24. It is trae that in 1607, in Thoughts and Conclusions, he wrote that ‘truth must be sought from the light of nature, not recovered from the darkness of antiquity’ (translation cited in note 8; p. 87), but the pre-Socratic philosophers were important exceptions to even this rule. And in any case what is important is not what Bacon says he is doing (relying on things rather than words), but what he actually does.