48 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



occurred, viz., under the reign of the Thirty Tyrants, of all 

 mortals the bloodiest and basest that ever reigned, since the 

 government had no sooner returned to its senses than that 

 judgment was reversed. Socrates, from being a criminal, 

 started at once into a hero, his memory loaded with honors 

 human and divine, and his discourses, which had been pre 

 viously stigmatized as immoral and profane, were consid 

 ered as the reformers of thought and manners. 27 And let 

 this suffice as an answer to those politicians who have 

 presumed, whether sportively or in earnest, to disparage 

 learning. 



We come now to that sort of discredit which is brought 

 upon learning by learned men themselves; and this pro 

 ceeds either (1) from their fortune, (2) their manners, or 

 (3) the nature of their studies. 



1. The disrepute of learning from the fortune or con 

 dition of the learned, regards either their indigence, re 

 tirement, or meanness of employ. As to the point, that 

 learned men grow not so soon rich as others, because they 

 convert not their labors to profit, we might turn it over to 

 the friars, of whom Machiavel said, &quot;That the kingdom of 

 the clergy had been long since at an end, if the reputation 

 and reverence toward the poverty of the monks and men 

 dicants had not borne out the excesses of bishops and prel 

 ates.&quot; 38 For so the splendor and magnificence of the great 

 had long since sunk into rudeness and barbarism, if the pov 

 erty of learned men had not kept up civility and reputation. 

 But to drop such advantages, it is worth observing how rev 

 erend and sacred poverty was esteemed for some ages in 

 the Roman State, since, as Livy says, &quot;There never was a 

 republic greater, more venerable, and more abounding in 

 good examples than the Eoman, nor one that so long with 

 stood avarice and luxury, or so much honored poverty and 

 parsimony.&quot; 29 And we see, when Rome degenerated, how 

 Julius CaBsar after his victory was counselled to begin the 



27 Plato, Apol. Socr. 28 Mach. Hist, de Firenza, b. 10. 



29 Livy s preface, toward the end. 



