On Exactitude in Science
... In that Empire, the Art of Cartography reached such Perfection that the map of a single
Province occupied a whole City, and the map of the Empire a whole Province. In the course
of time, these Disproportionate Maps were found wanting, and the Colleges of Cartographers
elevated a Map of the Empire that was of the same scale as the Empire and coincided with it
point for point. Less Fond of the Study of Cartography, Subsequent Generations understood
that such an expanded Map was Useless, and not without Irreverence they abandoned it to the
Inclemencies of the Sun and of Winters. In the deserts of the West, tattered Ruins of the Map
still abide, inhabited by Animals and Beggars; in the whole Country there is no other relic of
the Disciplines of Geography.
Suárez Miranda, Travels of Prudent Men, Book Four, Ch. XLV, Lérida, 1658
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