Il natural desiderio di sapere - Pontifical Academy of Sciences

ON THE NATURAL DESIRE FOR KNOWLEDGE 145more or less strictly regulated conferences we can observe together howmuch can be done by every small union and correspondence, and howprinces usually favor the good letters among their subjects as they seethat actually and fruitfully they exist.Do we doubt perhaps that envy and emulation might in these congregationsand comparisons be of some harm? The former will not bepresent in any way, and the latter only by virtuous and laudable competition;in such a way that the competition will in no small measure benefitthe work, adding spirit and fervor, and the object being such as canbe possessed and satiate everyone, with no lacking, in fact, for theother. 108 As regards envy, it is certain that there is no place for it in goodminds, and even more so among literati, who are always attentive tovirtue, and among companions, who, in a certain manner, participate inthe glory and honors of each other, and among whom by election, bysimilitude, by obligation 109 true love must always be maintained; or better,not only among academics, but also between these and all otherliterati known to them, and particularly writers of the same disciplines,for as much as is owing for their part it will always be a bond of friendshipand correspondence of good will, the Lynceans being obliged toprofess so much love for virtue, both abstractly that which they themselvesare in the process of acquiring, and concretely in whatever subjectit may be, that they esteem and revere it with all the more affection;and this is also an effect of virtue which is efficaciously reflected initself, and we can note it in literati of sincere mind in times past, whocame to know each other without any hindrance of interest, and particularlyin the above-said assemblies. 110 It is sufficient to remember thefriendship between those great poets who nonetheless competed for thegraces of Augustus and the favor of Maecenas; let us hear it fromHorace in his journey:Postera lux oritur multo gratissima; namquePlotius et Varius Sinuessae Virgiliusqueoccorrunt: animae quales neque candidioresterra tulit, neque quis me sit devincitor alter.108 Wisdom or knowledge, that is, in contrast to material riches, does not diminishif it come to be possesses by more than one subject.109 By choice, for similarity of aptitude, and out of duty.110 The groups or schools or associations referred to above.