ing but wander, now here, now there, since I wished to be a spectator, rather than an actor, in the dramas of the world; and since in every matter I carefully considered what might be doubted, and prove a source of deception, I gradually succeeded in rooting out all the errors that had crept into my mind. Not that in this I imitated the sceptics, who doubt for the sake of doubt, and seek to be always undecided. My design, on the contrary, was to obtain certainty, and to throw aside the loose earth and sand, in order to find rocks or clay." "Thus, living apparently "Thus, living apparently as those who have nothing to do but to lead a pleasant and innocent life, and who strive to enjoy their pleasures without vices, and engage in all honorable diversions, that they may enjoy their leisure without ennui, I was constantly progressing in the execution of my plans, and perhaps making greater gains in the knowledge of truth than if I had done nothing but read books, and converse with scholars." 1

3. The Epoch of the Crisis. We have allowed Descartes to speak at such length on account of the biographical importance of his statements. Although they were not published until eighteen years had passed by after the events of which they give so luminous an account, their historical truth cannot be doubted when we consider that Descartes' love of truth and his accurate self-knowledge would certainly exclude any deception of memory concerning the progress of his own development. This account is the single, perfectly trustworthy and authentic source of our knowledge of the crisis of his life. It is accordingly certain that Descartes left school a sceptic, trying to find truth, but ignorant of the road to it; that the guiding light began to shine into his mind during his retirement in Neuburg in the winter of 1619; that he there first saw the possibility and necessity of applying the analytical method to the human mind and its cognitions with the same certainty and success as he had so

1 Discours de la Méthode. Parts II. et III. Cf. my translation, pp. 12–16,

fortunately found in geometry. He had discovered the fundamental principle of analytical geometry when he formed the important resolution to deal with himself instead of quantities; to analyze his own mind and its cognitions in order to banish darkness, and come into light; to so order his entire life accordingly that it might be the constant subject of this experiment of which he had no example, and might reward him for his labor. In this resolution, all the rules were contained which he then adopted for his guidance. He still felt far from the goal that he hoped slowly and surely to reach, but he felt that he was on the right road. At the age of three and twenty, one has not yet that knowledge of men or that experience of himself which ought to precede fundamental and methodical examination of himself. Accordingly, Descartes postponed it until he had completed his "Wanderjahre," which he henceforth arranged with a view to this problem of his life and method. The goal, sought on this road, could be none other than the principles of modern philosophy of which Descartes was the founder. Its germ was planted in that solitude in Neuburg, but it required nine years to come to perfect maturity. The certainty of the crisis filled Descartes with enthusiastic joy: the view opened, and in the distance the Olympic peaks of knowledge were ablaze with light; we use his own figure. It seems that we can determine the day of this remarkable epoch in his life: it was the 10th of November, 1619. In the diary of the philosopher relating to that time, which, so far, is unfortunately lost, our knowledge of it is derived from Baillet's accounts, and from incomplete transcripts made by Leibnitz, and published by Foucher de Careil, there was a note with the heading Olympica," and in the margin, "On the tenth of November I began to make a wonderful discovery (intelligere cœpi fundamentum inventi mirabilis)." In Leibnitz' transcript, the year is 1620: according to Baillet's account, the words of Descartes were, "On the tenth of November, 1619, filled with enthusiasm I discovered the foundations of a wonderful

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science (cum plenus forem enthusiasms et mirabilis scientiæ fundamenta reperirem)." The published statements of the philosopher without further detail mark the beginning of the winter of 1619 as the epoch of the crisis. In a longer note in his diary, he says, "I shall be in Loretto before the end of November, shall finish and publish my essay before Easter, as I have promised myself this day, September 23, 1620." The subject of that essay could be none other than that discovery in return for which he had vowed the pilgrimage to Loretto. He made the pilgrimage five years later: seventeen years rolled by before he published the work, -twenty, indeed, if the principles of the system was the work alluded to.

The accounts of the first discovery vary. His most recent biographer supposes that the "scientiae mirabilis" and the "inventum mirabile " refer to different discoveries, the first of which was made Nov. 10, 1619; the second, Nov. 11, 1620. The subject of the first, he thinks, was analytical geometry, and also the new method of philosophy; that of the second is unknown, probably of a particular mathematical character, and relating to equations. Now, this combination is purely arbitrary in the diary of Descartes, so far as Leibnitz has copied it, and Foucher de Careil has published it, there is not one word under the date of Nov. 11, 1620. In the text of the diary, Descartes says, "In the year 1620 I first began to perceive a wonderful discovery; on the margin, Nov. 10 is written as the date of it; and we are further told, that Descartes intended to make a pilgrimage from Venice to Loretto in November, 1620.

In the light of Descartes' statements, the most certain opinion appears to be, that the 10th of November was the epoch-making day when he conceived the first, fruitful thought of his philosophy. (The year 1620 in connection with this date is probably a mistake made by Leibnitz in copying.)

Baillet informs us, on the authority of the diary, that, im

mediately after the enthusiastic excitement of the eventful day, Descartes had three remarkable dreams, which he described in detail, and interpreted as allegories of his past and future. In the first, he seemed to be lame, driven by a storm to seek protection in a church; in the second, he thought he heard a sound like thunder, and saw sparks of fire around him; in the third, he suddenly opened the poem of Ausonius and read the words, "Quod vitæ sectabor iter?" After long impotency and many inward struggles, Descartes had on the day before heard the voice of truth, had suddenly seen light, and found the path of his life.1

1 In the Olympica (according to Leibnitz' copy) the following sentence comes immediately after the date of his "wonderful discovery:" "In November, 1619, I dreamed of a poem that began with the words, Quod vitæ sectabor iter?'" It is to be inferred from this, that immediately before, not the year 1620, but 1619, was mentioned, with the marginal note, "On the tenth of November," etc.

Compare Foucher de Careil: Œuvres inédites de Descartes, I. (Paris, 1859), Préf. ix.-xiii.; Introd. xi.-xv. Millet: Hist. de Descartes, I. pp. 7482, 96-98.

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CHAPTER III.

CONTINUATION. (¿) TRAVELS, AND SECOND RESIDENCE

IN PARIS.

EIGHT months passed by before Descartes returned to

France from Hungary, where he ended his military career. He wished to travel for some time, since his travels were his studies in the great book of the world; and his country at this time had little attraction for him. The renewal of the war with the Huguenots, and the pestilence which had raged for a year in Paris, made a longer absence in foreign lands agreeable. He travelled through Moravia and Silesia, to Mark-Brandenburg and Pomerania, where we find him in the beginning of the autumn of 1621, thence to Mecklenburg and Holstein, thence from Emden by way of the sea to West Friesland; and experienced during the voyage an adventure which he narrated in a note of that time (under the heading "Experimenta "), and in which his presence of mind, and moral force, stood a successful test. The mariners with whom he sailed intended to rob and kill him. Believing that he did not understand their language, they talked about it quite openly; but Descartes perceived their intention, and with quickly drawn sword and determined air so frightened the robbers that he rescued himself and his servant. From West Friesland he went to Holland, where he remained a part of the winter. In The Hague, he visited the court of the Prince of Orange; and, directly after, that of the Infantin Isabella in Brussels. In March, 1622, he returned to France, came into possession of his inheritance from