #ig-h1 the autograph being in my possession4 ,footnote #bi3 ,see the ,riposte in ,opp4 ii4 passim4 ,footnote #cj3 ,opp4 v4 p4 #aj4 ,footnote #ca3 ,g4 ,b4 ,vico e il suo secolo in the volume ,la ,storia civile nella letteratura 7,turin1 ,loescher1 #ahgb71 p4 #ajd3 cf4 a judgment on ,vico as a writer1 ibid4 pp4 #i-aj4 ,footnote #cb3 ,opp4 iv4 pp4 #ccc-d2 vi4 pp4 #da1 #adj4 ,footnote #cc3 ,bibl4 vich4 p4 #hg4 ,v ,the philosophical heroism of ,vico asserts itself not only in the internal struggle with himself for the elaboration of his science4 ,it was exposed to other and sterner trials4 ,the position reached by his thought1 opposed as it was to the present1 and while apparently reactionary turned in reality towards the future1 inevitably prevented him from being understood4 ,no doubt this is the fate of every man of genius3 his inmost thought is never understood1 even when social fortune seems to favour him1 even when he arouses enthusiasm and finds a host of disciples and imitators4 ,the words which ,hegel is said to have uttered on his deathbed--one only of my pupils understood me1 and he misunderstood me--admirably express this historical necessity3 the man whom his age fully understands dies with his age4 ,and yet the disproportion between the value of a man's thought and his contemporaries' failure to understand it has seldom if ever been greater than in ,vico's case4 ,if he had been free from other causes of discontent1 this alone would have been sufficient4 ,the desire for praise1 which in other than commonplace minds is a desire to see what they think true and good shared1 approved and universalised among other minds1 was always with him a vain desire4 ,he was the more afflicted by this misunderstanding and indifference because1 as we may well suppose1 he was fully conscious of the importance of his own discoveries4 ,he knew that ,providence had entrusted to him a lofty mission3 he knew himself to be born for the glory of his country1 and therefore in ,italy2 since1 being born there and not in ,morocco1 he became a scholar4#cd ,when he published the ,scienza ,nuova1 he believed that he had fired a mine whose loud explosion he expected every minute4 ,nothing happened3 nobody mentioned it to him3 so that he wrote some days later1 to a friend3 ,in publishing my work in this city ,i seem to have launched it upon a desert4 ,i avoid all public places1 so as not to meet the persons to whom ,i have sent it1 and if by chance ,i do meet them1 ,i greet them without stopping2 for when this happens1 these people give me not the faintest sign that they have received my book1 and so confirm my impression of having published it in a wilderness4#ce ,he had frankly expected a swift and immediate effect3 he had hoped to find1 among his contemporaries and acquaintances at ,naples1 minds ready and intellects open to receive and bear fruit of his thoughts3 and he hoped this of monks engaged in composing and learning by rote wordy sermons1 poetasters rhyming in sonnets and advocates compiling second-hand speeches6 ,instead of this1 he found many sceptical and indifferent1 and several inclined to laugh4 ,his ,diritto universale had been as ,metastasio informs us#cf generally blamed for obscurity on its publication2 it was not widely read and was hastily criticised for the extravagances which an inattentive and superficial reading revealed at every point4#cg ,father ,paoli1 to whom the author had given a copy1 wrote in it a couplet making a joke of its unintelligibility4#ch ,the ,scienza ,nuova was in an even worse case4 ,we know that ,nicola ,capasso1 a scholar and well disposed towards ,vico1 on trying to read it fancied he had lost his wits1 and by way of a joke hurried off to his doctor ,cirillo1 to have his pulse felt4#ci ,a ,neapolitan nobleman when asked by ,finetti at ,venice what opinion was held of ,vico at ,naples1 said that for a time he had passed for a really learned man1 but that later his strange opinions had won him the reputation of an eccentric4 ,and when he published the ,scienza ,nuova8 insisted ,finetti4 ,oh1 by then1 replied the other1 he was quite mad6#dj ,his detractors even attacked him in the modest profession by which he earned his living2 they said he was good at teaching youths who had completed their course1 that is to say when they already knew all they needed1 or again1 more insidiously1 that he was fitted less for teaching than for giving good advice to the teachers themselves2#da so that they recognised his superiority only to use it in damaging his private interests4 ,footnote #cd3 ,autob4 in ,opp4 iv4 p4 #che4 ,footnote #ce3 ,letter to ,giacchi1 ,november #be1 #agbe1 in ,opp4 vi4 p4 #bh4 ,footnote #cf3 ,bibl4 vich4 p4 #dj4 ,footnote #cg3 ,opp4 vi4 p4 #bj4 ,footnote #ch3 ,bibl4 vich4 p4 #bf4 ,footnote #ci3 ,ibid4 p4 #hg4 ,footnote #dj3 ,bibl4 vich4 p4 #hf3 cf4 ,autob4 in ,opp4 iv4 p4 #daf4 ,footnote #da3 ,autob4 in ,opp4 iv4 p4 #daf4 ,,vi ,the indifference of the public and the insincerity or malignity of critics could not for ,vico be compensated by the friends and appreciative readers of whom ,vico had a certain number4 ,how indeed could it have been otherwise1 when he cultivated them artificially with such care and anxiety8 ,consider for instance the way in which he cultivated the friendship of ,giacchi the ,capucin4 ,he praised his admirable works1 his most divine talents1 the rare sublimity of his marvellous and divine ideas4 ,he tells him that he has given to the scholars of the city the eulogistic letter sent to him by ,giacchi and that they all admire the sublime workmanship of the conception2 and yet he himself used to rewrite in scholar's ,latin the inscriptions ,giacchi composed in monk's ,latin6#db ,on another occasion he wrote that the praises of a ,giacchi had excited envy and had in certain quarters been described as flatteries4 ,he took no less pains to propitiate the ,archbishop of ,bari1 ,muzio di ,gaeta1 a conceited creature full of his own merits and incapable of speaking except about himself4 ,muzio wrote a panegyric on ,pope ,benedict ,,xiii41 a work of which1 though ,vico praised it again and again1 he had never heard enough1 and was always covertly or openly demanding new praises4 ,so ,vico used to besprinkle him patiently with the desired fluid3 the marvellous work of ,your ,excellency2 his lordly diction2 his demosthenic digressions2 his eloquence1 that philosophic speech employed in ,greece by the ,academic school1 in ,rome by ,cicero1 and among the ,italians by none but ,your ,excellency6 ,to the advocate ,francesco ,solla1 who had been his pupil and had subsequently retired into the country1 he hinted that the ,scienza ,nuova looked towards him as one of the few men in the world possessed of a mind penetrating enough to receive it unhampered by any prejudices concerning the origin of mankind4#dc ,such were the guileless artifices and the pitiful little schemes by which he contrived to give an illusory satisfaction to his thirst for recognition and praise1 and a narcotic to his overwrought nerves4 ,but the final results were miserable enough4 ,giacchi's letters contain not a word to show that he had ever grasped one of ,vico's doctrines or even that he had examined them with any serious interest4 ,monsignor di ,gaeta1 after a labyrinth of circumlocutions1 admits that he admired more than he understood of ,vico's works2#dd and possibly he was so much occupied in admiring his own prose that he never read them at all4 ,solla1 in whom ,vico placed such hopes1 thought the discourse on the death of ,angela ,cimini superior to all the author's other works1 including the ,scienza ,nuova itself4 ,vico received a no less incautious compliment from another admirer2 though a warm and affectionate one1--,esteban4#de ,compliments of a vague and unintelligent kind sometimes reached him in return for the copies of his works which he sent not only to ,neapolitan scholars but to those of ,rome1 ,pisa1 ,padua and even ,germany1 ,holland and ,england3 he sent a copy to ,isaac ,newton4#df ,generally1 however1 these gifts were received in contemptuous silence4 ,at most1 ,vico acquired the reputation of a scholar among hundreds of scholars1 a man of letters among thousands of similar men2 a learned man1 but nothing more4 ,among the modest1 the insignificant1 and the young1 ,vico no doubt had strong admirers4 ,among these were the poet1 later a sacred orator1 ,gherardo de ,angelis1 ,solla and ,esteban whom we have mentioned1 the monk ,nicola ,concina of ,padua1 and some more4 ,but though their affection was strong their intelligence was weak4 ,even ,concina admitted while rhapsodising his enthusiasm that he did not very clearly comprehend his master3 ,oh1 what fruitful and sublime lights are here6 ,if only ,i had the talent to make use of them1 to comprehend their depth and the wonderful art of which ,i seem to catch a glimpse6#dg ,the best service that these friends could do him was to soothe with kindly words ,vico's embittered spirit1 if they could not do so by following his inmost thoughts4 ,this is what ,esteban does at the close of the letter in which he excuses himself for his foolish remark on the funeral speech of ,angela ,cimini in phrases he must have gathered from the master's lips3 ,be confident1 ,sir1 that ,providence1 through channels unimagined by yourself1 will cause to spring up for you a perennial fountain of immortal glory6#dh ,the ,jesuit ,father ,domenico ,lodovico1 who wrote the couplet inscribed beneath ,vico's portrait1 on receiving the ,scienza ,nuova sent to the author with much sound sense a little wine from the cellar and a little bread from the oven of the ,jesuit house of the ,nunziatella1 together with a graceful letter begging the author to accept these trifles1 simple as they are1 since the infant ,jesus himself did not refuse the rude offerings of pastoral peasants4 ,he suggested too that at the side of the alphabet in the symbolic frontispiece to the work a little dwarf should be added in the posture of one dumb with astonishment like ,dante's mountaineer1 and that beneath him should be written1 with a significant diaeresis1 the name ,lodo-vico6#di ,among the young men of his school there were some who1 nourished upon his doctrines1 were ready to defend their master with their swords2#ej but we all know the value of these youthful enthusiasms4 ,if these scholars had really assimilated ,vico's doctrines or any part of them1 we should have found traces of it in the literature or culture of the next generation after ,vico2 but such traces are entirely absent4 ,hardly a single one of his formulae1 his historical statements1 or conceptions even superficially understood is to be found in ,conti at ,venice1 ,concina at ,padua1 ,ignazio ,luzan in ,spain--though the last named was living at ,naples when the ,scienza ,nuova was published2#ea or even1 within the author's own neighbourhood1 in ,genovesi or ,galiani4 ,envy1 insincerity1 gossip1 calumny and stupidity provoked violent outbursts of anger on ,vico's part4 ,he confesses this fault in his autobiography where he says that he inveighed in too severe a manner against the errors of conception or doctrine or the incivility of his literary rivals1 when in ,christian charity and as a true philosopher he ought to have ignored or pardoned them4#eb ,but as a matter of fact this fault did not greatly distress him3 he thought it rather an ornament4 ,the funeral speech for ,angela ,cimini contained a kind of hymn to anger1 the heroic wrath which in noble spirits disturbs and shakes to the depths by its boiling all those evil thoughts of the mind1 which beget the vile swarm of fraud1 deceit and falsehood1 and renders the hero frank1 truthful and loyal2 and thus making him a partisan of truth1 arms him as the valiant knight of reason to do battle with wrong and offence4#ec ,although in his writings he guards with all his power against falling into this passion#ed we feel a scarcely repressed torrent of wrath in his private letters whenever he denounces the miserable pedants who love learning more than truth1 or the common tendency of man to be all memory and imagination1 and so forth4 ,in conversation also1 it seems1 he could be very violent4 ,when in #agcf ,damiano ,romano published a work controverting his theory of the ,twelve ,tables1 ,vico1 although according to ,romano himself he had been spoken of as most learned and most famous1 together with other titles of respect1 tore the book to pieces with his teeth in a way that made every one present tremble with horror1 rinding a sign of the deepest malignity in the fact that a lad like myself should join issue with him4#ee ,but his outbursts of wrath were succeeded by fits of the deepest dejection4 ,in a sonnet he speaks of himself as over-whelmed by that fate which the unjust hate of others often creates1 and says that for this reason he has separated himself from human society to live with himself alone4 ,sometimes he shakes off this torpor for a moment3 then1 he says3 ,i draw within myself again1 and pressed ,by heavy cares1 return to where ,i stood3#ef ,my fate and not my fault ,i do lament4 ,footnote #db3 ,published by me in ,napoli nobilis1 xiii4 7#aijd71 f4 #a41 and again in ,secondo suppl4 alla ,bibl4 vich4 pp4 #gj-b4 ,footnote #dc3 ,opp4 vi4 p4 #ag4 ,footnote #dd3 ,bibl4 vich4 pp4 #ajc-e4 ,footnote #de3 ,opp4 vi4 p4 #ade4 ,footnote #df3 ,ibid4 p4 #aaj4 ,footnote #dg3 ,opusc41 ed4 ,villarosa1 ii4 p4 #bgg4 ,footnote #dh3 ,bibl4 vich4 p4 #aje4 ,footnote #di3 ,i praise ,vico4 ,letter published by me in ,bibl4 vich4 p4 #ajg4 ,footnote #ej3 ,bibl4 vich4 pp4 #hg-h4 ,footnote #ea3 ,ibid4 p4 #dd4 ,footnote #eb3 ,autob4 in ,opp4 iv4 p4 #daf3 cf4 the evidence of a pupil in ,bibl4 vich4 p4 #hi4 ,footnote #ec3 ,opp4 vi4 p4 #bed4 ,footnote #ed3 ,autob4 in ,opp4 iv4 p4 #daf4 ,footnote #ee3 ,bibl4 vich4 p4 #hh4 ,footnote #ef3 ,sonnet published by ,g4 ,gentile1 ,il ,figlio di ,g4 ,b4 ,vico 7,naples1 ,pierro1 #aije71 p4 #agc4 ,,vii ,but among all these troubles1 obstacles and disappointments1 in the midst of this sadness which often draped his life in black1 ,vico enjoyed one of the loftiest joys accessible to man2 the life of meditation freed and purified from passion1 lived by man in solitude without the turbulent and grievous company of the body3 the life of security1 because it is made one with the soul always ready and present which shows man his being rooted in the ,eternal that measures all times and walking in the ,infinite that comprehends all finite things2 it crowns him with an eternal and immeasurable joy not restricted invidiously to certain places nor grudgingly to certain times2 but it can grow up within himself only if without envy of rivalry or fear of diminution it spreads and communicates itself unceasingly to more and more human minds4#eg ,that he has attained truth he never doubts1 though he never ceases to elaborate it further2 with the system presented in the work on ,universal ,law1 his mind1 he says1 rested content4#eh ,the weariness and even the pain he had suffered were dear to him1 because through them he arrived at his discoveries3 ,i bless the twenty-five full years ,i have spent in meditation upon this subject1 in the midst of the adversities of fortune and the checks ,i have often received from the unhappy example of great thinkers who have attempted new and weighty discoveries4#ei ,how could he have done anything but bless these fatigues1 pains and adversities1 if1 whenever he rose above the passionate perturbations of the empirical man and the struggles of the practical man1 his mind showed him the inevitable necessity of his toil and of his sufferings1 two necessities fused into one another so as to become one and indivisible8 ,his own philosophical doctrine then brought him the remedy for his ills1 and worked in his spirit the catharsis of liberation2 the doctrine of the immanent ,providence1 or as it was later called1 historical necessity1 which was his central thought4 ,praise be to ,providence for ever1 which1 when the weak sight of mortals sees in it nothing but stern justice1 then most of all is at work on a crowning mercy6 ,for by this task ,i see that ,i am clothed upon with a new man2 ,i feel that everything that goaded me to bewail my hard lot and to denounce the corruption of literature that has caused that lot1 has vanished2 for this corruption and this lot have strengthened me and enabled me to perfect my task4 ,and more1 it may perhaps not be true1 but it would please me1 were it true1 that this labour has filled me with a certain spirit of heroism1 through which no fear of death any longer disturbs me and my mind feels no disquietude at the words of my rivals4 ,lastly1 it has established me as upon a mighty rock of adamant before the judgment of ,god1 who rewards the work of creation by the approval of the wise1 who are always and everywhere few in numbers 444 men of the loftiest intellect1 of a learning all their own1 generous and great-hearted1 whose only labour is to enrich with deathless works the commonwealth of letters4#fj ,thus ,providence showed him the necessity of all that had befallen or should befall him in his life1 taught him resignation and promised him glory4 ,footnote #eg3 ,opp4 vi4 p4 #bhg4 ,footnote #eh3 ,ibid4 p4 #ah4 ,footnote #ei3 ,ibid4 pp4 #aec-d4 ,footnote #fj3 ,opp4 vi4 pp4 #bi-cj4 ,,viii ,so the hot-tempered man became at last tolerant3 tolerant with that tolerance1 that lofty indulgence which must not be confused with common toleration4 ,the ,university1 in which he had hoped for advancement and towards which he directed the thought of his earlier works1 would have none of him2 he retired within himself to think out the ,scienza ,nuova4 ,now1 says he with a smile in which we may still see a trace of bitterness1 ,i owe this work to the ,university1 which1 by judging me unworthy of the chair and not wishing me to be occupied in treating paragraphs1 gave me leisure for meditation3 what greater obligation could ,i have8#fa ,a friend1 ,sostegni the ,florentine1 in a sonnet to ,vico1 let slip some words in condemnation of the city of ,naples for making so little of her distinguished son4 ,vico in his reply justifies his native place in noble words1 as being stern towards him because she expected and desired much of him3 ,stern mother1 she caresses not her son1 ,lest so she fall into obscurity1 ,but gravely listens1 watching as he speaks4#fb ,this was the spirit that found expression in the ,autobiography1 a work which has been misjudged and in fact entirely misunderstood by ,ferrari1 who censures its prevailing teleological tendency and laments the absence of a psychological explanation of ,vico's life2#fc as if ,vico had not himself explained that he was writing it from a philosophical point of view4#fd ,and what is the meaning of a philosophical treatment of a philosopher's life but an understanding of the objective necessity of his thought and a perception of the scaffolding it involves even where the author at the moment of thinking did not clearly perceive it8 ,vico meditates upon the causes1 natural and moral1 and upon the occasions of his fortunes2 he meditates upon the inclinations or aversions he felt from childhood towards this or that branch of study2 he meditates upon the opportunities or hindrances which assisted or retarded his progress2 he meditates1 lastly1 upon certain efforts of his own in right directions which bore fruit in the reflections upon which he built his final work1 the ,scienza ,nuova1 which work was to demonstrate that his literary life was bound to have been what it was and not different4#fe ,vico's ,autobiography is1 in a word1 the application of the ,scienza ,nuova to the life of its author1 the course of his own individual history3 and its method is as just and true as it is original4 ,vico succeeded in part only of his attempt1 and could not form a criticism and history of himself to the same extent to which a modern critic and historian is in a position to do--whose efforts will again be improved upon by those of the future--is too obvious to need emphasising4 ,the ,autobiography itself concludes with a blessing upon the author's hardships1 a profession of faith in ,providence and a sure expectation of fame and glory4 ,footnote #fa3 ,ibid4 p4 #bi4 ,footnote #fb3 ,ibid4 p4 #ddf4 ,footnote #fc3 ,in the ,introduction to vol4 iv4 of the ,opere4 ,footnote #fd3 ,autob4 in ,opp4 iv4 p4 #djb4 ,footnote #fe3 ,ibid4 ,,ix ,in the last years of his life ,vico1 enfeebled by age1 domestic trouble and illness1 entirely gave up his studies3#ff ,my pen is slipping from my palsied grasp2 ,the door of my thought's treasury is closed1#fg he cries in two mournful lines of a sonnet in #agce4 ,he prepared at this time additions and corrections for a possible reprint of the second ,scienza ,nuova1 and incorporated them in the final manuscript of the work2 he thought for a time of printing his small work on the ,equilibrium of the ,living ,body 7,de aequilibrio corporis animantis7 composed many years earlier and now lost2#fh he still discharged some of the duties of his office1 such as the speech on the marriage of the king1 ,charles ,bourbon1 in #agch4 ,but from #agcf or #agcg his son began to assist him in his professional work1 and in ,january #agda he was definitely appointed to the chair on his father's resignation4#fi ,vico henceforth lived among his family like an old soldier exacta militia1 thinking over his past battles and conscious of having done his life's work4 ,his good son read to him for some hours every day out of the ,latin classics he had once loved and studied so well4 ,and in this evening of his life he was at least spared the crowning agony suffered in his last years by a philosopher more fortunate than himself1 ,immanuel ,kant2 the agony of continuing and completing his system of philosophy1 and wearing himself out in a fruitless struggle with thoughts that eluded his grasp and words that no longer obeyed him4 ,vico had said all he had to say2 a great historian of his own life1 he knew the moment at which ,providence had finished its work in him1 closed the door of thought it had so freely opened1 and ordered him to lay down his pen4#gj ,footnote #ff3 ,ibid4 p4 #dae4 ,footnote #fg3 ,opp4 vi4 p4 #dbe 7,sonnet on the marriage of ,raimondo di ,sangro1 #agce74 ,footnote #fh3 ,bibl4 vich4 pp4 #ch-i4 ,footnote #fi3 ,gentile1 ,il ,figlio di ,g4 ,b4 ,vico1 pp4 #cj-dh4 ,footnote #gj3 ,the documents and the scattered notes used in this lecture and quoted from the contents of my ,bibliografia vichiana are now all collected in my edition of the ,autobiografia1 carteggio e poesie varie3 cf4 the present vol4 infra1 p4 #cjh4 ,,appendix ,,ii ,,the ,,later ,,history ,,of ,,vico',s ,,thought#a ,the history of the vicissitudes of ,vico's reputation must not be allowed to replace or be confused with the exposition and valuation of his thought1 by losing sight of the history of philosophy properly so called or confusing it with the history of culture4#b ,but even when we pass to this second history1 we must guard against another kind of error1 namely the pretence of determining by its means whether ,vico's work was or was not of use in the advancement of culture1 and what degree of utility we should grant it4 ,the inquiry is meaningless1 and the degree cannot be measured3 for rightly considered one disciple may be worth tens or hundreds1 one effect produced after centuries may compensate its age-long delay1 one point undeservedly forgotten may become as notable and instructive as the best-deserved reputation1 and one single truth twice discovered independently may from this re-discovery and seeming superfluity receive a confirmation of its inevitable necessity4 ,the work of ,vico--such is the usual verdict--was entirely useless1 because it appeared out of its due time and prematurely1 and remained unknown or was known only because it could convey nothing new4 ,such language is a blasphemy against history1 which allows nothing to be useless and is always and throughout the work of ,providence1 whose vast utilities must not be measured by the pettiness of the human span4 ,was ,vico appreciated in the course of the eighteenth century8 ,did any one read him1 understand him and follow his lead8 ,the question has been answered with equal decision in the affirmative and the negative4 ,the affirmative answer has been supported by a diligent collection of scattered passages up and down the writers of the century mentioning his name and doctrines and an accumulation of possible or apparent traces of his thoughts visible though unacknowledged in ,italian and foreign literature4 ,but a thinker like ,vico can only be said to be known when his fundamental thought has been grasped and the spirit that animated him has been felt4 ,now the majority of the facts alleged as proof of the efficacy of his work concerns particular doctrines detached from the whole and accepted or contested just like those of any other scholar and critic or any paradox-monger of his time4 ,this is true in the first place of his theory on the origin of the ,twelve ,tables1 discussed in the controversy between ,bernardo ,tanucci and ,guido ,grandi from #agbh to #agca1 contested in #agcf by ,damiano ,romano1 accepted in ,france by ,bonamy in #agce and recalled in #agej by ,terrasson2 of the views on the history and primitive government of ,rome1 mentioned by ,chastellux1 adopted and expanded by ,duni1 and used by ,du ,bignon who learnt them from ,duni2 of the hypotheses as to the prehistoric period and the origins of humanity1 employed and modified by ,boulanger in ,france and ,mario ,pagano in ,italy2 and lastly1 of some conceptions upon poetry and language which reappear in ,pagano1 ,cesarotti and some others4 ,a more essential question was that of the method of studying and judging political institutions and laws2 a question upon which ,montesquieu has been compared with ,vico and accused of freely using the ,scienza ,nuova without acknowledging his debt4 ,it is now established through ,montesquieu's journal that in #agbh ,antonio ,conti at ,venice advised the future author of the ,esprit des ,lois to buy ,vico's book at ,naples2 and ,montesquieu must have followed this advice on reaching ,naples in the following year2 for a copy of the #agbe edition of the ,scienza ,nuova is still preserved in the library at the chteau of ,la ,brde4 ,but the mind of the ,french writer was too different from and inferior to that of ,vico to draw vital nourishment from a work such as the ,scienza ,nuova2 and the traces of imitation alleged to have been discovered in the ,esprit des ,lois are very doubtful and in any case of minor importance4 ,it must be said on the other hand that the merit generally attributed to ,montesquieu of having introduced the historical element into positive laws and thus considering legislation in a truly philosophical manner 7as ,hegel said later71 that is1 as a moment depending upon a totality relative to all the other determinations which go to form the character of a people or a period2 this merit1 in order both of time and of excellence1 belongs in reality to ,vico4 ,like ,montesquieu in the science of legislation1 so ,wolf in the ,homeric question has been suspected of tacitly deriving help from ,vico's speculations4 ,but at the time when he published the ,prolegomena ad ,homerum in #agie ,wolf did not know the ,scienza ,nuova2 which he knew in name only in #ahja and in fact the year after1 when ,cesarotti presented him with the book4 ,we must observe that ,vico's judgment as to the barbaric nature of the ,homeric epos and the absence in it of esoteric wisdom had been published in #agfe by the ,gazette littraire de l',europe2 and further1 that the ,scienza ,nuova was known and used by the ,danish philologist and archaeologist ,zoega1 who quotes it in an essay on ,homer composed in #aghh though not published till long afterwards2 and that ,zoega corresponded with ,heyne1 who afterwards accused ,wolf of having derived from his own lectures the theory set forth in the ,prolegomena4 ,heyne had in fact expressed the idea of a gradual genesis of the ,homeric poems in #agij4 ,in a word we may say that ,vico's views had to some extent penetrated into the atmosphere of ,german philology3 in which case ,wolf may have originally had a certain indirect knowledge of them4 ,even apart from this indirect communication the fact remains1 and is recognised by all students of the question1 that the ,homeric theory conceived by ,wolf must really be called not ,wolfian but ,vician1 since such it truly is in its fundamental characteristics4 ,moreover1 ,wolf1 as a philologist far superior to ,vico but much less great as a thinker1 was not in a position to understand the ideas which had led his predecessor to the doctrine he held concerning ,homer3 a fact which is clear from the somewhat superficial article he wrote on the subject in #ahjg4 ,there was certainly at ,naples during the eighteenth century a vague consciousness in many minds of the greatness of ,vico's work2 but in what precisely this greatness consisted nobody could determine1 owing to the lack of adequate experience and preparation4 ,outside ,italy1 especially in ,germany1 where this preparation existed or at least was much greater1 ,vico's work remained generally unknown1 partly through the discredit into which ,italian books had fallen since the end of the seventeenth century1 and partly through the dimculties which ,vico's style presented to a foreign reader4 ,when the ,scienza ,nuova did fall into the hands of men competent to understand it1 a series of insignificant accidents interposed to prevent such an understanding4 ,hamann procured the ,scienza ,nuova from ,florence in #aggg1 at which time he was engaged upon economics and physiocracy1 fancying that it dealt with these subjects2 and the delusion was not dispelled when in glancing over it he found himself faced by a collection of philological studies and studies carried out with considerable carelessness4 ,goethe received it at ,naples in #aghg from ,filangieri1 who warmly recommended it1 took it back to ,germany and lent it in #agib to ,jacobi2 but it was a happy coincidence rather than a true knowledge or a clear intuition that led him to couple ,vico's name with that of ,hamann4 ,herder1 who may also have known ,vico's work less through his correspondence with ,hamann in #aggg than by his travels in ,italy in #aghi1 speaks of it in #agig in quite general terms1 without noticing one of the many connexions between ,vico and himself1 especially as regards the theory of language and poetry4 ,the only men in the eighteenth century who really to some extent penetrated into the fundamental thought of ,vico and proclaimed though unwillingly his genuine greatness were--and this is another proof of the solid mental fibre of ,catholicism--his ,catholic opponents1 of whom there were plenty3 ,romano1 ,lami1 ,rogadei1 and above all ,finetti4 ,they saw that in spite of his stubborn protestations of religious orthodoxy ,vico held a conception of ,providence very different from that of ,christian theology2 and that though he continually used the name of ,god he never allowed him to operate effectively in history as a personal ,god2 that he made so sharp a distinction between sacred and profane history as to reach a purely natural and human theory of the origin of civilisation1 by means of the state of nature1 and of the origin of religion1 by means of fear1 shame and the imaginative universal2 while the traditional ,catholic doctrine admitted a certain communication between sacred and profane history1 and recognised in pagan religion and civilisation the leaven of some kind of vague recollection of the primitive revealed truth2 that though protesting that he accepted and reinforced the authority of the ,bible1 he threatened and shook it on many points2 and that his criticism of profane historical tradition1 conducted in a haughty spirit of rebellion against the past1 might open the road to the most dangerous abuses1 since it provoked the application of the same spirit and method to sacred history1 which happened in the case of ,boulanger4#c ,in this accusation are faithfully indicated all the points destined later to enter into the nineteenth century's solemn eulogy of ,vico4 ,thus churchmen began to be suspicious of him2 and this bore fruit later in the restoration period1 in the anti-,vician polemic of ,bishop ,colangelo1 and somewhat earlier in a verdict of the royal censor ,lorenzo ,giustiniani1 who pronounced the ,scienza ,nuova a work marking a most unfortunate crisis in ,european history4 ,this tendency was opposed by the enthusiastic young students of social and political matters at ,naples at the end of the eighteenth century1 preparing themselves for an active part in the imminent revolution4 ,among them ,vico came to be considered as an anti-clerical and anti-,catholic1 and the legend arose1 mentioned elsewhere in this volume1 that ,vico purposely and deliberately made his work obscure in order to escape ecclesiastical censure4 ,these young men applied themselves to the study and praise of the ,scienza ,nuova2 they proposed to reprint it1 since it had become rare1 together with the other works and unpublished manuscripts of the author2 they prepared expositions and criticisms of ,vico's philosophical and historical system2 some like ,pagano tried to work it up afresh by adding to it the ideas of ,french sensationalism1 others like ,filangieri did not let their admiration of it dispel their rosy dreams of reform4 ,in #agig the ,german ,gerning on coming to ,naples noted the zeal with which ,vico was studied1 and projected a translation or at least a summary of the ,scienza ,nuova in ,german4 ,when the fall of the ,neapolitan ,republic in #agii drove these young men1 or rather those of them who escaped the massacres and the gallows of the ,bourbon reaction1 into exile in ,northern ,italy and especially in ,lombardy1 the cult of ,vico was for the first time ardently propagated4 ,vincenzo ,cuoco1 ,francesco ,lomonaco1 ,francesco ,salfi and other southern patriots passed the knowledge of the ,scienza ,nuova to ,monti1 who mentioned it in his inaugural lecture at ,pavia in #ahjc1 to ,ugo ,foscolo1 who absorbed many of its ideas into his poem the ,sepolcri and his critical essays3 to ,alessandro ,manzoni1 who was later to institute in his ,discorso sulla storia longobarda a famous comparison between ,vico and ,muratori3 and to others of less importance4 ,cuoco introduced ,vico's work to ,degrando1 then at work on his ,histoire compare des systmes philosophiques2 another exile1 ,de ,angelis1 put the ,scienza ,nuova into the hands of ,jules ,michelet2 ,salfi mentioned ,vico in articles in the ,revue ,encyclopdique and in books and minor works in ,french4 ,it was also through the suggestion of these ,neapolitans that the ,scienza ,nuova was reprinted at ,milan in #ahja2 and other editions and collections of ,vico's smaller works were not long in appearing4 ,thus in the first decade of the nineteenth century ,vico's reputation1 which had till then been merely local to ,naples1 spread over the whole of ,italy4 ,but1 suitably to their personal disposition and to the spirit of the times1 the first and chief debt which the patriotic students of ,vico owed to his thought was political in character or rather belonging to political philosophy2 and consisted in a criticism of that ,jacobinism and philo-,gallicism of which they had had such unhappy experience in the events of #agii4d ,vico's thought led them to more concrete concepts2 and this is particularly visible in ,vincenzo ,cuoco's admirable ,saggio storico sulla rivoluzione napoletana 7#ahjj74 ,similarly ,ballanche some decades later in his ,essais de palingnsie sociale 7#ahbg7 wrote that if ,vico had been known in ,france in the eighteenth century he would have exercised a beneficial influence on the subsequent social revolutions4 ,another particular aspect of ,vico's work1 the reform undertaken by him of historical methodology and social science as an aid to history1 was observed and emphasised by the archaeologist ,cataldo ,iannelli in his work ,sulla natura e necessit della scienza delle cose e delle storie umane 7#ahah74 ,foscolo and those who drew their inspiration from him chiefly introduced into literary criticism and history something of ,vico's conceptions on the historical interpretation of poetry4 ,in ,germany on the other hand ,jacobi1 who had read the ,de antiquissima1 immediately placed himself in the centre of the ,vician philosophy by discovering and pointing out in #ahaa1 in his work ber den gttlichen ,dingen und ihrer ,offenbarung1 the close connexion between the principle of the convertibility of the true and the created and the ,kantian theory that one can perfectly conceive and understand only what one is able to construct3 a single step from which position leads1 as he observes1 to the system of identity4 ,the same fact was recognised by ,baader1 who found in this system the confirmation and foundation of the principle enunciated by ,vico4 ,but the translation of the ,scienza ,nuova made by ,weber in #ahbb seems to have been unsuccessful2 and it does not appear that ,vico was known to ,hegel1 with whom he has so many substantial and formal affinities1 especially in the ,phenomenology2 and whose mania for triads might be blamed just as the ,catholic ,finetti had blamed ,vico for always standing upon rule of three4 ,the resemblances again of ,vico's theories to the new ,german philological doctrines of ,niebuhr1 ,mller1 ,bckh and many others were not at all willingly admitted4 ,the attitude of ,niebuhr is characteristic4 ,whether he knew ,vico's work or not when he published the first edition of his ,rmische ,geschichte1 he certainly knew it later through ,savigny and through the article entitled ,vico und ,niebuhr published in #ahaf by the ,swiss ,orelli2 and yet he continued to ignore him1 through some kind of contempt or depreciation2 an attitude hardly praiseworthy but imitated by ,mommsen4 ,in ,france1 the spread of knowledge concerning ,vico's thought was due to ,michelet1 who translated his works and in his last years described ,italy as the second mother and nurse who in my youth suckled me upon ,virgil1 and in my maturity nourished me with ,vico2 potent cordials that have many times renewed my heart4 ,michelet was the first or one of the first to proclaim1 in his introduction1 that ,vico was not understood in the eighteenth century because he wrote for the nineteenth4 ,michelet was joined by ,ballanche1 of whom we spoke above1 and also by ,jouffroy1 ,lerminier1 ,chateaubriand1 and ,cousin1 some of whom grasped the connexion between ,vico and the ,german philosophy that ,cousin was at this time propagating in ,france2 and later by ,laurent1 ,vacherot1 ,de ,ferron1 ,franck1 ,cournot and many others4 ,vico was read and admired by ,comte1 who mentioned him in a letter to ,john ,stuart ,mill in #ahdd1 and lastly ,lon ,gambetta conceived in his youth a general history of commerce upon the scheme of the ,vician reflux4 ,the popularity of ,vico's name in ,france at this period was so great that it is several times mentioned in joke in passages of ,balzac's novels and in ,flaubert's ,bouvard et ,pcuchet4 ,but thought of the quality of ,vico's could never have a very deep or lasting influence in the persistently intellectualistic and spiritualistic atmosphere of ,france4 ,perhaps the most conspicuous results it produced were the theories of ,fustel de ,coulanges on the ancient city and the origin of feudalism4 ,but1 to return to ,italy1 if the aspirations towards a national uprising1 which tended to vindicate and glorify all the ornaments ,italy could boast1 raised ,vico's name almost to a level with that of ,dante1 the simultaneous renaissance of philosophy1 which was shaking off the sensationalism and materialism of the eighteenth century1 was bound to attach itself to the last great idealistic philosopher1 to use his thoughts and to shelter itself behind his authority4 ,vico's complete works were now collected and editions of the single treatises multiplied4 ,and since in the national uprising two currents could be distinguished1 partly successive and partly fused1 the neo-,guelphian and the radical1 and since this distinction was represented in the philosophical awakening by that between ,catholic idealism and rationalistic idealism1 the schools of ,rosmini and ,gioberti on the one hand and ,bruno and ,hegel on the other2 ,vico1 at once a ,catholic and a free philosopher1 lent himself admirably1 as is easy to understand1 to the contrary sympathies and interpretations of the two schools4 ,thus originated two different pictures of him1 both historically justified1 though the one painted him as he would have wished to be1 the other as he was4 ,the ,vico of the liberal ,catholics was above all the ,vico of the metaphysical points1 the ,platonist1 the mystic of the unknowable ,god1 the traditionalist of the prologues to the ,diritto universale1 and hence the strictly ,italian philosopher as opposed to those of the rest of ,europe1 sons of the ,reformation3 whereas the ,vico of the rationalists1 the bold and heretical author of the ,scienza ,nuova1 is a ,european philosopher to be set side by side with ,descartes and ,spinoza1 ,kant and ,hegel4 ,the former picture may be seen in the works of ,rosmini1 ,gioberti1 ,tommaseo and many others1 among which we must not forget those of a ,neapolitan writer of lofty spirit1 ,enrico ,cenni1 perhaps the best of all1 who draws a loving picture of the ,vico of the ,catholics4 ,the latter portrait is found in the philosophers and critics who from #ahdj onwards acquired their education in the school of ,german idealism2 especially ,bertrando ,spaventa and ,francesco de ,sanctis1 who were the first to see clearly ,vico's relations to earlier and later ,european thought and to substitute for mere observations and vague impressions on the subject a scientific interpretation and a determinate judgment4 ,that the second school of interpreters and critics were in the right1 and that the liberal or idealistic ,catholics had taken up an untenable position and reproduced in their irresolution and incoherence the irresolution and incoherence of ,vico himself1 was proved by the fact1 among others1 that less liberal but more consistent ,catholics like the ,spaniard ,jaime ,balmes show an inflexible distrust and hostility towards the author of the ,scienza ,nuova4 ,the study of history in ,italy during this period was less deeply modified by ,vico's influence2 chiefly perhaps because the impulse of the national uprising led to the neglect of primitive and ,roman history and the devotion of all its best energies to research into the origin and vicissitudes of the ,italian republics1 a subject ,vico had entirely ignored4 ,on the other hand1 jurisprudence especially in the south was dominated by his thought2 and though it produced in this field no great scientific results1 it gave to the jurists a loftiness and breadth of judgment and a concreteness of view which were long remembered and regretted4 ,after #ahgj1 with the decay of philosophy in ,italy and elsewhere1 the study of ,vico also decayed3 and for more than forty years there was no demand for a reprint of his works4 ,the monograph by ,cantoni in the year #ahfg1 in spite of some valuable passages1 already shows unmistakable signs of the decadence1 founded as it is upon the idea that ,vico's value is greater according as he is less of a metaphysician and more of a psychologist and historian3 a position due not so much to the intrinsic weakness ascribed to him by ,cantoni in philosophical matters as to the implicit conviction on the critic's part that metaphysic in general is a valueless thing1 useful only for rousing enthusiasm in the addled heads of southern ,italians4 ,the great idealist of the ,new ,science was subjected1 as a final insult1 to the praises of the positivists1 who in their astonishing ignorance almost amounting to innocence did not--and still do not--hesitate to allege as a confirmation of their formal profession of faith the words verum ipsum factum1 which according to them means that the truth is the fact which we see and touch4 ,writings making any serious contribution to the knowledge of any particular point on ,vico's doctrines were rare4 ,interest in ,vico only reawoke within the last decade with the general reawakening of philosophical studies4 ,of the two best comprehensive works on ,vico published towards the end of last century one is due to the ,german ,catholic ,karl ,werner 7#ahha7 who expounds his philosophical and historical doctrines with great care1 judging them from the point of view of speculative theism1 a theory evolved under the influence of ,baader and the second philosophy of ,schelling1 and tending much more to the comprehension of ,vico than the psychology of ,cantoni4 ,the other is the work of an ,englishman1 ,robert ,flint 7#ahhd71 who wrote for the collection of ,philosophical ,classics a brief monograph upon the subject1 accurate in detail1 and if not profound at least guided by clear and sound sense4 ,recently ,sorel in ,france has shown the fruitfulness of certain views of ,vico's1 especially that of the reflux1 by applying them to the history of primitive ,christianity and the theory of the modern proletarian movement1 while in ,germany ,biese and ,mauthner have brought his conceptions of metaphor and language once more into favour4 ,but in spite of all this ,vico has never had justice done him in works devoted to the history of modern philosophy4 ,these1 in the case both of ,hffding's book and of the greatly superior work of ,windelband1 and in fact of all others1 either pass over the ,italian philosopher in complete silence or else merely mention him as an experimenter1 later than ,bossuet and earlier than ,herder1 in the dubious science of the philosophy of history4 ,this lack of attention arises partly from an insufficient knowledge of ,vico's real nature2 his fertile activities in the theory of knowledge1 in ethics1 in aesthetic1 in law and in religion are all hidden behind that one label philosopher of history4 ,partly however it is due to the reaction of the history of politics and culture on the history of philosophy2 which produces the effect that thinkers whose social influence came to an end with the fall of the peoples or states to which they belonged1 or who for some reason or other had no considerable influence on ,european civilisation1 are sacrificed to others much less important from a philosophical point of view but more influential or better known as exponents of social life and representatives of cultural tendencies2 so that where it would be thought impossible to ignore1 for example1 ,paley or d',holbach or ,mendelssohn1 it seems natural to pass over ,giambattista ,vico1 though in such company he is a giant among pigmies4 ,the historical injustice of this course has been already shown theoretically by the distinction we have emphasised between the history of philosophy and the history of culture2 and in ,vico's special case by our whole work1 which clearly shows the lacuna left by the omission of ,vico in the general history of ,european thought at the beginning of the eighteenth century4 ,footnote #a3 ,this appendix briefly recapitulates the chief results of my researches into the subject set forth in the ,bibliografia vichiana and its two supplements 7cf4 the present volume1 infra1 p4 #caj1 to which work ,i refer for fuller details and for the evidence for the facts here laid down4 ,footnote #b3 ,see above1 pp4 #bcf1 #bcg4 ,footnote #c3 ,labanca has devoted a highly instructive volume to the ,catholic criticisms of ,vico3 see the present volume1 infra1 p4 #cji4 ,footnote #d3 ,see above1 pp4 #bdg-i4 ,,appendix ,,iii ,,the ,,sources ,,of ,,vico',s ,,theory ,,of ,,knowledge#a ,my statement1 that the criterion of knowledge contained in ,vico's formula of the conversion of the true with the created is an original and modern principle1 has been contradicted by certain ,catholic editors2 who state that this doctrine1 however true1 is not original to ,vico1 and is indeed far from modern1 being a purely ,scholastic doctrine4 ,if ,i thought otherwise1 this was only due to my insufficient knowledge of ,scholasticism4 ,i might indeed ask at the outset how such complete ignorance of scholasticism were possible3 an ignorance not of its manifold varieties and the tangled forest of its distinctions--that would be comprehensible3 but of no less a matter than the fundamental criterion of its theory of knowledge1 the starting-point of modern thought and as such1 it would seem1 inevitably familiar to every student of the elements of philosophy4 ,but since it is always useful to suspect oneself of ignorance1 or even to believe oneself more ignorant than one really is1 ,i will make so far as concerns myself a voluntary display of humility4 ,i find it less easy1 ,i confess1 to extend the accusation of ignorance to all who1 like myself1 have failed to run ,vico's criterion to earth in the scholastic lumber-room3 ,jacobi for instance1 who on reading it as expressed in the ,de antiquissima1 sees in it the first manifestation of ,kantianism and absolute idealism3#b or the ,catholic theologian ,baader1 who finds its later development in ,schelling's philosophy of identity3#c or the learned and subtle ,spanish ,thomist1 ,jaime ,balmes1 who treats it as a unique idea and attacks it from the scholastic point of view3#d or the equally learned ,catholic ,bertini1 who accepts and develops ,jacobi's observation3#e or the eminent historian of philosophy ,wilhelm ,windelband1 who1 while unacquainted with ,vico's doctrines1 on coming across indications of a similar thought in ,sanchez's ,quod nihil scitur was greatly struck by it and endorsed its value by the assertion that it was to bear fruit at a later date and in the hands of a greater philosopher1 ,immanuel ,kant3#f or again the specialist in the history of scholasticism1 ,karl ,werner1 the author of a careful monograph on ,vico1#g who nowhere notices the alleged scholastic character of ,vico's theory of knowledge4 ,scholasticism must indeed be a difficult and mysterious doctrine1 if it is inaccessible to all these students1 qualified and bound though they are to understand it4 ,but we cannot pause on the threshold to speculate3 we must plunge straight into the argument4 ,in what part of scholasticism can we find ,vico's criterion converting knowledge with creation8 ,the ,thomistic saying1 truth and reality are convertible1 ens et verum convertuntur1 has been quoted3#h but quotations of this kind are perhaps more calculated to confuse by words than to convince by facts4 ,the same value attaches to the statement that ,vico himself confessed the scholastic origin of his principle1 since the very first chapter of the ,de antiquissima begins with the words in ,latin1 the truth and the fact reciprocate1 or1 as the scholastic mob says1 convert1 ,latinis verum et factum reciprocantur1 seu1 ut scholarum vulgus loquitur1 convertuntur4 ,here it is perfectly clear to any one on a moment's thought that ,vico1 ,latinist as he was1 meant simply to substitute the ,ciceronian reciprocari for the barbarous converti4 ,st4 ,thomas explained the meaning of his formula quite clearly1 especially in the ,summa ,theologica1 ,part ,i4 question xvi4 art4 #c4 ,here he asks whether the truth and the reality are convertible1 utrum verum et ens convertantur2 to which he replies as follows3 that as the good is of the nature of the desirable1 so the truth has the nature of knowledge4 ,but in so far as a thing has existence in itself1 thus far it is knowable4 ,and for this reason it is said in ,de anima1 ,bk4 ,,iii4 text4 #cg 7#dca b #ba7 that 'the soul is in a sense all things' according to sense and intellect4 ,and hence as the good is convertible with the existent1 so is the true4 ,but yet as the good adds to existence the nature of the desirable1 so also the truth adds a reference to the intellect4 7,quod sicut bonum habet rationem appetibilis1 ita verum habet ordinem cognitionis4 ,unumquodque autem in quantum habet de esse1 in tantum est cognoscibile4 ,et propter hoc dicitur in #c de ,anima1 text4 #cg1 quod 'anima est quodammodo omnia' secundum sensum et intellectum4 ,et ideo sicut bonum convertitur cum ente1 ita et verum4 ,sed tamen sicut bonum addit rationem appetibilis supra ens1 ita et verum comparationem ad intellectum47 ,nothing then can be known except what exists1 and nothing can exist but what is good3 existence1 truth and goodness are all convertible4 ,thus1 too1 things are called good in so far as they correspond to the idea in their ,creator's mind4 ,each single thing partakes of the truth of its own nature in so far as it imitates the knowledge of ,god1 like an artefact in so far as it agrees with the art3 the knowledge of ,god is the cause of things3 the knowledge of ,god is the measure of things4 7,unumquodque in tantum habet de veritate suae natura1 in quantum imitatur ,dei scientiam sicut artificiatum in quantum concordat arti ,i4 xiv4 #ab4 ,scientia ,dei est causa rerum ,i4 xiv4 #ab4 ,scientia ,dei est mensura rerum ,i4 xiv4 #ab47 ,but truth and goodness1 the objects of intellect and will respectively1 if on the one hand they are convertible in reality1 convertentur secundum rem1 on the other they are distinguishable in thought1 diversificantur secundum rationem 7,i4 lix4 #b74 ,what have these thoughts in common with ,vico's idea that the condition of knowing a truth is to create it8 ,in fact1 what is here stated is that the condition of making a thing is to know it1 or as ,st4 ,thomas says in the same place 7,i4 xiv4 #h7 in ,st4 ,augustine's words 7,de ,trinitate xv4 #ac7 ,universas creaturas et spirituelles et corporales non quia sunt ideo novit ,deus1 sed ideo sunt quia novit4 7,god does not know all ,his creatures corporeal and spiritual because they exist3 but they exist because ,he knows them47 ,vico makes no kind of mention of the formula ens et verum convertuntur1 though he knows and quotes--a fact which has escaped my critics--the analogous phrase the true and the good are convertible1 verum et bonum convertuntur3#i a formula which he diverts to his own purposes1 or rather unites it with his own4 ,in the first place1 he writes1 ,i establish a truth which is convertible with the created1 and in this sense ,i understand the good of the schools1 convertible with existence3 and hence ,i infer that the one and only truth is in ,god1 since in ,him is contained all ,creation4#aj ,this union is reached quite openly by identifying verum with factum1 then factum with ens1 and finally the verum-factum-ens with the bonum3 by substituting the doctrine of ,vico for that of the schools4 ,by such a method of interpretation one could reduce all doctrines to a single one1 a perennis philosophia4 ,i do not say that it would be a method entirely devoid of truth2 but it is certainly not a historical method4 ,that ,vico's criterion is not only different from but inconsistent with ,thomism was shown1 as ,i have already said1 by ,balmes2 who pronounced it specious but devoid of solid foundation4 ,he uses ,st4 ,thomas's statements to controvert ,vico's theological doctrine that ,god understands because ,he creates1 opposing to it the ,scholastic view that ,he creates because ,he understands4 ,he denies1 that the ,word was conceived by the mere knowledge of what is contained in the divine omnipotence1 for it is conceived not simply by creatures but also and chiefly by the cognition of the divine essence 7for the ,father by understanding himself and the ,son and the ,holy ,ghost and all other things embraced by ,his knowledge conceives the ,word1 so that thus the whole ,trinity is implied in the ,word1 and also every creature3 ,pater enim intellegendo se et ,filium et ,spiritum sanctum et omnia alia quae ejus scientia continentur concipit ,verbum1 ut sic tota ,trinitas ,verbo dicatur1 et etiam omnis creatura72 he objects that1 granting this criterion1 ,god could never know himself1 because ,he is not ,his own cause4 ,he denies that intelligence is only possible through causality1 inasmuch as it is also possible through identity4 ,he accuses ,vico's criterion of involving scepticism3 in a word he maintains that the facts of knowledge are known by reason1 even if they are not the products of reason4#aa ,i am not concerned to ask whether ,balmes is right1 or whether ,vico's criterion can be reconciled with ,christian theology4 ,i am concerned merely with establishing1 not only by quotation from ,st4 ,thomas but also by the help of the judgment of an authoritative interpreter of his system that this doctrine is not ,thomistic4 ,even granting that the criterion in question is irreconcilable with ,thomism but not with an improved ,christian theology1 it is certainly irreconcilable with both in the form it adopts in what ,i have called ,vico's second theory of knowledge1 in the ,scienza ,nuova1 which ,balmes either did not know or omitted to mention1 and is passed over by my critics with a light-heartedness that is not particularly enviable4 ,one of them asserts that the alleged distinction 7the distinction that is drawn by myself7 between ,vico's first and second theories of knowledge does not in point of fact exist1 and produces no effects of any kind4 ,what8 ,has it no effects1 when those historical studies and sciences of mind1 which in the ,de antiquissima occupied the lowest position among mere probabilities became in the ,scienza ,nuova the truest of all--true even in a higher degree than mathematics itself as dealing with the human world which is man's creation8 when their form is found in the modifications of the actual human mind itself8 when they have a reality as much greater1 as the reality of the laws of human affairs is greater than that of points1 lines1 areas and figures8#ab ,is there no distinction1 when we pass from the scepticism of the ,de antiquissima to the rationalism of the statement that these proofs are of a divine nature1 and must produce a divine pleasure1 since in ,god to know and to create are one and the same8#ac ,it is true that upon this point my attention has been recalled to a well-known passage of ,galileo 7,dialogo dei massimi sistemi71 an especial favourite of our own ,spaventa1#ad where we find the thought that the human intellect differs from the divine extensiv1 but not intensiv1 and that if the divine intellect knows infinitely more about mathematical propositions because it knows them all1 yet of these few facts known by the human intellect1 its knowledge is equal to that of the divine in objective certainty1 since it attains comprehension of the necessity than which no greater certainty1 it seems1 can exist4 ,but in any case ,galileo was not a ,schoolman1 and moreover this pronouncement of his seemed so dangerous to the ,christian theory of ideas1 that he himself was obliged to alter it by admitting that while so far as the truth of which mathematical proof gives no knowledge is concerned1 this is identical with that which the divine wisdom knows1 yet the manner1 in which ,god knows the infinitely numerous propositions of which we know a few1 is immensely superior to our own1 which proceeds discursively from one conclusion to another1 while ,his is simple intuition4 ,it is important too not to forget that this very statement figures among the heads of the accusation in ,galileo's trial4#ae ,if the formula of the conversion of the true with the created is not found in ,thomism1 it may perhaps be found1 at least in its original1 sceptical or mystical1 intention1 in other tendencies of scholasticism or mediaeval philosophy generally4 ,with ,thomism ,vico seems to have had neither acquaintance nor sympathy3 but from his autobiography it is plain that he studied nominalism and the summaries of ,petrus ,hispanus and ,paulus ,venetus1 though with little profit1#af and later also1 much more profitably1 the ,scotist philosophy2 which he considered the most ,platonic of the ,scholastic systems4#ag ,traces of this appear in several views expressed in the ,de antiquissima1 especially in those dealing with universals and ideas4 ,in this direction1 the direction that is to say of the ,scotist system and the closely allied system of ,occamism1 ,i have attempted various researches1 without attaining any remarkable results3 further1 ,i have applied for assistance to various specialists in ,scholasticism1 but in vain2 they would do nothing but express their own superficial impressions or lose themselves in idle disputation4 ,in general it seems possible to say that ,duns ,scotus's theory of knowledge presents points of affinity to that of ,vico3 for example1 in the polemic against the ,thomistic doctrine of the adaequatio intellectus et rei1 which he refutes by applying it to the divine knowledge1 since ,god knows objects as willed by ,him1 and they exist because ,he wills their existence without ,his being necessitated by them4#ah ,for ,occam again the thought of objects has no reality and objectivity 7or subjectivity according to the usage of ,scholastic terminology1 which is the reverse of modern7 in ,god1 and is nothing else than the objects themselves1 known by ,god according to the possibility of creating them1 in virtue of which they are thinkable to the divine mind4#ai ,but the question for ,vico is not merely the priority of creation to knowledge or knowledge to creation1 but the convertibility or identity of knowledge and creation4 ,in certain recently published philosophical observations by ,paolo ,sarpi1#bj a nominalist of ,occam's school1#ba the following statements are to be found4 ,they are the more notable because standing as they do without any results in ,sarpi's thought and being undeveloped in subsequent philosophy1 they seem to be not his own invention but a mere repetition of scholastic dicta4 ,we have certain knowledge both of the existence and of the cause of those things which we understand fully how to create3 of those which we know by experience1 we know the existence1 but not the cause4 ,we can however guess at it1 and look simply for a possible cause3 but out of many found to be possible we cannot be certain which is the true one4 ,this fact may be seen in descriptions of astronomical theories1 and would also be true in the case of a man who saw a clock for the first time4 ,of the various guesses1 that of a man who knew how to make similar objects would be nearest the truth1 e4g4 one who understood the construction of machinery when he saw a different kind of machine3 but none the less he will never on that account#bb know for certain4 ,there are then three kinds of knowledge3 first1 knowledge how to make the object3 secondly1 experience of it3 and thirdly1 guessing at possibilities4 ,this thought1 then1 namely that objects are known by their creator1 and that ,god knows objects because ,he creates them1 seems to have been current in the schools3 and this explains the fact of its reappearing in an incidental manner and as an obvious truth in ,francesco ,sanchez's ,quod nihil scitur 7#aeha7 where it is declared impossible perfecte cognoscere quis quae non creavit2 nec ,deus creare potuisset nec creata regere quae non perfecte precognovisset#bc 7that one should know perfectly things which he has not created3 nor could ,god have been able to create nor after creating them to control things which ,he had not perfectly foreknown74 ,but need we continue to look for it in the guise of a casual remark or an isolated proposition1 devoid of philosophical connexion1 in the works of philosophers or the lecture-rooms of the schools8 ,did it not simply form a part of the common thought which daily declares that the man who has made a thing knows it better than he who has not made it8 ,probably a little attention would reveal it in many and dissimilar treatises2 and for my own part1 while reading the ,chronicon of ,otto of ,freising the other day1 ,i came across it in the introduction to the third book1 where the chronicler1 writing as is well known under the influence of ,st4 ,augustine's ,civitas ,dei1 is arrested by the objection that ,god's designs in history are inscrutable1 and delivers himself of the following reflections3 ,what then shall we do8 ,if we cannot understand1 shall we hold our peace8 ,then who will reply to those who flatter1 repel those who attack1 and by the reason and might of his words confute those who would destroy the faith that is in us8 ,so we cannot understand the secret counsels of ,god1 and yet we are often compelled to give a reasonable account of these things4 ,what8 ,shall we reason about things which we do not understand8 ,we can give reasons1 but human reasons1 when yet we cannot understand the divine reasons4 ,and thus it happens that when we speak of theological matters1 lacking the right words for them1 we being men use our own words2 and in speaking of so great a ,god in human language1 we use our words the more boldly quo ipsum figmentum nostrum cognoscere non dubitamus1 because we never doubt that we know the thing we have ourselves formed3 quis enim melius cognoscit quam qui creavit8 for who knows a thing better than he who has created it8#bd ,the logic of the ,abbot of ,freising at this point may be thought a trifle sophistical3 but the fact remains that he refers to a common opinion that he knows things who has made them4 ,but probably ,vico was stimulated to the establishment of his criterion less by certain tendencies of ,scotism or by current opinions than by the philosophers of the ,renaissance1 which he considered the golden age of metaphysical study1 when shone1 as he says1 ,marsilio ,ficino1 ,pico della ,mirandola1 ,augustino ,nifo and ,augustino ,steuco1 ,jacopo ,mazzoni1 ,alessandro ,piccolomini1 ,matteo ,acquaviva and ,francesco ,patrizio4#be ,in ,ficino1 whose name he couples with those of ,plato and ,plotinus1#bf and especially in his ,theologia ,platonica1 ,vico could read a magnificent description of the productive character of the divine wisdom and its parallelism with that of the geometrician4 ,nature1 says ,ficino1 which is divine art1 differs from human art in that it produces its creations from within1 by living reasons3 and it does not touch the surface of matter by means of a hand or any other external instrument1 as the soul of a geometer touches the dust when he describes figures upon the earth1 but perinde ut geometrica mens materiam intrinsecus phantasticam fabricat1 it operates like the mind of a geometer creating an imaginary matter from within itself4 ,for as the geometer's mind1 while it considers within itself the nature of figures1 forms internally by pictures the image of figures1 and by means of this image forms an imaginary spirit without any toil or design1 so in the divine art of nature a wisdom of some kind by means of intellectual processes endows with natural seeds the life-giving and motive force itself which is its companion4#bg ,vico must have recalled this passage in ,ficino when in his inaugural lecture of #afii he compared ,god1 the artist of nature1 to the human mind which we may without impiety call the ,god of art1 just as he must have remembered it in the ,de antiquissima where he compares ,god to the geometrician4#bh ,vico might however have found thoughts of this kind in various ,renaissance philosophers1 not only in ,ficino3 among others1 in ,girolamo ,cardano1 who contrasts divine and human knowledge1 though with a different conclusion2 and restricts the one to finite objects 7for understanding is brought about by a kind of proportion1 proportione quaderni fit1 and there is no proportion between the infinite and the finite71 denying that man can know ,god1 for as ,vico said later in almost the same words1 if ,i knew ,god1 ,i should be ,god1 si scirem ,deus essem4 ,thus he postulated other sciences1 and other modes of understanding1 entirely different from this of ours2 more true1 more solid1 more firm1 as a body is than its shadow3 and again other principles which we can by no reason apprehend4 ,and not only did he postulate them1 but among the human sciences he observed one which as opposed to the natural sciences reached not merely the surfaces of things but almost the things themselves1 namely mathematics4 ,the human soul1 situated in the body1 cannot attain to the substances of things1 but wanders about upon their surfaces by the help of the senses1 examining measurements1 actions1 resemblances and doctrines4 ,but the knowledge of the mind1 which creates the fact1 is in a sense itself the fact1 just as even among human sciences the knowledge of a triangle1 that it has three angles equal to two right angles1 is practically identical with the truth itself 7scientia vero mentis1 quae res facit1 est quasi ipsa res1 veluti etiam in humanis scientia trigoni1 quod habeat tres angulos duobus rectis aequales1 eadem ferme est ipsi veritati71 whence it is clear that there is in us a natural science of a different kind from true science4#bi ,here1 in the definition of divine knowledge and of the procedure of human knowledge in the case of mathematics1 as opposed to that of physical science1 is implicit the principle that true knowledge consists in the identity of thought with its object4 ,the idea of the opposition of mathematics to physical science1 in the certainty of the one and the uncertainty of the other1 persisted in the ,neapolitan philosophers and scientists of ,vico's youth1 even if they lost sight of the reason of this opposition4 ,tommaso ,cornelio in his progymnasma ,de ratione philosophandi 7#affa7 after reviewing the errors produced by the illusions of sense in physical science1 says1 the contemplations of mathematics are not subjected to errors of this kind1 dealing as they do with things whose images are not introduced into the mind by the senses2 for the mind can by itself adequately conceive figures and numbers1 whose properties and analogies are examined by mathematicians1 without aid from sense4#cj ,this ought to be emphasised1 since it seems highly probable that ,vico was stimulated to the establishment of his general theory of knowledge by reflection upon mathematics and the contrast between it and physical science4 ,in fact the ,latin speeches1 our earliest documents for his studies1 though they show the influence of ,ficino and a certain amount of ,cartesianism1#ca are never dominated by this general criterion4 ,it is only in the last of these speeches1 that of #agjg1 that the distinction between mathematics and natural science begins to appear2 in the next year it is clearly stated in the ,de ratione studiorum1 where it takes the form of a general criterion4 ,we demonstrate geometry because we make it3 if we could demonstrate physical facts1 we should be creating them4 ,for the true forms of things exist only in ,god the greatest and best1 and to these the nature of them conforms 7geometrica demonstramus quia facimus3 si physica demonstrare possemus1 faceremus4 ,in uno enim ,deo ,opt4 ,max4 sunt verae rerum formae1 quibus earundem est conformata natura74 ,and this theory attained its full development in #agaj in the ,de antiquissima4 ,such are the probable precedents1 or as the common but inaccurate metaphor expresses it1 sources of ,vico's theory of knowledge4 ,i do not think that the formation of this theory can have been influenced by the propositions of ,geulinx and ,malebranche which have been pointed out to me1#cb namely that no one can make that which he does not know1 and that ,god alone knows his works1 because he foreknows his action4 ,in these propositions the old ,thomistic doctrine is substantially summarised4 ,much more tenable would be a connexion or at least a comparison with ,spinoza2 we may recall the ,spinozistic identification of the ordo et connexio idearum and the ordo et connexio rerum4 ,another ingenious1 but ,i think1 inaccurate view is that the analytic geometry of ,descartes was the introduction of the genetic principle into the study of geometrical objects1 so that the principle verum ipsum factum before being formulated by ,vico had been practised by ,descartes2 and ,vico in the ,de antiquissima adopted the scientific method of ,descartes1 which he stated as the convertibility of the true with the created1 raising it from a certitude to a criterion4#cc ,we are dealing here not with practice1 but simply with the theory of method3 for this method1 conceived in its universality1 just so far as it is practical has always been practised2 not by ,descartes alone1 and not only by analytic geometry4 ,we should certainly be better informed as to the precedents of ,vico's criterion if we knew more of his studies preparatory to the ,de antiquissima1 and if in general we had more literary evidence about his youth4 ,perhaps even the precedents ,i have indicated1 which ,i only called probable1 are not quite free from an element of chance2 they may be connexions only imagined by myself and non-existent for ,vico's mind1 while others not accidental may perhaps be still unknown1 or await discovery by a student more fortunate than myself4 ,but it may not be out of place to remark that the search for precedents does nothing to explain the new thought that followed them2 much less does it detract from the value of that thought4 ,such information1 though on the one hand it enriches our knowledge of the history of philosophy1 on the other hand has absolutely no effect upon the determinate thought under examination4 ,it is valuable in the biography of a philosopher1 but valueless for the comprehension of the proper meaning of the new theory1 which must be sought essentially in the new problem which it faces and attempts to solve4 ,in the history of philosophy the same principles hold good as in that of literature4 ,take for example the episode of ,argante and ,tancred in canto xix4 of ,jerusalem ,delivered2 ,argante1 while taking up his position for the fight with his adversary1 turns as if in doubt to the afflicted city1 towards ,jerusalem attacked by the crusaders2 and when ,tancred brutally mocks him1 asking whether he does this out of fear1 he replies3-- ,i was but thinking how this city1 ,the immemorial green of ,juda's realm1 ,is falling1 vanquished2 whose unhappy fate ,i have in vain endeavoured to repel4 ,here the precedents are easily found2 ,hector parting from ,andromache and foreseeing the unhappy fate of ,ilion1 ,priam and all his people 7 1 etc41 ,,ii4 vi4 #ddh-i72 or ,aeneas as he gazes upon its downfall 7ruit alto a culmine ,troia3 444 si ,pergama dextra1 etc41 ,aen4 ii4 #bij-ib74 ,and yet the tragic melancholy of ,argante is an entirely new creation1 and altogether original to ,tasso4 ,ficino1 ,cardano1 ,tommaso ,cornelio1 ,scotus and ,occam1 and any others who have been or shall be added to the list1 have or may have anticipated this or that element of ,vico's formula3 and yet when we turn from their statements to the ,de antiquissima and the polemics that follow it1 and read the definition of science1 of true science1 as the conversion of the true with the created1 it strikes us as an entirely original theory4 ,the fact is that ,vico had not to face the same opponents and to solve the same problems that were faced and solved by the schoolmen1 nominalists and mystics of the ,middle ,ages or by the ,platonists and naturalists of the ,renaissance1 nor yet those of ,descartes in his ,discours sur la mthode2 and the saying that he alone knows things who creates them acquires a new value1 a new meaning 7and this is its proper meaning7 from its being used to refute the ,cartesian cogito and the doctrine of immediate knowledge4 ,vico takes an old rusty sword and makes of it at least a glittering and trenchant weapon4 ,for the same reason the phrase is no longer a mere accident or incident1 but the starting-point of a special study1 the foundation of a new philosophy1 and ,vico could quite well describe it as something not learnt from another but thought out and established by himself4 ,and when he wants to find some original for it1 he invents a history which is really a fiction or a myth2 namely the history of ancient ,italian wisdom which used this criterion as its supreme guide and left a trace of it in the ,latin language in the synonymity of the words verum and factum4 ,the refutation of the ,cartesian criterion 7which ,de ,sanctis thought complete1 the last word of criticism#cd7 is the negative aspect of ,vico's theory of knowledge4 ,its positive side1 absent in the ,de antiquissima1 is developed as we have said in the ,scienza ,nuova1 where the human knowledge of the mind and of history is raised to the level of divine knowledge4 ,and since some critics have not only chosen to ignore the obvious difference between these two phases of ,vico's thought but have spoken of a too easy transition from the one to the other1 it will be well to observe that this transition was for ,vico if not entirely conscious at least very slow and very difficult4 ,he must at one time have shared ,descartes' and ,malebranche's contempt for history2 in the speech of #agja he even echoed a saying of ,descartes against philologists3--,you1 ,philologist1 boast of knowing everything about the furniture and clothing of the ,romans and of being more intimate with the quarters1 tribes and streets of ,rome than with those of your own city4 ,why this pride8 ,you know no more than did the potter1 the cook1 the cobbler1 the summoner1 the auctioneer of ,rome4#ce ,but eleven years later1 in the second reply to the ,giornale dei letterati1 ,vico refers to the same phrase with the contrary conclusion1 and deplores that the study of languages is to-day considered profitless1 thanks to the authority of ,descartes1 who says that to know ,latin is to know no more than did ,cicero's servant-girl4#cf ,vico had in the meantime become conscious of the importance of the probable knowledge of history and politics4 ,he refers to his former anti-historical ,cartesianism in a passage of the ,de constantia philologiae which has generally escaped notice4 ,speaking of philology he says3 ,i1 who have all my life delighted in the use of reason more than in memory1 seem to myself the more ignorant the more facts ,i know in philology4 ,whence ,ren ,descartes and ,malebranche were not far wrong when they said that it was alien to the philosopher to work much and for long at philology4 ,but he adds that later he perceived that these two most notable philosophers ought1 it they had been zealous for the common glory of ,christendom1 not for the private glory of philosophers1 so to have pressed forward the study of philology as to see whether philology could be attached to the principles of philosophy 7ut viderent philosophi an philologiam ad philosophiae principia revocare possent74#cg ,the elevation of philology to the rank of philosophy1 of the knowledge of the world of man to the level of divine knowledge1 is the positive aspect of ,vico's theory of knowledge4 ,it is this that is developed in the ,scienza ,nuova1 towards which the ,de antiquissima1 with the indication of the historical sciences as against ,cartesianism1 only prepared the way4 ,thus of the three points in which ,i placed the originality and value of ,vico's first theory of knowledge1 two1 namely the criterion of knowledge opposed to that of ,descartes and the defence of concrete as opposed to abstract sciences1 are not only left intact by the inquiries into their sources which ,i have just described1 but are actually reinforced4 ,there remains the third of my points3 the ,vician theory of the arbitrary nature of mathematics1 the originality of which has also been impugned by arguments which seem to me to have even less foundation than those ,i have examined above4 ,do we find the doctrine that the fundamental objects of mathematics1 the unit of arithmetic and the point of geometry1 are unreal or fictitious1 propounded before ,vico's time8 ,do we find it--this is the chief point--propounded not as a casual remark or an intuition of a truth1 but as a consciously reasoned concept from which legitimate consequences are drawn as to the limitations of mathematics and its inability to furnish real knowledge of mind1 nature and history8 ,all through the ,middle ,ages the ,aristotelian theory of mathematics is continually enunciated4 ,according to this theory mathematics is the most certain of the sciences because the simplest2 it abstracts from all sensible matter1 but not from intelligible matter 7 7 which exists in sensible objects but not qua sensible 7 7#ch ,according to ,cassiodorus it constituted the body of doctrinalis as opposed to naturalis 7physical7 science and divina4 ,albertus ,magnus followed ,aristotle in defining mathematical entities as separable in imagination1 in thought but not in reality 7in phantasmate1 secundum rationem1 non secundum esse7 from the sensible matter to which they are conjoined by existence 7per esse sunt coniunctae72 and ,st4 ,thomas said that mathematics though the objects it considers are not separate1 yet considers them in so far as they are separate 7etsi sunt non separata ea quae considerat1 tamen considerat ea in quantum sunt separata74#ci ,the arbitrary character of its foundations was never suspected4 ,dante1 when he wished to indicate the things which not being subject to our power we can only contemplate and not create1 enumerated the objects of mathematics1 physical science and divinity 7mathematica1 physica et divina74#dj ,just as mathematics was not always equally valued in antiquity1 so1 and much more so1 after the ,renaissance of learning1 it was variously exalted or despised4 ,giordano ,bruno satirised the abuse of it1 and said that without physical science to be able to calculate and measure1 to understand geometry and perspective1 is but a pastime of ingenious fools1 and warned his readers against confusing mathematical signs and real causes3 a reflected or direct ray1 an acute or obtuse angle1 a perpendicular1 incident or straight line1 a greater or smaller are of a circle1 such and such an aspect1 are mathematical circumstances and not natural causes4 ,to play with geometry is one thing1 to prove by means of nature is another4 ,it is not lines and angles that make the fire more or less hot1 but near and far situations1 short and long spaces of time4#da ,campanella flatly denied ,aristotle's assertion of the superiority of mathematics to physical science1 declaring that its alleged purity was really weakness 7debilitas71 its simplicity was inability to include more things 7plura accipere71 its universality a contradiction against the nature of true science which is always of particulars 7de singularibus71 its demonstrative method by signs not by causes 7per signa1 non per causas72 and finally that it is not a science investigated for its own sake and is valueless unless it is applied to physical matters 7nisi applicentur physicis rebus74#db ,bacon is of the same opinion1 that mathematics taken by itself is useless1 and is useful only as an auxiliary science1 a great appendix to the physical sciences4#dc ,these definitions and restrictions1 and others like them1 might have yielded as a conclusion the entirely instrumental and practical character of mathematical science3 but the conclusion was not drawn1 so far as ,i know2 and ,bacon himself considered mathematics as in itself too exclusively and uselessly theoretical4 ,for since1 he goes on in the passage above quoted1 it is a fact of human nature1 no doubt to the great detriment of science1 that it rejoices in the open plains of generalities1 so to speak1 rather than in the forests and closes of the particular1 no discovery is more pleasant and gratifying than mathematics wherewith to sate this love of wandering and of meditation4 ,the creation of mathematics spoken of by ,ficino1 ,cardano and others signified a mental production entirely free from material presuppositions1 and for that reason not less true but true in a higher sense4 ,it is almost the same sense as that found in ,descartes and his followers4 ,locke asserts the reality of mathematical truths1 though he admits that there are in nature no figures corresponding to the archetypes existing in the mind of the geometrician2#dd and ,leibniz1 commenting on this passage1 says that the ideas of justice and temperance are no more our own invention than those of the circle and the square4#de ,tommaso ,cornelio1 whom we have quoted on the contrast between physical science and mathematics1 also believed that mathematics rested on certain notions and understandings which nature has put into the minds of men as foundations of science4#df ,another kind of creation1 and one which seems to have more connexion with ,vico's fingere is discussed in a passage of ,aristotle's ,metaphysics which has had a good deal of influence4 ,we find also1 ,aristotle says1 geometrical figures by actualising them 771 because they are found by being divided3 if they were divided1 they would be obvious1 but in reality they exist potentially4 ,why has the triangle two right angles8 ,because the angles round one point are equal to two right angles4 ,if then we construct the angle along one side1 it would become plain to any one looking at it4 ,why is the angle in the semicircle equal to a right angle8 ,because if there are three equal lines1 two in the base and one drawn perpendicular to it1 it is plain to any one who sees it and knows that4 ,whence it is evident that we discover things that exist potentially by reducing them to actuality4 ,this is because the actuality is understanding1 and the potentiality proceeds from the actuality2 so we know by making 7 74#dg ,but these observations belong to the explanations given by ,aristotle in this passage of the conceptions of potentiality and actuality2 they are not at all opposed to his theory of mathematics as studying the intelligible matter which subsists in sensible matter1 and they only explain the difference between potential and actual truth4 ,in the same way we sometimes find in later philosophers the assertion that mathematical truths are demonstrated and problems resolved by making them4 ,thus ,sarpi writes in the passage mentioned above3 in mathematics1 he who constructs knows because he makes1 and he who analyses learns because he seeks how the thing is made4 ,the mode of composition then belongs to the inventive faculty and that of analysis to the discursive3 the former is that of problems1 the latter of theorems2 the latter are demonstrated by analysis1 the former by composition4#dh ,it has also been recently asserted that the ,vician philosophy of mathematics reappears bodily in ,galileo and his school2#di an astounding fact when baldly stated1 since even though ,vico opposes and prefers the great ,pisan to ,descartes for the moderate use he makes of mathematics in physical science1 it is certain that for ,galileo as for ,leonardo da ,vinci mathematics had an objective validity1 and the book of nature is written in mathematical characters and geometrical figures4 ,in any case1 the passage of ,galileo which has been quoted in this reference1 on the intensive identity of human with divine knowledge1 has nothing to do with the present question1 and another passage which asserts that the explanations of terms are free1 and it is in the power of every workman to circumscribe and define in his own way the things he is dealing with1 without ever being led by this into error or falsehood1 and that for instance one may call the bow the stern and the stern the bow1 says nothing but a platitude hardly worth saying except by way of adorning a page of controversial rhetoric4#ej ,in controversy one is often obliged to insist upon platitudes1 and the controversy upon which ,i am now engaged itself presents too many examples4 ,a passage from the ,lezioni accademiche of ,galileo's pupil ,evangelista ,torricelli in which he speaks of the difference between physical and mathematical definitions seems at first sight more convincing4 ,but the critic who has called attention to this passage#ea says too much when he asserts that it is beyond doubt that ,vico had read it1 since it is unquestionable that ,vico had not read it4 ,the ,lezioni accademiche were published first posthumously in #agaeeb and ,vico's theory of mathematics is expounded in the ,de ratione in #agjh and the ,de antiquissima1 #agaj4 ,this1 it is true1 is of secondary importance1 for ,vico may have known ,torricelli's doctrine through indirect channels1 through other books or even orally through some ,neapolitan friend or pupil of ,torricelli2 in any case1 if the latter's theory though unknown to ,vico was really identical with his own1 the similarity of ideas between the two would be of the greatest interest4 ,unfortunately the critic has been too hasty1 as it seems to me1 even in his study and interpretation of the pages of ,torricelli4 ,in the passage in question1 a lecture ,della leggerezza1 read to the ,accademia della ,crusca1 ,torricelli controverts1 as based on mere appearances and not confirmed by facts and reasoning1 ,aristotle's definition in the ,de coelo3 heavy is that which has a natural property of going towards the centre4 ,he remarks upon this3 ,the definitions of ,physics differ from those of ,mathematics in that the former are obliged to adapt and adjust themselves to the object defined1 while the latter mathematical definitions are free and can be formed at the will of the geometrician who is defining4 ,the reason is perfectly plain3 the things defined in ,physics do not come into being with the definition1 they exist already by themselves and are found in nature previously4 ,but the things defined by geometry1 that is by the science of abstraction1 have no existence in the universe of the world other than that which definition gives to them in the universe of intelligence4 ,thus whatever objects of ,mathematics are defined1 the same objects will come into existence simultaneously with the definition4#ec ,the arbitrary character of mathematics seems here to be clearly stated4 ,but let us reserve our judgment and read on4 ,if ,i were to say1 the circle is a plane figure with four equal sides and four right angles1 this is not at all a false definition2 but for the rest of my book ,i should have to mean1 whenever ,i spoke of a circle1 a certain figure which others have called a square4 ,but if a man should say in ,physics1 'the horse is a rational animal1' should we not be justified in calling him the horse8 ,we must first look very carefully to see whether the horse is a rational animal or not and then define it as it is1 in order that the physical definition may conform to the object and not be counted defective4 ,here we see that what appeared to be a profound thought has turned out to be a platitude2 it is indifferent whether we call the bow the stern or the stern the bow1 said ,galileo1 or1 says ,torricelli in his turn1 whether we call a square a circle or a circle a square2 while it does not seem to him an indifferent matter whether we call a horse a rational animal4 ,but even this does not prevent him from admitting later some degree of arbitrariness in physical terminology1 when he says1 since then it is not demonstrated that the intrinsic principle of downward motion exists upon the earth1 ,i will accept this definition1 if the tests will allow me1 as the simple imposition of a name1 and1 replacing the verb 'to be' by the verb 'to be called1' ,i will adapt the definition to my own requirements thus3 ,that is called heavy which descends to the centre4 ,whenever any one says1 the earth is heavy1 ,i will agree1 but always with the interpretation that the word 'heavy' only signifies descending in a lighter medium4#ed ,it seems to me then that the difference which he begins by laying down between mathematics and physical science is considerably obscured in the sequel4 ,and indeed how could ,torricelli have seriously thought that the foundation of mathematics was a fiction1 when among his lectures one heard the title in ,praise of ,mathematics8 ,in this lecture he says1 quite in the ,galilean style3 ,that to read the great ,book of the ,universe1 the book on whose pages may be found the true philosophy written by ,god1 mathematics are indispensable1 will be seen by any one who with noble thoughts aspires to the science of the integral parts and greatest members of this huge body we call the ,world4 ,the one alphabet1 the only characters with which we can read the great manuscript of the divine philosophy in the book of the ,universe are those poor figures you see in the text-books of geometry4#ee ,the most we can see in these statements is a vague and hazy presentment of the profound difference between physical truths and the so-called truths of mathematics4 ,in conclusion1 until for the third of my three points we can discover much more obvious sources than those suggested up till now1 ,i shall see no cause to modify my verdict upon the originality of ,vico's conception of mathematics4 ,this originality is further proved by the important consequences drawn by ,vico from his theory of mathematics for his philosophical method2 for every one knows that a thought taken over bodily from another remains inert and sterile1 while an original idea is always active and fruitful4 ,note4--,i have selected1 of the various criticisms directed against my book on ,vico1 that concerning his originality1 because this gave me opportunities for researches and explanations of some value4 ,but my book has been subjected to two general criticisms which do not lend themselves to the same treatment4 ,it has been said that in my exposition of ,vico's philosophy ,i have followed my personal philosophical convictions3 and sermons and epistles have been showered upon me preaching the duty of casting off prejudices1 etc41 and narrating the history of philosophy in an objective manner1 etc4 ,but ,i should like my critics to believe that my convictions cannot have1 to my mind1 the character of prejudices1 but precisely that of liberation from prejudice1 which is what they demand3 that detachment and purity of understanding which is necessary for the comprehension of historical facts1 and is not1 as some fancy1 a primeval innocence1 but the fruit of laborious cultivation4 ,to grasp ,vico historically in his strict reality ,i have been compelled to undergo a catharsis of prejudices1 consisting in my case of the philosophy to which my own efforts had led me4 ,my ideas may be untrue1 but that is another question2 and that means that if their falsity is proved ,i am bound to clear and purify my mind by means of less false ideas2 but these in their turn must always be ideas and become convictions4 ,in point of abstract method1 no objection at all can be made to any one who looks at ,vico through the spectacles of scholasticism if he thinks they make his sight more distinct and penetrating2 the most we can do is to try and persuade him that there are better spectacles on the market4 ,but we certainly have the right to smile if this same scholastic goes on to warn us that in studying a philosopher1 in investigating and reconstructing his thought1 it is absolutely necessary to bring to the task a mind free from preconceptions and hostile to prejudices2 while all the time he is trying to pass off his scholastic opinions and religious beliefs under the banner of objectivity1 sincerity and freedom from prejudice4 ,philosophers--,i have seen this assertion too--are unfitted for writing the history of philosophy1 because they have ideas of their own4 ,and who is fitted for it8 ,people who are not philosophers8 ,does not ,vico teach us precisely this1 that where he who makes the facts 7as the philosopher makes philosophy7 himself narrates them1 there history reaches its highest certainty8 ,the other criticism concerns the idealistic interpretation which ,i have given to some of ,vico's doctrines4 ,it is contended that ,vico was a ,catholic1 and that fact is supposed to prove that he could not have entertained the ideas which ,i find in his works4 ,but that ,vico professed himself an entirely orthodox ,catholic1 and that he clung to ,catholicism with all the strength and zeal of his mind ,i have myself said again and again3 ,i have even defended him against the accusations or praises dealt out to him by other critics for deceit or prudence in his attitude to the ,church4 ,but is it really so amazing1 so unheard-of a thing1 to find heterodox ideas in an orthodox writer8 ,are they not found in the ,early ,fathers and the ,schoolmen1 in mediaeval and modern theologians and mystics8 ,to take an example of the many that occur1 an example for a double reason above suspicion3 ,nicholas of ,cusa was a ,catholic and in fact a ,cardinal of ,holy ,church1 and in his lifetime the intimate friend of three popes4 ,and yet the ,catholic historian of ,scholasticism1 ,de ,wulf1 wrote of him ,le ,cardinal catholique est-il donc panthiste8444 ,il s'en dfend vivement dans son ,apologia doctae ignorantiae1 mais on peut dire de lui comme d',eckehart3 'il fait flchir la logique au profit de son orthodoxie et retient de force les consquences de ses prmisses' 7,hist4 de la philos4 mdivale1 p4 #chi74 ,if this happened to the ,cardinal of ,cusa or the ,franciscan ,master ,eckehart1 could it not happen to the ,catholic ,vico8 ,m4 de ,wulf the ,catholic historian is allowed to use this admirable method of criticism and to distinguish intention and action1 will and logic4 ,why should it be denied to me8 ,but enough4 ,footnote #a3 ,a lecture delivered before the ,accademia pontaniana on ,march #aj1 #aiab1 and here reprinted from the ,atti of that society1 vol4 xlii4 ,footnote #b3 ,von den gttlichen ,dingen und ihrer ,offenbarung 7#ahaa71 ,w4,w4 iii4 #cea-ced4 ,footnote #c3 ,vorlesungen ber religiose ,philosophie1 ,w4,w4 i4 #aie1 and ,vorles4 ber spekul4 ,dogmatik1 ib4 ix4 #ajf 7passages quoted by ,k4 ,werner1 ,g4 ,b4 ,vico1 p4 #cbd74 ,footnote #d3 ,la ,filosofia fondamentale1 translated from the ,spanish1 ,naples1 #ahea1 bk4 i4 ch4 #cj-ca4 ,footnote #e3 ,storia critica delle prove metafisiche di una realit sovrasensibile 7,atti dell' ,accademia di ,torino1 i4 #ahff71 pp4 #fdj-da4 ,footnote #f3 ,geschichte der neueren ,philosophie 7#ahgh71 #eth edition1 i4 #bc4 ,footnote #g3 ,g4 ,b4 ,vico als ,philosoph und gelehrter ,forscher 7,wien1 #ahha74 ,it is well known that ,werner has written upon ,st4 ,thomas1 ,duns ,scotus1 late ,scholasticism1 ,suarez1 ,augustinianism1 nominalism1 etc4 ,footnote #h3 ,th4 ,neal 7,a4 ,cecconi71 ,vico e l'immanenza1 in the ,roman ,cultura contemporanea1 iii4 7#aiaa7 parts #g-h1 pp4 #a-bd4 ,footnote #i3 ,cf4 ,summa ,theol4 i4 q4 v4 a4 ,i3 q4 xxi4 a4 #a-b4 ,footnote #aj3 ,prima risposta al ,giornale dei letterati 7,opere1 ed4 ,ferrari1 ii4 #aag74 ,footnote #aa3 ,balmes1 loc4 cit4 ,footnote #ab3 ,scienza ,nuova1 ed4 ,nicolini1 i4 #ahg-h4 ,footnote #ac3 ,ibid4 p4 #ahh4 ,footnote #ad3 ,scritti filosofici1 ed4 ,gentile1 pp4 #chc-g1 and ,esperienza e metafisica1 p4 #bah sqq4 ,footnote #ae3 ,see ,gentile's note1 loc4 cit4 ,footnote #af3 ,l',autobiografia1 il carteggio e le poesie varie1 ed4 ,croce1 pp4 #d-e4 ,mauthner's assertion 7,beitrge zu einer ,kritik der ,sprache1 ,berlin1 #aija1 ii4 #dig-h7 that ,vico was a nominalist and that the great discoveries of the ,scienza ,nuova were due to his nominalism1 is quite arbitrary and not founded correctly on his autobiography4 ,footnote #ag3 ,autobiography1 ed4 cit4 pp4 #e-f4 ,pietro ,giannone was also studying ,scotism about #afij 7,vita scritta da lui medesimo1 ed4 ,nicolini1 pp4 #f-g74 ,footnote #ah3 ,werner1 ,johannes ,duns ,scotus 7,wien1 #ahha71 p4 #gf4 ,footnote #ai3 ,werner1 ,die nachscotistische ,scholastik 7,wien1 #ahhc71 p4 #hb4 ,footnote #bj3 ,scritti filosofici inediti1 ed4 ,papini 7,lanciano1 ,carabba1 #aiaj74 ,footnote #ba3 ,see ,gentile's observations on ,papini's edition1 in the ,critica1 review viii4 #fb-e4 ,footnote #bb3 ,papini's edition has po' 7little73 but his source1 the ,marcian ,,ms41 has an abbreviation to be read as per 7therefore74 ,footnote #bc3 ,appendix to his ,opera medica 7,tolosae ,tectasogum1 #afcf71 p4 #aj4 ,footnote #bd3 ,ottonis ,episcopi ,frisigensis ,opera1 ex recens4 ,r4 ,wilmans1 i4 ,chronicon 7,hannoveriae1 #ahfg71 pp4 #aah-ai4 ,footnote #be3 ,autob4 ed4 cit4 p4 #ba4 ,footnote #bf3 ,ibid4 p4 #be4 ,footnote #bg3 ,theologia ,platonica 7,bale1 #aefa71 i4 #abc4 ,this passage of ,ficino has been quoted and commented on by my friend ,gentile1 in a highly important monograph on ,la prima fase della filosofia di ,g4 ,b4 ,vico 7viz4 the inaugural lectures71 published in the miscellany in honour of ,francesco ,torraca 7#aiab1 see infra1 p4 #caj7 and read in ,,ms4 by myself1 thanks to the courtesy of the author4 ,footnote #bh3 ,see ,gentile's monograph1 mentioned above4 ,footnote #bi3 ,these passages of the ,tractatus de arcanis aeternitatis1 ch4 iv41 and of the ,de subtilitate1 bks4 xi4 and xxi4 are quoted and commented on by ,fiorentino1 ,bernardino ,telesio ossia studi storici su l' idea della natura nel risorgimento italiano 7,florence1 ,le ,monnier1 #ahgb71 i4 #bab-ac1 who does not fail to observe the relations with ,vico's criterion4 ,footnote #cj3 ,thomae ,cornelii consentini ,progymnasmata physica 7,naples1 ,,mdclxxxviii471 p4 #gj3 cf4 also p4 #fd4 ,footnote #ca3 ,see ,gentile's monograph1 mentioned above4 ,footnote #cb3 ,by ,a4 ,pastore in a review of my monograph on ,vico in the ,giorn4 stor4 d4 left4 ital4 lviii41 cf4 pp4 #djj-djb4 ,footnote #cc3 ,a4 ,a4 ,zottoli1 ,g4 ,b4 ,vico1 in ,cultura1 ,rome1 xxx4 7#aiaa7 pp4 #dbb-c4 ,footnote #cd3 ,opp4 ed4 ,ferrari1 ii4 #aff4 ,footnote #ce3 ,orazioni latine1 ed4 ,galasso1 p4 #bh4 ,footnote #cf3 ,opp4 ed4 ,ferrari1 ii4 #aff4 ,footnote #cg3 ,ibid4 #bcb4 ,footnote #ch3 ,metaphys4 vi4 #ajcf a4 ,footnote #ci3 ,the passages of ,cassiodorus1 ,albertus and ,st4 ,thomas may be found collected in ,maritan1 ,problme de la classification des sciences d',aristote saint ,thomas 7,paris1 #aija71 see pp4 #hj1 #afh-i1 #ahb-c1 #ahe-f4 ,footnote #dj3 ,de monarchia1 i4 c4 #c4 ,footnote #da3 ,la ,cena delle ceneri 7#aehd7 in his ,opere italiane1 ed4 ,gentile1 i4 #fb1 #ajg-h4 ,footnote #db3 ,logicorum libri trs1 bk4 ii4 art4 #g-aj 7in the ,philosophiae rationalis pars secunda1 ,parisiis1 #afcg1 pp4 #dcc-g74 ,footnote #dc3 ,de dignitate et augmentis scientiarum1 bk4 iii4 c4 #f4 ,footnote #dd3 ,essay1 iv4 ch4 #d1 #f4 ,footnote #de3 ,nouveaux essais1 iv4 ch4 #d4 ,footnote #df3 ,op4 cit4 p4 #fd4 ,footnote #dg3 ,metaphys4 viii4 #ajea b4 ,i append the passage3 4 ' ' 4 4 o 4 2 1 1 4 v 4 ' 4 4 ,footnote #dh3 ,scritti filosofici1 ed4 ,papini1 p4 #g4 ,in a passage of the ,arte di ben pensare 7,scritti1 p4 #gb7 ,sarpi returns to mathematics and1 while agreeing that it is less uncertain than the other sciences because in it the mode and the proposition are more clearly shown1 goes on to say it is also made in the same manner 7as the others73 it is not free from the suspicion of being not quite true4 ,but clearly he is here speaking of the application of mathematics1 of the act of counting and measuring physical objects3 this alone is certain3 ,i count and reason in this manner1 just as in eating honey ,i feel the effect which ,i call sweet2 where ,i may be in error is the question whether this effect comes from the object or from the disposition of my taste3 and there is no science where there are number and measurement1 for all we can know is that we measure or count like this1 and that the measure comes in or is used as many times as the thing seems to be equal to one such part and that equality is a concept of ours by which we express what then seems to happen4 ,footnote #di3 ,g4 ,papini1 ,la ,novit di ,vico in ,l',anima1 ,florence1 ,september #aiaa1 pp4 #bfd-f2 cf4 on this article1 ,critica1 x4 #ef-h4 ,footnote #ej3 ,papini probably owes this passage to a small anthology of ,galileo by ,favaro 7,florence1 ,barbra1 #aiaj71 p1 #cjc1 which refers to the national edition of his ,opere1 iv4 #fca2 here the passage occurs in the ,considerazioni sopra il discorso di ,colombo 7#afae74 ,footnote #ea3 ,g4 ,papini1 loc4 cit4 pp4 #bfe-f4 ,footnote #eb3 ,lezioni accademiche di ,evangelista ,torricelli1 mathematico e filosofo del serenissimo ,ferdinando ,,ii ,granduca di ,toscana1 lettore delle matematiche nello studio di ,firenze e accademico della ,crusca 7,florence1 ,,mdccxv474 ,the editor's preface shows that the work had not been previously published4 ,footnote #ec3 ,op4 cit4 pp4 #ca-b4 ,footnote #ed3 ,op4 cit4 p4 #cc4 ,footnote #ee3 ,op4 cit4 p4 #ff4 ,,appendix ,,iv ,,bibliographical ,,notes ,i4 ,,works ,,of ,,vico ,vico's earliest extant work is the poem entitled ,feelings of one in despair1 composed certainly before the author's twenty-fifth year at ,vatolla in the ,cilento1 where he lived for nine years as a tutor at the ,casa ,rocca1 printed by ,gonzatti at ,venice and dated #afic4 ,this was followed by verses and speeches of a merely rhetorical character4 ,the philosophical characteristics are accentuated in the six speeches read by ,vico at ,naples ,university1 #afii-agjg1 not printed by him1 and rediscovered and published by ,galasso 7,naples1 ,morano1 #ahfi74 ,in these speeches1 though some tendencies of his thought show themselves1 his philosophy is still the traditional system1 not without some traces of ,cartesianism4 ,vico's opposition to ,cartesianism and formal adoption of his own views are announced for the first time in the inaugural lecture for the year #agjh1 entitled ,de nostri temporis studiorum ratione1 published next year by the author himself 7,naples1 ,mosca1 #agji74 ,a long digression 7 #ab-ae7 contains a sketch of the history of ,roman jurisprudence1 his first essay in the historical studies which led later on to the ,diritto universale and the two ,scienze ,nuove4 ,the following year appeared ,vico's first constructively philosophical and historical work3 the ,de antiquissima ,italorum sapientia ex linguae ,latinae originibus eruenda1 or rather the first book of that work 7,naples1 ,mosca1 #agaj73 the other two were never written1 but we can form an idea of their intended contents from what is said in the ,autobiography4 ,beside ,vico's theory of knowledge in its first form and the metaphysic which he always maintained in its entirety1 the ,de antiquissima contained an attempt to reconstitute for the first time primitive wisdom1 or rather one particular instance of primitive wisdom1 that of ,italy2 but as we have already said in the text of our exposition the attempt was founded on the idea that this wisdom was philosophical1 and conducted according to the criterion of the transmission of culture which ,vico subsequently rejected1 as he rejected the traditional opinion1 accepted in this work1 of the ,athenian origin of the laws of the ,twelve ,tables4 ,we must accordingly refuse to accept ,cantoni's verdict 7,g4 ,b4 ,vico1 p4 #ch7 that the ,de antiquissima forms a strange anomaly in the history of ,vico's thought1 being contrary to his whole scientific life1 his tendencies1 his principles1 and the method which later he almost universally applies in his historical researches4 ,the reverse is in fact the case3 namely that this work is the starting-point of his future developments and that without it we cannot understand his later thought4 ,the criticisms directed by the ,giornale dei letterati d' ,italia 7#agaa1 vols4 v4 and viii47 against the historical and some of the philosophical positions of the ,de antiquissima evoked ,vico's two important ,replies 7,naples1 ,mosca1 #agaa and #agab7 in which he defends and elucidates his views on the theory of knowledge and metaphysics4 ,the part of the ,de antiquissima that never went to the press included his meditations on the philosophy of medicine1 from which he extracted an essay ,de aequilibrio corporis animantis3 this he thought of publishing many years later1 but it is now lost4 ,of these studies1 therefore1 as of his speculations upon physics intended to constitute a ,liber physicus1 we know only what he tells us in his autobiography4 ,setting aside his rhetorical and occasional compositions1 the largest of which is the ,de rebus gestis ,antonii ,caraphaei 7,naples1 ,mosca1 #agaf71 the continuation of his thought1 now concentrating upon moral and historical problems1 is sketched in a lecture of #agai 7of which an abstract is included in the autobiography7 and developed first in #agbj in a printed prospectus of four double-columned pages known as the ,sinopsi del diritto universale1 and secondly in the vast treatise1 ,de universi iuris uno principio et fine uno liber unus 7,naples1 ,mosca1 #agbj7 completed next year with the ,liber alter qui est de constantia iurisprudentis1 and supplemented in #agbb by the ,notae in duos libros1 etc4 7same publisher72 a work which is usually referred to briefly following the author's example as the ,diritto universale4 ,this book1 according to ,cantoni 7op4 cit4 p4 #bdc7 represents the culminating point of ,vico's scientific activity4 ,the verdict is no more acceptable than that quoted above4 ,the author 7,opp4 v4 #aj-aa7 rejected the ,diritto universale because he seemed to find persisting there the prejudice and the pretence of descending from the thought of ,plato and other philosophers to that of primitive man1 a tendency which led him astray in certain matters2 but he also calls it1 and rightly1 a sketch for the ,scienza ,nuova1 which it really is4 ,the ideas about poetry are here still confused1 ,homer is not yet a myth1 the mythological canons have less unity than they acquired later1 the theory of reflux is only faintly adumbrated1 and in a word both the ideal eternal history and the theory of knowledge upon which it is founded are as yet immature4 ,the book is all contained1 under a new form1 in his later work1 except the general ethical and juridical philosophy1 which is not highly original1 and some historical developments which are merely alluded to in the later writings4 ,the ,,ms4 of an ,italian work in two books1 in which ,vico expounded his doctrines by a negative method1 has been lost4 ,but he expounds them positively and at less length in the ,principi di una ,scienza ,nuova intorno alla comune natura delle nazioni1 per la quale si ritrovano i principi di altro sistema del diritto naturale delle genti 7,naples1 ,mosca1 #agbe7 which is known by the title 7again authorised by himself7 of ,first ,scienza ,nuova4 ,in #agbe1 the year of the publication of the first ,scienza ,nuova1 ,vico related the history of his studies3 ,vita di ,g4 ,b4 ,vico scritta da se medesimo1 which was inserted in ,caloger's ,raccolta di opuscoli scientifici e filologici 7,venice1 ,zani1 #agbh1 vol4 i4 pp4 #ade-bef74 ,among the minor writings of this period may be noted the two speeches on the death of the ,countess of ,althann 7#agbd7 and the ,marchesana della ,petrella ,angiola ,cimini 7#agbg72 the little volume ,vici vindiciae 7,naples1 ,mosca1 #agbi7 containing a personal defence 7together with an important theoretical digression on laughter7 against a malevolent notice inserted in the ,acta ,lipsiensia of #agbg1 about the ,scienza ,nuova2 and some fine letters to ,giacchi1 ,degli ,angioli1 ,esperti1 ,de ,vitry and ,solla on the contrast between his works and the state of learning at this time4 ,to the first ,scienza ,nuova ,vico thought of adding a long series of ,annotations in a reprint of it which he was preparing at ,venice between #agbh and #agcj4 ,but since this scheme was not carried out1 and on the other hand he was dissatisfied with the book not so much on account of the matter1 he says1 as on account of the arrangement 7,opp4 vi4 #aa71 he resolved to publish an entirely new exposition of his doctrines in the ,cinque libri de' principi di una ,scienza ,nuova d'intorno alla comune natura delle nazioni1 in questa seconda impressione con pi propia maniera condotti e di molto accresciuti 7,naples1 ,mosca1 #agcj71 which form the second ,scienza ,nuova4 ,while ,cantoni 7op4 cit4 pp4 #bch-i7 considers this work the dotage of ,vico's thought1 it is really the necessary result and perfect form in which his previous attempts issued2 it is the book which with the ,de antiquissima and the autobiography supplies all the necessary material for a knowledge of his thought4 ,in the ,diritto universale and the first ,scienza ,nuova we can find a few details omitted in the later work2 but those treatises display the same doctrines as the second ,scienza ,nuova in a manner much less profound and solid1 and certainly less characteristic of the author4 ,the detailed comparison of these three works has been made with great care in the short summaries added by ,ferrari to his editions of the first and second ,scienza ,nuova4 ,even the #agcj edition was increased by the author from #agca to about #agdj by many variations and additions1 though without changing the arrangement or the substance of the work4 ,these additions were taken for the most part incorporated in a final ,,ms4 on which was based the edition of the ,principi di una ,scienza ,nuova intorno alla comune natura delle nazioni1 published the very year of ,vico's death 7,naples1 ,stamperia ,muziana1 #agdd74 ,in the ,national ,library at ,naples are preserved the autographs both of this ,,ms4 and of two earlier ,,mss4 of additions and corrections1 unpublished fragments of which have been published by ,giordano 7,naples1 #ahah7 and ,del ,giudice 7,naples1 #ahfb74 ,all the unpublished fragments and variants have been now collected by ,nicolini in the edition hereafter mentioned 7p4 #cjg74 ,after the second ,scienza ,nuova ,vico wrote hardly anything4 ,we may note among these few productions the speech ,de mente heroica 7,naples1 #agcb71 the addition to the autobiography 7#agca71 and a few sonnets in which1 composed though they were1 like almost all his verses1 by request and as occasional pieces1 a personal note may at times be felt4 ,,ii4 ,,reprints1 ,,collections1 ,,and ,,translations ,two collections of ,vico's minor works have been made1 one of the ,latinae orationes alone by ,f4 ,daniele 7,naples1 #agff71 and the other1 rich in unpublished matter1 of the ,italian and ,latin ,opuscoli1 in four volumes1 by ,c4 ,a4 de ,rosa1 ,marchese di ,villarosa 7,naples1 #ahah-bc74 ,vico's son ,gennaro furnished ,villarosa with all his father's extant papers2 and these priceless autographs are still preserved at ,naples in the house of my intimate friends the engineers ,tommaso and ,vincenzo de ,rosa di ,villarosa4 ,the first and only edition as it may be called1 since all others are merely reproductions of it1 of ,vico's complete works is that of ,giuseppe ,ferrari1 in six volumes 7,milan1 ,classici italiani1 #ahce-cg7 reprinted with improvements in #aheb-ed4 ,the ,opere edited by ,n4 ,m4 ,corcia 7,naples1 ,tipografia della ,sibilla1 #ahcd1 #b vols47 are only a selection2 and the ,opere edited by ,f4 ,predari 7,milan1 ,bravetta1 #ahce7 never went beyond one ill-arranged volume4 ,the edition which followed that of ,ferrari 7,naples1 ,iovane1 #ahdj-da7 is also incomplete and ill-arranged1 but contains some small unpublished works4 ,the ,neapolitan edition of the ,opere in eight volumes 7i4-ii4 #aheh1 iii4 #ahfa1 iv4 #ahei1 v4-vi4 #ahfj1 vii4 #ahfe1 viii4 #ahfi1 the earlier volumes at the ,tipografia dei ,classici ,italiani1 the others by the publisher ,morano7 is based mainly upon ,ferrari1 but somewhat incorrect2 it is however the most complete of all1 as containing the ,sinopsi1 the ,istituzioni oratorie1 and the ,orazioni latine published by ,galasso subsequently to ,ferrari's edition1 as well as the ,italian translations by the advocate ,f4 ,s4 ,pomodoro of the ,de ratione1 ,de antiquissima1 and ,diritto universale4 ,unpublished or scattered works of ,vico not appearing in any of these editions have been collected by ,croce1 ,bibliografia vichiana and ,primo and ,secondo supplemento3 see below4 ,a critical edition of the second ,scienza ,nuova is now being printed in the ,collezione dei classici della filosofia modernadiretta da ,b4 ,croce e ,g4 ,gentile 7,bari1 ,laterza73 the first volume is to be published at the same time as the present monograph4#a ,it is being edited by ,dr4 ,fausto ,nicolini1 who by using the autograph ,,mss4 has enriched ,ferrari's edition1 which contained the fragments suppressed in the #agcj issue1 by all the fragments of the intermediate redactions down to the #agdd text2 ,vico's quotations have been checked and references given in notes to the passages of classical and modern authors to which he refers2 and1 finally1 in deference to a wish often expressed by men of letters as authoritative as ,tommaseo1 the orthography and punctuation have been corrected4 ,ferrari's valuable summaries are reproduced1 with a few emendations1 in ,nicolini's edition4 ,nicolini is also at work on a new edition of the complete works1 to form part of ,laterza's collection of ,scrittori d' ,italia1 the scheme and detailed index of which may be seen in ,croce1 ,secondo supplemento alla ,bibliografia vichiana 7pp4 #ajb-ac74 ,the fifth volume of this collection1 edited by ,croce1 is also to appear with the present monograph4 ,vico's ,latin works have frequently been translated into ,italian3 the ,de antiquissima anonymously1 perhaps by ,vincenzo ,monti 7#ahaf71 and later by ,sarchi 7#ahgj73 the first book of the ,diritto naturale by ,corcia 7#ahci71 ,amante 7#ahda71 ,giani 7#ahee71 and ,sarchi 7#ahff71 and both books1 with the ,de ratione and ,de antiquissima1 as we have said1 by ,pomodoro4 ,the second ,scienza ,nuova was translated into ,french1 much abbreviated1 by ,jules ,michelet1 under the title of ,principes de la philosophie de l'histoire 7,paris1 ,renouard1 #ahbg7 and frequently reprinted2 and again1 in full1 by an anonymous translator described as l',auteur de l',essai sur la formation du dogme catholique1 in reality ,cristina ,trivulzi1 ,princess of ,belgioioso 7,paris1 ,renouard1 #ahdd74 ,michelet also translated some of ,vico's minor works1 published with the ,scienza ,nuova in the edition of the ,oeuvres choisies de ,vico 7,paris1 ,hachette1 #ahce7 and frequently reprinted4 ,in ,german there is a translation in full with good notes by ,w4 ,e4 ,weber 7,leipzig1 ,brockhaus1 #ahdd74 ,there is also a summary of the first book of the ,diritto universale by ,k4 ,h4 ,mller1 forming the first volume of a series of ,vico's ,kleine ,schriften which was not continued 7,neubrandenburg1 ,brunslow1 #ahed74 ,the only ,english translation is a version of the book on ,homer based on ,michelet's ,french translation and inserted in ,h4 ,nelson ,coleridge's ,introduction to the ,study of the ,greek ,classic ,poets 7#crd ed41 ,london1 ,murray1 #ahdf74 ,footnote #a3 ,by now 7#aiac7 the second volume has appeared3 the third will appear next year4 ,,iii4 ,,biography ,,of ,,vico ,by way of supplement to the autobiography1 ,villarosa collected information on ,vico's last years and published it as a continuation of that work in his edition of the ,opuscoli1 vol4 i4 7#ahah74 ,this supplement1 together with everything else that has been published in the way of documents or contemporary records of ,vico1 may be found collected in the fifth volume of the new edition of his works above mentioned 7p4 #cjg7 and entitled3 ,l',autobiografia1 il carteggio e le poesie varie1 ed4 ,b4 ,croce 7,bari1 ,laterza1 #aiaa74 ,,iv4 ,,literature ,,on ,,vico ,there are only three monographs on ,vico which may still be read with profit 7that of ,ferrari1 ,la ,mente del ,vico1 admirable editor though he was1 may best be consigned to merciful oblivion72 they are as follows3-- #a4 ,carlo ,cantoni1 ,g4,b4,v41 studi critici e comparativi 7,turin1 ,civelli1 #ahfg74 ,cf4 for certain reservations ,a4 ,faggi1 in ,rivista filosofica italiana1 vol4 ix41 #aijf1 pp4 #eic-fjf1 and ,g4 ,gentile1 in ,critica1 vol4 v41 #aijg1 pp4 #aig-bja4 #b4 ,karl ,werner1 ,g4,b4,v4 als ,philosoph und gelehrter ,forscher1 7,wien1 ,braumller1 #ahha74 ,cf4 ,zeitschrift fr ,philosophie und philos4 ,kritik1 vol4 lxxii41 #ahhc1 pp4 #aci-eb4 #c4 ,robert ,flint1 ,vico 7,edinburgh and ,london1 #ahhd74 7,italian translation by ,f4 ,finocchietti1 ,florence1 #ahhh74 ,see what has been said of these above1 p4 #bgg4 ,of short and general studies the following are the best3-- #a4 ,b4 ,spaventa1 ,g4,b4,v41 in ,prolusione introduzione alle lezioni di filosofia 7,naples1 ,vitale1 #ahfb71 pp4 #hc-ajb1 reprinted under the title ,la ,filosofia italiana nelle sue relazioni con la filosofia europea1 ed4 ,g4 ,gentile 7,bari1 ,laterza1 #aijh72 see pp4 #aaa-ce of this reprint4 #b4 ,f4 de ,sanctis1 ,storia della letteratura italiana 7,naples1 ,morano1 #ahgj2 new ed4 ,croce1 ,bari1 ,laterza1 #aiab71 vol4 ii4 pp4 #cdb-fb4 #c4 ,f4 ,fiorentino1 ,lettere sopra la ,scienza ,nuova 7,florence1 #ahfe71 reprinted in ,scritti vari 7,naples1 ,morano1 #ahga71 pp4 #afa-baa4 #d4 ,e4 ,cauer1 ,g4,b4,v4 und seine ,stellung zur modernen ,wissenschaft 7in ,deutsches ,museum1 edited by ,r4 ,prutz and ,w4 ,woelfsohn1 ,leipzig1 ,hinrichs1 year ,i1 #ahea1 vol4 i4 pp4 #bdi-fe74 ,for special points the following may be consulted3-- #a4 ,f4 ,a4 ,wolf1 ,g4,b4,v4 ber den ,homer 7in ,museum der ,alterthumswissenschaft1 ,berlin1 #ahjg1 vol4 ii4 pp4 #eee-gj74 #b4 ,j4 ,k4 von ,orelli1 ,vico und ,niebuhr 7in ,schweizerisches ,museum1 ,aarau1 vol4 i4 p4 #ahd sqq474 #c4 ,c4 ,iannelli1 ,sulla natura e necessit della scienza delle cose e delle storie umane 7,naples1 ,porcelli1 #ahah1 and ,milan1 ,fontana1 #ahcb74 #d4 ,emerico ,amari1 ,critica di una scienza della legislazione comparata 7,genoa1 ,istituto dei ,sordomuti1 #aheg74 ,cf4 on this book ,k4 ,werner1 ,e4,a4 in seinem ,verhltnis zu ,g4,b4,v4 7,wien1 #ahhj2 from the ,sitzungsberichte der phil4-histor4 ,klasse of the ,imperial ,academy of ,vienna1 vol4 xcvi474 #e4 ,f4 ,acri1 ,teoria del ,v4 intorno alle idee ,o paradimmi 7in ,abbozzo di una teoria delle idee1 ,palermo1 ,lao1 #ahgj2 and with modifications in the volume ,videbimus in aenigmate1 ,bologna1 ,mareggiane #aijg1 pp4 #bhg-cac74 #f4 ,e4 ,cenni1 an exposition of ,vico's metaphysic in the volume entitled ,considerazioni sull' ,italia ad occasione del traforo del ,gottardo 7,florence1 ,cellini1 #ahhd71 pp4 #aji-hb4 #g4 ,e4 ,bouvy1 ,de ,v4 ,cartesii adversario 7,paris1 ,hachette1 #ahhi74 #h4 ,e4 ,bouvy1 ,la ,critique dantesque au dix-huitime sicle3 ,dante et ,v4 7,paris1 ,leroux1 #ahib74 #i4 ,g4 ,sorel1 tude sur ,v4 7in ,devenir social1 ,paris1 vol4 ii41 #ahif7 and see esp4 the same author's ,le ,systme historique de ,renan 7,paris1 ,jacques1 #aije71 passim4 #aj4 ,b4 ,labanca1 ,g4,b4,v4 e i suoi critici cattolici 7,naples1 ,pierro1 #ahih74 #aa4 ,g4 ,rossi1 ,v4 nei tempi di ,v4 7in ,rivista filosofica italiana1 vol4 ii41 #ahii1 pp4 #bid-cai1 and part #b1 ibid4 vol4 x41 #aijg1 pp4 #fjb-cd74 #ab4 ,a4 ,olivieri1 ,gli studi omerici di ,g4,b4,v4 7in ,atti della r4 ,accad4 di archeologia1 lettere e belle arti1 ,naples1 vol4 xxiv41 #aije74 #ac4 ,c4 ,trabalza1 ,storia della grammatica italiana 7,milan1 ,hoepli1 #aijh71 ch4 xii4 pp4 #cfd-gf4 #ad4 ,p4 ,garofalo1 ,acrisia vichiana nella ,scienza ,nuova1 critical annotations 7,naples1 ,detken1 #aiji73 cf4 ,f4 ,nicolini1 in ,critica1 vol4 viii41 #aiaj1 pp4 #cgd-h4 #ae4 ,g4 ,maugain1 tude sur l'volution intellectuelle de l',italie de #afeg #agej environ 7,paris1 ,hachette1 #aiji74 #af4 ,on my own previous work upon ,vico1 it should be observed that the materials of the chapter on ,vico's aesthetic doctrine in ,croce1 ,estetica 7#dth ed41 ,bari1 ,laterza1 #aiab1 ch4 v4 pp4 #bee-ga71 have been worked up in a more mature form into ch4 iv4 of the present monograph3 the essay on ,vico's ,ethics 7in ,critica1 vi41 #aijh1 pp4 #ga-g7 has been absorbed into chaps1 vi4-viii42 and similarly that on the ,lineamenti di storia letteraria in ,g4,b4,v4 7ibid4 pp4 #dfj-hj7 into chaps1 xvi4 and xviii42 my other scattered writings have in general been only of technical1 philological1 or polemical interest4 ,in the miscellaneous ,studi in onore di ,f4 ,torraca 7,naples1 ,perrella1 #aiab7 is a short essay by me upon ,la ,dottrina del riso e dell' ironia in ,g4,b4,v4 ,the whole of the literature on ,vico1 together with extracts from rare books1 minor works1 and articles1 and with unpublished documents together with fully detailed notes on the editions of ,vico's writings1 is collected in the three works to which ,i have frequently referred1 namely3 ,b4 ,croce1 ,bibliografia vichiana contenente nella parte ,i il catalogo delle edizioni1 traduzioni e manoscritti delle opere di ,g4,b4,v42 nella parte ,,ii1 quello dei giudizi e lavori storico-critici intorno al ,v4 sino al-l' anno corrente2 nella parte ,,iii lettere inedite del ,v4 e al ,v41 documenti e altri scritti inediti o rari1 e varie appendici illustrative 7,naples1 #aijd3 reprinted from ,atti dell' ,accademia pontaniana1 ,naples1 vol4 xxxiv42 pp4 xii4 #abg1 #dto72--,supplemento alla ,bibliografia vichiana 7,naples1 #aijg2 reprinted from ,atti1 vol4 xxxvii4 pp4 #cd1 #dto7--and ,secondo ,supplemento 7,naples1 #aiaa1 reprinted from ,atti1 vol4 xl4 pp4 #aaf1 #dto72 the whole collected in one volume under the title3 ,bibliografia vichiana2 raccolta di tre memorie presentate all' ,accademia pontaniana di ,napoli nel #aijc1 #aijg e #aiaj1 with an appendix by ,f4 ,nicolini 7,bari1 ,laterza1 #aiaa74a ,footnote #a3 ,since the publication of the ,italian edition of this work in #aiaa several studies of ,vico have appeared4 ,the following may be noted3-- ,g4 ,gentile1 ,la ,prima ,fase della filosofia di ,g4,b4,v41 ,naples1 #aiab 7in the ,studi in onore di ,f4 ,torraca71 quoted supra1 p4 #bhg n4 ,f4 ,pessico1 ,ripensando la ,scienza ,nuova 7in ,rassegna nazionale1 ,november #a1 #aiab74 ,g4 ,folchieri1 ,il ,carattere dell' opera di ,g4,b4,v4 7,perugia1 ,bartelli1 #aiac74 ,f4 ,nicolini1 ,spigolature vichiane2 sul testo delle ,vindiciae 7in ,scritti vari in onore di ,r4 ,renier1 ,turin1 #aiab74 ,b4 ,croce1 ,il ,v4 e la critica omerica 7in the volume ,saggio sullo ,hegel e altri scritti di storia della filosofia1 ,bari1 ,laterza1 #aiac1 pp4 #bfi-bhb74 ,cf4 also ,w4 ,windelband1 ,die ,geschichte der neueren ,philosophie1 #eth ed4 ,leipzig1 #aiaa1 vol4 i4 pp4 #eig-h4 ,,note ,,passages ,,of ,,vico',s ,,works ,,to ,,which ,,especial ,,reference ,,is ,,made ,,in ,,the ,,course ,,of ,,the ,,exposition ,,chapter ,i4--,for this chapter see the ,de ratione1 the ,de antiquissima1 the two ,riposte al ,giornale dei letterati1 and the first part of the ,autobiography4 ,for the note 7p4 #h7 on the spirit of the ,reformation1 see ,opere1 ed4 ,ferrari1 #bnd ed4 vi4 #e4 ,chapter ,,ii4--,opp4 v4 #adg1 #bci1 #acf-g1 #ea2 iv4 #cc2 v4 #ej-ea1 #adg2 iv-#cc1 #fc-d2 iii4 #bjj2 v4 #ag1 #ig1 #ajc1 #adi-ej1 #agd2 iv4 #bj1 #bdh2 iii4 #bcb2 iv4 #bj2 v4 #efb4 ,chapter ,,iii4--,opp4 v4 #adg1 #afb1 #ii1 #db2 iv4 #gc1 #ha1 #agd-e2 v4 #ia1 #ade4 ,chapter ,,iv4--,opp4 v4 #ada1 #aff1 #db2 iii4 #bcb1 #bgb-c2 iv4 #bj2 v4 #age1 #bei1 #ajg2 iv4 #bb1 #cc2 v4 #ahj1 #dda1 #bji-aj1 #bja2 iv4 #bje1 #bjf2 iii4 #bgd1 #bge2 v4 #bcj1 #baa1 #afi2 iv4 #bja1 #bcc1 #cfe2 v4 #ee1 #hb1 #ahg1 #aif-g2 iv4 #bbd2 v4 #aaj1 #aab1 #afh1 #bab1 #bcg1 #bag1 #cgi1 #ddj1 #bab1 #bch2 iv4 #bd4 ,chapter ,v4--,opp4 v4 #hj-ha2 iv4 #bj1 #ba1 #gd2 v4 #afi2 v4 #afa-g2 iv4 #aia-c1 #afh-i1 v4 #ah2 iv4 #afi1 #ej-ea2 iii4 #bf2 ii4 #if-g2 v4 #aff1 #dc1 #afi1 #dbj-ba1 #chg1 #aib1 #cgi1 #ajh4 ,chapter ,,vi4--,opp4 v4 #dcg1 #ah2 iv4 #afe2 v4 #aji1 #aaj1 #ecd2 vi4 #ae2 v4 #ecb2 iii4 #ab2 v4 #ajf2 v4 #di2 iv4 #cdc2 vi4 #abg2 iii4 #cj2 iv4 #hg2 iii4 #eg2 v4 #dij2 iv4 #dj-da2 iii4 #cj2 iv4 #ccd2 iv4 #ce2 iii4 #ab1 #cj2 v4 #ig2 iii4 #bcd-dj2 iv4 #di2 v4 #ih1 #aca2 iv4 #db-c4 ,chapter ,,vii4--,opp4 v4 #adb1 #afh1 #agc1 #bdh1 #bej2 iv4 #bia2 v4 #ajf1 #bdb1 #adb1 #acg-h1 #bij2 iv4 #age-g1 #db-c2 v4 #aec1 #bda2 iv4 #i2 v4 #if1 #bdb1 #egd2 iv4 #ccb2 v4 #ig2 iv4 #agf-g1 #dc2 v4 #agf1 #aca4 ,chapter ,,viii4--,opp4 iv4 #cji-ac2 v4 #ahe2 iii4 #ee1 #bh1 #dc-d2 v4 #ig2 iii4 #dg-eb1 #eb-c2 iv4 #ad1 #de1 #eg2 v4 #adh1 #acc2 iii4 #ec1 #he-g1 #eh2 v4 #bdj-da1 #dhd2 iv4 #agj-ga1 #ahj1 #cea4 ,chapter ,,ix4--,opp4 v4 #dfb-c1 #edd2 iv4 #dc-d1 #df2 iii4 #id1 #aib-c1 #he1 #hg2 iv4 #ah1 #cce1 #ae2 v4 #abi-cj1 #efc1 #efd2 iii4 #ee2 v4 #ega2 iv4 #bde1 #ac1 #aei-fj2 ,scritti inediti1 ,del ,giudice1 pp4 #aa-ad4 ,chapter ,x4--,opp4 v4 #ac-ad1 #abh1 #adc-d1 #agb1 #egj2 iii4 #bb2 iv4 #db2 v4 #ig1 #egb1 #de-f1 #dfc4 ,chapter ,,xi4--,opp4 iv4 #fb2 v4 #aaf1 #ahc1 #eeh1 #eei1 #efa1 #egj2 vi4 #abg2 iii4 #ie2 iv4 #bdi4 ,chapter ,,xii4--,same sources as for ,ch4 ,i4 and also vi4 #aje-f2 v4 #ebd-e4 ,chapter ,,xiii4--,opp4 v4 #fj2 iii4 #bdi2 v4 #aeg1 #afg-gj1 #ajh2 iii4 #bea-fa2 iv4 #ag1 #bec2 v4 #ajc1 #bag-ah1 #efb2 ,scritti inediti1 p4 #i4 ,chapter ,,xiv4--,opp4 v4 #id-f1 #eh1 #gi1 #cba1 #fc-d1 #hd-e1 #if1 #ic1 #ajj2 iv4 #bg-h1 #bi-cj1 #ig1 #afi1 #bjj1 #bga2 v4 #ahb-c1 #fa-d2 iii4 #bcj2 iv4 #bcf-dc1 #ahd2 iii4 #dej-ei2 v4 #aac1 #aae1 #adi1 #baa1 #ei1 #gd1 #ajj1 #ahc2 iv4 #ge-f1 #hi2 v4 #bjf2 iv4 #ii2 iii4 #bgc2 v4 #bfj2 iii4 #bhj2 v4 #dcj-ca1 #bjb-c1 #ih-i4 ,chapter ,,xv4--,opp4 v4 #cef1 #ceg1 #bee1 #cee1 #aba1 #cfa-c1 #cfc-cfe4 #cdj1 #cda1 #bec1 #bea-c1 #bei1 #acb1 #aah1 #bgh1 #caa1 #cji1 #cjg1 #aah-ai1 #abj1 #aba1 #dha1 #dhd-f1 #bic-d1 #bdf1 #ebf1 #ebh1 #ecj-ca1 #bbc-e1 #ddd1 #dc1 #aad-ae1 #bbb-c1 #dfj1 #bbj1 #aid1 #aia-c1 #ahf1 #bdi1 #cfi1 #cga1 #cgb1 #cge1 #chb1 #djc1 #fi2 iv4 #ed1 #hc-d1 #bbe-f4 ,chapter ,,xvi4--,opp4 v4 #chj-ha1 #dbb-e1 #deb1 #bgg1 #cfj-fa1 #cha1 #dbf1 #dce-f1 #dfe1 #dbe1 #dbg1 #ddb1 #dbg-cb1 #ddj-da1 #dde4 #ddh-i1 #dea1 #dee1 #dbh-i1 #dde1 #ddi-ef1 #dde-f1 #ddh1 #deb1 #cgh-ha1 #dda-b1 #dec-d1 #gh1 #ddf-g1 #deh-fj1 #dcc-d1 #dci2 iv4 #agh2 vi4 #df2 v4 #ajj-aja1 #dfg-hj1 #cha1 #bbc-d1 #deg1 #ajj4 #ajb1 #bbf1 #dch2 iv4 #afc1 #be1 #fc1 #bjj1 #abh2 iii4 #bie4 ,chapter ,,xvii4--,opp4 iv4 #bdi-ej1 #bbh2 v4 #ahc1 #ahh2 iii4 #cjf-aj2 iv4 #ic1 #cd1 #aee2 v4 #hf1 #bgg1 #cbb-c1 #daf1 #abi1 #dac-daf1 #ha1 #cbf1 #hf2 iii4 #dgc2 v4 #eji-aj1 #ajb2 iii4 #dfi-ge1 #hg1 #abb-c2 iv4 #fg-ga2 v4 #abc-d1 #aia1 #he1 #ajj1 #hh1 #bij-ia1 #caj1 #dif1 #hh-ib1 #abc1 #die-eje4 #ejb1 #cbg4 #ebe-cj1 #eca1 #ecd1 #eif1 #dgd-dgf1 #dja1 #eea1 #eee1 #ead1 #dgf1 #eae1 #ecg-h1 #abb1 #ejc1 #eba1 #ejh1 #ebc1 #ejc1 #ead4 ,chapter ,,xviii4--,opp4 v4 #eej1 #ecg1 #bei1 #edj-da4 #edf1 #eee-eef2 iv4 #aja1 #ede1 #cdg-h1 #eeb1 #eee1 #edd1 #eed1 #ecg1 #eci1 #ech1 #eea1 #cbh1 #edg1 #eeb1 #eab1 #eec1 #eej1 #ejh-i1 #fh1 #dhh1 #edg1 #ech-i1 #bca1 #bcc1 #bjd1 #bbb1 #bbf1 #cfa1 #dbe1 #dbh-ci1 #deg2 iii4 #ceg4 vi4 #cg1 #de-f2 iii4 #bgj2 vi4 #ce1 #cg-h1 #db1 #dh2 v4 #dbi1 #dci2 iv4 #aih-bjj2 vi4 #ch2 v4 #dc1 #bbf1 #eee1 #edd1 #ejh-i1 #eeg-h2 iv4 #bce-f1 #ga4 ,chapter ,,xix4--,for this chapter see the ,de ratione1 the first pages of the ,autobiography and the letters to ,esperti1 ,de ,vitry1 and ,solla4 ,on wisdom see also ,opp4 v4 #aec4 ,,index ,,of ,,names 7,not retained for this text version47 ,,the ,,end