NOTE F. [xiii] 



dum reipublicae ; loquitur enim tanquam in republica Platonis, 

 non tanquam in fsece Romuli.&quot;(a) 



And in considering the peccant humours of learning, he 

 says, &quot; This will indeed dignify and exalt knowledge, if contem 

 plation and action may be more nearly and straitly conjoined 

 and united together than they have been ; a conjunction like 

 unto that of the two highest planets, Saturn, the planet of rest 

 and contemplation, and Jupiter, the planet of civil society and 

 action.&quot; (fc) And in his enquiry into action and contemplation, 

 after objecting to Aristotle s preference of a contemplative life, 

 he adds, &quot; Pythagoras being asked what he was, answered, 

 That if Hiero were ever at the Olympian games, he knew the 

 manner, that some came to try their fortune for the prizes, and 

 some came as merchants to utter their commodities, and 

 some carne to make good cheer and meet their friends, and 

 some came to look on ; and that he was one of them that 

 came to look on. But men must know, that in this 

 theatre of man s life, it is reserved only for God and angels to 

 be lookers on, neither could the like question ever have been 

 received in the church (notwithstanding their Pretiosa in 

 oculis Domini mors sanctorum ejus, by which place they 

 would exalt their civil death and regular professions), but 

 upon this defence, that the monastical life is not simply con 

 templative : for contemplation which should be finished in itself, 

 without casting beams upon society, assuredly Divinity know- 

 eth it not.&quot; (c) 



And in the same enquiry, he says, &quot; we are much beholden 

 to Machiavel and others, that write what men do, and not 

 what they ought to do. For it is not possible to join serpen 

 tine wisdom with columbine innocency, except men know 

 exactly all the conditions of the serpent; his baseness and 

 going upon his belly, his volubility and lubricity, his envy and 

 sting, and the rest; that is, all forms and natures of evil : for 

 without this, virtue lieth open and unfenced.&quot;(d) 



So too in his Tract on Universal Justice, he says, &quot; all they 



(a) See vol. 2, page 14. (b) See vol. 2, page 52. 



(c) See vol. 2, -d 224. (d) See vol. 2, p. 237. 



