This conflict came to express itself in the opposition of those who rely on written authority (of an institution, or a text such as that of Aristotle or the Bible) and those favouring free philosophical speculation, who adopted such catch-phrases as, ‘Plato is my friend, Socrates is my friend, but truth is a greater friend’, and the ancient satirist Horace’s declaration that he was ‘not bound over to swear as any master dictates’ (nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri), which in due course was to become the motto of the Royal Society of London;
Nullius in verba
