est, vt qui praeclarissimam hanc habitant Civitatem, nullo modo,
Geometriam spernant. Nam & quae praeter ipsius propositum, quodam modo
esse videntur, haud exigua sunt. &c._ It must nedes be confessed (saith
_Plato_) +_That =[Geometrie]= is learned, for the knowyng of that, which
is euer: and not of that, which, in tyme, both is bred and is brought to
an ende. &c. Geometrie is the knowledge of that which is euerlastyng. It
will lift vp therfore (O Gentle Syr) our mynde to the Veritie: and by
that meanes, it will prepare the Thought, to the Philosophicall loue of
wisdome: that we may turne or conuert, toward heauenly thinges =[both
mynde and thought]= which now, otherwise then becommeth vs, we cast down
on base or inferior things. &c. Chiefly, therfore, Commaundement must be
giuen, that such as do inhabit this most honorable Citie, by no meanes,
despise Geometrie. For euen those thinges =[done by it]= which, in
manner, seame to be, beside the purpose of Geometrie: are of no small
importance. &c._+ And besides the manifold vses of _Geometrie_, in
matters appertainyng to warre, he addeth more, of second vnpurposed
frute, and commoditye, arrising by _Geometrie_: saying: _Scimus quin
etiam, ad Disciplinas omnes facilius per discendas, interesse omnino,
attigerit ne Geometriam aliquis, an non. &c. Hanc ergo Doctrinam,
secundo loco discendam Iuuenibus statuamus._ That is. +_But, also, we
know, that for the more easy learnyng of all Artes, it importeth much,
whether one haue any knowledge in Geometrie, or no. &c. Let vs therfore
make an ordinance or decree, that this Science, of young men shall be
learned in the second place._+ This was _Diuine Plato_ his Iudgement,
both of the purposed, chief, and perfect vse of _Geometrie_: and of his
second, dependyng, deriuatiue commodities. And for vs, Christen men,
a thousand thousand mo occasions are, to haue nede of the helpe of *

[I. D.
* Herein, I would gladly shake of, the earthly name,
of Geometrie.]

_Megethologicall_ Contemplations: wherby, to trayne our Imaginations and
Myndes, by litle and litle, to forsake and abandon, the grosse and
corruptible Obiectes, of our vtward senses: and to apprehend, by sure
doctrine demonstratiue, Things Mathematicall. And by them, readily to be
holpen and conducted to conceiue, discourse, and conclude of things
Intellectual, Spirituall, aeternall, and such as concerne our Blisse
euerlasting: which, otherwise (without Speciall priuile