She still produces as great men as ever, but she does not produce greater.

The lions of the deserts of Africa in our days do not differ in fierceness from those the days of Alexander the Great, and the best men of all times are equal in vigour.

It is their work and productions that are unequal, and, given equally favourable conditions, the latest must be the best.

For science and the arts depend upon the accumulation of knowledge, and knowledge necessarily increases as time goes on.
But could this argument be applied to poetry and literary art, the field of battle in which the belligerents, including Perrault himself, were most deeply interested?
It might prove that the modern age was capable of producing poets and men of letter no less excellent than the ancient masters, but did it prove that their works must be superior?
The objection did not escape Perrault, and he answers it ingeniously.

It is the function of poetry and eloquence to please the human heart, and in order to please it we must know it.