‹‹‹ Vitr. 6.8.10 | Table of Contents | Vitr. 7.0.2 ›››
prThe antients by means of writing established the wise and useful practice of handing down to posterity their sentiments on different subjects, so that not only those might not be lost, but that by their works continually increasing, a gradual advancement might be made to the highest point of learning. Our obligations to them therefore are great and many, from their not having sullenly kept their knowledge to themselves, but on the contrary, having recorded their opinions on every subject.
prIt was a wise and useful provision of the ancients to transmit their thoughts to posterity by recording them in treatises, so that they should not be lost, but, being developed in succeeding generations through publication in books, should gradually attain in later times, to the highest refinement of learning. And so the ancients deserve no ordinary, but unending thanks, because they did not pass on in envious silence, but took care that their ideas of every kind should be transmitted to the future in their writings.