Note 227 — Chapter XIII · THE RISE OF MODERN FREETHOUGHT—(Continued)

Mr. Owen makes a serious misstatement on this point, by which I was formerly misled. He writes (p. 369) that from the publisher’s preface we “learn that the Dialogues were not written by Vanini, but by his disciples. They are a collection of discursive conversations embodying their master’s opinions.” This is not what the preface says. It tells, after a high-pitched eulogy of Vanini, that “nos publicæ utilitatis solliciti, alia eius monumenta, quæ avarius retinebat, per idoneos ex scriptores nancisci curavimus.” In ascribing the matter of the dialogues to Vanini’s young days, Mr. Owen forgets the references to the Amphitheatrum. ↑