Book 2
1
The study of Truth is in one sense difficult, in another easy. This is shown by the fact that whereas no one person can obtain an adequate grasp of it, we cannot all fail in the attempt; each thinker makes some statement about the natural world, and as an individual contributes little or nothing to the inquiry; but a combination of all conjectures results in something considerable.
2
Thus in so far as it seems that Truth is like the proverbial door which no one can miss,Leutsch and Schneidewin, Paroemiographi, 2.678. in this sense our study will be easy; but the fact that we cannot, although having some grasp of the whole, grasp a particular part, shows its difficulty. However, since difficulty also can be accounted for in two ways, its cause may exist not in the objects of our study but in ourselves:
3
just as it is with bats’ eyes in respect of daylight, so it is with our mental intelligence in respect of those things which are by nature most obvious.
3
It is only fair to be grateful not only to those whose views we can share but also to those who have expressed rather superficial opinions. They too have contributed something; by their preliminary work they have formed our mental experience.
4
If there had been no Timotheus,Of Miletus, 446 (?)—357 B.C. we should not possess much of our music; and if there had been no Phrynis,Of Mytilene; he is referred to as still alive in Aristoph. Cl. 971. Both Phrynis and Timotheus are criticized in the fragment of Pherecrates Chirontranslated by Rogers in the appendix to his ed. of the Clouds. there would have been no Timotheus. It is just the same in the case of those who have theorized about reality: we have derived certain views from some of them, and they in turn were indebted to others.
