ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 331 



suppose the same positively, and in earnest. For Machia- 

 vel is pleased to say, &quot;if Caesar had been conquered, he 

 would have become more odious than Catiline:&quot; as if there 

 was no difference, except in point of fortune, between a fury 

 made up of lust and blood, and a noble spirit, of all natural 

 men the most to be admired, but for his ambition. And 

 hence we see how necessary it is for men to be fully in 

 structed in moral doctrines and religious duties, before they 

 proceed to politics. For those bred up from their youth in 

 the courts of princes, and the midst of civil affairs, can 

 scarce ever obtain a sincere and internal probity of manners. 

 Again, caution also is to be used even in moral instruc 

 tions, or at least in some of them, lest men should thence 

 become stubborn, arrogant, and unsociable. So Cicero says 

 of Cato: &quot;The divine and excellent qualities we see in him 

 are his own; but the things he sometimes fails in are all 

 derived, not from nature, but his instructors.&quot; 81 There are 

 many other axioms and directions concerning the things 

 which studies and books beget in the minds of men; for it 

 is true that studies enter our manners, and so do conversa 

 tion, reputation, the laws, etc. 



But there is another cure of the mind, which seems still 

 more accurate and elaborate than the rest; depending upon 

 this foundation, that the minds of all men are, at certain 

 times, in a more perfect, and at others in a more depraved 

 state. The design of this cure is, therefore, to improve the 

 good times, and expunge the bad. There are two practical 

 methods of fixing the good times; viz., 1, determined reso 

 lutions; and 2, observances or exercises; which are not of 

 so much significance in themselves, as because they contin 

 ually keep the mind in its duty. There are also two ways 

 of expunging the bad times; viz., by some kind of redemp 

 tion, or expiation of what is past, and a new regulation of 

 life for the future. But this part belongs to religion, where 

 to moral philosophy is, as we said before, the genuine 

 handmaid. 



21 Pro L. Mursena, 39. 



