"You agree, however, that when everyone begins: Baruch Spinoza was born here or there, on such and such a day and year, and only then do they talk about the ‘’Ethica‘’, you agree, admit it, that these are only rumors. If anything, we should start with his death, or when it began, and work backwards. We should say how it was that this man began to disappear on a given day. (p. 101)"