breaches of continuity. [Footnote: Tassoni argues that a decline in
all pursuits is inevitable when a certain point of excellence has
been reached, quoting Velleius Paterculus (i. 17): difficilisque in
perfecto mora est naturaliterque quod procedere non potest recedit.]

In drawing his comparison Tassoni seeks to make good his claim that
he is not an advocate. But while he awards superiority here and
there to the ancients, the moderns on the whole have much the best
of it. He takes a wide enough survey, including the material side of
civilisation, even costume, in contrast with some of the later
controversialists, who narrowed the field of debate to literature
and art.

Tassoni's Thoughts were translated into French, and the book was
probably known to Boisrobert, a dramatist who is chiefly remembered
for the part he took in founding the Academie francaise. He
delivered a discourse before that body immediately after its
institution (February 26, 1635), in which he made a violent and
apparently scurrilous attack on Homer. This discourse kindled the
controversy in France, and even struck a characteristic note. Homer-
-already severely handled by Tassoni--was to be the special target
for the arrows of the Moderns, who felt that, if they could succeed
in discrediting him, their cause would be won.

Thus the gauntlet was flung--and it is important to note this--
before the appearance of the Discourse of Method (1637); but the
influence of Descartes made itself felt throughout the controversy,
and the most prominent moderns were men who had assimilated
Cartesian ideas. This seems to be true even of Desmarets de Saint
Sorlin, who, a good many years after the discourse of Boisrobert,