148 THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. 



the reformation of their life (as Seneca excellently saith, 

 Departibus vitce quisque delibcrat, de summa nemo), ma* ; make 

 this part seem superfluous; yet I must conclude with that 

 aphorism of Hippocrates, Quigravi morbo wrepk *fm* 

 sentiunt, Us mem cegrotat. They need medicine not only bo 

 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, &quot;That the eyes of the handmaid look perpetualy to 

 wards the mistress, and yet no doubt many things are left to 

 the discretion of the handmaid to discern of the mis r ess will ; 

 so ought moral philosophy to give a constant ^ nta j\^*3 

 doctrines of divinity, and yet so as it : may yield of herself 

 (within due limits) many sound and profitable directions 



(2) 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 

 matte&quot; wherein both speech and action ^ often conversant ; 

 and such wherein the common talk of men (which is rare but 

 yet cometh sometimes to pass) is wiser than their books. ] 

 reasonable, therefore, that we propound it m the more par- 

 ticuTartty, both for the worthiness, and because we may acquit 

 ourselves for reporting it deficient, which seemeth almost in 

 credible and is otherwise conceived and presupposed by those 

 themselves that have written. We will, therefore, enumerate 

 some heads or points thereof, that it may appear the better 

 what it is and whether it be extant. 



(8? First therefore, in this, as in all things which are practical 

 we ought to cast up our account, what is in our power and 

 what not ; for the one may be dealt with by way of alteration, 

 but the other by way of application only. The husbandman 

 cannot command neither the nature of the earth nor the 

 seasons of the weather ; no more can the physician the consti 

 tution of the patient nor the variety of accidents. So in the 

 culture and cure of the mind of man, two things are without 

 our command : points of Nature, and points of fortune. For 

 to the basis of the one, and the conditions of the other, our 

 work is limited and tied. In these things, therefore, it is left 

 unto us to proceed by application : 



&quot; Vincenda est omnis fortuna ferendo :&quot; 



and so likewise, 



&quot; Vincenda est omnis Natura ferendo.&quot; 



