Mines of Peru and the long voyage

Meaning

The mines of Peru name the reader’s hoped-for enrichment, which Nuysement distinguishes from his present life-preserving purpose. He claims knowledge of the routes but expressly says that he has not resolved to undertake so long a voyage. The phrase is a metaphor of the gold-making enterprise, not an actual travel plan or evidence that he completed it.

The surrounding contrast with claimed medical relief keeps scope and achievement separate. Trevisan’s delay further shows that learning from books is not the same as commencing a lengthy operation. Avidité marks the greed the author attributes to a particular expectation of the reader, not a universal condemnation of all desire for knowledge or of every material benefit of philosophy.