ABSTRACT
Even in his youth Descartes had already established himself as a scholar of no ordinary ability. With increasing years his talents attracted the notice of the learned and by the time he had settled in Holland he had become recognised as a man of rare accomplishments. Baillet records that shortly after the siege of La Rochelle, Descartes was present at a conference which the Papal Nuncio, Cardinal de Bagne (Guidi di Bagno) had convened to hear the learned Doctor Chandoux speak on scholastic philosophy. In the subsequent discussion Descartes showed considerable ability in refuting the arguments of Chandoux. The conference was profoundly impressed with the extent of his learning, and one of its members, Cardinal de Berulle, urged upon him the duty of giving to the world the fruits of his researches; according to Baillet he even went so far as to impose upon him une obligation de conscience, adding that he would be responsible before the Sovereign Judge, du tort qu'il ferait au genre humain en Ie privant du fruit de ses meditations. Whatever reliance may be placed upon Baillet's statement, it is more than likely that Descartes' resolve to publish took its rise from this fortunate circumstance; in any case, it is significant that Descartes, who prior to that date would have dismissed with contempt the suggestion that he should become a faiseur de livres, now began to write with a vigour and a profusion rarely equalled in the history of science.
