184 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



act that clearly demonstrates their ability, but are princi 

 pally censured by the event, which is very unjust: for who 

 can tell, if a patient die or recover, or a state fall into de 

 cay, whether the evil is brought about by art or by acci 

 dent? Whence imposture is frequently extolled, and 

 virtue decried. Nay, the weakness and credulity of men 

 is such, that they often prefer a mountebank, or a cunning 

 woman, to a learned physician. The poets were clear 

 sighted in discerning this folly, when they made .^Escula- 

 pius and Circe brother and sister, and both children of 

 Apollo, as in the verses 



&quot;Ille repertorem medieinae talis et artis, 

 Fulmine Phcebigenam Stygiaa detrusit ad undaa&quot;: 



and similarly of Circe, daughter of the sun 



&quot;Dives inacceesis ubi Solis filia lucis 

 TJrit odoratam nocturna in luraina codrum.&quot; 4 



For in all times, witches, old women, and impostors, have, 

 in the vulgar opinion, stood competitors with physicians. 

 And hence physicians say to themselves, in the words of 

 Solomon, &quot;If it befall to me, as befalleth to the fools, why 

 should I labor to be more wise?&quot; 6 And, therefore, one 

 cannot greatly blame them, that they commonly study 

 some other art, or science, more than their profession. 

 Hence, we find among them poets, antiquaries, critics, 

 politicians, divines, and in each more knowing than in 

 medicine. Nor does this fall out, because as a certain de- 

 claimer against physicians suggests, 5 being so often in con 

 tact with loathsome spectacles, that they seize the first hour 

 of leisure to draw their minds from such contemplations. For 

 as they are men &quot;Nihil humani a se alienum putent&quot; no 

 doubt, because they find that mediocrity and excellency in 

 their own art makes no difference in profit or reputation: 

 for men s impatience of diseases, the solicitations of friends, 



4 JEneid, vii. 772, 11. 5 Eccles. ii. 15. 6 Agrippa, Scientia Vana. 



