The Works of Benedictus de Spinoza

...not necessarily—that which some philosophers have thought, but which I believe would detract too much from the powers of the intellect!—driven to Pantheism. This rather seems to occur only if those who use the intellect theoretically take the law of the intellect, or formal thinking, as the sole law, also constituting existence as indicated by thought. In this regard, too, it seems to me that it is not Philosophy that is to be blamed, but the Philosophers, if I may be permitted—however conscious I am of my own insignificance in philosophizing—to profess this freely. Nor do I foresee that those who are less friends to themselves than they are to philosophy itself could take this indignantly.

Regarding the literary history of the writings of Spinoza which are exhibited in this volume, there is much less to be noted than for the former part.

They were published only once under the title already mentioned. In the same form exists the image of the Philosopher engraved in copper, which is therefore not infrequently found affixed to copies of this edition. Often, however, it is also absent, and it is not indicated in the preface that it belongs to it. Included in a double circle on a square base, it has the name: BENEDICTUS DE SPINOZA with three distichs, worthy neither of a Poet nor a Philosopher:

To whom Nature, to whom God, to whom the order of things was known,
    In this state Spinoza was to be seen.
The hands of the artists of Zeuxis a Greek painter renowned for his realism expressed the face of the man,
    but they were unable to paint his mind.
That mind thrives in his writings: there he treats of sublime things.
    Whoever you are who wishes to know him, read his works.