154 THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. 



hereof come, that those excellent books and discourses of the 

 ancient Biters (whereby they have persuaded unto virtue 

 most effe^uaUy, by representing her in state and majesty and 

 Smular opinions against virtue in their parasites coats fit to 

 KorneKnd derided), are of so little effect towards honesty 

 of Se because they are not read and revolved by men in there 

 mature and settled years, but confined almost to bojs and 

 Tginners ? But is it not true also, that much less young men 

 arf fit auditors of matters of policy, till they _ have .been 

 thoroughly seasoned in religion and morality ; lest their judg 

 ments be corrupted, and made apt to think that there are no 

 Sue differences of things, but according to utility and fortune 

 as the verse describes it, Prosperum et felvc scelus wrtw. 

 wcatur and again, Hie crucem pretium scelens tuht, hie 

 diadema- which the poets do speak satirically and in indig- 

 natioTon virtue s behalf; but books of policy do speak it 

 seriously and positively; for so it pleaseth Mac navel to say, 

 That if Csesar had been overthrown, he would have been 

 more odious than ever was Catiline ; &quot; as if there had been no 

 difference but in fortune, between a very fury of lust and 

 Wood and the most excellent spirit (his ambition reserved) of 

 the world Again, is there not a caution likewise to be given 

 of the docteinef of moralities themselves (some kinds of them) 

 lest they make men too precise, arrogant incompatible , as 

 Cicero saith of Cato, In Marco Catone hcec bona quce mdemus 

 &quot; 



re, scitote esse propria; 



requirimus ea sunt omma non a witura, sed a m 

 other axioms and advices there are touching those proprietic 

 md effects which studies do infuse and instil into manners. 

 And so likewise, is there touching the use of all those other 

 Points of company, fame, laws, and the rest, which we recited 

 fn the beginning in the doctrine of morality. 



(14) But there is a kind of culture of the mind that seemeth 

 yet more accurate and elaborate than the rest, and is built 

 upon this -round; that the minds of all men are at some 

 Ks in a state more perfect, and at other times in a state 



n?re depraved. The purpose, therefore, of this practice is to 

 Tand cherish the good hours of the mind, and to obliterate 

 aSd take forth the evil. The fixing of the good hath been 

 practised by two means, vows or constant resolutions, and 

 observances or exercises ; which are not to be regarded so much 



n themselvS as because they keep the mind in continual 

 obedieTce The obliteration of the evil hath been practised by 

 two ^ means, some kind of redemption or expiation of that 

 SScf S past, and an inception or account de novo for the 



