Hence when all
such inventions were already established, the sciences which do not
aim at giving pleasure or at the necessities of life were discovered,
and first in the places where men first began to have leisure.
such inventions were already established, the sciences which do not
aim at giving pleasure or at the necessities of life were discovered,
and first in the places where men first began to have leisure.
John Donne
TO M^r T.
W.
l. 5. _hand and eye_ is the reading of all the MSS. , including _W_.
It is written in the latter with a contraction which could easily be
mistaken for 'or'.
TO M^r T. W.
l. 3. _I to the Nurse, they to the child of Art. _ The 'Nurse of Art'
is probably Leisure, 'I to my soft still walks':
And add to these retired Leisure,
That in trim gardens takes his pleasure.
According to Aristotle, all the higher, more intellectual arts, as
distinct from those which supply necessities or add to the pleasures
of life, are the fruits of leisure: 'At first he who invented any art
that went beyond the common perceptions of man was naturally admired
by men, not only because there was something useful in the inventions,
but because he was thought wise and superior to the rest. But as more
arts were invented, and some were directed to the necessities of life,
others to its recreation, the inventors of the latter were naturally
always regarded as wiser than the inventors of the former, because
their branches of knowledge did not aim at utility.
Hence when all
such inventions were already established, the sciences which do not
aim at giving pleasure or at the necessities of life were discovered,
and first in the places where men first began to have leisure. This
is why the mathematical arts were founded in Egypt; for there
the priestly caste was allowed to be at leisure. ' _Met. _ A. 981^b
(translated by W. D. Ross).
l. 12. _a Picture, or bare Sacrament. _ The last word would seem to be
used in the legal sense: 'The _sacramentum_ or pledge which each of
the parties deposited or became bound for before a suit. ' O. E. D. The
letter is a picture of his mind or pledge of his affection.
PAGE =207=.
l. 5. _hand and eye_ is the reading of all the MSS. , including _W_.
It is written in the latter with a contraction which could easily be
mistaken for 'or'.
TO M^r T. W.
l. 3. _I to the Nurse, they to the child of Art. _ The 'Nurse of Art'
is probably Leisure, 'I to my soft still walks':
And add to these retired Leisure,
That in trim gardens takes his pleasure.
According to Aristotle, all the higher, more intellectual arts, as
distinct from those which supply necessities or add to the pleasures
of life, are the fruits of leisure: 'At first he who invented any art
that went beyond the common perceptions of man was naturally admired
by men, not only because there was something useful in the inventions,
but because he was thought wise and superior to the rest. But as more
arts were invented, and some were directed to the necessities of life,
others to its recreation, the inventors of the latter were naturally
always regarded as wiser than the inventors of the former, because
their branches of knowledge did not aim at utility.
Hence when all
such inventions were already established, the sciences which do not
aim at giving pleasure or at the necessities of life were discovered,
and first in the places where men first began to have leisure. This
is why the mathematical arts were founded in Egypt; for there
the priestly caste was allowed to be at leisure. ' _Met. _ A. 981^b
(translated by W. D. Ross).
l. 12. _a Picture, or bare Sacrament. _ The last word would seem to be
used in the legal sense: 'The _sacramentum_ or pledge which each of
the parties deposited or became bound for before a suit. ' O. E. D. The
letter is a picture of his mind or pledge of his affection.
PAGE =207=.
