ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



course we have yet to run, than regard the ground already 

 behind us. 



First, therefore, I express my surprise, that among so 

 many illustrious colleges in Europe, all the foundations are 

 engrossed by the professions, none being left for the free 

 cultivation of the arts and sciences. Though men judge 

 well who assert that learning should be referred to action, 

 yet by reposing too confidently in this opinion, they are apt 

 to fall into the error of the ancient fable, 4 which represented 

 the members of the body at war with the stomach, because 

 it alone, of all the parts of the frame, seemed to rest, and 

 absorb all the nourishment. For if any man esteem philoso 

 phy and every study of a general character to be idle, he 

 plainly forgets that on their proficiency the state of every 

 other learning depends, and that they supply strength and 

 force to its various branches. I mainly attribute the lame 

 progress of knowledge hitherto to the neglect or the inci 

 dental study of the general sciences. For if you want a 

 tree to produce more than its usual burden of fruit, it is not 

 anything you can do to the branches that will effect this 

 object, but the excitation of the earth about its roots and 

 increasing the fertility of the soil; nor must it be over 

 looked that this restriction of foundations and endowments 

 to professional learning has not only dwarfed the growth of 

 the sciences, but been prejudicial to states and governments 

 themselves. For since there is no collegiate course so free 

 &amp;gt;as to allow those who are inclined to devote themselves to 

 history, modern languages, civil policy, and general litera 

 ture; princes find a dearth of able men to manage their 

 affairs and efficiently conduct the business of the common 

 wealth. 



Since the founders of colleges plant, and those who 

 endow them water, we are naturally led to speak in this 

 place of the mean salaries apportioned to public lecture 

 ships, whether in the sciences or the arts. For such offices 



4 Speech of Menenius Agrippa, Livy, ii. 32. 



