Advancement of Learning 1 67 



thereunto; without which part the former seemeth to be 

 no better than a fair image, or statua, which is beautiful 

 to contemplate, but is without life and motion ; whereunto 

 Aristotle himself subscribeth in these words: Necesse est 

 scilicet de virtute dicere, et quid sit, et ex quibus gignatur. 

 Inutile enim fere fuerit virtutem quidem nosse, acquirenda 

 autem ejus modos et vias ignorare : non enim de virtute 

 tantum, qua specie sit, quczrendum est, sed et quomodo sui 

 copiam facial : utrumque enim volumus, et rem ipsam nosse, 

 et ejus compotes fieri : hoc autem ex voto non succedet, nisi 

 sciamus et ex quibus et quomodo. 1 In such full words and 

 with such iteration doth he inculcate this part. So saith 

 Cicero in great commendation of Cato the second, that he 

 had applied himself to philosophy, Non ita disputandi 

 causa, sed ita vivendi. 2 And although the neglect of our 

 times, wherein few men do hold any consultations touching 

 the reformation of their life, (as Seneca excellently saith) 

 De partibus vit& quisque deliberat, de summd nemo, 3 may 

 make this part seem superfluous ; yet I must conclude with 

 that aphorism of Hippocrates, Qui gram morbo corvepti 

 dolores non sentiunt, Us mens cegrotat* they need medicine, 

 not only to assuage the disease, but to awake the sense. 

 And if it be said, that the cure of men s minds belongeth 

 to sacred divinity, it is most true : but yet moral philosophy 

 may be preferred unto her as a wise servant and humble 

 handmaid. For as the Psalm saith, that the eyes of the 

 handmaid look perpetually towards the mistress? and yet no 

 doubt many things are left to the discretion of the hand 

 maid, to discern of the mistress s will; so ought moral 

 philosophy to give a constant attention to the doctrines of 

 divinity, and yet so as it may yield of herself, within due 

 limits, many sound and profitable directions. 



This part therefore, because of the excellency thereof, 

 I cannot but find exceeding strange that it is not reduced 

 to written inquiry: the rather, because it consisteth of 

 much matter, wherein both speech and action is often 

 conversant; and such wherein the common talk of men, 

 (which is rare, but yet cometh sometimes to pass,) is wiser 



1 Eth. Mag. A. i. 3. 2 Cic. pro Mur. xxx. (62). 



3 Sen. ad Lucil. Epist. 71, where it is &quot; de partibus vitae omnes 

 deliberamus, de iota nemo.&quot; 



4 Hippoc. Aph. ii. 6. 6 Ps. cxxiii. 2. 



