64 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. 



services. And therefore, when Virgil putteth himself forth 

 to attribute to Augustus Ciesar the best of human honours, 

 lie doth it in these words : 



Victorque volentes 



Per populos dat jura, viamque affect at Olympo. 



[Moving in conquest onward, at his will 



To willing peoples he gives laws, and shapes 



Tit rough worthiest deeds on earth his course to Heaven J] 



But yet the commandment of knowledge is yet higher than 



10 the commandment over the will ; for it is a commandment 



over the reason, belief, and understanding of man, which is 



the highest part of the mind, and giveth law to the will 



itself : for there is no power on earth which setteth up a 



throne or chair of state in the spirits and souls of men, and 



in their cogitations, imaginations, opinions, and beliefs, but 



knowledge and learning. And therefore we see the detestable 



and extreme pleasure that arch-heretics, and false prophets, 



and impostors are transported with, when they once find in 



themselves that they have a superiority in the faith and 



20 conscience of men ; so great, that, if they have once tasted of 



it, it is seldom seen that any torture or persecution can make 



them relinquish or abandon it. But as this is that which the 



author of the Revelation calleth the depth or profoundness of 



Satan : so by argument of contraries, the just and lawful 



sovereignty over men's understanding, by force of truth 



rightly interpreted, is that which approacheth nearest to the 



similitude of the divine rule. J/v 



As for fortune and advancement, the beneficence of 



learning is not so confined to give fortune only to states 



30 and commonwealths, as it doth not likewise give fortune to 



particular persons. For it was well noted long ago, that 



Homer hath given more men their livings, than either Sylla, 



or Caesar, or Augustus ever did, notwithstanding their great 



largesses and donatives, and distributions of lands to so many 



legions : and no doubt it is hard to say, whether arms or 



learning have advanced greater numbers. And in case of 



