mind or the body of man, but only his worldly goods, a non-essential matter which seemed not to me worthy of the very hard toil that was, as I saw, bestowed on it.
(Fundamentum Juris.Perplexitas Juris.)
3. Besides, I saw that all this science was founded only on the arbitrament of a few, so that if this man or that thought well to maintain that this thing or that was true, the others judged it accordingly; or (I noted this here) according to the fashion in which a man's brain whirled, he built up or destroyed these fences and gaps. Therefore there were many things here that were verily contrary to each other, and others had to break their heads in a wondrous subtle fashion to settle and arrange these differences; at last I wondered that they should grow so heated and sweat so over petty matters, some of which hardly occurred once in a thousand years, and this with no little arrogance. For the better a man was able to burst through a gap and then again to stop it up, the more was he pleased with himself, and the more did the others praise him. But some (wishing to show their wit also) opposed the others, and loudly declared that thus, and not otherwise, things must be enclosed and gaps filled up;[1] then there were quarrels and disputes; then they stepped apart, and one drew one design, another a different one, while all endeavoured to attract the onlookers. When I had
- ↑ I.e., the law expounded.
