336 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



him, asked, &quot;But what have you to say, that I may report 

 it?&quot; He answered, &quot;Tell your king that you have found 

 one among the Greeks who knew how to be silent.&quot; 1 

 Indeed, I had forgot in this compendium of arts to insert 

 the art of silence. For as we are now soon to be led, by 

 the course of the work, to treat the subject of government; 

 and knowing that I write to a king who is so perfect a mas 

 ter of this science since his infancy, and being also mindful 

 of the high office I hold under your Majesty, we thought 

 we could not have a better occasion for putting the art of 

 silence in practice. 2 Cicero makes mention not only of an 

 art, but even of an eloquence to be found in silence; and 

 relates in an epistle to Atticus, how once in conversation 

 he made use of this art: &quot;On this occasion,&quot; says he, &quot;I 

 assumed a part of your eloquence; for I said nothing.&quot; 

 And Pindar, who peculiarly strikes the mind unexpectedly 

 with some short surprising sentence, has this among the 

 rest: &quot;Things unsaid have sometimes a greater effect than 

 said.&quot; And, therefore, I have determined either to be 

 silent upon this subject, or, what is next to it, very concise. 

 Civil knowledge turns upon a subject of all others the 

 most immersed in matter, and therefore very difficult to 

 reduce to axioms. And yet there are some things that ease 

 the difficulty. For, 1, as Cato said, &quot;that the Romans were 

 like sheep, easier to drive in the flock than single&quot;; so in 

 this respect the office of ethics is in some degree more diffi 

 cult than that of politics. 3 2. Again, ethics endeavors to 

 tinge and furnish the mind with internal goodness, while 

 civil doctrine requires no more than external goodness, 

 which is sufficient for society. 4 Whence it often happens, 



1 Plut. Moral. 



2 The author here makes a compliment of his silence to King James, deem 

 ing it impertinent to speak of the arts of empire, to one who knew them so well; 

 but the true reason appears to be, that he thought it improper to reveal the 

 mysteries of state. See below, sect. xxv. Ed. 



3 Plut. Cato. 



4 Hence there ought to be a due difference preserved between ethics and 

 politics, though many writers seem to mix them together; and form a promis 

 cuous doctrine of the law of nature, morality, policy, and religion together; as 

 particularly certain Scriptural casuists, and political divines. Sliaiv. 



