On the Origins or the Antiquity of the Hebrew Language

That such is the work of Moses concerning the origin of the world, the colonies dispersed throughout the whole globe, and so forth, no one who has tasted this even with the tips of the lips, as they say, fails to see. That eloquence itself and the deceit of words have brought much evil among mortals, that deceitful and bragging of the world, as long as the reins of affairs were in the hands of rhetoricians, is a witness; the most distinguished senators in all the councils of the Christians today are witnesses, who, having been taught by a singular experience of past centuries, forbid that anything beyond the matter itself be spoken or brought forward. That Areopagitic senate knew this, which in darkness, nor conceiving any favor from a person, and without the show of oratory, heard the accused; that hemistich of the poet confirms it, "A thing is content to be taught," the rhetoricians themselves provide faith—those wretches, nonetheless, destroyed by a death worthy of them. But I would ask you, why should we listen to the Greeks or heathens in the tradition of matters, who are frequently infamous for lying, rather than those (by establishing the origin of things, even their growth and perfection, I confirm, clearly our own) who teach nothing but what is equitable and good? For it is most certain that those who believe the Greeks more quickly than the Hebrews rely on opinion only, not on truth (which consists of the proof of all things before you judge them exactly). Yet all teach that in simple opinion there is nothing true, that truth belongs to the few, and that the road to perdition is broad, that is, that vulgar opinion is not to be imitated; not only did Christ himself teach us this, but the proof of things shows it to be so day by day. No one fails to see that right reason belongs to the few. After you have read the fables—I meant to say histories—of the Greeks, and the divine law, judge whether he teaches more excellently who respects, adores, worships, and deems the first cause alone to be observed everywhere, or he who places creatures and men, even those more often known for vices than virtue, into the number of the gods. Judge, finally, do not Aristotle, Plato, Pythagoras, and other famous philosophers who have handed down something about morals agree more quickly with the opinion of Moses (for it is certain that they all visited the Hebrews for the sake of learning), who worships and teaches one single cause of things, than with the whole crowd of Greeks and other mataiosophon vain babblers? You will then certainly see that most true thing which I already said, that right and sound opinion has belonged to the few. Which my fellow Etruscan Petrarch sings so frequently.

You then, if you seek to have a mind,
Nay the extreme of this forever,
Follow the few and not the vulgar people.

And elsewhere:

While you go after the vulgar,
And its blind and hard opinion,
You can never be happy.