306 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



or by what means the mind may be broke and fashioned for 

 obtaining them, they either touch this subject not at all or 

 slightly.* We may dispute as much as we please, that moral 

 virtues are in the human mind by habit, not by nature; that 

 generous spirits are led by reason, but the herd by reward 

 and punishment; that the mind must be set straight, like 

 a crooked stick, by bending it the contrary way, etc. But 

 nothing of this kind of glance-and-touch can in any way 

 supply the want of the thing we are now in quest of. 



The cause of this neglect I take to be that latent rock 

 whereon so many of the sciences have split, viz., the aver 

 sion that writers have to treat of trite and vulgar matters, 

 which are neither subtle enough for dispute nor eminent 

 enough for ornament. It is not easy to see how great a mis 

 fortune has proceeded hence that men, through natural 

 pride and vainglory, should choose such subjects and 

 methods of treating them, as may rather show their own 

 capacities, than be of use to the reader. Seneca says ex 

 cellently, &quot;Eloquence is hurtful to those it inspires with 

 a desire of itself, and not of things&quot;; 4 for writings should 

 make men in love with the subject, and not with the writer. 

 They, therefore, take the just course who can say of their 

 counsels as Demosthenes did &quot;If you put these things in 

 execution, you shall not only praise the orator for the 

 present, but yourselves also soon after, when your affairs 

 are in a better posture.&quot; 5 As for myself, excellent King, 

 to speak the truth, I have frequently neglected the glory of 

 my order, name, and learning, both in the works I now 

 publish and those which I have already designed to execute, 

 in following out my direct purpose of advancing the happi 

 ness of mankind; so that I may fairly say, though marked 



8 For the History of Morality, consult Scheurlius* &quot;Bibliographia Moralis,&quot; 

 ed. 1686; Placcius &quot;Epitome Bibliothecse Moralis&quot;; &quot;Paschius de variis Mo- 

 ralia tradendi Modis Formisque,&quot; 1707; Barbeyrac s Preface to his French 

 translation of Puffendorf &quot;De Jure Naturae et Gentium&quot;; and &quot;Stollii Intro- 

 ductio in Historiam Literariam,&quot; pp. 692-752. Ed. 



3 Arist. Ethics, ii. 4 Epist. 100, toward the end* 



6 Olynthias 25, toward the end. 



