52 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



to Aelius Verus, who delighted much in the softer kind 

 of learning, and was wont to call the poet Martial his 

 Virgil ; and Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ; whereof the 

 latter, who obscured his colleague and survived him 

 long, was named the Philosopher : who, as he excelled 

 all the rest in learning, so he excelled them likewise in 

 perfection of all royal virtues ; insomuch as Julianus 

 the emperor, in his book intituled Caesares, being as 

 a pasquil or satire to deride all his predecessors, feigned 

 that they were all invited to a banquet of the gods, 

 and Silenus the jester s&quot;at at the nether end of the table, 

 and bestowed a scoff on every one as they came in ; 

 but when Marcus Philosophus came in, Silenus was 

 gravelled and out of countenance, not knowing where 

 to carp at him ; save at the last he gave a glance at 

 his patience towards his wife. And the virtue of this 

 prince, continued with that of his predecessor, made 

 the name of Antoninus so sacred in the world, that 

 though it were extremely dishonoured in Commodus, 

 Caracalla, and Heliogabalus, who all bare the name, 

 yet when Alexander Severus refused the name because 

 he was a stranger to the family, the senate with one 

 acclamation said, * Quomodo Augustus, sic et Anto 

 ninus. In such renown and veneration was the name 

 of these two princes in those days, that they would 

 have had it as a perpetual addition in all the emperors 

 style. In this emperor s time also the Church for the 

 most part was in peace ; so as in this sequence of six 

 princes we do see the blessed effects of learning in 

 sovereignty, painted forth in the greatest table of the 

 world. 



9. But for a tablet or picture of smaller volume (not 

 presuming to speak of your Majesty that liveth), in 

 my judgement the most excellent is that of Queen 

 Elizabeth, your immediate predecessor in this part of 

 Britain ; a prince that, if Plutarch were now alive to 

 write lives by parallels, would trouble him I think to 

 find for her a parallel amongst women. This lady was 

 endued with learning in her sex singular, and rare even 

 amongst masculine princes ; whether we speak of 



