ABSTRACT
He joined forces with three young scholars not much older than himself and in 1603 formed a society that had as its symbol the lynx, which is no longer found in Italy but at that time was common. The symbolic animal was accompanied by the motto Sagacius ista, referring to its perceived attribute of extremely acute eyesight; the eyesight to which Cesi alluded was not only corporeal but intellectual, capable of penetrating phenomena to their core and of discovering their causes and effects. Cesi’s three companions were the poet and scholar Francesco Stelluti (1577-1652), the Dutch doctor Joannes van Heeck (1577-post-1618), and Anastasio de Filiis (1577-1608). The aim of the academy was announced in the Lynceographum, probably begun around 1605, which constituted the programmatic statutes of the academy. The text established the regulations for the admission of new members and, above all, sanctioned the commitment of the academy’s members to cultivate the scientific disciplines, to lead a life devoted to study, to work always in collaboration with others, and to make known the results of research.
